Applied Computing for History

Objectives

A) To know the main debates on digital history and digital humanities
B) Discuss the digital transformation in today's society and its impact on the historian's work
C) To be able to search, select, evaluate and analyze historical sources in digital format
D) Learn to use resources available on the Internet that are relevant from the historian's point of view
E) Explore relevant digital tools for the several stages of the historian's work

General characterization

Code

01101002

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Daniel Ribeiro Alves

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

None.

Bibliography

Alves, D. (2016). Humanidades Digitais e Investigação Histórica em Portugal: Perspectiva e discurso (1979-2015). Práticas da História. Journal on Theory, Historiography and Uses of the Past, 1(2), 89–116.
Alves, D. (2014). Introduction: Digital methods and tools for historical research. International Journal of Humanities and Arts Computing, 8(1), 1–12.
Blaney, J., Milligan, S., Steer, M., & Winters, J. (2021). Doing digital history: A beginner's guide to working with text as data. Manchester University Press.
Crymble, A. (2021). Technology and the Historian: Transformations in the Digital Age. University of Illinois Press.
Greengrass, M., & Hughes, L. (Orgs.). (2008). The Virtual Representation of the Past. Ashgate.
Salmi, H. (2020). What is Digital History?. Polity.
Schreibman, S., Siemens, R., & Unsworth, J. (Eds.). (2016). A New Companion to Digital Humanities. John Wiley & Sons.

Teaching method

Teaching of a theoretical/practical nature, framed, when necessary, by expositions and debates. Classes take place in classrooms equipped with computers and Internet access, with students encouraged to use their laptops and mobile communication devices. Learning will be based on readings and debates, on individual practical exercises and on the elaboration of a collaborative project work, under the guidance of the teacher.

Evaluation method

Writing a critical essay text on the introductory topics of the program - 30%


Elaboration of a collaborative project work that puts into practice the knowledge acquired in the final three modules of the program - 70%

Subject matter

1. Introduction
1.1. The History of Digital History and the Digital Humanities.
1.2. Digital transformation and the work of the historian.
1.3. Sources, open data and collaborative work in the Digital Age.
1.4. Artificial intelligence in knowledge production: potentialities, challenges and ethical issues.


2. The Internet and the historian
2.1. Research, selection and evaluation of digital content: archives, libraries, databases, repositories and digital infrastructures.
2.2. Data organization and management.


3. Historian's Tools in the Digital Age
3.1. Annotation of textual historical sources
3.2. Programming languages for accessing and analyzing historical sources.
3.3. Methods and tools for analyzing and visualizing time and space.
3.4. Platforms for the creation and management of digital archives.

Programs

Programs where the course is taught: