AL 285: Introduction to Digital Humanities

http://al285fall2014.wordpress.com/

Ms. Erin Beard

bearder1@msu.edu
Twitter: @ErinEBeard
Office: Wells Hall C744
Office Hours: T 2:30-3:30 or by appt

Class meets:
TTh 12:40 2:00 p.m.
120 Linton Hall

Course Description
As an introduction to Digital Humanities, this course aims to start a conversation about what
DH is, how it functions in academe, and what it means to be a practitioner of Digital
Humanities. While starting this conversation is important, well spend a lot more time doing,
especially in collaboration with peers, DH scholars, and various DH-related organizations at
MSU. During the course, well read articles that discuss DH, explore other projects, analyze
those projects, try out some basic software that you might use in the future, plan a
collaborative class project, and then work on that project. Throughout the course, youll keep a
blog that acts as a reflective space for your reading and work so that you can begin to develop
your own identity as a DH-er. Additionally, youll need a Twitter account so that you can take
a look at the DH community and how we communicate and share ideas. Because collaboration
is such an important part of DH work, you will be expected to participate in class discussions
and projects much more than you would in any other class. Essentially, you and your peers will
create the content for this course. You dont need to have a background in coding or computer
science to be successful this semester.

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this class, you should be able to do the following:
Know the history and different perspectives of DH
Have a better understanding of how you want to define yourself as a practitioner of DH
Understand what the DH community looks like and how you are a part of it
Analyze the goals, methodology, and application of various DH projects
Know about available resourcesaround MSU, on the web, and in terms of software
Plan a DH project with peers and put it into action

Required Texts/Materials
All texts that we use will be free and online. Links are posted on the Wordpress site under the
Readings page. The Resources page will include links to tools and other materials that
youll need to do the work in class. If youd like a print copy of what were reading, youre
more than welcome to order these books online using the ISBNs listed below.

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Debates in the Digital Humanities, ed. Matthew Gold: 978-0816677955

A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Schreibman et al.: 978-1405168069

Other texts will include blogs, tweets, and open access journals. Links to these resources will
be posted on our Wordpress site.

As for PDFs, Id encourage you to find a good method for annotating what you read. You can
print out what you read, or you can find a good app that lets you download a PDF, highlight it,
and take notes on it.

You should also have a laptop that you can bring to class, as well be working on your portfolio,
class project, etc. on occasion during class.

Blog
Attendance and Participation
Online Portfolio
Class Project

Major Assignments

26% (2% per entry)

25%
17%
32%

Grading Scale
This course uses MSUs 4.0 grading scale. The final grade will be calculated with a weighted
average formula and then rounded to the nearest half point. Final course grades will be
rounded to the nearest half grade, except that at least a 1.0 must be earned to receive a 1.0
final course grade. So, for example, a 2.74 could round to a 2.5 course grade; a 2.75 could
round to a 3.0 course grade, and so on. Any final course grade below a 1.0, however, earns a
0.0; thus, a 0.75 would not round to a 1.0, but rather would earn a 0.0 (failure in the course).

Grades will be posted on D2L once I have finished grading them, but I cannot give you an
estimate of your final grade until you complete all major assignments. Note that D2L will not
calculate your final grade as it is simply a way for you to keep track of your grades on individual
assignments.

Assignment Descriptions

Blog
Using Wordpress, youll create your own profile and blog. Youll use the blog to reflect on what
you read, to analyze other DH projects, and to reflect on your work. All of your blogs will be
connected to each other via a main course blog, and as a part of your participation grade,
youll need to read and comment on your peers blogs. Youll complete one entry per week
which are due prior to each Tuesday class; comments are due two days later, on Thursday. Feel

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free to comment before you turn in your blog, but comments should be restricted to that
weeks blog posts. Your blog entries should be at least 500 words. These entries should be
primarily reflective, and you should aim to build your own identity as a DH practitioner with
your writing. Broad topics are listed on the course schedule, and as youre reflecting, you
should try to answer the following questions (you dont need to answer all of them at once, and
youre not limited to them): Can I see myself doing this kind of work in the future? What kinds
of applications do these ideas/tools have beyond my personal interests? Do I find this
interesting? Why/why not? What does this idea/technology do really well and what are its
limitations? What kinds of questions could I ask and answer using this tool? Do I have any
ideas for the final project after reading/doing this?

