“Macroanalysis & the Humanities” is a working group at the University of Chicago that was co-founded by Sarah Kunjummen and Jonathan Schroeder. Our goal is to introduce humanities graduate students to the area of the digital humanities known as “macroanalysis,” or the large-scale formal analysis of humanistic objects of study.

During the 2015-16 academic year, we are focusing on the different stages in the process of building this kind of project. We examine how to formulate research questions, collect data, and use data and metadata, build a database, select appropriate analytic approaches, and visualize the results of this analysis. These meetings are designed as a sequence, though participants are free to attend individual meetings as they see fit, and feature presentations by invited speakers from the humanities and social sciences, as well as discussions of assigned articles.

In addition to presenting core aspects of digital humanities research and providing a forum to receive feedback on projects and project ideas, we also seek to lay the groundwork for longer-term intellectual support. To this end, the working group serves as a forum for connecting students to available resources on campus, an emerging network of possible interlocutors and collaborators for future projects, and an archive of readings in the field.

In spring quarter 2016, we will be holding our final meeting of the year on data visualization, as well as a two-day conference. For information about past meetings, please see the schedule.

April 20 | Data Visualization
5:00 pm, Regenstein 208

May 19 and 20 | DHChicago: New Archival Knowledges
Keynote: Thursday, May 19
“In Defense of Search”
Daniel Shore
Associate Professor of English, Georgetown University

Symposium: Friday May 20, 9:30 am- 2:30pm