Applied Computing for History - 2nd semester

Objectives

a) Be aware of the historical significance of the diffusion of new technologies in today´s society and the changes introduced in the work of the historian.
b) Being able to search, select and work historical documents in digital format.
c) Learning to use the resources available on the Internet relevant for the work of the historian: archives, libraries, databases, and online publications.
d) Explore digital tools for managing and presenting information.
e) Using a geographical information system to collect and analyze historical information

General characterization

Code

711051065

Credits

6

Responsible teacher

Daniel Ribeiro Alves

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

None.

Bibliography

Alves, Daniel, “Using a GIS to reconstruct the nineteenth century Lisbon parishes”, in Humanities, Computers and Cultural
Heritage. Proceedings of the XVIth international conference of the Association for History and Computing, Amsterdam,
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2005, pp. 12-17
Cohen, Daniel J.; Rosenzweig, Roy, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web,
2005.
Gregory, Ian, A place in history: A guide to using GIS in historical research, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2003.
Schreibman, Susan; Siemens, Ray; Unsworth, John (ed.), A companion to Digital Humanities, Oxford, Blackwell Publishing,
2004.

Teaching method

Practical teaching, supported when necessary by theoretical expositions. Classes take place in computer equiped rooms, where there is one machine per student. Learning based on individual exercises performed in class, and in work done outside the classroom.

Evaluation method

Students will be assessed through two small laboratory works in the classroom (20% and 25% of the final quotation) and a
project work done in the classroom, and partly outside in an autonomous way (55% of final quotation).

Subject matter

1. Introduction:
The Information Society in Historical Perspective
The history of the application of computing in History
Reflections on History and Computing:
Sources, methodologies, collaborative work and plagiarism

2. The Internet and the historian:
Search, selection and evaluation of digital content
Sources of information:
Digital archives, libraries, repositories and databases

3. Management and presentation of digital information:
Management of bibliographic information
Methodologies for graphical representation of data

4. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and historical research:
Introduction to the concept of Historical-GIS
Introduction to GIS software:
Work environment, basic tools and spatial analysis tools
Space and time. Exploration of a case study of Historical-GIS:
Collecting and processing data
Integration and data analysis
Production of maps

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: