[en] Computational Stylistic Analysis of
Popular Songs of Japanese Female Singer-songwritersTakafumi Suzuki, Toyo University; Mai Hosoya, Toyo University
Abstract
[en]
This study analyzes popular songs composed by Japanese female
singer-songwriters. Popular songs are a good representation
of modern culture and society. Songs by female
singer-songwriters account for a large portion of the
current Japanese hit charts and particularly play an
important role in understanding the Japanese language and
communication style. In this study, we applied new methods
of computational stylistics to the lyrics of the songs. The
results clearly show differences in the characteristics of
10 female singer-songwriters, and we found that the
“visualization of the lyrics” is a
typical characteristic of current singer-songwriters. Our
findings provide an important case study for computational
stylistics and can also be useful for understanding Japanese
cultural trends.
[en] Managing an Established Digital Humanities Project: Principles and
Practices from the Twentieth Year of the William Blake ArchiveAshley Reed, University of North Carolina
Abstract
[en]
Scholars and practitioners of the digital humanities generally recognize the
importance of solid project management and oversight. But coursework and publications
related to DH project management tend to focus heavily on the difficulties of
planning and launching a new project rather than the challenges of maintaining an
established one. Meanwhile, online advice for would-be managers is couched in the
language of “tips and tricks” or “steps for
beginners”. Together these phenomena downplay the professional skills
needed to successfully manage a project while suggesting that project management is
necessary only in the beginning stages of an endeavor. They may even give the
impression that scholarship in the digital humanities is inherently ephemeral.
Through a case study of project management practices at the William Blake Archive,
which began publishing electronic scholarly editions in 1996, this essay details the
challenges and rewards of managing an established digital humanities project.
Managers of mature projects may be called upon to oversee expansions in scope and
mission, research and recommend new features and tools, grow or shrink the number of
project staff, seek out alternate sources of support when early grants run out,
maintain continuity as collaborators join and leave the project, and develop new
workflows and procedures to reflect these and other changes.
[en] War in Parliament: What a Digital Approach Can Add to the
Study of Parliamentary History Hinke Piersma, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies; Ismee Tames, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies; Lars Buitinck, Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam; Johan van Doornik, Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam; Maarten Marx, Informatics Institute, University of Amsterdam
Abstract
[en]
With the digitization of the parliamentary proceedings (Handelingen der Staten Generaal), the structuring of this body of
data, and the development of an advanced search engine, we can apply new methods
of historical research. This contributes to a further promotion of the
sophisticated use of quantitative data to enhance qualitative historical
research. This article focuses on the Boerenpartij(Farmers’ Party), the first political party from the
far right that entered Dutch parliament after the Second World War (WWII). The
Boerenpartij is remembered as being
stigmatized by the traditional political parties as “wrong” (“
fout
”), as National Socialism and its supporters were dubbed in the Netherlands.
However, no systematic research has been conducted on the questions: in what
way, how frequently and for what purpose these connections with the
“wrong” past were made. With the available digitized data
and the retrieval techniques offered by computer scientists it is now possible
to answer these questions.
[en] Multimodal Editing and Archival Performance: A Diagrammatic Essay
on Transcoding Experimental LiteratureManuel Portela, University of Coimbra
Abstract
[en]
The aim of PO.EX: A Digital Archive of Portuguese Experimental
Literature (http://po-ex.net/) is to
represent the intermedia and performative textuality of a large corpus of
experimental works and practices in an electronic database, including some early
instances of digital literature. This article describes the multimodal editing of
experimental works in terms of a hypertext rationale, and then demonstrates the
performative nature of the remediation, emulation, and recreation involved in digital
transcoding and archiving. Preservation, classification, and networked distribution
of artifacts are discussed as representational problems within the current
algorithmic and database aesthetics in knowledge production.
[en] Mining for the Meanings of a Murder: The Impact of OCR Quality
on the Use of Digitized Historical NewspapersCarolyn Strange, Australian National University; Daniel McNamara; Josh Wodak, Australian National University; Ian Wood, Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University
Abstract
[en]
Digital humanities research that requires the digitization of medium-scale,
project-specific texts confronts a significant methodological and practical
question: is labour-intensive cleaning of the Optical Character Recognition
(OCR) output necessary to produce robust results through text mining analysis?
This paper traces the steps taken in a collaborative research project that aimed
to analyze newspaper coverage of a high-profile murder trial, which occurred in
New York City in 1873. A corpus of approximately one-half million words was
produced by converting original print sources and image files into digital
texts, which produced a substantial rate of OCR-generated errors. We then
corrected the scans and added document-level genre metadata. This allowed us to
evaluate the impact of our quality upgrade procedures when we tested for
possible differences in word usage across two key phases in the trial's coverage
using log likelihood ratio . The same tests were run
on each dataset – the original OCR scans, a subset of OCR scans selected through
the addition of genre metadata, and the metadata-enhanced scans corrected to 98%
accuracy. Our results revealed that error correction is desirable but not
essential. However, metadata to distinguish between different genres of trial
coverage, obtained during the correction process, had a substantial impact. This
was true both when investigating all words and when testing for a subset of
“judgment words” we created to explore the murder’s emotive elements
and its moral implications. Deeper analysis of this case, and others like it,
will require more sophisticated text mining techniques to disambiguate word
sense and context, which may be more sensitive to OCR-induced errors.
[en] Digital Humanities, Postfoundationalism, Postindustrial
CultureJames Smithies, University of Canterbury
Abstract
[en]
This article articulates a view of the digital humanities that hopes to advance
the discipline across broad scholarly and administrative contexts. It will
succeed in its aims if it is both comprehensible to newcomers and stimulating
for experienced practitioners: a “bridging” effort, but one
undertaken with serious intent. It proceeds by isolating a key debate for
examination, describing two concepts that go a significant distance to solving
issues raised by that debate (but not far enough), and exploring the theoretical
writings of a selection of high profile digital humanists. The goal (a
non-trivial undertaking) is to illustrate the utility of postfoundationalism as
a conceptual tool, its interdependence with postindustrial culture, and the
light it sheds on our understanding of what “DH” is. If successful the
article, rather than making an essentialist claim that “Digital Humanities is
defined by postfoundational method,” will constitute a contribution to
the developing digital humanities “agenda.”
[en] In Praise of Overstating the Case: A review of Franco Moretti,
Distant Reading (London: Verso, 2013)Shawna Ross, Arizona State University
Abstract
[en]
This review of Franco Moretti's Distant Reading
summarizes Moretti’s major arguments within the larger context of recent debates
in the digital humanities. Particular attention is given to Moretti’s uptake of
Immanuel Wallerstein, to his controversial critique of close reading, and to the
variety of digital-humanistic methods that comprise Moretti’s quantitative
formalism. Most valuable as an artifact of literary-critical history rather than
a how-to guide or theoretical treatise, this hodgepodge of essays is at its best
as an audacious and defensive academic memoir tracing Moretti’s transformation
into a digital humanist. As Moretti champions the broad explanatory power of
quantitative literary analysis, he overestimates the scientific objectivity of
his analyses while undervaluing the productively suggestive stories of doubt,
failure, and compromise that lend nuance and depth to his hypotheses. Combative,
absorbing, highly topical, and unevenly persuasive, Distant
Reading embodies both the optimism of early digital literary studies
and its perils.
