The Digital Cultural Heritage and History minor will provide students with an understanding of how digital tools, methods, and computational approaches can be used to capture, analyze, preserve, provide access to, and present cultural, archaeological, and historical data, content, collections, and materials. The minor focuses on: (1) the legal, political, and ethical issues that shape and inform the practice of digital cultural heritage and history; (2) the methods and approaches used to digitize, document, and preserve endangered cultural heritage; (3) the use of digital methods and computational approaches in cultural heritage and history for public and community outreach, engagement, and collaboration; (4) how institutions such as museums, libraries, world heritage sites, and archives use digital methods and computational approaches to preserve and provide access to collections of cultural, historical, and archaeological materials; (5) the application of computational approaches and digital methods to the analysis and interpretation of cultural heritage and historical data. The minor is both applied and experiential, not only asking students to explore and understand the impact that digital methods and computational approaches have in the domains of cultural heritage and history, but providing them with critical skills and opportunities to build digital applications and experiences. The minor has a strong ethos of openness, thoughtfully arguing for the value of open access, open source, and open data within digital cultural heritage and history as well as strongly encouraging the use of open source tools, frameworks, and technologies for applied work.
The minor is available as an elective to students who are enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs at Michigan State University. With the approval of the department and college that administers the student’s degree program, the courses that are used to satisfy the minor may also be used to satisfy the requirements for the bachelor’s degree.
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