Indiana University ILS Digital Humanities Course Book

Syllabus & Course Readings

Digital Humanities
ILS 657 Fall 2015
 
Instructor: Dr. Tassie Gniady,
                  Cyberinfrastructure for Digital Humanities Manager, Research Technologies, UITS
                  ctgniady@iu.edu
Office Hours: Thursdays, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Scholars Commons
 
Course Description: Digital Humanities has been at the center of a lot of press lately: humanities disciplines see it opening new ways to study their subjects; libraries are able to make preservation, access, and delivery decisions with a suite of new tools available to them; the general public is able to see more of the work that goes on in institutions as projects are made available on the web. However, this new style of scholarship and democratization of access is not without its conflicts: there has been pushback from feminists and POC—who see DH as inheriting the values of a world of hard and software that is traditionally male, traditionally white, and traditionally hierarchal—and even traditional scholars—who see themselves as being “forced” to use computing in their work. In this course we will study the origins of Digital Humanities, some of the issues surrounding it, and ultimately how to do responsible, exciting work in the field.
 
Computer/Software Usage: While most assignments may be completed on the Macs in the lab, there are times when having access to a PC upon which you have admin privileges will make your life much easier. Similarly, there are software packages you may be required to install or familiarize yourself with ahead of class. Classes for which this is true will be marked with an asterisk.
 
Canvas: The syllabus, class assignments, and announcements, will be made available in Canvas [canvas.iu.edu]. Updates to the class schedule or assignments will always be announced in class and posted in Canvas.
 
Scalar: Together, we will be constructing a course book in Scalar (http://scalar.usc.edu/). The version we will be using is in beta-testing, so we will learn about helping another group launch and debug in real time.
 
 
Assignments:
 
AssignmentPoints (out of 1000)Due Date
Social Media Reporting100List of those you are following, September 9; Report, November 12
Data Set Description + Phase 150September 17
Data Set Phase 250October 6
Scalar Contributions200Ongoing
Final Project Proposal100October 21
Wikipedia Edit-a-thon100October 19
Final Project400December 10
 
Data Set
We will have lab assignments most weeks. To facilitate these exercises and to give you raw material for final projects, you will assemble a dataset focused on a particular topic. We will be working with the Humanities Information course, and you will be paired with a student from that class who will become your Humanities Librarian consultant. S/he will help you to find materials for your dataset.
 
Below are the minimum requirements: 
You may supplement these minimum requirements with other data: audio, video, etc.
 
For example, a dataset might consist of the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote about women’s rights, the French revolution, travel, conduct, and other myriad topics. You might focus on the travel narrative and images in the dataset might include paintings and illustrations of the places mentioned. The spreadsheet would then focus on the dates/places/events in the narrative. Your Humanities Librarian Consultant will also be doing assignments based on this material, so use this resource to its fullest extent!
 
Description
During the third week of class (September 10) you will begin to write a page in our Scalar book that: 
Phase 1 of your dataset will be due on September 17. Phase 1 includes: 
Phase 2
By October 6 you will add language to the Scalar page that 
Social Media Reporting
Much of the scholarly discourse in the digital humanities occurs in social media sites and people via outlets such as blogs and Twitter. As part of our course, you are asked to follow and report on some of these conversations. Over the course of the semester you must follow at least three active blogs (one or more posts per month) and four active Twitter feeds (multiple tweets per day).
By the end of class on September 10th, you should have posted a list (with names and links) of the 3 blogs and 4 Twitter feeds you are following this semester, along with remarks about how/why you chose this group (it needs to be mixed: not all one gender, not all people at large universities, people from various ethnic backgrounds--ask for suggestions!). You will create a page in our class Scalar book and post this material there. If you would It would be best to show up with a rough draft of your post written in the word processing application of your choice.
 
Later in the semester you will post a 750-1000 word discussion in our Scalar book about what you've learned from following these social media outlets and how they have influenced your thinking about the topics of our course.
 
Wikipedia Edit-a-thon
You will choose an article that dovetails with the subject of your final project. I will help you with the visual editor, but there will be a video to watch ahead of time about why getting more people from different backgrounds involved in Wikipedia matters. We will have a collaborative edit-a-thon the week of October 19th with the Humanities Information course.
 
Final Project
As part of this course you will develop a digital humanities project. Throughout the semester we will see many examples of the different types of projects done in digital humanities. Some possibilities include:The project will be part of our Scalar Course Book and will include roughly 2000 words of text that provides an overview of the project, the motivations behind the project, and a discussion of the development process. By October 14th, you will submit a project proposal and plan. I will provide a template for the proposal.
 
 
Schedule
 
August 27 (Week 1): Introductions (Scalar) 
September 3 (Week 2): What is DH, what is its history? 
September 10 (Week 3): Perspectives (Wikipedia)Social Media List Due by Wednesday, September 9, 5 p.m.
 
