Master of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies (MAIS) 623

Overview

MAIS 623: Introduction to Trends in New Media: Digital Humanities explores digital technologies in society through the lens of humanities thinking with an emphasis on critical inquiry. MAIS 623 offers an introduction to Digital Humanities theories and approaches, with a special emphasis on critical methodology and artificial intelligence (AI) in contemporary society, including AI and gender, AI in health care, AI in education, and the importance of explainable AI. Students will also explore digital ethics, critical approaches to digital humanities research, and implications of algorithmic cultures. By the end of the course, students will be familiar with key issues arising in the digital humanities and, more specifically, ethical issues and epistemic tensions facing society as a whole in the wake of growing integration of AI systems and practices.

Outline

MAIS 623 is organized into 12 units covering current issues facing the digital humanities through theoretical and methodological approaches to new media. The units are spread over 13 weeks.

Week 1: Unit 1—What Is Digital Humanities?
Week 2: Unit 2—Introduction to the Internet
Week 3: Unit 3—The Philosophy of Dataism: Social & Industrial Implications
Week 4: Unit 4—Ethics in Digital Humanities
Week 5: Unit 5–Critical Approaches in the Digital Humanities
Week 6: Unit 6—A Critical Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Week 7: Reading Week
Week 8: Unit 7—Machine Learning, Bias & Explainable AI
Week 9: Unit 8–Large Language Models: Human vs. Machine Language
Week 10: Unit 9—Whose (Artificial) Intelligence? Gender & AI
Week 11: Unit 10—AI in Education: Opportunities, Risks & Strategies for the Future
Week 12: Unit 11—Augmented Medicine: AI & the Medical Humanities
Week 13: Unit 12—The Future of Digital Humanities

Learning outcomes

MAIS 623 has six major learning outcomes. After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Situate the digital humanities in a historical context within traditional humanities scholarship.
2. Deepen their understanding of the ethical implications of computational analysis.
3. Understand the epistemic underpinnings of digital humanities research, including the implications of network societies and algorithmic cultures.
4. Explore the social implications of artificial intelligence in terms of gender, education, and health care.
5. Deepen their understanding of artificial intelligence, how it functions, and the ethical tensions regarding its transparency and explainability.
6. Identify emerging pedagogical issues and debates in the digital humanities.

Evaluation

To receive credit for MAIS 623, students must participate in the online activities, successfully complete all assignments, and achieve a final mark of at least C− (60 percent).

Students will be evaluated on their understanding of the concepts presented in the course and on their ability to apply those concepts. The final grade in the course will be based on the marks achieved for the following activities.

Materials

All course materials, including a Study Guide, Course Information, and assigned readings, are available online through the course site.

Important links

• Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies
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