LIS 9372 – DH and LIS

Digital Humanities and Library and Information Science

LIS 9372L-001 (Summer 2015)

Instructor: Kim Martin

Thursdays 6:00-8:50 pm

Course Objectives
Course Evaluation
Students
Course Outline and Readings

Course Description:
DH, or the Digital Humanities, is a growing area of study that sees scholars from traditionally text-driven disciplines (Languages and Literatures, History, Philosophy, etc) experiment with and develop technologies that drive their scholarship into new and exciting areas. The library has always played an important role to humanities scholars, and the ongoing digitization, organization, and accessibility of library material will help to shape the future of DH. This course will serve as an introduction for LIS students, surveying the beginning of DH, its growth over the past two decades, and contemplating what the future holds for DH and the librarians involved in its constantly fluctuating path.

Students will be exposed to a variety of DH methods, sources, texts, tools, and conferences. They will be encouraged to take part in the DH network by participating online via Twitter and blog posts.

Course Objectives:

1. To introduce the concept of digital humanities and its relationship to library and information science.
2. To increase awareness of the potential issues surrounding digitization and accessibility of library materials.
3. To expose students to the wide breadth of tools necessary to support DH scholars in an academic institution.

Course Evaluation:

In class participation (10%): This class will function largely as a seminar course with a hands-on learning component. In order for us all to benefit from our time spent together, it is necessary to participate in discussions, and to attend all of the courses.

Online participation (15%): This will take place in the form of three blog posts which are to be sent to me either by email or online via Twitter. The themes are as follows, and are required to be handed in on Weeks 4, 6, and 10. More information regarding these will be handed out in Week Three.

Themes (one of each of the following):

1) Tool critique; 2) Article review; 3) Blog Post response

Literature Review (20%): This assignment should provide a clear and concise examination of either a methodological approach or an overview of a discipline-specific to DH. Topics are to be discussed with me in class on Week Three.

Seminar/Workshop Lead (15%): During the class you will be asked to lead either a seminar discussion (Digital Disciplines) or hands-on exercises (Digital Methods). A sign up sheet will be handed out in Week Two.

Final Assignment (40%): This piece, due in Week Twelve, can take a number of formats. Three options are listed below, but you may also come and talk to me if you have another idea. I will outline the mandatory requirements for the assignment in Week Three.

Option 1: DH Tool concept paper

With the knowledge you have gained throughout the course, you are to create and design a tool prototype for digital humanities scholars. You must explain the reason your tool is needed, who would use it, what problems it might solve, and how/where it might be implemented.

Option 2: Digital Preservation Plan

Find 5 different items that you believe would be of interest to a future humanities scholar (texts, images, objects, etc). Document these materials digitally and create a mini-exhibit of this material. Write a critical reflection on this process, being sure to include the ways that the different methods of preserving these documents might affect their understanding by future scholars.

Option 3: DH Center Grant Application

As a newly hired librarian at a mid-sized Canadian university, you must convince funders that your institution needs a DH center. What would the space entail? Who would run it? Who would be the main patrons? Justify each of your answers and provide examples where previous centers have succeeded and failed.

Students

Erin Auger (@ErinAuger5)  https://theprofessionallibrarian.wordpress.com/

Courtney Boudreau (@courtums) www.courtums.wordpress.com/

Ashley Cooper (@spindriftages)  https://hayleyashleycooper.wordpress.com/

Alison Frayne (@alison_frayne)  https://lisdigitalhumanities.wordpress.com/

Kayla Gauvin (@kay_gauvin)  http://kay-lis.weebly.com/

Katelyn Granger (@accio_librarian)  https://acciolibrarian.wordpress.com/

Diana Haefele (@ProjectRead_)  http://digitalhumanities9372.tumblr.com/

Catherine Hana (@poorcate) https://poorcate.wordpress.com/

Sandra Harnum  (@snmh84)  www.sandraharnum.wordpress.com

Stacey Lapp  (@libralien)  https://libralien.wordpress.com/

Kristen Lemay  (@Autumn_Kristen)  https://theautumnlibrarian.wordpress.com/

Lisa Levesque (@OhDearJustNo)  https://lisaclevesque.wordpress.com/

Eilidh Macconnell  (@emacconn)  https://eilidhmacconnell.wordpress.com/

Karen Maclachlan (@karenmac_1)  https://karenmlis.wordpress.com/

Lynn M.  (@LlyyiinnL)

Meg M. (@carto_hum) http://cartohum.tumblr.com/

Caleigh Monk  (@caleighjanet)  https://caleighjanetmonk.wordpress.com

Emilio Ortiz-Desantis (@emilio_mlis) https://andiwaslikeemiliooo.wordpress.com/

Anna S. (@botanising)  https://uwomlisstudent.wordpress.com/

Lydia Thorne (@liddylib)  https://liddylib.wordpress.com/

Elise Tung ( @elise_tung) https://elisetung.wordpress.com/

Amanda Wheatley (@adwheatley92)  https://pleasereturnby.wordpress.com/

Course Outline and Readings

Week One: Introductions and Social Media set up  (May 14th)