Attendance and Participation

Since the Digital Humanities highly values collaboration, your participation in class and online
will be a big part of your grade this semester. There are several ways youll do this: in class
discussion, on Twitter, on blog comments, and during the class project. There are a few
concrete things youll be required to do: 1) You need to comment on at least two of your peers
blog posts each week, which are due by each Thursday class. 2) You need to Tweet from your
class account at least twice a week, using the class backchannel. These dont include Tweets
that share your blog entries, retweets, or favorites. 3) You need to contribute to class discussion
every time we meet. If youre nervous or arent really sure how to speak up, talk to me at the
beginning of the semester, and well come up with strategies for you to do so. It will be
impossible to be a passive presence in this class; we want to know about what youre thinking
about, what you find interesting, and the ideas and solutions that you can contribute to our
class! 4) Youll be an active participant in the planning and execution of the course project.

Online Portfolio
Your online portfolio, essentially, will be your Wordpress website. It will be made up of a few
components: a page with links to DH resources around the web, a profile page on which youll
present yourself as a DH-er, your Twitter profile/lists. It will also include your blog and a page
where you introduce and analyze the class project, but those items will be graded separately.
This is something youll work on throughout the entire semester. Every time you find
something DH-related on the web, you should put it onto your resources page. By the end of
the semester, youll have a comprehensive website full of resources that you can use
throughout your career, so you should think ahead and make this useful for yourself now and in
the future. In addition, youll link your Twitter account to your Wordpress site so that your
Tweets show up there. On Twitter, youll build your own DH community by finding and
following DH scholars, retweeting, and sharing your work and others work. Your tweets every
week can be live tweets of your reading or work etc. If youre concerned about your privacy, or
if youre not ready to share all your work under your real name yet, you have the option of a
pseudonym on Wordpress and Twitter. See the privacy policy below.

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Class Project
Well begin this project during the last few weeks of class, and the entire class will work on it
together. Along the way, youll learn how to plan, coordinate, and execute a project. Its
entirely up to all of you how you want this project to work and what you want it to do. As a
launching point, well begin with a short novel of your choice. As a class, well decide on what
we want this novel to be about halfway through the semester. Based on the novel and the
kinds of questions you want to ask about it, youll use most of the tools that weve learned this
semester, and youll build a website that displays your project and its data.

Course Policies

Privacy
Since youll publish quite a bit of material online, its important to think about whether or not
youd like your work to be attached to your name in a public space. While becoming part of
the DH community is important, your online presence can also have consequences for your
future career. If youd prefer to experiment with ideas in a slightly more private way, you have
the option of using a pseudonym for your online identities on Twitter and Wordpress. Youll
need to let me know if you choose a pseudonym. Besides using a pseudonym, you also have
the option of using extra privacy settings on Twitter; see below for more details.

Twitter
If you already have a Twitter account, feel free to use it for this class. Just keep in mind that
your profile and your tweets should be professional, since the goal of using Twitter is to
connect with other DH scholars. If youd like to keep your personal account personal, it might
be a good idea to start a new account for this class. Every time you Tweet for this class, use the
backchannel #al285. If youd like to keep your account private, you have the option of
protecting your tweets. If you do that, youll need to give special permission to myself and the
rest of the class to follow you. You should follow everyone in the class on Twitter within the first
week of the semester.

Wordpress
If you already have a blog on Wordpress, youll need to create a new one for this class (you can
do this under an existing account). I will link each individual blog to the course page for easy
access for comments. If youre not sure how to use certain features on Wordpress, there are
tutorials available on the Wordpress site (the link is available on the Resources page of the
course site). Feel free to customize your site as much as youd like; just be sure that the text is
reasonably readable.

Attendance Policy

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Attendance is mandatory for this class. You are allowed two unexcused absences; further
absences will result in the deduction of a third of a point from your final grade. If you miss a
class, I dont need to know the reason why unless it is because of a death in the family or a
religious holiday. Vacations and work schedule conflicts are not excused. As for lateness, its
something that I dont tolerate because it disrupts the classroom environment. If youre more
than 10 minutes late, Ill mark it as half an absence.

Late Assignments
I wont accept late blog posts or Tweets. If you anticipate that your final project will be late,
you should first of all work something out with the class and then talk to me well in advance of
the deadline.

