Complete all assigned readings before coming to class. Please keep in mind that all reading assignments are subject to change. This website is the canonical version of the schedule.

All page numbers refer to the editions/ISBNs that I have ordered. Some readings are in the Course Reserves system, indicated by CR.

–Week 1–

What are the Digital Humanists Doing?

Jan. 12 T

• Introductions. Syllabus.

Jan. 14 Th

• John Unsworth. “Scholarly Primitives: what methods do humanities researchers have in common, and how might our tools reflect this?” 13 May 2000.
  • Read primarily for the question: what is a “scholarly primitive.” Don’t read the bit about the human genome project (section in boxes at the end of the essay).
• Tom Scheinfeldt. “Where’s the Beef? Does Digital Humanities Have to Answer Questions?” Debates in the Digital Humanities. 2012.
• David Parry. “The Digital Humanities or a Digital Humanism.” Debates in the Digital Humanities. 2012.
  • Read only the final 8 paragraphs, starting with “I have become convinced over the last few years that Benjamin’s…”

–Week 2–

Jan. 19 T

• Miriam Posner. “How Did They Make That?” 29 August 2013.
• Miriam Posner. “How Did They Make That? The Video!” 17 April 2014.
• Stephen Ramsay. “Humane Computation.” Debates in the Digital Humanities 2016.

Considering Comics

Jan. 21 Th

• Charles M. Schulz. The Complete Peanuts, 1950-1952, beginning – end of December 1950, pp 1-26.
• Scott McCloud. Understanding Comics, chapter 1, pp 2-23.

–Week 3–

Jan. 26 T

• Schulz, 1950-1952, January 1951 – end of June 1951, pp 27-78.
• McCloud, Understanding Comics, chapter 2, pp 24-59.

Jan. 28 Th

• DH Project Presentations

–Week 4–

Feb. 2 T

• DH Project Papers Due
• Schulz, 1950-1952, July 1951 – end of December 1951, pp 79-131.
• David Michaelis. “The Life and Times of Charles M. Schulz” from The Complete Peanuts, 1950-1952 (CR).

Feb. 4 Th

• Schulz, 1950-1952, January 1952 – end of June 1952, pp 131-209.
• Ian Milligan and James Baker. “Introduction to the Bash Command Line.” Programming Historian. 20 September 2014.

–Week 5–

Encoding Comics

Feb. 9 T

• Kevin S. Hawkins. “Introduction to XML for Text.” 11 Jan. 2015.
• TEI by Example. “Module 0: Introduction.” Sections 1, 3.1, and 8.

Feb. 11 Th

• John A. Walsh. “Comic Book Markup Language: An Introduction and Rationale.” Digital Humanities Quarterly 6.1 (2012).
  • Don’t sweat all the specifics about encoding comics. Instead, read for the broad ideas about what encoding allows us to do.
  • You can skip the following paragraphs (which are on the right side of the text): 38-47; 52-59.

–Week 6–

Feb. 16 T

• Monday Schedule. No class.

Feb. 18 Th

• McCloud, Understanding Comics, chapter 3, pp 60-93.

–Week 7–

Feb. 23 T 

• Schulz, 1950-1952, July 1952 – end of December 1952, pp 209-287.

Computing Comics

Feb. 25 Th       

• Megan R. Brett. “Topic Modeling: A Basic Introduction.” Journal of Digital Humanities 2.1 (2012).
• Robert K. Nelson. “Introduction.” Mining the Dispatch. Nov. 2020.        

–Week 8–

Mar. 2 T

• Ted Underwood. “Topic modeling made just simple enough.” The Stone and the Shell. 7 April 2012.
• Install MALLET. See this screencast or this written tutorial (steps 1-3).

Mar. 4 Th

• Charles M. Schulz. The Complete Peanuts, 1971-1972, January 1971 – end of June 1971, pp 1-78.

–Week 9–

Mar. 9 T

• Topic modeling
• Schulz, 1971-1972, July 1971 – end of December 1971, pp 79-157.

Mar. 11 Th

• Topic modeling
• Schulz, 1971-1972, January 1972 – end of June 1972, pp 157-235.
• McCloud, Understanding Comics, chapter 4, pp 94-117.

–Week 10–

Mar. 16 T        

• Amy Schulz Johnson visit
• Schulz, 1971-1972, July 1971 – end of December 1971, pp 79-157.
• Schulz, 1971-1972, July 1972 – end of December 1972, pp 235-314.

Mar. 18 Th

• Topic modeling (last day!)
• David I. Holmes and Judit Kardos. “Who was the Author? An Introduction to Stylometry.” Chance vol 16.2 (2003). CR.
  • Read for background. Don’t sweat the details.
• Patrick Juola. “How a Computer Program Helped Show J.K. Rowling write A Cuckoo’s Calling.” Scientific American. 20 August 2013.

–Week 11–

Mar. 23 T

• Schulz, 1971-1972, January 1972 – end of June 1972, pp 157-235.
• Linh Ngo. “Principal component analysis explained simply.” BioTuring’s Blog. 14 June 2018.
• Josh Starmer. “Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Step by step.” StatQuest (YouTube). 2 April 2018.

Mar. 25 Th

• Schulz, 1971-1972, July 1972 – end of December 1972, pp 235-314.
• Michael Drout and Leah Smith. “How to Read a Dendrogram.” Lexomics. August 2012.

–Week 12–

Mar. 30 T

• David I. Holmes and Judit Kardos. “Who was the Author? An Introduction to Stylometry.” Chance vol 16.2 (2003). CR.
  • Read for background. Don’t sweat the details.
• Patrick Juola. “How a Computer Program Helped Show J.K. Rowling write [sic] A Cuckoo’s Calling.” Scientific American. 20 August 2013.

Apr. 1 Th         

• Linh Ngo. “Principal component analysis explained simply.” BioTuring’s Blog. 14 June 2018.
• Josh Starmer. “Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Step by step.” StatQuest (YouTube). 2 April 2018.
• Michael Drout and Leah Smith. “How to Read a Dendrogram.” Lexomics. August 2012.
• Franco Moretti. “Network Theory, Plot Analysis.” New Left Review 68 (2011).

–Week 13–

Apr. 6 T

• Stylometry

Apr. 8 Th

• Stylometry

–Week 14–

Apr. 13 T         

• Last Day of Class
• Franco Moretti. “Network Theory, Plot Analysis.” New Left Review 68 (2011).
• Ted Underwood. “Digital Humanities as a Semi-Normal Thing.”

–Week 15–

Apr. 20 T

• Final Exam, 11:00 am – 2:00 pm