Readings:

• The Digital Humanities Manifesto 2.0 (http://www.humanitiesblast.com/manifesto/Manifesto_V2.pdf)
• Day of DH 2014 (http://dayofdh2014.matrix.msu.edu/members/)

Week Two: Defining the Humanities  (May 21st)

Readings:

• Snow, C.P. 1990. “The Two Cultures (Reviewed Work).” Leonardo 23 (2/3): 169–173.
• Demers, P. 2002. “Horizon of Possibilities: A Canadian Perspective on the Humanities.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 1 (1) (June 1): 11–26. doi:10.1177/1474022202001001002.
• Toms, Elaine G., and Heather L. O’Brien. 2008. “Understanding the Information and Communication Technology Needs of the E-Humanist.” Journal of Documentation 64 (1): 102–130. doi:10.1108/00220410810844178.

Week Three: What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in the Library?  (May 28^th)

*Assignment* Seminar: Alison – Architecture

*Assignment* Workshop: Eilidh – Inklewriter

Readings:

• Kirschenbaum, Matthew. 2010. “What Is Digital Humanities and What’s It Doing in English Departments?” ADE Bulletin 150: 1–7. doi:10.1632/ade.150.55.
• Cunningham, Leigh. 2010. “The Librarian as Digital Humanist: The Collaborative Role of the Research Library in Digital Humanities Projects.” Faculty of Information Quarterly 2 (2): 1–11.
• Vandegrift, Micah, and Stewart Varner. 2013. “Evolving in Common: Creating Mutually Supportive Relationships Between Libraries and the Digital Humanities.” Journal of Library Administration 53 (1) (January): 67–78. doi:10.1080/01930826.2013.756699.

Week Four: Scholarly Communication  (June 4th)

*Assignment* Workshop: Stacey – Hootsuite

*Assignment* Workshop: Courtney – Twitter

Readings:

• Ross, C., M. Terras, C. Warwick, and a. Welsh. 2011. “Enabled Backchannel: Conference Twitter Use by Digital Humanists.” Journal of Documentation 67 (2): 214–237. doi:10.1108/00220411111109449.
• Terras, Melissa. 2012. “Is Blogging and Tweeting about Research Papers Worth It? The Verdict.” Melissa Terras’ Blog. Available at: http://melissaterras.blogspot.ca/2012/04/is-blogging-and-tweeting-about-research.html. Accessed: April 17, 2015.
• Cohen, Daniel J. 2006. “Professors, Start Your Blogs.” Dan Cohen. http://www.dancohen.org/blog/posts/professors_start_your_blogs.

Also check out: http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/, http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/, http://activehistory.ca/

***NO CLASS***  Thursday June 11^th   ***NO CLASS***

Week Five: Meta-Data-Bases  (June 18th)

*Assignment* Seminar: Katelyn – Peace Studies

*Assignment* Workshop: Lydia – Drupal

Readings:

• National Information Standards Organization. 2004. “Understanding Metadata.” National Information Standards: 20. doi:10.1017/S0003055403000534.
• Ramsay, Stephen. 2004. “Databases.” In A Companion to Digital Humanities, edited by Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth, 177–197. Malden MA: Blackwell Pub. *
• Bianchini, Carlo, and Mauro Guerrini. 2014. “RDA: Resource Description and Access: The New Standard for Metadata and Resource Discovery in the Digital Age.” it 6 (January 2015). doi:10.4403/jlis.it-10963.

Week Six: Big Data, Big Questions  (June 25th)

*Assignment* Seminar: Erin – Drama

*Assignment* Seminar: Karen – Music

Readings:

• Ramsay, Stephen. 2014. “The Hermeneutics of Screwing Around ; or What You Do with a Million Books.” In PastPlay: Teaching and Learning with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. *
• boyd, danah, and Kate Crawford. 2012. “Critical Questions for Big Data.” Information, Communication & Society 15 (5) (June): 662–679. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2012.678878.
• Manovich, L. (2012). Trending: The Promises and the Challenges of Big Social Data. In M. K. Gold (Ed.), Debates in the Digital Humanities (pp. 460–475). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Also, check out: http://diggingintodata.org/about

Week Seven: Text Analysis for the Humanities  (July 2nd)

*Assignment* Seminar: Diana – English

*Assignment* Workshop: Catherine – Visualize

Readings:

• Hockey, Susan M. 2004. “A History of Humanities Computing.” In A Companion to Digital Humanities, edited by Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, and John Unsworth, 3–20. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. *
• Green, Harriet E. 2014. “Facilitating Communities of Practice in Digital Humanities: Librarian Collaborations for Research and Training in Text Encoding.” The Library Quarterly 84 (2): 219–234.
• Sinclair, Stefan, and Geoffrey Rockwell. 2014. “Towards an Archaeology of Text Analysis Tools.” In DH2014. Lausanne, Switzerland.

