As we live through the digital revolution and, for that matter, have entered the much acclaimed fourth industrial revolution, we need to also take a glance back, to look at where this has all began. There are many academic scenarios – and some not so academic – but in principle, it appears that, like many other scientific endeavours, it was started by and for the military. With regard to Alternation’s own trajectory, Smit and Chetty (2018a; and 2018b) provide a few brief insights.

But be that as it may. Tim Berners-Lee was the first to connect the dots, and provide a vision for the future, in 1989, with the sketch on the cover of this issue of Alternation. And, after the 30 years, since, we want to dedicate
this issue to him.

In this issue, in their ‘23/ 25 Years of Alternation, and the African Digital Humanities: Capacity, Communication, and Knowledge-Power’, Johannes A. Smit and Denzil Chetty, condense the presentation by Prof J.A. Smit, as
the international Open Access keynote lecture, of 23 October 2017, at Westville Campus, UKZN. It forms the first of a double-barrel article that seeks to open up some research possibilities with regard to the subject and knowledgepower (cf. Smit & Chetty in this issue, p. 360). Drawing on Foucault, they firstly provide a theoretical framework that may assist in assessing the significance of Alternation, followed by a positioning of the questions Foucault raised through his nearly twenty years of research, on this matter, within the framework of the digital, or electronic age, specifically with regard to the African Digital Humanities. They then briefly reflect on a sample of the historical events in the history of Alternation (since 1994/ 1996), followed, by positioning it in the international dynamics of the digital age, and the move from Humanities Computing in Alternation, to the Digital Humanities