Week 1
8/24 — Welcome to the Course
Introductions, course overview, and what to expect this semester.
Create your Canvas intro
Assignment
Introduction
Due: Before First Class
8/26 — Introduction to Digital Humanities Projects & the Course
Practicum 0 and 1 — Due: In-Class Project
Please come in prepared to discuss some of the projects in the Toolbox.
(Navigating the) Digital (as a No-Code, Low-Code, Minimal-Computing) Humanist
Readings
- Navigating the Global Digital Humanities: Insights from Black Feminism,
- Micro DH: Digital Humanities at the Small Scale,
- Introduction: The Questions of Minimal Computing,
- The User, the Learner and the Machines We Make,
- Minimal Definitions,
To Do
- Look up the terms “no-code,” “low-code,” and “minimal computing.”
- Complete the WashU AI literacy module now so that you have access to it in the next few weeks.
Practicum 1
Assignment
Introductions and Exploration of DH projestcs
Due: Prior to our next class
Week 2: data & introduction to african dh, black dh, & postcolonial dh
8/31 — Making a Case for: Black DH, African DH, Decolonial DH
Readings
- Making a Case for the Black Digital Humanities,
- Decolonizing the Digital Humanities in Theory and Practice,
- Introduction to The Digital Black Atlantic,
- Toward a Diversity Stack: Digital Humanities and Diversity as Technical Problem,
- Review 3 of the following sites from the University of Kansas African DH project resource page (skip the GPP). Be prepared to offer an in-depth walk-through with the class: africandh.ku.edu/resources
Practicum 2
Assignment
Exploration of Low Code in Projects
Due: Prior to class
9/2 — Humanities Data and Metadata, Part 1
Practicum 2 — Due
Readings
- Understanding Metadata: What Is Metadata, and What Is It For?
- Going Meta on Metadata,
- Digital Humanities Projects and Standards: Let’s Get This Conversation Started!
- Data Before the Fact,
- Digital African Literatures and the Coloniality of Data,
Explore These Examples
- plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/digital-heritage/root-gathering-bag-3
- plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu
- baltimoreuprising2015.org
- Mukurtu CMS: An Indigenous Archive and Publishing Tool
Practicum 3
Due
Conceptual Dataset Exercise
Due Prior to Class
Week 3: humanities data & metadata
9/7 — No Class
Labor Day — university holiday, no class meeting.
9/9 — Humanities Data and Metadata, Part 2
Lab 1 — Due: In-Class Project
Readings
- Big? Smart? Clean? Messy? Data in the Humanities,
- Data Cleaning: Categories, Techniques, and Platforms
- OpenRefine Guide,
Before Class
- Download OpenRefine — please do this before class.
- Create a Claude account.
Review These Links
Practicum 4
Due
In-Class Data Cleaning Project
Due during class today — 9/9
Week 4: data visualization
9/14 — Network Analysis (Lily)
Readings
- Cheat Sheet: Social Network Analysis for Humanists,
- Postcolonial Network Analysis of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,
- Introduction to Network Analysis and Representation, — click the tabs for “centrality,” “clustering coefficient,” etc. for brief interactive tutorials.
- Network Theory, Plot Analysis,
Practicum 4a & 5
Assignment
The Data for Your Project and Network Models
Due: Prior to class
9/16 — Digital Visualization: Maps
Meet in the library with Sarah Swanz
Explore These Visualization Projects
- Mapping Inequality
- The Decolonial Atlas
- Urban Africa
- Dante’s Inferno — not related to the course, but very interesting
Practicum 6
Assignment
Mapping and Data Visualization
Due: Next class
We will begin Practicum 6 with Sarah Swanz. Continue to work on it until the submission date (next class).
Week 5
9/21 — Digital Visualization: Maps, Charts, and Graphs [Practicum 6] (Natasha)
Readings
- Finding the Right Tools for Mapping,
- Visualizing Sovereignty,
- Dividing Lines: Mapping Platforms Like Google Earth Have the Legacies of Colonialism Programmed Into Them,
- A Review of “Two Plantations”,
- Unmapping the Caribbean: Toward a Digital Praxis of Archipelagic Sounding,
Explore These Visualization Projects
- Slave Revolt in Jamaica, 1760–1761
- Mapping Inequality
- Renewing Inequality
- The Decolonial Atlas
- Two Plantations (or archived version)
Practicum 6
Assignment
Mapping and Data Visualization
Due: Before class
9/23 — Digital Archives (Pilar)
Readings
- Introduction: Beyond Digital Hype and Digital Anxiety — focus especially on the “Sixteen Guiding Digital Preservation Axioms” (pp. 4–9).
- On Collections as Data Imperative,
- Generative Tensions: Building a Digital Project on Early African American Race Film,
- Colonial Violence and the Postcolonial Digital Archive
- Markup Bodies: Black [Life] Studies and Slavery [Death] Studies at the Digital Crossroads,
Explore These Examples
- Early Caribbean Digital Archive
- The Colored Conventions Project — read/watch the Introduction, Principles, and The Colored Conventions Project in Three Videos (watch all three); explore the Digital Records; download and explore the CCP Corpus; explore Exhibits (select at least one to explore in depth or skim).
- As accompaniment to Johnson’s essay, explore Slave Voyages (including the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database).
- Revisualize Archives
Week 6: text analysis
9/28 — Text Analysis, Part 1 (Lily)
Practicum 5 — In-Class Lab
Readings
- Coding for the Many, Transforming Knowledge for All: Annotating Digital Documents,
- Text Analysis for Thought in the Black Atlantic
- Austin Clarke’s Digital Crossings
Explore These Examples
Practicum 7
Topic Models
Due: Prior to Class
9/30 — Text Analysis, Part 2
In-Class Lab
Week 7- fall break
10/5 — No Class
Fall Break — no class meeting.
10/7 — Meet in the Library
Session with Harper Tooch — Room Olin A07
Explore These Projects
- Explore this project designed by African Digital Heritage: Rendered stills of the Kamiriithu Theatre 3D Reconstruction.
- They would like to know your experience with their project. If you are willing to write a few sentences or a short paragraph, please send it to me.
- Explore the Gede Ruins Virtual Tour.
- Explore Black Rhino VR’s portfolio.
Week 8
10/12 — Digital Storytelling and Digital/Social Media (Natasha)
Readings
- Hulu: Your Attention Please,
- Media and Cultural Hybridity in the Digital Humanities,
- Digital Queer Witnessing: Testimony, Contested Virtual Heritage, and the Apartheid Archive in Soweto, Johannesburg
- SHGIS Social Justice History Platform (Preview),
- Signifying Shade as We #RaceTogether Drinking Our #NewStarbucksDrink ‘White Privilege Americana Extra Whip’
- From Google Doodles to Facebook: Nostalgia and Visual Reconstructions of the Past in Nigeria,
10/14 — Project Pitch
In Class
Come prepared to go over your proposal verbally in class. We will all read each other’s proposals as well. We will spend roughly 20–30 minutes per person, so please come in with a 5–8 minute introductory spiel on your work. A PowerPoint or handouts of some kind would be a useful aid for this.
We will also read through the document you uploaded together, workshop the idea, engage with your opening remarks, and offer suggestions, feedback, etc.
Project Proposal
Due Before Class
DH Project Proposal
Directions: 2 — DH Project Proposal
Week 9-15: co-working sessions
On Co-Working Sessions
Co-working sessions are productive class meetings dedicated to progress on your project. Depending on the day, you’ll work with the class on your project, meet with me one-on-one, or meet with people across campus who can support your thinking and your work.
Week 14: 11/25- no class: thanksgiving break
Week 16: final presentations