Also, check out: http://tapor.ca/, http://voyant-tools.org/

Week Eight: Media Matters, Problems of Preservation  (July 9th)

*Assignment* Seminar: Lisa – Material Culture

*Assignment* Workshop: Emilio – Audacity

*Assignment* Workshop: Elise – Digital Curation

Readings:

• Kirschenbaum, Matthew. 2012. “Introduction” in Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination. Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press. *
• Kretzschmar, W. a., and W. Gray Potter. 2010. “Library Collaboration with Large Digital Humanities Projects.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 25 (4) (October 19): 439–445. doi:10.1093/llc/fqq022.
• Parrika, Jussi. 2012. “Archives in Media Theory: Material Media Archaeology and Digital Humanitites” in Berry, David M. (ed.) Understanding Digital Humanities. New York, N.Y: Palgrave Macmillan. *

Week Nine: Gaming History  (July 16th)

*Assignment* Seminar: Amanda – Gamification Theory

*Assignment* Workshop: Ashley – Google Art Project

*Assignment* Workshop: Lynn – Gaming History

Readings:

• Getchell, Kristoffer, Alan Miller, J. Ross Nicoll, Rebecca J. Sweetman, and Colin Allison. 2010. “Games Methodologies and Immersive Environments for Virtual Fieldwork.” IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies 3 (4): 281–293. doi:10.1109/TLT.2010.25.
• Greenspan, Brian, and Jennifer R. Whitson. 2013. “‘Whether to Play or Preserve the Past?: Creating The Forgotten Worker Quest’.” In Proceedings of the Foundations of Digital Games, 298–305.
• Kee, Kevin, Shawn Graham, Pat Dunae, John Lutz, Andrew Large, Michel Blondeau, and Mike Clare. 2009. “Towards a Theory of Good History Through Gaming.” Canadian Historical Review 90 (2): 303–326. doi:10.3138/chr.90.2.303.

Also, check out: http://www.playthepast.org/

Week Ten: Meaning through Maps  (July 23rd)

*Assignment* Seminar: Kristen – Geography

*Assignment* Workshop: Meg – QGIS

GUEST SPEAKER – Sarah Simpkin, GIS and Geography Librarian, University of Ottawa

Readings:

• Jenstad, Janelle. 2011. “Using Early Modern Maps in Literary Studies: Views and Caveats from London.” In Geohumanities : Art, History, Text at the Edge of Place, 112–120. New York N.Y.: Routledge. *
• Crang, M. 2015. “The Promises and Perils of a Digital Geohumanities.” Cultural Geographies 22 (2): 351–60. doi:10.1177/1474474015572303.
• Nowviskie, Bethany. 2010. “‘Inventing the Map’ in the Digital Humanities: A Young Lady’s Primer.” Paj: The Journal of the Initiative for Digital Humanities … 1 (December): 1–46.

Also, check out: http://mapoflondon.uvic.ca/

Week Eleven: Interdisciplinary Scholarship  (July 30th)

*Assignment* Seminar: Caleigh – Art

*Assignment* Workshop: Anna – Hathitrust

*Assignment* Workshop: Sandra – Glogster

Readings:

• Quan-Haase, A., J. L. Suarez, and D. M. Brown. 2014. “Collaborating, Connecting, and Clustering in the Humanities: A Case Study of Networked Scholarship in an Interdisciplinary, Dispersed Team.” American Behavioral Scientist 55 (5): 565–581. doi:10.1177/0002764214556806.
• Scanlon, E. 2011. “Digital Futures: Changes in Scholarship , Open Educational Resources and the Inevitability of Interdisciplinarity.” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 11 (1): 177–184.
• Siemens, L. 2009. “‘It’s a Team If You Use ‘Reply All’ ’: An Exploration of Research Teams in Digital Humanities Environments.” Literary and Linguistic Computing 24 (2) (April 13): 225–233. doi:10.1093/llc/fqp009.

Week Twelve: “Making it” in the Humanities  (August 6th)

*Assignment* Workshop: Kayla – Gravestones

Readings:

• Elliott, Devon, Robert MacDougall, and William J. Turkel. 2012. “New Old Things: Fabrication, Physical Computing, and Experiment in Historical Practice.” Canadian Journal of Communication 37 (2012): 121–128.
• Ratto, Matt. 2011. “Critical Making: Conceptual and Material Studies in Technology and Social Life.” The Information Society 27: 252–260. doi:10.1080/01972243.2011.583819.
• Sayers, Jentery. 2011. “Tinker-Centric Pedagogy in Literature and Language Classrooms.” In Collaborative Approaches to the Digital in English Studies, 279–300.

Week Thirteen: Center or periphery? A place for DH  (August 13th)

Readings:

• Nowviskie, Bethany. 2013. “Skunks in the Library: A Path to Production for Scholarly R&D.” Journal of Library Administration 53 (1) (January): 53–66. doi:10.1080/01930826.2013.756698.
• Schaffner, Jennifer, and Ricky Erway. 2014. “Does Every Research Library Need a Digital Humanities Center?” OCLC: Dublin, Ohio.