HIST 390: The Digital Past

HIST 390-002: The Digital Past
(Spring 2023)

03:00 PM to 04:15 PM TR

East Building 122

Section Information for Spring 2023

This course will introduce students to the field and methodologies of digital history through the history of the Salem Witch Trials. The course’s content will cover the causes of this infamous event to learn how the accusations of witchcraft spread and resulted in the executions of 19 people in seventeenth-century Massachusetts.  Students will learn a variety of free and open-source digital tools for network analysis, online exhibits, podcasting, digital storytelling, and more.  The digital component will focus on how these tools convey historical information and offer new insights into the past.  Students will select one of these methods for a final class project that combines historical research and digital skills.  The class will also cover topics like algorithmic bias, bad actors and misinformation on Reddit, and historical research in a digital age.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Teaches the fundamentals of information technology within the context of a history course. Students learn fundamentals and skills as well as how our society became so enamored of and dependent on these knowledge and information tools. Understanding a new technology requires understanding how new technologies transform the societies that embrace them. Emphasizes the use of free and open-source software whenever possible. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Info Tech & Computing
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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