This volume provides pathways of thought for refracting our study of the humanities through a new prism of digital media and technology, while simultaneously helping us to explore the intrinsic and inevitable connection between technology and humanity. The March 2010 conference it is based on4 offered participants a snapshot of approaches to the digital humanities, which we propose might broadly be categorised into two waves of activity: the first based on new quantitative approaches to understanding the humanities, and the second an arguably more revolutionary qualitative approach in which the digital is embedded within our very perceptions of the humanities, providing a completely new interpretation and therefore the development of new theoretical concepts.