Courses

Contemporary forms of interactive digital narrative, ranging from electronic literature to games, demonstrate the affordances of the computer as a site of storytelling. Working from the prehistory of Oulipian constrained writing through to early hypertext experiments of authors such as Shelley Jackson to contemporary games such as Kentucky Route Zero, we will develop an understanding of both the history and current trends in born-digital literary experimentation and practice. Through the lens of these digital texts, we will explore the potential for reimagining the "book" through new interfaces, interactions, and technologies. No knowledge of code is necessary.

Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and GitHub CoPilot are fundamentally reshaping programming practices and workflows, raising questions about the future of code and so-called "prompt engineering," or writing for the machine. This class will situate this moment of potential transformation in the history of literate programming and "natural language" coding using Inform 7, as well as current tools such as ml5.js, an accessible machine learning library. Students will engage this history and future of computational creativity through writing and re-writing code, both with and without generative AI interventions, for conversational bots, interactive fiction, and experimental games.

What makes a city, well, a city? This course examines urban society across different regions of the ancient world from the 2nd millennium BCE to 1st millennium CE. Taking a comparative approach to examples from the Mediterranean, Near East, Mesoamerica and China, we will reconstruct social, political, and topographic histories of urban space from a kaleidoscope of sources that include archaeological excavations, art & architecture, inscriptions, and literature. We will approach this source material using digital methods such as 3D modeling, GIS mapping, and digital storytelling to reconstruct both the physical environments and lived experiences of past cities.

This NEH-funded project co-led by Dr. Mason explores and tests strategies for integrating undergraduate student learning and labor in the development of long-term Digital Humanities (DH) research projects. Combining the strengths of two leading liberal arts colleges with the multidisciplinary affordances of virtual reality CVR) technologies, the project aims to create an immersive VR experience for visualizing the social and cultural roles of a Viking Age longship. This project will continue to build upon SRP research to research and develop innovative VR experiences centered on the Viking Longship in collaboration with museum partners in Minnesota and Europe.

The work of Digital Arts & Humanities takes place at the crossroads of computing, humanities, and creative production. While digital tools and computational methods can enhance humanities research and artistic production, traditional humanistic approaches must also question digital technologies. Both the processes and products of this work stretch the boundaries of familiar academic formats. In this course, students will create an ePortfolio that curates and critically reflects on the digital processes and products of courses and co-curricular experiences at Carleton, guided by readings on the current state of interdisciplinary digital scholarship. A capstone for the DGAH minor, the seminar will include numerous workshop events and culminate in public portfolio presentations. Prerequisite: Prior DGAH coursework, including but not limited to the DGAH core courses.