Archival Information & Artificial Intelligence (English 177)
How does information become knowledge?
“Archival Information & Artificial Intelligence” explores the ways that information and data become accepted facts and knowledge. Two questions will spur our conversations: How does information become knowledge? How do we record and share our knowledge across space and time? Two seemingly distinct systems of information management—dusty library archives and digital AI chatbots—will give our conversations focus and cohesion.
This course is designed to give students a chance to productively confront their frustrations with information overload and to think about how to effectively navigate a range of information sources. We are drowning in data, and it can sometimes feel like our own voices—our own ways of synthesizing information and sharing knowledge—are becoming irrelevant. One key component of this course is that, by the end of the semester, each student will develop a forward-facing, individualized personal knowledge management plan that they can use to gather information and inspire insight during college and beyond.
Active attendance and participation are crucial to success in this hands-on course, and some class sessions will be held in alternate locations on campus. Students need have no familiarity with AI chatbots or with library archives in order to succeed.
ENGLISH 177: Literature and Pop Culture: Lecture 1: Archival Information & Artificial Intelligence
Class Number: 83753
3 Credits, Lecture: TR 9:55-10:45am, + disc. session
Requisites: None
Course Designation: Literature
Level: Elementary
L&S Credit: Counts as Liberal Arts and Science credit in L&S
Mode of Instruction: In Person
Joshua Calhoun (Associate Professor of English and Faculty Affiliate with the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison) specializes in Shakespeare, early modern poetry, the history of media, publicly engaged research, and the environmental humanities. He is author of The Nature of the Page: Poetry, Papermaking, and the Ecology of Texts in Renaissance England (UPenn Press, 2020). Calhoun’s work draws on scholarly as well as journalistic training, and his commitment to questions about ecology, conservation, and wilderness are deeply informed by his experiences growing up in the Adirondack Mountains.
Professor Calhoun is an award-winning professor who has had the joy of teaching more than 2,000 students in his large-lecture, intro-level Shakespeare courses. He is also the co-founder of Holding History, a mentorship-driven public engagement project that involves hands-on training in bookmaking and archival research.