All core courses are offered in Session A (May 20 - June 28, 2024)
Required Core Course
DigHum 100 - Theory and Methods in the Digital Humanities
In this course, we will evaluate a variety of digital humanities projects through theoretical scholarship in the field, in order to critically assess the value of the new knowledge that is being generated, and to weigh that knowledge in terms of traditional humanities methods. We will explore the fundamental arguments that are being advanced about these new methods and how they interact with humanities’ interpretive underpinnings. This course will prepare students to apply digital methods in ethical, reflective, and responsible ways—understanding the potentials of the digital within the humanities.
Section 1: Instructor TBA; Session A, MTuWTh 10:00am-12:00pm, Online.
Required Core Course
DigHum101 - Python Programming for Digital Humanities
Section 1: Instructor TBA, Session A, MTuWTh 1:00-3:00pm, Online.
All elective courses are offered in Session D (July 1 - August 9, 2024).
Three electives are required for completion of the Minor or Certificate in Digital Humanities.
Elective Course - link forthcoming
DigHum 150B - Digital Humanities and Visual and Spatial Analysis
This course will explore how the power of digital tools to create complex and interactive visual representations can help us investigate problems in the humanities. Visual analysis allows for large collections of texts, artifacts and data to appear as form, distilling and presenting information in ways that are computational as well as conceptual. Spatial analysis, especially the geospatial, applies advanced digital cartographic tools to historical maps, geographically based events, demography, migration, textual production, and movement over time. As with all digital humanities, these visual and spatial formats are user-responsive and open to a broad range of use
Section 1: Visual and Spatial Analysis: Maps, Graphs, and Letters
Instructor TBA, Session D, MTuWTh 9:30-11:30am, Online.
An introduction to visual and spatial questions and tools in the humanities. Ourprimary focus will be on visualizing the social data contained within literary correspondence; other areas of emphasis will be in network theory, color theory, data visualization tools, geographic information systems, and the way these might illuminate literary and cultural objects.
Elective Course
DigHum 150A - Digital Humanities and Archival Design
Archival Design can make rare sources accessible to a broad audience in ways that offer conceptual structure, critical analysis, and user flexibility. In this area, students learn to transform traditional primary sources into dynamic digital archives, receiving dual training in conducting scholarly research and designing digital projects.
Section 1: Immersive Digital Archives: Cultural Heritage and the Future of Digital Humanities
Instructor TBA, Session D, MTuWTh 3:00-5:00pm, Online.
Online archival resources for cultural heritage are at the forefront of developing public digital humanities. How can the past be captured in digital form? Can advanced media visualization, such as augmented and virtual Reality, give new insights on ancient data? Can public dissemination of research using gamification positively impact our lives in the present? How can we ensure that our digital cultural achievements last as long as pyramids built in stone?
This course will pair readings on the theory and practice of visual and public digital humanities cultural heritage projects. The digital archive resources used in class will be used to critique current offerings and trends in digital data capture and open access resources. The final project will be the creation of a new digital cultural heritage resource, presenting content created by students through a digital platform: augmented or virtual reality, location-based games, or a combination of both. Students will be offered a choice of visual and textual archival data from the UC Berkeley Hearst Museum of Anthropology, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the National Museum of Sudan, or can identify their own open-access archival source of interest.
Elective Course
DigHum 150C - Digital Humanities and Textual and Language Analysis
Textual and Language Analysis addresses a range of language use, spanning from the literary to the informal. Computational programs allow for humanistic inquiry and support critical analysis of texts. Students in this area learn to understand linguistics, genre, style, comparative analyses and literary interpretation through the digital.
Section 1: Introduction to Computational Literary Analysis
Instructor TBA, Session D, MTuWTh 12:00-2:00pm, Online.
Computational literary analysis is the quantitative study of literature using computational tools. This course serves as an introduction, and presumes no background in computer science. We will learn techniques of text analysis such as stylometry, topic modeling, and word embeddings, using the Python programming language. Novels to be read and analyzed include Wilkie Collins's mystery novel The Moonstone, and two short story collections: James Joyce's Dubliners and Katherine Mansfield's The Garden Party and Other Stories.
Elective Course
DigHum 160 Critical Digital Humanities
Critical Digital Humanities evaluates how information-age technologies influence and impact humanistic inquiry. Digital capacities allow us to ask new questions, but they also shape how we organize and receive knowledge. Training a critical eye on the field allows us analyze the impact of the digital on the study of the humanities, and the culture at large. Fulfills L&S Philosophy & Values breadth.
Section 1: Digital Hermeneutics: Analyzing Platform Communities
Instructor TBA, Session D, Asynchronous Instruction
This course places the tradition of hermeneutics--the study of interpretation--in the context of contemporary, data-driven society. Based on a historical overview of hermeneutics, it asks: how can we critically assess the algorithmically driven and often controversial claims to knowledge to be found in online communities? Using text analytics, we will analyze how knowledge is generated and negotiated on social platforms such as Reddit. In doing so, we will build skills in both natural language processing and close reading, in order to push back against problems of filter bubbles, post-truths, and alternative facts.
Section 2: Decolonial Digital Humanities
Instructor TBA, Session D, M, T,W, Th 9:00-11:00 AM Online
How do we use computers to do humanities work? What are the benefits and the limitations? How can we expand our critical thinking through the intersection of the Humanities and the Digital realms? Students in this course will examine these questions and learn how to use and experiment with a variety of digital methodologies for humanistic research (e.g. text mining, working with structured data, creating data visualizations and digital projects). A fundamental approach of this course will be to consider Digital Humanities through different yet complementary lenses of Decolonial studies, Black Feminist studies, Indigenous Studies, Cultural studies, and Environmental studies. Topics include learning how to productively critique, organize and manage digital storytelling projects, developing literacy with fundamental approaches to digital storytelling, and building technical competency with a variety of entry-level DH research methodologies and tools.