Department of English

Artificial intelligence, big data, and social media are reshaping how we communicate, work, and interpret the world. These same technologies are also transforming research, teaching, and public knowledge in the humanities. This course introduces the vast field of digital humanities (DH) as both a set of research practices and a critical perspective on the digital culture in which we all live and work. Students will gain basic familiarity with digital methods used to study literature, art, music, and history—such as digital mapping, online archives, and computational text analysis—and will gain hands-on experience with related tools through guided, beginner-friendly exercises. We will also discuss the ideas and tradeoffs built into familiar systems like large language models, search engines, and social media platforms, to develop a critical and historical framework for understanding the impact of technology on our lives. Assignments will include discussion posts, a brief presentation, a midterm mapping exercise, and a final creative project. This is an introductory course that requires no prior experience with any computational tools.