99038 - Digital Humanities for Religious Studies (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

After completing the course, students are able to research and critically examine materials, bibliographic and documentary sources in digital format of historical-religious subjects on which to conduct research. They are able to recognize and critically examine, with the help of digital tools, iconographic and artistic evidence relevant to the religious sphere. They are able to communicate in written and oral form the knowledge acquired, using communication registers suitable for the aforementioned contexts and taking into account the recipients being addressed. They are able to give form to the results of their research on DH and Religious Studies, properly documenting the information on which they base their conclusions, while giving an account of the methodologies of investigation used. They know how to apply the tools of communication and digital data in the editorial and publishing field.

Course contents

Starting from the historical-conceptual development of Humanities Computing, the course introduces the student to the methodological and strategic issues that the digital transition has brought and is bringing to Religious Studies. Both the “instrumental” and the “methodological” and “experimental” approaches to DH will be explored. Concerning the first one, the main established digital tools will be illustrated and laboratory activities will be devoted to the use of these technologies. The second approach is an intrinsic part of Humanities Computing since its origins and is the only one that can constantly grow its potential, generating true methodological and cultural innovation.

In particular, the contents of the course will concern:

- Introduction to DH: definition, paradigms, history, institutional role in the Italian context, also in relation to the cultural policies of the digital transition.

- Objects, languages, tools, methods for the organization and preservation of knowledge: data, Big Data and metadata, methodological aspects and formal languages of textual coding (XML and TEI), text analysis (e.g. stylometry, Close/Distant Reading, Synset, Topic Modeling), semantic web and Linked Open Data (URI, RDF and ontologies), platforms for text annotation (INCEpTION), Open Science, Open Access, FAIR data principles, rights management, Data Management Plan.

- Internet for Graeco-Roman antiquity: presentation of bibliographic repositories, general and specific indexes, search engines and databases for Latin and Greek literary texts and documentary texts (papyri and inscriptions), with particular attention to tools for the study and analysis of sources from Christian traditions (especially biblical and patristic texts, also in translation into modern languages). Laboratory time is planned with individual student exercises (under the supervision of the teacher) on these technologies.

- Presentation of RESILIENCE, the European Research Infrastructure for Religious Studies that entered the ESFRI Roadmap in 2021, and of ITSERR (Italian Strengthening of the ESFRI RI RESILIENCE), an Italian PNRR project funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU, which aims to strengthen RESILIENCE and support scientific excellence in the fields of Religious Studies and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) at the service of research in Religious Studies. This presentation will show how the scientific community of Religious Studies can be transformed from being a mere agent of the implementation of established technologies to the (pro)engine of a new match to be played in the digital world, in the encounter with what Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and High-Performance Computing can currently offer.

- Studies on Bibles and ancient Christian literature in the age of DH and Artificial Intelligence: new questions, potentials and issues. In particular, some projects in the field will be analyzed to enucleate the specifics of the process of building a scientific pathway that converges the research methods of Religious Studies and the digital ones.

At the end of the course, students will be familiar with various (evolving) tools and services that support the creation, organization, preservation, sharing, and use of data in the field of Historical-Religious Studies. They will understand the role played by Humanities Computing in rethinking some research processes and in producing new knowledge in Religious Studies. Students will recognize and critically examine the challenges that the Humanities may present to ICT scholars today, precisely because of the complexity of the data they offer.

Readings/Bibliography

Exam program for attending students

Students who participate in at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The exam bibliography for attending students includes:

1) Digital Humanities. Metodi, strumenti, saperi, ed. by Fabio Ciotti, Roma: Carocci, 2023, especially pp. 1-254 and 312-324 (By agreement with the teacher, one or more of the remaining chapters may be studied and discussed in the exam if they match the specific interests of the student; in that case, only one essay is required from among those proposed in section 3).

2) Renata Salvarani, Studi storico-religiosi e Digital Humanities: implicazioni critiche e metodologiche, in «PATH – Pontificia Academia Theologica», 19/1 (2020), pp. 125-137.

