Libraly Journal

Libraly Journal ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (3): 60-68.

• DIGITAL HUMANITIES • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Sharpening the Tools: Behavioral Research on Communicating via Digital Tools in the Academic Virtual Community of Humanities

Xiao Peng, Yao Chuhui   

  • Online:2021-03-25 Published:2021-03-25

Abstract: With the increasing popularity of digital tools in humanities research, the paper tries to take the virtual community of humanities academics as a subject to explore the characteristics of communication behavior of humanities scholars, especially their difficulties in obtaining and using digital tools. The study uses the XL section of the GX community as the data source, applies a combination of quantitative and qualitative research. The study concluded with 6 basic findings, including: (1) The humanities scholars hold an ambiguous view on tools; (2) The most commonly used and most problematic digital tools for humanities scholars are office software and e-books; (3) Access to digital tools is the most common difficulty; (4) Humanities virtual community has proved to be a very effective way to solve difficulties in the use of digital tools; (5) It’s necessary to pay attention to the improvement of the digital literacy and information literacy of humanities researches; (6) The information service institutions, such as libraries and archives, have a low sense of existence in the humanities academic virtual community, but they are still indispensable.