Comparable Media:

This semester I've focused so much on apply Shakespeare to the digital world that it's really easy to see how my project compares to others. For instance in this class alone each one of your amazing blogs can compare to my project of documenting my observations of legitimizing digital humanities at BYU and on the larger scale. You guys really are my contemporaries in project structures! And of course the model I'll present for you is Professor Burton's blog:

http://shakespeareunbound.blogspot.com/

I've also mentioned before several blogs that detail not only digital humanities but Shakespeare as well. Here's a small list of the many people I've come across:

Jonathan Hope's Blog:

http://winedarksea.org/ ,

Lisa Spiro's blog on digital scholarship:

http://digitalscholarship.wordpress.com/

David Perry's Blog (similar to Spiro's in idea and format):

http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/

Dan Cohen's blog on digital humanities (He's a big name in the digital literacy movement!):

http://www.dancohen.org/

Learning Outcomes:

As a way to promote my new blog I decided to post my learning outcomes on that one. I'll post the link here so that you can connect the two blogs together.

Learning Outcomes

Repurposed Content:

It's taken me far longer than I wanted to get my repurposed content up and there are actually several reasons for that. The first is that my computer decided to have an epic meltdown on me and most of my projects were deleted and I've been scrambling like a mad woman all weekend to get things sorted and fixed. My computer is finally on the mend but I'm behind in posting this and my video.

The second reason is a little different.

Originally I was unsure how to approach a repurposed project for my subject matter which focuses on the digital humanities and its growth. I couldn't really figure out how to justify doing something focused when the digital studies change constantly and new things are coming to light. It is a very difficult subject to pinpoint to one specific project.

so....

I talked to Professor Burton and he suggested that I talk to Jeremy Browne and Jarom McDonald who work at BYU and are heading up the digital humanities program that is becoming a university focus in the coming year. What an opportunity to get involved!

I made the appointment and was able to talk to Jeremy last week (but like I said I'm posting this now because everything I had saved was inaccessible). I discussed with him what was going on at the university in regards to the digital program and he gave me some insight.

He mentioned that it is hard to figure out where to put the digital humanities program because it is such a vast program and covers a lot of different genres. People wonder just how to pin down digital humanities and how to apply them to the larger university scope.

He also mentioned that a lot of professors don't truly understand the digital humanities because they are focused more on the traditional methods of study and are in a way "stuck" in their discipline and unable to budge from that. It's a big issue for people, like my professor Gideon Burton, who think far beyond the here and now because they see the potential for growth new avenues of legitimate study.

So the Digital Humanities program-still very new in development-has a lot of work on in the coming months! But the exciting thing is that there is so much potential for this program!

I then inquired as to what I could do to help further this study and move things forward. Jeremy suggested doing a few things: getting involved with digital communities and researching what is going on here at BYU. He even commented that I should make a blog to detail these observations and digital communities so that I can remain in the loop and note where digital studies are going and contribute my voice to the growth of this discipline.

"Hey!" I thought, "That's what I've been trying to do all semseter!"

So really my Shakespeare blog has fascilitated in helping me solidify my new repurposed content. The digital humanities seem to be all about socializing and proving the significance of the discipline. I've been striving to connect to people and understand their views on digital studies as well as their projects and research. This "social proofing" has helped me to gain a passion for the fight to legitimize the digital studies here at BYU as well as in the wider sphere of learning.

So, here's a link to my new Digital Humanities Blog:

http://worldofdigitalstudies.blogspot.com/

On this blog I'll be noting all the digital blogs of significance that I come across, the people I contact and interview as well as having guest bloggers to showcase their studies. At the same time I'll also be keeping updates available on the research done at BYU and the changes happening there!

Basically I'm determined to be the news on the digital humanities!

Sound exciting?

I think so!

Proof is in the Pudding....the social proof that is...

Okay, it's been long in coming, but I finally got a response from one of my contacts, Lisa Spiro, who is a strong advocate for the digital humanities. I shot her an e-mail and asked her a couple of questions and the other day she finally got back with me. Here's how the conversation went down:

Hello,

My name is Kaleigh and I'm currently a Senior at Brigham Young University. I'm working on a project involving Shakespeare studies in the digital age and I was hoping that I could get some insight from you. If you wouldn't mind, perhaps you might answer some questions for me?

1. What do you think is the significance of the digital humanities? How are they beneficial to our current methods of study?

I think the digital humanities have broad significance. First, digital humanists have developed trustworthy digital collections that provide the basis for research. Second, they are creating tools and analytical approaches that enable researchers to, for example, discern patterns across large textual collections, visualize the relationships among participants in a network (for example, letter correspondents), model spaces and objects (including those that are imagined or destroyed), create geo-temporal visualizations that enable us to understand phenomena across space and time, etc. Third, digital humanists are experimenting with networked approaches to scholarly communication, including open peer review, multimedia publishing, networked communities, etc. Fourth, the digital humanities are devising pedagogical approaches that enable students to do original research and participate in networked communities. Fifth, DH is shaping new theoretical approaches, including a deeper understanding of the cultural implications of hardware and software. Finally, DH has a public impact by making information widely available and exploring approaches such as crowdsourcing.

2. Do you feel that digital studies will replace more traditional methods of study or enhance them? How so?

Ultimately, I think all humanities will be digital humanities, but that the core values of the humanities--interpretation, multiplicity, play--will abide.

3. How do digital studies affect our perception of texts and the humanities like Shakespeare? What can you do with digital data?

You can do lots with data: compare, mashup, map, visualize, mine, analyze, share, etc. With Shakespeare, for instance, one could compare the variants across folios, map relationships among characters, map the movements of characters, use topic modeling to detect larger themes across his works, use text analysis to plumb the significance of particular words and phrases, etc. Check out the MLA's Variorum Shakespeare Challenge: http://www.mla.org/nvs_challenge

There's also a special issue of the Shakespeare Quarterly you may wish to consult: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/mcpress/ShakespeareQuarterly_NewMedia/

4. What do you think the trend is for digital studies?

I don't know that there is a single trend, beyond DH growing in visibility. I noted a number of sessions on DH at the most recent Modern Language Association conference.

5. What would you say to critics of the digital humanities?

Experiment. Play. See what's possible. Engage in conversation. Criticism is healthy, if it is informed, engaged criticism.

Good luck with your project!

I also got a response from another of my blogger contacts, David Parry, and he was kind enough to respond to my e-mail, though his comments were somewhat unexpected. His comment about Shakespeare and the digital humanities in particular made me do a double take. That being said, I appreciated his honesty and consideration in taking the time to respond to me. Here's his response:

The article linked to below should answer almost all those questions, and in much more detail than I could do in email responses. The only thing not addressed in that article is your question of Shakespeare.
Re: Shakespeare. Actually I am not really interested in that question. I think there are probably a lot of scholars who work on this question, but for me the question of leveraging data to redo scholarship on old texts is really the wrong approach, I want to use the digital to open up new perspectives and ways of being humanists.

http://outsidethetext.com/main/2012/01/the-digital-humanities-or-a-digital-humanism/

Finally another video!

