Syllabus: Introduction to Digital Humanities

Fall 2022: Classes meet T H 1:35 - 2:50pm in Kochel 77.

Read the Course Description

This contains a detailed explanation of course policies and the basis for grades.

This link jumps to the closest day to today's date. Review the schedule as we get started to get a sense of how this course will work on a daily basis.

Quick links to digital resources

Canvas: http://canvas.psu.edu To submit homework assignments and exams and read private course announcements
introDH-Hub: https://github.com/newtfire/introDH-Hub Class GitHub Repository and Issues Board
oXygen XML Editor: for coding of all kinds, used in multiple DIGIT courses for text archiving, analysis, and web projects
Wordpress (via PSU): Penn State resource for creating a website
TimeMapper: Web-based tool for plotting and visualizing events in time and space based on spreadsheet data.
ArcGIS StoryMaps: software supporting design of visual stories about places, combining text with data patterns, maps, and multimedia.
Google Sheets: Web-based spreadsheet software designed for interactive sharing.
Voyant Tools and Antconc Free concordance and indexing tools supporting distant reading analysis of texts.
Kumu.io: Concept mapping and network tool
itch.io: Source of indie games, a selection of which will be made available for critique.
Course Home Website: https://newtfire.org/courses/introDH/ Home of our syllabus and schedule.

Week 1	Class topics	Do before class
T 08-23	Welcome! Introduction to the course. Introduce Tech Academy module About the concept of Open Annotation and the Hypothes.is tool that we will experiment with together: Hypothes.is Set up Hypothes.is accounts and join our private class Hypothes.is Group Launch first Annotation Assignment	...
H 08-25	Discussion building on annotations: Slow computing while in university. Things your computer conceals from you Introduce Dear Data	Read and annotate the two PDF chapters available in Kitchin and Fraser's Slow Computing: "Living Digital Lives" and "Coda: Slow Computing during a Pandemic"

Week 2	Class topics	Do before class
T 08-30	Discussion / hands-on exercise on Dear Data. Longer-range challenge on personal data collection and visualization	View videos and images of the Dear Data Project Discussion Exercise (Canvas) Before class, take three screen captures of three hand-crafted/humanized data visualizations from anywhere on this site (including video content) that particularly struck you. In your discussion post post the images and comment on what is being shown and why does it seem memorable?
H 09-01	Discussion of Warsame reading/annotations, time, space, data View / discuss Library of Missing Datasets. Hand-crafted data viz workshop. Organizing daily data in Google Sheets	Read and annotate: Khalid Warsame, “This Vast Conspiracy of Memory” Published in Spring 2019 Meanjin Quarterly Take a look at Google Maps Timeline

Week 3	Class topics	Do before class
T 09-06	Introduce VAR lab activity next week. Discussion: data non-neutrality / data ethics / data justice / data visceralization. Hands-on Matrix of Technological Domination exercise	Read and annotate The Power Chapter from Data Feminism
H 09-08	Launch Comparative Website Development module Build from Tech Academy start on PSU Wordpress blog site Orientation to PSU Wordpress and Penn State web hosting services. Changing from a standard blog to a website with pages: Pages vs. Posts Planning a site menu for multiple pages Images and links in Wordpress Where's the code? (Code view) Site development assignment for next week Special guest: Marcus Jakobs on Behrend's VAR Lab, VAR Edu, and VAR exercise for next week	Work on "Dear Data: Your Week of Visualization" assignment (due Friday by 11:59pm) Work on Tech Academy module (due today by 11:59pm)

Week 3

Class topics

Do before class

T 09-06

Introduce VAR lab activity next week.
Discussion: data non-neutrality / data ethics / data justice / data visceralization.
Hands-on Matrix of Technological Domination exercise

Read and annotate The Power Chapter from Data Feminism

H 09-08

Launch Comparative Website Development module

Build from Tech Academy start on PSU Wordpress blog site
Orientation to PSU Wordpress and Penn State web hosting services.
Changing from a standard blog to a website with pages:
- Pages vs. Posts
- Planning a site menu for multiple pages
Images and links in Wordpress
Where's the code? (Code view)
Site development assignment for next week

