Editors' Choice

Editors’ Choice: Building Topic Models through Selective Document Exclusion

Earlier this month, I attended the ASIS&T 2011 Annual Meeting where, much to my delight, the paper I co-authored with Miles Efron and Katrina Fenlon was selected for the Best Paper Award.

In Building Topic Models in a Federated Digital Library through Selective Document Exclusion, we presented a way to improve the coherence of algorithmically derived topical models.

The work stems from topic modeling we were doing, first with PLSA and later LDA, on our IMLS DCC research group. The system we are working with brings together cultural heritage content from over a thousand institutions and, as a result contains quite diverse and often problematic metadata.

News, Reports

Report: Linked Data for Libraries, Museums, and Archives: Survey and Workshop Report

In June 2011, Stanford University hosted a group of librarians and technologists to examine issues and challenges surrounding the use of linked data for library applications. This report summarizes the activities and discussions that took place during the workshop, describes what came out of the workshop, outlines next steps identified by the participants, and provides contextual and background information, including preliminary reports and biographies of workshop participants. The workshop report was produced and edited by the participants and staff at Stanford University Libraries.

News, Resources

Resource: Visualize a network of film casts and crews

Is there a way I can visualize the overlapping networks of people within a culture?” There is! To demonstrate, I’ll use the last dozen films of one of my favorite filmmakers, Alfred Hitchcock. This is a fun way to get started making network visualizations.

News, Reports

Report: Developing the digital humanities at the Open University: progress report

In June 2011 the Open University Senate recognized Digital Humanities as one of two new University Thematic Research Networks, and it was launched at a colloquium on 8 July. During the coming months we plan to develop collaborative activity across the University, with a particular emphases on exploring how the use of digital technologies is shaping the research process, and on their potentialities for enhancing our mission of ‘openness’ in research.  Appointment of a Research Associate who will play a leading role in taking this process forward is currently underway. In the meantime for details of the ongoing programme of workshops and seminars, please see the Events page.

Editors' Choice

Editors’ Choice: Some Comments on Writing History in the Digital Age

I’ve really enjoyed cruising through the Jack Dougherty and Kristen Nawrotzki open peer-review volume called Writing History in the Digital Age which is slated to be published by University of Michigan Press’s new Digital Humanities Series in their digitalculturebooks imprint.  I commented on many of the contributions and mined them all for references and ideas.  I’d encourage anyone interested or invested in the future of history in the digital age to check out the volume and to contribute to its open peer review.  Since I have read all the articles in the volume and have been thinking a bit about history in the digital era myself lately, I thought I might offer some overarching comments on the volume (as is my wont).

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