A new Minor at EPFL in Digital Humanities, Media and Society

© Yannis Rochat, 2024 EPFL CDH

© Yannis Rochat, 2024 EPFL CDH

With the contribution of a new Minor aimed at all EPFL Master's students, the College of Humanities (CDH) encourages students from all backgrounds to delve deeper into the essential aspects of our contemporary world in connection with media and culture.

What is a minor?

A Minor allows students to supplement the expertise acquired in their Master with knowledge from another subject area. Like a secondary area of specialization, it offers students the opportunity to add training in another discipline thus developing skills and knowledge in another area of interest without adding many extra classes to their workload. A minor is equivalent to 30 credits that must be earned during the duration of the master’s program.

A Minor in Digital Humanities, Media and Society

The CDH has been offering the Digital Humanities (DH) Master's program since 2017. It trains students as digital humanities engineers with strong computer and data science knowledge in addition to a strong interdisciplinary education, allowing a deep understanding of media, social, and cultural data and the fact that it is primarily produced, consumed, and curated by people.

Based on feedback received by students over the past years, the DH Section is now offering a Minor in the same discipline. This Minor will not only enable students to continue advancing their technical expertise in their specific fields, but will also encourage them to delve further into crucial facets of our contemporary world that are interconnected with media and society.

In addition to a strong background in machine learning and data science students will learn theory and techniques to understand and work with media and culture, as well as principles and techniques to design and build systems for (and interacting with) people. The coursework will allow students to have impact on creative & cultural industries, and the media industry in particular, as well as many sectors of the industry for which user experience and user interaction are key.

Added value for students

This Minor aligns with EPFL’s objectives of promoting interdisciplinary education among its students and equipping the job market with engineers who possess comprehensive knowledge and skills beyond the realm of basic technical training as well as a human-centered approach.
Such an interdisciplinary Minor will give precious tools to students to help them evolve in today’s fast-paced workplaces often immersed in technology and that require multitasking. It will also equip students with additional skills that employers are looking for in the creative & cultural industries -- from big tech to media companies and cultural institutions - and it will help them stand out from their peers.

More information

For more information on the Minor in Digital Humanities, Media and Society please visit the website (go.epfl.ch/dh-minor) or contact the DH Section ([email protected]).