“How do I get started?”

Most of the original Speaking in Code participants found that we have encountered this question in some form, either on a mailing list or in person, from someone new to the digital humanities who wanted to get started developing DH projects. It’s not an easy question to answer, but it’s one we encounter so often, we felt like exploring it together.

So here we share, informally and briefly, advice and the experiences some of us have had getting started in the work we do. We also muse on the things that influence how we answer questions like these. Often, our personal histories with tacit knowledge acquisition lead us to address attitudes and philosophies for dealing with our work, rather than offer a right or best answer.

Contributors framed the kind of question they wanted to answer, and how they wanted to answer it. Some variations on the question you may encounter in this stories include:

• Where did I start?
• How did I get started?
• How did I get restarted?
• How do I not quit?
• Why did I quit?
• Why did I start?
• Did I start?

We hope these stories help you get started.