Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities (DH) at Kenyon pioneered the world's first human-centered AI curriculum, representing over a decade of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of computational methods and humanistic inquiry. Our work established AI Digital Humanities as a unique field, creating the theoretical and pedagogical foundations for human-centered applications of artificial intelligence in humanities research. This approach transcends traditional boundaries between technology and the humanities, social sciences, and arts.

Research Archive

This collection documents student and faculty research from the first AI digital humanities program globally, spanning multiple waves of technological development. Early projects explored creative applications—from theater set design to musical composition and game design—alongside pioneering work in computational text analysis and algorithmic approaches to cultural materials.

Beginning in 2016, our research expanded into artificial intelligence applications for humanistic inquiry. Students have conducted groundbreaking work auditing language models years before ChatGPT's release, developed novel approaches to sentiment analysis in literary texts, and created computational frameworks for analyzing everything from Supreme Court opinions to social media discourse. Recent projects include multi-agent AI systems, emotion analysis research, and human-chatbot interaction studies.

Notable research contributions include early work on AI-generated creative content, comprehensive audits of large language model capabilities and limitations, and the development of "shapes of stories" analysis—computational approaches to narrative structure that have influenced digital humanities methodology.

Collections

IPHS 200: Programming Humanity: Foundational projects combining programming skills with humanistic inquiry, featuring work on social media analysis, computational literary studies, and technology's cultural impact.

IPHS 300: AI for Humanity: Advanced AI applications in humanistic contexts, including natural language processing, computer vision, and computational creativity projects.

IPHS 391: Interdisciplinary AI Frontiers: Cutting-edge research in agentic AI systems, multi-modal applications, and AI for social good initiatives.

IPHS 484: Senior Seminar: Capstone research projects representing the culmination of students' interdisciplinary work, including sophisticated AI applications for business analysis, cultural heritage preservation, and advanced computational approaches to literature and media.

The archive reflects our commitment to maintaining ethical dimensions in computational research, consistently emphasizing human agency in digital analysis and the interpretive frameworks that distinguish humanistic inquiry from purely technical approaches.

Find out more about DH at Kenyon