Humanities Informatics

[Overview]   [Faculty]   [Projects]   [Courses]

Humanities Informatics brings together scholars from around the University for the purpose of advancing research in the application of information and human-centered systems to scholarly activities in the humanities and the exploration of the human record. The goal is to develop innovative scholarly computing tools, new media and digital collections of broadly significant academic and educational value to the humanities. The area builds upon the interdisciplinary strengths of the collaborating faculties.

Faculty

Richard Furuta, Professor   (Digital Libraries, Humanities Informatics)
Andruid Kerne, Assistant Professor   (Physical Interfaces)
John Leggett, Professor   (Digital Libraries, Humanities Informatics)
Du Li, Assistant Professor   (Collaborative Systems)
Frank Shipman, Associate Professor   (Multimedia and New Media, Humanities Informatics)

Projects

Humanities Informatics

Center for the Study of Digital Libraries

The Melbern G. Glasscock Center for Humanities Research

Courses

CPSC 436. Computer-Human Interaction. This course is designed to cover comprehensively the area of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI). Course content will include the history and importance of CHI, theories of CHI design, modelling of computer users and interfaces, empirical techniques for task analysis and interface design, styles of interaction and future directions of CHI including hypermedia and collaborative systems. Prerequisites: CPSC320 and CPSC 321 or consent of instructor.

CPSC 489. Computers and New Media.
CPSC 689. Computers and New Media. This class investigates potential and realized impact of computers in the design of media. Examples of questions to be considered are: (1) How does storytelling change when the reader can take links? (2) What about when the "reader" plays the role of a character in the story? and more generally: (3) What characteristics of computational media are appropriate for what types of communication and stories? Thus, some of the topics we will cover include (1) effect of computers on reading and belief of information, (2) computer's impact on the author, reader, and the interaction between them, (3) computers and argumentation, and (4) interactive genres of literature. These topics will be discussed at both a conceptual and tool level. By the end of the course, you will be able to look at an existing system or design a new system with an understanding of the impact it may have on communication and storytelling. Prerequisites: Students should have a basic knowledge of computing and the humanities, and the ability to program complex systems and be able to learn new software tools on their own.

CPSC 610. Hypertext/Hypermedia Systems. Comprehensive coverage of Hypertext/Hypermedia; basic concepts and definitions; fundamental components, architectures and models; problems and current solutions; design and implementation issues; and research issues. Prerequisites: CPSC 310 and 410.

CPSC 634. Intelligent User Interfaces. Intersection of artificial intelligence and computer-human interaction: emphasis on designing and evaluating systems that learn about and adapt to their users, tasks, and environments. Prerequisites: Graduate classification and approval of instructor.

CPSC 667. Collaborative Systems and Models. Collaborative systems support group activities over computer networks. With the emphasis on human factors, system design is fundamentally different from traditional systems. This course overviews existing research efforts to address various design issues. The students will be informed of the state-of-the-art knowledge in this area and learn how to implement collaborative applications.

CPSC 470. Information Storage and Retrieval.
CPSC 670. Information Storage and Retrieval. Representation, storage, and access to very large multimedia document collections; fundamental data structures and algorithms of information storage and retrieval systems; techniques to design and evaluate complete retrieval systems, including cover of algorithms for indexing, compressing, and querying very large collections. Prerequisites: CPSC 310 or approval of instructor; graduate classification.

CPSC 671. Computer-Human Interaction. This course is designed to comprehensively cover the area of Computer-Human Interaction (CHI). Course content will include the history and importance of CHI, theories of CHI design, modelling of computer users and interfaces, empirical techniques for task analysis and interface design, styles of interaction and future directions of CHI. Emphasis will be on previous, current, and future research in CHI. Prerequisite: Graduate classification.

CPSC 672. Computer Supported Collaborative Work. Covers design, implementation and use of technical systems that support people working cooperatively; draws from the research area of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and includes current theoretical, practical, technical and social issues in CSCW and future directions of the field. Prerequisite: CPSC 671 or 610 or approval of instructor.

CPSC 675. Digital Libraries. Surveys current research and practice in Digital Libraries, which seek to provide intellectual access to large-scale, distributed digital information repositories; current readings from the research literature which covers the breadth of this interdisciplinary area of study.