Digital Arts and Humanities

The Digital Arts and Humanities (DGAH) interdisciplinary minor provides students with a framework for studying, understanding, and actively participating in the integration of new digital methods, arts & humanities academic research and creative production. The evolving field of Digital Humanities uses digital tools and computational methods to enhance arts and humanities research and production, while also using traditional humanistic approaches to interrogate the impact of digital technologies. Bridging traditional divides between the humanities, arts, and computational sciences, the minor in Digital Arts and Humanities emphasizes multidisciplinary collaboration and experimentation while encouraging students to both practice and critically reflect on digital creation and interpretation. Students in the DGAH minor will learn to critically evaluate and creatively employ digital media, engage with emergent research questions related to digital culture and practices, and develop the skills that constitute digital fluency in the twenty-first century.

Learning Goals: Students who pursue a DGAH minor will:

1. Demonstrate proficiency in several disparate digital arts and humanities competencies (e.g., digital communication; data management, analysis and presentation; critical making, design and development)
2. Learn to reflect critically on the intersection between digital media and methodologies and non-digital materials and texts
3. Demonstrate an understanding of the social, cultural, political and ethical implications of digital technologies, scholarship, and artistic production
4. Gain hands-on experience with collaborative, creative, and interdisciplinary digital projects and demonstrate an ability to work both individually and in group settings

Minor Requirements – 44 Total Credits

Students must complete at least 44 credits to complete the minor, including an introductory theory and methods course (6 credits) and capstone Digital Arts and Humanities ePortfolio seminar (2 credits).

Core Courses – Required 6 credits

The core courses introduce students to a broad range of digital methodologies and promote critical reflection on their digital project work in a collaborative setting.

• CS 302: (De)constructing Everyday Technologies
• CS 302*: (De)constructing Everyday Technologies (*=Junior Seminar) (not offered 2026-27)
• DGAH 110: Hacking the Humanities
• DGAH 120: Interactive Digital Narratives: Theory and Practice (not offered 2026-27)
• DGAH 220: Creative Coding and Generative AI (not offered 2026-27)
• DGAH 285: Textual Technologies from Parchment to Pixel
• DGAH 302: (De)constructing Everyday Technologies
• ENGL 285: Textual Technologies from Parchment to Pixel

Distributed Elective Courses – Required 36 credits

The remaining 36 credits are drawn from a range of courses that foster digital skills, critical reflection on digital scholarship, and collaborative practices transferable across disciplines.

• At least 6 credits must be taken from each elective category, and
• At least 12 credits must be at the 200 level or above.
• At least 12 elective credits must come from courses designated Arts Practice, Humanistic Inquiry or Literary/Artistic Analysis.
• Students are strongly encouraged to explore different disciplines and the connections among them in the course of their study; at least three subjects (e.g., ARCN, CAMS, STAT,…) must be represented (for at least six elective credits each) and
• No more than 18 elective credits may come from any one department and
• No more than 18 credits may count toward both the student’s major and the DGAH minor.

Senior Capstone Experience – Required 2 credits

• DGAH 398: Digital Arts & Humanities Portfolio: A Capstone Seminar

Additional Departmental Notes

Students may count–with prior approval of both the course instructor and the minor coordinators–other advanced courses (200 or 300 level) in which the minor makes significant use of digital technology to produce a research project or creative product. Additional courses that engage substantially with a significant number of the DGAH learning goals may also be added to this list at the director’s discretion in consultation with the committee. Courses from OCS programs and independent studies may be submitted for consideration, but no more than six OCS credits may count towards the minor. For two-credit trailing courses and digital labs that require co-registration, only the digital component will be counted. Repeatable two-credit public outreach courses may be counted for up to six credits.

• DGAH 110 Hacking the Humanities

  The digital world is infiltrating the academy and profoundly disrupting the arts and humanities, posing fundamental challenges to traditional models of university education, scholarly research, academic publication and creative production. This core course for the Digital Arts & Humanities minor introduces the key concepts, debates and technologies that shape DGAH, including text encoding, digital mapping (GIS), network analysis, data visualization, 3D imaging and basic programming languages. Students will learn to hack the humanities by making a collaborative, publishable DH project, while acquiring the skills and confidence necessary to actively participate in the digital world, both in college and beyond.

  • Offered: Fall 2026
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Tags: CL: 100 level DGAH Core Course DGAH Pertinent
  • Faculty: Austin Mason 🏫 👤

• DGAH 120 Interactive Digital Narratives: Theory and Practice

  Contemporary forms of interactive digital narrative, ranging from electronic literature to games, demonstrate the affordances of the computer as a site of storytelling. Working from the prehistory of Oulipian constrained writing through to early hypertext experiments of authors such as Shelley Jackson to contemporary games such as Kentucky Route Zero, we will develop an understanding of both the history and current trends in born-digital literary experimentation and practice. Through the lens of these digital texts, we will explore the potential for reimagining the "book" through new interfaces, interactions, and technologies. No knowledge of code is necessary.

  Not offered in 2026-27

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
  • Tags: CL: 100 level DGAH Critical Ethical Reflection DGAH Core Course DGAH Literary Artistic Analysis

• DGAH 210 Spatial Humanities

  Spatial analysis is central to the digital humanities and a valuable methodology within history, literature, archaeology, anthropology, and many other disciplines. This course provides an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the key concepts, debates, and technologies behind digital mapping in the humanities and social sciences. We will learn technical GIS skills that include visualizing, analyzing, and managing various types of spatial data, digitizing historical maps, interactive web mapping, and basic cartographic design. This course is open to all students, regardless of prior experience, and covers the fundamental skills needed to produce spatial humanities projects within any discipline.

