CSC 102 Intro Digital Humanities (ENG)

Prerequisites: MAT012

This course studies traditional humanist objects, such as books, using computational methods, but no previous background in computer programming or close reading methods is expected. We will ask questions like: how can we count who speaks most often or at greatest length in a play? Who asks the most questions, or responds negatively ("No!") most often? What do those quantitative results tell us about who speaks and who is spoken to, who listens and who replies, what power dynamics are embedded in speech, and how speech is related to other elements of performance? Student projects will combine programming in Python with traditional humanities questions to craft projects that inquire into authors, style, and genre using a
hybrid humanist + digital approach. We will investigate how computational approaches can complement the ways in which we understand literary works in a rich context, including historical, geographical, and cultural concerns, among others. Topics may include: text analysis and topic modeling, mapping and geocoding, critical studies of social and digital media, and network analysis, among others. This course will be offered once a year and will satisfy the Practical Reasoning (PR) General Education requirement.

Noncredit for students who completed it as CSC/ENG186JC