This schedule is subject to change throughout the semester! Check back frequently for updated readings and activities!
I will post readings for classes at least one week before they are due. You can find all readings for class linked here.
Week 1: Intro, what is/are the humanities? How do they connect to digital technology?
Mon 8/28
IN CLASS: Intro and syllabus
Wed 8/30
READ: “Digital Humanities: The Expanded Field” AND “What is Digital Humanities” (refresh page for more definitions)
IN CLASS: Discuss the various definitions of DH. What do you think “DH” is after reading these? What do you want to learn more about? How might DH be relevant to your career goals? To understanding the society we live in?
Fri 9/1
WATCH: “How Did They Make That” by Miriam Posner
IN CLASS: Discuss what DH does. Review Posner’s “Sources, Processed and Presented” together using some examples. Expand to discuss educational and creative presentations.
Week 2: Creating and Collecting Digital Sources
Wed 9/6
READ: “O Revelations! Letters, Once Banned, Flesh Out Willa Cather” and take a look at the Willa Cather Archive
IN CLASS: Discuss the Cather Archive. How did they make this? What were the implications of making it?
Fri 9/8
IN CLASS: Meet with Ron McCall in Special Collections to learn about the yearbook collection. Begin capturing yearbook images.
Week 3: Creating and Collecting Digital Sources: Scanning, Cleaning, Metadata
Mon 9/11
READ: Understanding Metadata
IN CLASS: Meet at Library Special Collections to Discuss Metadata. Begin working on metadata creation and adding items to Omeka. Continue capturing images
Wed 9/13
IN CLASS: Meet at library special collections to continue building Omeka items
Fri 9/15
IN CLASS: Meet at library special collections to continue building and refining Omeka items
Week 4: Catching Up With Metadata
Mon 9/18
IN CLASS: Continue building metadata for scrapbook pages back in our usual classroom. Any last image captures if needed. Clean up OCR text.
Wed 9/20
IN CLASS: Continue building metadata for scrapbook pages back in our usual classroom. Any last image captures if needed. Clean up OCR text.
Fri 9/22
Week 5: Analyzing and Processing Digital Sources: Mapping
Mon 9/25
READ: “Introduction to Spatial History and Mapping” and “Introduction: Mapping the First Party System” by Lincoln Mullen. Also, take a look at a few of the maps of Early US elections generated by Mullen and his team.
IN CLASS: Discuss DH mapping as a technique. How are DH maps different from the maps we use everyday? What are some different things DH practitioners might try to do with maps?
Wed 9/27
IN CLASS: Work to add mappable locations to items with the geolocate plugin.
Fri 9/29
IN CLASS: Explore and discuss our scrapbook map.
Week 6: Instructional Presentation of Digital Sources: StoryMapJS For Spatial Narratives
Mon 10/2
IN CLASS: Mapping work, building an analytic map of our scrapbook artifacts in Omeka Neatline.
Wed 10/4
READ: “Narrative Maps” by Lincoln Mullen. Click through to explore the sample sites he links to. Also investigate some example story maps up on the StoryMapJS website.
IN CLASS: Discuss narrative maps. How do these maps differ from analytic maps? What are the goals of narrative maps? What do authors of narrative maps do to achieve those goals? Begin building story maps of scrapbooks using StoryMapJS.
Fri 10/6
IN CLASS: Continue building story maps in StoryMapJS
Week 7: Instructional Presentation of Digital Sources: Omeka Exhibits for Non-Spatial Material
Mon 10/9
IN CLASS: Finish up story maps and discuss
Wed 10/11
READ: “Goin’ North” and “Redlining Virginia” (Explore these sites. Click around. See what’s here.)
IN CLASS: Discuss the exhibits built by these sites. Begin gathering information/sources needed to build non-map exhibits using the Omeka Exhibit Builder.
