Summary

There is a connection between Minimal Computing and Open Access in Digital Humanities. Minimal Computing allows for Open Access and Open Access ensures equity and inclusion. Equity refers to fairness in the way people are treated and Inclusion refers to the ability of all people to able to access and use the information.
Minimal Computing is set of practice and ideas that foster using only the minimum computing necessary to develop and expand the Digital Humanities field. Minimum computing ensures that the digital humanities field grows and expand in a way that nurtures core values of equity and inclusion. There are four questions one should ask when determining whether the goal of minimum computing is present in a digital humanities project. One- What do we need? Two-What do we have? Three-What must we prioritize? Four- What are we willing to give up?
What do we need refers to the distinction between what we actually need and what we think we need. Often times as with most field in computing there is a tendency to think that we have to have the latest technology in order to produce and complete our digital projects. By using unnecessary technology, we may in fact be driving up cost and restricting the access to what we create. As a result, we may try to recuperate that cost by publishing our work in scholarly journals or through books that charge a fee for purchase thereby restricting access for other scholars to access our work.
The question of what do we have requires us as Humanist to reorient the way we think when we embark on digital projects. Sometimes we may approach our project from the mentality that our glass is half-empty and we focus on the things that are missing rather taking a stock of what we have and assessing whether the things we are missing is necessary. By focusing on what we have, we are less inclined to waste resources making it easier for us to be able to share our project freely to a much wider audience.
What we prioritize also has implications for whether or not we are able to incorporate the principles of equity and inclusion into our digital projects although less so than the other questions. What we prioritize depends on the nature of the research project and the goals of the researcher. For example, making the decision on what platform to use for a particular project may be dependent upon time, labor and the platform chosen. Finally, in doing digital projects we may need to give up certain things in order to get others. We must be willing to make the hard choices in these zero sum games. Open Access can guide our choices.
Open Access in Digital Humanities refers to removing all barriers that hinders the ability of scholars to reuse, redistribute and share scholarly materials without having to pay for access or be encumbered by copyright laws. Digitized materials shared online makes this easier. This includes E-books, journal articles, poetry, images, photographs etc. Using the idea of Open Access as a guide for how answer the questions in our goal of minimal computing helps to promote equity and fairness across the field of Digital Humanities.