Sober Hopes:  Designing an Introductory Course for Computational Research in Hebrew / Arabic Texts

1. Abstract

In this short presentation, I would like to demonstrate how a critical view of the Digital Humanities - or even an ambivalent or skeptical one - influenced the construction of a unique introductory course for computational text research, with an emphasis on literary texts. Thanks to a collaboration with the Open University of Israel, which undertook the publishing of the first introductory book in Hebrew, I had a rare opportunity to design a field of knowledge from its inception, in a particular cultural setting; the results, so I believe, would be relevant for anyone who wants to teach DH from a (traditional) humanistic standpoint, and to advance public digital humanities.