Digital Humanities

This course is part of the programme
Master's Degree Programme Humanities Studies

Objectives and competences

Familiarity with the field of digital humanities, which requires both openness to experimentation and critical rigor, the foundation of humanistic hermeneutics.
Interdisciplinary projects are based on a dialogue of specialists in various disciplines that the digital humanist reflects on, while still remaining a specialist in their core field of scholarship or art medium. Students gain insight into the computer science domain, into the language of the arts, especially graphic design, and become aware of basic methodological differences that represent opportunities and not obstacles in the digital humanities. New media art links new information science and technology to the traditions of artistic creation, establishing connections between the humanities and technology and the exact sciences. Digitization has resulted in a complete cultural transcoding, needed change in both methods of research and presentation of research findings. Also noteworthy is the loosening of the assumed boundaries between social institutions. This course focuses on the fundamental problem of an “utterance” as both a subject and the result of research. Digital humanities require conscious planning of the forms of enunciation. The student cooperates on a practical digital humanities project.

Prerequisites

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Content

Basic concepts of the digital humanities.
Interdisciplinary integration of various fields in the humanities, computer and information science and various branches of art and design.
The first generation of digital humanities and contemporary challenges. The most visible projects.
Historical overview of new media art practices.
E-editions. Data Visualization. Serious computer video games. Open source and Creative Commons. Mass outsourcing (crowdsourcing).
Computer data processing, World Wide Web, Web 2.0, mobile network display units, integration of the human body with technological devices.

Intended learning outcomes

Students will learn the fundamental concepts and methods that appear in the intermediate area between the humanities traditions and ways of processing digitized information. They will be capable of critical reflection on traditional research methods and of designing new methodological models.
The course emphasizes teamwork and interdisciplinary collaboration, the foundation of in digital humanities projects.

Readings

Assessment

Successful completion of an oral examination.
Successful participation in the seminar is a prerequisite for the exam.