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Spring 2021 Syllabus (Schedule) Classes meet T H 10:35 - 11:50am over Zoom. Zoom attendance is required for all students.

Read the Course Description

This contains a detailed explanation of course policies and the basis for grades.

Jump Down to the Schedule

This link jumps to the closest day to today's date. Review the schedule as we get started to get a sense of how this course will work on a daily basis.

Week 1 Topics Do before class

T 1-19

  • Welcome! Introduction to the course.
  • About the concept of Open Annotation and the Hypothes.is tool that we will experiment with together: Hypothes.is
  • Set up Hypothes.is accounts and join our private class Hypothes.is Group
  • Launch first Annotation Assignment

H 1-21

  • Discussion building on annotations: Slow computing while in university

Week 2 Topics Do before class

T 1-26

H 1-28

  • Complete The Atlas of Inequality exercise
  • Review and make sure Hypothes.is annotations on first set of readings are complete.
  • Start Comparative Website development with GitHub. Git Exercise 1 (setting up your GitHub account), post on introDH-Hub issues.
Week 3 Topics Do before class

T 2-02

Git and GitHub: Hands-on work with cloning your GitHub repo and the class's GitHub repo, and pushing changes using:
  • git pull (to pull in changes from the remote web repo)
  • git add -A (to add your local changes to your repo on your local computer for tracking)
  • git commit -m "your commit message" (to commit your changes in a bundle ready to be sent to the remote repo, adding a descriptive message to develop the commit history)
  • git push (to send your commit up to the remote repo.
GitHub Pages. Getting started with writing markdown and HTML in oXygen.
  • When invited, join our DIGIT-Coders Slack chat (to help you find quick help with coding as you need it from our DIGIT community)!
  • Follow the instructions posted on Canvas to download the oXygen XML Editor on a computer you work with for your assignments this semester (choose the version of oXygen compatible with your computer to install). Note: when you download oXygen, you'll receive three different versions: the Author (red icon), the Editor (blue icon), and the Publisher (grey icon). We will only be working with the Editor (blue icon). Please install this and apply the license key posted in my announcement before class on Tuesday 2/2 so we can begin exploring it in class.
  • Read the git manual 1.1: "Getting Started—About Version Control"
  • Complete Git Exercise 2: (Create a personal repo and set up GitHub Pages.)
  • Watch my video introducing the Bash shell and "home" on your computers and practice the shell commands I am introducing. Practice some shell commands

H 2-04

Learning how to work with HTML and CSS code in oXygen. Sending changes to your GitHub Pages directory. Learn about file associations and practice with git commands. Hints for preview of local HTML files:
  • You can open a local file you're working on in a web browser to see how it will look on your published site.
  • Also, try previewing the page by clicking the Author tab in the bottom center of the oXygen XML Editor window.
  • Super helpful resource for info on HTML and CSS code: w3schools
  • (Re-)Watch my video introducing the Bash shell and "home" on your computers and practice the shell commands I am introducing. Practice some shell commands
  • Watch my short (15 minute) video showing how to git pull in changes, and the three-step of git add, git commit, and git push.
  • GitHub Website Development:
    • Make sure your web GitHub repo is configured to publish GitHub pages.
    • Clone your GitHub repo and our class introDH-Hub to a computer where you have installed GitHub (following our previous exercises).
    • Make sure your GitHub repo has a docs/ directory and a file named index.html inside as the start file for your website. (You may start by copying my docs/ directory from your local clone of the introDH-Hub into your repo).
    • Open the index.html page in the oXygen XML Editor and begin studying how HTML code works. Try modifying the index.html page, and save your changes on your local computer.
    • Use your git command line (Git Bash Shell on Windows, or Terminal on Mac), and use git add -A, git commit -m "your descriptive commit message", and git push to push your changes to your remote GitHub repo, so they are published on your GitHub Pages site.
    • Find and post on the GitHub code view of your repo the link to your published GitHub Pages site.
    • Also post this link to your published GitHub Pages site in Canvas for today's assignment.
Week 4 Topics Do before class

T 2-09

Wellness Day: No classes Relax, it's a wellness day! :-)

H 2-11

Continue GitHub Website Development: Hints for preview of local HTML files:
  • You can open a local file you're working on in a web browser to see how it will look on your published site.
  • Also, try previewing the page by clicking the Author tab in the bottom center of the oXygen XML Editor window.
Week 5 Topics Do before class

T 2-16

  • HTML and CSS together for simple, accessible web design. Creating the same structure for styling multiple pages the same way.
  • Look at the CSS Zen Garden: same HTML content styled several different ways with different CSS
  • Responsive web design: resizing to fit mobile devices vs. wide screens
  • Site navigation: creating a simple navigation menu: Sample navigation bars
  • Read about HTML Accessibility and apply what you learn about accessible code on your HTML code for headings, images (providing alt attributes), links, declaring the language. Try applying title attributes.
  • Read about Responsive HTML and try applying what you learn to scaling some elements on your site.
  • Build up content described in the Comparative Web Development Assignment. Develop the basis of your portfolio website on GitHub Pages. Establish sections or pages and provide a way for a visitor to navigate your site.

