SELCS

Introduction to Digital Humanities


Course code: ELCS6046
Tutor: Dr U Tiedau
Level: Intermediate
Mode of Assessment: portfolio of practical coursework (65%), assessed essay of 2000 words (35%)
Term: taught in term 2

Course Description:
‘Digital Humanities’ refers to the application of digital technologies and computational techniques to research questions in the humanities. Being methodological by nature and interdisciplinary in scope, it aims to open up ‘new paradigms for the enduring problems in the study of human cultural artifacts’ (R. Busa) and enable new kinds of knowledge, rather than merely pursuing traditional forms of inquiry in an accelerated, computerized, way.

This course, tailored for the requirements of students of European languages, cultures and societies, offers a thorough introduction to digital techniques, tools and research questions in the Digital Humanities, including their theoretical underpinnings, using examples that are relevant to SELCS disciplines. A particular emphasis will be placed on ‘21st century research skills’, how to discover, annotate, compare, refer, sample, illustrate and represent knowledge in a digital world.

You do not have to be a ‘geek’, nor should you be a ‘technophobe’ to follow this course, but you will be required to do ‘hands-on’ work and should be familiar with the basic use of computers (office apps, the internet etc.) and have regular access to a computer at home or at university.

Assessment:
Assessment will be by a portfolio of practical coursework (65%), consisting of practical web development tasks, keeping a learning journal in blog form etc., and a final essay on a digital humanities topic that relates to your SELCS home discipline (35%).

Bibliography
It lies in the nature of the topic of this course that most teaching materials are online resources and will be made available on the course website. There is an emerging scholarly literature on the themes covered by this course.

Reference material includes:

  • David M. Berry (ed.), Understanding Digital Humanities (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
  • Matthew Gold (ed.) Debates in the Digital Humanities (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2012)
  • Claire Warwick, Melissa Terras, Julianne Nyhan (eds.), Digital Humanities in Practice (London: Facet, 2012)
  • Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens and John Unsworth (eds.), A Companion to Digital Literary Studies (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007)
  • Willard McCarty, Humanities Computing (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005)
  • Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens and John Unsworth (eds.), A Companion to Digital Humanities (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, paperback 2008), also available online at <http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion/