How do we get to the Humanitarium from here?

For the past century, the sciences have made terrific strides in capturing the public imagination. From dedicated television channels to online learning materials to science-related entertainment and educational facilities for families in practically every major city on the planet, the scale of public relations has been impressive and continuous. However, the same cannot be said for the Humanities. Although we certainly have cultural institutions for adults, ranging from art galleries to opera houses, their primary emphasis has been on providing opportunities for passively consuming cultural production, rather than with the core interest of the Humanities, which is in enriching objects of study by analyzing them through a variety of theoretical lenses. In this paper, I argue, as others have been doing for some time, that the Humanities need to learn in this respect from the sciences, in order to increase their public stature. Further, the driving force behind this education is Digital Humanities. Since public relations has been on the back burner for so long, this initiative is both important and daunting; it is one of the ways in which the Digital Humanities are strengthening the Humanities while at the same time encouraging them in a task that seems difficult enough that everyone wishes it was not necessary.