Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the DH Graduate Certificate
What are the Digital Humanities?
For the Digital Humanities Certificate, the Digital Humanities is defined as providing UF graduate students with opportunities to learn the craft and theory of working with digital tools and emerging practices of digital scholarship, as well as produce digital projects in the humanities on several different scales. We begin from the premise that the body of scholarship encompassed by the digital humanities takes many forms and serves a variety of purposes, including:
- Pedagogical: using digital media in the classroom to explore content and research questions associated with the humanities, through the use of data mining software, digital games, mapping programs, 3D imaging, etc. See, e.g., Digital History Working Lab (AMH/EUH/LAH 5930).
- Archival: using databases and other online systems to collect, preserve, and present materials for the use of future humanities scholars. See, e.g., Panama Silver, Asian Gold: Migration, Money, & the Making of the Modern Caribbean (LIT 6236); Into the Archive: Reading in the Baldwin (LIT 6856).
- Methodological: harnessing the affordances of digital technologies to develop new approaches to humanities scholarship, from mapping the circulation of historical ideas or figures to using large-scale data collection to bear on the study of language. See, e.g., Digital Inquiry in Writing Studies (LIT 6934); Interactive Storytelling (IST) (DIG6027C).
- Professional: exploring new digital forms of interacting and collaborating with colleagues across the disciplines, presenting research and scholarship, with, and distributing research findings in the humanities. See, e.g., DH Graduate Studio Course (HUM 6836).
- “Aesthetic”: Making use of digital tools and methods to support new practices of literary, poetic, or artistic expression that call attention to both the shared aesthetic aims and the break between digital media and physical media. See, e.g., Digital English—Data Mining & Digital Poetics (ENC 6428, cross-listed with CIS 6930, “Special Topics”).
In each instance above, we recognize that the digital humanities makes creative use of digital technologies to advance the study of both inherited experience and intellectual innovation. We emphasize how the humanities provide a crucial context for understanding the past, present, and future of human experience while recognizing the digital technologies and cultures that our students encounter in their research, teaching, and professional lives.
The certificate will train graduate students to collaborate on what Jeffrey Schnapp of Harvard University has called “lower case” digital humanities projects: work done by individuals or small teams working with technical experts (often computer and information scientists, including librarians) to not only produce projects that enhance traditional humanities methods and training but also apply them effectively to disciplines traditionally considered distinct from the humanities, such as computer science and engineering. Students earning this certificate will gain sufficient experience working with a variety of digital technologies to conduct humanities research and present research effectively to a variety of audiences. They will gain the necessary background to utilize emerging computing and data analysis tools appropriately and teach others to work with these tools and navigate associated theoretical and disciplinary questions.
What is the purpose of the DH Graduate Certificate?
UF’s new nine-credit, interdisciplinary graduate certificate in DH provides students with a broad-based study of DH practices; an in-depth experience of DH within a specific discipline; and the opportunity, through its capstone studio course, to produce a portfolio tailored to the student’s own discipline and career goals. It is designed for students preparing for faculty positions as well as those seeking alt-ac positions.
What are the “Depth” and “Breadth” Courses?
Courses that will count toward the Digital Depth or Digital Breadth Requirements are listed here. Because we assume that other courses relevant to the Certificate will be offered in the future, students may also petition to have a course not listed below, including directed readings, count toward this requirement. The Digital Humanities Committee will review the petition, which must be submitted by the mid-point of the semester in which the course is being offered.
- Digital Breadth Seminar: A student may meet this requirement by taking an approved graduate level course offered by any department (including departments outside the Humanities, though courses not pre-approved by the Certificate Working Group must be approved before completion of the certificate to count). The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to theories, methods, and/or technologies relevant to the digital humanities and provide opportunities to experiment with several different digital tools for conducting and/or teaching humanities research.
- Digital Depth Seminar: A student may meet this requirement by taking an approved graduate level digital course offered by any department (including departments outside the Humanities, though courses not pre-approved by the Certificate Working Group must be approved to count toward the certificate). The purpose of this seminar is to engage the student more extensively in the use of specific tools and methods within a specific research or pedagogical context.
One of the Digital Breath or Digital Depth seminars must be taken outside a student’s home department (i.e., a graduate student in English may satisfy the depth and breadth requirements by taking a depth seminar in English and a breadth course in History; a graduate student in History could satisfy the depth requirement by taking a course in Geography and the breadth course by taking a course in English).
What is the DH Studio Course?
The Digital Humanities Graduate Studio course (HUM6836) is the capstone of UF’s Digital Humanities Graduate Certificate. This is a fully interdisciplinary graduate certificate drawing on courses taught within multiple departments and colleges across the university and open to any student enrolled in a Masters or PhD program. Designed for advanced graduate students who have completed substantial coursework in the emerging field of digital humanities, who are prepared to be self-directed in their studio practice, and who seek opportunities to work with digital humanists from other disciplines on individual and jointly-authored projects, the studio offers a unique opportunity to apply student research and teaching interests in the emerging field of digital humanities.
Students must have taken the required Digital Breadth and Digital Depth seminars before signing up for this course (or with permission of the DH Graduate Certificate Committee).
What is included for the Digital Portfolio?
For the DH Certificate, students will produce a Digital Portfolio comprised of four elements: 1) scholarly bio and CV, 2) 2-3 digital humanities projects, 3) discussion of the purpose of digital humanities and the specific contribution the student’s projects make to either scholarship or pedagogy (in his/her own field of study as well as the digital humanities writ large if appropriate), and 4) either a traditional research project (thesis, dissertation chapter, scholarly article, exhibit, or scholarly presentation) or a course syllabus that relates to the student’s digital projects.
Who should I contact for questions?
Please contact a member of the DH Graduate Certificate Committee with questions.