This document describes the steps that are done by the “prep_dataset” script, which harvests and builds the RDF dataset for the Belfast Group Poetry|Networks website, which is used in part as the basis for the network graphs and chord diagrams. Prior to running the script, significant work was required to 1) to tag names in the EAD and TEI and 2)…[Read more]

Social network analysis is typically used where data are complete and all connections within a system are known. However, as other humanities networking projects have discovered, building a network based on historical data means that we are inevitably working with incomplete information. In other words, the lack of connections in our graph…[Read more]

As we worked on this project and looked at various iterations of the data, we noticed something troubling about some of the women we knew were associated with the Belfast Group: while they sometimes appeared central to the network at other times they were completely invisible. What was happening?

In creating a project to investigate the relationships among members of the Belfast Group, it is important to know exactly what that Group is. Being specific about this when creating our data was critical so we could accurately measure who was connected to this thing we call “the Belfast Group.” But, as often happens with humanities data, it tur…[Read more]

Software development is often an integral aspect of Digital Humanities projects.  By working to generalize and build small modules or utilities targeting specific needs rather than large-scale systems, DH software developers have the capacity to generate tools with greater potential for scholarly reuse, which should enable more rapid development…[Read more]

In “Nonlinearity and Incarnation in T. S. Eliot’s Four Quartets and Susan Howe’s ‘The Nonconformist’s Memorial,’” I argue that nonlinearity is present in both language and literature, whether printed or electronic, and investigate two specific cases of poetic nonlinearity in printed works. Nonlinearity in language generally has been identified in…[Read more]

Researchers effectively trust the work of others anytime they use software tools or custom software. In this article I explore this notion of trusting others, using Digital Humanities as a focus, and drawing on my own experience. Software is inherently flawed and limited, so its use in scholarship demands better practices and terminology, to…[Read more]