Language Technologies And Digital Humanities

The class contributes to the achievement of the educational objectives of the Master of Arts course in Language Technologies and Digital Humanities by providing adequate knowledge of the use of information technology tools in the arts of sounds.
The instructor will focus on the following skills: reasoning, contextualization, and processing recent literature on this main topic.
The students shall acquire abilities of critical analysis and historical and philosophical contextualization of the main themes developed in the class. They will increase their argumentative abilities and the depth of independently interpret developed arguments. Preliminarily, the students will acquire the following information:

• adequate knowledge of the involved themes,
• analytical and argumentative abilities in the discussion of the texts related to the topics explored in the class.

How can a musical work be placed in a museum? And are there other sound objects of aesthetic interest besides musical works? The lessons will focus on the following topics.

What are sounds? (Sound objects)

The problem of the musealization of musical works (the primacy of practice in the ontology of music)

Music and music archives

Soundscapes and soundscapes design

From electronic music to digital music and digital sounds generation

From music industry to genAI music

The evaluation will be based on a final written test. To meet the course requirements, the students will have to show:

a) the ability to present and analyze the topics developed in the class;
b) good mastery of the scholarly lexicon involved in the discussion of the main topics;
c) the ability to identify connections and relations of interdependence among the texts studied during the class.
The final grade is based on a scale of thirty points.

Two texts to be chosen from the following:

• Schaeffer, Pierre. Treatise on Musical Objects: An Essay across Disciplines. Translated by Christine North and John Dack. Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.
• Steintrager, James A., and Rey Chow, eds. Sound Objects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018.
• Bull, Michael, ed. The Routledge Companion to Sound Studies. London/New York: Routledge, 2020.

A text of your choice from the following:

• Santi, Matej, and Elias Berner, eds. Music -; Media -; History: Re-Thinking Musicology in an Age of Digital Media. Bielefeld: transcript, 2021.
• Kirby, Sarah, ed. Music, New Media and the Archive. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025.

A text of your choice from the following:

• Brigitte Schulte-Fortkamp, André Fiebig, Joseph A. Sisneros, Arthur N. Popper, and Richard R. Fay, eds. Soundscapes: Humans and Their Acoustic Environment. Springer, 2023.
• Usue Ruiz Arana. Urban Soundscapes: A Guide to Listening for Landscape Architecture and Urban Design. Routledge, 2024.

A text of your choice from the following:

• Christiane Paul, Digital Art, 4th ed. Thames & Hudson, 2023.
• Pita Arreola, Corinna Gardner, and Melanie Lenz, eds., Digital Art: 1960s-now. Victoria and Albert Museum / Thames & Hudson, 2024.

La parte tenuta da Alberto Pelissero (6 ore) ha l'obiettivo di introdurre le correnti religioso-filosofiche dell’Asia meridionale, specificamente di area indiana. La parte tenuta da Matteo Cestari (30 ore) ha come obiettivo la presentazione del problema della pratica nel pensiero dell'Asia Orientale, considerando anche l'apporto al problema generale della pratica in molti pensatori contemporanei (Foucault, Hadot, Bourdieu, Nishida). Particolare risalto verrà dato alle questioni metodologiche di studio del pensiero dell'Asia da una prospettiva postcoloniale e critica.
CONOSCENZA E COMPRENSIONE: gli/le studenti/esse comprenderanno gli aspetti essenziali della questione religiosa e filosofica della pratica nella storia culturale dell’India, del pensiero buddhista e dell’Asia orientale. Inoltre sapranno orientarsi in alcuni importanti dibattiti metodologici relativi allo studio del pensiero dell'Asia.- CAPACITÀ DI APPLICARE CONOSCENZA E COMPRENSIONE, AUTONOMIA DI GIUDIZIO E ABILITÀ COMUNICATIVE: gli/le studenti/esse comprenderanno gli aspetti essenziali delle dottrine spiegate. Acquisiranno importanti strumenti critici per comprendere criticamente le tematiche trattate, come ad esempio (ma non solo): la questione dell'orientalismo nelle religioni e filosofie asiatiche, l'applicabilità delle categorie storiografiche europee alle religioni dell'Asia, le possibilità di elaborare approcci non eurocentrici al pensiero asiatico, ecc. Inoltre saranno in grado di esporre il contenuto delle lezioni, formulare giudizi autonomi sulle tematiche spiegate durante le lezioni e usare strumenti bibliografici specifici (manuali, saggi, repertori).

Un’introduzione al pensiero asiatico e alla metodologia di studio delle religioni e filosofie asiatiche, con particolare riferimento alle pratiche.

Docenti incaricati: Alberto Pelissero (titolare, L-OR/18) e Matteo Cestari (L-OR/20)

Alberto Pelissero nelle sue lezioni (6 ore) fornirà un’introduzione generale alle religioni e filosofie dell’India.

Matteo Cestari nelle sue lezioni (30 ore) tratterà delle pratiche meditative nel Buddhismo e di pratiche nelle religioni cinesi, a partire dalla prospettiva degli studi religiosi, della filosofia e della sociologia. Particolare rilevanza teorica verrà data all’approccio di Michel Foucault, Pierre Hadot, Pierre Bourdieu e Nishida Kitarō e si discuterà della questione della pratica e del corpo.

L’apprendimento degli argomenti delle lezioni verrà testato attraverso un esame orale in inglese. Durante l’esame verranno approfonditi tre argomenti, il primo dei quali a scelta dello/a studente/essa, mentre gli altri due saranno a scelta della commissione. A discrezione del candidato sarà possibile sostituire uno degli argomenti chiesti dalla commissione con un piccolo saggio (600-1000 parole) da caricare come risposta a uno dei forum proposti su Moodle- Per ciascun argomento, saranno disponibili più domande, volte a individuare il livello di comprensione degli argomenti da parte dello/a studente/essa.- - Il voto dell’esame sarà espresso in trentesimi (minimo 18/30, massimo 30L/30).-

Il raggiungimento di una visione organica dei temi affrontati a lezione, congiuntamente a una buona capacità critica, a padronanza espressiva e di linguaggio specifico, sarà valutato con voti molto buoni o eccellenti (28-30 e lode); l'acquisizione prevalentemente mnemonica o non ben maturata dei contenuti e competenze linguistiche e logiche non sempre adeguate saranno valutate con voto da discreto (21-24) a buono (25-27); un livello minimo di conoscenza dei contenuti del corso, unito a lacune formative o competenze linguistiche e logiche non adeguate, condurrà a una valutazione di sufficienza (18-20); l'assenza di un livello minimo di conoscenza dei contenuti del corso, unito a competenze linguistiche e logiche inadeguate e a lacune formative, produrrà una valutazione di insufficienza (<18/30).

Oltre alla domanda a piacere, sarà possibile per lo/a studente/essa valorizzare la propria partecipazione ai forum che saranno predisposti sulla pagina Moodle dell'insegnamento, secondo le modalità che saranno chiarite su Moodle stesso.

Attenzione: per poter accedere all'esame, è necessario avere preso visione dei materiali indicati in bibliografia e del materiale presente su Moodle. Gli/Le studenti/esse che non avranno preso visione di tali materiali non potranno accedere agli esami.

Il docente si riserva di verificare che gli/le studenti/esse che si presentano all'esame abbiano effettivamente preso visione del materiale obbligatorio caricato su Moodle.

Tutti i testi indicati sono obbligatori per tutti gli/le studenti/esse del modulo, sia frequentanti che non frequentanti.

Si prega di fare riferimento alla pagina Moodle del corso per gli aggiornamenti sul piano generale del corso, sulle lezioni e il materiale in asincrono.

1) Technologies of the self and spirituality in Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot:

Readings: M. Foucault, “Technologies of the Self”, in L. Martin, H. Gutman, P. Hutton (Eds.) Technologies of the Self. A Seminar with Michel Foucault, Amherst, Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 1988, pp. 16-49.

A. Davidson, “Introduction. Pierre Hadot and the Spiritual Phenomenon of Ancient Philosophy”, in P. Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, Blackwell, Oxford & Cambridge, 1995, pp. 1-45.

2) Habitus and Field (P. Bourdieu)

P. Bourdieu, L. Wacquant, An invitation to Reflexive Sociology, Cambridge-Oxford, Polity Press, 1992 (pp. 94-139).

3) Nishida Kitarō’s practical philosophy: poiesis and praxis

Readings: M. Cestari, “From Seeing to Acting. Rethinking Nishida Kitarō’s Practical Philosophy”, in James W. Heisig & Raquel Bouso (eds.), Frontiers of Japanese Philosophy 6. Confluences and Cross-Currents, Nagoya: Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture, 2009, pp. 273-296.

5) A general approach to East Asian religions/philosophies, which will help to understand the place of practices in Buddhism and Daoism.

Readings: Adam Y. Chau, Religion in China. Ties that Bind, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2019 (introduction & chap. 1, pp. 1-33).

6) Modern “traditional” practices as invented traditions and self-orientalism; practices of strengthening national identities and constructing connected individualities

Readings: Yamada Shoji, “The Myth of Zen in the Art of Archery”, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 2001, 28, 1-2, pp. 1-30.

S. Vlastos, “Tradition: Past/Present Culture and Modern Japanese History”; D. Chakrabarty, “Afterword: Revisiting the Tradition/Modernity Binary”, in S. Vlastos (Ed.), Mirror of Modernity. Invented Traditions of Modern Japan, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, University of California Press, 1998, pp. 1-17; 285-296.

7) On Mahayana Buddhism: Buddhism as theory or practice? Fundamental aspects of Buddhism and the critical question of Mahayana.

Readings: R. Gethin, The Foundations of Buddhism, Oxford UP, 1998, pp. 224-252.

D. Lopez, “Introduction”, in D. Lopez (ed.), Curators of the Buddha. The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism, Univ. of Chicago Press, 1998, pp. 1-29.

8) Practices in Kamakura Buddhism: The case of Japanese Buddhism in Kamakura period (1185-1333) as clue of modernist influences in the Japanese religious history.

Readings: J. H. Foard, “What One Kamakura Story Does: Practice, Place and Text in the Account of Ippen at Kumano”, in R. Payne (ed.), Re-Visioning “Kamakura” Buddhism, Univ. of Hawai’i Press, 1998, pp. 101-115.

Ulteriori indicazioni bibliografiche saranno fornite durante le lezioni. Si prega di accedere al materiale caricato su Moodle, che è parte integrante dell'esame. Il programma è valido anche per studenti non frequentanti e per studenti Erasmus.

Questo corso mira a fornire agli studenti un'introduzione ai principali concetti, alle metodologie e agli strumenti della linguistica computazionale, combinando lezioni teoriche con dimostrazioni pratiche per mostrare come l'analisi automatica dei testi può essere eseguita utilizzando demo online o script Python forniti dall'insegnante.
Al termine del corso, studenti e studentesse avranno l'opportunità di migliorare la propria conoscenza e comprensione dei principali concetti e metodi della linguistica computazionale. Inoltre, saranno in grado di utilizzare diversi strumenti per l'analisi di dati testuali di vari generi, con particolare attenzione ai dati umanistici, e di riconoscere e descrivere i principali task linguistici.

Il corso coprirà i seguenti argomenti:

• I dati linguistici;
• Basi di statistica;
• Annotazione dei testi;
• Basi di apprendimento automatico (machine learning, deep learning, LLMs);
• Pipeline;
• Panoramica di task di NLP.

