Data & Culture

Data and data-empowered algorithms shape our professional, personal, and political realities. They also increasingly shape how we are able to access and tell stories about the past. This course introduces students to the history of data practices so as to better understand the future we are building together as scholars, scientists, and citizens. In covering the history of the human use of data, we will learn how data are used to reveal insight and support decisions, how data-driven practices make historical and literary arguments, and how data and culture are fundamentally intertwined.