ENG 6819: Critical Making for Humanist Scholarship

Critical making as scholarly practice in the digital humanities

ENG 6819: Critical Making for Humanist Scholarship

Contents

Course Description

Critical making is a practice of making as scholarship, grounded in the humanities, that interweaves design, function, and theory towards born-digital scholarly practice. Engaging in scholarly communication through digital platforms demands attention to code, software, and hardware. This course emphasizes building a theoretical framework and applied practice in critical making, drawing on digital humanities discourse, intentional design, minimal scripting tools, and multimodal development as part of scholarly communication.

The opportunities critical making presents for humanist work are well-documented. Jentery Sayers’ Making Things and Drawing Boundaries (which we’ll be drawing upon during the course) collects cutting-edge humanist work from across the field, and in doing so points to the important interventions that critical making in the digital humanities can offer in how and what we know about technology as “not made from scratch but in media res; not transparent platforms but patchworks of memory and practice.” However, Sayers’ collection is also a reminder of how difficult it is to get started, with participation demanding layered expertise that is constantly changing. The combination of computational and systems thinking required for critical making develops what Michael Mateas describes as procedural literacy: “the ability to read and write processes, to engage procedural representation and aesthetics, to understand the interplay between the culturally‐embedded practices of human meaning‐making and technically‐mediated processes” (Mateas). These skills are of growing interest in transdisciplinary humanities, but still often seen as the domain of STEM programs, and the rhetoric of code and code education remains exclusionary. We will interrogate those assumptions and systems, emphasizing process over product, and building procedural literacy through play and exploration. As we explore computational creativity, we will also engage with the questions emerging from the increased availability and power of generative AI tools.

Each week, plan on following the module for all asynchronous activities. Each module will be divided into three sections:

Course Objectives

Materials and Texts

This course requires a mix of applied and theoretical readings. All materials are available open access or for free through your UCF library access. The primary texts include:

In addition, each module includes samples, tutorials, and resources to guide the week’s making experiments.

Evaluation and Grading

Points Assignment Summary Due Date
6 Activity Verification - Complete the brief survey posted on Webcourses as soon as possible to confirm your enrollment in the course. As this is required by the university, please attend to it as soon as possible at the start of classes. Friday, January 16
84 Making Exercises - Weekly discussions will consist of making, sharing, and reflecting on the process of exploring (12 weeks, 7 points each). Students will work from tutorials and try a new form every week, with reflective questions connecting the process of making to the theoretical frameworks and provocations offered by course readings. Weekly
10 Reflection - During the final exam week, students will complete a written reflective essay on their journey, with particular consideration to next steps and potential future applications of the making mechanisms introduced throughout the semester. Sunday, May 3

Students can access their grades and feedback at any time using the Grade Book function of Webcourses. All assignments will be submitted through Webcourses. Plan on checking the site at least twice a week for updates and assignment information. Grades are calculated out of 100 following a standard letter scale.

Late work is accepted without penalty for one week after the listed deadline. If circumstances require extension beyond that deadline, please reach out to the instructor immediately. Additionally, here is one extra credit making exercise option available at the end of the semester for those who miss a weeek. Grades will be available through Webcourses and updated weekly.

Asynchronous Online Course Structure

This course uses a fully asynchronous online format, and relies upon students to complete all readings, engage with both course lectures and other online videos, and join in on course discussions. All assignments are due at the close of their listed module, but will be accepted with no penalty through the next listed deadline. Once an assignment closes, late work will not be accepted unless an additional extension has already been approved by the instructor: please reach out early if circumstances will require additional time!

Weekly Schedule

Week One: Provocations (Monday, January 12)

Week Two: Selfie (Monday, January 19)

Week Three: Comic (Monday, January 26)

Week Four: GIF (Monday, February 2)

Week Five: Map (Monday, February 9)

Week Six: Hypertext (Monday, February 16)

Week Seven: Game (Monday, February 23)

Week Eight: Grammar (Monday, March 2)

Week Nine: Analysis (Monday, March 9)

Week Ten: Spring Break - March 16th - 21st

Week Eleven: Generation (Monday, March 23)

Week Twelve: Code (Monday, March 30)

Week Thirteen: Narratives (Monday, April 6)

Week Fourteen: Combinations (Monday, April 13)

Week Fifteen: Futures (Monday, April 20)

Final Reflection (Due Sunday, May 3)