Be the Glitch

Douglas-Jones, R. (Speaker)

Technologies in Practice

Activity: Talk or presentation types › Lecture and oral contribution

Period	7 May 2026
Held at	Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Degree of Recognition	International

Keywords

glitch
feminism
digital humanities
digitalization
humanities
Software

Documents & Links

The II Colloquium on Digital Humanities: Digital Humanities ‘Glitch’ returns to the problematic nature of what Digital Humanities are. Is the term merely a designation for the encounter between the humanities and digital technologies, as its initial uses remind us? Or do Digital Humanities have a unique potential to provoke reflections on our relationship with the digital and produce new paradigms, enabling the political production of other modes of engagement with its problems and potentialities? The English word "glitch" refers to unexpected technical failures in computerized systems, such as software, video games, images, videos, audios, and other digital artifacts. These failures, while usually resulting from problems in the functioning of these systems, gain a distinct meaning when they become objects of artistic, musical, and philosophical exploration, and when they invite the conception of processes of experimentation and openness to processes of technological hybridization. While traditionally conceived glitches result from accidents, errors, and failures that point to the unexpected, glitches produced in music, art, and from human reflection involve intentional actions, such as manipulations and physical alterations in hardware or changes at the code level, in the case of software and other digital files. Could the Digital Humanities inhabit a space of radical openness to digitization processes and 'native' digital processes, that is, those possible only through digital means? How does this radical openness and possibility of experimentation and hybridization allow us to reflect on the digital as a human and social phenomenon, and the subjectivities, hierarchies, and power relations that permeate it? Come reflect with us on the trajectories and bifurcations of the Humanities in the digital age.