Digital Case Studies

4.0 credits

This course is a team-taught seminar focused on established, ongoing digital-studies projects housed at the University of Rochester. It will consist of three modules in which students acquire hands-on experience in the methods and goals of these projects and explore the larger theoretical and practical implications of this kind of work. Projects may include (for example) the Medieval English Text Series; Mediate: A Digital Annotation Tool; the William Blake Archive; the Lazarus Project; Digital Elmina; Watershed Movements; as well as potential collaborations with librarians and archivists from Rush Rhees Library, the Visual Studies Workshop, the George Eastman Museum, the Memorial Art Gallery, the Strong Museum, and other local organizations. Through these case studies, students will consider questions of how digital projects are scaled and sustained; how labor is shared and distributed in projects of these types; and what kinds of knowledge production and creative practices digital projects are best able to facilitate and circulate. Students should exit the class having gained a familiarity with several projects, as well as the ability to conceptualize and design their own projects.