Opportunity: Jump-start your Python, R and Gephi skills, Nijmegen, Radboud University

Dr Mike Kestemont, University of Antwerp; Dr Marten Düring, Radboud
University Nijmegen
03.04.2013-05.04.2013, Nijmegen, Radboud University
Deadline: 15.03.2013

Jump-start your Python, R and Gephi skills

This intensive three-day workshop will equip both junior and senior
scholars with the ability and skills to “go digital”. The goal of this
workshop is to offer its participants the skills to understand the
potential of selected tools in Digital Humanities (DH), to consider
their application within the realms of their own field and, eventually,
to be able to start their own eHumanities projects. The workshop will
consist of three modules: Programming in Python, Statistics in R and
Network Analysis with Gephi. These modules will be designed to build
upon each other, thereby putting newly acquired skills to practical use
immediately. We also want to ensure a productive exchange between
participants as well as the instructors and, as such, the development of
long-lasting networks. In keeping with ALLC’s principal interests, the
workshop has a firm emphasis on the computational analysis of textual
data, be they literary or linguistic.

To ensure the broad coverage of relevant techniques for the workshop, we
have selected three generic research tools which are currently widely
applied within the eHumanities.
The programming language Python is widely used within many scientific
domains nowadays and the language is readily accessible to scholars from
the Humanities. Python is an excellent choice for dealing with
(linguistic as well as literary) textual data, which is so typical of
the Humanities. Workshop participants will be thoroughly introduced to
the language and be taught to program basic algorithmic procedures.
Because of the workshop’s emphasis on textual data, special attention
will be paid to linguistic applications of Python, e.g. Pattern.
Finally, participants will be familiarized with key skills in
independent troubleshooting.

Deplored by many DH scholars, most humanities curricula today fail to
offer a decent training in statistics. At the same time, a majority of
DH applications make use of quantitative tools in one way or the other.
We seek to provide our participants with hands-on experience with a
common statistical tool, R, with a specific emphasis on the practical
implementation of statistics and potential pitfalls. The statistical
software package R is widely used in the scientific processing and
visualisation of textual data.

Network visualizations can be counted among the most prominent and
influential forms of data visualization today. However, the processes of
data modelling, its visualization and the interpretation of the results
often remain a “black box”. The module on Gephi will introduce the key
steps in the systematization of relational data, its collection from
non-standardized records such as historical sources or works of fiction,
the potential and perils of network visualizations and computation and
finally the identification of relevant patterns and their significance
for the overall research question.

The workshop seeks to provide as much practical skills and knowledge in
as little time as possible. Each module will have the same basic
structure: After an introduction to the respective method and the
targets for the day, the participants will solve pre-defined tasks. The
workshop embraces the concept of trial and error and learning based on
one’s own accomplishments rather than passive information reception.

Registration

Participants are expected to pay a fee of EUR 60 and to make
arrangements for their travel and accommodation. Thanks to the EADH (ex
ALLC) funding we have received we are able to offer free lunch on all
three days as well as a farewell dinner.

In addition, we can offer 2 bursaries for students/participants who have
no other source of funding.

In order to register, please email Mike Kestemont at
mike.kestemont@gmail.com or Marten Düring at md@martenduering.com by
March 15th. Applicants are asked to include a short CV, a statement of
their previous experience with the above mentioned tools and their
research goals.

Previous experience in either programming, statistics or data
visualization is not required.

For further information of eHumanities research at Radboud University
Nijmegen and on the workshop, please visit http://www.ru.nl/ehumanities

Generously funded by the ALLC – The European Association for Digital
Humanities and with support from Radboud University Nijmegen

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Programme

We are very happy to have brought together a team of instructors who are
both experts in their field and great teachers:

Day 1: Programming in Python and basic Natural Language Processing tools
(Instructors: Folgert Karsdorp, Meertens Institut Amsterdam and Maarten
van Gompel, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen)

Day 2: Basic statistics in R (Instructor: Peter Hendrix, University of
Tübingen)

Day 3: Data modelling and network visualizations in Gephi (Instructor:
Clément Levallois, Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Homepage <http://www.ru.nl/ehumanities>

URL zur Zitation dieses Beitrages
<http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/termine/id=21210>

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