Special guest: Marcus Jakobs on Behrend's VAR Lab, VAR Edu, and VAR exercise for next week

Work on "Dear Data: Your Week of Visualization" assignment (due Friday by 11:59pm)

Work on Tech Academy module (due today by 11:59pm)

Week 4	Class topics	Do before class
T 09-13	[Dr. B is in England for the TEI Conference]: No class meeting. This week: Visit VAR Edu and work on Website Development assignments in Canvas.	Complete the Penn State Academic Integrity Tutorial and upload your certificate (in Canvas)
H 09-15	[Dr. B is in England for the TEI Conference]. No class meeting. VAR activity this week.	Complete Website Development activities due this week Create/work with your website account at sites.psu.edu (PSU Wordpress) On the Wordpress site, orient yourself to how pages and images are added and arranged. Begin adding and organizing your site content. Develop content for resumes and other required portions of the Comparative Web Development Assignment Complete VAR Lab Exercise (VAR lab visit/activity + discussion)

Week 4

Class topics

Do before class

T 09-13

[Dr. B is in England for the TEI Conference]: No class meeting.

This week: Visit VAR Edu and work on Website Development assignments in Canvas.

Complete the Penn State Academic Integrity Tutorial and upload your certificate (in Canvas)

H 09-15

[Dr. B is in England for the TEI Conference]. No class meeting. VAR activity this week.

Complete Website Development activities due this week
- Create/work with your website account at sites.psu.edu (PSU Wordpress)
- On the Wordpress site, orient yourself to how pages and images are added and arranged. Begin adding and organizing your site content.
- Develop content for resumes and other required portions of the Comparative Web Development Assignment
Complete VAR Lab Exercise (VAR lab visit/activity + discussion)

Week 5	Class topics	Do before class
T 09-20	Discussion of VAR and Website activities. Launch HTML elements tutorial Introducing git and GitHub / GitHub Pages.
H 09-22	HTML / CSS. File management for organizing a website	Complete Git/GitHub Orientation: stage 1 Comparative Website Development: GitHub Pages development

Week 6	Class topics	Do before class
T 09-27	Git and GitHub	Complete git and GitHub orientation and setup assignments
H 09-29	HTML elements and website architecture; configuring GitHub Pages, file associations	Push files to your website using git commands

Week 7	Class topics	Do before class
T 10-04	Workshopping and troubleshooting site development: CSS, pointing to files, GitHub repo organization	Develop content for your site: images and pages and css
H 10-06	GitHub Pages workshopping: CSS for layouts, flex displays	Develop more content and styling; work on layout for the site.

Week 8	Class topics	Do before class
T 10-11	Introduce distant reading: Voyant Tools exercise. Experimenting with texts posted in introDH-Hub.	Clone our class’s introDH-Hub and/or pull in its contents. Read An Introduction to N-Grams: What are they and why do we need them? Install Antconc on your computer. Complete Antconc orientation exercise.
H 10-13	Introduce n-gram analysis with Antconc. Review and continue experiments with Voyant Tools. Exploring corpus concordances with Voyant and AntConc. Introduce the Corpus Analysis Assignment	Antconc / Voyant assignment: mystery text assignment and discussion on introDH-Hub Comparative Web Development Assignment: Complete content development on both sites. Revise content, formatting, styling with accessibility in mind.

Week 9	Class topics	Do before class
T 10-18	Cleaning the text data: preparing plain text files to remove material not meant for analysis. Exploring Keyword in Context (KWIC) with Voyant and ngrams. Finding patterns and exploring them. What kinds of comparisons can we make?	Continue exploring text data for the Corpus Analysis Assignment. Take screen captures as you explore comparing texts posted on the assignment. (You may also try cleaning up some text files you find of interest on Project Gutenberg: find a text and look for a download option of Plain Text to save the file to work with, and be sure to cut off the lengthy Project Gutenberg boilerplate from the top and bottom of the file. Be sure that your files are saved with a `.txt`
H 10-20	Large corpus text sampling: how do we read and understand data from a distance?	...

