DIGITAL HUMANITIES

Syllabus

This course introduces theory and practice in digital humanities. The readings discuss textual editing and documentation, networking and intellectual property, digital production and digital aesthetics. As the "practice" component of the course we will mark-up and publish a nineteenth-century biography and a collection of Civil War letters. Those taking the course will learn to use editing software, basic concepts used for publishing information on the web (style sheets, markup languages, documents and databases) and acquire some hands-on experience with working collaboratively in the digital environment.

Minimal experience with computing is required; the expectation is that those with more will lend a hand to those with less, and our object will be to start where we are and move everybody several steps down the path to computer fluency. You will need to use a laptop computer to class.

Evaluation is based on four assignments and a final examination: TEI assignment I: 10%; TEI assignment II: 20%; CW Letter Markup: 10%; CW Letter Annotation: 20%; participation: 20% final examination: 20%.

Books. Primary texts (at the bookstore): Peter Shillingsburg, From Gutenburg to Google ; Jerome McGann, radiant textuality; Willard McCarty, Text and Genre in Reconstruction (online) Yochai Benkler, Wealth of Networks (online). Tools (purchase online): oXygen xml editor

Schedule (subject to modification!)

Week 1 (January 18-20) Introduction; McCarty, pp. 93-117 (Galey)

Week 2 (January 25-27) McCarty, pp. 145-63 (Robinson); Shillingsburg, pp. 1-39

Week 3 (February 1-3 Shillingsburg, pp. 40-79

Week 4 (February 8-10) Shillingsburg, pp. 80-126

Week 5 (February 15-17) MaCarty pp. 119-44 (Vanhoutte)

Assignment 1: Redding Vol I. in TEI due 15 February

Week 6 (February 22-24) Shillingsburg, pp. 126-50

Week 7 (March 1-3) Benkler, pp. 1-58

SPRING BREAK (March 5-13)

Week 8 (March 15-17) Benkler, pp. 60-127

Assignment 2: Redding Vol. II in TEI due 15 March

Week 9 (March 22-24) McGann, pp. 1-52

Week 10 (March 29-31) McGann, pp. 53-74

Assignment 3: Civil War Letters markup due 29 March

Week 11 (April 5-7) 75-103

Week 12 (April 12-13) McGann, pp. 105-35

Assignment 4: Civil War Letters annotations due 12 April

Week 13 (April 19-21) McGann, pp. 137-60

Week 14 (April 26-28) McCarty pp. 183-202 (Eggert)

Week 15 (May 3) Conclusion

Final Examination: May 7 7:45 AM