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HI 534: Theory and Practice of Digital History

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HI 534: Theory and Practice of Digital History 1 Professor Frederico Freitas | History Department | North Carolina State University | ​ ​ Phone: 919 515 3307| Office: Withers 251 | Email: [email protected] ​ ​ ​ HI 534: Wednesdays 1:30 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Tompkins-113 and via Zoom | 3 credit hrs | ​ ​ Spring 2021 | Office Hours: Thursdays and Fridays, 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. via Zoom and by appointment (link on Moodle). ​ ​ Course Website: Moodle ​ HI 534: Theory and Practice of Digital History 1. THE COURSE This course is a hands-on introduction to the interdisciplinary methodologies and tools of digital history. It comprises three parts: 1) one interdisciplinary group project; 2) seminars on the theory and method of digital history; 3) tutorials on specific tools. Group Projects: Students will develop a digital humanities project based on historical ​ questions and sources. This is a group project where students will work with historical data, choose a digital methodology to address historical questions stemming from the data, and produce a final visualization to be presented in class at the end of the semester. Theoretical Seminar: Besides the interdisciplinary group project, students enrolled in HI ​ 534 will also have the opportunity to discuss literature covering different aspects of digital history scholarship, from general questions about the nature of digital humanities to specific approaches such as text mining, spatial history, and network analysis. Tutorials: Students enrolled on HI 534 will also complete tutorials related to the ​ methods studied. They will be introduced to tools for data cleaning and to initial techniques of data visualization. They will learn how to process text corpora through text mining; how to use GIS tools to assess historical data through a spatial approach; and how to build and make sense of a social network of historical actors. This is a course with a DIY ethos, where students will have the opportunity to hone their digital skills in collaborative research projects with students from other disciplines. Course Prerequisites and Restrictive Statements There are no course prerequisites. Students must have graduate standing or PBS status. Course Objectives In this course, students will: ● Develop projects in digital history. Students will work with historical data to form research questions in history and/or public history and use digital tools to address those questions. Projects are collective and the final product consists of an electronic presentation of their project. 2 ● Critique the theoretical underpinnings and the methodological implications of digital humanities techniques such as 3D visualizations, text mining, network analysis, and online mapping. ● Learn how to employ an array of digital methods of data analysis to address issues in history and public history. Learning Outcomes By the end of all course students will be able to: ● Critique uses and abuses of digital tools and methods, and identify the possibilities and shortcomings of digital approaches to humanistic research. ● Procure, clean, and edit qualitative and quantitative historical data through the use of digital tools. ● Manage a digital project, learning how to plan, develop, evaluate, and deliver a digital humanities job in an environment of collaborative research. ● Plan and execute online visualization projects, learning the basics about data visualisation, online mapping, and user experience. In addition to that, the graduate students in this course will be able to: ● Lead an academic discussion session on the methodology of humanities research. Course Structure Participation Completion of readings and participation in class (individual) discussions. More details in Participation Rubric. ​ Presentation on the Once during the course (weeks 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14) Readings students enrolled in HI-534 will give a short presentation (individual) (10 min) on the readings. Students will introduce the authors, highlight the readings’ main ideas and present questions for in-class discussion. Sign up for your ​ presentation here. Tutorials In weeks 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, and 14 students will (individual) complete an out-of-class tutorial, due on Wednesdays at 11:55 pm. More details below. Research Project Group digital history project. Work with historical data to (group project) form an original research question. Use digital tools to answer the question. Final product: a beta version of a digital history project. Present the results as an electronic poster or website at the end of the semester. Evaluation is divided into: Review of Online 2/3. Oral presentation. Check details for this oral Repositories presentation in the Presentation Guidelines. ​ ​ Draft Proposal 2/10. Written proposal, due at 11:55 pm on Moodle. Details in the Proposal Guidelines. ​ ​ 3 Proposal 2/24. Oral presentation and written proposal. Written part due at 11:55 pm on Moodle. Check details for this oral presentation in the Presentation