Objectives and Syllabus
English 513: Topics in Humanities Computing
Instructor: Matthew Roberson
Office: Anspach 207
Phone: 774.2585
Office Hours: M, W 1-2
Email: matthew.roberson@cmich.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION: Humanities computing is an academic field concerned with the
application of computing tools to arts and humanities data or to their use in the creation of these
data. It is methodological in nature and interdisciplinary in scope. It works at the intersection of
computing with the arts and humanities, focusing both on the pragmatic issues of how computing
assists scholarship and teaching in the disciplines and on the theoretical problems of shift in
perspective brought about by computing. It seeks to define the common ground of techniques
and approaches to data, and how scholarly processes may be understood and mechanized. It
studies the sociology and epistemology of knowledge as these are affected by computing as well
as the fundamental cognitive problem of how we know what we know. Its tools are derived from
practical work in computer science, but like that work its application of them uses models of
intelligence developed in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. It tests the utility of these
models to illuminate particular objects of study by direct involvement in the fields of application.
Its object of knowledge is all the source material of the arts and humanities viewed as data. Like
comparative literature it takes its subject matter from other disciplines and is guided by their
concerns, but it returns to them ever more challenging questions and new ways of thinking
through old problems (Willard McCarty).
This course will explore major topics and debates in humanities computing. It will investigate,
for example, the definition of humanities computing offered above. It will also wonder if
“humanities computing” stands as a kind of oxymoron, two terms in perpetual tension (or should
we see the terms as more interrelated and dependent, both concerned with writing and
representation? Does one subordinate the other – computing in the service of the humanities, or
perhaps humanities as a minor sector of an increasingly computerized society?)
Some specific areas of interest:
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Digital literature and hypertext theory: new literary expression through digital technology
The history of writing: from codex to digital textuality
Knowledge representation, text analysis, encoding, markup: the semantic web and the
convergence of all knowledge
E-publishing, search engines, databases: the end of paper and the future of the book
Cyberculture and new media studies: being online, virtual reality, and the wired future
One course goal will be to gain expertise in the pragmatic application of humanities computing
to textual analysis and studies of representation. We will also be concerned with larger
disciplinary issues, marking significant and problematic boundaries of humanities computing
within a growing cyberculture. Finally, we will orient ourselves for future exploration and
research.
No technical knowledge is required.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
The New Media Reader, Ed. Nick Montfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 2003.
Pause and Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative, Mark Stephen Meadows.
Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Press, 2002.
Writing Materials, Ed. Evelyn B. Tribble and Anne Trubek New York: Longman, 2003.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
READING: We will examine a selection of primary texts and essays, as well as secondary
articles. You can find these readings in our textbooks (NMR, Pause and Effect, and WM), as
well as through readings and sites linked to our course web pages.
WRITING AND GROUP WORK:
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6 reading responses (posted to the discussion board) = 30%
Group web project and class presentation = 30%
Groups must choose one of the following:
1) Digital Communities. Each member will choose a writing community on the web, e.g.
a chat group, a moo, a blog. Each must participate in and read the community regularly,
and keep a log/journal of your involvement. (As you observe the community, you may or
may not want to announce to it your project.) How does the group create community and
how does it adapt to communicating in its environment? What role does technology play
in the identity of this community? What leads people to enter or leave the community?
Each group member must combine the log with an analysis (minimum of 5 pages). As a
group, write a reflection on the nature of digital communities and include annotated links
to the communities studied.
2) New and Old and Odd Books. Each member will research the history and use of one
unusual type of book or form of writing. (The Book of Hours is an example, but don’t
choose this one.) Examples might be: hornbooks, nineteenth-century journals, pop-up
books, comic books, web zines, e-books; but also graffiti, Braille, calligraphy, instant
messaging, tattoos. How do you think this way of writing affect what is written? What
are the characteristic qualities of the writing/book? What is interesting or significant
about these modes of writing/books? Each member should write a report/analysis (5 page
min). The group will also include a general meditation on writing / book technologies,
and annotated links.
3) Libraries, Information, Knowledge. Each group member will choose a library to focus
on. (One of the CMU libraries, or a local library.) Conduct an ethnography, including a
careful description of the physical structures (interior/exterior). How do these structures
define the purpose and mission of the building? Once you enter the library, do books or
computers have more prominence? How are computers used? What writing/reading
spaces are set up within the library? What other information spaces? Also look at the
library’s web page. Write a critical/analytical description of the library; what practices
does its construction encourage or discourage? Also, contact and interview a librarian
about the use of computers and/or information technology. What is the library’s policy?