Correspondence
I am available via e-mail and during office hours or by appointment. If you run into a problem
with technology, email me immediatelyits better to clear up these issues early in the course
and I am more than happy to help you. I am invested in making myself available to you, and I
will respond as soon as possible. Please allow, at most, a full day for me to get back to you,
especially around the time an assignment is due. However, I usually respond faster than that.
You also have the option of Tweeting at me or DMing me. If you have a question that you think
will be relevant to the rest of the class, be sure to use the backchannel so everyone else can
find it, too.

Office Hours
My office hours are on Tuesdays from 2:30-3:30 immediately after class. My office is C744
Wells Hall, which is in the tall office tower wing of the building. I am available to discuss course
material, assignments, etc. I encourage you to take advantage of my office hours in order to
optimize your success in the course. Often, a face-to-face discussion can greatly improve your
understanding and performance.

Academic Integrity
One of the most important principles in higher education is academic integrity. At this point, I
expect that you know the mechanics of citation and what constitutes plagiarism. You are
expected to use the skills you learn in this class to cite properly. I take plagiarism very
seriously: if you plagiarize, you will fail the assignment or the course, depending on its severity.

Michigan State University has adopted the following statement about academic integrity:
1.00 PROTECTION OF SCHOLARSHIP AND GRADES: The principles of truth and honesty are
fundamental to the educational process and the academic integrity of the University; therefore,
no student shall:
1.01 claim or submit the academic work of another as ones own.

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1.02 procure, provide, accept or use any materials containing questions or answers to any
examination or assignment without proper authorization.
1.03 complete or attempt to complete any assignment or examination for another individual
without proper authorization.
1.04 allow any examination or assignment to be completed for oneself, in part or in total, by
another without proper authorization.
1.05 alter, tamper with, appropriate, destroy or otherwise interfere with the research, resources,
or other academic work of another person.
1.06 fabricate or falsify data or results.

Procedures for responding to cases of academic honesty and possible repercussions are
outlined in Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide. They can also be found on
the web at: http://www.msu.edu/unit/ombud/honestylinks.html.

Accommodations for Students with Disabilities

Students with disabilities should contact the Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities to
establish reasonable accommodations. For an appointment with a disability specialist, call
353-9642 (voice), 355-1293 (TTY), or visit myprofile.rcpd.msu.edu.

University Resources for Writers

The following resources are available to you free of charge, and I urge you to make use of
these frequently throughout the semester. Their websites will detail the services they offer and
how to make appointments, which you should do well in advance of the time you need them.
The Writing Center
http://writing.msu.edu
The Learning Resource Center
http://lrc.msu.edu
The English Language Center
http://elc.msu.edu

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Week of

Lecture/Discussion

Lab

Blog (due the following

Tues)

DH History and Perspectives

Th 8/28

Introduction and Syllabus

T 9/2 Th 9/4

What is DH?

Twitter

Reflections on Reading

T 9/9 Th 9/11

History of DH

Doing Stuff with DH

Reflections on Reading

T 9/16 Th 9/18

Disciplinary Perspectives:
Literary Studies and Linguistics

Disciplinary Perspectives:
Multimedia and Writing

Reflections on Reading

DH Resources at MSU
T 9/23 Th 9/25

MATRIX Tour

DH in the Library

Reflections on Tours

Critiquing and Defining the Limits of DH

T 9/30 Th 10/2

Being Critical of DH

Defining Question Areas

Reflections on Reading

Learning and Using Tools

T 10/7 Th 10/9

Command Line

Doing Stuff with Command Reflections on Learning

Line
Command Line

T 10/14 Th 10/16

Data Visualization/Network Using Google Ngram and

Analysis
RAW

Reflections on Data
Visualization

T 10/21 Th 10/23

Gathering and Processing

Data

Building a Corpus

Reflections on Gathering
Data

T 10/28 Th 10/30

Textual Analysis

Using Topic Modeling Tool

Reflections on Textual
Analysis

T 11/4 Th 11/6

Digital Mapping

Using Tableau

Reflections on Digital
Mapping

Planning and Executing a Project

T 11/11 Th 11/13

Planning a Project

Using Basecamp

Reflections on Planning

T 11/18 Th 11/20

Project work time

Project work time

Reflections on Starting
your project

T 11/25 Th 11/27

Project work time

Thanksgivingno class

Reflections on working on
project

T 12/2 Th 12/4

Project work time

Project work time

Blog Post: what you would

do differently

Final Exam: Thursday, December 11 12:45-2:45 p.m.

