Reading Like a Computer

Course Information

  • Spring 2026 (19958) Section 1
  • Number of credits: 4 (14 weeks)
  • Instructor: David Wrisley (djw12@)
  • Pre-requisites or co-requisites: none
  • Cross-listing: This course counts an IM elective as well as one of the courses for the Digital Arts and Humanities minor.

RLAC is taught in person in Abu Dhabi, but is open to registration by study away students. Capacity will be limited to 18.

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION:

How can computers be said to “read” text, and how can computer-assisted analysis of texts give us new access to information about ourselves and the cultural legacies we have inherited? How well do LLMs do these tasks? This course explores quantitative methods for discovering and analyzing diverse texts of the human record. It also offers a glimpse into possible futures of reading and remote access to documents, archives and libraries. Students will both discuss, and put into practice, forms of computer-assisted textual analysis that have revolutionized research in humanities and social science fields in recent years and they will critically engage with the notion of a corpus. By engaging with the idea of data in the humanities, and the contextualization that it requires, the course encourages students to reconsider our common-place assumptions about how reading works. Course materials, discussions, and classroom exercises will encourage students to examine how basic ideas about a text such as author, subject, setting, character or even style might look different when a non-human is involved in the interpretation. The course assumes no prior computer or coding skills, but a willingness to explore new technologies is essential for success.

Element Day Timing Location
Class Tu 11:20AM-12:35PM Campus Center L00 W009
Class Th 11:20AM-12:35PM Campus Center L00 W009
Office hours Tu / Th or by appt between 1 and 3pm, but please contact me before coming to make sure I am in the office A6 L01 1151
Ramadan in person OH TBA TBA TBA

To see an archive of previous versions of this course, see here