Lab Notebook
Due:
- Lab 1: Wed, Feb 7
- Lab 2: Web, Feb 14
- Lab 3: Wed, Feb 21 (Feedback on labs 1-3 after this class)
- Lab 4: Wed, Feb 28
- Lab 5: Wed, March 6
- Lab 6: Wed, March 20 (Feedback on labs 4-6 after this class)
During the first eight weeks of the semester, you will complete labs designed to introduce you to some basic technical skills and procedures that humanists who work with data might use. On most of these weeks (as marked in the syllabus), the last hour of each class period will be devoted to beginning the labs together in class. Two central goals of this course are to use our readings and discussions during these weeks to contextualize our applied work in labs, and to use our applied work in labs to enrich and enhance our understanding of concepts from our readings.
You will report on your completion of these labs using your lab notebook, which you will include in the Google drive folder you share with me. Your lab notebook can take the form of one continuous Google doc that includes all of the labs, or you may choose to create individual doc files for each lab notebook entry. Your entries will vary quite a bit from lab to lab, but in each lab notebook entry, I will expect to find a brief description of the lab activities completed and/or other evidence of having completed the lab, including screenshots or links to outcomes. Each lab notebook entry will also include a written discussion of/reflection on the lab. For most labs, I will include a prompt to help start your thinking; you should begin the reflective portion of the lab from there. In this portion of the lab, I will expect prose that reflects analytically on the work of the lab, putting it into conversation with at least one reading from the week in which the lab is due (i.e., for lab 1, which you will begin during class on week 2, you would integrate readings assigned for week 3 into the written portion of the lab). You may also include readings from previous class sessions or from beyond the class if appropriate. You should integrate the readings explicitly, through direct quotation or reference.
Your final lab notebook entry (lab 6) will be slightly more substantial. For this lab, you will select an existing scholarly dataset that you have not created; answer some questions about its composition, organization, and scope; and discuss its contributions to a particular field(s) and/or subfield(s). You will need to select the dataset you plan to use for this assignment by class on Wednesday, March 6.
People in this class have varying levels of skill and experience with data collection, analysis, programming, quantitative analysis, etc. The labs, however, start from zero, assuming that you don’t have any particular skills or experience with digital tools or computation. I’ve built some flexibility into most of the labs for those who have more experience, but if you have this experience and would like to expand your skillset beyond what the labs offer, please talk with me at the beginning of the semester about how we might adjust the labs to meet your goals for this class.
I will read your lab notebook entries each week as you submit them. I will offer more formal, written feedback on labs 1-3 after class on Wed, Feb 21, and on labs 4-6 after class on Wed, March 13.