A compact seminar features a distinguished instructor, usually a visitor from Scandinavia, with expertise in topics related to Scandinavian Literature and Cultures. The seminar is intended to teach these topics in an intensive format and to complement regular departmental offerings. A series of short papers or a single, longer paper is required.

In this course we focus on specific methods for working with networks for Humanities study, including literary texts, historical texts, correspondence networks, and other networks derived from historical data. Although most of the examples will be drawn from English language corpora, the methods can be applied broadly to many types of Humanities data. The majority of the work will be done with existing tools for network analysis, including Gephi, Cytoscape and NetworkX, although there will also be an opportunity to work entirely in a "low touch" or "non coding" environment. Topics covered will include network creation including data cleaning and preparation; single mode and multi-mode networks; directed, undirected, weighted and unweighted graphs; path finding; motif detection and subgraphs; clustering. Additional topics may include dynamic networks, geo-coded network models and visualization techniques. No coding or prior background working with digital texts or networks is required.

This compact seminar lasts 5 weeks, starting Week 1 of Spring 2024. First meeting: January 18, 2024.

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