L’esame è costituito da due parti entrambe obbligatorie per tutti gli studenti: 1. Elaborato scritto (l’argomento dell’elaborato deve riguardare l'applicazione di almeno uno degli strumenti visti a lezione; l’elaborato, di 5 pagine secondo un formato unico per tutti e presentato dalla docente, è da completare prima della prova orale e da consegnare con una settimana di anticipo rispetto all'appello per consentirne la correzione); 2. Colloquio orale (sull'elaborato e sui temi presentati durante il corso). Il voto finale, espresso in trentesimi, è unico e tiene conto per il 50% della valutazione dell'elaborato e per il 50% del colloquio orale.
Una valutazione di insufficienza è determinata dalla mancanza di una conoscenza dei contenuti minimi del corso; dall’incapacità di esprimersi in modo adeguato sull’argomento; dall'incapacità di usare e descrivere metodi e strumenti dalla Linguistica Computazionale in maniera corretta e completa; dalla carenza di preparazione autonoma; dall’incapacità di formulare giudizi in modo autonomo e di comunicare contenuti, analisi e giudizi in modo argomentato. I punteggi medi (24-27/30) vengono assegnati allo/a studente/ssa che dimostri di possedere un livello più che sufficiente (24-25/30) o buono (26-27/30) degli indicatori di valutazione sopraelencati, i punteggi più alti (28-30/30) vengono assegnati in base alla dimostrazione di un livello da ottimo a eccellente degli indicatori di valutazione sopraelencati.

Lettura consigliata in inglese:

• Jurafsky and Martin. 2026. Speech and Language Processing: An Introduction to Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Speech Recognition with Language Models, 3rd edition. https://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3

Letture suggerite in italiano:

• Lenci A., Auriemma S., Miliani M. (2025). Linguistica computazionale. Natural Language Processing e Intelligenza Artificiale. Hoepli.
• Jezek E. and Sprugnoli R. (2023). Linguistica Computazionale. Introduzione all’analisi automatica dei testi. Bologna, il Mulino.
• Nissim M. and Pannitto L. (2022). Che cos’è la linguistica computazionale. Rome, Carocci.

The course introduces computer science as the study of computation: how computational processes can be represented and organised at different levels of abstraction. Students will learn how to reason about the complexity of computing systems, by learning fundamental concepts from information representation to computer architecture. The course also provides an introduction to Python programming and to essential tools such as notebooks and version control. No previous background in computer science or programming is assumed.
By the end of the course, students will be able to explain, at a conceptual level, how a computer executes a program. In particular, they will be able to discuss how data is represented and processed in a computer; how Boolean logic underlies computation; what the basic components of a computer architecture are; what the roles of operating systems, file systems, and networks are. They will also acquire useful notions for programming practice, from concepts such as variables, expressions, statements, and control structures to common data structures. Finally, students will be able to write simple Python programs that draw on these concepts, using Jupyter notebooks and basic version-control practices to produce reproducible computational work.

The course combines theoretical lessons on the foundations of computer science with practical Python programming activities. The two components are interwoven during the course.

(I) Foundations of computer science.

• Foundations of computing: abstraction, algorithms, analog and digital data, and the binary representation of numbers, text, images, audio, and video.
• Boolean logic: Boolean values, logical operations, and digital circuits.
• Computer architecture and system software: memory, program execution, machine language, branch instructions, operating systems, and file systems.
• Abstract data types and common data structures: arrays, lists, stacks, queues, trees, and graphs.
• Computer networks, the Internet, and the web.

(II) Programming and computational practice.

• Python language fundamentals: types, variables, operators, expressions, statements, input and output, and basic debugging.
• Control flow in Python: conditional statements, iteration, and loops.
• The shell and the command-line interface.
• Reading and writing input/output streams in Python, from local files to online resources.
• Data structures in Python: strings, lists, tuples, and dictionaries.
• Tools for reproducible workflows: Jupyter notebooks, dependency management, environments, version control.

The assessment will consist of a written examination combining short conceptual questions with practical programming exercises. The specifics of the assessment will be discussed during the course, taking students’ feedback into account.

Specific references will be provided for the covered topics.

Non-attending students will find the lecture slides, proposed exercises, and other resources on the course's Moodle page, accessible via the link 'Go to Moodle' in the footer of this page, made accessible on a lesson-by-lesson basis.

The course intends to present the relevance of corpus linguistics for the investigation of English and German.
The students will be required to discuss the relevance of corpus linguistics for the investigation of English and German highlighting tools and techniques used to design and compilate text corpora, with a special focus on diachronic corpora of English and German. Moreover, they will be required to develop autonomy and flexibility in the comprehension and analysis of corpus linguistics as a specific research field, and to characterize its relevance for the English and the German language and their history. Furthermore, the students will have to be able to highlight structure and properties of extant corpora of English and German and to answer questions of an interpretive kind and not based on superficial factual knowledge concerning concrete cases drawn from the text corpora presented during the course.

The course will first introduce corpus linguistics, providing a survey of tools and techniques to design and compilate text corpora, with a special focus on diachronic corpora of English and German. Then, it will show how to use corpora for doing linguistic analysis and research. Finally, it will discuss a number of concrete case-studies coming from the history of English and German which will guide the students through the analysis of single aspects of these languages and their diachronic development.

Specific indications will be indicated during the single modules.

Materials and references for the course will be provided at the beginning of each module and will be made available on the moodle platform of the course.

The course intends to present the relevance of corpus linguistics for the investigation of English and German.
The students will be required to discuss the relevance of corpus linguistics for the investigation of English and German highlighting tools and techniques used to design and compilate text corpora, with a special focus on diachronic corpora of English and German. Moreover, they will be required to develop autonomy and flexibility in the comprehension and analysis of corpus linguistics as a specific research field, and to characterize its relevance for the English and the German language and their history. Furthermore, the students will have to be able to highlight structure and properties of extant corpora of English and German and to answer questions of an interpretive kind and not based on superficial factual knowledge concerning concrete cases drawn from the text corpora presented during the course.

The course will first introduce corpus linguistics, providing a survey of tools and techniques to design and compilate text corpora, with a special focus on diachronic corpora of English and German. Then, it will show how to use corpora for doing linguistic analysis and research. Finally, it will discuss a number of concrete case-studies coming from the history of English and German which will guide the students through the analysis of single aspects of these languages and their diachronic development.

Specific indications will be indicated during the single modules.

Materials and references for the course will be provided at the beginning of each module and will be made available on the moodle platform of the course.

The objective of the class is to equip students attending the graduate course in Language Technologies and Digital Humanities with the fundamental tools of economics and history by emphasising complexity and dynamics within economic processes. The class aims at providing a sound comprehension of the complexity of economic changes on a global scale by offering at the same time the foundations of micro- and macro-economics. The course stresses the relevance of institutions, technology and policies as factors of long-term growth, measured by diverging/converging productivity and income per capita. In particular, it stresses the difference between the proximate causes of economic growth, such as technological innovation, and the ultimate causes of growth, namely institutions, explaining why some societies are more inclined to encourage innovation than other ones. By analysing the most important experiences of economic growth, according to the most recent research findings, the course focuses on the effects of development on demography, natural resources and inequality in different areas of the world. Moreover, it introduces to the growth theory by paying particular attention to the economic changes of the last two centuries (industrial revolutions and globalisations).

The aim of the course is to focus on the process of economic development since the first industrial revolution to the present. The course surveys the economic history of the World and its main purpose is to show how a long-run perspective may provide a better understanding of current economic issues. The approach merges up-to-date economic theory, particularly growth theory, with recent empirical research in long run trends of development.

Besides lectures on economic history topics a lecture per week will be dedicated to digital resources, spanning from quantitative data set, such as the Maddison Project or IMF statistics, to archival online resources.
The class aims at equipping students with knowledge of the complexity of evolutionary processes of economic systems in the long run, understanding the role of institutions, markets and technology as causes of productivity improvements. At the end of the course students should be familiar with key concepts of microeconomics and macroeconomics.

The class should complete the graduate course in Language Technologies and Digital Humanities by offering a robust understanding of economic processes and behaviour of economic actors. Students will be able to apply the related competencies in different professional and academic contexts.

Knowledge and understanding

On completion of the class students are expected to be familiar with:

• the long term processes of economic growth, with a particular focus on Europe;
• the factors of growth and development - institutions and technology - in regard to the great transformations experienced by areas and societies from the early sixteenth century to the present;
• the relevant socio-economic variables which have been shaping the different trajectories of areas and societies from the first industrial revolution to the contemporary world, a world highly globalised and interconnected but also remarkably unequal;
• main digital resource useful to work on major economic history topics.

Applying knowledge and understanding

The knowledge acquired should allow students to apply to a variety of professional and academic contexts the ability to understand the evolution processes of economic policies.

Making judgements

The class aims at making students familiar with the need for a critical assessment of evolutionary processes of economic systems, on a global scale, in respect to a variety of factors – economic, demographic and institutional ones - so as to encourage independent analysis and judgement when gathering relevant information and data on economic dynamics.

Communication skills

Students are expected to acquire and properly use methods, concepts and terminology of economics and history in a way that should allow them to effectively communicate information and ideas in professional and academic environments.

Learning skills

The class aims at favouring the acquisition of learning skills by allowing students to adapt their knowledge and competencies to a range of professional environments as well as to progress to further academic levels.

The class first provides a presentation and discussion of the main growth theory models by analysing empirical evidence drawn from recent research. The course examines, by topics, economic growth in the long run by considering the emergence of markets, scientific knowledge and technological innovations, the nature of the industrial revolutions, financial and monetary systems, international trade. Finally, the course deals with inequalities amongst geographical areas and social groups, ending with an analysis of the two globalisations.

The class outline:

• the major growth theory models;
• the main indicators of economic growth and development;
• the long-term geo-economic continuity of Europe (gravity theory of trade);
• the pre-industrial sources of productivity increases;
• the interplay between population and scarce resources (Malthusian theory);
• the Great Divergence between Europe and Asia from 1500 ca.;
• the role of institutions in shaping modern economic growth;
• the industrial revolutions, knowledge and technological innovation, convergence processes;
• the emergence of money, credit and banking;
• the international trade evolution and trade policies;
• the international monetary systems in history;
• the emergence of economic policies and the Welfare State;
• the forms and measures of inequality amongst nations and within nations;
• the two globalisations.

Exams: assessments will be conducted through an oral examination.

The assessment will consider: i) the consistency of the answer with the question; ii) the degree of knowledge and understanding of topics dealt with; iii) the ability of analysis and argumentation; iv) absence or presence of conceptual errors; v) clarity and linguistic adequacy; vi) the use of specific and appropriate examples and cases.

In alternative, may be considered a 60-minute written examination consisting of two true or false questions, whose answer will be briefly explained and justified, and two open response questions.

In such a case, the overall mark will be the sum of the relative scores received for the four questions (respectively, a maximum of 5 points each for the first couple of true or false questions and of 10 each for the open response questions).

Students who achieve an independent vision of the themes explored in class, combined with good critical capacity, a command of expression using precise language, will be assessed with a very good or excellent grade (28–30 and honours); a primarily mnemonic or somewhat under developed acquisition of the contents of the course, with a linguistic and logical competence which is not always adequate will be valued with a grade from fair (21–24) to good (25–27); a minimal level of understanding of the contents of the course, combined with gaps in training or inadequate linguistic and logical competence, will earn a sufficient grade (18–20); the absence of the minimal level of understanding of the course contents, combined with inadequate linguistic and logical competencies and with training gaps, will produce an insufficient grade (<18/30).

Karl Gunnar Persson and Paul Sharp, An Economic History of Europe. Knowledge, Institutions and Growth, 600 to the Present, Cambridge, Cambridge University press, 2015 (second edition).

Tipo di esame: Orale. Valutazione: Voto Finale.

Knowledge of the categories of loanwords and calques in both diachronic and synchronic perspectives;

Knowledge of the history of borrowings from Italian into English and from English into Italian;

Ability to investigate linguistic borrowing using digital tools;

Ability to design lexical and semantic research on texts in Italian or English using digital tools, and to interpret the results in light of the social and cultural factors that influence language contact.
At the end of the course, students are expected to be able to:

Demonstrate knowledge of the categories of loanwords and calques in both diachronic and synchronic perspectives;

Demonstrate knowledge of the history of borrowings from Italian into English and from English into Italian;

Investigate linguistic borrowing using digital tools;

Design lexical and semantic research on texts in Italian or English using digital tools, and interpret the results in light of the social and cultural factors that influence language contact.

Digital Italian Linguistics: Tools and Methods for Textual Analysis

This course introduces students to key tools and methods in digital textual analysis, with a focus on Italian language in comparative perspective with English and on the borrowings between the two languages. Through a selection of case studies, students will explore how digital corpora and corpus-based tools can support research in lexical, syntactic and stylistic analysis across different text types and historical periods.

The course presents a range of online and open-source resources (such as AntConc, TXM, Voyant Tools, Sketch Engine, and CORIS/CODIS) for the investigation of word frequency, collocations, concordances and syntactic patterns. Emphasis is placed on the application of quantitative methods to the study of textual data, fostering a critical awareness of the research potential and limitations of computational approaches in linguistic inquiry.

Case studies may include literary, journalistic and scientific texts in both Italian and English, with a comparative approach to key lexical fields (e.g., industrial, scientific, dietary) and syntactic constructions (e.g., clause structure, coordination, information structure in news writing).

Students will engage in hands-on exercises and develop a small individual or group project based on one of the presented tools, culminating in an in-class presentation. In this way, the course supports both methodological training and practical experience in digital linguistics.

The exam will consist of the evaluation of the two research projects, with an additional question on the assigned book.

This course aims to provide an overview of Digital Humanities in the field of historical research, focusing on Ancient and Medieval History. It will cover key tools, methodologies, concepts, trends, and collaborative projects related to the publication, study, and digital dissemination of ancient and medieval documents. Additionally, it will introduce the methodological foundations of historical research within the context of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, allowing for a deeper understanding of the application of digital techniques in studying, researching, and disseminating knowledge in these specific disciplinary areas. The ultimate goal of the course is, therefore, to offer students a framework for understanding and navigating the methodological foundations of research in Ancient and Medieval History, and how these are shaped, enhanced, or influenced in their analytical perspectives—as well as in teaching and dissemination—by the application of digital methods.
[Knowledge and comprehension]
At the end of the course, students will know:

• Research methods of ancient and medieval history
• The main types of sources in ancient and medieval history
• The main digital technologies applied to analyse these sources
• The methodological issues resulting from the use of digital tools

[Applying knowledge and comprehension / Independent judgement]
Students will be able to apply the acquired knowledge on digital technologies to the analysis of ancient and medieval sources, proving adequate ability to assess the tools examined throughout the course.

[Communicating skills]
Students will learn the correct vocabulary in relation to the digital tools, sources and research methods analysed during the lectures.

[Learning skills]
The course will contribute to the development of the students’ skills to use digital tools in research in ancient and medieval history.

Historical methods and digital tools:

• Introduction: the basis of historical research in ancient and medieval history; methodologies and sources.
• The main digital tools to study ancient and medieval history: possibilities and risks.
• Specific case-studies and practical exercises in the use of databases and othe digital tools.

Oral exam in English. The expected knowledge and skills will be tested in a question/answer exam with a mark on a 30 points scale.

Students who achieve an independent vision of the themes explored in class, combined with good critical capacity and a command of expression using precise language, will be assessed with a very good or excellent grade (28–30 and honours).

Students who demonstrate a good understanding of the topics explored in class, with minimal gaps in preparation, but a predominantly mnemonic preparation, or language and comprehension that are not fully developed, will be assessed with a good grade (25–27).

A primarily mnemonic or somewhat underdeveloped acquisition of the course contents, combine with linguistic and logical competence that is not always adequate, or several gaps in training will be valued with a grade from fair (21–24).

A minimal level of understanding of the course contents, combined with more extensive gaps in training or inadequate linguistic and logical competence, will earn a sufficient grade (18–20).

The absence of the minimal level of understanding of the course contents, combined with inadequate linguistic and logical competencies and training gaps, will produce an insufficient grade (<18).

Other readings (articles, websites) useful for the preparation of the exam will be suggested during the classes and uploaded on Moodle.

This course provides a foundation in modern and contemporary history, helping students develop a solid understanding of history and its methodology. It also encourages reflection on the relationship between history and technology, aiming to explore digital methods suitable for understanding historical topics (for research, study, dissemination, and teaching).
At the end of the course, students will master the following basic competences:

-Methods for studying, researching, and understanding the topics of modern and contemporary history;

-Critical capacity to analyze and apply digital methods in modern and contemporary historical issues.

As for the communicating skills, students will learn the foundations of the historical lexicon and linguistics. In terms of learning skills, the course will help students develop competences in the key topics of modern and contemporary history, as well as in digital methods for studying, researching, and disseminating historical subjects.

• Foundations of historical methodology for the understanding of modern and contemporary history;
• Main historical topics and concepts in modern and contemporary history: a) the birth of modernity; b) the Reformation; c) the Modern State; d) colonialism and slavery; e) the science of man (XVII-XVIII centuries); f) Enlightenment and the rights of man; g) idea of race, racial theories, and racism; h) totalitarianism; i) the world post-1989;
• Digital methods for modern and contemporary history: digital history or history with the digital? The methodological and epistemological question.

The exam will be conducted orally in English, with a grade expressed on a scale of thirty.

Results will be considered appropriate if students will:

-prove to have clearly understood the topics of modern and contemporary history, and the methodology for approaching them;

-show the knowledge of the relationship between history and technology, for the application of digital methods to historical topics.

For attending students, the expected knowledge and skills will be assessed through either three questions on the lesson content (based on lecture notes), or one question on the lesson content (based on lecture notes) combined with the presentation of a project (concerning an application of digital methods to one of the topics covered in class) agreed upon with the lecturer (details will be provided in class).

For non-attending students, the expected knowledge and skills will be assessed through two questions for each of the following two books:

-one chosen from either A. Maurini, The Missed Revolution at the Origins of the United States, Lexington Books, Lanham-Boulder-New York-London, 2022, ISBN 978-1-66691-293-7, or A. Maurini, The Political Thought of a Man of Letters, Lanham-Boulder-New York-London, 2017, ISBN 978-1-4985-1379-1;

-one chosen from either A. Crymble, Technology and the Historian. Transformations in the Digital Age, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, 2021, ISBN 978-0-252-08569-7, or S. Graham, I. Milligan, S.B. Weingart & K. Martin, Exploring Big Historical Data. The Historian's Macroscope, Second Edition, World Scientific Publishing, London, 2022.

For students who have not previously taken courses in modern and contemporary history, suggested readings may include any high school or university textbook on modern and contemporary history; for students who have previously taken courses in modern and contemporary history, suggested readings may include manuals or notes from previous history courses.

Further recommended readings will be provided by the lecturer during class, along with explanations and the reasons for their relevance.

Digital Philology, born from the encounter of ICT methods and tools with the traditional field of textual criticism, is a very young discipline that is rapidly evolving thanks to an active theoretical discussion. This course aims at providing students with the methods and tools necessary to produce digital scholarly editions of texts, with a focus on works created during the medieval and modern periods.

This course introduces students to the methods and technologies of digital editing, with two main objectives: 1) to learn how scholarly editions work in a digital environment, and 2) to create new scholarly editions using semantic annotation and other digital methods. Students will learn the key elements of this workflow, enabling them to produce scholarly data and understand the differences between print and digital editions.

Students who have already attended other courses in any philology (Germanic, Ancient Greek, Latin, Italian, etc.), or who are interested in the subject of scholarly editing, are welcome because all of them can acquire interdisciplinary skills. At the beginning of the module, in any case, a summary of the basic principles of textual criticism will be proposed to the students.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The student will have a good basic knowledge of textual criticism and will be able to analyse a literary text belonging to a cultural tradition s/he has good knowledge of, so that s/he can prepare a diplomatic or critical digital edition using the text encoding and semantic annotation methodology.

APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
The student will be able to create a diplomatic or critical digital edition using the text encoding method, and to publish it on the Web using the competences and software tools s/he learned to use during the course.

INDEPENDENT JUDGEMENT
S/He will be able to choose the appropriate text encoding solutions, with particular attention to the TEI XML schemas and their customization, so that the markup is appropriate for the edition text and its general goals.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
The student will show that s/he can analyze and interpret texts in a way which allows to choose the appropriate encoding strategies for the chosen edition type. S/He will also be able to document their editorial and encoding choices in an adequate manner.

LEARNING SKILLS
The student will show that s/he can enhance their competences with regard to the discipline following an autonomous path. In particular, s/he will be able to learn and apply more advanced technologies and methods with regard to digital editions.

The program will consist of three parts:

• An introduction to the basic concepts of textual criticism and to the specific features of digital editions.
• Text encoding for digital scholarly editions based on the best practices of semantic annotation, making use of the TEI - Text Encoding Initiative XML schemas and Guidelines.
• The last part will include direct training on the use of existing tools for the creation of digital editions.

Students are invited to propose texts that they have studied in other courses for the exercises and/or for the final project, or for their own research interest, or because they are the subject of their degree thesis.

An oral exam which will be in two parts:

• in the first part the student will discuss an edition project, note that both text and encoding strategies will be chosen by the student;
• in the second one, the student will be asked general questions about the Digital Philology discipline and about the required readings (including the article chosen by the student).

The exam can be taken in either English or Italian, depending on the student's preference.

Besides the articles listed above and the slides used during the course, which will be uploaded on the course web page as teaching materials, the following texts:

E. Pierazzo, Digital Scholarly Editing Theories and Practices, Cambridge, Open Book Publishers, 2016. Freely available for web-based reading and download in PDF format at the URL https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/483open_in_new (also available in ebook format for a very cheap price). [In depth study of another article of this miscellany to be agreed with the teacher.]

TEI Consortium, eds., Guidelines for Electronic Text Encoding and Interchange, 2020. On the TEI web site: http://www.tei-c.org/release/doc/tei-p5-doc/en/html/index.htmlopen_in_new, available both in HTML format for online reading and in PDF / ebook (ePub/Mobi) format. [Limited to what was discussed in class, with special attention to the chapter(s) related to the encoding project.]

Also recommended to learn more about specific topics:

P. Chiesa, Elementi di critica testuale, Bologna, Pàtron editore, 2012.

P. Trovato, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Lachmann's Method, Padova, libreriauniversitaria.it edizioni, 2017.

Burghart, M., & Pierazzo, E. Online course: Digital Scholarly Editions: Manuscripts, Texts, and TEI Encoding. https://www.digitalmanuscripts.eu/digital-editing-of-medieval-texts-a-textbook/open_in_new. Includes a written manual: Digital Editing of Medieval Texts: A Textbook.

Supplemental reading for those who cannot attend lessons:

Allen H. Renear, "Text Encoding" in A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, John Unsworth. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004. Disponibile online: http://www.digitalhumanities.org/companion/open_in_new.

Important: the slides focused on explaining TEI XML elements are to be mostly intended as a guide to the corresponding chapters in the TEI Guidelines.

Further bibliographical references and reading suggestions will be given during the course.

This course is designed to provide:

• a foundational knowledge of the key research areas in Romance Philology and Linguistics;
• the conceptual and critical tools necessary to understand, evaluate, and effectively engage with major digital projects and resources developed or currently under development in this field.
  At the end of the course, students should ("Dublin Descriptors" in brackets):

1) be familiar with the topics covered in the lectures and in the materials indicated in the bibliography ("Knowledge and Understanding", "Learning Skills");

2) be able to critically evaluate the features, structure, and objectives of the main digital projects presented in class ("Applying Knowledge and Understanding", "Making Judgements");

3) possess and know how to use the terminology of the discipline ("Knowledge and Understanding", "Learning Skills", "Communication Skills").

The first part of the course will be devoted to strengthening students’ general knowledge of Romance Philology and Linguistics, as well as their traditional areas of application. Particular attention will be given to the critical editing of vernacular texts (tools and methods), and to the historical development of the Romance languages, with a diachronic perspective and a specific focus on the Italo-Romance and Gallo-Romance domains.

The second part of the course will consist of a critical survey of major Digital Humanities projects related to each of the two disciplinary areas (Philology and Linguistics), including their historical evolution.

The third part will be dedicated to the presentation and discussion of student papers on specialist scholarly articles (see below).

The scope and depth of the first and second parts will be adjusted according to students’ initial level of preparation (see above).

Expected knowledge and skills will be tested by means of:

• the presentation in class of a short paper on one (or more) of the specialised essays proposed by the lecturer (alone or in a group);
• an interview on the suggested bibliography, including the essays presented in class (see above);

Preparation will be considered adequate if the student will demonstrate:

• critical knowledge and understanding of the topics;
• ability to apply the acquired knowledge;
• presentation skills, with vocabulary property (specialist and non-specialist lexikon);
• ability to provide definitions.

The finale grade is expressed in thirtieths.

• the acquisition of an analytical view of the topics dealt with in class, together with a good critical understanding, proficiency in expression and specific language, will be assessed with very good to excellent marks (28-30 cum laude);
• a predominantly mnemonic or not well matured acquisition of the contents, as well as linguistic and logical skills that are not always adequate, will be graded from fair (21-24) to good (25-27);
• a minimum level of knowledge of the course content, combined with formative gaps or inadequate linguistic and logical skills, will lead to a pass mark (18-20);
• the absence of a minimum level of knowledge of the course content, combined with inadequate linguistic and logical competence and formative gaps, will lead to an assessment of insufficient (<18/30).

The list of specialist essays from which students will choose for their presentations will be provided during the course, taking into account (when possible) students’ background and areas of interest.

The complete bibliography to be prepared for the exam will consist of:

• the sections of Paolo Trovato’s book indicated during the lectures;
• the sections of Martin Glessgen’s book indicated during the lectures;
• the essays presented and discussed in class.

The term ‘distant reading’ was introduced more than two decades ago by Franco Moretti in the field of literary studies:

"‘Distant reading’, I have once called this type of approach; where distance is however not an obstacle, but a specific form of knowledge: fewer elements, hence a sharper sense of their overall interconnection. Shapes, relations, structures. Forms. Models" (Moretti 2005, p. 1).

Since then, Moretti’s distant reading approach has provided a fresh under­standing of literature and its historical development not by studying in detail a few particular texts (as in the so-called ‘close reading’), but rather by aggregating and analyzing large amounts of information, so as to solve (or at least to face) the so-called problem of the Great Unread.

The course aims at introducing the application of distant reading methods and techniques not only to the history of literature, but also and especially to the history of thought, and in particular to the history of philosophy, broadly conceived.

The course will make a case for a results-driven (rather than a methods-driven) approach by presenting some case-studies in which various methods and techniques (such as for example serial reading, analysis of metadata, authomatic search, topic modeling, and so forth) are applied to a variety of textual data with the aim of answering questions raised within the humanities (above all, literary studies and the history of philosophy).
At the end of the course students should

• have a clear view of Franco Moretti's distant reading approach in the history of literature;
• have a clear understanding of several ways in which distant reading can be applied to the history of philosophy;
• be able to build a distant reading project, raising a research question and applying quantitative methods to a given textual corpus, in order to provide an answer.

The course is divided into two main parts: Lectures and Seminar

Lectures (6-7 classes): Distant reading in the work of Franco Moretti and in the history of philosophy

1. Syllabus presentation and Introduction: The problem of the Great Unread

Moretti's distant reading

2. Serial reading: Investigating the presence and role of clues in detective stories (Moretti 2000) + Analysis of metadata: 7,000 titles of 18th-century British novels (Moretti 2009)

3. Computer-assisted distant reading: interpreting patterns in textual corpora (Moretti 2017) + analysis of the language of World Bank reports (Moretti and Pestre 2015)

Distant reading in the history of philosophy

4. Analysis of metadata: Wittgenstein and academic success in America (Bonino and Tripodi 2020)

5. Serial reading: Logic in analytic philosophy (Bonino, Maffezioli and Tripodi 2021)

6. Computational History of Ideas: The use of the term 'conceptual scheme' in philosophy and psychology during time (Betti and van den Berg 2019); Distributional Concept Analysis: The idea of liberty 1600-1800 (De Bolla et al. 2020); Topic modeling: Philosophy of science 1934-2015 (Malaterre, Chartier and Pulizzotto 2019); Analysis of Philosophical Style: Stanley Cavell's use of parentheses (Babbiotti and Ciruzzi 2022)

Open problems and questions

7. Methodological focus: Moretti, Lukács, and 'reverse engineering'; the problem of operationalization (Bonino and Tripodi 2021), the problem of corpus building (Pasini 2021); results-driven versus methods-driven approaches; the quantitative turn in the humanities: an appraisal (Moretti 2022).

Seminar (5-6 classes): Project-building

• Students are divided into small groups. Brainstorming within each group about possible research questions.
• Each group identifies a research question.
• Each group selects a possible corpus suitable for analysis.
• Each group identifies the methods and tools for its reseach project.
• Analysis: each group reflects on the possible results of such a project.
• Class presentation: each group briefly presents to the class its project

At the end of the course students who attend the course will be required to write a short essay, providing a description of the distant reading project they have built in class during the seminar.

Students who do not attend the course will take an oral exam, based on the study of a selection of texts, chosen and agreed upon with the teacher among those listed below in the Suggested readings and bibliography section.

Babbiotti and M. Ciruzzi, Doing philosophy as opening parentheses: quantifying the use of parentheses in Stanley Cavell's style, "Inquiry", 2022

Betti and H. van den Berg, Modelling the History of Ideas, in «British Journal for the History of Philosophy», 22, 2014, n. 4, pp. 812-835

Betti and H. van den Berg, Towards a Computational History of Ideas, in DHLU 2013: Digital Humanities Luxembourg: Proceedings of the Third Conference on Digital Humanities in Luxembourg with a Special Focus on Reading Historical Sources in the Digital Age, ed. by L. Wieneke, C. Jones, M. Düring, F. Armaselu e R. Leboutte, 2016

Betti, H. van den Berg, Y. Oortwijn e C. Treijtel, History of Philosophy in Ones and Zeros, in Methodological Advances in Experimental Philosophy, ed. by M. Curtis e E. Fischer, London, Bloomsbury, 2019, pp. 295-332

Bonino and P. Tripodi, Academic Success in America: Analytic Philosophy and the Decline of Wittgenstein, in «British Journal for the History of Philosophy», 28, 2020, n. 2, pp. 359-392.

Bonino and P. Tripodi, Distant Reading and the Problem of Operationalization. Goldilockean Considerations, in CoSMo 18, 2021

Bonino, P. Maffezioli and P. Tripodi, Logic in Analytic Philosophy: A Quantitative Analysis, in «Synthese», 197, 2021

de Bolla, E. Jones, P. Nulty, G. Recchia e J. Regan, The Idea of Liberty 1600-1800: A Distributional Concept Analysis, in «Journal of the History of Ideas», 81, 2020, n. 3, pp. 381-406.

Ettel, Jonathan, and Ryan Heuser, Ordinary Style Philosophy, in "Paradigmi, Rivista di critica filosofica" 1/2026, pp. 133-158, doi: 10.30460/120543

Malaterre, J.-F. Chartier e D. Pulizzotto, What Is This Thing Called Philosophy of Science? A Computational Topic-Modeling Perspective, 1934-2015, in «HOPOS: The Journal of the International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science», 9, 2019, n. 2, pp. 215-249.

Moretti, The Slaughterhouse of Literature, in «Modern Language Quarterly», 61, 1, 2000, pp. 207-227.

Moretti, Style, Inc.: Reflections on 7,000 Titles (British Novels, 1740-1850), in «Critical Inquiry», 36, 2009, n. 1, pp. 134-158.

Moretti, Distant Reading, London-New York, Verso, 2013

Moretti, Patterns and Interpretation, Stanford Literary Lab Pamphlet 15, 2017

Moretti, Falso movimento. La svolta quantitativa nella storia della letteratura, Nottetempo, 2022

Moretti, D. Pestre, Bankspeak: The Language of World Bank Reports, 1946-;2012, Pamphlet 9 of the Stanford Literary Lab, 2015

E. Pasini, On some challenges posed by corpus-based research in the history of ideas, DR2 Working Papers 1, 2021

This course introduces participants to humanities programming through the use of Python for data acquisition, cleaning, and analysis with NLP tools.

The basic elements of modern technologies for Natural Language Processing will be introduced, balancing theoretical and practical issues regarding architectures and applications.
At the end of the course the students will have acquired:

• Knowledge of the basic principles of coding
• Knowledge and understanding of algorithms
• Ability to write simple programs
• Basic knowledge on modern NLP, including a complete theoretical background, along with focused notions on mainstream libraries, tools and applications. Lessons will be mostly composed of a theoretical introduction to a specific topic, and complemented by laboratory exercises and assignments.

The course is divided into two parts.

Part 1: Introduction to coding in Python. The topics covered will be the following:

• Coding principles, variables, assignments, types
• Control structures: logical expressions, loops and conditions
• Abstraction: Functions
• String manipulation
• Data structures: Lists, Tuples, Dictionaries
• Object oriented programming: classes and instances
• I/O and Exceptions

Part 2: NLP in Python. The topics covered will be the following:

• Basic text processing: nltk and spaCy
• Introduction to linear algebra
• Python libraries: NumPy, Pandas
• Vector space model
• Language models and N-grams
• Distributional hypothesis
• Word embeddings; training word2vec models
• Text categorization and Information Extraction tasks

Written examination and practical exercises and/or laboratory projects: final examination will be discussed and negotiated throughout the course, also considering students feedback.

Specific references will be provided for the covered topics, both on Python programming and Natural Language Processing.

Non-attending students will find the lecture slides, proposed exercises, and files with the programs developed in class on the course's Moodle page, accessible via the link 'Go to Moodle' in the footer of this page.

Providing knowledge about psychological neuroscience theoretical background and exploring the study of specific cognitive functions, such as learning, memory, attention, and language in the face-to-face and digital contexts. In particular, the course aims to provide students with adequate tools to understand how cognitive functions such as learning and memory are influenced by the digital context. This competence will be useful for students to better understand the interaction between cognitive functions and the digital tools presented and discussed in other courses included in Language Technologies and Digital Humanities.
Providing a solid psychological neuroscience background as well as critical judgments on the topics presented. More specifically:

Students will be asked to recognize and explain the main neuroimaging techniques, as weel as the methododolies for studying behavioral data within the field of psychological neuroscience, especially when related to learning, memory, and language. Students will need to understand and remember the interactions between the digital context, learning, and memory. By studying the materials presented in the course, students will familiarize themselves with the psychological neuroscience literature and, by the end of the course, they should be able to independently explore the basic psychological neuroscience literature. This will enable them to apply their knowledge of the human cognitive functions to the study of digital tools explored in other courses and in their thesis work.

