[en] Perceptual Effects of
Hierarchy in Art Historical Social NetworksHouda Lamqaddam, University of Leuven; Inez De Prekel, University of Leuven; Koenraad Brosens, University of Leuven; Katrien Verbert, University of Leuven
Abstract
[en]
Network representation is a crucial topic in historical social network analysis. The
debate around their value and connotations, led by humanist scholars, is today more
relevant then ever, seeing how common these representations are as support for
historical analysis. Force-directed networks, in particular, are popular as they can
be developed relatively quickly, and reveal patterns and structures in data. The
underlying algorithms, although powerful in revealing hidden patterns, do not retain
meaningful structure and existing hierarchies within historical social networks. In
this article, we question the foreign aspect of this structure that force-directed
layout create in historical datasets. We explore the importance of hierarchy in
social networks, and investigate whether hierarchies - strongly present within our
models of social structure - affect our perception of social network data. Results
from our user evaluation indicate that hierarchical network representations reduce
cognitive load and leads to more frequent and deeper insights into historical social
networks. We also find that users report a preference for the hierarchical graph
representation. We analyse these findings in light of the broader discussion on the
value of force-directed network representations within humanistic research, and
introduce open questions for future work in this line of research.
[en] A Text Network
Analysis of Discursive Changes in German, Austrian and Swiss New Year’s Speeches
2000-2021Kimmo Elo, University of Turku
Abstract
[en]
New Year’s speeches held by leading politicians–mostly prime ministers or
presidents–have a long and firm tradition in Europe and have become an institution
instead of being a crowing event for conciliatory efforts. From the perspective of
political communication, New Year’s speeches fulfil a triple function in the
intersection of the past, the present and the future. First, they summarise the past
year from the perspective of the political leadership and, hence, recall, reconstruct
and remind the most important events of the year. Second, New Year’s speeches
describe the present and, thus, can be understood and analysed as reality
constructions, as windows to the current state of affairs. And third, New Year’s
speeches serve as road maps to the future, into the new year. In this sense, a New
Year’s speeches summarises the most important future challenges, expectations and
opportunities.
This article stems from the assumption that a nonlinear analysis of textual data
based on network analysis could provide us with new ontological understanding about
structural coherence and holes within a document corpora. It adopts a different
viewpoint to discourse analysis based on social network analysis. The paper
introduces a nonlinear way to analyse texts as networks in order to visualise and
analyse how concepts are connected and to explore structural closeness and holes
within a corpus of unstructured textual documents.
The results indicate a discursive turn in Germany, Austria and Switzerland after the
breakout of the global financial crisis in 2008. But at the same time, the results
evidence similarities across the three countries how the crisis and its impact was
framed to discourses. In all countries, the use of concepts related to crisis and
insecurity has increased dramatically since 2008. However, this vocabulary is not
solely limited to the financial crisis. The “insecurity and
crisis” frame referred both to the financial crisis, the armed conflict
in Ukraine and to the refugee crisis.
[en] Tesserae Intertext
ServiceNozomu Okuda, SUNY University at Buffalo, Department of Classics; Jeffery Kinnison, University of Notre Dame, Department of Computer Science and Engineering; Patrick Burns, University of Texas at Austin, Department of Classics; Neil Coffee, SUNY University at Buffalo, Department of Classics; Walter Scheirer, University of Notre Dame, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Abstract
[en]
The Tesserae Intertext Service Application Programming Interface (TIS-API) enhances
the machine-accessibility of the intertext discovery capabilities of the Tesserae
software. Instead of requiring inputs through a human-accessible webpage, the TIS-API
accepts inputs according to a web development standard. Two case studies demonstrate
the contributions of the TIS-API to computer-assisted literary criticism,
particularly in increased software development and maintenance flexibility as well as
in easier integration of Tesserae software into research workflows. Those interested
in integrating the TIS-API into their digital projects can find documentation at https://tesserae.caset.buffalo.edu/docs/api/. For exact implementation
details, the source code is available at https://github.com/tesserae/apitess.
