Intro to Digital Humanities and Social Sciences (SP25)

HUM 230, Spring 2025

AI fiction review

For this lab, I picked A Murder at the End of the World to watch based on the assumption that the creator makes about the world, technology and human beings can be positive and negative things.  The show assumes that in the future AI will be incorporated into exclusive spaces in the feature to show control over AI is not evenly distributed because technology is used as a tool and could also be used for a potential weapon. Also assume despite improvements in human nature, curiosity, ambition and secrecy with technology human beings will remain constant.

The arguments regarding the creator making relationship between people and technology is about how humans and technology interact. The show has an assumption that AI is biased and reflects the goals of its creators. It implies that technology is in the hands of wealthy people with higher status. Its argument is that it often reinforces an imbalance rather than solving problems. Lastly another argument is AI brings ethical concern about autonomy and privacy.

In the show the vision of AI presented in the text is portrayed as something morally questionable of the creators’ will. It is seen as an act of manipulation and control. Rather than being an independent agent for surveillance.

The movie connects to other AI work because it shows themes from 2001 “A Space Odyssey” which includes an AI that controls human lives . The show functions on a closed high stakes setting in which intelligence and autonomy seem to make some type of conflict. AI is an extension that programming and goals come from their creators. “The imitation game” which also explores artificial intelligence and humans is used for power and privacy.  Its concern is that whoever controls technology can be manipulated for a result or action different from expected outcomes.

Lab 4: Code Embroidery with TurtleStitch (2/5)

We talked on Monday about code as creativity, as a way for us to render complex and abstract information in numerical form, and as a way for us to imagine new ways of interacting with data and with one another. Computers are just math — but they’re powerful and poetic math. Today’s uses basic math, geometry, and code to produce art.

We’re using a tool called TurtleStitch that allows you to use code to design embroidery patterns. This process of code embroidery allows us to think about the role of computers and code as translators between the abstract and the tangible, the digital and the material.

  • Visit www.turtlestitch.org and click the Run button at the top of the screen. (Optional: create an account if you want to save your work.)
  • Get familiar with the interface.
    • On the left, you have your list of possible commands. These are broken down by type. The most useful types for our purposes are:
      • Motion commands, which let you move the turtle and therefore create shapes;
      • Embroidery commands, which let you choose the stitch type and therefore how the shape will be created with thread;
      • and Control commands, which allow you to automate aspects of the process.
    • The middle pane is where you enter your commands. You can drag and drop items from the left pane into the middle and move them around as needed. You can also customize the commands (for instance, specifying a number of steps or repeat loops).
    • The right pane shows you your resulting embroidery.
  • Try making a star.
    • Add these three commands so that your visualization starts fresh every time, on command:
      • “when [green flag] clicked”
      • “go to x: 0 y: 0”
      • “reset”
    • Now try out some of the motion commands and see if you can figure out what combination you’d need to make a star.
  • Discuss — what steps did you take to solve this problem in an unfamiliar platform and unfamiliar language? What sorts of stars did you make?
  • Tinker with your embroidery design further — maybe add some elements that personalize it to your aesthetic.
  • Export your final design as a PNG, and upload it to the website as a blog post.

Lab 3: Web Accessibility Tools (1/27)

Web accessibility guidelines help us to ensure that our content meets at least a minimum threshold for accessibility. While it’s a long way off from universal design (designing to make sure our projects are maximally accessible for a maximal audience), it’s an important first step.

There are a variety of tools for evaluating accessibility. Tools like Funkify allow you to simulate various disabilities to get a sense of how design impacts usability. That’s useful to a point, although it’s always better (and necessary!) to talk to actual people whose lived experiences are a much better guide.

Today, we’ll use WAVE, the web accessibility evaluation tool.

  1. Choose a page on the SIUE website to evaluate, and run it through the checker at https://wave.webaim.org/.
  2. In a blog post (with the tag “Accessibility”), answer the following questions. Bullet points are fine!
    • What accessibility issues crop up for the page you chose?
    • Who is most likely to need the content on the page?
    • How might the accessibility issues impede people’s access to the content? Who might be most impacted?
    • Name one or two ways that the accessibility of the site could be improved – the smaller and easier, the better!

