Unit 2 Readings + Exploratory Viz

DH 102: Data in the Humanities

Prof. Mackenzie Brooks

October 25, 2016

Table 2

Will

Nao

Abby K.

Charlotte

Table 1

JT

Chris

Kassie

Table 3

Andrew A.

Anna S.

Sam

Annie G.
 

Table 4

Jack

Gigi

Anna Kate B.

Readings

• Demystifying Networks, Parts 1 & 2
• Network Theory, Plot Analysis
• Networks Analysis
• An Entry of One's Own, or Why Are There So Few Women in the Early Modern Social Network?

• 2-3 main points of the article
• 1 thing you didn't quite understand
• 1 question for the rest of the class to answer

Demystifying Networks

• Be careful with networks!
• Using networks means that your connections matter (a lot).
• You will have to simplify your humanistic data to fit it into a network.
• Edges are a layer of interpretation

Network Theory,

Plot Analysis

• Networks by hand
• Network theory vs. networks
• Reflection on analysis

Networks Analysis

• Citation analysis
• Comparing results of network analysis with your own hypotheses
• "using graphs to become smitten with one's own data"

An Entry of One's Own

• Issues with historical biases
• Understanding your data sources
• Designing inclusive methods from the beginning

Network Tools Sandbox Time

1. Palladio
2. Cytoscape
3. Gephi
4. Google Fusion Tables?

Generic DH tool evaluation questions:

• What do you think of the results? What's surprising? What's not?
• How about the tool itself? What options do you have?
• What can you do with the results?
• What is useful about this tool and type of analysis?
• Are the visualizations meaningful? Easy to decipher? Why or why not?
• Compare and contrast tools.
• Does this tool expose problems with your data?