The list below provides examples of pedagogical materials featuring some of the methods and tools we will be learning in this institute. Some of the assignments have been developed by class instructors, some by librarians, and some collaboratively. This non-exhaustive list is offered to give you a sense of what “textual data and digital texts” can mean in the undergraduate classroom. We offer these examples as a starting place both for our discussions about the possibilities and limits of the methods and tools we’ll learn, as well as for our imagining of what we might do in our own teaching.
Note: There are many other examples, and we’ve started a topic on the discussion board (“Examples”) where you can post any that you come across that you’d like to share with our group.
Assignments
In the assignments we’ve selected, the rationale and discussion of the framing questions are more often addressed elsewhere in the course than in the assignment description to which we link.
- Indexing Pamela (Tool used: Voyant; text analysis), https://github.com/rbuurma/rise-2017/blob/master/Assignments/Rise_assignment_3.md
- Topic Modeling the 1760s (Tool used: MALLET; topic modeling), https://github.com/rbuurma/rise-2017/blob/master/Assignments/Rise_assignment_7.md
- The above two examples come from an excellent set of digital humanities assignments developed by Rachel Buurma for an undergraduate class on the rise of the novel. You can see the whole list of assignments here.
- Distant Reading Duffy (Tool used: Voyant; text analysis), http://www.briancroxall.net/s15dh/assignments/distant-reading-duffy/
- Using and Understanding MALLETT (Tool used: MALLETT; topic modeling), http://digitalhistory.blogs.rice.edu/2014/01/31/homework-3-using-and-understanding-mallet/
- Omeka Archive on Sherlock Holmes (Tool used: Omeka; digital exhibit), https://sherlockholmeslondondh.wordpress.com/online-assignment-2-omeka-archive/
- Visualizing Slave Voyages Data (Tool used: Tableau; data visualization), https://leadr-msu.github.io/data-visualization-east-african-slave-voyages/
- See more class tutorials developed by LEADR (Lab for the Education and Advancement in Digital Research @ Michigan State U) here
Final Class Product
- Stories from the First Great Migration to Philadelphia (Tools used: Omeka; digital exhibit), https://goinnorth.org/
- Georgia Civil Rights Cold Cases (Tool used: website; digital exhibit), https://coldcases.emory.edu/georgia-cold-cases/ (final product featuring work by undergraduates in a class taught over several years)
- Fanzine Archive (Tool used: Omeka; digital exhibit), http://fanzines.lmc.gatech.edu/ (final assignment of Lauren Klein’s “Media, Materiality, and Archives” course)
Syllabi
We have selected just a few classes that contextualize the instrumentality or mechanics of digital methods within debates about interpretation, power, history, and identity.
- The Rise of the Novel, taught by Rachel Buurma, https://github.com/rbuurma/rise-2017
- Introduction to Digital Humanities course, taught by Miriam Posner http://miriamposner.com/classes/dh101f17/assignments/reading-schedule/
- Posner has wonderful tutorials on many tools, and the full schedule linked here shows how she embeds them within a distinctly humanistic approach to data
- W. E. B. DuBois and Digital Humanities course, taught by Roopika Risam https://elearning.salemstate.edu/courses/1104221
- Digital History Methods course, taught by Caleb McDaniel http://digitalhistory.blogs.rice.edu/syllabus
And more…
You can find many compendia of assignments, tutorials, workshops, and courses with a digital humanities component. We’ve linked to a few in “Other Resources” listed in the institute schedule.