Introuding me (Kayla Taborn)

Hi im Kayla! I am 19 and a second year studying mechanical engineering perhaps with an intended minor in computer science. The social medias I am active on include snapchat and instagram.I mostly use these platforms to interact with friends and family and communication with people in general. I like to share just bits and pieces of my life granted I dont share everything in my opinion I have what some would call a “casual” page when it comes to posting. I try to post for my own enjoyment rather then focusing primarly on the astehtics of the post itself.If theres anything I want to share it’s I am probably the most die hard subway enjoyer of a time. I love playing overwatch on my xbox (GT -kaylamax3) and im pretty quiet until you get to know me (I tend to “yap”) I also plan to go into prosthetic design once i get my ME degree.

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Problem Statement

Instructions

Write a problem statement on your chosen research question (200-300 words); one primary source and one secondary source related to your question. Post it on the blog by the start of class Monday after Spring Break.

Example

The hiking trail in Saint Stanislaus Conservation Area, located in Florissant, Missouri, guides hikers through pleasant woods, scenic overlooks over the Missouri River, and multiple sets of stone ruins. Signage in the park informs visitors about the geological makeup of the site and Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery, which passed through the area as it moved westward. There is nothing to situate the ruins or the site’s history in the more than 200 years since. The effect is that the ruins become a point of curiosity and vandalism, and the rest of the trail feels like an escape into nature, tucked away in the otherwise suburban landscape of north St. Louis County.

However, evidence of Saint Stanislaus’s history remains, both in the ruins and in the park’s name. After acquiring the land in the 1820s, the Society of Jesus constructed a boarding school for Native Americans with an eye toward training them as interpreters for missionaries. Native American boarding schools functioned as a tool for erasing Native American cultural practices that European settlers deemed “uncivilized.” This school is also where the Jesuits forcibly relocated enslaved families from Maryland to help with the mission. While the residential school was closed after less than a decade, the enslaved families remained when it was converted into a novitiate renamed Saint Stanislaus Seminary. Saint Stanislaus operated for the next 140 years. By 1998, the county had acquired the entire site that now operates as the conservation area.

This project will explore the relationship between the modern recreation space of Saint Stanislaus and the historical traumas that took place there. It will examine the stories that are told and those that are silenced, and how that informs visitors’ relationship to the land and to local history.  

Primary source: Spoons Used by the Jesuits at the Saint Stanislaus Seminary. 1814-1831. 2014-074-0010. Missouri History Museum, St. Louis, MO. https://mohistory.org/collections/item/2014-074-0010. Accessed 1 March 2023.

Secondary source: “What We Have Learned,” Slavery, History, Memory and Reconciliation Project, Society of Jesus. https://www.jesuits.org/our-work/shmr/what-we-have-learned/. Accessed 1 March 2023.

Components

Observation, background, context: Here you might talk about what drew your attention to this topic, what struck you as interesting about it, and/or any important context for the topic.

Problem: What problem or question arises from your observation?

Frame: How are you approaching that problem? What’s your point of view?

Readings

Readings should be done before the class period for which they’re listed.

1/15:

1/22:

1/27:

1/29:

2/3:

2/5:

2/10:

  • Choose from this list of AI fictions – Plan ahead! These are in a variety of formats, but all are fairly long.
    • A Murder at the End of the World (tv show, currently on Hulu)
    • Robin Sloan, Sourdough (novel, available at Edwardsville Public Library in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook)
    • Mrs. Davis (tv show, currently on Peacock)
    • 2001: A Space Odyssey + Interstellar (movies, 2001 on Tubi and Interstellar on Netflix)
    • The Imitation Game + WarGames (movies, both on Max)
    • Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (novel, available at Edwardsville Public Library in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook)
    • Artificial Intelligence + I, Robot (movies, Artificial Intelligence on Pluto and I, Robot on Hulu)
    • Karel Čapek, Rossum’s Universal Robots + Metropolis (1927) (play and movie, both freely available)
    • Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun (novel, available at Edwardsville Public Library in hardcover, audiobook, and ebook)

2/12:

