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Schedule

Week 0 - What are we doing here?#

It's our first day! Let's get to know each other and figure out what we're doing in this class.

Thursday, September 7#

Week 1 - what is digital scholarship? what is text?#

read for 9/12

Tuesday, September 12#

reading/thinking/writing response: life of a text

How did our discussion make you think differently about books, text, and the Internet? For this response, think about a text that you have spent time with before. It could be a novel you studied in high school, a picture book you read over and over, a poem you had to memorize, a pamphlet that lives in a drawer, a letter from a friend or family member, or even the instructions to your favorite game. It really could be anything, there's no right answer here, but we will continue to engage with this text and you will be asked to share, so keep that in mind in making your selection.

Describe it. What is this text? What container is it in? Is that container unique or one of many copies? Who wrote it? Is there a single, identified author or not? Is it published? How can you access the text? Can you buy it or check it out of the library? Print or digital or both? How did this text come to be? What other forms might exist? In 50 years, will someone be able to read this text? How? Could it be studied by a scholar? Which of our definitions of text seems to apply here? Include a picture if you have.

Specs:

  • Due Thursday by noon.
  • 300-400 words
  • Submit on Canvas.
  • Free from grammatical errors, typos.
  • Your post should address the prompt thoroughly. Responses that only engage with a portion of the questions may not pass.
  • Credit and link out to sources when appropriate. I won't require that you use a certain citation style, but you should be in the habit of crediting sources and using in-text links. If you feel better about using a formal citation style, go for it!
read for 9/14

These two pieces are designed to get you in the right mindset for learning to code:

We'll be working our way through this resource if you want to look ahead:

Thursday, September 14#

  • icebreaker generator
  • crazy wall activity synthesis:
    • what did you learn about your topic?
    • what did you learn about the research process?
    • what was easy? what was hard?
  • HTML + CSS
coding activity #1

Let's keep practicing your HTML. For the next few weeks, we're going to build a small website about the text you wrote about for Tuesday. Since HTML is a document markup language, you'll be marking up your text (or a portion of it) in a similar way. If your text has a heading, you should use the <h1> tag. If your text is a recipe, then a <ol> or <ul> may be appropriate. Your document should also include the tags listed below, so you may need to add a summary to your text or links to other websites.

Specs:

  • Due Tuesday by noon.
  • Upload your HTML file(s) to Canvas.
  • Your HTML should be well-formed. Tags should open and close and nest appropriately. Tags should be appropriate to the content they're surrounding.
  • Include the following tags:
    • all the structure tags like <html> <head> <body> <p>
    • one or more level of headings (so <h1>)
    • one or more links
    • one or more images (use an image on the web, not on your own computer). Include the alt attribute for alternative text.
    • bold or italic text
    • an empty element like a break or horizontal rule
    • a blockquote, a table, and a list (ordered or unordered)
    • one or more <div> tags
  • You can use CSS, but it's not required.

Week 2 - How can we read?#

read for 9/19

Tuesday, September 19#

  • icebreaker:
  • document analysis with Prof. Brooks's collection
  • slides
reading/thinking/writing response

Time to conduct some document analysis on your own. You'll pick a book in class and take it home with you to complete this assignment. If you can't figure out the answer to a question, don't leave it blank! Write about how you tried to figure out the answer. Use this digital version of the form we used in class.

Specs:

  • Due Thursday by noon.
  • No word count, but every box should be filled in. If the section doesn't apply or you couldn't find any evidence, talk to me about how you determined that.
  • Add 3-5 photos to the document to highlight the most interesting parts of this book. Reference them in the document.
  • There is no detail too small! Even if you don't know why it matters, this is an exercise in slow looking.
  • Submit on Canvas.
read for 9/21

We're going to continue working through HTML and CSS Are Hard, concentrating on the "Box Model," "CSS Selectors," and "Flex box."

As a reminder, you're welcome to watch Youtube or LinkedIn Learning when to augment your learning.

