Digital Humanities MSc
Critical Approaches to Digital Humanities INFOST5040
- Academic Session: 2026-27
- School: School of Humanities
- Credits: 20
- Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
- Typically Offered: Semester 1
- Available to Visiting Students: No
- Collaborative Online International Learning: No
- Curriculum For Life: No
Short Description
This course explores the conceptual, theoretical, and cultural foundations of Digital Humanities (DH). Students will engage with critical readings from areas such as media studies, feminist and postcolonial theory, critical infrastructure studies, and data ethics. Through case studies, seminars, and written work, students will interrogate the values embedded in digital tools and infrastructures, including emerging technologies such as AI, reflect on global and marginalised perspectives in DH, and question the epistemologies underpinning digital research.
Timetable
1x1hr lecture per week over 10 weeks
10x1hr seminar over 10 weeks
Excluded Courses
None
Co-requisites
None
Assessment
The standard assessments for this course are:
■ 1500-word Case Study Critique - 40%
■ 2500-word Critical Essay - 60%
If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:
■ There is no alternative to the case study, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)
■ There is no alternative to the critical essay, but flexible deadlines can be offered as reasonable adjustments (students should follow the usual process for extensions)
Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor.
Course Aims
This course aims to:
■ Introduce key theoretical frameworks for critically evaluating digital research
■ Interrogate the historical and institutional development of Digital Humanities
■ Reflect on issues of power, bias, access, and inclusion in both established and emerging digital tools and infrastructures, such as AI and immersive technologies
■ Develop students' ability to construct theoretically informed critiques of Digital Humanities practice
Intended Learning Outcomes of Course
By the end of this course students will be able to:
■ Analyse major theoretical debates in Digital Humanities, including questions of power, bias, infrastructure, and epistemology. |
■ Contextualise Digital Humanities within broader intellectual, political, and institutional histories. |
■ Critique the assumptions underlying Digital Humanities tools, methods, and institutional structures. |
■ Construct theoretically grounded arguments about digital culture and scholarship. |
■ Apply critical frameworks to Digital Humanities case studies, tools, or projects. |