Data Visualization Activity #1: Wordles
Visualizing word frequency in each thesis draft netted the following results:
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- Kerishma’s thesis (topic: George R. R. Martin)
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- Laura’s thesis (topic: Hitchcock and Poe)
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- Colby’s thesis (topic: David Foster Wallace)
As a second step, we used Wordle to generate data about word frequency in source texts related to each project:
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- Wallace’s commencement speech at Kenyon College
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- A chapter from A Game of Thrones
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- Poe’s “Berenice”
Ben Blatt must be great at Mad Libs
I’m not sure if anyone has seen Blatt’s awesome tables before reading this article, but I came across them one day on my Tumblr dash and got a kick out of them. I am familiar with each of the three series he studied, and though I knew Hunger Games, Twilight, and Harry Potter definitely veered from each other in terms of context and audience, I had never thought about how stylistic choices played a role.
Textual analysis of YA novels can be helpful for children’s lit scholars and students interesting in determining why certain novels and their content have such resonance with contemporary teens? Do passing fads have any say? What about the ages of readers? (I went through my Twilight phase during the end of junior high/beginning of high school before I actually dated anyone, so all of those gushy adjectives Blatt has gathered rang true in my vampire loving heart.) However, without actually reading the respective texts, these analyses may not be as useful as they can be. Luckily, Blatt at least read a synopsis of each and could pinpoint how the distinctive adjectives and common sentences attributed to each author contributed to the tone and overall subject matter of each author.
As for my own thesis project, I never considered doing a similar word count analysis, but it would be interesting to see what words pop up between the two Gothic Poe stories that I am analyzing, “Berenice” and “Ligeia”. To be sure, I have noticed that Poe puts a lot of effort into his long winded descriptions of setting. How about crossing a Poe story with a Hitchcock script??? Since I am looking for one’s influence on the other, perhaps their similarities lie beyond the thematic.
Class Mural.ly on This Week’s Sociology Reading
This digital mural (made using Mural.ly) had “analog” origins. We first sorted the core ideas of each of this week’s three readings onto notecards…
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- Hookway (2008)
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- Marres (2012)
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- Edwards et al (2013)
…and then mixed it up, building a map of all notecards that looked at where our source material was in alignment:
Notecard Mural (Analog Version)
After we collaborated on our physical web/map/mural, we used Mural.ly to collaborate in real time on a digital version, one that could be enhanced by the addition of related material from across the web.
Context, Criticism, and American Horror Story
My relationship with technology is mixed. In my comment on Lindsey’s post on her own technology usage, I mostly focused on the pitfalls of internet research. It is fairly easy to lose control of my time online, especially with a topic as interesting as mine!
With so many directions to turn, I found myself abusing rather than actually using the powers of technology for my research needs. However, my online endeavors began innocently enough. As per this post’s title, online resources such as eBooks, articles, and even Wikipedia helped my formulate a context for the literary and cinematic periods I am working in. I could start anywhere-Wikipedia, NYPL, Google-and make all these connections between a single keyword and scores of helpful books and articles that helped my to focus my research. In fact, if it weren’t for my late night NYPL search frenzies, I would not have found many of the prized anthologies that propelled my research in the right direction.
But there the pitfalls lay. Too many options! Too many places to look! (more…)
The “Digital Humanities” and Why It Should Be In Our English Departments
What is the digital humanities exactly? Matthew Kirschenbaum, author and English professor, gives a few examples in his essay, “What is Digital Humanties and What’s It Doing in English Departments?”
The Wikipedia definition he cites sums it up pretty nicely: “The digital humanities, also known as humanities computing, is a field of study, research, teaching and invention concerned with the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities.” The author is also sure to point out what the digital humanities is not: simply the digitization of information.
Though his final paragraph leaves the (positive?) effects of these new technologies up for question, his overall argument appears to push forward for the further development of the digital humanities within and beyond the English department. These include widely accessible online archives (which most of us have used for research at some point or another), large-scale e-book projects, and collaborative platforms that might surprise the jaded English scholar, such as Twitter.
Kirschenbaum uses two English conferences (one exclusively devoted to the digital humanities) to describe how blogs and other social networking services allow colleagues to comment on important contributions to the field as they occur. Tweeting about an interesting panel or phenomenal essay sends it beyond the conference’s attendees to other academics and even students. Blogs highlight things that can be easily disseminated and widely shared.
Perhaps it’s because computers and the Internet have always been a part of my learning and research processes, but I’m surprised by the amount of attention the digital humanities have gotten. Before reading Kirschenbaum’s essay, it seemed almost natural for technology and the humanities to be experienced together.
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