DigHT 215 Introduction to Digital Humanities

In many ways, the humanities are already digital: whether you’re working on The Odyssey or Only Revolutions, most of us do our research, writing, and sometimes reading at a computer. In these situations, the computer replaces the index, the pen, and the printed book. In a sense, then, the computer has simply sped up processes with which humanists were already familiar. But what might we gain if we begin to use the computer to do something that only it can do? How would it change our understanding of a novel if we laid it out in geographical space? What would it mean to look at every frame of a film at once? What could we discover if we read everything a prolific author wrote, in just two weeks? And what would we learn if we turned the tables and decided to look at digital objects the same way we typically look at novels or films? In this course, we will consider these questions as we explore the field of digital humanities (DH). Through readings and various projects, we will familiarize ourselves with the concepts, tools, and debates of and within DH.