Computational Bibliography and the Sociology of Data

A Project of the Korea Text Initiative

Han Yong-un's Nim ŭi ch'immuk (Silence of Love, 1926) at Adan Mun'go.

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Computational Bibliography and the Sociology of Data is the first study of its kind. It contends that bibliography has a central, creative role to play in the study of data. Presenting both historical and theoretical approaches to the study of data, Computational Bibliography and the Sociology of Data broadens investigatory methods for studying information as phenomena by presenting new tools for documenting the ways that data are produced, transmitted, and consumed. It does this while suggesting the manifold ways that data has mattered in the past, as well as the multitude of ways that data can matter in the future. We delight in data as physical expressions of significance for individuals and communities. We delight in poetry as similar expressions for similar reasons. The result of ongoing collaborations with individuals at Google, Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK), Hyundai MnSoft, the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative (UC Berkeley), the National Center for Supercompting Applications, Sogang University (Seoul), and the Korea Text Initiative at the Cambridge Institute for the Study of Korea, CompBib.org attempts to break new ground in information and data science, bibliography, and the humanities while preserving access to poetic traditions such as those of twentieth-century Korea.

Interactive Bibliography / of Books of Poetry from 1920s Korea

 



 

Bibliography of Poetry from 1920s Korea




This visualization presents bibliographic information from forty-five individual copies of vernacular books of Korean poetry published between 1921 and 1929. The data are from Wayne de Fremery, "How Poetry Mattered in 1920s Korea" (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2011). The technology we use to present this data was initially developed by Microsoft and utilized Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in. Here we use HTML5. Many thanks to Natasa Milic-Frayling at Microsoft Research Cambridge (UK) for helping to create the first version of this presentation, which is still available. Thank you to Howie Lan at UC Berkeley for his help developing this HTML5 version. To see the visualization in its own window click here. A similar interactive bibliography of periodicals in which Kim So-wŏl published his poetry will appear shortly.

 

Associated Projects/ ongoing collaborations

 

 

Timeline/

 


2006

Work on what will become Computational Bibliography and the Sociology of Data begins after Wayne de Fremery moves to South Korea to conduct doctoral research on modern Korean poetry, publishing, and bibliography in an East Asian context.

2011

"How Poetry Mattered in 1920s Korea" earns Wayne a doctorate from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University.

2012

Wayne begins collaboration with the Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative at UC Berkeley with the aim of creating an electronic atlas of Korean literature.

2013

Collaboration with Sanghun Kim at Hyundai MnSoft begins. Wayne and Sanghun begin building what they think of as a new research and learning environment for Korean literature and culture.


Collaboration with Natasa Milic-Frayling at Microsoft Research, Cambridge (UK) begins. Wayne and Natasa begin work on a project they call Korean Literature in the Cloud: Enabling Cultural Exploration with Windows Azure.


Collaboration with Alex Yajha at the National Center for Supercompting Applications (NCSA) begins. Wayne and Alex begin work on a project called Imaging Literature for Cultural Recovery in the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) at the NCSA. The aim is to make linguistic and cultural information found in unencoded textual images key-word searchable by using new pattern recognition algorithms for indexing and mining image data.

2014

Mark Byington, Edward Baker, and Wayne found the Cambridge Institute for the Study of Korea (CISK), a non-profit research organization located in Cambridge Massachusetts. Wayne begins work as Director of the Korea Text Initiative at CISK.


Collaboration with Alex Amies at Google begins. Wayne and Alex work to facilitate the distribution of Computational Bibliography and the Sociology of Data as an integrated suite of e-books, book applications, and interactive web presentations to complement the monograph?s printed presentation.

2015

Wayne and Michael Buckland (former Dean of the iSchool at UC Berkeley and co-founder of Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative) work closely together to formulate computational bibliography and the sociology of data as investigatory methods for the study of information and culture.

2016

Wayne submits the manuscript of "Computational Bibliography and the Sociology of Data" and CompBib.org to publishers for review.