In Their Own Words: Using Text Analysis to Identify Musicologists' Attitudes towards Technology

A widely distributed online survey gathered quantitative and qualitative data relating to the use of technology in the research practices of musicologists. This survey builds on existing work in the digital humanities and provides insights into the specific nature of musicology in relation to use and perceptions of technology. Analysis of the data (n=621) notes the preferences in resource format and the digital skills of the survey participants. The themes of comments on rewards, benefits, frustrations, risks, and limitations are explored using an h-point approach derived from applied linguistics. It is suggested that the research practices of musicologists reflect wider existing research into the digital humanities, and that efforts should be made into supporting development of their digital skills and providing usable, useful and reliable software created with a ‘musicology-centred’ design approach. This software should support online access to high quality digital resources (image, text, sound) which are comprehensive and discoverable, and can be shared, reused and manipulated at a microand macro level.