Humanities‐in‐the‐Loop: Using Close Reading as a Method for Retrieval‐Augmented Generation ( RAG )
Jing Wen Zhou, Li Si, Wenjun Hou · Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology · 2025
ABSTRACT This paper proposes Humanities‐in‐the‐Loop, a methodological framework that embeds close reading into each stage of the Retrieval‐Augmented Generation (RAG) pipeline to enhance the processing of digital archival materials. This framework includes manual annotation, knowledge maintenance, reviewer validation, prompt engineering, answer evaluation and human interpretation. Taking the diaries of Coching Chu as a case study, the system addresses the limitations of conventional RAG methods in capturing the contextual complexity and historical nuance inherent in personal archives. The proposed framework not only enhances answer accuracy and interpretability but also enables traceable, human‐centered inquiry in digital humanities research.