Course Schedule
Refer to this page to see what we will be covering in each of our meetings and what you need to complete (readings, tutorials, homework, etc.) prior to the start of class. We will be using two unofficial “textbooks” this semester. Both of these are freely available online: Melanie Walsh, Introduction to Cultural Analytics & Python and Catherine D’Ignzaio and Lauren Klein, Data Feminism.
GETTING UP AND RUNNING
The first several weeks of the semester we’ll spend getting oriented - building our learning community, installing software, and learning some of the basics of the tools we’ll be using.
Week 01
Tu. 1/21: Introductions
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
Th. 1/23: Files, Folders, and GitHub
- 📚 Annotate Course Syllabus [Perusall]
- Note: to get access to our Perusall course, you need to click on
Perusall 1.3in the sidebar of our Canvas site.
- Note: to get access to our Perusall course, you need to click on
- ✅ Complete the introductory student survey by Sun. 1/26
- ✅ Sign up for a 10-minute one-on-one meeting with Professor Blevins during the first three weeks of the semester
- 💻 Complete Installing GitHub
In Class:
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 01 due Sunday 1/26
Week 02
Tu. 1/28: Jupyter Notebooks & Python
- 📚 “Chapter 6: The Numbers Don’t Speak for Themselves” in Catherine D’Ignzaio and Lauren Klein, Data Feminism Perusall
- 💻 Complete Installing Python
- 💻 Complete How to Use Jupyter Notebooks tutorial in Melanie Walsh, Introduction to Cultural Analytics & Python textbook.
- ✅ If you haven’t done so already, sign up for a 10-minute one-on-one meeting with Professor Blevins during the first three weeks of the semester
- ✅ If you haven’t done so already, complete the introductory student survey
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
- 💻 Part 1: Jupyter Notebooks in Jupyter Notebooks & Python
Th. 1/30: Navigating Python
- 💻 Complete Part 2: Python Variables in Jupyter Notebooks & Python and submit your Jupyter Notebook on Canvas.
- 💻 Walsh, Anatomy of a Python Script
In Class:
- 💻 Walsh, Data Types
- 💻 Navigating Python
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 02 due Monday, 2/3
DATA AND SLAVERY
In our first thematic topic of the semester we’ll be looking at the history of slavery in the United States and how data relates to it - both in the 19th century and in how scholars study it today.
Week 03
Tu. 2/4: Slavery & Capitalism
- 📚 Optional: Watch Crash Course US History: Slavery (14:24 min.) for a “big-picture” introduction to the topic of slavery in US history
- 📚 Marc Parry, “Shackles and Dollars,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 8, 2016. [Perusall]
- 📚 HIST 5261: Roundtable on Ed Baptist, The Other Half Has Never Been Told in Journal of Economic History (2015) [Perusall]
- 💻 Walsh, String Methods
- 💻 Walsh, Files and Character Encoding
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
- Slavery & Capitalism discussion
- Analysis of “The Forced Migration of Enslaved People”
- 💻 Working with Text in Python
Th. 2/6: Narratives vs. Numbers I
- 📚 Selections from Daina Ramey Berry, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh: The Value of the Enslaved, from Womb to Grave (2016) (selections) Perusall
- 💻 Walsh, Comparisons and Conditionals
In Class:
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 03 due Monday 2/10
Week 04
Tu. 2/11: Narratives vs. Numbers II | GitHub Pages
- 📚 Caitlin Rosenthal, “Slavery’s Scientific Management: Masters and Managers” in Sven Beckert and Seth Rockman, eds. Slavery’s Capitalism (2015). [Perusall]
In Class:
Th. 2/13: Building a Portfolio Website
- Read the following data project (online, not on Perusall) and be prepared to analyze in class:
- 📚 David Mora and Michelle Jia, “Is the Love Song Dying?” The Pudding (11 November 2024).