Guidelines. Check details for the ​ written part in the Proposal Guidelines. ​ ​ Preliminary Treatment 3/22—3/26. Oral Presentation. Fifteen-minute office-hours presentation of work done until then. Schedule a Zoom office appointment with the instructor. Final Presentation 4/28. Oral Presentation. Details in the Presentation Guidelines. Final Report 5/5. Written report. Due at 11:55 pm on Moodle. Details in Final Report Guidelines. ​ Grade components The final grade will consist of the following components: Participation 15% Tutorials 15% Presentation on the readings 5% ____ Review of Online Repositories 5% Draft Proposal 5% Proposal 10% Preliminary Treatment 5% Final Presentation 25% Final Report 15% Grading Scale (standard rounding practices followed) A+ 100 – 97% B+ 89 – 87% C+ 79 – 77% D+ 69 – 67% A 96 – 93% B 86 – 83% C 76 – 73% D 66 – 63% A- 92 – 90% B- 82 – 80% C- 72 – 70% D- 62 – 60% F 59 – 0% Meetings Although this is a face-to-face course, meetings will initially take place remotely on Zoom. See details below under “Schedule.” A link for the Zoom meetings can be found on Moodle. ​ Face-to-face meetings will take place at Tompkins-113, a Humanities Lab with computers ​ ​ with the software needed for the tutorials. The door code for the lab is available on Moodle. Some planned face-to-face meetings might also be turned into Zoom meetings if the 4 instructor or the university administration deem it necessary due to health reasons. Students will be warned about any changes in a timely manner. Required Readings Hyperlinks to the readings are available in the “Schedule” section below. There is no need to purchase books and textbooks—all the readings are available online. Required Software Most of the software required for this class is open access and free. The exception to this is SketchUp. Students in HI 534 are required to sign up for a free, web only version of SketchUp: https://www.sketchup.com/plans-and-pricing#for-personal ​ Participation Weeks 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14 - Excellent participants will thoroughly read and consider all of the class readings, engage their fellow students in respectful conversation, and offer considered comments from the readings. Participation grade also is based on the completion of in-class tutorials led by the instructor. Participation will be graded in a 0-5 scale. More details in the Participation Rubric. ​ Tutorials All students are required to complete nine tutorials of relevant digital humanities tools (see “Schedule” below). Tutorials are due on Sundays, at 11:55 pm, of each given week. Grades will be given on a credit/non-credit basis. Tutorials are to be completed outside class, but the instructor might use some portion of the Wednesday meetings to answer questions about it. In the week before a tutorial, the instructor will inform students about the type of files accepted as proof for completion of the tutorial. Extra credit (Optional) -- In addition to the tutorials, students may choose to complete ​ five extra tutorials for Python: William J. Turkel and Adam Crymble, at the Programming Historian (2020): ​ ​ ● Python Introduction and Installation ● Understanding Web Pages and HTML ● Working with Text Files in Python ● Code Reuse and Modularity in Python ● Downloading Web Pages with Python Completion of all the five the following tutorials would give a student an extra credit of 2 points in the final grade. Contact the instructor beforehand if you plan to do the extra-credit tutorials. Communication This course requires students to use Slack, a team collaboration tool, for communication ​ ​ with their colleagues and the instructor. In the first week of classes, you will sign up to the digitalhistory2021 Slack network with your @ncsu.edu mail at ​ ​ ​ ​ digitalhistory2021.slack.com. ​ 5 You can use Slack with a browser but you can also download desktop and mobile apps. ​ ​ Check https://slack.com/resources to learn how to use Slack effectively for team ​ ​ communication. You are also encouraged to meet me via Zoom during office hours (link on Moodle). _________ 2. POLICIES Absences Attendance is mandatory. Poor attendance may significantly lower a student’s final grade. Each unexcused absence means a drop of 1% in the final grade. Five unexcused absences will result in failing the course. Having said that, we know we are all living in an unprecedented situation, and I plan to be flexible and accommodate any Covid-19 related absence. Please contact me (Dr. Freitas) if that is the case. See more details below under the “Covid-19” section below. In the case of absences unrelated to Covid-19, per University regulations, excused absences must fall into one of two categories: sanctioned anticipated situations and documented emergency situations. Anticipated situations (e.g., participation in official University functions, court attendance, religious observances, or military duty) must be submitted in writing at the beginning of the semester or one week prior to the anticipated absence. Emergency absences (e.g., student illness, injury or death of immediate family members) must be verified by the Division of Academic and Student ​ Affairs within one week of returning to class.
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