Lab Session: Digital Humanities

Lab Session: Digital Humanities 

In this blog, we have to share our experiences using these three tools and our learning outcomes. This activity was assigned by Dilip Barad Sir Click Here

Human or Computer? – Poem Test

At the start, we explored the ongoing question: Can machines actually create poetry? To experiment with this, we were given a poem and asked to judge whether it was human-written or computer-generated. The task encouraged me to reflect on creativity, language, and the fine line between natural and artificial expression. I was struck by how closely machine output can mimic human artistry, yet I also noticed that certain emotional depth and subtle nuances still tend to belong more to human writing.

My Experience with the CLiC Activity

Using CLiC to study the word chin was eye-opening. I found that Dickens used chin far more often (317 times) than other 19th-century writers (113 times) or Austen (only once). This showed me that Dickens relied heavily on physical description to shape character, often linking chins with humour, class, or personality. In contrast, Austen focused more on dialogue and manners than on bodily detail.

What I learned is that even a small detail like chin can carry symbolic meaning and reveal an author’s style. The activity also showed me how frequency counts and concordance lines help connect language to literary interpretation. Overall, it gave me a new perspective on how body language contributes to characterisation in fiction.

Voyant Tools

The third activity familiarized us with Voyant, a text analysis tool. It enabled me to visualize word frequencies, follow recurring themes, and explore language patterns within a text. Generating word clouds and trend graphs made the analysis more interactive and clearly showed which words or concepts were most prominent throughout the text.

Learning Outcomes

Through these three exercises, I came to understand how digital tools can enhance the study of literature. The poem activity encouraged me to think deeply about creativity and authorship, the CLiC project helped me identify textual patterns and character traits methodically, and Voyant exposed me to data-driven methods in literary analysis. Overall, these experiences strengthened my critical reading, analytical skills, and digital literacy.