Several attempts to upload, frustration, and moments of complete and utter aggravation have finally paid off. I finally got my video to upload! It's a little late but better to have it posted then not at all right?

For some reason my youtube video wasn't showing up on the search, but if you want to view the video on youtube you can follow this link:

Digital Humanities

There's a few rough patches that I see after publishing the video, but I think it turned out okay. I'd love your feedback so feel free to comment. Thanks guys!

I Just Had a Thought:

Okay, quick little blurb that I had as I've been working on finishing my video. I've come to realize that the pursuit for legitimizing the digital humanities is very similar to the pursuit of attempting to legitimize the significance of studying humanities at the University level.

There is a lot of talk about how many scholars don't understand the complete significance of studying the Humanities at a university level. The argument stands that no definitive career is mapped out for you. There are too many variables and it often appears that the study of literature or art don't lead to a significant career in today's fast-paced, business-oriented world.

The other side argues that the Humanities are an essential study to our society today. Both men and women should study subjects such as literature and realize that even though there may not be a definitive career path, Humanities majors are actually far better off because they aren't limited by a chosen path. Humanities allow for a wide array of opportunities to present themselves. The door of possibilities is far larger as a Humanities major!

The contention with the digital humanities is that many people believe that taking a focus on the digital form of study hinders the significance of traditoinal forms of study. People, like Stanley Fish, feel that digital humanities can be significant if you are merely "crunching numbers." But he fears that the digital humanities can also cause people to focus more on the digital aspects and as a result many will ignore the necessity to explore texts in a more standardized format.

And then there are those who argue that the Digital Humanities allow for an expansion upon traditional forms of study. You can learn a lot of traditional studies. However, you can also apply digital study methods to enhance studies and open new avenues of comprehension that aren't available through more traditional forms.

Can you see the correlation I see?

'By my penny of observation'-A review of "Love's Labour's Lost" (BYU)

As the king of Navarre states at the beginning of Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost":

"Our court shall be a little Academe,
Still and contemplative in living art."

Foreswearing the company of women, Navarre's court of scholarly men sought to gratify their minds through pursuits of the academic nature.

In short, no girls allowed!

That is until the princess and her ladies come to visit. Then all bets are off!

Once beautiful ladies appear, scholarly pursuits take a back seat to wooing and romantic escapades. And so commences a humorous portrayal of the follies of men and women in love.

Brigham Young University's 1940's adaptation of Shakespeare's early comedy does a fantastic job of capturing the essence of the Bard's play, while at the same time taking creative liberties to capture the spirit of a memorable era in American history. The scenes are constructed to remind the viewer of the times during World War II. The costuming, lighting, makeup, and  sufficiently and accurately capture the nostalgia of the 40's lifestyle: the sailors, the dancing, and the music.

One aspect of the play that I found interesting was the combination of 40's lifestyles and surroundings mixed with Shakespearean speech. The speech remained true to the traditional publication form that Shakespeare employed during his time. However, this speech was applied to a time far more modern. This tactic marries two histories together.

But how can someone achieve this? How can two seemingly different points in time connect to one another?

The answer seems simple really. Shakespeare's work transcends time and we can relate the concepts and subjects found within his works to our current situations. The theme of "Love's Labour's Lost" is the pursuit of love and the hilarity that can ensue during such acts. People in every time have experienced moments of humorous love-sick pursuits, where words are misconstrued and goofy relationship mishaps abound. Shakespeare was not unique in his subject matter. Such themes apply to his time as much as they applied to the 1940's and even today.

Ultimately, Shakespeare can be perceived as the most influential literary figure because his works transcend time. All people have the capacity to find meaning in Shakespeare's words.

Life...

Well, my posts are tad late. I'm still finishing up my video (My week/weekend was beyond crazy) and I hope to get it up soon. I also have several posts that I need to get up and posted for your enjoyment, but again I've been sucked into family issues that have eaten up vast amounts of time.

Sorry guys.

:( (here's my pouty face)

My Project Idea

I think that perhaps for my project I will do a twist on our own class project. If I can get all the people I'm going to contact to consent, I think that perhaps I can do a collaborative video presentation about the significance of the digital humanities. I can ask a specific question to each "guest speaker" and have them record their response on video and send that to me. Then, perhaps, I can combine each segment together into one larger project. It can be all fancy and digital and pretty and...several other adjectives I can't htink of

Does that sound like a good idea?

And I think that perhaps if I can get more of the general publice (students/people interested in the digital medie, etc.) to accept my inquiries, I can do something similar with them. That way I can observe the different viewpoints and address the struggles and questions people may have about digital humanities.

Maybe make this a web series or something?

What do you guys think?

Market Research Study/People I Want to Contact:

Okay. I 've been working rather hard to figure out who I will be able to contact and how I will contact them. I've decided that I want to display the community building power of the digital humanities as well as the learning power you can gain from employing digital means. I want to show how digital humanities enhance traditional studies and how beneficial they are to our current age.

I've noticed a few problems with the digital studies that I'd like to address:
-Why aren't the digital humanities more widely available to a more general audience?

And

-How can we promote the digital humanities to show to skeptics that this method/genre of study is significant and beneficial?

I've mulled over these questions and I've figured out that perhaps if I focus my attentions on a more informal audience and promote the digital humanities to them perhaps popularity will win over the more skeptical audiences. I also want to extend my feelers out to audiences who are studying the digital humanities in the digital world and interrogate (or simply question) their motives for studying the digital humanities as well as their desires for the future of digital studies, etc. Sound like a plan?

Well I like this plan anyway.

And here's who I plan to contact (so far anyway):

I stumbled across a blog from a woman/ professor who has devoted a great deal of time studying the digital humanities:

http://digitalscholarship.wordpress.com/

In this blog the creator, Lisa Spiro, hopes to study the digital humanities and the affect that they have on studies. She also hopes to promote digital scholarship and display the significance of the digital humanities to a wider audience.

Pretty cool right?

I hope that I can contact her and get her insight on how she hopes to achieve these things. I'm working through her blog right now, but I would love to do an interview with her through e-mail.

And as a added bonus, her blog led me to several other blogs with people who are hoping to achieve similar things! I haven't worked through all of the individual blogs yet but I have a few that are extremely promising:

http://academhack.outsidethetext.com/home/

This blog, created by David Perry (a professor at the University of Texas), and he discusses his hope to cultural transformation brought about through the digital humanities. In his own words he states: " Particularly I am interested in how traditional institutions-libraries, higher education, even democracy itself-will be altered in a post print society. To see some of my work visit the research page."

