Defactoring Pace of Change

Code, the symbolic representation of computer instructions driving software, has long been a part of research methods in literary scholarship. However, the bespoke code of data and computationally inflected Digital Humanities research is not always a part of the final publication. We emphasize the need to elevate code from its generally invisible status in scholarly publications and make it a visible research output. We highlight the lack of conventions and practices for theorizing, critiquing, and peer reviewing bespoke code in the humanities, as well as the insufficient support the dissemination and preservation of code in scholarly publishing. We introduce defactoring as a method for analyzing and reading code used in humanities research and present a case study of applying this technique to a publication from literary studies. We explore the implications of code as methodology made material, advocating for a more integrated and computationally informed mode of interacting with scholarship. We conclude by posing questions about the potential benefits and challenges of linking code and theoretical exposition to foster a more robust scholarly dialogue.