On January 13-16 of 2014, nearly two dozen Bowdoin faculty members are taking a turn as students in a short course for faculty titled “Digital Humanities @ Bowdoin,” as part of the College’s new Digital and Computational Studies Initiative. Some of the course participants have already gotten their feet wet with projects that take advantage of computational methods and tools. Associate Professor of English Ann Kibbie describes her current project:
I have been re-thinking the three 200-level courses in which I introduce students to my field: Restoration and Eighteenth-Century British Literature. With the help of Crystal Hall, I have been developing a new course titled “Imagining London in the Eighteenth Century.” It will deal with a variety of texts in which London itself plays a vital role, such as James Boswell’s London Journal, Daniel Defoe’s Moll Flanders, poems including John Gay’s Trivia; or the Art of Walking the Streets of London, and Frances Burney’s novel Evelina. Students will work collaboratively to build a digital map of London (based on an eighteenth-century map) that charts the movements of real people (like Boswell) and literary characters (like Moll Flanders) within the city. Along the way, we will learn about London and the kinds of spaces that were central to it, such as coffeehouses, theaters, shops, and public parks.
