Module overview
This module critically explores the profound and complex ways digital technologies, data, and algorithms are framing, shaping, and sometimes distorting our understanding of the past. Moving beyond the simplistic notion of technology as a neutral tool, we will examine how digital platforms and practices actively mediate our relationship with history and culture, creating both radical new opportunities and significant ethical dilemmas. The course investigates how digital environments influence our perception of the past, focusing on cultural visibility, critical display, and imaginative reconstruction across multiple forms of media. We will pay close attention to the inherent imbalance of power and space in digital representations, from the 'Instagramable' past and digital archives to moving image collections and cinematic reconstructions.
We will cover a diverse range of cultural artifacts and sources, including literature, manuscripts, linguistic data, archaeological sites, material culture, and philosophical texts, alongside increasingly important of interactive media from both non-Western and Western traditions.
No technical or theoretical knowledge is required to take this module. It is open to all, whether you want to develop an approach to thinking about the intersections of digital and cultural heritage, or you want to work with digital methods and critical frameworks to apply justice-led thinking to your analysis of the past.