Introduction to Digital Humanities

A hands-on introduction to Digital Humanities, which may be defined as “a nexus of fields within which scholars use computing technologies to investigate the kinds of questions that are traditional to the humanities, or. . . [ask] humanities-oriented questions about computing technologies” (Kathleen Fitzpatrick, “Reporting from the Digital Humanities 2010 Conference,” ProfHacker.). What are these questions? As usual, it depends, depends on the scholar’s theoretical orientation, methods, and resources at hand (including not only primary source materials, but time, skill, and support). This course will include learning to evaluate DH questions and DH projects through project-based exercises in creating and interpreting digital humanities resources and tools and a close (and critical) look at the infrastructural, institutional, and political issues involved in interrogating “the digital” in the humanities. As we look at the concepts, methods, theories, and resources of DH through the perspective of practice, we will consider how computational methods are being used to further humanities research and how our understanding of computing technologies is deepened by humanities research.