HCCP: Humanities Computing Certificate Program and A&L 881
Humanities Computing: Teaching and Researching with Technology
Fall 2005
Fridays, 10:20am-1:10pm, 317 EBH
All new and redesigned. This Certificate Program (and A&L 881) focuses on developing a practical and theoretical foundation and set of best practices for incorporating computing technologies into research and teaching in the humanities (and social sciences). Participants who successfully complete the program (or A&L 881) will receive a Humanities Computing Certificate from Matrix.
The course will be taught in a all-new computer lab (317 EBH) that contains both PCs and Macs and full multimedia services.
Participants are encouraged to take the course for academic credit by registering for A&L 881 (although the program is free for all A&L Graduate Students). Taking the course is a more attractive option for graduate students who would like the course to appear on their official transcripts, and now that Graduate Teaching Assistants get 9 credits paid per term by the university (as opposed to only 6 credits), this option is also more financially feasible.
Description
Information technology has revolutionized our world and our work, as small, fast, cheap and interconnected digital devices make previously unimagined innovations possible. What was once intractable and unthinkable is now mundane and can be done in the palm of the hand. Computers and information technology play an indispensable role in everyday life for people in business, corporations, the academy, government, and public service.
This transformation of life and letters has already produced exciting developments in the past decade: asynchronous and real-time web communications on a global scale; the replacement of the card catalog with globally-accessible online catalogs; the preservation and replication of priceless endangered manuscripts, visual art, film, and sound through dynamic digital scanning, graphics, and storage technologies; the mapping of the human genome through the combined power of massive databases and computer networks; the advent of multimedia as essential to the undergraduate classroom and learning experience.
The power and speed of browsers and networks are exciting because they bring us valuable stores of information, allowing people to easily work with and combine text, images, numbers, audio, and video. Yet technology alone will not take us into this age. Successful technologies use rich content. Web sites, virtual environments, multi-media applications, learning simulations, computer games, all need art, words, music, choreography, and design to bring them to life. Beyond preparing students to participate in this work, universities must also addresses the fundamental ways information technologies are affecting how people do their research and teaching in humanities and social sciences. Data analysis applications, 3-d and computer modeling, global networking, simulations, all will change the ways faculty members and graduate students do their work in the Humanities and Social Sciences. New ways of doing intellectual work will be the norm.
To this end, this course will provide students with an overview of the discipline of Humanities Computing and its varied applications for teaching and research. Topics covered will focus on current movements and trends within the discipline and should help students to situate their own research and teaching interests within the broader framework of Humanities Computing. Existing research methodologies and teaching projects will be showcased and assessed. Topics could include but are by no means limited to: digitization of text, sound, video, and images; hypertext design and delivery; databases; text-analysis; information architecture; interface usability; information and project management; test markup languages; electronic publishing and dissemination; and computers and culture. On successful completion of the course students will be able to situate their own research interests within the larger context of humanities computing, evaluate existing methodologies and projects, consider the ability of computer systems to represent knowledge, and analyze the impact of technology on research and teaching in the humanities.
Course Outline: The course will be divided into 9 units that will cover
- History of Humanities Computing
- Internet Research
- Structured Documents
- Document Design
- Project Management
- Digitization Projects
- Interactives
- Text Analysis
- Geographic Information System (GIS)
During the course we will be using a number of software programs, including Endnotes, Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, among others. We will also cover scanning and digitizing media; XML, XHTML, and CSS; PHP and MYSQL, among others.
Requirements
We will be doing a number of short exercises throughout the semester both during and outside of class. Completion of these and participation will be a key part of the grade. The primary focus, however, will be on completing a seminar project that will be divided into a set of sequential steps to be completed over the course of the semester: Workflow, Proposal, Wireframe, Mockup, Draft, and Completed Project.
Student Evaluation
Students will be evaluated on their participation in class sessions and online exercises and the quality of their projects (evaluation at each stage of the project will be done in consultation with the student)..
Completion of the Program
- This course is designed so that participants can complete the course within one academic semester.
- Participants who successfully complete the Program will receive a Humanities Computing Certificate from Matrix. Those enrolled in A&L 881 will also receive credit for the course and a certificate.