Weinberger makes the point, over and over again, that “knowledge is becoming a property of the network, rather than of individuals who know things, of objects that contain knowledge, and of the traditional institutions that facilitate knowledge” (182). By attacking our epistemological assumptions, Weinberger is showing us just what the internet is capable of providing seekers … Continue reading A smarter network than you?

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sure thing bro. Weinberger is careful to assign the above titular mentality to a caricature of technodeterminism, or technological optimism. Through that statement, among others, he carefully positions himself as a techno-realist. It seems from “Too Big to Know,” however, that the internet and the new ecology of knowledge it is creating is so potent … Continue reading tyrants tremble, media cartels disintegrate, and collaborative castles rise in the air

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In reading the second half of Too Big to Know, one very important message shone bright – that the nature of science is changing, and so, our outlets for science must change with it. I believe that, with the formation of the scientific internet, that major scientific print publications must switch to the web or … Continue reading Tearing Down Skyscrapers for Interstate Highways

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In David Weinberger’s Too Big To Know, he further discusses the largely disputed topic about having knowledge creation and circulation being based upon networked and open systems. Scientists, and scholars in general, really have no issues coming about with new factual information, but it’s the issue of connecting those newfound facts together. Bernard K. Forscher … Continue reading The Bigger Picture

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“What we’ve discussed so far in this book should lead us to hypothesize that scientific knowledge is taking on properties of its new, becoming, like the network in which it lives: (1) huge, (2) less hierarchical, (3) more continuously public, (4) less centrally filtered, (5) more open to differences, and (6) hyperlinked.” Weinberger (153) Chapter … Continue reading Final Blog Post on Too Big to Know.

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When I was younger, I had a junior encyclopedia set. Everything presented in the set was knowledge that was agreed upon by whoever published the set. The books included all of what the authors deemed necessary and excluded everything thought to be unworthy of publication. The information in that set was the truth, and that was end … Continue reading Changes in Knowledge Creation

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Remember that word cloud that Dr. Pandora handed out? Well, I’m  not sure if any of you wrote a poem (except one fellow student), but I encourage you to post it here if you did. Hope you enjoy what I’ve written.   (Untitled) Meadow breath hanging over verdant ground’s belly, in valley collapsing, slow, with … Continue reading Wordsworth Word Cloud Inspired Poem

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Propose 1-3 questions, based on the practicalities, goals, rationales, and/or challenges of global digital humanities and/or Dr. Gil’s own pathway and interventions on this score, in response to the course prep materials for this week. Links below. Share those questions by adding them in the comments section to this blog post. The questions should be ones … Continue reading Global Digital Humanities: Qs for 3.26 class discussion

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Propose 1-3 questions, based on the practicalities, goals, rationales, and/or challenges of global digital humanities and/or Dr. Gil’s own pathway and interventions on this score, in response to the course prep materials for this week. Links below. Share those qs by adding them in the comments section to this post. The questions should be ones that … Continue reading Global Digital Humanities: Qs for 3.26 class discussion

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Propose 1-3 questions, based on the practicalities, goals, rationales, and/or challenges of global digital humanities and/or Dr. Gil’s own pathway and interventions on this score, in response to the course prep materials for this week. Links below. Share those qs by adding them in the comments section to this post. The questions should be ones that … Continue reading Global Digital Humanities: Qs for 3.26 class discussion

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A liberal arts degree in the 21st century has become a common point of mockery especially when speaking to my more scientifically enclined counterparts. I am constantly surrounded by engineers and I cannot state how many times that I have been asked “Why major in History?” or “What do you plan to do after you … Continue reading The Examining th Small Details in the Big Picture

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“A state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts or have an equal or proper amount of importance”—this is Merriam-Webster’s definition of balance. The issue that suggests that close reading and distant reading dwell in a sort of unfavorable contrariety is really a matter of concern over how to balance their unique … Continue reading Balance

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  It occurs to me that one consideration regarding close and distant reading is that there are limitations of “zoom” based on the work itself. The closeness or distance with which a work can be read must be commensurate with the level of minute detail and symbolic density (for close reading) or abstract generalization (for … Continue reading Close and Distant Readings Commensurate with Close and Distant Writings

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In class, I made the assumption that distant reading only refers to the digital methods of textual analysis we’re being introduced to. When Dr. Purcell corrected me, saying that distant reading might also apply to the wide breadth of reading a traditional researcher focused on a particular canon does, the issue got a bit more … Continue reading It’s All Just Reading

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One of the core values of the humanities, especially the part that focuses on literature is “close reading”.  Close reading is a careful interpretation of text with emphasis on particular details such as individual words, syntax, and the order in which sentences and ideas unfold as they are read. This practice helps the reader get a better … Continue reading Close and Distant Reading: A Look Into the Future

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In the history of humankind, there’s only been a very brief span in which individuals could be well-read enough to be familiar with every book written; this happened so long ago that the concept today seems completely ridiculous and laughable. Since that time, we have constantly struggled with which books to read in our limited time, … Continue reading Close and Distant Reading

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Distant reading: it’s something that I’m sure we have all done.  Quiz on an assigned reading?  Let’s speed read it.  Want to refresh your knowledge of a given subject?  Let’s glance over it.  Distant reading is something that we likely do every day.  But how is there any merit to it whatsoever? Close reading is … Continue reading How Beneficial is Distant Reading

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Distant and close reading techniques for discovering new information from known texts have their advantages and disadvantages. Distant reading is a technique that is used to scan large amount of texts for information. This is a technique that is useful when one wants to examine volumes of work over an extended time period. Computer programs … Continue reading Distant vs. Close Reading

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