Looking for classes to take this fall? Here are a few that will help you learn about digital mapping and design, examine the social implications of new technologies, gain proficiency in a programming language, and more. Course offerings range from theoretical considerations of technology and big data to hands-on practice with digital tools and methods. For more detailed information about prerequisites and enrollment, please see the full course descriptions at courses.yale.edu.

If you are teaching a course connected to DH and would like it included in the list below, or if you would like someone from the Yale Digital Humanities Lab to speak with your class, please email the DHLab.

Coded Design

ART 750
Erin Sparling

This course teaches students to apply the medium of the Internet to the practice of design, and considers how the shape and properties of information influence the digital surfaces around us. Students bring their interest in understanding the nature of systems, develop new ways of looking at their own work through the lens of code, and conceptualize novel social experiences in distributed design. The class examines how HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and API allow the web browser to be a method for creating the digital world around us, deepening our understanding of the information economy that feeds creation and consumption online. Prior experience with programming or HTML recommended, but not required.

Law, Technology, and Culture

CPSC 183
Brad Rosen

An exploration of the myriad ways in which law and technology intersect, with a special focus on the role of cyberspace. Topics include digital copyright, free speech, privacy and anonymity, information security, innovation, online communities, the impact of technology on society, and emerging trends. No previous experience with computers or law necessary.

Economics of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation

ECON 472
Evangelia Chalioti

This course studies the economics of innovation and the effects of artificial intelligence on different industries. Topics include economics of the intellectual property (IP) protection system, strategic choices in innovation and competition, patent races, measurement and big data, the sharing and digitalized economy, collective intelligence and decisions, online auctions, venture capital, and legal and social infrastructure.

Modeling Geographic Objects

ENV 756
Charles Tomlin

This course offers an introduction to the nature and use of drawing-based (vector) geographic information systems (GIS) for the preparation, interpretation, and presentation of digital cartographic data. The course is oriented more toward discrete objects in geographical space (e.g., water bodies, land parcels, or structures) than the qualities of that space itself (e.g., proximity, density, or interspersion). No previous experience is required.

Data Governance in the Digital Age

GLBL 395
Nathaniel Raymond

The information revolution is causing the rapid mass adoption of information communication technologies (ICTs) across nations, demographics, and sectors, such as mobile devices, social media platforms, “big data,” artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, geospatial mapping applications, and the Internet of Things (IoT). However, 20th-century international data governance policies, normative frameworks, and domestic regulations are struggling to keep pace with the disruptive impacts ICTs are having on an increasingly digitally networked world. This seminar explores critical issues, trends, and events relevant to the adaptation of existing data governance regimes to meet these challenges, as well as the creation of new regimes by international organizations, the private sector, civil society, and national governments.

Introduction to Python for Global Affairs

GLBL 550
William King

In the second decade of the 21st century, “big data” analytics and techniques have fundamentally transformed policy decisions both in the United States and throughout the globe. NGOs, NPOs, political campaigns, think tanks, and government agencies more and more recruit policy analysts with the necessary skills to embrace novel, data-driven approaches to policy creation and evaluation. This introductory course in Python programming and data analysis, aimed at policy students with no prior coding experience, is designed to help students meet this growing demand for “tech humanists.” Ultimately, it aims to prepare students to use what they’ve learned in further Yale courses in programming and statistics, or in research and policy after leaving Yale.

Introduction to Syriac Christianity

RLST 420, REL 770
Maria Doerfler

This seminar aims to introduce students to the literary, historical, and theological tradition of Syriac Christianity and the developing field of Syriac Christian studies. Students will encounter a number of the tradition’s key authors; learn to locate its development in the context of different imperial cultures and religious interlocutors, including Judaism and Islam; and explore topics at the vanguard of current scholarship, including distinctive approaches to asceticism, ritual, and historiography. In addition to weekly meetings, the seminar further requires attendance for three special sessions: a visit to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and its considerable Syriac manuscript holdings; a visit to the Yale University Art Gallery and its collection of relevant artifacts and coins; and an introduction to the use of digital humanities in Syriac studies through the Yale Digital Dura-Europos Archive (YDEA).

Computers, Networks, and Society

SOCY 133
Scott Boorman

This course offers a comparison of major algorithm-centered approaches to the analysis of complex social network and organizational data, and aims to develop a disciplined, coherent perspective on modern information technology’s effects on societies worldwide. Topics include software warfare and algorithm sabotage; blockmodeling and privacy; and legal, ethical, and policy issues. No prior experience with computers required.