The Final Project is due before class, and well use the exam time to talk about what worked and didnt work.

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Readings and Homework

All reading and homework should be completed before the class listed. All blog posts are due
before the following Tuesdays class. So, the reflections on tours blog post would be due
before class on 9/30. Blog post comments are due by Thursday. Feel free to comment on
posts before Tuesday, but you should only comment on that weeks posts, not past ones.
DDH=Debates in the Digital Humanities; CDH= Blackwell Companion; WP = link on Wordpress
*please note that readings and homework are subject to changeIll notify you if they do.

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Th Aug 28: Intro/syllabus
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T Sept 2: What is DH?

Lisa Spiro, This Is Why We Fight: Defining the Values of Digital Humanities DDH
The Digital Humanities and Humanities Computing: An Introduction CDH
Lisa Spiro, Getting Started in the Digital Humanities WP

Th Sept 4: Twitter
Set up your Twitter account
Look at the Getting Started with Twitter link WP
Ryan Cordell, How to Start Tweeting WP

T Sept 9: History of DH
Susan Hockey, The History of Humanities Computing CDH

Th Sept 11: Doing Stuff with DH

Stephen Ramsay, The Hermeneutics of Screwing Around WP
Nick Montfort, Toward a Theory of Interactive Fiction WP

T Sept 16: Literary Studies/Linguistics

Jan Haji, Linguistics Meets Exact Sciences CDH
Thomas Rommel, Literary Studies CDH

Th Sept 18: Multimedia/Writing

Rockwell and Mactavish, Multimedia CDH
William Winder, Robotic Poetics CDH

T Sept 23: MATRIX

Take a look at the MATRIX website WP
Write down questions that you might have for MATRIX

Th Sept 25: DH in the library

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Abby Smith, Preservation CDH

Write down questions that you might have for the librarians

T Sept 30: Being Critical of DH

Richard Grusin, The Dark Side of Digital Humanities Differences 25.1 (2014)
Matthew Kirschenbaum, What is Digital Humanities, and Why Are They Saying Such
Terrible Things about It? Differences 25.1 (2014)
Youll need to find these journal articles through the library website.

Th Oct 2: Defining Questions

Trevor Owens, Where to Start? On Research Questions in the Digital Humanities WP

T Oct 7: Command Line

Adeline Koh, More Hack, Less Yack WP
Stephen Ramsay, On Building WP

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Th Oct 9: Command Line lab
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T Oct 14: Data Visualization/Network Analysis

Willard McCarty, Modeling: A Study in Words and Meaning CDH
Franco Moretti, Introduction to Maps, Graphs, Trees WP

Th Oct 16: Using Google ngram and RAW

Mess around with RAW and Google ngram WP
Put together a spreadsheet on class blog comments
Scott Weingart, Demystifying Networks WP

T Oct 21: Gathering and Processing Data

Stephen Ramsay, Databases CDH
Perry Willett, Electronic Texts: Audiences and Purposes CDH
Digital Library Programmer Devin Higgins will be giving a guest lecture today

Th Oct 23: Building a corpus

Today well start building the corpus for the final project in class.

T Oct 28: Textual Analysis

Jennifer Vinopal, "Biases and Errors in Our Tools WP
Matthew Jockers, On Distant Reading and Macroanalysis WP

Th Oct 30: Topic Modeling Tool lab

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Explore the TMT before class WP

Miriam Posner, Very basic strategies for interpreting results from the Topic Modeling
Tool WP
Alan Liu, The Meaning of the Digital Humanities PMLA 128.2 (March 2013)
Youll need to find this article on the library website.

T Nov 4: Digital Mapping

Ill send an email about this reading

Th Nov 6: Tableau
Explore Tableau before class WP

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T Nov 11: Planning
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Th Nov 13: Basecamp

Download Basecamp and set up your account

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T Nov 18: Project
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Th Nov 20: Project
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T Nov 25: Project
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Th Nov 27: Turkey
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T Dec 2: Project
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Th Dec 4: Project
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Final Exam: Thursday, December 11 12:45-2:45 p.m.

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