• Psychological neuroscience: the theoretical background
• Main techniques for the study of the integrated mind-brain-body system
• Memory and attention in the face-to-face and digital contexts
• Explicit and implicit learning processes: what they are and how they can be investigated
• New Bayeasian theories of perception and learning
• Learning in the digital context: pros and cons
• Exploring the concept of "presence" in the digital context
• Comparing human intelligence with AI
• Understanding communicative efficacy with LLM and with the study of neurophysiological indexes
• Exploring the notions of curiosity and insight

Oral (verbalizing) exam.

The material for the exam consists of:

The slides presented in class (available on the course web page since the day of the lesson).

Two articles chosen from those presented in class (check 'Other suggested readings and bibliography' for some of the articles you can select).

In case course attendance is not possible, the material for the exam consists of:

• the slides of the course
• the 3 following articles:

1) Sarasso, P., Ronga, I., Del Fante, E., Barbieri, P., Lozzi, I., Rosaia, N., Cicerale, A., Neppi-Modona, M., & Sacco, K. (2022). Physical but not virtual presence of others potentiates implicit and explicit learning. Scientific reports, 12(1), 21205. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25273-4

2) Sarasso, P., Ronga, I., Piovesan, F., Barbieri, P., Del Fante, E., De Luca, D., Bechis, L., Osello, A., & Sacco, K. (2024). Shared attention in virtual immersive reality enhances electrophysiological correlates of implicit sensory learning. Scientific reports, 14(1), 3767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53937-w

3) Clark A. Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behav Brain Sci. 2013 Jun;36(3):181-204. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X12000477.

Here is a list of some of the articles you can select:

Clark A. Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behav Brain Sci. 2013 Jun;36(3):181-204. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X12000477.

De Felice, S., Vigliocco, G., & Hamilton, A. (2021). Social interaction is a catalyst for adult human learning in online contexts. Current biology : CB, 31(21), 4853-;4859.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.08.045

Sarasso, P., Ronga, I., Piovesan, F., Barbieri, P., Del Fante, E., De Luca, D., Bechis, L., Osello, A., & Sacco, K. (2024). Shared attention in virtual immersive reality enhances electrophysiological correlates of implicit sensory learning. Scientific reports, 14(1), 3767. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53937-w

Sarasso, P., Ronga, I., Del Fante, E. et al. Physical but not virtual presence of others potentiates implicit and explicit learning. Sci Rep 12, 21205 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-25273-4

Shteynberg, G. (2010). A silent emergence of culture: The social tuning effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(4), 683-;689. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019573

Sarasso, P., Barbieri, P., Del Fante, E., Bechis, L., Neppi-Modona, M., Sacco, K., & Ronga, I. (2022). Preferred music listening is associated with perceptual learning enhancement at the expense of self-focused attention. Psychonomic bulletin & review, 29(6), 2108-;2121. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-022-02127-8

Sacco, K., Ronga, I., Perna, P., Cicerale, A., Del Fante, E., Sarasso, P., & Geminiani, G. C. (2022). A Virtual Navigation Training Promotes the Remapping of Space in Allocentric Coordinates: Evidence From Behavioral and Neuroimaging Data. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 16, 693968. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.693968

Barbieri, P., Sarasso, P., Lodico, F., Aliverti, A., Murayama, K., Sacco, K., & Ronga, I. (2024). The aesthetic valve: how aesthetic appreciation may switch emotional states from anxiety to curiosity. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 379(1895), 20220413. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2022.0413

Dresler, M., Shirer, W. R., Konrad, B. N., Müller, N. C. J., Wagner, I. C., Fernández, G., Czisch, M., & Greicius, M. D. (2017). Mnemonic Training Reshapes Brain Networks to Support Superior Memory. Neuron, 93(5), 1227-;1235.e6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2017.02.003

Sarasso, P., Ronga, I., Kobau, P., Bosso, T., Artusio, I., Ricci, R., & Neppi-Modona, M. (2020). Beauty in mind: Aesthetic appreciation correlates with perceptual facilitation and attentional amplification. Neuropsychologia, 136, 107282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107282

Van de Cruys S, Frascaroli J, Friston K. Order and change in art: towards an active inference account of aesthetic experience. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2024 Jan 29;379(1895):20220411. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0411.

Van de Cruys S, Wagemans J. Putting reward in art: A tentative prediction error account of visual art. Iperception. 2011;2(9):1035-62. doi: 10.1068/i0466aap.

The course aims at making students familiar with legal aspects and issues concerning digital objects and digital technologies in order to integrate regulatory problems in the broader context of technological evolution. The aim is to foster awareness of the legal regulation in this field so as to train future ICT humanists to identify and tackle potential legal criticalities and be able to successfully interact with legal experts.
At the end of the course students are expected to have acquired:

• knowledge and understanding of the main regulatory issues regarding data protection, artificial intelligence, platform economy and the protection of copyright in the digital environment
• awareness of the relation between law, technology and the economy
• the ability to apply such knowledge and understanding to identify legal criticalities related to the development of digital objects and digital technologies
• the ability to effectively communicate with legal experts using appropriate terminology and categories of thought

• Legal aspects of data management and protection
• Legal aspects of artificial intelligence
• Regulation of digital platforms
• IP rights in the digital environment

The final exam consists in a written test made of open questions.

The questions are designed to evaluate: a) the knowledge of the fundamental concepts; b) the capability to critically assess issues and problems covered during the course; c) the capability to put forward a structured argument with proper terminology.

In order to pass the exam, students need to achieve a minimun passing evaluation (18 or above/30) in each of the open questions.

Students with specific disabilities or learning disorders, please consult the following page https://en.unito.it/services/inclusion-and-special-needs for information regarding support and compensatory measures.

Course materials will be specified in class and on the Moodle page of the course.

The course aims to provide the basic notions of computational linguistics and Natural Language Processing (NLP), mostly focusing on linguistic resources. It introduces the main tasks and the historical perspective where resources are collocated (from rule-based to data-driven approaches to machine learning and neural networks). Referring to the scenario of the large variety of existing resources and providing several examples, the methodology for the development of different types of resources is investigated to be integrated into the background of students interested in language technologies.
Students will have the opportunity to improve their knowledge and understanding of linguistic resources, describe them by correctly using the related terminology and select the resources for different tasks and typologies. They will try and test tools to build and validate resources in different settings, acquire the ability to collect and annotate them, calculate the disagreement between annotators, and create diagrams for data representation.

We will introduce the resources used in the NLP pipeline for morpho-syntactic analysis (text segmentation and tokenization, morpho-syntactic processing and part of Speech tagging, syntactic parsing) and in particular treebanks, those exploited in semantic analysis (distributional semantics, ontology learning, open information extraction, latent semantic analysis) and pragmatic analysis (sentiment analysis). We will focus on the steps for the creation of resources (collection, selection, annotation, analysis and inter-annotator agreement measures) and challenges to be addressed (ambiguity, genre variation, multilingualism, bias, variety of formats), but also on the steps involved in the evaluation of the resources within the context of evaluation campaigns for NLP. Finally, practical and ethical considerations in the effective use of resources (datasets, lexicons, models) will be also presented and discussed proposing ethics statements about tools to navigate (research choices and communicative implications) and analyzed data (What is a Research Ethics Statement and Why does it Matter?).
A practical counterpart of the course will give students the opportunity to test tools to build and validate resources in different settings (collecting and annotating a linguistic resource, calculating disagreement, building diagrams for representing data), while practical exercises will be assigned for testing their ability in these tasks.

The exam consists of an oral examination and practical exercises and is organized into two parts. The examination is conducted in presence, also using computer tools. In the evaluation, special consideration is given to the ability to discursively organize knowledge and use the specialized vocabulary of the subject.

The grade, expressed in thirtieths, is the sum of the marks obtained on the two parts.

The exam for the first part is focused on resources for morpho-syntax, automatic and assisted translation, dictionaries and treebanks and includes: A) the assessement of the ability to use tools for morphological and syntactic analysis of texts (e.g. UDPipe as a part of speech tagger and as a parser) and to describe in a talk some applications of these tools to some case-studies, working in groups (for students attending classes) or not (for students not attending classes) > the maximum score for this section A is 9 points; B) the assessment of the knowledge about linguistic resources and their exploitation in different tasks by answering some oral questions (for students attending or not attending classes both) > the maximum score for this section B is 6 points. Precise instructions about A and B sections will be made available on Moodle.

The evaluation for the second part of the course will consist of a Project Work on the development of annotated corpora and analysis, to be implemented by following the instructions described in a document that will be made available on Moodle.

For the oral examination about the first part of the course, students must carefully read:

• about language variation and multilingualism it is recommended to read Emily Bender - "High Resource Languages vs Low Resource Languages" available at https://thegradient.pub/the-benderrule-on-naming-the-languages-we-study-and-why-it-matters/#fn15

The following further reading is proposed to support the preparation as a general reference updated book:

• Jurafsky & Martin - "Speech and Language Processing. An Introduction to Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, and Speech Recognition" is a very good and updated general reference book. The draft is made available by the authors at http://web.stanford.edu/~jurafsky/slp3/

The module aims to provide the mathematical and statistical foundations necessary for the informed use of quantitative methods and digital tools in the field of Digital Humanities. It introduces the fundamental concepts required for the analysis of textual corpora, cultural data, and digital archives, and provides the quantitative knowledge needed to understand the principles underlying the main tools used in statistical analysis, text mining, and natural language processing. Particular attention is devoted to the integration of quantitative approaches with the interpretation of cultural and linguistic phenomena.
At the end of module and self-study, students are expected to be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Define basic concepts of descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Understand the fundamental concepts of probability and statistical modelling.
• Define essential elements of linear algebra required for the representation and analysis of textual data.
• Understand the mathematical and statistical principles underlying the main quantitative tools used in Digital Humanities.

Applying knowledge and understanding

• Use descriptive statistical methods to organise, summarise, and represent cultural, historical, and linguistic data.
• Apply statistical tests and linear models to simple data analysis problems.
• Use software for data exploration, analysis, and visualisation.
• Represent textual or cultural data using tabular, vector, or matrix structures.
• Interpret the results of quantitative analyses and relate them to research questions typical of the Digital Humanities.

Autonomy of judgment

• Be able to read and critically interpret quantitative results presented in the relevant scientific literature.
• Evaluate the suitability of basic statistical procedures for addressing a specific research question.
• Recognise the limitations and potential of results obtained through quantitative methods.

Communication skills

• Use basic mathematical, statistical, and computational terminology correctly.
• Present quantitative results through tables, graphs, and statistical indicators.
• Communicate clearly the results of simple data analyses and their interpretation.

Learning skills

• Use teaching materials, software, and digital resources independently to further explore the topics covered in the course.
• Integrate mathematical, statistical, and computational knowledge in the analysis of cultural and linguistic data.
• Acquire new quantitative foundations necessary for more advanced courses and tools in the field of Digital Humanities.

1. Descriptive Statistics

• Measures of central tendency and variability
• Frequency distributions and data visualization
• Contingency tables and correlations

2. Probability and Distributions

• Basic probability
• Random variables and major probability distributions
• Limit theorems and their interpretation in modeling

3. Inferential Statistics

• Point estimation and confidence intervals
• Hypothesis testing (t-test, chi-square, ANOVA)

4. Linear Regression

• Linear regression
• Model assessment and interpretation

5. Basic Linear Algebra and Graph theory

• Vectors and matrices and their operations
• Graphs and networks

6. Software Applications

• Introduction to software for statistic and data analysis

The assessment consists in the discussion (that could be computer-based) of the analysis of a small cultural or linguistic dataset using appropriate software tools.

