Open course – Introduction to digital humanities

Open course

Introduction to digital humanities. Notions of database building, text encoding, georeferencing, network analyses & statistics

Trainer: Lecturer PhD Rada VARGA

Dates: 01.03.2021 – 26.03. 2021; projects presentations: 15-16.04.2021

The teaching will be asynchronous, with individual exercises and 7 online meetings of approx. 1-2 hours each.

Language: The class will be taught in English, with bilingual (RO-EN) class materials.

Certificate: Upon completion, each participant will receive a diploma granted by the Babeș-Bolyai University, certifying the graduation of the course.

Course overview:

Data structuring

Outline: 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). We will also discuss on-line linked open data.

Gained abilities: the capacity to extract tabular information from a text and to primarily classify them, according to a given research question; the capacity to elaborate new research questions based on the structured data.

Database building

Outline: the session will be focused on the basics of database building. Besides the technical component, it will encompass a methodological side, as the filtering has to answer coherent research questions

Gained abilities: building a database in Airtable and SQL, applying filters.

Text encoding

Outline: we will teach the main text encoding norms and TEI standards. Basic encoding and annotation principles will be introduced, as well as basic XML.

Gained abilities: the capacity to correctly encode any text.

Visualization

Outline: 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: the capacity to ingest any structured data in a visualizing software and thus to highlight the desired research questions.

Geographical adnotations and georeferencing

Outline: 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: the capacity to annotate geographical information in QGIS.

Data analyses (social network analyses)

Outline: 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 Nodegoat.

Gained abilities: the possibility to create, visualize and analyse a network (social, economic, conceptual).

Projects presentation

Fees: 800 RON; 400 RON for UBB staff and students.

In case an institutional invoice is required, the corresponding data should be filled in the registration form.

Payment: UBB Cash Desk / on-line : https://plati.ubbcluj.ro/en/Event/Details/79

Registration dates: January 25 – February 21

Documents:

Registration form (Fișă de înscriere) – link (RO version) / EN version available on Registration on the payment platform

Contract – link (RO version)

For information on the content of the course, do not hesitate to contact Rada Varga (rada.varga@ubbcluj.ro) and for administrative information, Horea Oltean (horea.oltean@ubbcluj.ro)

Please send your registration form to both indicated addresses.