Plotting Plots
Shakespeare’s Spreadsheets: Use Data and Charts to Take Reading to Another Level
Shakespeare’s Spreadsheets: Use Data and Charts to Take Reading to Another Level
We can use numbers to better understand literature. That’s right: there are fruitful ways for readers to deepen their analysis…
Baby and Jesus Are the Top Two Names Used in Popular Music? Go On….
Baby and Jesus Are the Top Two Names Used in Popular Music? Go On….
Want another reason to teach computer science in humanities classes? Check this out. In their latest project, the data journalists…
What Incredibles Math
What Incredibles Math
This clip resonates with me something fierce. As the father of an elementary age student, I can attest to the…
Tolkien’s Lesson on Computationality and Creativity–Whilst Smoking His Pipe
Tolkien’s Lesson on Computationality and Creativity–Whilst Smoking His Pipe
On a recent visit to the Tolkien exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum, I was fascinated to see process…
Why Are Letters on Keyboards So Oddly Arranged? Here’s a Primer on the Origins of QWERTY!
Why Are Letters on Keyboards So Oddly Arranged? Here’s a Primer on the Origins of QWERTY!
Keyboards are literally where human beings communication with computers. Considering how ubiquitous they are, it is odd that many of…
228 Issues of Vogue Magazine. Can You Guess How Many Featured Women with Dark Skin? Look.
228 Issues of Vogue Magazine. Can You Guess How Many Featured Women with Dark Skin? Look.
What a fascinating example of data journalism by the folks over at The Pudding. Explore trends in skin color as…
Let’s Take a Moment to ‘Love’ Shakespeare on the Day of His Birth…and ‘Death’
Let’s Take a Moment to ‘Love’ Shakespeare on the Day of His Birth…and ‘Death’
We often learn to read literature by looking closely at a text. You know: focusing our attention on a word…
The Language and Law of Your Location
The Language and Law of Your Location
Whatever device you are reading this on is probably tracking tons of data about you right now, including your geographic…
How Computers Know What You Are Going to Write
How Computers Know What You Are Going to Write
What a fascinating write up over at The Pudding about how predictive text works. I’d love to see how authors…
A Bunch of Celebrities Who Majored in English and Could Have Been English Teachers
A Bunch of Celebrities Who Majored in English and Could Have Been English Teachers
Good Morning Ms. Watson, Mr. Diesel, Ms. Witherspoon, Mr. Legend, and all you other celebs who followed your humanistic hearts…
Let’s see How a Computer “Feels” about Walt Whitman in Honor of #NationalPoetryMonth
Let’s see How a Computer “Feels” about Walt Whitman in Honor of #NationalPoetryMonth
In honor of National Poetry Month, I unearthed this computational example of reading poetry. I took an e-text version of…
Language is Always Susceptible to Bias. That Includes Algorithms.
Language is Always Susceptible to Bias. That Includes Algorithms.
All this digital stuff is comprised of software. And software is comprised of languages. That means, just like human languages,…
Artist Reminds Us Just How Physically Taxing Digital Technologies Are
Artist Reminds Us Just How Physically Taxing Digital Technologies Are
On a recent trip to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, my wife and I visited the exhibit entitled…
Literacy Nerds: Stop Now. Look at this Visualization of Name Misspelling
Literacy Nerds: Stop Now. Look at this Visualization of Name Misspelling
I am at peace with my misspellings, and have had a fair share of gaffes. But to see how thousands…
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Inky Visualizations Teaches Us How Powerfully Humanizing Data Can Be
W.E.B. Du Bois’s Inky Visualizations Teaches Us How Powerfully Humanizing Data Can Be
For years now, I have occasionally seen 19th century data visualizations attributed to W.E.B. Du Bois. Always struck by them…
Famous Writers? Not So Fond of Schools. But They LOVE Libraries.
Famous Writers? Not So Fond of Schools. But They LOVE Libraries.
I had mixed feelings reading how famous writers talked about formal education. They criticized its effects while holding up the…