Welcome to English 5074: Introduction to Digital Humanities. This website will function as the online headquarters for our class this semester. I will use Virginia Tech’s Scholar site to record your grades, but otherwise, everything related to this course will be posted here. You should bookmark this site on your laptop, your tablet, your phone, etc. — whatever you use to get online.
A bit about me: I’m starting my fourth year at Virginia Tech, and I love it here. My research focuses on how people use rhetoric in online environments, and all of the classes I teach have something to do with technology. I think academics have a tendency to downplay the importance of the tools they use, so I work hard to correct (overcorrect?) that problem in my work. I spend a lot of time thinking about the technologies that shape my research and teaching, and I love comparing workflows with other academics — especially my students. When I’m not staring at a computer screen, I like to cook, read, and spend time with my wife, a brilliant freelance writer, and our two daughters.
Each week (typically Thursday evening or Friday morning), I will add a post to this website that explains what we will be doing in class the following week and what you need to do to prepare for those class sessions. The Week 2 post will be up soon, but for now, here are a few things you can do to get a jump start on the semester:
- Create a Twitter account, if you don’t have one already. (We’ll talk about using Twitter in the coming weeks, but for now, you just need to create an account, add a photo, and customize your profile.)
- Create an account on Medium, if you don’t have one already. (I recommend creating your Medium account by signing in with your Twitter account, just to keep your online identity for this class consistent.)
- Get familiar with your Google Drive account, which is connected to your vt.edu email address.
- Purchase copies (print or electronic) of the textbooks listed on the Course Policies page.
- Read “As We May Think,” by Vannevar Bush. (Be sure to take a look at this PDF scan of a condensed version of Bush’s article, which includes some important illustrations.) Please be ready to discuss this article in class on Thursday.