Thursday, September 21#

  • icebreaker:
  • CSS Pt 2
coding activity #2

Let's add more CSS to our sites. We're going to build on what we learned on Thursday about the Box model (content, padding, border, margins) as well as classes and ids. I want to see that you're trying out these new elements and styles and can create a coherent and nice looking page. I'm not going to specify exactly how all these pieces should come together. You may want to add more content to your page to make it work, perhaps a header image or a footer. This exercise might involve more trial and error. Don't forget you can use browser tools to help.

Specs:

  • Due Tuesday by noon.
  • Turn in two files on Canvas, one called index.html and one called style.css.
  • Include the following:
    • 3-5 <div> tags to contain your content.
    • Each <div> should have a class to dictate style.
    • Use a class on at least two other elements, perhaps headings, paragraphs, or links.
    • Use at least 2 <id>s to style specific elements.
    • Set the margins, padding, and border for your <div> tags.
    • Add pseudo-classes for links.
    • You can use floats if it's helpful for your page layout, but not required.

Week 3 - How do books work?#

read for 9/26

Tuesday, September 26#

  • icebreaker
  • printing day!! We'll meet in my office/printing studio (Leyburn 218). Don't wear nice clothes, things might get a little messy. Think about a line of text you might want to print on a poster or card.
reading/thinking/writing response

The impact of printing, especially moveable type, on civilization is immense. Printing made texts more accessible and put information into the hands of more people - think about the changes to religions or science during this period. But we have our own version of this revolution! The internet! In this response, I want you to compare and contrast these major information revolutions. You've been a consumer of the internet and of books, but now you're learning how they're put together. What similarities do you see? Differences? Hone in on one idea or concept from our readings about the history of printing, then find a similar phenomenon today. For example: the "History of the Book" text discusses the change to labor practices in printing. I might compare that to the world of content moderation - contract workers who are paid a low wage to review (often horrifying) content to keep out of social media feeds. You might also compare/contrast the act of printing with type to crafting your own HTML document. There's no right answer here - I want to know what you found interesting and the connections that are sparking in your mind. The Whitney Trettien video is another great example of connecting the past to the present, not necessarily seeing them as a simple progression or as concepts that should be view in opposition to each other (print vs. digital).

Specs:

  • Due Thursday by noon.
  • 300-400 words
  • Find an idea or concept from our reading (or video) to incorporate into your post. Include a quote and cite your source (doesn't count against your word count).
  • Connect a historical concept to a modern one.
  • Submit on Canvas.
read for 9/28

Thursday, September 28#

  • icebreaker
  • what did we think of printing?
  • Command line + GitHub
coding activity #3

Your task is to follow the tutorial in the Programming Historian - Bash Command Line tutorial then use git and GitHub to post the results online.

First, complete the tutorial. Before you close out, you should save your command line history with the command history > history.txt which will put your commands into a text file.

Second, create a new basic website. Just practice, but you should be able to create the basic structure more quickly now. Your website could contain a heading, some text, and a link to a your history.txt file contained in the same folder.

Third, use git to create a new repository on your computer containing your website and text file. Set up that repository on GitHub. Push the files to GitHub, then publish with GitHub page.

Specs:

  • Due Tuesday by noon.
  • Turn in the link to the GitHub pages site.
  • You must include your command line history in a text file.
  • Your site must be pushed to GitHub using the command line.
  • Your site should be deployed with GitHub Pages.

Week 4 - What is a digital edition?#

read for 10/3

Tuesday, October 3#

  • icebreaker
  • what are digital editions?
  • slides
reading/thinking/writing response

Let's spend more time looking at digital editions. For this response, select a project from this list then answer the following questions:

  1. Yellow Wallpaper Edition
  2. Literature in Context
  3. Furnace and Fugue
  4. Ticha

Questions:

  • Provide a one sentence summary of this project in your own words. What is it about?
  • Who made this project? What kind of roles did the team include?
  • What kind of edition is this? How do they label it? What features does it include (is it annotated? or is there commentary? etc).
  • Where did the text(s) come from?
  • What kind of technology was used in this digital edition?
  • What's neat about this project? What stands out to you about the design or the website features?

