University of Southampton

MSc in Digital Humanities (Data Science)

This is a full-time digital humanities and data science master's program where your studies will take place over 12 months. This is divided into three semesters, with a total of six months of taught learning.

Modules

The modules outlined provide examples of what you can expect to learn on this degree course based on recent academic teaching. As a research-led University, we undertake a continuous review of our courses to ensure quality enhancement and to manage our resources. The precise modules available to you in future years may vary depending on staff availability and research interests, new topics of study, timetabling and student demand.

You must study the following modules:

• Digital Humanities Research/Professional Project
• Methods in Humanities Data Science
• Principles of Humanities Data Science

You must also choose from the following modules:

• Approaches to Literary Genres
• Business, Morality, and Markets
• Cultural Heritage within Environmental Impact Assessment
• Data Management for Humanities Research
• Digital Forms
• Digital Screen Cultures
• Ethics at Work: Customers, Companies, and Cooperation
• Global Challenges in Context: Conflict and Security
• Global Challenges in Context: Energy and Environment
• Global Challenges in Historical Context: Migration and Asylum
• Global Cultural Heritage
• Humanities Data Science Placement
• Literary Industries and New Media
• Memory in National and Transnational Contexts
• Narrative, Place, Identity
• Nation, Culture, Power
• Organisational Ethics and Philosophy of Management
• Philosophy and Ethics in Psychology and AI
• Popular Fiction and Digital Culture
• Professional Practice
• Text as Data
• The Ethics of Climate Change
• Translation Technology

Semester 1 and Semester 2

You'll study a variety of core and optional modules.

From your core modules, you'll learn how to:

• integrate humanities thinking with the underpinning principles and methods in data science
• use humanities thinking to positively challenge traditional approaches to data science
• embed a justice-oriented approach
• manage, visualise, analyse, and present humanities data

Optional modules will enable you to combine data-driven and humanities-focused topics. This will allow you to consider the relationships between humanities and computational work in greater depth.

Semester 3

You'll complete your own digital humanities project portfolio. In this final project, you'll address an authentic industry task or research problem through a combined humanities and data science approach. You'll negotiate the specific content and form of this project with an academic supervisor, based on your expertise, interests, and future goals.

Dissertation

In the last part of your course, you'll complete the digital humanities final project and create an individual portfolio. The digital humanities project will enable you to engage with a traditional dissertation or a project responding to an industry problem using humanities data science techniques. You will be guided by a personal supervisor.

Learning

You'll learn through a range of teaching and learning methods, including:

• lectures
• computer labs
• interactive workshops
• independent study materials
• individual and group work
• problem and project-based learning

There is also a range of bookable technology and equipment to help support your learning, ranging across:

• audio-visual recording and production
• motion capture
• 3D imaging and printing
• virtual reality

You'll also have access to our dedicated collaborative spaces, such as the Digital Humanities Hub. In addition to its use as a general co-working space, the Digital Humanities team will host regular academic and technical office hours for more tailored support.

Assessment

Core modules in the programme are assessed based on real-world contexts and professional standards in the world of data science.

Typical assessment designs on this digital humanities degree include:

• written reports
• oral presentations
• video essays
• infographics
• posters
• project portfolio

We also encourage innovative approaches to communicating your work and designs, and are keen to negotiate assessment outputs on core modules of the course. Assessments on optional modules made available outside of the core MSc Digital Humanities (Data Science) curriculum will be subject to their home subject's approach to assessment design.