He mentions that he has a twitter, so I'm hoping to follow him and start questioning him (okay maybe stalk him) in hopes to better understand his motives and insights. I'll also be perusing his blog and gaining a better understanding of his research.

Still another blog that I've come across is this:

http://www.dancohen.org/

This blog run by Dan Cohen (A professor at George Mason University) delves into the "impact of new media and technology on all aspects of knowledge, from the nature of digitized resources to twenty-first century research techniques and software tools to the changing landscape of communication and publication."

He teaches this at George Mason University and his blog is merely an extension of that reasearch. I'm also hoping to get an interview with him and propose several questions to him about making the technology for the digital humanities more cost effective and available to the the more general public.

And like I said there are many more blogs that I'm going through and I'll be sure to update another list of people when Iget more information on the creators and credibility of the blog list.

But, I do have a small problem that I'm not sure how to overcome. I keep thinking of ways to promote the digital humanities to people on a more common level, i.e. not professors or researchers, but people in general. I'm trying to get specific people/groups that I can interview, but I'm not quite sure how to go about things.

Any suggestions?

"By my penny of observation"-Review of "Love's Labour's Lost"

Well I realize this post is a tad late in being posted. I've been super busy this week with various projects and while I haven't shirked my duties with assignments, I just haven't posted anything yet! Forgive me dear blogites and Shakespeare friends.

I hope you enjoy reading the next few posts!

To start off this blog-fest I would like to discuss my views on the amazing play we finished this week. Didn't you guys just adore "Love's Labour's Lost"?! I did! It had me giggling constantly and I absolutely loved the word play and the sparring of 'wit' between the characters. Plus, the sheer amount of humor woven through the interactions was fabulous.

I still maintain my preference for Biron as my favorite character with Armado coming in a close second. Both of these men were humorous to read/watch. I really got a kick out of Biron's humor and wit and sharp minded remarks. It was amazing to read his comments and justifications for everything. One of my favorite parts was the following passage because I absolutely love the word play here. I love how each character adds to the rhyme of the other. It's wonderful! Enjoy.

BIRON

I'll prove her fair, or talk till doomsday here.

FERDINAND

No devil will fright thee then so much as she.

DUMAIN

I never knew man hold vile stuff so dear.

LONGAVILLE

Look, here's thy love: my foot and her face see.

BIRON

O, if the streets were paved with thine eyes,
Her feet were much too dainty for such tread!

DUMAIN

O, vile! then, as she goes, what upward lies
The street should see as she walk'd overhead

Video and short synopsis of my repurposed research

Alright. Let me just vent for a minute. I had an amazingly cool video to post for you filled with pictures and texts and all that wonderful stuff. I was rather proud of it actually. HOWEVER, like so many of my frustrations this last week, the stupid computer of mine didn't save things! Talk about frustratingly annoying.

Anyway,  I made a small video explaining, somewhat, my ideas about digital humanities. While the video isn't terrible I'm not too happy with the result and I feel as though I can be a lot more concise and tune my focus even further. That being said, this is a great jumping off point. Like I said though, my other video was much much better. Alas, 'tis not my lucky week. Oh well. Gotta roll with the punches, eh?

My main focus for the video, and I think for my research, is to focus on the benefits of digital studies. In particular I want to emphasize the ways digital humanities enhance traditional studies, as well as how the research community is more available. Because come on let's face it, it's always nice to know that there are people out there who actually CARE about what you're studying and talking about right? And I think that I'm going to take my focus away from strictly an academic community and focus more on the common, everyday people who are interested in employing digital studies into their learning. I want to show that digital studies (or studies in general) don't have to be limited to the upper crust of researchers. Everyone can study. Everyone can learn. And EVERYONE can share their ideas and become a part of the community.

Well that's what I think anyway.

Enjoy the video.

*Grumble grumble*

I've been trying ALLweekend to get my video up. Stupid computer keeps failing me. How annoying can that be right?! Seriously.

I will get my video up (hopefully today) and in that video I'll be able to discuss with you my new direction for my paper which is: The SIGNIFICANCE of Digital Humanities.

Hopefully my computer will cooperate this time. *insert angry face here*

"Our court shall be a little Academe"-Loving Love's Labour's Lost!

Wow.

I'm loving this play! I love the wit, the vivacity, and the plucky little comments woven throughout the story!

I decided after I read the text, to watch the production done at the Globe that Dr. Burton showed a clip of. And can I just say that it is awesome?! Seriously I loved having a production to observe after reading. It really made the text come alive for me. And it reinforces the idea that plays are really an EXPERIENCE not just a text. Plays are meant to be produced!

And boy did the Globe do an excellent job of producing Shakespeare's play!

My favorite characters are probably Berowne or Biron (or however else it is known) because he's so amusing to listen to/read; Costard simply because he's hilarious; and Adriano De Armado because of his obsession with love.

I loved reading the lines of these three in particular because of the language each uses (Berowne with his rhyming and wit, Costard with his simplistic absurdity, and Adriano with his lovey-dovey rationalizations)

So, when I started watching the production done by the Globe I was happily aware of how fabulous the actors portrayed these specific characters. They were IMMENSELY entertaining!

I'm not completely done watching the play but three of my favorite scenes so far are:


Talkative Prisoner

This is the moment where Costard cannot STOP talking about how he WILL stop talking
Witty Barbs

This is the scene where Biron and Rosaline spar and throw some witty little barbs back and forth.

Armado In Love

Ah Armado is in love! What more can I say? :)
* As a side note to anyone who doesn't have access to these links (because they are provided through BYU) There may be a way to e-mail links to you! Let me know if you need some help! :)

The Breadth and Depth of Digital Humanities & SHOUT OUT TO ASHLEY!

Okay!

As you may be aware from previous posts, I'm sort of addicted to the digital humanities. The whole concept to expand learning through the modern digital methods really intrigues me. And after working through my paper and listening to everyone's insight on reworking their own papers I've started to think about the different ways I can improve my own research.

One way that I thought about reworking my paper is to shift and expand my focus. I think my paper was very academically centered. My main focus was on talking to an audience of professors or researchers. I think that I need to expand this field a bit more and look at the broader scope of things.

I started by asked myself these basic questions:

Who has experience with the digital world?

-Just about everyone!

Who would be interested in digital studies?

-Students and teachers and people interested in learning.

HOW could digital humanities benefit?

-Digital Humanities can benefit people through the expansion of the knowledge base and the variety of information available. Further, studying through digital methods allow for different methods of study to present themselves providing unique opportunities for learners to understand the humanities in ways that appeal to individual learning habits and patterns as well a provide new insight into the basic foundation of studies in humanities.

So, in a nutshell, digital humanities provide a breadth and depth of knowledge and community connections that expand on traditional study methods.

Sound good?

