Do you have a textual analysis project that you are trying to get off the ground? Or are you simply interested in learning more about how to analyze texts with computers? Join us for an intensive - but fun! - bootcamp at the Sherman Centre with opportunities to work on your own documents or a sample corpus if you just want to practice the techniques.

Through hands-on exercises, we will introduce to the fundamental concepts, processes, and methodological approaches for preparing and analyzing text using computational approaches. We’ll show you how to use tools like OpenRefine and Python for text preparation and introduce analytic techniques including named entity recognition (NER), topic modeling, sentiment analysis and stylometry. Participants are not expected to have any pre-requisite knowledge of text preparation and analysis, but experience with Python is an asset. Participants will be given an opportunity to complete exercises in advance of the workshop to build basic competency.

Details: This is an in-person event and open to all who are able to travel to the Sherman Centre, which is accessibly located on the first floor of Mills Library at McMaster University. This is a two-day event that spans over May 6-7. For more information about the schedule, please see https://scds.github.io/dmds23-24/comptext-bootcamp. 

Preliminary Work/Prerequisites:  In this workshop, we will use the following tools and platforms:

• Google Colab, which requires a Google account. If this poses a challenge, please reach out to the Sherman Centre for alternative arrangements.
• OpenRefine: Download and install prior to the first session.
• Constellate.org, which is available to all McMaster members, as well as members of other institutions. If you do not have access, please contact the Sherman Centre for alternative arrangements.

Facilitator Bios: Devon Mordell is an Educational Developer at The MacPherson Institute for Teaching and Learning. Devon draws on her experience in media art, hobbyist programming and instructional design to teach workshops for the Sherman Centre. Her areas of interest in digital scholarship include data visualization, computational analyses of texts, sonification and critical digital humanities. Her research practice explores the algorithmic culture industry and platform psychogeography.

Jay Brodeur (he/him) is the Director of Digital Scholarship Infrastructure & Services and the Administrative Director of the Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship. Jay has years of experience working with data in a wide variety of formats and interdisciplinary contexts. A scientist by training with a PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences, he’s comfortable working and advising on all kinds of data-related activities, ranging from data wrangling and integration to analysis and mapping to research data management. Jay’s also keenly interested in the application of digital approaches to support experiential learning opportunities within and outside of the classroom.

Subhanya Sivajothy (she/her) brings a background of research in data justice, science and technology studies, and environmental humanities. She is currently thinking through participatory data design which allow for visualizations that are empowering for the end user. She also has experience in Research Data Management—particularly data cleaning and curation. Do not hesitate to reach out to her if you would like to talk more about data analysis and visualization as they evolve throughout the research process. Contact Subhanya at sivajos@mcmaster.ca.