Course Syllabus

Time: Thu, 12-2:45pm
Classroom: Robinson 106
Instructor: Gabriel Pizzorno
Email: pizzorno@fas.harvard.edu
Office: Robinson 210
Office Hours: Tue 10am-noon

Summary

This course trains students in a range of digital methods used for the acquisition, analysis, and visualization of data in the context of historical research. Beyond developing practical skills, students will learn how to critically evaluate the potential and limitations of new technologies, and how to integrate them into their work in a careful, theoretically informed way.

Format

The mastering of digital methods requires practice and the opportunity to learn from one’s mistakes. Thus, this course is taught as an informal workshop designed to foster collective learning in a safe environment where students can experiment and learn to embrace failure.
The class experience is based on discussion and hands-on practice, and the assignments are designed around a semester-long research project on a subject of the student’s choice.

There will be one meeting every week during which I will introduce new methods and tools, and where we will discuss their potential uses and limitations. Regular attendance is integral to benefiting from this course. There will also be additional opportunities to work in groups, get help, and ask questions through workshop times and office hours. We will ensure these are distributed throughout the week so that everyone can participate. While encouraged, attendance of these is not required.

Digital scholarship places great emphasis on collaboration and interdisciplinarity. Participants in this course are keenly encouraged to engage in teamwork, including on their semester-long research projects. In the case of the latter, proposals for team projects should provide a clear plan to ensure that individual contributions are tracked and acknowledged accordingly.

Materials and Supplies

You will need a computer, of course, but there are no particular requirements as to what kind.
The vast majority of the software covered in the course is either open source, or freely available with educational licensing. Any additional software, or other computing resources, that you may need for your research project will be provided.

In order to contribute to class conversations and take full advantage of the discussion, it is important to read the texts assigned each week in advance of our meetings. These readings will inform our approach to the more practical aspects of the course. All course readings will be posted online.

Assignments

Throughout the semester, you will be expected to work on a research project on a topic of your choosing. The specifics of this semester-long project will greatly depend on your own research interests. It could, for example, take the form of a small piece of research, either stand-alone or a component of a senior thesis or dissertation. In all cases, the overall requirement is that you engage with an actual dataset at every stage of the workflow covered in the course (i.e. the acquisition, manipulation, analysis, and presentation of data). The final output of this project will take the form of an online exhibition. Work towards this final goal will be incrementally realized through two multimedia essays, each contributing elements to the final project exhibition. The first multimedia essay will describe the nature of the dataset being used for the project and outline the methodology that will be employed.  The second essay will provide historical and disciplinary context for the project, and explain how the research intersects with existing scholarship on the subject.  The final online exhibition, bringing together these elements and presenting the outcome of the project, will be due after the end of the term. During the last week of the term, students will present their project to the class. These presentations are not intended to showcase the final results of the project, but rather to give everyone an opportunity to bring up their ideas and unresolved problems and get help and feedback from peers before the final submission.

Contents

Digital history, and digital scholarship more generally, focuses on the use of digital evidence, methods, and tools as a means to integrate knowledge within interdisciplinary, collaborative frameworks. Digital scholarship does not constitute a new field in itself. It can better be described as a collection of methodological approaches that emphasizes new ways of exploring existing research questions, generating new ones, and expanding the dissemination of scholarship to new media and audiences, by taking advantage of the enormous potential of digital tools to transform the way in which we create, analyze, and share knowledge.

This course introduces participants to the different steps of a data-processing workflow that translates the general research process of the social sciences and the humanities (collecting sources, analyzing them, and presenting the results) to a digital methodology. This approach to teaching digital methods is designed to provide students with a solid intellectual framework that contextualizes the methodologies, techniques, and tools covered in class (as well as any learned in future) by relating them to each other and to the general process of engaging in digital scholarship. While the focus of the class is on historical research, the methods covered are directly applicable to a range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences.

During the semester, participants will build a toolbox of practical skills to aid in their research. The focus of digital scholarship, however, is not on tools, but on methodologies and their careful integration into disciplinary practice. While engaging in digital scholarship, it is crucial to see past the instrumental aspects of tools and platforms and focus on how they can be adapted, in a theoretically informed manner, to the unique ways in which scholarly disciplines approach their subject. The course, then, goes beyond the teaching of particular technical skills, and aims to make students conversant across the spectrum of digital techniques so that they can critically evaluate the potential and limitations of new technologies, integrate them into sound research programs, and fruitfully interact with experts to both acquire and refine skills and produce results.

Grading

The final grade for the class will be determined as follows: