Studiegids

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Digital Media Technology

Vak
2017-2018

Admission requirements

Only accessible for MA students Book & Digtal Media.

Description

In the world of publishing, scholarship, academic libraries and the cultural heritage sector the Internet offers more than an alternative for printed communication. The digital medium has brought a wealth of entirely new opportunities and technological possibilities. This course gives a theoretical background and practical introduction to some of the most widely used technologies in these fields for creating, enriching, storing and disseminating textual information in digital form. Topics that will be addressed include the medium-independent markup of text through XML, the organisation of digital content in relational databases and in content management systems, and methods of web presentation and publication. The course will provide hands-on experience with programming languages and metadata vocabularies.

Course objectives

Students:

  • Acquire an insight into the lifecycle of digital objects;

  • Learn to analyse the use of the digital medium in the world of publishing, scholarship, academic libraries and the cultural heritage sector;

  • Are familiarised with the way in which XML and related technologies can enhance the access to publications, both physically and intellectually.

  • Learn how digital content can be presented on-line;

  • Gain insight in designing, implementing and searching a database;

  • Are familiarised with a number of international metadata formats.

Timetable

Timetable on the website

Mode of instruction

One-hour lecture followed by two-hour seminar per week. Plenary lectures for all students; students will have to be divided in two groups for the seminars, due to the limited number of computers available in the seminar room. This group division will be arranged during the first lecture.

Course Load

The course load of this course is 5 EC, which equals 140 hours.

  • time spent on attending lectures and seminars: 39

  • time for studying the compulsory literature and homework exercises: 65

  • time to prepare for the exam and/or write a paper (including reading / research): 36

Assessment method

Four take-home examinations, three of which are to be submitted during the course and one at its end, all with essay questions and/or coding assignments. The final mark is established by determining the weighted average for all four examinations (each 25%). In case of an insufficient result, the resit consists of the same parts as the first opportunity; students therefore only take the resits for those parts that were insufficient.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used, but more importantly the Book and Digital Media Studies website ‘bookandbyte.org’ will be used in this class.

Reading list

All reading will be announced and explained during the course:

  • Schreibmann, S., R. Siemens & J. Unsworth (eds.), A Companion to Digital Humanities (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004). Available online through Open Access;

  • A.H. van der Weel, Changing Our Textual Minds (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011);

  • All other reading materials will be made accessible online in due course.

Registration

Enrollment through uSis is mandatory. If you have any questions, please contact the departmental office, tel. 071 5272144 or mail: .osz-oa-eyckhof@humleidenuniv.nl.

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable.

Contact details

Media Studies student administration, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 102C. Tel. 071 5272144; .osz-oa-eyckhof@humleidenuniv.nl.

Coordinator of studies: Mr. J. Donkers, MA, P.N. van Eyckhof 4, room 1.02b.

Remarks

Participation in all sessions of this course is compulsory. Upon prior consultation, the lecturer can permit absence at one session for compelling reasons. Students who are absent twice in a semester course (13 weeks) will be given an complementary assignment by the lecturer. Absence on three sessions in this course will lead to exclusion from it.