Course Digital methods for Nordic humanities (ReNEW Summer School)

This summer school is for researchers working in fields relevant to ReNEW who wish to work with digital methods and material, or who are simply interested in exploring the possibilities for using digital tools in their research. The course is designed around practical, ‘hands on’ sessions designed to help participants work with their own material, while also helping them to explore the availability of digital data in the Nordic countries, in relation to (for example) national libraries, print media, official public records and the archived internet. The course is suitable for scholars working with older material that has been digitalised, or ‘born digital’ sources e.g. internet and social media.
The course is organised as part of AU’s participation in the Nordic University Hub ReNEW (Reimagining Norden in an Evolving World).
https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/reimagining-norden-in-an-evolving-world

Aim:

• Identify appropriate digital tools for analysis of digital material relevant to their research, and acquire the fundamental computational skills necessary to carry out analysis.
• Create digital datasets appropriate to their research and apply appropriate digital methods to analysis of this data.
• Assess digitalisation strategies and the availability of different types of digitalised material across the Nordic countries, in order to facilitate inter-Nordic studies.
• Reflect critically on the use of digital methods in the humanities, including awareness of potential problems, limitations and ethical issues.
• Build networks with other scholars in the broad field of Nordic digital humanities.

Target group:

No previous experience of digital humanities is required. Researchers with some experience who wish to develop their skills are also welcome. Participants should have identified a potential corpus of digital material they wish to work with. Priority will be given to PhD students working in humanities fields from ReNEW universities (Aarhus University, University of Helsinki, University of Oslo, Södertörn University, Copenhagen Business School, University of Iceland).

Language:

English and Scandinavian languages as appropriate.

Form:

Hands on practical training, plus lectures. 

Provisional programme:

Monday 21/8 – morning: Introduction to digital approaches (e.g. Voyant, regex). Afternoon: digitalization and digital archives in Denmark and Norway. Evening welcome reception

Tuesday 22/8 – morning: practical session (introduction to R). Afternoon: practical session (data wrangling and visualization). Evening free

Wednesday 23/8 – morning: practical session (text mining and semantic analysis). Afternoon: excursion. Evening dinner

Thursday 24/8 – morning: practical session working with own dataset and individual advice. Afternoon: digitalization and digital archives in Sweden and Finland. Evening free

Friday 25/8 – morning: practical session working with own dataset and individual advice.  Afternoon: free – travel home.

Lecturers:

Adela Sobotkova, Helle Strandgaard Jensen, Mary Hilson (AU).
Contact Mary Hilson mary.hilson@cas.au.dk
Guest lecturers to be confirmed

Venue:

Campus Aarhus, TBA

Course dates:

• 21 August 2023 09:00 - 16:00
• 22 August 2023 09:00 - 16:00
• 23 August 2023 09:00 - 16:00
• 24 August 2023 09:00 - 16:00
• 25 August 2023 09:00 - 16:00