Also, I thought that I could make my presentation more digital-friendly. How do you appeal to a digital savvy community about the importance of digital humanities unless you reach out to them through digital means? I'm not quite sure what avenue this will take just yet, but I'm starting to get things figured out slowly.

And ASHLEY,

I'd love to collaborate with you on our videos if you'd be willing. I know your ideas focus on Ophelia, but I think that there's a great many places where our ideas can overlap. Perhaps we can combine ideas in some way or present our videos as connectors to one another?

Let me know what you think!

"Frailty, thy name is woman,"-Ashley's Ophelia

Can I just say how awesome Ashley is? Seriously I loved your paper. I loved the insight you had the argument you presented. It really sparked my interest and I found myself contemplating several things.

Here's a link to her blog:

http://lewisashley382.blogspot.com/

Now I want to focus on a few thoughts I had while reader her blog.

The first:

As I was reading about how Ophelia was abused by all the men around her it got me to thinking about the stereotypes that society has of women today. I mentioned a similar idea as a comment to the post that Rachel O. made about how to broaden her paper to a larger sphere beyond merely Mormonism and Shakespeare.

Here's a link to her post:

http://ontiverosrachel382.blogspot.com/2012/03/after-meeting.html

What I can't help but wonder is if perhaps both papers are a call for shifting from stereotypes in society to more accepting. Ashley's paper made me think about how society objectifies women in many respects. According the popular social standards, you aren't important if you can't fit a specific form of standards. To me this correlates to Ophelia who, as Ashley argues, was objectified by everyone around her. Her father saw her as a possession. Many men today see the same thing. And sometimes women overcompesate.

Perhaps we could take this to a larger sphere and create a community where women attempt to change the societal norms and push for a new definition of beauty and a new standard of what a great woman is? I think about women who struggle with eating disorders and mental issues because of the abuse they've received from family, peers, and the media. It's interesting to note that connection.

It reminds me of this movement:

 

Beauty Redefined

Isn't it interesting, too, which flower Ophelia gives herself? As Ashley mentioned it is called a Common Rue. I decided to do a little research on this particular flower. And you know what I found? The alternate name for the flower is called:

Herb-of-grace


Pretty interesting in connecting that to Ophelia's apparent call for change. She isn't giving herself a flower that denotes her impurity or her subservience to men. Rather, she gave herself a flower that noted her grace, her inward beauty, her inward value (something that is overlooked by all others). This seems to be her declaration of independence and realization of her true worth. She seems to advocate the importance and worth of ALL women (think of the name again: COMMON rue).

Second:

When reading about the connection Ashley made to flowers and water I started thinking in the context of the mythological and historical references to each of these. This could connect well to Bri's research on her blog:

http://zabriskiebri382.blogspot.com/

In her paper and her reflections she discusses her connections between Shakespeare and the mythical (plus she does a great job of analyzing Ashley's paper).

Seeing these two blogs, I started making connections between the two concepts. For instance, in all religions (from what I can tell) there are allusions made to water as a significant idea (baptism, life, rebirth, etc.) Also, historically, water is referenced in many ancient stories. Think of Beowulf and King Arthur texts. How many times can you count where water is referenced? This idea even extends to later after Shakespeare. I keep thinking of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shallot" and how intricately connected this concept is to Shakespeare:



The Lady of Shallot

This lady seems to represent the mythical world, full of magic and wonder. Her death occurs as she floats down the river singing her own death song. Who does this sound like?

Ophelia perhaps?




Anyway, those are my thoughts so far. I'm having a great time looking at everyone's blogs and I hope to create some posts about my thoughts as I continue to read! :)

Smile. It's Friday

Here's my plan for this weekend:

Do homework

Look at my paper again (I want to take Dr. Burton's suggestions and start to revise things to make them clearer)

Spend time with children

Take a nap

And I will be sure to laugh at some point.

I saw this the other day on facebook and thought I'd share:

Reflections: Ode To a Research Paper

Well guys we did it! :)



I think we all should feel some sense of pride in all of our hard work. Each of us have researched, contacted others, blogged, and diligently attempted to create exceptional research papers. I say, everyone has done amazing!

Professor Burton asked that we all write a reflection on our process, our paper, and how we feel about things right now.

So, let's get started eh?

First of all here's a copy of my paper:

Digital Humanities

Honestly when I was working on this paper I sort of felt a little like a small fish in a big pond. The digital humanities is such a large and popular subject. I wanted speak intelligently about the grammar and linguistic aspect of the digital movement. So it was a little intimidating for me to sit down and write my paper. I worried that I wouldn't make sense in my writing and that I would sound foolish trying to talk about something so complex.

But I guess without any bravery we never know what we can accomplish eh?

So I continued on.

As for the completely product that you read? Well, I feel like maybe it is disjointed and that a lot needs to be reorganized. Professor Burton made some suggestions about how I can make my argument clearer and stronger and I can see that if I reworked the structure then my paper would sound stronger and be much more cohesive than it is now. Also, perhaps narrowing my focus even further than it currently is would help make my argument stronger.

I know that I can make my paper better than it is now. And I think that's a great aspect of writing, every time you complete a paper or a chapter in a novel, you are only finishing another DRAFT. You can edit and polish your paper later on and make things clearer, stronger, and better.

That thought cheers me up. I'm not saying that my paper is completely horrible. I don't think anyone in this class can write a horrible paper either. What I'm saying is that I know that I can always improve things. I know my strengths and I know the weaknesses of my paper (and I appreciate the critiques from Professor Burton and anyone else that cares to give me advice!). And I think this experience will make each of us stronger as writers, readers, and critics.

So what's in the future?

Well, I know that I'll be working to strengthen my argument and make things clearer to the reader. And I really want to research things further. Professor Burton noted that not all programs in the digital sphere are made readily available to everyday people (especially teachers). This intrigued me and I wonder if there is a way that we can attempt to work to make such programs available to a larger audience. I think discussing the benefits the digital humanities (particularily in the area of grammar/linguistics) can have in teaching pre-college students.

I also want to do some research on my own to see just how many researcher tools I can locate and use in my own studies of grammar in Shakespeare. It should be interesting to see what I come up with!

Now I have some things to consider! :)

Tweethis Update!

Okay, so since I posted a little while ago, I discovered that someone is now following me on twitter because of my tweethis statement. The person in question is called 'Technology Coach'.

Exciting! :)

And now? Back to writing!

Tweethis Statement and A Big Thanks!

Well guys first off, thank you for all your encouraging comments on my rough draft. You guys are amazing at posting your reaction to what little I have written so far. I really appreciate it and I'll be certain to return the favor to all of you lovely people!

Now, I have worked on my tweethis statement. In fact, I posted three different ones in hopes that someone would react.

And you know what?

I got NOTHING!

What a bummer it was.

However, as I was preparing to try yet ANOTHER tweethis statement I found that two people actually modified my tweet and displayed it on their sites. But beyond that there really wasn't much of a response.

How tragic.

This is what I wrote:

#Digitalhumanities expand on traditional research. Now we can understand #Shakespeare and #Grammar in new,exciting ways. #Technology.

I messaged the two people who tweeted, one was the self-proclaimed "grammar police" (gulp. Maybe I spelled something wrong?) and the other was a  commentator on politics (weird combination but okay :) ). I hope to hear from them soon! Maybe they'll retweet me again?

"Let every man be master of his time"-Getting my draft going!

FIRST: a bit of humor for all of us to enjoy. I love Calvin and Hobbes and I hope that you can get a kick out of this:




Alright. I have a beginning of my draft for you. I know that it isn't much and it is all over the place. I fear it may seem almost trivial in some areas as well. However, I know that I need to get this up and continue to piece things together.

In a way it reminds me of my own method of thinking for this paper. I'm trying to piece together the various parts of my argument and research in such a way that the thoughts become cohesive and relatable to one another.

Also, I want to make sure that my argument is strong and important. I would hate to feel like I'm not doing this subject justice. How horrible would that be?!
Okay....so without further floundering and justifying here's my super rough rough rough draft/outline for you to read. Enjoy and encourage and criticize if you will. I appreciate any insight you can give me.

Rough Draft

Great!

This is a really interesting development for digital humanities that I thought I would share with you:

A digital humanities journal will be published in March!

http://digital-scholarship.org/digitalkoans/2012/02/15/journal-of-digital-humanities-to-launch-in-march/

"Tell my story"-Answering a question

In my previous post about watching "Hamlet" with my husband, I contemplated the ideas behind Shakespeare's shift between prose and verse. I was curious to see why this happened and so I posed this question to Dr. Hope and inquired if he had done any research on it or knew of anyone that had.

Here's the reply I just received:

Hi Kaleigh

we haven't looked at this yet, though it would not be too difficult to do, and I'm sure would produce interesting results. I'm sure the shifts are not random.

There is a basic pattern of class here: generally higher class characters speak verse, and lower class prose, but this is by no means *always* true.

Do you know Brian Vickers' book *The Artistry of Shakespeare's Prose*? Well worth a look

best
Jonathan
So, no definitive answers, but speculation. And I got another reference to look into! That's a bonus right? :)

"Within the book and volume of my brain"-Phase 2 Review

I hope that I can accurately detail what I've been up to this past week. I've certainly made a lot of progress but there is still so much more to do!

But onto what I've accomplished so far!

I've been working on getting more social contacts with whom I can compare ideas and ask questions to. Last time I mentioned Stanley Fish (SQUEE!) But this past week I've had success in contacting Dr. Jonathan Hope and Cyrus Mulready:

Cyrus Mulready

Dr. Hope

I'm still in contact with both of these men and I hope to hear back soon with more answers to some of my inquiries!

NEXT:

In relation to my outside research I've been spending time reading books, newspaper articles, blogs, e-mail responses, podcasts, and articles. I posted a small annotated bibliography of a small sampling of things that I've been reading.

Annotated Bibliography

ALSO:

In the digital world (where my focus is truly located) I went in search of some insight through visual means. I came across this lecture (On Youtube yes...) through a great university that really enhanced my understanding of the digital humanities movement:

http://spoonerkaleighj382.blogspot.com/2012/02/golden-age-is-before-us-digital.html

AND:

As I've been contemplating my current research texts, I viewed the 1990 version of "Hamlet" starring Mel Gibson, Glen Close and Ian Holm. I've written about my research and observations about the movie here:

Hamlet


FINALLY:

I think I've decided on a thesis or rough idea for my paper. I want to discuss the grammar of Shakespeare's plays as seen through the lens of the digital sphere. The grammar promoted by Shakespeare is enhanced through a digital study and you can observe unique nuances and trends that could not be noticed otherwise.

ALRIGHT!

It seems like there's been so much more that I could post on right now, but I first need to get things organized and sorted before I do that! I hope, though, that this gives you a little peek into what I'm working on.

"Tell my story"-Review of Hamlet

"Hamlet" is the first of a few plays that I am hoping to really delve into and discover grammatical/syntactic curiosities within them. So, as part of our research for this past week Dr. Burton suggested finding a digital adaptation of the play of our choice and giving a review of it.

I was torn throughout the week as to which play I should view/listen to or if I should find more than one. It wasn't until today through the persuasion and guidance of others that I've decided to delve into more than one play.

However, I knew that I always wanted to view "Hamlet" and report on that. I mean the title of my blog should tell you that I really enjoy this play. There are so many aspects of it that really strike me as profound.

My husband, who has never seen an adaptation of the play was interested in watching a production with me. So we hunted (quite literally) for the 1990 version starring Mel Gibson. This version is one of my personal favorites because it is one of the first renditions of "Hamlet" that I've ever seen.

 

It took several days to find a copy of it, but fortunately we were successful!

And, as we sat down tonight, after our babies went to sleep, I pulled out my computer and linked to the text of the play in order to follow along as I was watching so that I could understand how the text is interpreted through the digital lens of movie making.

And I noticed a few things that I wouldn't have recognized initially.

First with the setting and characterizations and costuming:

I found each of these aspects to be fascinating while watching this version of the play/movie. I noticed that the setting itself is very dark, dank, and dismal. Even when the sun is shining there is a muted color scheme portrayed. This really sets the stage for the events of the story to unfold and gives the audience a visual aspect to associate with the tenor of the play.

The characterizations and costuming, to me, were well done. You could clearly see the dynamics in personality and temperment portrayed by the characters/actors. Each person, Mel Gibson, Glen Close, Ian Holm, were all characterized by what they wore and the expressions they portrayed upon their faces. If you notice while watching the movie, Gibson/Hamlet is ALWAYS dressed in dark colors. ALWAYS. Even when he is attending the play, he is wearing his dark suit underneath his crimson overclothes. He is often seen staring intently at others or out a window, lost in his own thoughts and brooding. His mother, on the other hand, is usually portrayed in light, brighter coloring. Her hair is also very fair and she usually has a smile upon her face or a worried expression on her brow. She seems to be a more innocent character. Polonius, too is dressed in dark colors much like Hamlet (correlation perhaps?) but he frequently displays his ability to TALK and great deal. He prone ot expressing his opinion through speech and high handed wit.

But, I decided to go further than observing the physical aspects of the play itself. I wanted to compare the text to the rendition with Mel Gibson in it. And I noticed that there is a lot missing in the movie that you don't find in the play, though this isn't surprising. Also, there seems to be a lot of switching of scenes. Different scenes are placed sooner or later than they originally were intended. It seems to me that this was done to enhance the emotional response of the audience set the viewer up for a dramatic climax.

Also, I noticed a few grammatical curiosities while watching and reading the play/movie.

For example:

There is A LOT of alliteration in Hamlet. I mean there's a ton of it! I noticed while reading the text that it is found everywhere. Like here:

Claudius: When sorrows come, they come not single spies,

Or

Ophelia: O, woe is me
To have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
In reference to the movie adaptation, every time alliteration was used there was a distinct emphasis placed upon those words. It seemed that Shakespeare structured the sentences and lines in such a way that a natural inflection was given to them when the speaker took on the role of their character. I found it interesting in the movie that Hamlet, Ophelia, and especially Polonius adjusted their speech patterns around the alliteration found within the lines.

ANOTHER thing I noticed was that very often throughout the play and movie, the character of Hamlet was often speaking in PROSE instead of verse. For instance, when Hamlet is speaking his "To be or not to be" soliloquoy, he is most certainly speaking in verse. BUT, when Hamlet is angry with Ophelia and goes on his rant against her, he is speaking in prose.

Here are the examples:

HAMLET

I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation
prevent your discovery, and your secrecy to the king
and queen moult no feather. I have of late--but
wherefore I know not--lost all my mirth, forgone all
custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily
with my disposition that this goodly frame, the
earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most
excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave
o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted
with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to
me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how
express and admirable! in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the
world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me,
what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not
me: no, nor woman neither, though by your smiling
you seem to say so.

Watching Mel Gibson portray Hamlet and watching his anger against Ophelia (and likewise her reactions) in prose got me to thinking about exactly WHY Shakespeare used prose throughout his most passionate scenes. Why choose prose when poetry could suffice? Was it simply because of the natural flow of things. OR perhaps Shakespeare intended his scenes, where emotions and tensions run particularly mad, to be presented in prose to show the degeneration of thought and mental capacity?

It does make sense to me.  

"Strong reasons make strong actions"-Annotated Bibliography

Okay,

I still have a few articles and books that I'm browsing through, and a few more that I'm trying to find the references to again so that I can study those, but I do have a small list of some of the research that I've been working on. I hope that you find it interesting and informative.

·         "The Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary"

o   Pretty straightforward with the title. This is the dictionary of the English language in its unabridged glory. It shows all the known English words and allows for the browsing of specific aspects of such words.

·          "Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary" (Alexander Schmidt, 1902)

o   These books (there are two volumes) contain all the known phrases and words that are in every work by William Shakespeare. They effectively catalogue all the things that Shakespeare published in his works. It helps me to research the language of Shakespeare and keep track of everything that is found in his work.

·         "The Harvard Concordance to Shakespeare" (Marvin Spevack, 1973)

o   This is another volume of the phrases and words found in Shakespeare’s works. Each word is catalogued in alphabetical order and each word is then portrayed with the reference to which plays these words are found in specifically. Very informative and effective if categorizing the words and phrases of Shakespeare

·         "The Language of Shakespeare" (G. L. Brooks, 1976)

o   Picking up this book this week! I’ll keep you updated on its contents!

·        " Infoviz and New Literacies | Digital Humanities Specialist"

https://dhs.stanford.edu/algorithmic-literacy/infoviz-and-new-literacies/

o   Discusses the shift to the digital age and the significance that it has for our visually oriented generation. Argues the point that digital humanities can enhance the concepts of traditional research while giving the people something visually stimulating to grasp onto and contemplate.

·         Fish, Stanley;  "Mind Your P’s and B’s: The Digital Humanities and Interpretation"

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/mind-your-ps-and-bs-the-digital-humanities-and-interpretation/

o   Goes into detail about Dr. Fish’s understanding of digital humanities and the enhancement that it gives to traditional research. Dr. Fish (Ah! Still can’t believe he answered me!) He argues the fact that while digital humanities are good to explore, traditional research should be the foundation and focus of research. If you don’t understand the text itself then you won’t fully comprehend the illuminations of digital research methods.

·         University of Strathclyde, Glasgow; "Shakespeare's skill 'more in grammar than in words"

http://www.strath.ac.uk/press/newsreleases/headline_583856_en.html

o   The listed article discusses Dr. Jonathan Hope’s research on the grammar of Shakespeare and how it is much more significant than the simple word creation that is often the focus of many research pursuits. Dr. Hope contends that word creation was not uncommon during Shakespeare’s time and so the bard is not unique in that respect. What is interesting is HOW he used those words and structured sentences to promote his poetry and plays.

"Action is eloquence"-Another reply!

Last week I posted that I had contacted a Shakespeare class from a university in New York. New Paltz to be more specific. Now, to refresh your memories a little bit, these students are studying Shakespeare through interpretation of the text and only that. They don't use anything (other than posting on their blog) in their studies.

Needless to say I found that fascinating.

So I contacted the professor and he quickly responded to my inquiries of why he chose to teach that way and what he felt about digital humanities. And, while he answered these he also posed questions on his own!

Here's a recap of his e-mail:

"Dear Kaleigh,

Thank you for your e-mail and interest in my blogging assignment. I've pasted below a rather full reflection on my thinking behind the blog that I posted for my students a few semesters ago:

http://npshakespeare.blogspot.com/2010/04/blogging-on-blogging-on-blogging.html

You might also find the assignment that the students respond to helpful:

http://npshakespeare2012.pbworks.com/w/page/50141590/Detailed%20Assignment%20and%20Rubric%20for%20Blogging

The only thing I'd add is that the assignment has been successful for me, and as a professor, I enjoy reading my students' open reflections on Shakespeare. It makes my students better readers of the text, too, as the assignment forces students to respond very carefully to the material before they share their thoughts with the class (and general public).

Let me know if you have any other questions. Also, may I ask how you came to the blog? Was it through a google search, or did someone refer it to you?

Best wishes,

 

Cyrus Mulready"

To be honest I do have a few more specific questions to ask him and I'm also hoping to see if he'd be willing to do a debate/conference with out class if at all possible to explore his teachings methods and compare it to the structure of our class.

Sounds like a good thing eh? :) 

I need some advice!

Alright guys,

I must confess that I'm a little uncertain as to where to go at this point. One of our requirements this week is to view or listen to the work we've chosen to analyze further. For me and the topic I've chosen (a study of the digital humanities and Shakespeare) I've come to debate of whether I should place my attention to a specific play or diversify things a bit more. Maybe two plays? Any suggestions? I'm viewing one play right now and I want to make sure I cover things thoroughly enough while at the same time showing the correlation between digital humanities and Shakespeare. So should I expand my horizons a little more?

Does that make sense?

Any advice guys?

"The golden age is before us"-The Digital Humanities....digitized!

Did the title make sense?

Anyway, if not I'll explain.

What I have here is a almost a 2 hour lecture that I came across on youtube. I it is promoted by Columbia University and has a lot of information available on it. I realize that this may be WAY longer than anyone will want to listen to, but I thought that I would post it for those of you who may be interested in noting what I'm up to or to investigate it for yourself!

The lecture and lecturers go into detail as to why the digital humanities are significant and how things have changed towards more acceptance of the digital humanities genre. It really is interesting. I'll have to listen to it again in order to fully understand everything.

"Can one desire too much of a good thing?"-More Answers!

I confess that I've started several different posts only to have them saved rather than actually uploading them! Shame on me! So, here's yet another blog-a-thon for your enjoyment. Rest assured that I'm not slacking in my research, I'm just a terribly silly person for not actually uploading anything! Geez!



Anyway, As I was saying last week Dr. Jonathan Hope was another contact who actually wrote me back! What a great thing it was to hear from him. And, not only did he write me once, but twice! With amazing information and links to follow up on. Here's what he had to say to me when I inquired about how he got started in the digital humanities and why he was so interested in them:


"Mike Witmore and I got into digital humanities by accident really, but we both feel that it offers new, and in many cases, better, ways of understanding texts and the relationships between them. Though we do not think, unlike some in the field, that it is a replacement for traditional reading - we see it as a prosthetic. To understand the results you get from digital analysis, you need to know the texts in traditional ways.

If you want to look into this more, you should listen to a lecture Mike gave at the Folger Shakespeare Library http://www.folger.edu/template.cfm?cid=3988

- here's the transcript: http://www.folger.edu/documents/DataminingShakespeare_transcript.pdf

and here's an article about our work:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1800987/shakespeare-data-mining-michael-witmore-folger-library

and there's more detailed stuff on our blog: winedarksea.com

In case you are interested, I've also attached a piece I wrote on Shakespeare's language - not digital humanities as such, but it has been mentioned in the press recently

let me know if you have any more questions!
best
Jonathan"

I won't attach the article because it is over 12 pages long! But, if anyone is interested in it I would happily e-mail it to you! And as for the other links he posted, they are really informative and interesting and I advise following them and investigating things further!

Also, when I inquired further for me detail and information about what he found to be significant about digital humanities and whether or not he felt like they helped or hindered understanding Shakespeare (and specifically whether or not he felt like this form was superior to traditional ones) he replied again stating:

"well, we don't think digital approaches take the emphasis or significance away from the text: quite the opposite.

Have a look at the blog post I just did at winedarksea on Midsummer Night's Dream: digital tools enable us to identify shifts in pronoun use in that play that you couldn't discover any other way - but in order to understand those shifts, you have to go back to the text, and think about it as a work of drama: what is it in the way the play works that makes Shakespeare write like that?
best
Jonathan"

I like how he made a plug for his own blog as answer for me! It really was informative and I appreciated him writing back and giving me a heads up about what he's working on. It's really awesome!


 

"Boldness be my friend!"-HE ANSWERED ME!

Yay!

I would have written this post much sooner but alas my internet was down and I'm STILL feel pretty crummy...

HOWEVER....

I'm finally writing this post finally to tell you my amazingly awesome news! I received replies from TWO of my contacts! One of which was.....STANLEY FISH!



I know I squealed excitedly (much like a little girl) and couldn't function for ten whole minutes. All I could repeat was:

"I can't believe he replied! Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness..."

My husband stared at me for a few seconds to let me calm down and then asked what he had written.

"I haven't looked at it yet."

And I couldn't! I just couldn't look at it! I stared at my computer and my stomach just churned, my thoughts provoking all my insecurities.

'What is he thinks I'm an idiot' I kept musing. 'What if he writes a really mean reply?'

Or worse, as Dr. Burton suggested: 'What if it's only an automated response?'

Ah! Talk about a motivation to actually click on the e-mail and read it.

I confess it took A LONG time to work up the courage to click on the e-mail. A simple click and I couldn't do it for hours! Hours!

But, finally I did it. I clicked on the e-mail....

And, well, I'll let you read it.

"In genreal my view is that digital techniques can do some tasks of sorting and frequency either more quickly or on a vaster scale than can traditional interpretive methods . But what they can't do is provide or come up with the interpretive thesis without which text mining is just a form of play. If you had formulated a reading of Shakespeare and wanted to know whether certain formal patterns would lend it support , it might well be useful to run the numbers . I think Hope agrees with me. All my considered views on this matter are contained in the three NYTimes pieces--sf "

It wasn't so bad! He wasn't mean or critical or anything. Actually, he was very simple in his response. I appreciated his reference to his other articles on the subject. He answered the questions I proposed to him concerning his opinion about digital humanities and he took the time to clarify information for me. I suspected that perhaps he didn't like digital humanities AT ALL, but he surprised me. I guess I just didn't read his articles well enough, but it is nice to have him clarify things for me personally. He even mentioned another of my contacts, Dr. Hope and his views on the matter (I'll post that in the next blogging).

All things considered I'm pretty happy. It may be a short response but it really gives me a great understanding of what a major critic thinks about the digital humanities. I think that helps a bit!

Don't you?

"The makings of..."-Progress Report

As a review for the last week, I've done several things to try and cover all my bases in the research department. It has been a lot of interesting and exciting work and I'm anxious to see what this week brings me.

Here's a recap of Phase 1:

Exploration:

- I've really worked hard to understand the digital humanities aspect of researching Shakespeare and grammar and why it is so significant. I've posted several things about this, from contacts I've made to things I've noticed. Here's a few links to some of the posts I've done:

http://spoonerkaleighj382.blogspot.com/2012/01/words-words-mere-words-grammar-and.html

http://spoonerkaleighj382.blogspot.com/2012/01/stage-where-every-man-must-play-part.html

Textual Analysis:

-This area is one that I'm in the process of delving into more deeply. There are just so many different facets of language that I'm working to understand with Shakespeare! I can see why it is truly a lifelong pursuit! But for the sake of keeping you all informed as to what I've done, here's a link to the post I wrote:

http://spoonerkaleighj382.blogspot.com/2012/01/stage-where-every-man-must-play-part.html

Social Proof:

-I would have to say that this is the most complete aspect of my research thus far. I've contacted SEVERAL people in an attempt to understand their reasearch as well as the digital humanities movement. Here's a link to some of my posts about my efforts:

http://spoonerkaleighj382.blogspot.com/search/label/Social%20Proof

I hope this helps you understand my research a little better! As always if you guys have any suggestions or insight for me, I'd love to hear it!

"The play's the thing"-Textual Analysis

I thought that since I haven't already done so, I need to give a quick little review of what I've been doing, textually, to enhance my research and understand Shakespeare better.
qui
While I do feel as though this is one area that I need to put more emphasis on, I have been studying the texts and noting many grammatical quirks that Shakespeare employed. I'd like to share something with you.

Shakespeare certainly liked to mix up the sentence order!

- If you look closely at some of the texts, like "Hamlet" for instance you may notice that not all sentences and speeches are written in the form of:

Subject-verb-object, etc.

