Compose a print-based report on a digital humanities project. There are two components to the task: 1) conducting research to gather background information relevant to the project under study and 2) providing descriptive text that captures key aspects of the project. There is also a twist: you should compose your report using a storytelling mode.
Some of the steps include:
Identifying a project. You can choose any project you like. You may already have a project you are interested or involved in. Or you may pick a project that resonates with some component of digital humanities you want to learn more about (e.g., digital archives, text encoding, GIS, sound studies, etc.) Perhaps a project from a reading strikes your interest. Also, the definition of project is quite open: it might be an online archive or canonical DH project; it might be a piece of software; it might be a book or collection of texts; it could be an event or movement; etc.
Conducting research. Once you have a project, locate and read at least three relevant sources. Sources might specifically discuss the project under study. Or they might touch more broadly on methods or aspects associated with the project. You can also include sources related to concerns of DH broadly. (When finished, and depending on the mix, you may well have more than three sources.)
Describing the project. Spend some time reviewing the project using a mode of digital analysis. This involves detailed description that might tend toward rhetorical or forensic analysis. What does the project look like? How does the project work? What are its main components? How do people engage with the project? You may want to compose notes or otherwise capture this kind of description taking of the project.
After (or in conjunction with) the activities above, compose the story. The twist in the assignment asks you to craft this composition as something other than the typical research report. You will still use text, but take more of a storytelling approach. Here are two possibilities:
Journalistic. Follow some variation of the five Ws (and an H) to tell the story, composing after asking about the project: who, what, where, when, why, and how. These elements should enable you to cover most everything you need to help readers get a good sense of the project. If one or two of the elements don't make it into the text, it's fine.
Dramatic. Take more license with the storytelling directive. You might consider characters involved in the project, tensions or conflicts, problems encountered, resolutions, etc. You might personify the project itself and develop a kind or plot or arc, describe settings, develop themes, use dialog, etc. If you choose this path, you may also want to acknowledge and develop a more fictional approach. You hyperbolize or take creative license to make a point; just add a note indicating these aims. If you want to push the assignment further, you can consult about other possible formats (screenplay, epic poem, etc.)
You will have to figure out the best way of incorporating your research into the story. With the journalistic approach this should be straightforward and you can use quotes, footnotes, etc. For the dramatic approach the research may be woven in more implicitly. Or perhaps some hybrid model will work.
Please include at the end or submitted along with the report a list of sources used. Aim for about five or six double-spaced pages with a twelve point font.
Below are some resources for your research into the project. Of course, you can also use materials from the library, online, etc.
- Anne Burdick, Johanna Drucker, Peter Lunenfeld, Todd Presner, Jeffrey Schnapp, eds. Digital Humanities
- Digital Humanities Quarterly
- Digital Studies
- First Monday
- Debates in the Digital Humanities
- Kenneth M. Price and Ray Siemens, eds. Literary Studies in the Digital Age: An Evolving Anthology
- Susan Schreibman, John Unsworth, and Ray Siemens, eds. Companion to Digital Humanities
When finished, submit the project as a document using the DH Project Story option on our web site. Submit your draft before class on Thursday, January 30th.
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