General Information

h3. Where and When

Tuesdays, 5:30pm-8:00pm
Anderson B-12 (in the basement computer lab)

h3. Description

Digital technologies have become an integrated part of our day-to-day lives, and the same is increasingly true of our practices as historians. This seminar is intended as a survey of the wide range of ways in which digital tools and methods have been incorporated into the doing of history – while the building of websites is clearly central to this topic, the scope here is even broader, ranging from desktop software to archival and research methods.

The goals of the class are both theoretical and practical – you’ll hopefully leave with a sense of the landscape of digital methods available to historians (as well as their strengths and weaknesses), as well as having explicitly used some of them in the service of a digital history project.

h3. Office Hours

The course meets on Tuesday afternoons from 5:30 until 8 pm. Office hours will be held from 4:30-5:30, in a location to be determined. I’m also available via “e-mail”:mailto:josh@epistemographer.com and on AIM (screenname: STSJosh) most of the time, and by appointment much of the week. As much as anything, I’m here as a resource, so don’t hesitate to contact me anytime.

h3. Grading

* Your grade for the semester will be determined as follows:
** 50% -> Final Project
** 15% -> Web Review
** 35% -> General Participation

* There are no hidden metrics being used to evaluate your participation. Different people participate in different ways; as long as you’re actively engaged in the discussion (in class ___and___ online), you’ll do fine. If you’re not participating, I’ll let you know.

h3. Rules

* All written work for this class is considered public. Remember that you’re not just writing for the instructor and your classmates, but that you’re joining a broader discussion on the evolving world of digital history. Along those lines, healthy debate is good but be nice – everyone’s watching.

* Since part of the fun of blogging is the back and forth with one’s readers, you’re expected not just to post
your own assignments, but to read and comment on those of your fellow students. With that in mind, *all assignments and reading responses are expected to be posted to your blogs by the Monday morning before class*, so that others have time to respond to your post.