H 2-18

Orientation to Penn state's web services for students, faculty, and staff: https://sites.psu.edu and https://personal.psu.edu
  • Continue developing GitHub Pages site(s): create and style a navigation bar to connect your pages. (See Sample navigation bars)
  • Create website account at sites.psu.edu (PSU Wordpress)
  • On the Wordpress site, orient yourself to how pages and images are added and arranged. Begin adding and organizing your site content.
Week 6 Topics Do before class

T 2-23

H 2-25

Workshopping and troubleshooting site development. Comparative Web Development Assignment: Complete content development on both sites. Revise content, formatting, styling with accessibility in mind.
Week 7 Topics Do before class

T 3-02

Introduce distant reading: Voyant Tools exercise. Experimenting with texts posted in introDH-Hub. Saving documents in text formats: Working with <oXygen/>. Complete Comparative Web Development Assignment:.

H 3-04

Exploring corpus text analysis. Review and continue experiments with Voyant Tools. Introduce Antconc. Introducing N-grams. Voyant Exercise: Experiment with Voyant Tools.
Week 8 Topics Do before class

T 3-09

Exploring corpus concordances with Voyant and AntConc. Introduce the Corpus Analysis Assignment
  • Read An Introduction to N-Grams: What are they and why do we need them?
  • Install Antconc on your computer.
  • Save some plain text in a text file: Copy and paste a column from the Google Sheet of Hypothes.is annotations data, or copy and paste the text of some of our readings (or any long-ish text of your choice) into your computer’s text editor. You may use Notepad or Notepad++ (Windows), TextEdit (Mac), or <oXygen/> (if you're taking one of the higher level DIGIT classes): Paste the text and save it with a .txt file extension. Make a file folder to save this and other related files in your personal GitHub repo, and push this up to your repo.
  • Open your text file in AntConc. Select the Clusters/NGram option along the top AND mark the NGram checkbox at the bottom. Set a minimum and a maximum size: try a minimum size ngram of 2 and a maximum of 4. Take a look at your results, and create a screenshot to save and push to your GitHub repo.

H 3-11

Wellness Day: No classes Relax, it's a wellness day! :-)
Week 9 Topics Do before class

T 3-16

  • Cleaning the text data: preparing plain text files to remove material not meant for analysis.
  • Exploring Keyword in Context (KWIC) with Voyant and ngrams. Finding patterns and exploring them. What kinds of comparisons can we make?
  • Continue exploring text data for the Corpus Analysis Assignment. Take screen captures as you explore comparing texts posted on the assignment. (You may also try cleaning up some text files you find of interest on Project Gutenberg: find a text and look for a download option of Plain Text to save the file to work with, and be sure to cut off the lengthy Project Gutenberg boilerplate from the top and bottom of the file.
  • Be sure that your files are saved with a .txt file extension, as in hamlet.txt.
  • Take screen captures of interesting results you see. Think of points of comparison and contrast you might be finding between a couple of texts.
  • Open a new post on introDH-Hub if you are stuck and want some help!

H 3-18

Review / discuss drafts of corpus analysis projects. Prepare a rough draft of your Corpus Analysis post to workshop and review.
Week 10 Topics Do before class

T 3-23

Structuring data in Google Sheets for TimeMaps: Launch TimeMapper Exercise: Plotting time and space

H 3-25

TimeMapper Exercise: Plotting time and space. Incorporating image media and media credits. Troubleshooting dates and location markers. Follow my instructions and use my template for setting up TimeMapper and post two things on Canvas:
  1. Your copied Google Sheet template for TimeMapper
  2. Your published TimeMapper view
Week 11 Topics Do before class

T 3-30

Embedding TimeMapper on a website. Troubleshooting dates and times. Work on the TimeMapper Assignment. Research and plot three events on your TimeMapper, with descriptions and media.

H 4-01

Troubleshooting images / multimedia, embedding the TimeMap on your website. Revisit Hypothes.is and introduce Kumu.io networks for next week. Continue working on the TimeMapper Assignment. Make a space to add your TimeMapper to your website.
Week 12 Topics Do before class

T 4-06

Discussion of Leaf by Niggle. Tolkien, Secondary Worlds, digital media, and game culture. Networking the story with Kumu.io

H 4-08

Networking Leaf: Working with Kumu.io: styling nodes and edges. Leaf by Niggle Build a network in Google Sheets and import to Kumu.io.
Week 13 Topics Do before class

T 4-13

Organizing and visualizing networks on Leaf by Niggle: touring network stats. Continue with Kumu.io network analysis

H 4-15

Complete a Kumu network on Leaf by Niggle, submit links to Google Sheet and Kumu network on Canvas.
Week 14 Topics Do before class

T 4-20

  • Critiquing a game and analyzing for user experience
  • Avatars and secondary worlds
Game Analysis Assignment:
  • Complete phase 1 (note-taking stage) on your game, and post a copy of your notes on Canvas. Take descriptive notes on game setting, characters, themes
  • Collect, file, and organize screen captures from your game.

H 4-22

Discussion of Game Analysis drafts. Introduce Creative Commons: Remediation, Remixing Copyright, Creative Commons Prepare a first draft of your Game Analysis on your website.
Week 15 Topics Do before class

T 4-27

Class Exercise: Readings and Discussion: Remixing, Copyright, and Creative Commons. . >Work on Kumu.io network for Game Analysis Assignment

H 4-29

Last Day!
  • If applicable to your work, choose a Creative Commons license for resources you are sharing on your website. Cite and credit resources that are not yours.
  • Game Analysis Assignment: Rough draft of second Game Analysis: Include direct links to the game resources you are reviewing on itch.io.
Finals Week: M 5/3 - F 5/7 Due

T 5-04

Complete Game Analysis Review posting due by 11:59pm