Digital Arts and Humanities

A student interacts with a projected 3d model on a screen

Digital Arts and Humanities places students at the crossroads of computing, humanities, and creative production. As one might think, this evolving field applies technology to the humanities. But it also questions the use of technology with traditional humanistic means. Students in the minor collaborate across disciplines to experiment with digital creation and interpretation. In this process they develop a nuanced understanding of digital fluency in the twenty-first century, and why it matters.

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:

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

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).

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 category (B, C, and D), and at least 12 credits must be at the 200 level or above. 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 at least 12 elective credits must come from courses designated Arts Practice, Humanistic Inquiry or Literary/Artistic Analysis. 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.

A. Core Courses (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.

DGAH 110: Hacking the Humanities Hacking the Humanities (6 credits) Offered annually, this course features a general introduction to the methods and implications of digital scholarship, as well as hands-on collaborative project work.
DGAH 120: Interactive Digital Narratives: Theory and Practice Interactive Digital Narratives: Theory and Practice (6 credits)
DGAH 220: Creative Coding and Generative AI Creative Coding and Generative AI (6 credits)
ENGL 285: Textual Technologies from Parchment to Pixel (not offered 2024-25) Textual Technologies from Parchment to Pixel (6 credits) Offered annually, this course introduces students to the history and the future of the book, including theories of and hands-on practice with writing, manuscripts, books, printing, and digital media. (Not offered in 2024-25)

B. Skill Building in Digital Media and Methodologies (at least 6 credits)

These courses teach fundamental skills of digital production or analysis including hardware, software, and methods that are widely transferable across the arts and humanities.

ARCN 246: Archaeological Methods & Lab
ARCN 251: Greece at a Crossroads: History, Landscape, and Material Culture Program: Digital Archaeology and Virtual Reality (not offered 2024-25)
CAMS 111: Intro to Cinema & Media Production
CAMS 165: Sound Design
CS 111: Introduction to Computer Science
DGAH 210: Spatial Humanities (not offered 2024-25)
ENTS 120: Introduction to Geospatial Analysis & Lab
HIST 200: Historians for Hire (not offered 2024-25)
MUSC 108: Introduction to Music Technology
STAT 120: Introduction to Statistics
STAT 220: Introduction to Data Science
STAT 250: Introduction to Statistical Inference

CS 201: Data Structures can count for students that have placed out of CS 111: Introduction to Computer Science
PSYC 200: Measurement and Data Analysis in Psychology/201 or SOAN 239 (not offered 2024-25) can count for STAT 120: Introduction to Statistics

C. Critical and Ethical Reflection on Digital Scholarship (at least 6 credits)

Courses that directly engage with the implications of digital technologies and teach students to be critical consumers and producers of digital media.

D. Cross-disciplinary Collaboration in Digital Projects (at least 6 credits)

Courses that emphasize hands-on, experiential learning by creating digital projects that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries or engage authentically with community partners and public audiences.

AMST 221: Indigenous Chicago: Indigenous Histories and Futures in Zhegagoynak
AMST 231: Contemporary Indigenous Activism (not offered 2024-25)
AMST 321: Indigenous Chicago: Indigenous Histories and Futures in Zhegagoynak (not offered 2024-25)
ARCN 211: Coercion and Exploitation: Material Histories of Labor (not offered 2024-25)
ARCN 222: Experimental Archaeology and Experiential History and Lab
ARTH 216: Revolutionary Image Regimes: Curating Middle Eastern Photographs and Prints after the Digital Turn
ARTS 220*: Art, Interactivity, and Microcontrollers (*=Junior Seminar) (not offered 2024-25)
ARTS 252: Metalsmithing: Ancient Techniques—New Technologies
ASST 285: Mapping Japan, the Real and the Imagined
CS 220*: Art, Interactivity, and Microcontrollers (*=Junior Seminar) (not offered 2024-25)
CS 232: Art, Interactivity, and Microcontrollers (not offered 2024-25)
DGAH 220: Creative Coding and Generative AI
DGAH 264: Visualizing the Ancient City (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 116: Intro to Indigenous Histories, 1887-present
HIST 206: Rome Program: The Eternal City in Time: Structure, Change, and Identity
HIST 231: Mapping the World Before Mercator
HIST 238: The Viking World (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 245: Ireland: Land, Conflict and Memory
HIST 246: Making Early Medieval England (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 301: Indigenous Histories at Carleton
HIST 335: Finding Ireland’s Past (not offered 2024-25)
HIST 338: Digital History, Public Heritage & Deep Mapping (not offered 2024-25)
MUSC 221: Electronic Music Composition
RELG 243: Native American Religious Freedom (not offered 2024-25)
RELG 289: Global Religions in Minnesota (not offered 2024-25)
THEA 234: Lighting Design for the Performing Arts

E. Senior Capstone Experience (2 credits)

DGAH 398: Digital Arts & Humanities Portfolio: A Capstone Seminar Digital Arts & Humanities Portfolio: A Capstone Seminar (2 credits) In this advanced capstone seminar, seniors will create an instructor-guided ePortfolio that curates and critically reflects on the digital experiences in, and products of, courses taken for the minor. If appropriate, this may also highlight digital components of a comps project.

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, independent studies and LACOL Consortium summer courses 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

DGAH 120 Interactive Digital Narratives: Theory and Practice

DGAH 210 Spatial Humanities

DGAH 220 Creative Coding and Generative AI

DGAH 264 Visualizing the Ancient City

DGAH 394 Directed Research in Digital Arts and Humanities

DGAH 398 Digital Arts & Humanities Portfolio: A Capstone Seminar

About Digital Arts and Humanities

Requirements for the Digital Arts and Humanities Minor