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In this course you will explore the intersection between culture and software in the context of building and manipulating an online database of texts, images, and other media for scholars in the liberal arts. The course is divided into seminar and studio components. As a seminar, we will focus on software as culture, drawing from interpretation theory and the emerging fields of software and code studies. As a studio, you will apply and critique the theory as you build software environments to organize, represent and analyze cultural resources. A knowledge of programming is not required, but familiarity with web technologies is recommended.

Learning Goals

The main goal of this course is to give you the opportunity to become a new kind of scholar, one who is able to use digital media to effectively present ideas and arguments in the academic field of your choice, either for your own work or as part of a faculty-led project. In this regard, shares the main goals of last semester’s Introduction to the Digital Liberal Arts. As a participant in this course, you represent a shift toward a culturally sophisticated approach to the new media, one informed by the traditional values of a liberal arts education—historical consciousness and critical thinking—as well as by a vigorously experimental attitude toward technology. You will approach digital technologies not as passive conduits of information but as symbolic forms that provide the mental scaffolding for knowledge and social life. Toward this end, the course has the following major learning goals—areas in which you will have the opportunity to expand your knowledge and skills:

  • Public Humanities: As opposed to private evaluation and performance, you will be working closely with a team of peers to build a humanities-related project for the public. Your work counts as a real contribution to the public sphere, and we will work hard to make that contribution valuable.
  • Basic Code Literacy: Code is without a doubt the language of the 21st century. In this course, you will be learning basic programming (if you haven’t already). Chances are you won’t be a programmer by the end of the semester, but you will be able to write simple scripts and read some of the work of more advanced coders.
  • Code Critique: As you develop your programming skills, you will also build a critical vocabulary for discussing software and code as cultural objects. Humanists study the human condition, and code has become part of world for better or worse. Most of our readings and your writing in class will challenge and reorient your burgeoning code literacy from the perspective of several disciplines and discourses in the humanities.
  • Peer Evaluation: My involvement in your final grade will be minimal. One of the most important goals of this class is to improve your ability to collaborate. With this goal in mind, you will be responsible for grading each other using a contract- and task-based system.