September 17 (Week 4): Digital Humanities and Libraries (Omeka)
Guest Speaker: Adam HochstetterData Set Description + Phase 1 Due
 
September 24 (Week 5): Humanities Mapping
Guest Speaker: Theresa Quill
Please be sure to bring your spreadsheet of locations. 
*October 1 (Week 6): Digital Publishing Part 2 (TEI)
Guest Speaker: John Walsh
Prior to class students should install Oxygen XML Editor on their personal machines. It is available for Mac and Windows on http://iuware.iu.edu/, under the “Development Tools” category.
Readings:The exercises referenced in the videos and additional resources are available at: http://dcl.ils.indiana.edu/intromarkup/.
 
*October 8 (Week 7): Text Analysis (R: The Basics)
Come to class having already created a Karst account: https://kb.iu.edu/d/bezu.
Also download and install RStudio.Data Set Phase 2 Due.
 
October 15 (Week 8): Text Analysis Redux (RStudio on Karst)
October 19 (Monday): Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, 4p.m.-8p.m.

October 21: Final Project Proposals Due, 5 p.m.

October 22: No Class
 
October 29 (Week 10): Topic Modeling with R (RStudio)We will also be looking at each other's projects and providing early critiques.
Final Project Proposal due by Wednesday, October 14, 5 p.m.

November 5 (Week 11): Project Analysis and Intro to Network AnalysisBuild strong foundation for project by consulting with experts. Time allotted in class.


*November 12 (Week 12): Network Analysis & Social Media Reporting
Install Cytoscape on your personal computer.
This class, we will build on our network graphs and have social media reporting. No reading! 

 
November 19 (Week 13): Digital Cultural Heritage (Photogrammetry)
You need to have completed two photo shoots: one of an IU statue assigned to you and another of an object of your choosing. Download Memento to upload photos and have them processed--you probably need to have them uploaded by Wednesday night at the latest for them to process by class on Thursday. See Canvas for shooting instructions and sample photos. You need to check out a DSLR camera from Digitization Services in the Scholars Commons--there is only one and you may have it for 24 hours. Plan accordingly. Please see Canvas assignment. 
November 26 (Week 14): Thanksgiving, NO CLASS
 
December 3 (Week 15): Project Workshop
 
December 10 (Week 16): Project Presentations
Final Project due by midnight
 
 
POLICIES
Grading Policy
 
The following definitions of letter grades have been defined by student and faculty members of the Curriculum Steering Committee and have been approved by the faculty as an aid in evaluation of academic performance and to assist students by giving them an understanding of the grading standards of the Department of Information and Library Science.
 
GradeGPADefinition
A (95-100%)4.0Outstanding achievement. Student performance demonstrates full command of the course materials and evinces a high level of originality and/or creativity that far surpasses course expectations.
A- (90-94.5%)3.7Excellent achievement. Student performance demonstrates thorough knowledge of the course materials and exceeds course expectations by completing all requirements in a superior manner.
B+ (87-89.5%)3.3Very good work. Student performance demonstrates above-average comprehension of the course materials and exceeds course expectations on all tasks as defined in the course syllabus.
B (84-86.5%)3.0Good work. Student performance meets designated course expectations, demonstrates understanding of the course materials, and is at an acceptable level.
B- (80-83.5%)2.7Marginal work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete understanding of course materials.
C+ (77-79.5%)
C (73-76.5%)		2.3
2.0		Unsatisfactory work. Student performance demonstrates incomplete and inadequate understanding of course materials.
C- (70-72.5%)
D+ (67-69.5%)
D (63-66.5%)
D- (60-62.5%)		1.7
1.3
1.0
0.7		Unacceptable work. Course work performed at this level will not count toward the MLS or MIS degree. For the course to count towards the degree, the student must repeat the course with a passing grade.
F0Failing. Student may continue in program only with the permission of the Dean.
 
 
Academic dishonesty
There is extensive documentation and discussion of the issue of academic dishonesty in the Indiana University “Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Conduct.” The section on Plagiarism states:
 
3. Plagiarism
“Plagiarism is defined as presenting someone else’s work, including the work of other students, as one’s own. Any ideas or materials taken from another source for either written or oral use must be fully acknowledged, unless the information is common knowledge. What is considered “common knowledge” may differ from course to course.
  1. A student must not adopt or reproduce ideas, opinions, theories, formulas, graphics, or pictures of another person without acknowledgment.
  2. A student must give credit to the originality of others and acknowledge indebtedness whenever:
    1. directly quoting another person’s actual words, whether oral or written;
    2. using another person’s ideas, opinions, or theories;
    3. paraphrasing the words, ideas, opinions, or theories of others, whether oral or written;
    4. borrowing facts, statistics, or illustrative material; or
    5. offering materials assembled or collected by others in the form of projects or collections without acknowledgment”
 
From: http://www.iu.edu/~code/code/responsibilities/academic/index.shtml
Indiana University and School of Information and Library Science policies on academic dishonesty will be followed. Students found to be engaging in plagiarism, cheating, and other types of dishonesty will receive an F for the course. As a rule of thumb, when in doubt, cite the source.