In Part I: Architectures of Knowledge (Fall 2022) we studied the shape and construction of our new hybrid historical and cultural record—the analog and digital architectures of historical and cultural collections and data. Once those architectures are in place, new challenges and affordances open up. We can now manipulate historical and cultural data using various forms of computation at different scales, and for different purposes. In this course, we will study these practices as they take place in the Humanities by exploring the tension between two broad but linked concepts in practice and theory: analysis and poesis.
The course combines a seminar preceded by a brief lecture and a digital studio. Every week we will move through our discussions in tandem with hands-on exercises that will serve to illuminate our readings. You will also gain a measure of computational proficiency useful for humanities scholarship. Our approach will be markedly historical, connecting our evolving present to scholarly traditions and ideas spanning continents and centuries. You will also learn to understand and evaluate a few popular and emerging methods and genres of Digital Humanities connected to cultural analytics. We will also dedicate time towards the end of the semester to study the rise of machine learning, and what it may mean for the humanities. Though learning how to master advanced forms of computation in use today is well beyond the scope of this course, I will teach you instead the art of teaching yourselves computation.
(No previous computational experience required. Part I of this course is also not required).