The Digital Past

History 390, Summer 1B 2018

Schedule

Week 1, Monday June 4th

Topics:

  • Introduction & Getting Started

After Class:

Week 1, Wednesday June 6th

Topics:

  • What is Digital History?
  • Building a Web Presence

Reading:

During Class:

After Class:

Projects for Review:

Week 2, Monday June 11th

Topics:

  • Who were the Progressives?
  • History of the Internet
  • Finding Secondary Sources

Reading:

After Class:

  • Assignment: Using the resources from class find a monograph and a journal article related to some aspect of the Progressive Era. In a blog post summarize the argument for each. Be sure to include citations for each in Chicago format. Due before the start of class June 18th.

Week 2, Wednesday June 13th

Topics

  • Primary Sources
  • The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Reading:

In Class:

After Class:

  • Assignment: Find five (5) primary sources from at least 3 different collections. Write a blog post that cites the items (including the databases they came from) in Chicago format. Summarize each source and discuss what you learned by reading it. What did you learn about searching for and finding primary sources on the internet? Due before the start of class June 18th.

Week 3, Monday June 18th

Topics

  • Reform and Legislation in Progressive America
  • Timelines

Before Class:

  • Sign up for a Google Account if you don’t already have one.

Reading:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Over the course of this semester make a timeline that chronicles important developments in the Progressive Era. You should have roughly 20 events including major labor strikes, social movements, and legislative accomplishments. Events can be drawn from class lectures, readings, and research but each event’s entry must include an accurate date, a several sentence description, links to more information where relevant, and an image if possible. This assignment, unlike most skills assignments, is due July 27th by noon.

Week 3, Wednesday June 20th

Topics

  • Primary Sources, Metadata, Copyright

Reading:

In Class:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Using the primary sources that you gathered during last week create an Omeka collection of at least 5 primary sources. Each item should have complete metadata although not every Dublin Core field needs to be filled out. Be sure to include a reference to where you found the item and a rights statement if appropriate. Due before the start of class June 25th via the assignment submission form

Week 4, Monday June 25th

Topics

  • Omeka Exhibits
  • Leisure in the Progressive Era

Reading:

In Class:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Using the items you added to Omeka last class, build an exhibit that tells a coherent story about some aspect of Progressive Era history. Each exhibit should include 5 items with proper metadata and an image. Use prose to link these items together. Your exhibit should be between 400 and 750 words and structured/organized in a way that is suitable to the content. All secondary sources used to contextualize the items should be cited using Chicago format. Due before the start of class July 2nd.

Week 4, Wednesday June 27th

Topics

  • Race in Progressive America and the Coming of Jim Crow
  • Databases

Before Class

Reading:

During Class:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Work with a group of no more than 4 people to create a database model in Airtable.
    • Decide on a scheme for the database, i.e. what tables will hold which fields. Enter a few items to make sure the model fits the data.
    • Once you’ve finalized your model, each person should contribute at least 20 records (rows) to the database. Be sure to mark each persons contribution in a column.
    • Each member of the group should write a blog post that describes the database model you came up with in class. Explain the decisions you made to normalize the data. What did you learn about databases? How can databases be useful for historical research? What did you learn about Jim Crow and lynching by making this database? How could a database such as the one you built help you analyze a historical question?
      • Your blog should be between 500 and 750 words and written in a scholarly format. Please create a shareable link to your database and submit both that link as well as the link to your blog through the assignment submission form.
  • Due before the start of class July 2nd.

Week 5, Monday July 2nd

Midterm

Week 5, Wednesday July 4th

No Class, Independence Day

Week 6, Monday July 09

Topics

  • Race and the Coming of Jim Crow (Cont’d)
  • Mapping

Before Class:

In Class:

Reading:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Using either your own data or the sample datasets provided, create a map using Carto. Add annotations and labels as necessary to clearly community the subject and aim of the map. Embed the map in a blog post and write about what you learned from making the map and from the map itself. Due before the start of class July 16th.

Week 6, Wednesday July 11

Topics

  • Text Mining
  • Women & the Progressive City

In Class: * Quiz

Data:

Reading:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Use voyant to explore one of the sample corpuses provided. Write a blog post that discusses what you learned about text analysis and include screenshots of visualizations from Voyant. Using both distant and close reading, what can we learn about women’s approach to reform in the Progressive Era using these documents? You might consider what elements of Flanagan’s article you see in the corpus and what themes or trends might garner further analysis. Include specific examples in your blog post. Due before the start of class July 16th.

Week 7, Monday July 16

Topics

  • Immigration in the Progressive Era
  • Visualizations

Before Class:

Reading:

  • Excerpt from “Defectives in the Land” (pdf to be provided)
  • John Theibault, “Visualizations and Historical Arguments,” in Writing History in the Digital Age, edited by Kristen Nawrotzki and Jack Dougherty (University of Michigan Press, 2013).
  • Explore the visualizations created by Mike Bostock.

During Class:

After Class:

  • Skill Assignment: Using the datasets provided create at least 2 visualizations. Be sure to include captions, labels, and titles for each visualization. Embed both in a blog post and discuss: What did you learn from your visualization? What does it tell you about Immigration in the Progressive Era? What kind of literacy is required to engage with your visualization? Due before the start of class July 23rd.

Week 7, Wednesday July 18

Topics

  • Sustainability and Ethics in the Digital Age

In Class:

Reading:

After Class:

  • Assignment: Choose one of the two following topics and write a blog post:
    • Topic 1: How sustainable is the digital work that you have don’t in this course? What would it take to sustain the assignments you have completed? Which assignments can you export from the web services where you created them?
    • Topic 2: How secure is your digital life? Who has access to your information? What kinds of things might hackers, corporations, political parties, or states be able to figure out about you from that information? What is the significance of government surveillance? What can you do to improve your digital security?
    • Due before the start of class July 23rd.

Week 8, Monday July 23

Topics

  • Programming and Machine Learning

Reading:

After Class:

  • Portfolio: Your portfolio should be a page on your website that links to all of the assignments and blog posts you have completed for this class. Include images of the assignments where appropriate and be sure to make the site attractive. Include with each assignment a short discussion about how the assignment contributed to your understanding of the Progressive Era. The text on this page should be between 300 and 500 words. Your portfolio is due July 27th by noon.

Week 8, Wednesday July 25

Topics:

  • Catch Up and Conclusion