INTRO TO DH @ BETHEL

Can machines read, think, and communicate? How can digital tools change our understanding of our own past? How do computers and the internet allow us to share our stories and knowledge as student-scholars with a larger audience? The answers to these questions are rooted in the Digital Humanities, a growing scholarly project at the intersection of the Humanities, library science, data analysis, computer science, and web development.

The Humanities are a broad collection of scholarly disciplines ranging from History and Literature, to Philosophy, Art and Music Theory, and Theology. Essentially, they are the study and appreciation of human culture in its various forms. For a long time, they have been considered the “traditional” anchor of the university. Very often, people consider them to occupy the opposite end of the scholarly spectrum from newer disciplines that engage more closely with modern technology, like computer science. In this class, however, we take a radically different approach that attempts to study the Humanities using modern digital tools. This class is open to everyone of varying technological proficiencies. Its primary outcomes will be 1) to facilitate understanding of the Humanities in light of modern technological tools; and 2) to create multi-modal Humanities projects.

Course Description

Introduction to the theory and practice of the digital humanities, or using computing tools to further study within humanities disciplines. Begins to integrate foundational humanities skills like reading, research, critical thinking, and writing with the toolset of 21st century digital life — e.g., coding, data visualization, mapping, text-mining, digital preservation and curation.

Course Objectives

  • Apply sophisticated digital toolset to the humanities to create multimodal projects
  • Develop computing literacy, understand programming fundamentals and their application
  • Develop visual literacy by studying digital design principles
  • Think deeply and ethically about digital life in the 21st century, and articulate Christiano-humanistic points of view through digital assignments

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Intro to DH @ Bethel by Charlie Goldberg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.