The added value of topic modelling for the humanities
Updated: Feb 24, 2021
Humanities scholars and the challenge of analysing very, very large collections
As digitally available textual repositories are becoming larger and larger, the relevance of distant reading for the humanities has grown exponentially.
Traditional methods are no longer suitable
Traditional close reading methods are no longer suitable for the analysis of such unprecedented mass of digital data
Humanities scholars are more and more confronted with the challenge of having to apply quantitative approaches in their research, for traditional close reading methods are no longer suitable for the analysis of such unprecedented mass of digital data. One such quantitative approach is Topic Modelling (TM), a computational, statistical method to discover patterns and topics in large collections of unstructured text.
A workflow for the humanities
While there are many TM programs and tutorials available, what appears to be still missing is a description of a generalizable TM workflow for the humanities. With this tutorial/workshop, I offer a step-by-step guidance for a versatile method that could be applied transversely across different datasets. Specifically, I provide a way to enrich the distant reading technique of TM with the qualitative information necessary for contextualising the TM results and opening up avenues for interpretation. This workflow is partially based on my article Viola and Verhuel (2019).
This is a versatile method that could be applied transversely across different datasets
A three hour session to speed up your data analysis
In this three-hour session, learners first get acquainted with the computational concept of 'topic'. After a practical demonstration, they can start experimenting with their own data and obtaining already results for their research!
Please do get in touch if you are interested in organising this session at your institution.
Mình thường theo dõi XSLA để cập nhật kết quả xổ số Long An sau mỗi kỳ quay và tiện đối chiếu lại khi cần. Theo mình, một trang tra cứu tốt nên lưu đầy đủ kết quả theo từng ngày, trình bày rõ từng giải và có thêm dữ liệu của những kỳ quay trước để người xem dễ tìm lại thông tin. Nếu có thêm phần thống kê kết quả theo tuần, tháng và tổng hợp lịch sử các kỳ quay thì càng tiện, nhất là với những người thường xuyên theo dõi xổ số Long An nhưng không muốn phải mở nhiều trang khác nhau để kiểm tra.
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