The assessment is designed to assess students’ understanding of the main mathematical and statistical concepts covered in the course and their ability to apply them to typical Digital Humanities contexts.

The final grade, expressed in thirtieths, takes into account the following elements:

• correct use of mathematical and statistical concepts;
• ability to apply quantitative methods to cultural, historical, or linguistic data;
• proper use of IT tools;
• ability to critically interpret results;
• clear communication of the procedure followed and the results of the analysis.

At the discretion of the lecturers, an oral test can also be set up.

The final grade will take into account both theoretical knowledge and practical skills acquired during the course.

For any specific learning difficulties or disabilities, students can contact the University's support and reception services and discuss the measures envisaged with the teaching staff, according to institutional procedures.

The teaching material is available on the Moodle platform of the module.

The module aims to provide the mathematical and statistical foundations necessary for the informed use of quantitative methods and digital tools in the field of Digital Humanities. It introduces the fundamental concepts required for the analysis of textual corpora, cultural data, and digital archives, and provides the quantitative knowledge needed to understand the principles underlying the main tools used in statistical analysis, text mining, and natural language processing. Particular attention is devoted to the integration of quantitative approaches with the interpretation of cultural and linguistic phenomena.
At the end of module and self-study, students are expected to be able to:

Knowledge and understanding

• Define basic concepts of descriptive and inferential statistics.
• Understand the fundamental concepts of probability and statistical modelling.
• Define essential elements of linear algebra required for the representation and analysis of textual data.
• Understand the mathematical and statistical principles underlying the main quantitative tools used in Digital Humanities.

Applying knowledge and understanding

• Use descriptive statistical methods to organise, summarise, and represent cultural, historical, and linguistic data.
• Apply statistical tests and linear models to simple data analysis problems.
• Use software for data exploration, analysis, and visualisation.
• Represent textual or cultural data using tabular, vector, or matrix structures.
• Interpret the results of quantitative analyses and relate them to research questions typical of the Digital Humanities.

Autonomy of judgment

• Be able to read and critically interpret quantitative results presented in the relevant scientific literature.
• Evaluate the suitability of basic statistical procedures for addressing a specific research question.
• Recognise the limitations and potential of results obtained through quantitative methods.

Communication skills

• Use basic mathematical, statistical, and computational terminology correctly.
• Present quantitative results through tables, graphs, and statistical indicators.
• Communicate clearly the results of simple data analyses and their interpretation.

Learning skills

• Use teaching materials, software, and digital resources independently to further explore the topics covered in the course.
• Integrate mathematical, statistical, and computational knowledge in the analysis of cultural and linguistic data.
• Acquire new quantitative foundations necessary for more advanced courses and tools in the field of Digital Humanities.

1. Descriptive Statistics

• Measures of central tendency and variability
• Frequency distributions and data visualization
• Contingency tables and correlations

2. Probability and Distributions

• Basic probability
• Random variables and major probability distributions
• Limit theorems and their interpretation in modeling

3. Inferential Statistics

• Point estimation and confidence intervals
• Hypothesis testing (t-test, chi-square, ANOVA)

4. Linear Regression

• Linear regression
• Model assessment and interpretation

5. Basic Linear Algebra and Graph theory

• Vectors and matrices and their operations
• Graphs and networks

6. Software Applications

• Introduction to software for statistic and data analysis

Computerized exam, with 30 questions in 60 minutes.

In the case of students with special needs, it is recommended to consult the following link.

https://www.unito.it/servizi/lo-studio/studenti-con-disturbi-specifici-di-apprendimento-dsa/supporto-agli-studenti-con

All content within the online module should be consulted.

Scopo dell’insegnamento è che studenti e studentesse acquisiscano competenze per l'autonomia nella ricera nel campo degli studi sull'Asia e sull'Africa.

Questo insegnamento si propone di:

1. fornire una generale comprensione della metodologia legata alla ricerca sui Paesi di studio e del dibattito critico legato alla comprensione dei Paesi studiati

2. fornire gli strumenti (bibliografici e stilistici) per applicare la metodologia di cui sopra

3. fornire le nozioni (di raccolta dei dati, di analisi di un testo) per procedere autonomamente nella ricerca in vari campi.
Alla fine del corso gli/le studenti sapranno applicare le seguenti capacità, principalmente in sede di stesura della tesi di Magistrale:

• identificare, leggere, interpretare e analizzare il materiale primario in lingua rilevante per la propria area di interesse
• valutare criticamente il proprio lavoro e quello altrui
• formulare una proposta di ricerca utilizzando materiali primary appropriati e situarla nel contesto accademico rilevante, identificare e assimilare fonti secondarie e discutere dibattiti interpretativi pertinenti
• comunicare i risultati delle proprie idee, della ricerca e le proprie conclusioni in forma scritta attraverso un breve elaborato di ricerca sulle fonti.

.

Gli/le studenti saranno formati e formate in materia di raccolta, elaborazione, valutazione critica e analisi iniziale dei dati, come preparazione al lavoro di tesi di Magistrale. A seconda dell'argomento di ricerca, questi possono includere dati provenienti da:

• testi letterari, storici, politici o di altro tipo
• interviste, osservazione partecipativa, altri tipi di lavoro sul campo
• fonti online, programmi radiofonici e televisivi, film, ecc.

Tutte le metodologie di raccolta dei dati rilevanti richiedono un approccio consapevole e critico. Pertanto, una parte importante del corso implica una riflessione sulle metodologie e le pratiche di raccolta, trattamento e analisi dei dati.

Modulo n. 1 C. Martone (6 ore)

Riflessione sulle metodologie di raccolta, trattamento e analisi dei dati nel campo della linguistica, con particolare riferimento alle lingue non indoeuropee.

Modulo n. 2 C. Martone (6 ore)

Analisi delle fiabe e dei fenomeni narrativi correlati (miti, leggende) come esempio di ricerca antropologica. L'accento sarà posto sull'analisi testuale. Questa parte del corso, composta da tre lezioni, comprende un'introduzione teorica alle fiabe, ai miti e alle leggende, nonché un'introduzione alle pratiche di interpretazione testuale di questi materiali narrativi.

Modulo 3 C. Martone (6 ore)

Questo modulo si concentra sulla metodologia di ricerca, con particolare attenzione alle lingue e alle culture dell'Asia e dell'Africa, compreso l'ebraico. Il modulo tratterà i seguenti argomenti:

Identificazione dell'argomento della tesi; Organizzazione del lavoro per la tesi; Risorse bibliografiche online fondamentali (Zotero, Jstor, Archive); Come accedere alle risorse bibliografiche online da casa.

Modulo D. Moro (12 ore)

Ricerca, citazione e referenziazione

Questo modulo di 6 ore riguarda il processo di ricerca, dalla ricerca delle parole chiave alla stesura di una bibliografia, attraverso una selezione di tutorial e alcuni esempi concreti. In particolare, ha lo scopo di insegnare come trovare le parole chiave giuste per la ricerca di materiale esistente sui motori di ricerca e nelle banche dati sia in inglese che in traslitterazione da altre lingue e come cercare titoli specifici e ottenerli dal web o dalle biblioteche. Infine, ma non meno importante, mostra l'importanza di distinguere tra i due principali stili di citazione utilizzati per la scrittura di un testo scientifico e la bibliografia pertinente. Il compito sarà 1) Trovare un titolo per una possibile ricerca sugli studi asiatici o africani. 2) Trovare le parole chiave giuste corrispondenti alla domanda di ricerca. 3) Creare una breve bibliografia in formato note-bibliografia o autore-data utilizzando il Chicago Manual of Style (guida rapida online).

Domanda di ricerca, tesi e conclusione

Questo modulo di 6 ore illustra brevemente l'intero processo di scrittura di un articolo, dalla ricerca di una domanda di ricerca alla creazione di una tesi, e si conclude con alcuni consigli per scrivere la conclusione del vostro articolo. Si avvale di video e brevi spiegazioni scritte, cercando di aiutarvi a evitare gli errori più comuni commessi durante la stesura di una tesi.

Il compito consisterà in una riflessione sulla tesi di laurea triennale sulla base dei contenuti di questo modulo. Dovrete scegliere una domanda di ricerca, una tesi e scrivere una breve conclusione di massimo 500 parole.

Modulo C. Pilocane (6 ore)

Fonti primarie e documentazione archivistica

Il modulo tratta delle fonti utilizzate nella ricerca accademica, concentrandosi in particolare sulle fonti primarie, essenziali per la produzione di una tesi magistrale originale e matura. Dopo aver presentato la distinzione tra fonti primarie e fonti secondarie e aver fornito esempi di fonti primarie utilizzate in diversi ambiti di ricerca, la lezione fornisce alcune nozioni sull’accesso alle fonti primarie e sul loro uso attraverso il caso più comune, e particolarmente importante, della documentazione archivistica. Attraverso nozioni teoriche ed esempi selezionati, gli studenti apprenderanno come le fonti archivistiche vengono prodotte, conservate, descritte e rese accessibili, e come i loro contesti di produzione e conservazione siano parte determinante della loro natura, influenzandone l’interpretazione. Il corso metterà in luce l’importanza delle competenze linguistiche e della familiarità con scritture, alfabeti e sistemi di scrittura, poiché esse consentono ai ricercatori di accedere alle fonti primarie in modo più diretto e critico.

Per ognuno dei moduli le studentesse e gli studenti dovranno consegnare degli elaborati individuali sulla piattaforma Moodle almeno due settimane prima della data dell'esame e dimostrare di aver appreso le basi di ognuna delle attività presenti nell'insegnamento.

Per ottenere la sufficienza a questa idoneità, le studentesse e gli studenti devono svolgere tutte le attività relative alle cinque sezioni del corso.

L* docenti potranno avvalersi dello strumento dei commenti della piattaforma Moodle come modalità di restituzione degli esiti.

Vedere i dettagli bibliografici e i materiali sulla piattaforma Moodle.

The course aims to provide the theoretical framework and knowledge of the basic rhetorical elements for the analysis of literary and communicative language, as well as a synthesis of the history of rhetoric.

The course is available in Start@Unito: https://start.unito.it/local/showroom/index2.php and is an e-learning activity with examination in presence
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING Know the main methods of the history of rhetoric in its fundamental lines from antiquity to today

ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING Analyse texts with rhetorical methods based on solid theoretical foundations; apply corpora and digital tools to the planned activities;

AUTONOMY OF JUDGMENT Critically reflect on the tools available and propose new ones; understand the innovative implications for rhetorical research and teaching

COMMUNICATION SKILLS Express oneself in a scientifically correct way regarding the topics of the discipline

LEARNING ABILITY Refine the learning skills of the discipline; ability to re-elaborate knowledge

The course - held in English- aims to provide students with the basic notions of rhetoric as an art of oral expression, persuasion and analysis of the written text. After a general theoretical part that will also include a series of lessons on the history of the discipline and its technical lexicon, on the various types of speech and figures, on the difference between rhetoric and argumentation and on its importance in the history of human thought, the teacher will propose several examples of analysis of written and oral discourses that can apply the theoretical notions learned. Course materials will be available on the site.

The course comprises five activities, which, in principle, should be enjoyed as follows:

Week 1

Activity 1: introduction

Second week

Activity 2: history of rhetoric

Third week

Activity 3: vocabulary and tools

Week Four

Activity 4: argumentation

Week Five

Activity 5: discourse analysis - theory

Week Six

Activity 5.1: discourse analysis - examples

The association between the video and the slides is always necessary: the video is explanatory, but does NOT replace the material on the slides. The exercises are useful for preparation and understanding, but are not graded. Course assessment will be given in the final Moodle assignment.

