4AAV1003: Introduction to Digital Humanities

Studying a humanities subject with the aid of a computer means far more than simply browsing the Web, downloading files, searching them, and writing essays. These are important uses of computing, but they are only the beginning. The greatest benefits come from learning how to think with your computer. When you do that, about the objects of study in any discipline of the arts and humanities, you are doing what has become known as digital humanities. This one-semester module introduces you to software tools that scholars commonly use to think about the contemporary and historical artefacts which comprise our cultural inheritance. The transferable skills that you will learn in this module, although valuable in any area of study, are not confined to scholarly work but are applicable to all situations in which careful reasoning with sources of any kind takes place.

Timetable Semester 2: Wednesday 14:00 - 16:00, Maughan Library PAWS Room LG.69.
By the end of this module you will be able to:

• recognise questions for which computing is appropriate and match them to digital methods
• apply these methods creatively and assess the results
• find online resources efficiently and evaluate their applicability to your work
• construct and publish your own web pages
• use electronic tools to analyse the content of a text
• use software to visualize and analyse humanities data
• design and construct a simple database to manage and explore humanities data
• understand the possibilities and limitations of computing as it is commonly used

This is a 15 credit module for first and second year undergraduate students and is offered in both the Autumn and Spring terms. Beginner's competence and knowledge of word-processing and Web access are assumed.