Fri 10/13
IN CLASS: Continue building exhibits in the Omeka Exhibit builder
Week 8: Instructional Presentation of Digital Sources: Omeka Exhibits
Mon 10/16: FALL BREAK
Wed 10/18
READ: “Goin’ North” and “Redlining Virginia” (Explore these sites. Click around. See what’s here.)
IN CLASS: Discuss the exhibits built by these sites. Begin gathering information/sources needed to build non-map exhibits using the Omeka Exhibit Builder.
Fri 10/20
IN CLASS: Discuss Exhibits and resources needed to build a meaningful exhibit of our own.
Week 9: Instructional Presentation of Digital Sources: Omeka Exhibits
Mon 10/23
IN CLASS: Build Exhibits in Omeka
Wed 10/25
IN CLASS: Build Exhibits in Omeka
Fri 10/27
IN CLASS: Build Exhibits in Omeka
Week 10: Reflection – How did we make that?
Mon 10/30
READ: Return to the page “What is Digital Humanities” from the beginning of the semester. Refresh the page a few times until you get a definition that you feel connects to your experience over the past 10 weeks in some way. Jot down a note to yourself about what you now understand about this definition having experienced the past 10 weeks of course work.
IN CLASS: Discuss the definitions we picked and why we picked them.
Wed 11/1
READ: “The Humane Digital” by Timothy Burke
IN CLASS: Discussion of how the values, practices, and ideas of “the humanities” might be relevant to our own lives as professionals, students, citizens, etc. Discussion of how our experience over the past ten weeks lines up with Burke’s Definition of “the humane.”
Fri 11/3
READ: “See No Evil” by Miriam Posner. As you read, consider, this is the same author who taught us “Sources, Processed and Presented” in the “How did they make this” video. How did she come to write this piece about global shipping? What connections do you see that might link Miriam’s explanation of Digital Humanities to her exploration of shipping, supply chains, and the economy?
IN CLASS: Discuss how the Digital Humanities might help us make critical observations about the digital economy.
Week 11: More Reflection, Group Matchmaking and Project Proposal Brainstorming
Mon 11/6
IN CLASS: Discuss how the whole scrapbook project came together. What did we make? How did we make it? What did we learn along the way? Who might find what we made valuable and why? What else might we want to make?
Wed 11/8
IN CLASS: Review final project proposal assignment. Matchmaking for final project proposal groups.
Fri 11/10
IN CLASS: Review “How Did They Make That?” presentation assignment. In class work on presentations and/or brainstorming proposals.
Week 12: “How Did They Make That?” Presentations
Mon 11/13
IN CLASS: Students present on existing DH Projects from the DH Project list, explaining “How did they make that?”
Wed 11/15
IN CLASS: Students present on existing DH Projects from the DH Project list, explaining “How did they make that?”
Fri 11/17
IN CLASS: Students present on existing DH Projects from the DH Project list, explaining “How did they make that?”
Week 13: Project Work
Mon 11/20
IN CLASS: Groups work on final project proposals.
Wed 11/24: Thanksgiving Break
Fri 11/26: Thanksgiving Break
Week 14: Project Work
Mon 11/27
IN CLASS: Groups workshop final project proposals in progress
Wed 11/29
IN CLASS: Groups workshop final project proposals in progress
Fri 12/1
IN CLASS: Groups workshop final project proposals in progress
DUE: Draft Final Project Proposals (Friday, 12/1 at 11:59pm)
Week 15: Final project revisions
Mon 12/4
IN CLASS: Groups revise final project propsals
Wed 12/6
IN CLASS: Groups revise final project proposals
Friday 12/8
IN CLASS: Groups revise final project proposals
Mon 12/11
IN CLASS: Groups revise final project proposals
Finals Week Meeting: Wednesday 12/13 at 3:30pm. Optional but highly recommended. Your last chance to discuss your project with me.
Completed Final Project Proposal Websites due by 11:59pm Wednesday 12/13
Completed Digital Humanities Reflections due on D2L by 11:59pm Wednesday 12/13
