Computation-Based Discovery in Literary Language
This one-day course offers an introduction to the statistical analysis of literary texts, focusing on exploratory analysis rather than authorship attribution. We will spend most of the day learning and applying some techniques using software and text sets provided for use in the workshop and afterwards. No prior experience with statistics or with stylistics is necessary to participate.
The workshop outline is as follows:
- Basic introduction to computational stylistics
- Using simple word frequencies and conducting univariate analysis (e.g., correlations and t-tests)
- Applying more advanced methods of multivariate analysis (e.g., Principal Component Analysis, Zeta, Information Theory measures)
- Checking the validity of results
- Discussion
Workshop learning objectives:
After completing the session, the attendee will be able to:
- Better understand a variety of statistical and computational methods and their application in the analysis of literary texts
- Apply methods of univariate and multivariate analysis to literary texts
- Critically assess the validity of results of such analyses
This workshop costs $50.00 per person and prior registration is required.
Registration is now closed.
Date: 17th March 2014 (All day)
Who should attend this workshop:
This workshop will appeal to researchers and graduate students in literary studies and related disciplines.
Prerequisites:
Participants must provide their own laptop. Any operating system is acceptable, provided the most stable version of Java has been installed. To allow installation of statistical software, participations should also ensure that their laptop has a functional USB port.
About the presenters:
Hugh Craig is Professor of English, Director of the Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing, and Director of the Humanities Research Institute at the University of Newcastle.
Jack Elliott is a PhD student at the Centre for Literary and Linguistic Computing, University of Newcastle.
Brett D. Hirsch is ARC Discovery Early Career Research Fellow and Assistant Professor of English and Cultural Studies at the University of Western Australia.