Project Update #9: Week of 3/19

[sjw82]

For this week, we had intended to have finished our XML markup which did end up mostly done. We decided to divide the work from now on: Ben will be in charge of developing the site; Thyra will be in charge of populating the site, i.e. doing the historical research, doing the TEI, explaining our methodology, etc.; Sam will be in charge of analytics. We dealt with our first merge conflict this week and regrouped on what our project goals are. For next week Ben is going to finish his XML and come up with some proposals for the site, Thyra is going to create a writing plan, and Sam is going to begin going through the XML for a second draft of sorts. Our biggest hurdle right now is that our XML came out inconsistently which will inhibit accurate analysis. To address this, Sam is refining the schema so that simple issues like camel casing vs underscoring can be smoothed out independently and then reviewing everyone's markup so things that were unfamiliar to some, such as literary devices, are found throughout. Over break, Sam made progress on the data mining front, installing Mallet and running her midrashim through it. As part of her analytics, after the XML is complete, she will begin running Thyra's and Ben's through separately and then all three clusters together as well as separated by book.

[MLuckman]

What is "mallet"? How are you using it to benefit your project?

[sjw82]

@MLuckman Mallet is the data mining software we read about in the Mining the Dispatch. We're using it to identify patterns in language in three configurations: within our respective segments which are focused on a few verses, within the separate collections, and between all of our midrashim. We're hoping that it will identify broad patterns that we are unable to spot doing close reading and that these might tell us something about the literary tradition of midrash.

[MJB288]

Great to hear that your group is making significant progress. Using tools beyond those taught in the class is a good approach, especially since you seem confident and willing to use it. Out of curiosity, what lead you to incorporating data mining in your analysis?

[sjw82]

@Guifindor Reading about it, I thought it was the coolest thing and I knew I wanted to try it on something. Our midrash project seemed like a good venue because midrash is a close reading of the Torah and we're doing a close reading of the midrash, so getting a distant reading seems like it will be a little innovative. There is so much content and it is so esoteric, that close reading can get very muddled; I think data mining will provide an entirely new perspective.