3) Two of the following essays:

a) Claire Clivaz, The Bible in the Digital Age: Multimodal Scriptures in Communities, in Digital Humanities and Christianity: An Introduction, eds. Tim Hutchings, Claire Clivaz, Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 2021, pp. 21-45. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110574043-002]

b) Caroline T. Schroeder, The Digital Humanities as Cultural Capital: Implications for Biblical and Religious Studies, in «Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture», 5/1 (2016), pp. 21-49. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/21659214-90000069]

c) Laurence Mellerin, New Ways of Searching with Biblindex, the Online Index of Biblical Quotations in Early Christian Literature, in Digital Humanities in Biblical, Early Jewish and Early Christian Studies, eds. Claire Clivaz, Andrew Gregory, David Hamidović, Leiden-Boston: Brill, 2014, pp. 177-190. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004264434_012]

d) Gian Luigi Prato, Gli scritti biblici tra utopia del canone fisso e fluidità del testo storico, in Canoni liquidi. Variazione culturale e stabilità testuale dalla Bibbia a Internet, ed. by Domenico Fiormonte, in collaboration with Bianca Ruggeri, Napoli: ScriptaWeb, 2011, pp. 43-61.

e) Charles Ess, “Revolution? What Revolution?” Successes and Limits of Computing Technologies in Philosophy and Religion, in A Companion to Digital Humanities, eds. Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, John Unsworth, Oxford: Blackwell, 2004, pp. 133-142. [http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion/]

Non-attending students will add the study of:

4) Francesca Tomasi, Organizzare la conoscenza: Digital Humanities e Web semantico. Un percorso tra archivi, biblioteche e musei, Milano: Editrice Bibliografica, 2022, in particular pp. 13-42 and 145-166.

5) Dino Buzzetti, Alle origini dell’Informatica Umanistica: Humanities Computing e/o Digital Humanities?, in Il museo virtuale dell’informatica archeologica. Una collaborazione tra l’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e il Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Atti della «Segnatura» (Roma 2017), eds. Paola Moscati, Tito Orlandi (Rendiconti dell’Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, Classe di Scienze morali, storiche e filologiche, ser. 9, vol. 30), Roma: Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, 2019, pp. 71-103.

6) Jeffrey S. Siker, The Bible and Computer Programs, in Id., Liquid Scripture: The Bible in a Digital World, Minneapolis: Fortress, 2017, pp. 209-238. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1pwt87v]

Non-attending students are also required to practice independently some of the digital resources illustrated in class, having the materials made available on ‘Virtuale’ as a guide.

Teaching methods

Frontal lessons and laboratory activities, with analysis and browsing of online digital resources and with personal student exercises (under the supervision of the teacher) on the tools and methods illustrated in class.

Course attendance is not essential but recommended, as it helps to better assimilate theories and practices that will later be examined (cf. Assessment methods section).

In presence and in ‘Virtuale’ materials for consolidation and deepening of the topics addressed will be progressively provided; it will also be possible to account for related events (book presentations, seminars, conferences and in-depth discussions with external specialists).

Assessment methods

For attending students, an initial assessment is provided already in individual exercises on the tools and methods illustrated in class. Students who participate in at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending. Not attending the lessons does not affect the exam except for program differences and the domestic effort required to analyze and try to use the digital resources shown during the course, having as a guide the materials made available on ‘Virtuale’ (cf. Readings/Bibliography section).

The exam consists of a practical test followed by an oral interview, which will take place at one time: the student will have to present a case study that involves the critical and conscious use of some of the technologies and methodologies learned during the lessons, and summarize it in a maximum of 7 slides (approximately 10 min); the oral discussion will start from this practical case created by the student and will focus on the topics illustrated during the course and covered in the indicated bibliography (cf. Readings/Bibliography section).

The teacher will evaluate the mastery of the content and bibliography of the course, the use of appropriate and technical language, the ability to synthesize and analyze the themes and concepts, the ability in the practical use of the tools illustrated during the course, and finally the critical and methodological skills maturated by the student.

Lack of training, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials offered during the course, and reduced capacity for personal re-elaboration will be evaluated negatively.

Assessment scale.

Excellent, i.e. 30 and 30L: achievement of an organic vision of the issues presented during the lessons and their critical use that demonstrates theorical and practical mastery of content and technical vocabulary.

Average, i.e. 25-29: mnemonic knowledge, rather accurate use of technical vocabulary, ability to use at least some of the technologies illustrated in class.

Sufficient, i.e. 18-24: minimal knowledge of the topics and the tools illustrated, without serious errors.

Insufficient: lack of minimum requirements of ‘sufficient’ assessment.

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year: September, November, December, January, March, May, June.

Teaching tools

During the lessons, videos and Power Points will sometimes be shown and materials such as photocopies, lesson notes and bibliographical suggestions for in-depth study will be progressively distributed.

The same materials will gradually be made available on ‘Virtuale’, so that everyone (attending and non-attending students, workers, etc.) can have access to course orientation information and basic teaching material.

Students who require specific services and adaptations to teaching activities due to a disability or specific learning disorders (SLD) must first contact the appropriate office: https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students .

Office hours

See the website of Anna Mambelli