Clemson University

Spring 2016

This course will provide an introduction to the digital humanities from a literary and cultural studies perspective, with an emphasis on methodology. What methods do we use to produce knowledge about literature? How are digital technologies and techniques changing these methods? What new or different things can digital methods teach us? Major topics include the relationship of the digital humanities to media studies, cultural criticism, and the humanities in general; close and distant reading practices; the logic of text encoding and the creation of digital archives; methods of text analysis, including topic modeling and network analysis; and data visualization, including mapping. Throughout, we will aim to discover how digital methods can be integrated with traditional methods as we discuss current literary and cultural studies research problems. Student projects will include lab reports and blog posts, a key project reflection, a conference abstract, and a digital project prototype or mock-up accompanied by a conference-length paper.