The course exam will take the form of a Moodle multiple choice quiz and will include the following parts:

a. Questions on the history of rhetoric

b. Questions on the vocabulary and technical parts of the discipline

c. Questions about speech analysis presented in the course

d. Analysis of a short new speech

The questions have different values and the speech part is the most important one.

Eventual further readings will be suggested by the Professor

Scientometrics studies science with mathematical and quantitative methods. It is a key tool both to understand the dynamics of scientific knowledge and to manage scientific research, especially for the evaluation of researchers and research institutions. The course aims to introduce students to this field, presenting both its theoretical-descriptive side (quantitative science studies) and its applied side (quantitative methods for research evaluation).
Students will learn the different tools of scientometric analysis, which include, among others, bibliometrics, citation analysis, bibliometric indicators, science mapping, and network analysis. Students who successfully complete the course will be able to a) implement basic and advanced scientometric analyses on dedicated platforms and tools; b) discuss the methodological strengths and weakness of scientometrics, especially in science policy contexts; c) present scientometric data and analyses in technical reports accessible to non-experts (e.g., policy makers, university administrators, external clients).

The course is structured in four main units. The first unit will introduce students to the cycle of scientific research and the modern scientific communication system. The second will present the main indicators for assessing scientific production and impact. The third will contextualize evaluative scientometrics in the history of science policy, discuss the unintended effects of bibliometric evaluation, and present the international debate on quantitative research assessment. The fourth unit will focus on quantitative science studies (descriptive scientometrics) and in particular on science mapping techniques: after an introduction to network analysis, specific bibliometric networks will be presented and students will learn to use VOSviewer, a free software especially designed for science mapping.

The detailed content of each unit is presented in the following.

• Introduction [Week 1]. Overview the cycle of scientific research, its main actors and processes (authors, editors, publishers, journals, peer-review, grants and funding). Definition of scientometrics and cognate disciplines, main areas of scientometric research and its applications
• Scientometric tools for research evaluation (evaluative scientometrics) [Weeks 1 and 2]. Indicators of scientific production and related concepts (publication window, weighted indicators, counting methods for co-authorship). Indicators of impact and related concepts (citation indicators for different units of analysis, normalization of citation indicators for cross-field comparison). Indicators for journals (Journal Impact Factor, SNIP, SJR) and individual researchers (h-index, g-index) and their methodological and theoretical limitations. Self-citations. Foundations of citation analysis and citation theories. Presentation of citation databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Journal Citation Report, SciVal, Google Scholar, OpenAlex) and their web interfaces.
• Scientometric evaluation in context [Week 3]. History of science policy in the 20th century, New Public Management in science, performance-based evaluation systems. The reactive nature of bibliometric evaluation (Goodhart law, intended vs unintended effects, constitutive effects): the cases of Australia and Italy, publish-or-perish culture. The international debate on quantitative research evaluation (DORA declaration, Leiden Manifesto, COARA Coalition).
• Quantitative science studies [Weeks 4, 5, and 6]. Bibliometric distributions and bibliometric laws, skewness of science and Matthew effect. Fundamentals of network theory for science mapping (types of networks, matrices, projections, degree distribution, centrality metrics). Bibliometric networks: citation, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, co-occurrence. Analysis of bibliometric networks (measures of similarity, visualization, clustering). Science mapping in action: field delineation on web platforms (simple and advanced queries), creating science maps with VOSviewer. Preparing a policy report based on scientometric data. Work on the group project.

Attending students

Attending students will be divided in small groups (min. 2, max. 4 students per group). Each group will choose a case-study from a list predisposed by the teacher and prepare a group project consisting of a) a presentation and b) a report. The report should be handed in at least two days before the presentation. The presentation should be no more than 20 minutes long and will be followed by questions to each member of the group (10/15 minutes). Along with the grade, the teacher will provide comments and global feedback on the presentation and the report. The grade will be on a 0-30 scale (18+ = pass). The following features of the presentation and report will be assessed: clarity in presentation, correct use of the technical terminology, awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the methods, capacity of communicating technical contents to a non-expert audience, consistency with the requests of the client.

Non-attending students

The final grade is based on an oral examination (30 minutes), which will include both questions on the contents of the course and short exercises on practical tasks (e.g., querying a citation database, computing a bibliometric indicator). The grade will be on a 0-30 scale (18+ = pass). Clarity in presentation, informed use of the technical terminology, understanding of techniques and methods, and capacity of implementation will be assessed.

Attending students

Mandatory materials:

• Slides used in the classes.
• Sugimoto, Cassidy R., and Vincent Larivière. 2018. Measuring Research: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.

All the materials, including the list of the case-studies for the final group project, will be made available on the Moodle page of the course.

Non attending students

Mandatory materials.

• Slides used in the classes.
• Sugimoto, Cassidy R., and Vincent Larivière. 2018. Measuring Research: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Aksnes, Dag W., Liv Langfeldt, and Paul Wouters. ‘Citations, Citation Indicators, and Research Quality: An Overview of Basic Concepts and Theories’. SAGE Open 9 (1): 215824401982957. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019829575.
• Waltman, L. (2016). A review of the literature on citation impact indicators. Journal of Informetrics, 10(2), 365-391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joi.2016.02.007
• Larivière, V., & Sugimoto, C. R. (2019). The Journal Impact Factor: A Brief History, Critique, and Discussion of Adverse Effects. In W. Glänzel, H. F. Moed, U. Schmoch, & M. Thelwall (Eds.), Springer Handbook of Science and Technology Indicators (pp. 3-24). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-02511-3_1
• Todeschini, Roberto, and Alberto Baccini. Handbook of Bibliometric Indicators: Quantitative Tools for Studying and Evaluating Research. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co.KGaA. (only the entry on h-index, pp. 162-190)
• Hicks, Diana, Paul Wouters, Ludo Waltman, Sarah de Rijcke, and Ismael Rafols. 2015. ‘Bibliometrics: The Leiden Manifesto for Research Metrics’. Nature 520 (7548): 429-;31. https://doi.org/10.1038/520429a.
• De Bellis, Nicola. 2014. ‘History and Evolution of (Biblio)Metrics’. In Beyond Bibliometrics: Harnessing Multidimensional Indicators of Scholarly Impact, 23-;44. London: MIT Press.
• Newman, M. E. J. (2018). Networks (Second edition). Oxford University Press, pp. 103-121, 126-137, 158-182, 313-325
• Petrovich, E. (2020). Science mapping. ISKO Encyclopedia of Knowledge Organization. https://www.isko.org/cyclo/science_mapping

All the material will be made available on the Moodle platform.

Workshops consist of a series of meetings with experts in the field, researchers and companies interested in the digital humanities.
The aim of the meetings is to broaden the research and work perspectives of the students enrolled in the course, favouring the possibility of making the most informed and conscious choice possible with regard to the Internship project (link to the "Internships" page.
More information regarding the duration and meetings will be give by the course dean Prof. Andrea Balbo during the first semester.
KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING

In-depth knowledge of the DH landscape.

ABILITY TO APPLY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
Ability to interact with companies and researchers

AUTONOMY OF JUDGEMENT
Ability to assess one's own skills in relation to possible placements.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Expression of speech in a scientifically correct manner.

LEARNING SKILLS
Proficiency in learning innovative elements of DH

Meetings with experts in the field, researchers and companies interested in the digital humanities. The workshop includes a talk with free dialogue between students and lecturers; companies present internship proposals,

The workshop can be approved or not approved on the basis of presence and quality of participation.

The course will describe the application of IT to preservation and analysis of textual and/or mixed (text and images) data, with a focus on German (especially on modern times). Students will be able to compare the main protocols and/or methods on which are based the most common kind of textual archives and linguistic online resources and will be able to analyze the main solutions applied in order to create a user centered access to the data stored into them. In particular, the students will be introduced to some methods useful for the elaboration in quantitative terms of information extracted from linguistic corpora.
Knowledge and understanding

Students will have access to the theoretical elements on which is based the digital solutions applied to the textual and linguistic data (both data harvesting and digital preservation of the cultural heritage). Students will be able also to value the impact of the technological improvements on both digital archives and online repositories or corpora. Finally, students will be able to value the main uses that corpora and repositories can have into the field of Digital Humanities or into the Digital World.

Applying knowledge and understanding, independent judgement

Students will have access to the basis of the application of the Digital to the linguistic and textual data, and they will be able to find autonomous research path concerning preservation and use of digital data in the main fields of interest of the Digital Humanities.

Communication Skills

Students should be able to describe and discuss the main aspects which is at the basis of the application of IT to raw or complex data, as to consolidate their proficiency in the field terminology of Digital Humanities and Digital Linguistics.

Learning Skills

Students should be able to analyze the basis of data storage, conservation and mining, tailored to different types of analysis. They should be also able to develop a critical approach to the different solutions chosen by the archives and the corpora shown during the lessons, in order to find plus and minus of their application to linguistic research. They will be invited to use autonomous research skills in order to analyze and discuss within the class a single case of study or archive in particular with regard to the elaboration of quantitative data extracted from linguistic corpora.

Introduction into the application of digital tools to linguistic and textual mining with an overview on the 20th century as the IT era. Introduction into the Web as a corpus with free access to data (open vs restricted digital data), into the user-centered perspective of the digital tools, as well as into archives, corpora and repositories as source of knowledge. Discussion of concrete examples of text corpora and archives elaborated for the German language and its varieties, with particular focus on concrete quantitative methods useful to extract substantial information from linguistic corpora.

The exam will have an oral form, with at least three questions concerning both the topics and the materials presented during the module as well as the students' concrete activities and presentations.

Materials and references for the course will be provided at the beginning of the course, and will be made available on the moodle platform of the course. The materials downloadable on the platform, and in particular the slides presented in the classroom, are also part of the examination program.

Course non offered in a.y. 2026-2027.

Course not offered in the a.y. 2026-2027.

After this course, the student will be able to:

• Understand the ethical challenges involved in working with language technology; Identify the ethical and social issues posed by NLP research and how to address them.
• Be aware of the state-of-the-art debate on ethical issues in the NLP community, and report on ethical issues (e.g., data statements, bias statements and new tools to navigate research choices, communicate implications).
• Understand the importance of model interpretability, and know which techniques are available for achieving it, for detecting bias in models, and for debiasing models.
  Knowledge and understanding:

At the end of the course, students shall know the basics of the ethical challenges involved in working with language technology and identify the ethical and social issues posed by NLP research and how to address them.

Applying knowledge and understanding:

• Report on ethical issues (such as data statements, bias statements, etc)
• Be aware of the state-of-the-art discussion on ethics in the NLP community
• Reflect on sociodemographic aspects of language and on the tradeoff between successful research and legitimate ‘behaviour’.

Evaluation autonomy:

• Reflect on what is responsible behaviour and the dangers of potential third-party misuse
• Understand the importance of model interpretability, and know which techniques are available for achieving it, for detecting bias in models, and for debiasing models

Communication skills:

• Understand and communicate the ethical challenges involved in working with language technology
• Identify the ethical challenges posed by NLP research and how to address them in practice and in theory (in models and in papers by writing data and ethics statements) both as developer and as user/reader. Data, privacy, bias in models of various kinds.

Learning skills:

• be able to use and further apply the learned tools of analysis for future work.