Is it making using the library easier or not? (Be sure to draw up a list of questions
beforehand.) Group web sites will include descriptions (3 page min.), interviews (3 page
min.), group reflection on libraries and information, and annotated web links.
In general: 1) All writings should refer to and incorporate the appropriate secondary
material from the course reading. 2) All this material will be uploaded, formatted, and
linked together on your group folder. All final projects must include raw materials (notes,
etc.) as well as completed writings. Groups will decide how to divide the work. 3) The
web site is intended both as a reflection of your class work but also as a contribution to
the distribution and creation of web-based knowledge on humanities computing.
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Seminar paper/web portfolio = 40%
Participation and attendance are assumed. Failure to fulfill this requirement can lower
your grade substantially.
OBJECTIVES:
On completion of the course, the student will be able to:
 Characterize contemporary notions of humanities computing.
 Trace the history of writing from codex to digital textuality.
 Understand methods for and types of knowledge representation (including literary
expression) available through contemporary digital technology.
 Identify the diverse elements of cyberculture.
 Undertake close analysis and apply critical techniques to the texts studied.
 Communicate ideas about literary texts through in-class presentations, discussions, webprojects, and assigned papers.
COURSE POLICIES
ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION: You may miss two classes without penalty. If you
miss more than two class periods, your final grade will drop per missed class. If you miss more
than four class periods, you will fail the course. Coming late to class is disruptive, and you will
be penalized if you do so on a consistent basis; two late arrivals equal one absence. As already
indicated, participation in class, and in class group work, is very important.
FORMAT: All hard-copy work should follow MLA guidelines. We will talk in class about
possible web formats.
DUE DATES AND WORKSHOPS: All individual assignments are due at the beginning of class
on the due date. A late assignment will receive a grade point deduction for every class day that
passes before it is turned in. After two class days, I will not accept late assignments, and you will
receive a 0 on your project.
EVALUATION: Evaluation will be based on the quality of analysis you produce, your
engagement with the material and ideas of the course, the contribution to collaborative meaningmaking ongoing throughout the semester, and the quality of your writing and presentations.
All written work will be judged by how it evidences substantial thought and analysis, as well as
by how it displays control of stylistic and creative expression and a mastery of the course subject
matter. The oral presentation will, too, be judged by how it evidences substantial thought and
analysis, as well as on quality of delivery.
Response papers will each count for 5% of the total course grade, equaling in total 40% of the
course grade. Individual class presentation and presentation blog entry will count for 25% of the
final grade. The group web project and class presentation will count for 35% of the course
grade.
SCHOLASTIC HONESTY (a paragraph required on all syllabi): The Department of English
defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are
presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. The Department expects that students will
accurately credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources
or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. In other words, I expect that all of the
writing that you submit for a grade in this course will be your own. If I suspect you of
plagiarizing all or part of a project (passing off someone else's writing as your own), I will
submit your name and the particular project to the Dean of Students and take appropriate
disciplinary action. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course.
SPECIAL NEEDS: If you have a registered disability that will require accommodation, please
see me at the beginning of the semester.
OFFICE HOURS: Please come to see me with anything you do not understand; feel free to drop
by my office to talk about your writing or the assigned reading as often as you need.
SYLLABUS
Week One
T Aug 25
Introduction and Definitions
Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths" NMR
Bush, "As We May Think" NMR
Links: IATH, VOS, CTheory, EPC
Week Two
T Sep 1
Nelson, "Computer Lib/Dream Machines" NMR
Nelson, "A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing, etc." NMR
Topic:: Digital Narrative
Murray, from Hamlet on the Holodeck WM
Coover, "The End of Books" NMR
Joyce, "Siren Shapes" NMR
Hypertexts: My Body a Wunderkammer, My Boyfriend Came Back from the War
