ENGL 5346
Digital Humanities

Fall 2018

Course Description
What is digital humanities, and what is it good for? Is it the way forward for the humanities? Is it a neoliberal tool that undermines the values of the humanities? Is it something in between? Does it serve to cement old canons and power structures, or can it be used to move toward greater equity and justice? This course will begin with a consideration of the various debates about the nature of the field itself. We’ll then survey various DH tools and projects with a critical eye, seeking to understand not only what these tools make possible but also their limitations.

Learning Outcomes 
Students completing this course should be able to
    Define the digital humanities in relation to literary scholarship
    Contribute to the conversation on key debates in the field of digital humanities
    Use digital humanities methodologies and tools to perform and present literary scholarship
    Critically analyze digital humanities projects and debates

These outcomes will be assessed through class discussions, presentations, and written assignments as described below.

Required Texts and Materials

Burdick, Anne, et al., editors. Digital_Humanities. MIT Press, 2012, https://www.dropbox.com/s/zcfhiphslciqe2k/9248.pdf?dl=0
Gold, Matthew K. ed. Debates in the Digital Humanities. University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
Klein, Lauren F., and Matthew K. Gold, editors. Debates in the Digital Humanities 2016. 2nd ed., University of Minnesota Press, 2016.
Additional readings as listed below.

Required Technology for Online Access
A computer with stable, high speed internet connection and webcam
A headset (earphones and mic; the ones that came with your phone are fine)
Access to Blackboard

Required Work
Click for details on each assignment. All written work should be submitted via Blackboard.

DH position paper 20% of course grade
DH position paper presentation 10% of course grade
DH project evaluation 20% of course grade
DH project evaluation presentation    5% of course grade
DH project proposal 25% of course grade
DH project proposal presentation 10% of course grade
Quick Projects / Keywords 10% of course grade
 

Policies

Schedule of Readings and Assignments (subject to change)   updated 10/19

Week 1 Th 8/30

Introduction to the course
Selisker, “Digital Humanities Knowledge: Reflections on the Introductory Graduate Syllabus” in Debates 2016

Week 2 Th 9/6

What is the Digital Humanities?  
A Digital Humanities Manifesto
The Digital Humanities Manifesto 2.0
(PDF version here)

Manifesto for the Digital Humanities
D_H, chapter 1 and pp. 122-3
Kirschenbaum, "What is Digital Humanities and What is it Doing in English Departments?"
in Debates
Spiro, "'This is Why We Fight': Defining the Values of the Digital Humanities" in Debates
Stanley, "Why is DH?"
Svensson, "Beyond the Big Tent"
in Debates
Svensson, "The Landscape of Digital Humanities"
Day of DH
in Debates

Quick projects: Dylan Lewis, Lance Lomax
Keywords: Dylan Lewis, Lance Lomax
Secretary: Dustan Hahnel
Week 3 Th 9/13

Against DH
Allington, Broulliette, and Golumbia, "Neoliberal Tools (and Archives): A Political History of Digital Humanities"
Brennan, "The Digital Humanties Bust"

Golumbia, "The Destructiveness of Digital Humanities"
Greetham, "The Resistance to Digital Humanities" in Debates
Grusin, "The Dark Side of the Digital Humanities"
Hoover, "Argument, Evidence, and the Limits of Digital Humanities"
Kirsch, "Technology Is Taking Over English Departments"

Marche, "Literature is Not Data: Against Digital Humanities"
Stauffer, “My Old Sweethearts: On Digitization and the Future of the Print Record” in Debates
Weiskott, "There Is No Such Thing as the Digital Humanties"

Quick projects: Zak Forkner
Keywords: Zak Forkner
Secretary: Wes Jones
Week 4 Th 9/20

DH and justice
Earhart, “Can Information be Unfettered?” in Debates
Earhart & Taylor, “Pedagogies of Race: Digital Humanities in the Age of Ferguson” in Debates 2016
Gaertner, "Why We Need To Talk About Indigenous Literature in the Digital Humanities"
Gallon, "Making a Case for the Black Digital Humanities"
MacPherson, “Why is Digital Humanities So White?” in Debates
Nieves, "
Race as “Disruptive Innovation” for Restorative Social Justice in DH"
Marking Up Gender in Orlando
Risam, "Beyond the Margins: Intersectionality in Digital Humanities"
Risam, “Navigating the Global Digital Humanities: Insights from Black Feminism” in Debates

Quick projects: Mykayla Fontaine, Charlotte Colon
Keywords: Charlotte Colon, Dustan Hahnel
Secretary: Apryl Lewis
Week 5 Th 9/27 DH position paper presentations
Week 6 Th 10/4

