DCI 102 Data in the Humanities

Course info#

Fall 2020 // TR 4:30-6pm // Virtual Course. All course meetings will be conducted in Zoom.

The course website is a living document. It will change regularly to reflect the needs of the course.

Contact#

Mackenzie Brooks // Associate Professor & Digital Humanities Librarian // (she/her/hers)

brooksm@wlu.edu // 540-458-8659 // Leyburn 321

Office hours: TR 1:30-4:30pm

Course description#

This course introduces students to the creation, use, and visualization of data in humanities-based research. The course is predicated on the fact that the digital turn of the last several decades has drastically changed the nature of knowledge production and distribution. In the 21st century, we must develop fluencies in media beyond the printed word such as text mining, network analysis, data visualization, and spatial analysis. Readings and discussions of theory from the field and set of practices that is Digital Humanities (DH) will complement hands-on application of digital methods and computational thinking. While the objects of our study will primarily come from the humanities, the methods of analysis are widely applicable to the social and natural sciences.

Course objectives#

Recognize and assess data-driven digital projects.
Integrate research goals and digital methods with discipline-specific inquiry.
Develop skills necessary to create, structure, clean, manipulate, and visualize data.
Engage in collaborative, interdisciplinary, project-based learning.
Create professional website to document and present unit assignments.

DCI Learning Outcomes#

Develop critical capacities for analyzing the role of technology and digital media in contemporary culture, and apply those capacities to a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary inquiries.
Develop the technical skills necessary for academic and professional success, with an emphasis on online communication and information.
Demonstrate the ability to communicate across different media and to both academic and general audiences.
Engage in collaborative, interdisciplinary, project-based learning.
Develop digital projects that contribute to the scholarly conversation in the student's field of study and demonstrate an awareness of the technological and critical needs of the discipline.
Develop an online professional identity and a portfolio of work in the minor.

Course protocols#

If you have ever labeled yourself as “bad at technology,” you are welcome in this course. There is no assumed technical skill.
"Technology" is a lot of things. Chances are you will know something about it that your classmates do not. Be generous about teaching and learning from each other. See also: https://xkcd.com/1053/
Your laptop will be a major player in this course, even more than usual. Please make sure it is good working order by updating software (operating system, browers, etc) and visiting the IT help desk as necessary.
That being said, using your laptop in class is not an invitation to distraction. Look up how to disable notifications since you will have to share your screen in class.
This course will mix theory and hands-on work. Be prepared to think critically about technology AND to get your hands dirty in a little bit of code.
The DH community values experimentation and productive failure, often in public. We will learn from how and why things don’t work. We are not just going to talk about what we’re learning but how we’re learning it. Give yourself a break from perfectionism!

Pandemic protocols#

This semester will be a lot. Go easy on yourself, your classmates, and your instructor. We are all trying to make the best of a situation that no one anticipated or asked for.
I thought carefully about how to conduct this class. The digital work we will do in this class lends itself to virtual instruction perhaps more than other courses. We will be sharing screens, using breakout rooms, and working collaboratively online. These are skills that you can take with you later in life. But please let me know what is working or not working for you!
That being said, you will feel overwhelmed by technology and grow weary of screens. Give yourself a break! Go outside, run up and down the stairs a few times, look at some art, the mountains, pictures of your pet. Walk around the block without your phone. Hydrate.
The virtual environment does make communication harder. You might not feel comfortable speaking up or be able to stay after class. I might not be able to "read the room" as effectively as usual. Please, please reach out whenever you have questions, be it via Zoom, chat, email, or a call. I am happy to send you a Zoom link to chat. I will be on campus sometimes and can meet you with in person.

Required texts#

All readings are available freely online or through Leyburn Library’s subscriptions.

We will rely heavily on the following texts:

You will be provided with a domain from Reclaim Hosting in the format http://username.wludci.info. You can purchase a custom domain, such as http://www.myname.com for $15 a year. If you are interested in keeping your domain after graduation, the W&L library can transfer ownership to you.

Policies#

Accommodations#

Washington and Lee University makes reasonable academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. All undergraduate accommodations must be approved through the Title IX Coordinator and Director of Disability Resources, Elrod Commons 212 (540) 458-4055. Students requesting accommodations for this course should present an official accommodation letter within the first two weeks of the term and schedule a meeting outside of class time to discuss accommodations. It is the student’s responsibility to present this paperwork in a timely fashion and to follow up about accommodation arrangements. Accommodations for test-taking must be arranged with the professor at least a week before the date of the test or exam, including finals.

Attendance#

You may notice that I do not factor in attendance and participation into your grade. This is on purpose. I try to design my classes so that you can't not participate. Class sessions are structured to help you advance your learning, not just for you to receive content. If you miss a lot of class, it will affect your grade because you aren't learning what you need to learn to fulfill assignments, not because I've docked a point. But life happens and sometimes you need a day or two. Or a pandemic happens and we all need a break. I expect that you'll talk to me about these instances and take responsibility for catching up on what you've missed. I will not plan to record our classes unless you let me know in advance that you'll be missing class and would like a recording.

Plagiarism#

All writing should be your own or should be cited properly. The writing assignments in this course are different than what is required in other courses, so we will discuss proper citation procedures for writing for the Web, writing in a group, and writing technical documentation. For more info: http://libguides.wlu.edu/plagiarism

License#

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Acknowledgments#

Thanks to Paula Kiser, Digital Scholarship Librarian at W&L, for her feedback and contributions to this coursebook.
This coursebook was inspired by the Text Analysis Coursebook created by Brandon Walsh and Sarah Horowitz. Both should be acknowledged beyond the coursebook for their generous and ongoing conversations about pedagogy and Digital Humanities.
Manatee icon credit: Freepik from www.flaticon.com.