MACROSCOPES

AND DISTANT

READING

IMPLICATIONS FOR INFRASTRUCTURES TO

SUPPORT COMPUTATIONAL HUMANITIES

SCHOLARSHIP

Joel de Rosney, 1979, The Macroscope

DISTANT READING

"Where distance is not an

obstacle, but a specific form of

knowledge: fewer elements,

hence a sharper sense of their

overall interconnection. Shapes,

relations, structures. Forms.

Models." Moretti, Graphs, Maps and Trees: Abstract Models for Literary

History.

HYPERMEDIA

FLATTENED

HIERARCHIES

EXPLORE

ORDER IN

AGGREGATES:

COLLECTIONS,

ARCHIVES, ETC.

THREE MODELS IN THE WILD

1.Data Dumps & Export Buttons

2.Sandboxes & Platforms

3.Analysis as a Service & Onsite

Facilities

EXPORT

BUTTONS

& DATA DUMPS

THREE CHALLENGES

1.Rights: Can you broadly provide bulk

access to works?2.Scale: Can your infrastructure deliver bulk

exports? Is the material too large for

researchers to work with in their

environments?3.Skills: Do your users have the skills to work

with data at the command line?

SANDBOXES & PLATFORMS

ANALYSIS

AS A SERVICE

& ONSITE

FACILITIES

UNPACKING IMPLICATIONS

1.Whenever possible, move toward

providing bulk access to data.

2.Consider deriving intermediary or

transformative data products, like n-

grams

3. If no go on 1 & 2 explore

possibilities for analytic services

Catspyjamasnz, The Network by @nancywhite,

https://www.flickr.com/photos/catspyjamasnz/7169043832

CC-BY-NC-ND

onegoodbumblebee Pez.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/onegoodbumblebee/141388029

4 CC-BY-NA-ND

Dstrelau, Toys

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dstrelau/5861814214 CC-BY