SS Blog 4: Information Visualization and Distant Reading

The article, "What is Distant Reading," by Kathryn Schulz gives a background on distant reading through the perspective of Franco Moretti, the scholar behind the Stanford Literary Lab. The literary lab specializes in analyzing texts by feeding them into computer programs and finding patterns supposedly unseen by human scholars such as hidden aspects of plots, genres, and moral meaning. The essay "Problems of Scale in Close and Distant Reading," by Jay Jin compares the concerns and hopes scholars have instilled in the two seemingly disparate ways of of analyzing text. An aspect of this essay that resonated with me was the literature professor Jane Gallop's statement: "close reading is a widely applicable skill, of real value to students as well as to scholars in other disciplines" (Jin, 121). Moretti suggests in the distant reading article that the practice should "supplant not supplement close reading (Schulz). Though the concept of analyzing text through a non-human algorithm is interesting, not everyone has access to that technology. I don't believe that people should rely on computers to analyze text for them if they want to form their own thoughts and interpretations that will lead them to individual discoveries that are in my opinion more valuable than the generalized data of an artificial analytical tool. Suggesting that a computer algorithm should completely replace human thought and interpretation is radical and close minded. I think that though there is room for technology in everything, including literature. However, everything can and should be used as a tool which is a part of the multimodal and performance value of Digital Humanities. 

A quote from the 6a Basics of Visualization section of the DH coursebook that stood out to me was "visualizations are often more easily consumed than the other complex research data on which they depend (Drucker, 86). I believe this quote directly feeds into the DH values of accessibility and multimodal performance. Visualization feeds into the value of multimodal/performance as it opens the door for new modes of interpretation that can complement scholarly words such as digital models, diagrams, and timelines. If one is able to visualize data in an organized model they are able to interpret each moving part of the data themself. Language is not universal, and some scholarly interpretations of data can be convoluted. Therefore, providing data in an easily digestible/accessible format such as a visual diagram, is the first step to expanding one's audience. 

The Six Degrees of Francis Bacon project feeds into the idea of distant reading as it is at the surface, purely visual and interactive. The website does not require its audience to have read all texts related to Francis Bacon, which makes it accessible to a neutral audience. The site is also collaborative as scholars are able to contribute their own thoughts and research into the network. The distant reading aspect of the site shows the viewer how all pieces connect without them having to dive into the material. Seeing how all pieces connect is important in deciding what information is the most profound/important, which is effective in organizing their own thoughts, research, and understanding.