- 💻 Walsh, Lists and Loops Part 1 (Walsh)
- 💻 Walsh, Lists and Loops Part 2 (Walsh)
In Class:
Due this week:
Email instructor your choice of project for the 🔍 Project Review by Sun. 2/16Note: this assignment has been folded into your Coding Homework 04 for this week.- 💡 Coding Homework 04 due Sunday 2/16
Week 05
Tu. 2/18: Bodies, Data, and Slavery’s Archives
- 📚 Jessica Marie Johnson, “Markup Bodies: Black [Life] Studies and Slavery [Death] Studies at the Digital Crossroads” Social Text, Vol. 36, No. 4 (2018). Perusall
- 📚 HIST 5261: Daniel Immerwahr, “Burning Down the House: Slavery and Arson in America,” Journal of American History, vol. 110, no. 3 (December 2023): 449-473.
In Class:
Th. 2/20: Project Review Presentations
- No reading
- Come to class prepared to give a 5-minute verbal presentation to classmates on your Project Review.
In Class:
- Project review presentations
Due this week:
- 🔍 Project Review due on Sunday, 2/23 (no coding homework this week)
GOVERNMENT DATA
In our next thematic topic of the semester, we’ll be looking at the history of how the US government has collected and used data, primarily through the US Census.
Week 06
Tu. 2/25: Counting Things | Dictionaries
- 📚 “Chapter 4: What Gets Counted Counts” in Catherine D’Ignazio and Lauren Klein, Data Feminism (MIT Press, 2020) Perusall
- Dictionaries
In Class:
Th. 2/27: The US Census I | Functions
- 📚 “Chapter 4: The Census and Industrial America in the Gilded Age” in Margo Anderson, The American Census: A Social History (pp. 86-114) Perusall
- 💻 Walsh, Functions
- 💻 Walsh, Common Python Errors
In Class:
- 💻 Dictionaries Practice
- 💻 Lists, Dictionaries, and Functions Practice - in
week-06folder insp25-data-materialsrepository
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 05 due Monday
- 🪞 Self-Assessment #1 due Sun. 3/2
Week 07
Tu. 3/4: The US Census II | Tabular Data
- 📚 Alec Barrett and TWO-N, “The Evolution of the American Census” The Pudding (March 2020) - read the interactive online version, then annotate in Perusall
- 💻 Walsh, Pandas Basics Part 1
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
- Tabular Data
Th. 3/6: Data Biography / Pandas I
- 📚 Amanda Regan and Eric Gonzaba, Mapping the Gay Guides - explore the project website, especially the Map page. Then annotate the Home page and Methodology page in Perusall.
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
- 💻 Pandas Practice I
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 06 due Monday
Week 08
Tu. 3/11: Data Analysis / Pandas II
- 💻 Walsh, Pandas Basics Part 2
- 📚 HIST 5261: Christopher Groskopf, “The Quartz Guide to Bad Data” Quartz (December 15, 2015) [Perusall]
In Class:
Th. 3/13: The US Census III
- 📚 Dan Bouk, Democracy’s Data: The Hidden Stories in the U.S. Census and How to Read Them, Chapter 3: Partners [Perusall]
- 📚 HIST 5261: Katie Rawson and Trevor Muñoz, “Against Cleaning” in Debates in Digital Humanities 2019 [Perusall]
- 💻 Walsh, Pandas Basics Part 3
In Class:
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 07 due Monday
Week 09
Tu. 3/18: Data Visualization I
- 📚 “Chapter 5: Visualizing with Clarity” from Nathan Yau, Data Points: Visualization That Means Something [Perusall]
- Use Jupyter Labs to follow and recreate the code in the following YouTube tutorials.
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In Class:
Th. 3/20: Catch-Up Day
In Class:
Spring Break
Tu. 3/25: No Class
Th. 3/27: No Class
Due this week:
- 📝 Data Biography Due Sunday, 3/30 by 11:59PM
CORPORATE DATA
Our last thematic unit focuses on how businesses and corporations have used data over time.
