[Foundations] Introduction to Textual Analysis: A Course on Voyant and Spyral (DHSI 2026)

Description

This course is an introductory level course on textual analysis and visualization, with a specific focus on Voyant Tools and Spyral Notebooks. The course will consist of readings, demonstration of tools, hands-on training on Voyant Tools and Spyral Notebooks. Our intended audience is students, librarians, staff and enthusiasts from different disciplines who study texts. While having a basic understanding of JavaScript might be useful for the second half of the course dealing with Spyral Notebooks, it is not a prerequisite for the course. Our course is designed in such a way that people with no programming skills can participate, learn and reflect on textual analysis, without any disadvantages. Our course requires minimal setup and we expect the participants to show up with only a laptop that can connect to the Internet.

Instructor(s)

Ayushi Khemka is a PhD student and Killam Doctoral Laureate in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alberta, Canada. Her research interests lie at the intersection of digital humanities, philosophy of race, and philosophy of AI and ethics. She works on training, testing and documentation of Voyant Tools. She is also working as a Highly Qualified Personnel on the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) funded ‘Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides’ research program at the University of Alberta. Outside of her academic adventures, Ayushi can be found yapping about Bollywood, yoga, henna, and mental health.

Andrew MacDonald is a web developer with almost 20 years experience creating open source web applications. Working primarily in the digital humanities field, he has contributed to several significant projects, most notably Voyant Tools. Outside of work, Andrew is an avid cyclist, amateur yogi, and hobbyist generative artist.