Lena Alfter was awarded a bursary to attend the Digital Humanities Oxford Summer School in 2024. To join the mailing list and learn about the next summer school sign up here. Read about Lena's experience at the summer school here:
My expectations for the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School 2024 were rather high after I attended its 2023 edition, which quickly became the academic highlight of that summer.
I was excited to be attending the ‘From Text to Tech’ strand together with a friend I made at the 2023 DHOxSS, after having heard lots of good things about that strand from last year’s attendants. Unfortunately, my plans were crossed by an untimely covid infection. Thankfully, I was swiftly booked onto the ‘AI & Creative Tech’ strand instead, which I could attend remotely. As much as I was sad about not being able to learn more hands-on Python coding and to look out for techniques I could steal from linguistics and apply to music, I got the chance to finally get my feet wet with AI. Like many of my peers I had been avoiding anything with that label until then. I felt it was too abstract; I could not visualise in my mind what AI really was. Attending the different presentations within the ‘AI & Creative Tech’ strand provided me not only with valuable background knowledge about AI (and its alter egos) but with a multitude of examples that allowed me to finally put a face – or rather a few of them – to the name. It was reassuring to see both the possibilities and limitations of the individual applications. Along the way we were shown a vast range of applications: from an intricate 3D model of ancient Rome to computer games, XR technologies, and musical composition.
I can’t wait to see where this new knowledge and confidence around AI will take me. Some of the things I learnt at the Summer School in the previous year recently came in handy in the most unexpected way (I made a network graphic for a graduate student conference on the topic of ‘constellations’). I already feel a lot more confident and competent in navigating the field of AI: turns out, what I previously thought was a scary new invention of the past five years really is a logical consequence of advances in computer science that date back way further than even my parents’ generation.
I am grateful for the support provided by the Digital Humanities at Oxford Summer School and recommend the programme to anyone interested in DH. It covers such a wide range of applications and skills that I am sure there is something for everyone. Even though covid meant I could not be there in person this year, I would say that what makes this summer school truly special is the connections you make with other, like-minded scholars.
