Readings which are openly available are linked from this page. All other readings are on BruinLearn, under the module for the appropriate week.
CLASS 1 | JANUARY 6
In-class links
Full “How Did They Make That” lecture
CLASS 2 | JANUARY 13
What is digital humanities? (part 2)
- (This is an annotated version of this chapter, designed to help provide context. Click on a highlighted passage to see my notes, and feel free to add your own for others to see.)
- Terras, Melissa, and Julianne Nyhan. “Father Busa’s Female Punch Card Operatives.” In Debates in the Digital Humanities, edited by Matthew Gold and Lauren Klein, 2016 edition. Ann Arbor, Minn.: University of Minnesota Press, 2016. http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/57.
Data cleaning and manipulation
OPTIONAL
- Gregory, Ben. “Data Formats 101.” Astronomer, n.d. https://www.astronomer.io/blog/data-formats-101.
- Groskopf, Christopher. “The Quartz Guide to Bad Data.” Quartz.
To do for this class
In-class links
Slides (Data Basics)
OpenRefine tutorial (written, with screenshots)
Watch me walk through the OpenRefine steps on video (Click “Watch on Loom” to view bookmarks keyed to each step)
CLASS 3 | JANUARY 20
Interrogating data
- Rawson, Katie, and Trevor Muñoz. “Against Cleaning,” July 6, 2016. http://www.curatingmenus.org/articles/against-cleaning/.
- Duarte, Marisa Elena, and Miranda Belarde-Lewis. “Imagining: Creating Spaces for Indigenous Ontologies.” Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 53, no. 5–6 (July 4, 2015): 677–702.
- Johnson, Jessica Marie. “Markup Bodies: Black [Life] Studies and Slavery [Death] Studies at the Digital Crossroads.” OR the video:
Data visualization
“Data Storytelling” (Lynda video). Don’t pay for the course! In order to access Lynda videos, you’ll need an LA Public Library card, which you can obtain here. Pay specific attention to chapters two and three; the others aren’t so important. (Please let me know if you can’t access this video.)
Niles, Robert. “Statistics Help for Journalists.” Robert Niles, n.d. https://www.robertniles.com/stats/. (You might look specifically at “Per capita and Rates” and “Standard Deviation and Normal Distribution.”)
Projects to examine
In-class links
Slide-based Tableau and Flourish tutorial (also embedded below; later, you may want to access an easier-to-read version on our course site, or you can watch video tutorials for Tableau or Flourish)
CLASS 4 | JANUARY 27
Reconsidering data visualization
Johanna Drucker, “Humanities Approaches to Graphical Display,” Digital Humanities Quarterly 5, no. 1 (2011).
Introduction and chapter two: Klein, Lauren, and Catherine D’Ignazio. Data Feminism. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2018, OR watch this video of their talk at Data & Society:
Text analysis
Ted Underwood. “Seven Ways Humanists Are Using Computers to Understand Text.” The Stone and the Shell (blog), June 4, 2015. https://tedunderwood.com/2015/06/04/seven-ways-humanists-are-using-computers-to-understand-text/.
Please watch the following text analysis lecture in advance of class. That way we’ll have more time for hands-on work. This version is annotated so that you can follow links; find a full-size version here.
Projects to examine
To submit for this class
In-class links
Slides: Topic modeling with LDA
Self-paced tutorial: Messing Around with the Topic Modeling Tool
Self-paced tutorial: Visualize your topic model
CLASS 5 | FEBRUARY 3
Web design
- Tom Geller. Getting Started as a Full-Stack Developer. On LinkedIn Learning; you will need a Los Angeles Public Library card to access these videos. To log in to Lynda with your LAPL card, go here. (Let me know if you’re having trouble gaining access.) Please focus on Chapter 3, “Show Information with Display Technology.”
- de Ridder, Lennart. “10 Innovative Web Design Trends for 2019.” 99designs, December 12, 2018. https://99designs.com/blog/trends/web-design-trends-2019/.
