Honr 206 Spring 2011

Digital Humanities

Course description

Digital humanities is an emerging field for which there is still no commonly accepted definition. For the purpose of this course, we’ll tentatively define it as an area of study and practice that encompasses the following: humanistic perspectives on digital technology’s social and cultural impact (particularly its impact on creativity); application of digital tools to research and teaching in the humanities; and critical examination of “born digital” aesthetic objects.

But whether we’re happy with that definition is one thing we’ll have to discuss.

The practical dimension of digital humanities ("practical" as in "practice," not "utility") involves the use of certain tools. We'll not only study but use some of these. Of our two class meetings each week, usually one will be devoted to discussion of ideas and the other devoted to learning about and testing tools. However, this course provides no more than a passing introduction to two of the tools that are proving to be of paramount importance to digital humanities: XML-TEI (a markup language for texts that meets the standards of the Text Encoding Initiative) and data visualization software.

One of the most widely hailed advantages of digital technology is its power to facilitate collaboration and community. Appropriately, many of the assignments in this course will involve collaboration. Together, we'll blog, share bookmarks, and engage in collaborative writing in the Geneseo wiki. For some projects, students will subdivide into working groups. We'll also aim, as a small community, to create a resource for the larger Geneseo community of faculty and students, so that the tools and ideas under our scrutiny can be more widely accessible and better understood.

Finally, the course will affirm the importance of community by remaining, in limited ways, communally hackable. A "hack" in the good sense, of course, is a creative modification. As an individual, you might use Sugru to, say, hack your penknife. But communities, too, can hack. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution is one kind of communal hack. Communally adopted changes to the order, emphasis, direction, and content of some activities in this course would be another.

Learning outcomes

Individual learning outcomes

Students who have completed Honors 206 will:

• understand the major opportunities and issues that technology has created for scholarship, creativity, and teaching in the humanities
• be able to apply concepts from the humanities to the analysis of digital technology's social consequences
• understand some basic legal issues raised by the cultural opportunities and changes wrought by digital technology
• be able to apply some basic tools of the digital humanist to texts and teaching in the humanities

Community learning outcomes

The Honr 206-02 (Spring 2011) community will:

• be able to collaborate effectively in discovering and sharing ideas about digital technology and the humanities
• be able to collaborate effectively in acquiring and using digital tools useful in the humanities
• be able to collaborate effectively in designing and executing projects that apply digital tools to scholarship, creativity, or teaching in the humanities

Class time and place

• TR 10:00 - 11:15, Milne 109

Office hours

• T 1-2, R 2-3, Welles 226
• Find me online via Google chat (pjschacht@gmail.com) or AIM (pepys84).

Tools you should have

• Kindle software for Mac or Windows PC (Kindle hardware not necessary)
• Gmail
• Twitter
• Zotero

Texts you'll read

• Yochai Benkler, The Wealth of Networks
• Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture
• Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, John Unsworth, eds., A Companion to Digital Humanities
• Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody
• Walter R. Harding, ed., The Variorum Walden
• Additional selections noted in the schedule of readings below.

Blogs you should follow

• Dan Cohen
• Clay Shirky
• Rough Type
• Digital Humanities Now
• Techne
• Digital Humanities Questions and Anwers

Activities and projects you'll undertake

Note: You must complete all assignments to receive a passing grade in this course.

Students with disabilities

SUNY Geneseo will make reasonable accommodations for persons with documented physical, emotional or learning disabilities. Contact Tabitha Buggie-Hunt, Director of Disability Services to discuss needed accommodations as early as possible in the semester.

Schedule