The integration of digital technologies into our daily lives is changing the landscapes of media, communication, and education. Scholars are increasingly expected to be able to use digital media tools to build, extend, and share scholarship, rather than simply treating digital media as an object of study to be written about. Teachers are expected to use digital technology to extend and expand their instruction. The course will offer training in practical skills and broad concepts integral to the production of digital media projects, with particular emphasis on the manipulation and synthesis of moving images, sound, text, and databases. Topics covered include:
– Web design using HTML and CSS.
– Graphic design using Photoshop.
– Podcasting: recording, sound editing, distribution, and preservation.
– Digital video: cinematography, lighting, sound, editing, and compression.
– Data mark-up and visualization using XML, XSLT, R, and other tools.
– Fundamentals of computing and basic database structures.
– The challenges of digital preservation, as well as the greatest challenge of all: creating valuable digital projects that are worth preserving.
This course welcomes inter-disciplinarity; some of the best digital humanities projects have borrowed methods of data-intensive analysis from the sciences and social sciences. No pre-existing video production, podcasting, web development, or computer programming knowledge is required. Patience and curiosity, on the other hand, are mandatory.