The spread and democratisation of language technology has made it possible to use NLP in a variety of applications. Language-based tools are indeed not only developed within academia, but also used by very many companies, far beyond just research purposes. Working with NLP, now more than before, involves ethical reflections in many directions concerning: (i) the choices we make when developing methods, models, and resources (e.g., datasets, annotated corpora, lexicons) for NLP; (ii) the biases that are intrinsic to human-produced data and thus to data-derived models, including explainability issues; (iii) the consequences of working in NLP, in terms of personal responsibility and third-party (mis)use. The course will have a practical counterpart on techniques for detecting bias in data and models, and for debiasing models.

Expected knowledge and skills will be tested by means of an in-presence oral interview, after the delivery of an individually developed practical project work on a topic discussed with the lecturers.

• The project work must be delivered one week before the oral interview.
• The assessment, which takes into account both the project work and the interview, will be expressed out of thirthy.
• The oral examination will last approximately 20/30 minutes.
• During the oral examination, the student will be asked to report on the salient aspects of the project presented and the topics covered during the lectures. The preparation will be considered adequate if the student will be able to adequately comment on the project, and will demonstrate a complete mastery of ethical issues addressed in the project.
  SLD students are required to be in touch with the teacher to define the compensation devices and individualized settings.

Literature

• Starter of ethical debate in NLP: Hovy, Dirk, and Shannon L. Spruit. "The social impact of natural language processing." Proceedings of the 54th Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 2: Short Papers). 2016.
• Existing Tutorial materials
• References from the ACL wiki “Ethics in NLP” (https://aclweb.org/aclwiki/Ethics_in_NLP)
• Video of Meg Mitchell at COLING 2020, and related Q&A
• Further papers to be added, according to field development.

Additional interesting readings:

https://ai.facebook.com/blog/what-ai-fairness-in-practice-looks-like-at-facebook/?utm_source=hootsuite&utm_medium=twitter&utm_term=2ddc7303-3a68-4542-b3d7-2e379c18e4c9&utm_content=facebookai&utm_campaign=RAI

https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.03417: Measuring Model Biases in the Absence of Ground Truth by Osman Aka, Ken Burke, Alex Bäuerle, Christina Greer, Margaret Mitchell

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/11/tech/google-ai-ethics-future/index.html

Tipo di esame: Orale. Valutazione: Voto Finale.

The course contains the following topics:

• Knowledge of the main techniques of acquisition, processing, compression and processing of images in the space domain, with references to techniques in the frequency domain. Understanding the mode of operations of artificial neural networks and deep convolutional networks for image processing and computer vision.
• Knowledge of the main techniques of neural networks and deep learning for text classification, with a focus on transformers and Large Language Models (LLMs).

The course includes hands-on sessions in Python
Acquire the ability to use and manipulate multimedia information representation formats. Acquire familiarity with multimedia data processing techniques. Understand the mode of operations of artificial neural networks for image processing and text classification. Acquire the ability to write simple code in Python for performing tasks of image processing, text classification and use of open LLMs.

• Elements of Image processing and computer vision
• Elements of Natural Language Processing
• Neural Networks, Convolutional Neural Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks, Transformers
• Language Models
• Hands-on sessions on text and image classification with Neual Networks in Python

The examination consists of a group project (2 to 3 persons) on one of the main topics from the course programme. Passing the examination requires discussing the project orally. The oral examination will also cover the knowledge of the theoretical programme of the course.

Slide and other material from the teachers.

Il corso è strutturato in due moduli sincroni. Il primo modulo è tenuto dalla prof.ssa Barbara Leonesi in lingua italiana, il secondo modulo è tenuto dalla prof.ssa Tanina Zappone in lingua inglese. I due percorsi, dedicati a differenti ambiti applicativi della mediazione linguistica e della traduzione, concorrono al raggiungimento degli obiettivi formativi del Corso di Studio, promuovendo l’acquisizione di competenze avanzate e professionalizzanti nei settori della traduzione specialistica e dell’analisi linguistica.

Modulo 1: Attraverso l'analisi e la traduzione di documentazione autentica relativa ai rapporti commerciali tra Cina e Italia, con particolare riferimento ai contratti di compravendita internazionale e agli accordi di joint venture, gli studenti acquisiranno strumenti linguistici, terminologici e metodologici utili alla gestione di testi specialistici complessi. Il laboratorio mira inoltre a sviluppare la capacità di individuare e risolvere problematiche traduttive legate alle differenze linguistiche e culturali tra i contesti cinese e italiano, nonché a promuovere un utilizzo critico e consapevole degli strumenti digitali e dell'intelligenza artificiale applicati alla traduzione professionale.

Modulo 2: mira a fornire nozioni di base sulla linguistica dei corpora nel contesto della lingua cinese; in particolare si illustreranno le modalità di costruzione e analisi di corpora in lingua cinese finalizzati all'analisi linguistica e all'apprendimento della lingua. Saranno altresì introdotti alcuni strumenti di intelligenza artificiale volti ad accompagnare e sostenere criticamente il processo di apprendimento e analisi.
Modulo 1: lo studente/la studentessa sarà in grado di:

• comprendere e analizzare la struttura e la terminologia dei principali documenti contrattuali utilizzati nelle relazioni commerciali tra Italia e Cina, con particolare riferimento ai contratti di compravendita internazionale e agli accordi di joint venture;
• tradurre testi specialistici di ambito economico-commerciale, applicando in modo autonomo le conoscenze linguistiche, terminologiche e metodologiche acquisite;
• individuare e risolvere criticamente problematiche traduttive, terminologiche e interculturali, motivando le proprie scelte traduttive con un adeguato lessico specialistico;
• utilizzare in modo consapevole strumenti digitali e sistemi di intelligenza artificiale a supporto della traduzione specialistica, valutandone criticamente potenzialità e limiti.

Modulo 2: studenti e studentesse acquisiranno familiarità con i corpora di lingua cinese esistenti e saranno in grado di costruire i propri corpora di lingua cinese. Saranno in grado di utilizzare tecniche e strumenti di base (lista di parole, lavoro chiave, cluster e collocazioni) per evidenziare le strutture e le proprietà linguistiche di piccoli corpora tematici, con un approccio metodologico misto di analisi qualitativa e quantitativa.

Modulo 1: Traduzione specialistica cinese-italiano: contratti commerciali e joint venture

• Introduzione alla documentazione contrattuale nelle relazioni economiche tra Cina e paesi occidentali.
• Struttura, caratteristiche linguistiche e terminologia dei principali contratti di compravendita internazionale e degli accordi di Joint-venture.
• Analisi e traduzione di clausole relative a oggetto del contratto, obblighi delle parti, condizioni di pagamento, consegna delle merci, garanzie, responsabilità contrattuali, forza maggiore e risoluzione delle controversie.
• Esercitazioni pratiche di traduzione, revisione e commento traduttologico di documenti autentici in lingua cinese e italiana.
• Utilizzo di strumenti digitali e confronto tra traduzioni umane e traduzioni assistite da sistemi di intelligenza artificiale, con particolare attenzione alla valutazione critica delle soluzioni proposte.

Modulo 2: Il secondo modulo introdurrà innanzitutto i corpora esistenti in lingua cinese e il loro potenziale utilizzo nell'apprendimento e nell'osservazione delle lingue. Verranno poi presentati gli strumenti e le tecniche per la costruzione di un corpus in cinese, con particolare riferimento alle questioni metodologiche strettamente legate alla natura della lingua cinese e alla sua natura logografica (ad esempio, gli errori nella segmentazione automatica delle parole, il loro conteggio e l'attribuzione a specifiche parti del discorso). Infine, verranno discussi alcuni casi-studio tratti dai media cinesi e dal linguaggio politico, al fine di illustrare i vantaggi e i limiti dell'uso di software nell'analisi linguistica e l'efficacia di un approccio metodologico misto, che combina metodi di analisi del discorso quantitativi e qualitativi.

Modulo 1: Esame orale. La prova consisterà nella traduzione a vista (all'impronta) e nel commento di brevi estratti di documentazione commerciale e contrattuale coerenti con i contenuti affrontati durante il laboratorio. Nel corso dell'esame lo/la studente dovrà dimostrare di saper comprendere e interpretare il testo di partenza, utilizzare correttamente la terminologia specialistica e motivare le principali scelte traduttive adottate.

Modulo 2: presentazione di un progetto di analisi linguistica realizzato tramite l'uso di grandi corpora online o costruendo un piccolo corpus tematico in lingua cinese.

Testi e materiali verranno forniti dalle docenti durante il corso, attraverso la piattaforma moodle

Tipo di esame: Orale. Valutazione: Voto Finale.

The course is meant to welcome the international students and help them feel at ease in the Italian cultural and linguistic context. The course is organized by the University Language Center (CLA-UniTO) for the international students of the degree courses taught in English
Students are expected to:

• develop communication skills in Italian in order to feel at ease with everyday life in Italy at a beginner level
• learn the main vocabulary, morpho-syntactic structures and phonological features of Italian at a beginner level (CEFR A1)

acquire basic intercultural skills

English Italiano CEFR A1-level syllabus (see pdf attached) Sillabo di riferimento per il livello A1 del QCER (vd pdf allegato)

Final exam during the sessions organized throughout the academic year.

For the attending students (at least 70% of classes attended):

• The learning material will be provided by the teacher according to the topics dealt with during the classes. Specific exercises and materials will be made available through e-learning platforms

For the non-attending students (less than 70% of classes attended)

• one handbook to be chosen between: Nuovo espresso A1 (Alma edizioni) or Nuovo contatto A1 (Loescher).

one grammar book to be chosen between:Gramm.it (Bonacci) or Via della grammatica (Edilingua)

English Italiano The course is meant to welcome the international students and help them feel at ease in the Italian cultural and linguistic context. The course is organized by the University Language Center (CLA-UniTO) for the international students of the degree courses taught in English. Il corso si configura come una forma di accoglienza per facilitare l’inserimento nel contesto culturale italofono. È realizzato dal Centro Linguistico di Ateneo (CLA-UniTO) e ha come obiettivo un’iniziale formazione linguistica e culturale in italiano per gli studenti internazionali dei corsi di laurea triennali, magistrali e a ciclo unico erogati in inglese. English Italiano Students are expected to: develop communication skills in Italian in order to feel at ease with everyday life in Italy at a beginner level learn the main vocabulary, morpho-syntactic structures and phonological features of Italian at a beginner level (CEFR A1) acquire basic intercultural skills Gli studenti sono tenuti a: sviluppare competenze comunicative in italiano tali da potersi relazionare in situazioni di vita quotidiana a un livello pre-intermedio acquisire il lessico e le principali strutture morfo-sintattiche e fonetiche dell’italiano ad un livello principiante (A2 del QCER) acquisire una competenza interculturale di base

English Italiano CEFR A2-level syllabus (see pdf attached) Sillabo di riferimento per il livello A2 del QCER (vedi pdf allegato)

English Italiano For the attending students (at least 70% of classes attended): partial assessment during the classes oral exam: a self presentation, a description of pictures and a dialogue For the non-attending students (less than 70% of classes attended): written exam: a computer-based test based on the A1-level language skills in Italian according to the CEFR. Students must pass the written part in order to take the oral exam. oral exam: a self presentation, a description of pictures and a dialogue Final exam during the sessions organized throughout the academic year. Per gli studenti frequentanti: valutazione in itinere durante il corso prova orale: presentazione personale, descrizione di immagini e dialogo Per gli studenti non frequentanti: prova scritta: test sulle competenze linguistiche previste dal livello A2 del QCER. è obbligatorio superare l’esame scritto per poter accedere all’orale. prova orale: presentazione personale, descrizione di immagini e dialogo Esame finale negli appelli previsti. Gli studenti che frequentano almeno il 70% delle lezioni sincrone sono esonerati dalla prova scritta.