Week 1: Introduction

Hey everyone, I'm a second year LIS student with a background in philosophy and history. I was drawn to this course because I wanted to learn more about how the digital humanities are transforming into a legitimate discipline (you can get a Master's degree in the field at University College London) and what the merging of technology and literature will do to the way we enjoy and understand books. I enjoyed the Kirschenbaum and Werner reading and so far I'm most interested in talking about whether many of the examples they noted have an inherent artistic merit in themselves as pioneering works or if their value is in their sense of novelty.

I've been scared to learn much coding beyond making hyperlinks or italicizing texts so far, but it seems to be an important skill for a librarian to have so I'm looking forward to getting started. It looks like most of us starting the practicum will be creating some type of digital content so I think this class will be a good theoretical companion to the work we will be learning to do.