Week 10	Class topics	Do before class
T 10-25	Workshop/Discuss corpus analysis drafts	Prepare a rough draft of your Corpus Analysis post to workshop and review.
H 10-27	Introduce Space Time Mapping. Structuring data in Google Sheets for TimeMaps: Launch TimeMapper Exercise: Plotting time and space	Work on the Corpus Analysis due next Tuesday Preview TimeMap files

Week 11	Class topics	Do before class
T 11-01	TimeMapper Exercise: Plotting time and space. Incorporating image media and media credits. Troubleshooting dates and location markers.	Finish and post your Corpus Analysis comparison post on your website, and submit a link to Canvas. Follow my instructions and use my template for setting up TimeMapper and post two things on Canvas: Your copied Google Sheet template for TimeMapper Your published TimeMapper view
H 11-03	Discussion / Workshop with Land-Grab Universities maps and data.	GIS reading: Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone, Land-Grab Universities

Week 12	Class topics	Do before class
T 11-08	Timemapper debugging and help. Embedding TimeMap on your website. Introduce secondary worlds and game analysis unit.	Complete TimeMapper Assignment and post to your website
H 11-10	Revisit Hypothes.is and introduce Kumu.io networks, working with Salman Rushdie and Haroun and the Sea of Stories	Annotate systematically as a class with hypothes.is: Start Haroun and the Sea of Stories, through Ch. 4. [TBD: Exercise to coordinate group tagging for visualizing as a network]

Week 13	Class topics	Do before class
T 11-15	Discussion of Rushdie, censorship in Haroun, what happened at Chautauqua	Continue annotating Haroun and the Sea of Stories, through Ch. 8
H 11-17	Review/discuss Haroun network visualizations Introduce Secondary Worlds assignment: Game Analysis on itch.io	Finish Haroun and the Sea of Stories; complete annotations and Kumu network

Week 14: Thanksgiving
Sun 11-20 - Sat 11-26	Thanksgiving Holiday	Have a peaceful and productive week!

Week 15	Class topics	Do before class
T 11-29	Critiquing a game and analyzing for user experience Avatars and secondary worlds	Game Analysis Assignment: Complete phase 1 (note-taking stage) on your game, and post a copy of your notes on Canvas. Take descriptive notes on game setting, characters, themes Collect, file, and organize screen captures from your game.
H 12-01	Discussion of Game Analysis drafts. Introduce Creative Commons: Remediation, Remixing Copyright, Creative Commons	Prepare a first draft of your Game Analysis on your website.

Week 16	Class topics	Do before class
T 12-06	Class Exercise: Readings and Discussion: Remixing, Copyright, and Creative Commons. . Remix Culture and Amateur Creativity: A Copyright Dilemma Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors Creative Commons: explore the site, look at Use & remix section	Work on Kumu.io network for Game Analysis Assignment
H 12-08	Last Day! Workshop Game Analysis Review drafts / networks	If applicable to your work, choose a Creative Commons license for resources you are sharing on your website. Cite and credit resources that are not yours. Game Analysis Assignment: Rough draft of second Game Analysis: Include direct links to the game resources you are reviewing on itch.io.

Finals Week (12/12 - 12/16)	Do before class
T 12-13	Complete Final Assignment: Game Analysis

DIGIT 100: Introduction to the Digital Humanities

Read the Course Description

Quick links to digital resources

T 08-23

H 08-25

T 08-30

H 09-01

T 09-06

H 09-08

T 09-13

H 09-15

T 09-20

H 09-22

T 09-27

H 09-29

T 10-04

H 10-06

T 10-11

H 10-13

T 10-18

H 10-20

T 10-25

H 10-27

T 11-01

H 11-03

T 11-08

H 11-10

T 11-15

H 11-17

Sun 11-20 - Sat 11-26

T 11-29

H 12-01

T 12-06

H 12-08

T 12-13