GMDS 140: Intro to Digital Studies FA20
Professor: Jennifer Hayward (she/her/hers)
Classroom: Morgan 116
Class Hours: 11:00 – 11:50 am
Office: Kauke 217
Office Hours: M/W 1 pm – 2 pm or by appointment via Bookings
Part I: Frameworks
Week 1: Media and Digital Technologies; The Information Society
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Introduction: the digital world
Debates in the Digital Humanities, Starting with “What is It, Exactly?” Read: D&A Intro DS, 1.1-1.2 Tara McPherson, “Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? or Thinking the Histories of Race and Computation” |
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| R | Readings
Test Perusall connection Collaborative course policies |
Week 2: Blogging and digital identities: representation, inclusion, and accessibility
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 1.3-1.5
George Dvorsky, “The 10 Algorithms that Dominate Our World” |
Reading quiz |
| R | Post a selfie or other image that represents you to our course blog |
Week 3: social media and digital identities: dialogue or polarization?
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 3.1-3.3
Jessica Marie Johnson, “Markup BodiesBlack [Life] Studies and Slavery [Death] Studies at the Digital Crossroads” |
Reading quiz |
| R | From Sunday through Tuesday, choose two hashtags to follow on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook (the same tags on both—eg. #blacklivesmatter, #girlslikeus). Bring your observations about each platform to class. |
Week 4: Data ownership and usage: information literacy
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 2.1-2.6
Safiya Umoja Noble, “Google Search: Hyper-Visibility as a Means of Rendering Black Women and Girls Invisible” from InVisible Culture (2013) Joshua Adams, “Thinking About Google Search As A Colonial Tool” (2018) |
Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: Zotero tutorial, Wikipedia Tutorial 1
Check-in on academic progress |
Part II: Transformations
Week 5: Digital activism and agency
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | D&A Intro DS, 3.1-3.3
Teju Cole, “The White Savior Industrial Complex” |
Reading quiz |
| R | From Sunday through Tuesday, choose one public figure (author, activist, etc.) and one hashtag to follow on Twitter; bring your observations to class. |
Week 6: Digital activism and agency: Digital sound
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | D&A Intro DS, 3.3-3.6
Listen: Podcast links (Moodle) |
Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: Podcasts |
Week 7: Digital activism and agency: GIF culture
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 4.1-4.5
Jason Eppink, “A Brief History of the GIF (so Far)” Kate M. Miltner and Tim Highfield, “Never Gonna GIF You Up: Analyzing the Cultural Significance of the Animated GIF” (2017) |
Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: GIF creation |
Week 8: Digital activism and agency: The power of the image
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 5.1-3.3 | Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: Photo-essay
Lab report |
Part III: The Public Sphere and Power
Week 9: Data methods: Information, power, and digital capitalism
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 5.4-5.6 | Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: Wikipedia tutorials |
Week 10: Data methods: knowledge, access, and representation
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: D&A Intro DS, 6.1-6.5
Introduction and chapter two: Klein, Lauren, and Catherine D’Ignazio. Data Feminism. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2018. |
Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: Wikipedia tutorials |
Week 11: “Wikipedia Final project planning”
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Read: Sasha Costanza-Chock, “Design Justice” | Reading quiz |
| R | Lab: Prospectus Storyboarding |
Week 12: “Wikipedia Final project planning”
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Wikipedia onboarding | Reading quiz |
| R | Final project conferences
Lab: Wikipedia tutorials |
Week 13: “Wikipedia Final project planning”
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Wikipedia project choices | Reading quiz |
| R | Final project draft due for peer review |
Week 14: “Wikipedia Final project planning”
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Wikipedia research | Reading quiz |
| R | Wikipedia annotated bibliography due for peer review |
Week 15: “Wikipedia Final project planning”
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Wikipedia entries | Reading quiz |
| R | Wikipedia entry draft due for peer review |
Finals Week: Final projects
| Day | Readings | Assignments Due |
| T | Final project lightening talks | |
| R | Final project and lightening talk podcast due |