The DCSC requires the completion of a minimum of 18 credit hours of coursework, (four classes, 12 credit hours) taught by the College of Humanities and two classes (6 credit hours) taught by affiliated Colleges and Departments. The first three classes required for the Certificate provide students with foundation skills and knowledge in the areas of digital culture studies and computer programming. Students will then take two classes in affiliated Colleges and Departments that provide an overview and knowledge about new media within their major areas of study.

All students are required to take “Introduction to Digital Culture Studies,” which will be offered across the various departments, taught on a rotating basis by faculty in partner departments. Three classes will be taken from within the College of Humanities. Two will be taken from Computer Science or another partner department. Moreover, DCS offers optional modules students may take in two-hour sessions, held at the Digital Matters Lab in the Marriott Library.

The Certificate Program in Digital Culture Studies addresses several needs. In the first place, for students in Computer Science or other technologically-focused areas of study, it offers vital cultural and historical context surrounding the very technologies that they study, design, operate, and create. This knowledge of the larger social matrix within which technological innovation is situated can only broaden their perspectives and encourage them to engage more fully with the ethical implications of their work than the requirements of their major might otherwise allow. Equally important, for students in the Humanities, the Certificate Program allows them to cultivate hands-on skills with computational technology that a traditional Humanities curriculum cannot readily accommodate.