Evaluating Digital Scholarship
Anderson & MacPherson, "Engaging Digital Scholarship"
Fitzpatrick, "Peer Review, Judgment, and Reading"
Nowviskie, "Where Credit is Due"
Risam, "Rethinking Peer Review in the Age of Digital Humanities"
Rockwell, "On the Evaluation of Digital Media As Scholarship"
D_H pp. 128-9
18thConnect, "Peer Review"

AHA, "Guidelines for the Professional Evaluation of Digital Humanities Projects by Historians"

CDRH, “Best Practices for Digital Humanties Projects
MLA, "Guidelines for Evaluating Work in Digital Humanities and Digital Media"

Quick projects: Dakota Chisum, Dustan Hahnel
Keywords: Apryl Lewis, Bhawana Pillai
Secretary: Jesse Lawhead
Week 7 Th 10/11

Metadata and its uses: Dr. Alison Rukavina
Omeka
Collective Access

Exhibits at University of Alberta Special Collections
Metadata and Text Markup
Wilson & Alexander, “When Metadata Becomes Outreach:
Indexing, Describing, and Encoding For DH
"Ontologies and Metadata"
DCMI, "Metadata Basics," "Dublin Core Metadata Element Set," and "DCMI Metadata Terms"
Art & Architechture Thesaurus
Cataloguing Cultural Objects

Quick projects: Apryl Lewis, Steven Tucker
Keywords: Wes Jones, Jesse Lawhead
Secretary: Dakota Chisum
Week 8 Th 10/18

TEI and digital editions
TEI Guidlines
     Focus especially on "A Gentle Guide to XML," "The TEI Header," and "Elements Available in All TEI Documents"
Willet, “Electronic Texts: Audiences and Purposes
Cummings, "The Text Encoding Initiative and the Study of Literature"
Burnard, What is the Text Encoding Initiative, introduction & ch. 1

Quick projects: Wes Jones, Jesse Lawhead
Keywords: Dakota Chisum
Secretary: Charlotte Colon, Bhawana Pillai
Week 9 Th 10/25

Text mining/analysis and distant reading
Voyant
TAPoR: Text Analysis Portal for Research
Algee-Hewitt & McGurl, "Between Canon and Corpus: Six Perspectives on 20th-Century Novels"
Burrows, "Textual Analysis"
Buurma and Heffernan, "Search and Replace: Josephine Miles and the Origins of Distant Reading"
Graham, Weingart, and Milligan, "Getting Started with Topic Modeling and MALLET"
     --just the section "What is Topic Modeling and For Whom Is This Useful?"
Klein, "Distant Reading After Moretti"
Sinclair & Rockwell, Now Analyze That: Comparing the Discourse on Race
Underwood, "Seven Ways Humanists Are Using Computers to Understand Text"

Quick projects: Bill Dyer
Keywords: Bill Dyer
Secretary: Zak Forkner
Week 10 Th 11/1 DH project evaluation presentations
Week 11 Th 11/8

Databases
MySQL 8.0 Reference Manual
Morse, "Research Databases and the Future of Digital Humanities Applications"
Ramsay, “Databases
Palladio and Posner, "Getting Started with Palladio"
Quamen et al., Database Concepts for Digital Humanists

Quick projects: Bhawana Pillai
Keywords: Ahmed Muhammad
Secretary: Steven Tucker
Week 12 Th 11/15

GIS and mapping: Dr. Mike Lemon
Story Map and Neatline websites
Spatial Analysis
“Locative Investigation and Thick Mapping” in D_H, pp. 45-7
Guldi, “What is the Spatial Turn?”
Mapping Emotions in Victorian London

Mapping a Writer's World: A Geographic Chronology of Willa Cather's Life
Mapping the Republic of Letters
Active Projects and Collaborations at the Spatial History Project

Quick projects: Ahmed Muhammad
Keywords: Steven Tucker
Secretary: Lance Lomax
Thanksgiving holiday; no class
Week 13 Th 11/29

HTML, XML, CSS: Dr. Michael Faris
HTML & Structured Data at UCLA Center for DH
HTML Intro at w3schools.com
XML Intro and How To Use at w3schools.com
Goldberg, XML Quickstart Guide, introduction & ch. 1
CSS Intro and How To at w3schools.com
Kirschenbaum, "Hello Worlds"

Quick projects:
Keywords:
Secretary: Bill Dyer
Final time Sat 12/8
7:30 - 10:00
DH project proposal presentations

 

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