A new digital humanities minor was introduced at Oswego State this fall for students to open new possibilities and new perspectives in the world of the digital age. There are several definitions of what digital humanities could stand for, said David Vampola, developer and coordinator of the minor and a computer science faculty member. But at Oswego State, three concepts make up the interdisciplinary minor. “Digital humanities at Oswego has information, computation and cognitive dimensions,” Vampola said.
The informational humanities part of the minor uses illustrative representations for data visualization with digital libraries and the storage and retrieval of multimedia elements. The computational part deals with simulation and modeling, as well as statistical analysis for literary and historical materials to see how many times an author repeats a phrase or word.
The cognitive part uses the theory of why people think and then tries to apply it to historical and literary texts to help build models of interpretation. The interdisciplinary minor requires 18 credit hours, including courses in the science of computational tools and literature, history and philosophy. Core requirements for the minor include Introduction to Digital Humanities, Principles of Programming and Seminar in Digital Humanities.
They make up nine of the necessary credits. “I think they are great courses to understand how digital humanities works,” said Tami Bullard, a senior broadcasting and mass communication and information science major with a digital humanities minor. “From learning how to build websites in [ISC] 150 to understanding the basics of Digital Humanities to actually using these to build a project in [ISC] 405” The seminar in digital humanities was Bullard’s favorite out of all the courses because she was able to create an interactive story on her grandmother’s life.
Caglar Yildirim, an assistant professor for computer science, teaches ISC 105. The course experiments with using information technology in the humanities field and introduces the tools that are used, Yildirim said. The other nine credits come from electives that students can pick under advisement in the areas of English, history and linguistics.
Younger faculty members have an interest in interdisciplinary approaches, using techniques and methods from one field and applying them in others. They were one of the reasons the minor was created, Vampola said. “This was done to use the skills of some of the faculty we’ve been hiring for the last four or five years,” Vampola said. Yildirim believes it is important to integrate the humanities and philosophy into information technology. “It should be a purposeful integration,” Yildirim said.
Students were the other component in creating the minor. Those involved in the humanities wanted another set of skills, and Vampola said he likes to open students to new possibilities and perspectives. The minor not only piques student’s curiosity and opens areas for investigation, Vampola said, but it gives them computer skills that can help them when finding a job. “The idea here is that everyone improves, faculty and students,” Vampola said. “We open up vistas, we gain new skills and… we understand our world a lot better.”
There are around five students enrolled in the minor within the first few weeks who heard about it through word of mouth, Vampola said. Bullard said she picked up the minor after talking with Vampola, her advisor. Kingsley Ibezim, a junior with an information science major and a business administration minor, also heard of it through Vampola and picked up the digital humanities minor.
“I think other students should pick up the minor if they are willing to tie in technology and relate it really closely back with everyday life and how often we unknowingly use technology with out even thinking about it,” Ibezim said.
Photo: Taylor Woods | The Oswegonian
