Introduction to Digital Humanities:Developing Individual Projects
International Workshop

Dates: November: 4,11, 18,25
December: 2
Time: 17.00 (5 p.m.)
Amsterdam time (UTC +2)

Course Facilitator: Rada Varga, Ph.D

The Idea
GIRES, the Global Institute for Research, Education and Scholarship is committed to offering the tools that support the endeavors of global scholarly community. Our new workshop offers the tools for scholars who wish to enter and explore the fascinating world of Digital Humanities (DH) under the guidance of expert Dr. Rada Varga.

The Aim
This workshop series addresses humanists and social sciences students or researchers interested in acquiring technical skills directly useful for their research. Digital humanities offer the possibility to go into deeper and more efficient interdisciplinary research, as well as it helps one look at its data from a different angle. Furthermore, undertaking a DH training helps humanists develop computational thinking and increases computer literacy – two sets of skills which become more paramount by the day.

The Structure
The workshops will be taught both asynchronously and synchronously, with three envisioned steps:

Pre-recorded lectures and tutorials for each topic; their approximate duration will be 1 hour, generally fragmented in 2-3 parts;
Exercises based on these tutorials, which are also to be allocated an approximate 1-hour duration;
On-line, synchronous, meeting, where we will discuss the exercises and any other connected problems the attendees might raise; their duration will be 1-2 hours.
The sessions will imply individual exercises, team exercises, as well as discussions and individual and group feedback. Given the nature of the course, we will unavoidably use Open Educational Resources (OER) and a blended learning system. The participants will be encouraged to use their own datasets, so that the results are both familiar and relevant, but in case of need we will have sample spreadsheets to offer them. Regarding the employed software, we will use open access programs and platforms.

Each workshops is a stand-alone, but the participants who would attend all of them will basically graduate from a complete introduction to DH course.

—PROGRAM—

Thematic A
A. Data structuring & Databases (November 4th, 5pm CET)

The session will focus on structuring any kind of data (but especially narrative) into a tabular form, as well as on interrogating and identifying the information within structured datasets (spreadsheets, tables). The most accessible data structuring formats will be presented (Excel, .csv).

Gained abilities:

Extracting information from a text in tabular form;
Excel basics
Building a database in Airtable
Thematic B
B. Visualization (November 11th, 5pm CET)

The session will come as a critical analysis of the role of visualization in humanities and social sciences and as an introduction into the most employed visualizing platforms: Tableau Public, Raw Graphs.

Gained abilities:

Understanding the theory of visualisation (why? when? how much is too much?);
Visualizations with Raw Graphs;
The basics of Tableau Public.
Thematic C
C. Social Network Analyses (November 18th, 5pm CET)

The session will demonstrate how one can achieve scientific insights using their structured data and the platforms presented before. For focusing on network analyses, we will use Gephi.

Gained abilities:

Understanding what is SNA and why should we use it as a research method;
Building networks with Gephi.
Thematic D
D. Geographic annotations & Customizing maps (November 25th, 5pm CET)

The participants will get familiarized with the most common systems of geographic annotation and visualization – Google MyMaps and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), with QGIS, the associated platform.

Gained abilities:

Constructing interactive maps with Google MyMaps;
Geographic annotations with QGis and exporting layers in ArcGIS.
Thematic E
E. Linked open data and on-line for humanists (December 2nd, 5pm CET)

The session will focus on online tools generally useful for humanists, as well as on useful concepts, which facilitate online research and interaction in scientific contexts.

Gained abilities:

Using Wikimedia commons in humanist research;
Understanding the notions of Linked Open Data and copyright issues in humanist research.
Registration Deadline:
-The Saturday before each workshop (registration by 30 October & 6,13,20,27 November).
-After the registration you will be provided with all necessary material by Monday (1,8,15,22,29 November).
-The deadline for exercises will be Wednesday (3,10,17,24 November & 1 December evening—a day before the Thursday meetings).

USEFUL INFO:
DATES OF WORKSHOP: November: 4,11, 18,25 & December: 2 2021
DURATION: 3h each course/meeting (incl. Q&A)
DEADLINE FOR REGISTRATION:1 November 2021--I For ndividual Sessions,13,20,27 November
TIME: 17.00 Amsterdam time (UTC +2)
FORMAT:Synchronous & Asynchronous Sessions
ACCREDITATION: Official Certificate Issued by GIRES
REGISTRATION: Please visit the seminar's webpage.

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Generating dialogue is of primary importance for our scholarly community and thus GIRES wishes to create a friendly and welcoming environment for all of our colleagues and offer all the tools to present their work in the best possible way.
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Due to the restrictions of Corona Crisis our event (for the time being) will take place virtually

Contact Info:
GIRES-Global Institute for Research Education & Scholarship (Amsterdam,the Netherlands)
www.gires.org

Contact Email: info@gires.org
URL: https://www.gires.org/activities/workshops/introduction-to-digital-humanities-developing-individual-projects/