Creating and Processing Digital Humanities Data

Angela Zoss Data Visualization Coordinator

Data & GIS Services, Research Computing

First, a confession…

•  Studies: Cognitive Science, Communication, Information Science, Computer Science

•  Sample projects: –  tracking jobs by discipline –  visualizing social presence in museums –  analyzing communication patterns on a listserv

First, a confession…

•  Studies: Cognitive Science, Communication, Information Science, Computer Science

•  Sample projects: –  tracking jobs by discipline –  visualizing social presence in museums –  analyzing communication patterns on a listserv

•  Studies: Cognitive Science, Communication, Information Science, Computer Science

•  Sample projects: –  tracking jobs by discipline –  visualizing social presence in museums –  analyzing communication patterns on a listserv

First, a confession…

•  Studies: Cognitive Science, Communication, Information Science, Computer Science

•  Sample projects: –  tracking jobs by discipline –  visualizing social presence in museums –  analyzing communication patterns on a listserv

•  Studies: Cognitive Science, Communication, Information Science, Computer Science

•  Sample projects: –  tracking jobs by discipline –  visualizing social presence in museums –  analyzing communication patterns on a listserv

People

Digital Objects

Data… usually for visualization

http://guides.library.duke.edu/datavis/

JUST A FEW ISSUES

Humanities data may not be digital

Humanities data may not be digital

Conversion from phenomena to digital representation is perilous; may need to make choices when not all possible options are known.

Preservation may be an issue

http://www.scottbot.net/HIAL/?p=80

Example: how do historical things end up on the internet?

Preservation may be an issue

http://www.scottbot.net/HIAL/?p=80

Preservation may be an issue

http://www.scottbot.net/HIAL/?p=80

Tools become obstacles

•  Limited consistency across tools •  Cross-platform problems •  Not designed for humanities’ questions/data – Do not support complexity/uncertainty – Do not facilitate collaboration – Prioritize different types of outputs