Recommended: Internet Timeline and Little History of the World Wide Web,
Microsoft Comic Chat
Week Three
T Sep 8
Aarseth, "Non-linearity and Literary Theory" NMR
Burroughs, "The Cut-Up Method of Brion Gysin" NMR
Hypertexts/Digital Narratives: Blindspot, These Waves of Girls, Ballad of Sand
and Soot, Donnie Darko
Gamelike / Environments: Filmtext, 6amhoover/The Bloody Chamber, World of
Awe, Lair of the Marrow Monkey, Secret Garden of Mutabor
Recommended: Anatomy of Google
Week Four
T Sep 15
Meadows, Pause and Effect, Chaps 1 & 2
McCloud, "Time Frames" NMR
Banja
Recommended: Shakespeare Programming Language, Scott McLoud,
Cloudmakers, Jimmy Corrigan, Devil's Tramping Ground, Memex Engine,
Ambient Machines, demain/When I am King
Week Five
T Sep 22
Week Six
T Sep 29
Meadows, Pause and Effect, Chaps 3 & 4
Recommended: Marcos Novak, Deus Ex, Maurice Benayoun, Ultima Online,
Virtools, Architecture of the Holocaust Memorial, Shakespeare Internet Editions,
Habbo Hotel, Myst
Topic :: Writing
Plato, from Phaedrus WM
Birkerts, "Into the Electronic Millennium" WM
Bolter, "The New Dialogue" WM
D. Baron, "From Pencils to Pixels" WM
Week Seven
T Oct 6
Trithemius, from "In Praise of Scribes" WM
N. Baron, "The Art and Science of Handwriting" WM
Franklin, from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Eisenstein, "Some Features of Print Culture" WM
Mark Twain, "The First Writing Machines" WM
Week Eight
T Oct 13
Bolter, "Seeing and Writing" NMR
Parker, "Absolute PowerPoint" WM
Topic:: Reading
Manguel, "The Shape of the Book" WM
Porter, "Reading is Bad for Your Health" WM
Recommended: Internet Addiction, Computers and Health, Codex, Clay, Papyrus,
Book of Hours, Printing Press, Hornbook, Cuneiform
Week Nine
T Oct 20
Week Ten
T Oct 27
Douglass, from Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass WM
Malcolm X, from Autobiography of Malcolm X WM
Sosnoski, "Hyper-readers and their reading engines" WM
Lesser, "The Conversion" WM
Turkle, "Virtuality and Its Discontents" WM
Topic: Knowledge, Libraries, Networks
Borges, "The Library of Babel" WM
Berners-Lee, "The World Wide Web" NMR
Nelson, "Proposal for a Universal Electronic Publishing System etc." NMR
Recommended: Nelson's Project Xanadu, NMR CDROM on "Sketchpad Grail
and Dynabook," and alternative browsers: I/O/D, 1:1, Browser Gestures,
Netomat, Shredder, Riot
Week Eleven
T Nov 3
Pang, "The Work of the Encyclopedia in the Age Electronic Reproduction" WM
Duguid and Brown, "The Social Life of Documents" WM
Baker, "Deadline" WM
Gissing, from New Grub Street WM
Roberts, "Virtual Grub Street" WM
Bagdikian, "The Endless Chain" NMR
Knowledge Representation: TextArc, The Visual Thesaurus, History Flow,
Wikipedia
Recommended: Atlas of Cyberspace, Temporal Modeling Project: Storyboard,
Blogdex, Encyclopedia Britannica, Media Ownership
Week Twelve
T Nov 10
Topic:: Cyberculture
Gibson, "Johnny Mnemonic" WM
Licklider, "Man-Computer Symbiosis" NMR
Bolt, "Put-That-There" NMR
Week Thirteen
T Nov 17
Agre, "Surveillance and Capture" NMR
Millar, "Filling the Void" WM
Cass Sunstein, "Fragmentation and Cybercascades" WM
Recommended: Carnivore, IBM Surveillance for Universities, Institute for
Applied Autonomy, Surveillance Camera Players, Bureau of Inverse Technology,
NYC Surveillance Camera Project, Big Brother
Week Fourteen
T Nov 24
Class cancelled for Thanksgiving holiday.
Week Fifteen
T Dec 1
Morningstar and Farmer, "The Lesson of Habitat" NMR
Virtual Worlds: Adobe Atmosphere, Habbo Hotel, Active Worlds, The Palace,
Desktop Theater
Week Sixteen
T Dec 8
Seminar paper/web portfolio due.
Glossary
What follow are Espen Aarseth's definitions of "directions" or research areas for what he calls
"Humanistic Informatics" (humanities computing):
* Humanistic IT-methods. Studies of how humanities research applies new digital methods to
solve problems within the various disciplines. Examples of this are data analysis by explorative
(and traditional) statistics, systems for machine assisted translation, text corpus, dictionaries, data
base applications (such as lexicography, terminology), tagging and markup, geographical
information systems, use of simulation and dynamic models in the study of cultural processes,
three-dimensional graphical presentation of objects and phenomena.
* Multimedia- and hypermedia research. Understanding and development of multimediaapplications; distributed multimedia platforms and network communication, WWWprogramming, hypertext-development and research on standards such as XML, VRML,
HYTime, etc.
* Pedagogical software and the development and use of network communication for pedagogical
purposes, such as distance learning. Information- and communication technology (ICT) -based
didactics.
* Digital culture and digital rhetoric and aesthetics. The study of digital modes of
communication and topics like computer art, digital literature, Internet cultures, virtual reality,
computer games, gender/identity and ICT, through cultural and communication theories.