1. Introduction

The volume begins with a metaphor that frames the study of humanistic research in the digital age with the imagery of a leaf falling and landing upon the surface of a river, the ripples representing the emerging entanglement of technology with the practices and values of humanistic research. Edmond introduces us to the complex heart of the debate, highlighting discussions raised during the 2013 Network for Digital Methods in the Arts and Humanities meeting and issues that scholarship is now facing including: validity, formality, conservatism, positivism, ownership and scepticism. Edmond draws attention to the impact of collaboration as well as the changing position of publishers as ‘gatekeepers’ of scholarship, strongly setting up the discussion of humanistic research in the midst of a complex and ever-evolving ecosystem of ideas, people, structures and institutions. The volume aims to shed new light on the shifting practices of humanistic research, facilitated by technology, from the perspective of its complex relationship with the far wider range of impulses from scholars and scholarship.