Digital media in humanities research

The article is devoted to the scientific discussion that unfolded in modern humanities around the concept of "digital media". The author analyzes the studies of the phenomenon of "media" in the works of representatives of various scientific fields, clarifies the concept itself, identifies the theoretical foundations of digital media, correlates the phenomena of "digital media" and "new media", traces the formation of new humanities - Digital Humanities and media philosophy. The author comes to the conclusion that digital media should be understood as a set of cultural objects and technological tools, the first of which are generated, replicated or created using the second, based on the use of a digital format. To date, the most progressive (innovative) technical method of creation (generation, copying, replication) is the digital method, which means that digital technologies are becoming the main qualification in the concept of "digital media". Therefore, "new media" is currently analogous to "digital media". It is assumed that further technical evolution at some point will “erase” the equal sign between them. Thus, the concepts of "media", "new media" and "digital media" are currently "chronically open" concepts with academically unsettled criteria and gradation. Their understanding in the system of humanitarian knowledge is conventional. Supplementation and clarification in this case depends not only and not so much on the quantity and quality of research, but on the chosen research "field" with the specification of its purpose.