History 870: Digital History Graduate Supplement
Spring 2008
Syllabus

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Douglas Seefeldt
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Department of History
606 Oldfather Hall
402-472-3251 office
dseefeldt2@unl.edu

Course Objectives

This course is also designed to help graduate students develop expertise in the theories and tools of digital historical scholarship. It intends to promote collaborative learning processes and develop your skills as both thinkers and writers regardless of your field of study.

Required Texts

(Please note that the majority of readings will be posted to the course Blackboard site and are listed in the "Course Schedule" section below):

Daniel J. Cohen & Roy Rosenzweig. Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web. (U. Pennsylvania Press, 2006). This book is available online should you prefer to read it that way: http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
Ted Friedman. Electric Dreams: Computers in American Culture. (New York University Press, 2005). 0-8147-2740-9

Participation

Grad students should attend all lectures and are encouraged to raise questions that extend beyond the scope of the lecture directly to the instructor via email or in my office rather than in class. I would like to keep the class meetings geared toward undergraduates and delve deeper into the materials with the grad students outside of class. In addition to engaging the same materials as the undergraduate section of the course, graduate students will read additional materials and contribute meaningful reading analysis posts to the graduate student discussion threads (see course schedule below for weekly assignments).

Assessment

10% Participation (50 points)
Comprised of regular attendance at lecture and active participation in online reading discussions, timely submission of assignments, and completion of a self-evaluation at the end of the term

10% Website Reviews (50 Points, 25 points each)
Two reviews of history-based websites of approximately 2-3 pages each

60% Tool Exercises (300 points, 50 points each)
Six independent new media tool exercises

20% Final Essay (50 points)
An eight to ten-page personal essay on your experiences this semester as an historian using new media tools

Course Schedule & Assignments

I reserve the right to change the schedule as necessary and will give you notice when I do via group email and by posting announcements to the course Blackboard site.

Jan 15 & 17: Introductions and Course Overview
Assignments: Read course syllabus and complete the Student Information Sheet

Jan 22 & 24: Tool Exercise
Assignment: Tool Exercise #1 due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 1/24 (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

Jan 29 & 31: A Short History of Computing, Part II
Assignment: Post reading analysis on materials from both weeks 2 and 3 to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 1/31

Feb 5 & 7: What is Digital History? Part I
Assignment: Post reading analysis on materials for this week's materials to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 2/7

Feb 12 & 14: What is Digital History? Part II
Assignment: Two history-related website reviews due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 2/14 to the instructor via email attachment in Rich Text Format (.rtf). (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

Feb 19 & 21: Project Planning
***We will meet at the Special Collections in Love Library on Tuesday 2/19***
Assignment: Post reading analysis on this week's materials to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 2/21

Feb 26 & 28: Tool Exercise
Assignment: Tool Exercise #2 due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 2/26 (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

Mar 4 & 6: Tool Exercise
Assignment: Tool Exercise #3 due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 3/6 (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

Mar 11 & 13: Scanning & Digital Imaging
Assignment: Post reading analysis on this week's materials to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 3/13

Mar 18 & 20: Spring Vacation

Mar 25 & 27: Electronic Text & Markup
Assignment: Post reading analysis on this week's materials to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 3/27

Apr 1 & 3: Design & Navigation
Assignment: Post reading analysis on this week's materials to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 4/31

Apr 8 & 10: Narrative, Hypertext & Writing for Digital Media
Assignment: Post reading analysis on this week's materials to the graduate student discussion thread by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 4/10

Apr 15 & 17: Tool Exercise
***No class meeting on Thursday 4/17: Professor at a conference***
Assignment: Tool Exercise #4 due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 4/17 (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

Apr 22 & 24: Tool Exercise
***No class meetings this week***
Assignment: Tool Exercise #5 due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 4/24 (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

Apr 29 & May 1: Tool Exercise
***Tuesday 4/29: No class meeting***
Thursday 5/1: Attend group presentation of completed undergraduate Nebraska U projects to the UNL digital community (place TBA)

Assignment: Tool Exercise #6 due by 2:00 p.m. Thursday 5/1 (see assignment sheet for detailed instructions)

May 7: Finals Week
Assignment: Final essay due no later than 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday 5/7

Department of History, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

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History 870: Digital History Graduate Supplement Spring 2008 Syllabus