Welcome to the website for AI and the Humanities, a course of the Leiden University Centre for Digital Humanities!
The course is both an elective and a part of the Minor in Digital Humanities. As well as this website, you should familiarise yourself with the course Brightspace Area, where you will be required to submit short responses to the weekly reading.
The course is divided into six themes, covering a range of disciplines and themes of the humanities as a whole: Foundations, Art and Creativity, History, Language, Society, and Philosophy. The first, Foundations, will serve as a broad overview. Each theme will last two weeks and consist of two separate—but related—lectures and one or more pieces of relevant reading.
Throughout this course, you will be encouraged to think about artificial intelligence from a humanities perspective. This will take two key forms: on the one hand, the course will demonstrate how artificial intelligence is being used by, and changing, humanities disciplines, and how it may help (or hinder) the way we understand these subjects. On the other hand, the course will explore how the humanities can help to understand and critique AI itself, as a concept, and its impact on our daily lives and even inner selves.
Assessment method
- Written examination with closed and short open/essay questions
- Weekly questions, based on the reading materials
Weighing
- Written exam: 60%
- Weekly questions: 40%
Resit
Students who have scored an overall insufficient grade (below 5.5) for the course may take a resit in the form of an alternative written examination and a 1200-word essay in place of the weekly questions.
Weekly Questions
A significant part of the assessment for this course will be based on your ongoing engagement with the lectures and reading materials. This will be done through a graded weekly question. Submit your answers through Brightspace, where they will be available under the ‘Weekly questions’ unit. The questions will be made available from the beginning of the relevant lecture and must be completed before the beginning of the next.
Final Exam
DATE: June 19
LOCATION & TIME: Lipsius 2.01/2.06, Leiden at 15:00-17:00
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is a ‘mortal’ academic sin. If you have not done so already, please inform yourself on Leiden University’s views and regulations on plagiarism. This Leiden university library portal has several accessible web courses on how to quote and cite right and tips for bibliographic management. Note that plagiarism, copyright and other information sharing or copying issues are often extra complex when dealing with digital sources. If you are still in doubt whether (parts of) any work for this course may constitute plagiarism, you need to signal and verify this with me before you hand it in for grading.