Digital Humanities in Practice (DIKULT 207, UiB, Fall 2013)

Digital Humanities in Practice: Project Work on Developing a Scholarly Database of Electronic Literature

Students work with scholars on a current international research project "Electronic Literature as a Model for Creativity in Practice" (ELMCIP) in particular working on the development and editing of the Knowledge Base for Electronic Literature. The Knowledge Base is a scholarly, relational database programmed in Drupal that documents works, events and actors in the field of electronic literature. In addition to participating in practical project-based work with an established team of senior and junior researchers, students read scholarship on digital humanities as a field and explore and read articles related to the digital humanities.

In individual projects, students develop expertise in a particular field of research in e-lit. In that respect, the course offers students ways to create interpretative frameworks for a specific set of data and trains students in adapting "digital methods" critically.

To be agreed upon with individual students skillsets and interests, practices in the course include:

• reflective editing and documentation: researching, writing, and editing entries about electronic literature in the Knowledge Base
• development: working on the Drupal backend to the Knowledge Base in collaboration with other project team members, either conceptually or taking part in the programming according to the students prior skills
• web design and user interface development
• project planning and implementation; team work and collaboration in academia

After completing the course, students will have assessed the usefulness of a range of digital humanities strategies in specific scholarly work, have experience in discussing organizational and design choices in developing a scholarly database, and have investigated in the community of electronic literature.

Note: The complete reading list appears in the attached syllabus.