  Not offered in 2026-27

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry QRE, Quantitative Reasoning
  • Tags: ARCN Pertinent CL: 200 level DGAH Skill Building SDSC XDept Elective DGAH Humanistic Inquiry

• DGAH 220 Creative Coding and Generative AI

  Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and GitHub CoPilot are fundamentally reshaping programming practices and workflows, raising questions about the future of code and so-called "prompt engineering," or writing for the machine. This class will situate this moment of potential transformation in the history of literate programming and "natural language" coding using Inform 7, as well as current tools such as ml5.js, an accessible machine learning library. Students will engage this history and future of computational creativity through writing and re-writing code, both with and without generative AI interventions, for conversational bots, interactive fiction, and experimental games.

  Not offered in 2026-27

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: FSR, Formal or Statistical Reasoning
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed the following course(s): CS 111 with a grade of C- or better or a score of 4 or better on the Computer Science A AP exam or received a score of 111 or better on the Carleton Computer Science Requisite Equivalency exam. .

  • Tags: CL: 200 level CS Major Electives CS Pertinent DGAH Cross Disciplinary Collaboration DGAH Core Course

• DGAH 264 Visualizing the Ancient City

  What makes a city, well, a city? This course examines urban society across different regions of the ancient world from the 2nd millennium BCE to 1st millennium CE. Taking a comparative approach to examples from the Mediterranean, Near East, Mesoamerica and China, we will reconstruct social, political, and topographic histories of urban space from a kaleidoscope of sources that include archaeological excavations, art & architecture, inscriptions, and literature. We will approach this source material using digital methods such as 3D modeling, GIS mapping, and digital storytelling to reconstruct both the physical environments and lived experiences of past cities.

  Not offered in 2026-27

  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
  • Tags: ARCN Pertinent CL: 200 level MARS Supporting DGAH Cross Disciplinary Collaboration DGAH Humanistic Inquiry CLAS XDept Elective

• DGAH 285 Textual Technologies from Parchment to Pixel

  As readers, we rarely consider the technologies, practices, and transactions that deliver us our texts. This course introduces students to the material study of writing, manuscripts, books, printing, and digital media. It attends to the processes of copying, revision, editing, and circulation; familiarizes students with the disciplines of descriptive bibliography, paleography, and textual criticism; and introduces the principles of editing, in both print and electronic media. It offers hands-on practice in most of these areas.

  ENGL 285 is cross listed with DGAH 285.

  • Offered: Spring 2027
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: HI, Humanistic Inquiry
  • Tags: CL: 200 level DGAH Core Course MARS Supporting
  • Faculty: George Shuffelton 🏫 👤

• DGAH 294 Directed Research in Digital Arts and Humanities

  Students work on a research project related to a faculty member's research interests, and directed by that faculty member. Student activities vary according to the field and stage of the project. The long-run goal of these projects normally includes dissemination to a scholarly community beyond Carleton. The faculty member will meet regularly with the student and actively direct the work of the student, who will submit an end-of-term product, typically a paper or presentation.

  • Offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027, Spring 2027
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 1 – 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: Faculty Research

• DGAH 302 (De)constructing Everyday Technologies

  What makes computers computers? Are computers defined by their existing functionalities, future capabilities, individual components, or something else? Are there inherent risks to the technologies we surround ourselves with, and are there ways we can mitigate those risks to live happier lives? What is truth in the post-GenAI world?

  By peering into the black-box of everyday technologies alongside the philosophical discussions they engender, we will investigate the fundamental questions computing technologies and its mind-bending pace of advancement are posing in our lives, communities, and society.

  CS 302 is cross listed with DGAH 302.

  • Offered: Spring 2027
  • Credits: 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: FSR, Formal or Statistical Reasoning
  • Prerequisites:

    Student has completed any one of the following course(s): CS 200 or CS 201 with a grade of C- or better or received a Carleton Computer Science 201 or better Requisite Equivalency.

  • Tags: CL: 300 level CS Major Electives DGAH Core Course
  • Faculty: Jean Salac 🏫 👤

• DGAH 394 Directed Research in Digital Arts and Humanities

  Students work on a research project related to a faculty member's research interests, and directed by that faculty member. Student activities vary according to the field and stage of the project. The long-run goal of these projects normally includes dissemination to a scholarly community beyond Carleton. The faculty member will meet regularly with the student and actively direct the work of the student, who will submit an end-of-term product, typically a paper or presentation.

  • Offered: Fall 2026, Winter 2027, Spring 2027
  • Grading: S/CR/NC
  • Credits: 1 – 6
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: Faculty Research

• DGAH 398 Digital Arts & Humanities Portfolio: A Capstone Seminar

  The work of Digital Arts & Humanities takes place at the crossroads of computing, humanities, and creative production. While digital tools and computational methods can enhance humanities research and artistic production, traditional humanistic approaches must also question digital technologies. Both the processes and products of this work stretch the boundaries of familiar academic formats. In this course, students will create an ePortfolio that curates and critically reflects on the digital processes and products of courses and co-curricular experiences at Carleton, guided by readings on the current state of interdisciplinary digital scholarship. A capstone for the DGAH minor, the seminar will include numerous workshop events and culminate in public portfolio presentations. Prerequisite: Prior DGAH coursework, including but not limited to the DGAH core courses.

  • Offered: Spring 2027
  • Credits: 2
  • Liberal Arts Requirements: No Exploration
  • Tags: CL: 300 level DGAH Pertinent
  • Faculty: Austin Mason 🏫 👤