Introduction to Digital Humanities - HUM 346 / AMS 348 / LAS 385 / COM 336

T/Th: 1:30 - 2:50 PM

This course will introduce students to debates and approaches in the Digital Humanities from a global perspective. We will consider the foundations of DH while also discussing concerns involving access, maintenance, and care for projects over time in regions with physical restraints such as connectivity restrictions. On seminar days, we will work through theoretical concerns and explore the possibilities and limits of existing tools. On studio days, we work in small teams to gather data from primary sources in RBSC, which we will then use with software and platforms to build skills in computational analysis, data collection, and DH research.

View course details. 

In Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem; Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color.

Dr. Safiya U. Noble is an assistant professor at the University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg School of Communication. Noble’s academic research focuses on the design of digital media platforms on the internet and their impact on society. She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a B.A. in Sociology from California State University, Fresno with an emphasis on African American/Ethnic Studies.

This event is sponsored by

• Princeton University Library
• Humanities Council
• Department of African-American Studies
• University Center for Human Values
• Center for Information and Technology Policy
• Department of Computer Science
• Center for Statistics and Machine Learning
• Department of Sociology
• Department of Anthropology
• Department of Mathematics
• Woodrow Wilson School 

The Just Data Lab: Reimagining and Retooling Data for Justice workshop is organized into three panels, each focusing on a different social arena - housing, policing, and education - that draw on data from the Eviction Lab, Mapping Police Violence, and the Baltimore Equity Toolkit and Powermapping, respectively. 

For each module, presenters will share a short presentation related to the theme (including a brief introduction of the data, discussion of existing literature, and a hands-on activity idea). Then respondents will kick off the workshop discussion by raising questions and reflecting on how the material can be used in classrooms and communities, including a new Princeton University class, and the syllabus, modules, and other resources will be available free online.

Organized by Ruha Benjamin, African-American Studies and CDH Faculty Fellow