Secret communication and cryptologic history: a challenge for Digital Humanities
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/1984-3585.2020i21p146-165Keywords:
Secrecy, Encryption, Cryptanalysis, Cybersecurity, MisrepresentationAbstract
It may seem paradoxical to study communication from the vantage point of secrecy, but arguably keeping is as important as sharing. For centuries, cryptologic history was about languages and translation, writing and interpretation, though since the 1940s it relies much more on math and computing. Digital culture in the 21st century relies on encryption for trustworthy and verifiable communications among people and their banks, doctors, lawyers, business partners. Addressing the stakes of encryption today requires a critical appreciation of its misrepresentations - Digital Humanities are invoked when we apply data-science methods to aesthetic communication, so why not when we apply Humanities methods to digital culture? Despite Galloway’s warning that in parsing and processing quantitative information, “a cultural worker who deploys such methods is little more than a lesser Amazon or a lesser Equifax”, Digital Humanities need to help bridge the gulf between quantitative and qualitative approaches. This paper lays out the course design for, and teaching experiences with, a class that introduces students in the humanities to the history of cryptology. Covering secret communication from ancient times to today, the paper also surveys how media portray computer networks and cybersecurity issues.References
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