Any plan by the government to grow her knowledge-based economy to contribute to national development can only succeed with the right investment in digital humanities in Nigeria, industry experts advise. Tunde Opeibi, a professor at Digital Humanities Research Unit, University of Lagos, observed that with the digitalisation trend across the globe, it has become expedient that Nigeria government invest in digital humanities research that could help boost her knowledge economy, giving the size of her population.
Opeibi, who is the convener of the first international conference in Digital Culture and Scholarship in Lagos, said that the goal of the conference is to contribute to national development. According to Opeibi, “We have to gather researchers across Nigeria to see how we can use our own expertise, resources and experiences to help the country to grow in terms of knowledge-based society”.
He stated that digital humanities are basically the application of computer methodology to what is done in the humanities which Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind. “We have put together this conference for scholars and researchers from the humanities, social sciences to come together to learn about the new area, to collaborate and to also work together and see how we can push this new initiative in Nigeria”, he said.
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Oyvind Eide, a professor from Center of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne, Germany who was a guest speaker at the conference said the focus of the conference is analysing what the consequences of the computerised digital-based society do for the humanities.
Eide, while speaking on the theme ‘Communications, cultures and sciences in the age of digital technologies: Creating the space and the spark for innovative interdisciplinary research and national development, said there needs to be a political will from the government on how much money they can invest in education and infrastructure.
He observed that the significant differences between forwarding looking countries and their peers mostly come down to infrastructure and money. He opines that at the end of the conference, it is expected that possible solutions on how to make some of the teachings, especially in academic disciplines to be more practical, actively engagement and more experimental to students.
KELECHI EWUZIE