Rather, Shakespeare took great pains to mix things up a bit write his sentences backwards to our modern tastes. Let me give you a few examples:

In ACT I Scene I of "Hamlet" Horatio speaks:

HORATIO

Before my God, I might not this believe
Without the sensible and true avouch
Of mine own eyes.

Another can be noted here in ACT III Scene II

  QUEEN GERTRUDE

Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.

HAMLET

Mother, you have my father much offended.

It is interesting to note these difference in grammatical structure. And they are scattered throughout the entire play! I think that this structure helps to bring the poetic and artistic flare to the production, but I almost get the impression that there's more to it than just that.

It certainly is interesting to see how he plays with the structure! It sort of reminds of of this guy:

"Nothing can come of nothing"-Social Proof 3

Okay,

I warned you that I had a lot to write about but that I've been ill this week. So here's yet ANOTHER post for your enjoyment.

This time I have a few more bits of information to share with you.

The first?

Well it's a blog by some students in New York who are studying Shakespeare simply through studying the texts (or that's how it appears to me). The lovely Mikhaela is actually the one who found this awesome, yet confusing blog, so let me first give credit to her! Thanks Mikhaela!

Here's the link to the blog:

New Paltz Shakespeare

*TARA* this is the link that I promised you! I hope that you find it interesting.

I'm hoping to hear back from the professor, Cyrus Mulready, to get more information about his teaching method as well as maybe setting up a discussion with his class and ours if at all possible. I think that would be awesome! Don't you? Plus their blog is very interesting and I enjoy the insight that they bring to the texts themselves.

Second....

I talked to a professor about pursuing researching the digital humanities and connecting that to Shakespeare and grammar (hopefully!). You guys probably know him....his name is Gideon Burton.

Does this even count as social proof? Maybe it's cheating just a little bit...

Anyway, we discussed the importance of the digital humanities movement and how is has had a great impact on how people study and comprehend things, as well as how there is still a large debate going on between whether or not it is effective to the extent of traditional research. Professor Burton gave me the link to a website that I thought I'd share:

https://dhs.stanford.edu/algorithmic-literacy/infoviz-and-new-literacies/

I'm just starting to get through the information but one little quote stuck out to me that I thought I'd share with you:

" I hope that the digital humanities can act as an impetus to demand better and more varied forms of literacy from our general academic (and by extension, public) audiences. The communication of information should not start by assuming poor visual literacy, network literacy and spatial literacy but rather should foster and demand increased levels of each. "

"Nothing can come of nothing,"-Social Research 2

Alright! Another post for you...

I mentioned in my last post that I contacted Stanley Fish...yeah...

Well I've contacted a few other people along side of him.



One person that I've contacted is Dr. Jonathan Hope. I mentioned his blog earlier. It refers to researching the works of Shakespeare, specifically the grammar. He is also the one referenced in the Huffington Post comment.

Here's his website/blog again: http://winedarksea.org/

When I stumbled across his website, I went to Twitter to see if he was available on there for contact. SURPRISE! He was! Hooray!

So I started stalking him (creepy right?) And he actually responded! He asked to e-mail him and that he'd love to talk more with about his reasearch. He also mentioned Stanley Fish  in one of his posts, so I inquired about how he felt about the criticism that Fish has with the digital humanities.

I'm just waiting to hear back from him!

"Nothing can come of nothing"-Social Proof

I realize that I've been sort of MIA for the last few days. Please forgive that. I've been battling a nasty cold that's completely knocked me off my feet. However, I have been pursuing several avenues of research and I'll relate them to you in the next for posts.

First though, I think I should modify my research topic and enlighten you to the current path that I'm on at the moment. Instead of merely looking into the grammar of Shakespeare, I've started thinking about the whole 'digital humanities' aspect of literary study. I think that I'd like to study how people have been applying these digital studies to understanding the grammar of Shakespeare and whether or not it is more beneficial to pursue study in this manner or to go a more "traditional" route.

Interesting?

At least I think so.

After concluding this to be a topic of interest, I began to hunt, twitter-stalk, and blog-stalk several different people. And I've found a few people that I'm attempting to contact, who can hopefully give me more insight into their understanding of the digital humanities.

The first one I'd like to share is my attempt to contact an amazingly profound literary critic who currently is opposed to using the digital field.  He has a few articles in the "New York Times" that you can view: Article 1 Article 2.  These articles detail the reasoning behind using more traditional approaches to studying the humanities. They are very interesting to say the least!

So I decided I needed to contact him. *Gulp* This is the conversation I had with myself (not out loud mind you, but it's still just as amusing):

Optimistic Me: You can do this! It's not so bad. You're intelligent!

Cynical Me: Yeah right! You can't do this. This is crazy! He'll never respond!

Optimistic Me: You never know what could happen. He may be impressed with your questions.

Cynical Me: Oh come on! It's STANLEY FISH! He could writing a scathing reply to you or worse post something in the "New York Times" about the stupid girl who decided to send him an e-mail. How awkward would that be?

Optimistic Me: Well at least I'd be famous! I don't know I think I can do this.

Cynical Me: Can't!

Optimistic Me: CAN! I'm typing it right now! Ha!

*click click clickity click*

Optimistic Me: Done! I've sent it!

*Pause*

Me (out loud): Ah! I just wrote an e-mail to Stanley Fish! Stanley Freaking Fish! What was I thinking?!

Yeah, I may or may not be a little intimidated by Dr. Fish. He's a pretty powerful guy. And I may have just shown all you readers just how crazy I am.  However, I actually sent the e-mail despite all the inner bantering. So, I hope he writes back! How awesome would that be?!

"Words Words..."-Social Research Outreach

Alright! I've been working diligently (cough cough) on getting together sources and contacting people for my research paper. I've decided to look into the grammar aspect of Shakespeare an see how he has affected our linguistics and grammar today.

Interesting topic?

Anyway, I've found a blog and a newspaper article that actually discuss these facets of Shakespeare's works so I thought I'd share them with you!

The first thing I'd like to share is this awesome blog: Languages of the World which posted information on how words were "originally" pronounced during Shakespeare's time. The post talks about how modern American English is actually closer to what was spoken during Shakespeare's time. I'm not sure how reliable this source is, so I'm in the process of contacting the creator of the blog and getting more background information from her.

The other thing I have to share is an article by The Huffington Post. This was written just a few weeks ago and it discusses how the grammar of Shakespeare may have been more impactful than just his word creation. I'm also going to see if I can't contact Jonathan Hope, the researcher and professor mentioned in the article and see what his whole research is about. He has a website/blog, http://winedarksea.org/ , that goes into detail about some of his research, but I'd like to get more information from him about this as well and look into all the research they have done and are currently doing on the project.

I'm also reviewing scholarly articles and the references that were given to me early by my e-mail contact. I've got a lot to do!

Sound like a plan guys? I'm pretty excited!