Week 10
Tu. 4/1: Corporate Data I
- 📚 Josh Lauer, “Plastic surveillance: Payment cards and the history of transactional data, 1888 to present” Big Data & Society (2020) [Perusall]
- 📚 HIST 5261: Jamie Pietruska, “The Case of the Competing Pinkertons: Managing Reputation Through the Paperwork and Bureaucracy of Surveillance” [Perusall]
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
- Overview of Research Project
- Troubleshooting Plotly and Github Pages
- 💻 Cleaning Excel Files
Th. 4/3: Mapping I
- 📚 Eric Deluca and Sara Nelson, “Lying with Maps” [Perusall]
- 💻 Walsh, Making Interactive Maps and Custom Map Backgrounds
In Class:
Due this week:
- 🪞 Self-Assessment #2 due Sun. 4/6
- 💡 Coding Homework 08 due Monday
Week 11
Tu. 4/8: Corporate Data II | Mapping II
- 📚 Renée DiResta, “Computational Propaganda: If You Make It Trend, You Make It True” The Yale Review 106: 12-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/yrev.13402 [Perusall]
In Class:
Th. 4/10: Corporate Data III | Mapping II
- 📚 Jerome de Groot, “Ancestry.com and the Evolving Nature of Historical Information Companies” The Public Historian (2020) Perusall
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
- 💻 Mapping with Folium II
Due this week:
- 📊 Research Project Proposal Due Sunday, 4/13
- 💡 Coding Homework 09 due Monday
Week 12
Tu. 4/15: Artificial Intelligence I | Coding with Generative AI
- 📚 Ethan Mollick, “Thinking Like an AI” One Useful Thing (20 October 2024) [Perusall]
- 📚 Benj Edwards, “Will the future of software development run on vibes?” Ars Technica (4 March 2025) [Perusall]
- 📚 HIST 5261: Visual Storytelling Team and Madumhita Murgia, “Generative AI exists because of the transformer,” The Financial Times (2023)
In Class:
- 🧑🏫 Slides
Th. 4/17: Artificial Intelligence II | Coding with Generative AI
- 📚 Mark Humphries, “Is this the Last Generation of Historians?” Generative History (7 February 2025) [Perusall]
- 📚 Simon Willison, “Here’s How I Use LLMs to Help Me Write Code,” Simon Willison’s Weblog, (March 11, 2025) [Perusall]
- 📚 HIST 5261: Emily M. Bender et al., “On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots: Can Language Models Be Too Big? 🦜” in Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (2021)
In Class:
Due this week:
- 💡 Coding Homework 10 due Monday
RESEARCH PROJECTS
During the final weeks of the semester you will be working on your research project. I have set aside time in class for project workshops, and will assign readings, tutorials, etc. depending on the needs of the class.
Week 13
Tu. 4/22: Project Workshop
Th. 4/24: Project Workshop
In Class:
Due this week:
- 📊 Final Project Check-In due Friday, 4/25
Week 14
Tu. 4/29: Project Workshop
Th. 5/1: Project Workshop
In Class:
Week 15
Tu. 5/6: Final Project Presentations / Project Workshop
- 📊 Rough Draft of Research Project due Mon. 5/5 or Weds. 5/7 by 11:59PM (select your due date on the sign-up sheet)
- Prepare a 5-minute presentation on the draft of your research project
Th. 5/8: Final Project Presentations / Wrapping Up
- 📊 Rough Draft of Research Project due Mon. 5/5 or Weds. 5/7 by 11:59PM (select your due date on the sign-up sheet)
- Prepare a 5-minute presentation on the draft of your research project
Due this week:
- 📊 Peer Review of Research Project Draft due Fri. 5/9 by 11:59PM
Finals Week
Due this week:
- 📊 Research Project Final due Thurs. 5/15 by 11:59PM
- 🪞 Self-Assessment #3 due Thurs. 5/15 by 11:59PM