Alternative for the tech-confident
On LinkedIn Learning, pick a front-end technology you’ve been wanting to learn and spend some time with the video and practice files. Suggestions: React.js, Node.js, JavaScript, Bootstrap, CSS frameworks.
Projects to examine
In-class links
HTML and CSS reference handouts
Today, in the second portion of class, we’ll move through a series of five interlinked tutorials. I offer them here as slides, so that I can keep track of your progress. Later, though, you may find it easier to use the written tutorials. You can also view the first and second tutorials as videos (haven’t gotten to the rest yet!).
- Build a webpage from scratch with HTML and CSS
- Paint that page with CSS
- CSS Part 2: Divs, classes and IDs
- Publish your site with Github Pages
- Make a fancy site with Mobirise
If you already know HTML and CSS, my suggestion is to continue along the path you started this week by viewing LinkedIn Learning videos. Alternatively, you can use the time to make progress on your project.
To submit for this class
CLASS 6 | FEBRUARY 10
Rethinking design
Burdick, Anne. “Meta!Meta!Meta!: A Speculative Design Brief for the Digital Humanities.” Visible Language 49, no. 3 (December 1, 2015): 13.
Introduction from Miriam (Why did I assign this?)
Web mapping
- Sack, C. (2017). Web Mapping. The Geographic Information Science & Technology Body of Knowledge (4th Quarter 2017 Edition), John P. Wilson (ed.). DOI: 10.22224/gistbok/2017.4.11.
- McConchie, Alan, and Beth Schechter. “Anatomy of a Web Map.” http://maptime.io/anatomy-of-a-web-map/#0. (Please give this a moment to load and then click each slide to advance.)
Projects to examine
In-class links
Slides (mapping terms to know)
Schedule: Small-group meetings
Tutorial 1: Make a Map with Tableau
Tutorial 2: Tableau Mapping 2: Geocoding, Layers, and Basemaps
Also, please take a look at our mapping resources page!
To submit for this class
CLASS 7 | FEBRUARY 17
Rethinking mapping
Introduction to this week’s reading
Turnbull, David. Maps Are Territories: Science Is an Atlas: A Portfolio of Exhibits. University of Chicago Press ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Read Exhibits 1-6 and 10.
The Cartographer’s Dilemma (video)
Why All World Maps are Wrong (video)
“Critical Cartography” (The Occupied Times)
OPTIONAL:
Battersby, Sarah E., Michael P. Finn, E. Lynn Usery, and Kristina H. Yamamoto. “Implications of Web Mercator and Its Use in Online Mapping.” Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization 49, no. 2 (2014): 85–101.
“Critical cartography: subjectivity, politics, and power of spatial data,” Erica Nelson (video)
Projects to examine
To submit for this class
In-class links
Slides (basic network analysis concepts): Go to joinpd.com and enter the code dldmwq
Create a simple network diagram with Flourish
Getting your data into the right format: edge list and node list
CLASS 8 | FEBRUARY 24
Rethinking network analysis
Introduction to this week’s reading
Zer-Aviv, Mushon. “If Everything Is a Network, Nothing Is a Network.” Visualizing Information for Advocacy, January 8, 2016.
Kurgan, Laura, Dare Brawley, Brian House, Jia Zhang, and Wendy Hui Kyong Chun. “Homophily: The Urban History of an Algorithm.” E-Flux Architecture. https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/are-friends-electric/289193/homophily-the-urban-history-of-an-algorithm/. OR this video
Introduction to machine learning
- Julia Angwin et al., “Machine Bias,” ProPublica, May 23, 2016.
Mimi Onuoha and Mother Cyborg, “A People’s Guide to AI” (Allied Media Projects)
In-class links
Participatory slides
(A few) ethics + AI organizations & resources
To submit for this class
CLASS 9 | MARCH 3
Project worktime (nothing due)
CLASS 10 | MARCH 10
Presentations