When, AND ONLY WHEN, you're done with your response, check out the published review of this project on the Reviews in DH site. Include 1-2 sentences on what you got right or what you might have missed.

Specs:

  • Due Thursday by noon.
  • 300-500 words.
  • Submit on Canvas.
  • Answer every question above. It can be in bullet list form. If you can't find an answer, say that! Tell me where you looked.
  • Include your response to the published review.
read for 10/5

Take a look at Getting Started with Bootstrap for our next step in coding. Make note of words you don't understand. Look them up!

Thursday, October 5#

coding activity #4

Let's practice with Bootstrap some more. Build on the new site you created in class. The topic can be of your choosing! But you need to incorporate the following:

  • Grid system - Some of your content should be in multiple columns.
  • Table - Jazz up a table with some "accented features."
  • Include a navbar. The links don't have to go anywhere.
  • Components - Add three different components from this section of the docs (besides navbar).

Specs:

  • Due Tuesday 10/10 at noon.
  • Create a new Git repo on your computer and on Github.com. Push your code to that repo. Publish your site via GitHub pages.
  • Turn in the GitHub pages link on Canvas.
  • While you can add your own CSS in a style.css file, try to incorporate Bootstrap's built-in styling options through the use of class names.
  • While we're taking a grab bag approach, your page should still make sense and your code should be well-formed.

Week 5 - RHS + break!#

read for 10/10

Let's prep for our guest speaker: Eric Wilson, the Director of the Rockbridge Historical Society.

  • Spend some time on the RHS website. What are the most recent programs? Who and what do they concern? What are the major activities of this organization?

  • Watch this History of Rockbridge County video.

  • Take a little walk (or drive if you have a car) through campus, Lexington, or the county. What do you observe? What evidence of the past remains? What do you wonder about?

  • Remember, we're going to be working with the RHS Proceedings. Start looking through these volumes and getting a sense of topics. We also have an index available that lists all the individual articles. You'll need to settle on a topic for the proposal on 10/19 so it's time to get thinking.

  • Finally, think of some questions for Eric. Your questions could be about the local community, its history, or the work of the organization.

Tuesday, October 10#

  • icebreaker
  • Guest speaker: Eric Wilson, Director, Rockbridge Historical Society
reading/thinking/writing response

Time to reflect on Eric's visit and what you learned while exploring RHS and Rockbridge history. Your answers will help

Specs:

  • Due Thursday by noon.
  • 300-500 words.
  • Submit on Canvas.
  • Answer the following questions:
    • What did you find most interesting from Eric's visit? From your own explorations of campus, Lexington, or the county?
    • What have you learned about Rockbridge county and its history?
    • What types of topics might you be most interested in exploring in the RHS Proceedings? Which articles might fit that topic? Which ones have you looked at?
    • We're visiting Special Collections next week. What do you want to see? They can pull items related to book history and local history. This is the time to get started on research regarding the article you select in your proposal (due 10/19).

Thursday, Reading Days (no class)#

Week 6 - What are archives? What is TEI?#

read for 10/17

Tuesday, October 17#

  • Visit to Special Collections & Archives. We'll meet in that department, rather than our classroom.
Proposal due 10/19

Project proposal due by noon on 10/19

Thursday, October 19#

  • icebreaker
  • XML + TEI (slides)
coding activity #5

Let's practice writing some TEI. For this assignment you'll be working with the TEI By Example website. They have training modules and practice exercises.

Specs:

  • Due Tuesday by noon.
  • Submit three XML files on Canvas, one for each exercise/module. (You can use the website's workspace or write your code in Sublime, but either way you need to turn in three separate XML files.)

