word cloud for this syllabus, by Tagxedo
Hist 4150/6150: Introduction to Digital Methods for History

Prof. Pamela Mack, pammack@clemson.edu, Hardin 006, office hours MW 10-11:30, Wed. 1:30-2:30
Prof. Vernon Burton, vburton@clemson.edu, Hardin 028, office hours Wed. 1:30-2:30 and by appointment, cell phone number 217-649-0608
Class meetings: Wed. 2:30-5:00 in Hardin 024
This syllabus on the web: http://pammack.sites.clemson.edu/syl4150.html

Student Learning Outcomes: By the end of the course students should be able to:

Course Requirements:

Blog: You may set up your blog using the system of your choice.  We recommend Blogger (http://www.clemson.edu/ccit/learning_tech/computer_training/google_apps/google_blogger/index.html) or Wordpress (http://wordpress.com/).  By the second class meeting, you should send the address of your blog to Prof. Mack at: pammack@clemson.edu and Prof. Burton at vburton@clemson.edu.  You should use your blog to:

Student blogs:

Accomodations: The instructor is happy to honor disability letters.  Students with disabilities requesting accommodations should make an appointment with Dr. Arlene Stewart, Director of Disability Services, to discuss specific needs within the first month of classes.  Disability letters are available both for learning disabilities that require accommodations and for chronic illnesses that may cause absences from class. Students should present a Faculty Accommodation Letter from Student Disability Services when they meet with instructors. Student Disability Services is located in Suite 239 Academic Success Building (656-6848; sds-l@clemson.edu). Please be aware that accommodations are not retroactive and new Faculty Accommodation Letters must be presented each semester.

Sexual Harassment: Clemson University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion,
sex, sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, veteran’s status, genetic information or protected activity (e.g., opposition to prohibited discrimination or participation in any complaint process, etc.) in employment, educational programs and activities, admissions and financial aid. This includes a prohibition against sexual harassment and sexual violence as mandated by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. This policy is located at http://www.clemson.edu/campus-life/campus-services/access/title-ix/.  Mr. Jerry Knighton is the Clemson University Title IX Coordinator. He also is the Director of Access and Equity. His office is located at 111 Holtzendorff Hall, 864.656.3181 (voice) or 864.565.0899 (TDD)

Academic Integrity: As members of the Clemson University community, we have inherited Thomas Green Clemson's vision of this institution as a "high seminary of learning."  Fundamental to this vision is a mutual commitment to truthfulness, honor, and responsibility, without which we cannot earn the trust and respect of others.  Furthermore, we recognize that academic dishonesty detracts from the value of a Clemson degree.  Therefore, we shall not tolerate lying, cheating, or stealing in any form.

This includes representing someone else's work as your own or handing in the same paper to two different courses without permission of the instructors.  Be careful to avoid plagiarism--text you take from a web site, from a book, or from the online class notes must be either quoted with the source given or restated almost entirely in your own words, with the source given.  Note that the catalog defines as one form of academic dishonesty: "Plagiarism, which includes the intentional or unintentional copying of language, structure, or ideas of another and attributing the work to one’s own efforts."  Note the word unintentional--if you forget to put quote marks or a reference you can be found guilty of academic dishonesty even if it was not your intention to cheat.

It is cheating to cut and paste or otherwise copy portions of a argument paper, exam, or discussion board posting from a book, web site, or from the online class notes, even if you change a few words, unless you quote and give the source.  It is poor writing for more than about 20% of your paper to consist of quotes.   In most cases when you use specific material from any source you should paraphrase: cite the source and put the ideas into you own words (generally no more than 5 consecutive words should match the source but if the words are mostly the same it could still be plagiarism even if there aren't 5 consecutive words).

Laptops and Cell Phones:  Use of laptops, tablets and cell phones during class for purposes not related to this course is disrespectful to the instructor and distracting to other students.  You may use your devices to take notes during class or to look up further information on a topic being discussed.  Students using their devices during class may be called on to share what they are learning with the rest of the class.

Required reading is mostly online, as linked in the schedule.  One book is available either online or in the bookstore:
Cohen and Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web, http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
Note that some readings require you to be logged into the Clemson network to access journal articles.  If you are away from campus, you can start from the library page and find the article or log into Novell using a Virtual Personal Network (VPN), which creates the appearance your computer is on the campus network.  Clemson now has a page that will automatically set up your VPN: http://cuvpn.clemson.edu 

Schedule:

Aug. 20: Introduction, set up blogs in class

Aug. 27: What is Digital History?  Read:

Sept. 3:  Digital databases and digital research tools

Sept. 10:  Spatial history

Sept. 17: GIS

Sept. 24:  Text analysis

Oct. 1: Project proposal due. Follow this format (from NSF): "Each proposal must contain a summary of the proposed project not more than one page in length. The Project Summary consists of an overview, a statement on the intellectual merit of the proposed activity, and a statement on the broader impacts of the proposed activity."   (project summary instructions from: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/policydocs/pappguide/nsf13001/gpg_2.jsp#IIC2b)

Oct. 1: Introduction to websites.  Read:

Oct. 8:  Oral history.  Read:

Oct. 15: Project peer discussion: come prepared to discuss your progress on your project and give your classmates suggestions on theirs.  Write a blog post about what are the current frustrations and successes of your project.

Oct. 22: Digital presentation and communication

Oct. 29: GIS workshop with Patricia Carbajales-Dale in the usual classroom.  All students required to attend but if this is relevant to your project bring material for that project.

Nov. 5:  Commemoration. Read:

Nov. 12: Presentations.  This is not expected to be a finished product--we want to give you feedback when you have time still to add to your project.  But this should be a reasonably formal presentation of what you have so far, not just a progress report.

Nov. 19: Democratizing History and Shared Historical Authority.  Read:

Dec. 3: Social Media and the Listening Lab. Final version of project due in whatever format is appropriate.

Dec. 10: takehome final due by midnight.  Write 4-6+ double spaced pages on how digital history will change history, using references to specific readings.


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Introduction to Digital History Syllabus by Pamela E. Mack is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.