Applied Digital Philology

Profession

Which stereotypes about philologists do you know?
We will try to guess some:
— a philologist is a gentle, ephemeral, refined, dreamy person who does nothing but read books and write poetry;
— philology is for girls only;
— philology is a classical education which does not change;
— a philologist is a poorly paid preofession.
What is it really?
Being a philologist means have a high culture of native language (you can become perfectly literate if you don’t skip classes).
A philologist is a gender neutral profession: there a lot of men among the great philologists. And we also have enough excellent male lecturers.
A philologist is one of the few professions that is as universal as a lawyer or psychologist, for example. And such a specialist will always have a well-paid job: copywriter, journalist, correspondent, editor, author of articles and scripts, presenter on radio or television; content manager, speechwriter, media communications specialist; teacher in Russian and foreign educational organizations.
The knowledge gained by the philologist ensures his or her relevance in all areas where professional knowledge of the Russian language is required.
Nowadays one of the main trends is digitalization in all spheres and industries.
And philologists have long brought the global trend of digital humanities to life: online translators from different languages, which everyone has in a smartphone, cannot be developed without a professional philologist; someone should teach smart assistants (“Alice”, “Marusya”) how to speak, isn’t it? And digital content? Crosswords; programs teaching different languages; computer games with words?
Who is involved in their development? That very “digital” philologist who works not only with the basic Microsoft Office package, but also knows how to program in high-level languages (Python), video production skills and is able to work with programs for creating multimedia content. Such a philologist is able to create digital content of different genres, and, most importantly, it will be done competently in terms of language, taking into account the target audience and a high level of communicative culture. A digital philologist will be able to independently carry out a full cycle of content production and promotion: from developing an idea and a key message to the consumer to creating an impeccable text and packaging it in a certain genre and optimal digital format, as well as effectively promoting the created content using various digital channels.

Educational Process

An interdisciplinary approach to learning ensures the possession of the necessary universal and digital skills and abilities in all areas of philological education.
Language: from theory to practice
— Linguistics. Basic course;
— Typological linguistics;
— Modern Russian language;
— Stylistics of the modern Russian language;
— Comprehensive Russian Language Practical Course (for Russian students);
— Comprehensive Russian Language Practical Course (for foreign students);
— Text Editing Workshop;
— Fundamentals of psycholinguistics;
— Introduction to Corpus Linguistics;
— Comparative Historical Linguistics (comparative studies);
— Historical grammar;
— Linguoculturology;
— Linguistic worldview;
— Theory and practice of argumentation;
— Rhetoric and oratory;
— Scenarios, strategies and tactics of speech interaction;
— Theory and practice of multimedia communication;
— Linguistic expertise of the text in the general humanitarian sphere;
— Literature studies. Basic course;
— History of Russian literature;
— History of foreign literature;
— Mythology and mythopoetics;
— Communication in the modern multicultural space.
Language and digital technologies:
— Digital law and digital security;
— Introductory course in Mathematics;
— Computer science. Operating systems and editors for the humanitarian sphere;
— Linear algebra and mathematical analysis;
— Creation of digital content (Text. Graphics. Audio. Video. Applications);
— Mathematical methods in the humanitarian field;
— Relational database management systems;
— Computational thinking and programming. Programming languages;
— Data processing and visualization tools;
— Python Programming;
— Basics of Web development;
— Information systems for data analysis in the humanitarian field;
— Artificial intelligence tools for text analysis and processing;
— Digital tools for semantic text analysis;
— Introduction to Big Data Analysis;
— Machine learning;
— Introduction to Knowledge graphs.
Digital technologies for media content and promotion:
— Copywriting;
— Fundamentals of project management;
— Fundamentals of Financial Literacy, Management and Marketing;
— Fundamentals of law and anti-corruption behavior;
— Implicitness of the media text;
— Storytelling in traditional and digital educational environments.
Educational content and its application:
— Age psychology;
— Pedagogy and psychology;
— Methods of organizing extracurricular activities and career guidance activities;
— Designing educational activities in traditional and digital environments;
— Methods of teaching the Russian language;
— Methods of teaching literature.
Skills for life:
— Life safety;
— History;
— Foreign language (first language);
— Russian as a foreign language;
— Second foreign language (practical course);
— Theory and practice of translation;
— Philosophy;
— Physical education.
Specialists of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute are involved in the implementation of the program; representatives of the leaders of the domestic digital business – MTS, IBS, Yandex — as well as international corporation Samsung take part in conducting practical classes.

Practice

The program includes several types of practice, each of which will allow students to apply the theoretical and practical knowledge in full:
1. Stationary introductory practice (pedagogical or technological);
2. On-site training (pedagogical or technological);
3. Pedagogical practice;
4. Technological practice;
5. Pre-diploma internship.
Stationary introductory practice is organized at the International Center of Digitalization of Pre-University Training of the RUDN Institute of the Russian language, the RUDN Center for the development of digital technologies in educational processes, in the RUDN Laboratory of distance learning;
On-site training – in Russian and foreign partner universities (Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, University of Tyumen, Don State Technical University, the University of Victoria (Canada), University of Applied Sciences for Technology and Economics (Germany), etc.).
Pedagogical practice – in Russian and foreign educational organizations.
Technological practice – in organizations of the real economy sector: MTS, IBS, Russia Today media group.

Career

Practical orientation and interdisciplinarity of the program “Applied Digital Philology” will allow graduates to work in any sector of the real economy:
— in organizations that actively use IT technologies and humanitarian complexes (technical copywriter, computer linguist, information resources specialist);
— in Russian and foreign educational organizations (a Russian language teacher in the field of e-learning, m-learning; a network teacher; a training manager for preparing for public speaking);
— in digital media (editor, content manager, digital strategist, publishing editor, content marketer, speechwriter, media manager, media communications specialist — mass media, copywriter, screenwriter),
— in organizations that carry out expert activities (an expert in educational content; a specialist in intercultural communication, an analyst of linguistic content for various purposes, including security; a linguocriminalist; a testologist, a specialist in the field of pedagogical measurements).