HIST*4170Exploring Digital Humanities8 January 2013

Today’s Agenda• Introductions• Me• Course• You• Digital Humanities

• Assignments for next week

Me• Contact information:• Mackinnon 2014• Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:30-4:30, and any other time • 519-824-4120 x 52279• jaross@uoguelph.ca

• Historian of North American business and sport• Postdoctoral fellow in the Historical Data Research Unit• Census project 1871-1911

• “Big Data”

• Exploring my ignorance with questions about:• Methods • Audience• Products

Course Description I• This course is designed to introduce students to new and inter-

disciplinary digital humanities approaches, methodologies, and tools, and to explore applications to text, image, map, and other media sources. It will appeal to students in literature, history, fine arts, and music who want an introduction to state-of-the-art digital humanities research. There will be flexibility to accommodate the specific disciplines and interests of the students.

Course Description II• The class will be held once a week and will feature instructor

and expert presentations, demonstrations, and discussion. Students will complete weekly readings and assignments, and a major project that that applies digital humanities tools. Participation will be evaluated through reflective blog posting, in-class discussion, and peer review.

Learning outcomes• Increase digital literacy skills, and be able to comprehend and

use appropriate language of digital humanities research in their own and related humanities disciplines

• Understand and be able to analyze the advantages of different methodologies of digital humanities inquiry

• Learn to collect, manage, and manipulate digital data from various sources

• Be able to formulate, direct, and complete a digital humanities project , and explain its significance to academic and lay audiences

Evaluation• Participation (50%)• In-class and outside class (blog) preparation and participation

• Research, reading• Questions, contributions• Reflection, commentary• Peer helping/collaboration

• Project (50%)• Capstone project: “intensive, active learning project, requiring

significant effort in the planning and implementation, as well as preparation of a substantial final work product”

The Keys to Doing Well• Focus is on active learning• Find ideas, learn them, apply them

• Requires:• Engagement• Self-directed learning• Collaboration• Pushing yourself into unfamiliar territory• Time commitment

• Each class:• Prepare, Participate, Process

• Don’t let me hold you back…

Course Resources• The hist4170 course blog is at: http://hist4170.wordpress.com/• Functions as a noticeboard, the central repository for weekly

readings, updates and links to assignments. Make it your first stop!• Your blogs• Soon to be set up…• Send links to be included on main blog

• Courselink• For marks, and maybe other things we want to keep in-house

• The WWW

Schedule• Jan 8 – Introductions• Jan 15 – Text: Transformation and Mining• Jan 22 – Maps: The Potential of Geographic Information

Systems• Jan 29 – Big Data: Finding Value in the Crowd• Feb 5 – New Dimensions and Visualization• Feb 12 – Using Multi-Media• [Reading week]• Feb 26 and Mar 5 – Presentation of your Ideas • Mar 12 and Mar 19 – Lab Days • Mar 26 and Apr 2 – Project Presentations• Perhaps more?

You• Undergraduates with several years of research and thinking

about humanities topics• Are you ready apply?

• Questions• What technology have you most often used?

• To learn, produce, and share knowledge• Has the university introduced you to new ones? • What is your technological comfort level• Which topics in your field excite you the most?• What are your career goals and how might this course serve

them?• Interview each other for 10 minutes…

Introduction to DH• Definitions?• “Digital humanities is a diverse and still-emerging field that

encompasses the practice of humanities research in and through information technology, and the exploration of how the humanities may evolve through their engagement with technology, media, and computational methods.” (Digital Humanities Quarterly)

• (What are the humanities?)• “Diverse and still emerging”• “information technology”• “evolve through… engagement with technology, media, and

computational methods.”

Purpose of DH• Spiro 2011• Provide access to cultural information• Enable manipulation of that information

• Manage, mashup, mine, map, model• Transform scholarly communication• Enhance Learning and Teaching• Make a public impact

Components of DH• Svensson 2009• Tools

• Databases, data visualization (GIS)• Digital as Object of Study

• Social media, behavioural changes• Collaboration

• Collective approach to research, and tool creation• A Mode of Production

• Digital publishing, multimedia• A Ethics of open-ness

• Data, products

Your (We)blog

• Your blog will serve as:• A thinking and writing stimulator• A participation product showing preparation for class, and processing

of class information• Assignment repository• Project log• Peer review and peer help mechanism

• Set up your blog:• Any free site is fine: Blogger, or WordPress… (Don’t pay!)• Must be class-specific• Your real name must appear in an obvious place, and ideally a

picture (not required)• Send me the link• Add blogs pertaining to your research interests

Blog Evaluation • Blog theme: “What did I learn? What can I teach?”• You must have at least one blog post a week• Including reading week, and the week after the last project

presentations (c. Apr 9)• Contributions will be evaluated every week on Monday

• Even if there is no specific blog assignment for the week, you should blog. Possible topics:• Your ideas for your own project, and later, project log updates• What other students are doing (blogging or presenting in class)• The guest presentations• Online discoveries:

• E.g. Experiments with DH tools; ideas about DH theory and applications

• Improvements (widgets etc.) made to your blog• And…?

The Project• Again, consider:• What have you done at Guelph, and what would you like to re-format

or explore further?• What skills might you want to develop?• What product do you want to create?• Career relevance and fun

• Think about projects that combine Svensson’s components:• Tools• Digital as Object of Study• Collaboration • A Mode of Production• A Ethics of open-ness• PLUS: use of Digital Data

• (Don’t worry, there is a project if you need one: The Scottish chapbooks)

Assignment #1• Set up your blog• Send me the link• Engage these resources:• A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Susan Schreibman, Ray

Siemens, John Unsworth. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. • Read Part I, chapter 1, plus another on a specific discipline

• Bill Turkel’s “Going Digital”• Use this to begin to explore digital resources (oriented to history, but

can be applied to other disciplines)

• Then post on the question: • “How have my studies at Guelph been affected by digital tools

and approaches, and what future possibilities do I see?”

Assignment #2• Prepare for next week’s presentations on “Text: Transformation

and Mining”• Melissa McAfee, Special Collections Librarian, UGuelph

• Scan the technical documents:• A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections

• Focus on the Principles • Guide to Good Practice in the Digital Representation and Cultural Heritage

Materials• Part I, II, and XII (pp. 1-37, 189-197)

• Prof. Susan Brown of SETS, who will speak about ORLANDO• Read the Introduction to ORLANDO• Try a case study or make up one of your own• POST about your experiences with ORLANDO

• We will also have a tour of the University Archives and Spec Coll.• Come armed with questions!

Questions?