Week 7 - "The Project"#

Tuesday, October 24#

  • Time to figure out what this project is all about. We'll collaboratively brainstorm the design and goals of the site.
  • Research check-in

Thursday, October 26#

  • JavaScript + CETEICean
  • Those with GitHub password issues. You need to create a personal access token and use that instead.
  • Download this CETEICean simple repo from GitHub.
  • Navigate to that folder on the command line. Run the command python -m SimpleHTTPServer or python3 -m SimpleHTTPServer to start a local server. Visit http://localhost:8000 to view the site.

Week 8 - Project work + Jekyll#

Annotated Bibliography due

Annotated Bibliography due by noon on 10/31

Tuesday, October 31#

  • project work
  • python -m http.server -8080 does this work?? Try in a program called PowerShell.
  • site is up!
  • project work: start on teiHeader together. Starting XML here.
read for 10/17

Thursday, November 2#

  • Intro to Jekyll
  • Website edits list

  • Slides

  • You should now have write access to the Digital Editions repo.

  • You will want to add your TEI XML file into the editions/_proceedings folder.
  • You will want to create a markdown file in the style of vol-01-redhouse.md and customize the content to your article.
  • You need an image for your project! It should be roughly 915 pixels wide and 600 pixels tall. Or something close to that ratio. Add it to the asssets/img folder.

Week 9 - Project work#

TEI header markup due 11/7

TEI header assignment

Tuesday, November 7#

  • Project work + Special Collections as needed
  • Upload your XML with your teiHeader complete to the Github repo for the project.
  • Website edits list
    • Add your own section for the edits you'd like to see for your article.
    • You're welcome to mock things up in the browser using Developer Tools, then screenshot to share.
  • Start annotating your article and making a list of the potential things to be marked up in your document.
reading/thinking/writing response #6

In order for us to create a site for our digital editions that works for everyone, we need to get on the same page about our encoding decisions! The first step is for you to identify the potential decisions and items that will need to be marked up in your article. Response #6 is designed to get you documenting those items so we can come up with shared practices.

Look ahead to the TEI body markup assignment to see what type of tags you should be including.

Specs:

  • Due Thursday, November 9th at noon. We'll start in class on Tuesday.
  • Turn in on Canvas.
  • Your document should include at minimum 10 things that need to be marked up. Include questions, references to the guidelines, quotations from your article, thoughts about how it should display. It's okay if it's a mess, but you need to get something on the page!

Thursday, November 9#

  • Project work + Special Collections as needed

Week 10 - Project work#

Tuesday, November 14#

TEI body markup due 11/16 YOU ARE WELCOME

TEI body markup assignment

Thursday, November 16#

Thanksgiving Break#

Week 11 - Project work#

Tuesday, November 28#

draft annotations due 11/30

Draft annotations

Thursday, November 30#

Week 12 - Wrap up & presentations#

Tuesday, December 5#

  • Let's take some time to reflect on what we've learned this term. Try to pull back from the details of finishing your project and your other homework. Take a few minutes to make some notes on the following:
    • What skills did you learn? What could you put on your resume?
    • What did you learn that can't really go on your resume? That's hard to put into words? What might be useful in other classes?
    • What did you learn/accomplish that you're proud of?
  • Finishing touches on projects.
  • Save this for end of class: Course evaluation (I won't see these until after grades are due)

Final annotations 12/7

Annotations

Thursday, December 7#

  • Time to share your work with the local community! In 5-10 minutes, please prepare to share the following. No slides, plan to show your article on the website, plus any other web
    • Who are you? Name, major, year, etc.
    • What is your article? What's the title and what is it about?
    • Why did you choose this article? What was interesting about it at first and what do you find interesting now?
    • What challenges did you encounter in doing research about your article? How did you overcome them?
    • What challenges did you encounter when encoding your article? How did the code make you think differently about your article?
    • How has this article changed your perspective on local or W&L history?

Finals Week#

Reflection due 12/15

Reflection due Friday 12/15 by noon (end of finals week).