[en] The Ebook
ImaginationSimon Peter Rowberry, Department of Information Studies, University College London
Abstract
[en]
While popular histories of the ebook start in the 1990s, inventors were working on
the form since at least the 1940s. In this article, I offer a media archaeological
analysis of digital publishing patents to develop the ebook imagination, or the
desires of readers and inventors for the future of reading on screen. Through an
analysis of a corpus of 98 patents relating to ebooks, I demonstrate how the ebook
imagination focused on the aesthetics of the book over focusing on replicating paper
via a screen, which would later lead to the success of Amazon's Kindle in 2007.
[en] Archives, Information
Infrastructure, and Maintenance WorkCiaran B. Trace, The University of Texas at Austin
Abstract
[en]
In the scholarly communications lifecycle, it is the archive (as place and as
collection) that has traditionally functioned as the research
laboratory, the source of knowledge for the humanities and
its sub-disciplines. This article examines the notion of the archive as revealed
through a process of infrastructural inversion, with an emphasis on understanding the
working information practices of archivists as a prerequisite to any discussion of
humanities infrastructure initiatives. Situating the archive as a form of
infrastructure and archival labor as a form of maintenance work generates
descriptions of archival systems and practices that shine a spotlight on key
negotiations and tensions that adhere in a profession that exists in service of
others. In particular, the article and the argument therein set out to describe
what will be lost if this archival assemblage of people, practices, activities,
artifacts, and structures is set aside rather than ported into any imagining or
re-imagining of the humanities of the future.
[en] The Brain Is Deeper Than the Sea: Sea and Spar Between, Computational Stuplimity, and FragmentationNathanael Moore, University of Otago
Abstract
[en]
The author demonstrates how we can use fragments of classical text as a heuristic to help us interpret a poem (Nick Montfort and Stephanie Strickland’s Sea and Spar Between) that is, on the face of it, quintessentially nonfragmentary because it contains over 225,000,000,000,000 stanzas.
[en] Investing in Project
Maintenance: Auditing the Digital Transgender ArchiveEamon Schlotterback, Northeastern University; Cailin Flannery Roles, Northeastern University; K.J. Rawson, Northeastern University
Abstract
[en]
In this case study of the Digital Transgender Archive, www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net, the authors discuss the results of a
yearlong audit of the project. While scholarship in the field has focused on both the
startup and sustainability stages of DH project lifecycles, far less attention has
been paid to fostering healthy project growth and self-evaluation during the
maintenance stage. After discussing the motivations for our audit and the methods we
employ, this article offers five key observations and summarizes our responses to
them. Our hope is that other DH project teams will find that some of these
observations are applicable to their work and will then benefit from the responses we
developed.
[en] Layers of Variation: a Computational Approach to
Collating Texts with RevisionsElli Bleeker, Huygens Institute for Dutch History and Culture; Bram Buitendijk, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences - Humanities Cluster, Digital Infrastructure department.; Ronald Haentjens Dekker, Huygens Institute for Dutch History and Culture; Vincent Neyt, University of Antwerp; Dirk Van Hulle, University of Oxford
Abstract
[en]
The article describes research into the automatic comparison of texts with revisions.
The authors argue that in-text variation can best be modelled as nonlinear text, and
that a collation tool needs to treat in-text variation differently from the way
linear text is treated. They describe in detail how the modelling choices they made
influence the development of HyperCollate, a collation software that is able to
process TEI-XML transcriptions of texts with variation. Consequently, HyperCollate
produces a more refined collation output that corresponds with a human interpretation
of textual variance.
[en] The Lives of Mistresses and Maids: Editing Victorian Correspondence with Genealogy,
Prosopography, and the TEIKailey Fukushima, University of British Columbia; Karen Bourrier, University of Calgary; Janice Parker, Calgary Public Library
Abstract
[en]
In this paper, we explore the material conditions of scholarship and digital editorial work that make uncovering nineteenth-century women’s lives possible in the twenty-first century. Taking our project, Digital Dinah Craik, a TEI-edition of the letters of the bestselling Victorian author, as a case study, we discuss research methods that combine digital scholarly editing with genealogy and prosopography. We argue that by combining research tools aimed at scholars, such as the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, with research tools aimed at a more general audience, such as Ancestry.com and the British Newspaper Archive, we can develop more creative and inclusive research methods and in turn, gain a fuller picture of women’s and working-class lives.
