Computational text analysis: Thoughts on the contingencies of an evolving method

Mapping a public discourse with the tools of computational text analysis comes with many contingencies in the areas of corpus curation, data processing and analysis, and visualisation. However, the complexity of algorithmic assemblies and the beauty of resulting images give the impression of ‘object...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Daniel Marciniak
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2016-09-01
Series:Big Data & Society
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2053951716670190
Description
Summary:Mapping a public discourse with the tools of computational text analysis comes with many contingencies in the areas of corpus curation, data processing and analysis, and visualisation. However, the complexity of algorithmic assemblies and the beauty of resulting images give the impression of ‘objectivity’. Instead of concealing uncertainties and artefacts in order to tell a coherent and all-encompassing story, retaining the variety of alternative assemblies may actually strengthen the method. By utilising the mobility of digital devices, we could create mutable mobiles that allow access to our laboratories and enable challenging rearrangements and interpretations.
ISSN:2053-9517