  • Choose two items from this list of AI non-fiction
    • Chris Gilliard, “The Deeper Problem with Google’s Racially Diverse Nazis,” The Atlantic
    • Viktoria Tomova, “AI Solutions for Domestic Labor May Exacerbate Inequities,” TechPolicy
    • Victoria Turk, “How AI Reduces the World to Stereotypes,” Rest of World,
    • Susan D’Agostino, “Facial Recognition Heads to Class. Will Students Benefit?” Inside Higher Ed
    • Karen Hao, “AI Is Taking Water from the Desert,” The Atlantic
    • Mizy Clifton, “Black teenagers twice as likely to be falsely accused of using AI tools in homework,” Semafor

2/17:

2/19:

2/24:

2/26:

3/3:

3/5:

3/17:

3/19:

3/24:

  • Mark Monmonier, How to Lie with Maps (University of Chicago Press, 1991): 1-18

3/26:

3/31:

4/2:

4/7:

4/9:

4/14:

4/16:

4/21:

Labs and Assignments

In-Class Labs

Homework Assignments (by due date)

1/15: Student technology survey

1/22: Interest statement [Build, 20 pts]

1/27: Add to Zotero [Tinker]

2/3: Assess the Cahokia VR app [Tinker]

2/5: History of computing timeline events [Tinker]

2/12: AI fiction review [Reflect, 50 pts]

2/19: Article annotations [Read]

2/24: Digitization and metadata [Tinker]

2/24-28: Meet with Dr. Smith [Build, 20 pts]

2/26: Frederick Douglass speech annotations [Read]

3/5: Problem statement [Build, 30 pts]

3/19: Data set review [Reflect, 50 pts]

4/7: Complete your biography of place [Tinker]

4/14: Project draft [Build, 50 pts]

4/30: Define digital humanities [Reflect]

5/5: Final project [Build, 100 pts]

Variable due date: How did they make that [Review, 50 pts]

Syllabus and Course Resources

Download syllabus
HUM-230-Intro-to-DH-Syllabus-SP2025-1

Resources and Further Reading

As we work through different technologies, I’ll add resources to this page that you can consult if you get stuck or if you’d like to learn more about a particular topic. You can also add things you come across that you find interesting or helpful!

WordPress

Zotero

Rapid Response

History of Computing

The Modern Web

AI Fictions

https://publicdomainreview.org/essay/lucians-trips-to-the-moon

Welcome

This course is an introduction into the theory, ethics, and practice of the digital humanities and social sciences. Technology has transformed society at every level, and we’ll explore how digital tools offer us new ways of interrogating sources, evaluating evidence, and sharing our research with broad audiences. We’ll also look critically at technology itself, using humanities and social science methods to evaluate how it shapes our lives for the better and for the worse. We’ll explore DHSS scholarship and gain practical experience in using digital methods, including data visualization, text analysis, mapping, and digital storytelling. This class will explore aspects of technology that are difficult, unethical, and unjust. But we’ll also look at how digital spaces can be joyful, funny, scholarly, and liberatory, and how they can help us imagine and craft new worlds.

As we learn about digital tools and methods, we’ll work with content and projects that touch on local history and culture, from the Native American settlements at Cahokia beginning over a millennium ago to contemporary figures whose work reflects and remakes metro St. Louis. The region has a rich history of movement, exchange, and cultural production. Its history is also fraught with historical and contemporary injustices that have resulted in stark inequalities and sharp lines of economic and racial segregation. We’ll look at how these histories are told, adapted, and/or silenced in digital projects and through digital media.

This website is the home for the blog posts, labs, and projects you create over the course of the semester.

Building on Lisa Spiro’s proposed values for the digital humanities, we’ve adopted these values as our shared norms for this semester:

  • Access – creating an atmosphere of openness and collaboration that also acknowledges the diversity of ways people engage with our materials
  • Ethics – a commitment to engaging with ethical questions around the technology and sources we use
  • Intentionality – approaching our digital projects with purpose, care, and an awareness of our own biases
  • Embracing failure – an acknowledgement that things won’t always go as expected and providing room to reflect on failure
  • Adaptability – an awareness that technology and humanity are changing rapidly and that we need to be flexible and responsive to those changes
  • Diversity – an attention to our own diversity of background, as well as to diversity in the content we represent and attention to the diversity of our audiences

Header image: "Gateway Arch" by Jim Bauer, https://flic.kr/p/2gjv6pL

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