Blog Post #3 Exploring Text Visualization Tools
I took 3 sample student goal statements from their ePortfolios as my "corpus" for this exercise. Had a number of technical difficulties, including how to get the screenshots to work so that I could post the images here. Still haven't figured that out, so no images posted yet; the amount of time involved to "play around" with the tools, particularly "Voyant" has been frustrating. (Just as an aside, I find that as a learner, I have little patience to explore technology tools on my own, and much prefer to have a "mentor" at my side). BTW, is it possible to attach a pdf or Word document here? Another thing I haven't figured out...
Although I did not find the Wordle word cloud and Voyant visualizations to be particularly illuminating, I am viewing this exercise as completely exploratory. I am wondering what exactly we can learn from these data. What can they tell us about the students who wrote them? Is it possible to discern goal commitment? Why they are coming to college? What they hope to achieve? I am not really sure yet. Also, a certain amount of the data may be irrelevant: for example, does it mean anything that the word "goal" appears most frequently in an essay entitled "my goals?" Should that word be "thrown out" so to speak, like a "stop word" (e.g., to, in, a. the) in Voyant?
I will update this post after I figure out how to add the images.... More to come.... Paul
I'm intrigued by the idea of using student goal statements at the corpus of your exploration. If you're using a PC, you can simply press "print screen" when you have the word cloud. It will save to your downloads or documents folder (whatever you have set up as your default). You can then open up MS paint (or photoshop) and crop the image. Alternately, you can insert the image in a Word or PowerPoint document and then crop the image that way and "save as" a .jpeg. You can then insert the image in your new post by clicking the icon at the top of the page next to "link" that looks like a picture. It'll open up a box that will allow you to choose the image from your computer and upload it. If you're using a Mac, the process is MUCH easier, but I'll withhold that discussion unless you indicate that you are indeed using a Mac.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about attaching Word docs or PDFs. On a Mac, PDFs can be converted to .jpegs, but with PCs you would need to have Acrobat Professional or some other Adobe software that would allow you to convert a PDF to a different format. You have people who can help, though, like me. You could always email a PDF or Word doc to me and I can convert it to a .jpeg for you so you can upload into your blog posts.
But back to your comments... I find it interesting that as a learner you have little patience to learn technology. Given LaGuardia's focus on and embrace of technology and the regularity with which faculty are encouraged to incorporate technology in the classroom (and in the activities we conduct with students), this perhaps provides some insight into the frustration many students have when we ask them to use technology such as Blackboard, MyLaGuardia, CUNYFirst, ePortfolio, etc. Food for thought.
Lisa, thanks so much for the "tutorial." I will try again this weekend. BTW, I'm not using a Mac.... Getting back to my experience as a learner, I find it interesting that while in general I really like to learn by myself, but when I am dealing with technology, and only then, I prefer a social setting, either with someone at my side to "tutor" me, or even in a small group.
DeleteWe will work more on this together and figure this out for you. It is possible to cut and paste from a Word doc into Blogger. The trick with inserting an image file is to first load it into Google's system by clicking on the image icon above the edit window inside Blogger as you edit your post. I'm putting together a few 'screencasts' for my upcoming ENG 103 hybrid class, and am using new software to do this. So I will put together a screencast on inserting images in Blogger posts for you and send that along, then post it for the group this week, sometime before Friday.
ReplyDeleteWe all have seemed to discover that these visualization tools work, but not all the time. That seems to me to suggest that it's still real 'work' to do a little experimentation in DH. For our teaching, it means we have to 'beta test' specific tools and exercises for classroom activities. Students can do this, but they need help and guidance (and even troubleshooting when things don't go right.)
I think working in groups for computer activities does work better. (Today many web developers often write code together -- perhaps in the same room, or collaborating virtually in real time.) I'll follow up with some specifics offline, so you can get answers to any specific questions and overcome any tech support issues that you might have.
I agree that the initial results from Wordle and Voyant are a little bit "so what?" but I think that the results change as the corpus gets bigger- that was my experience- because those results actually help formulate new questions. I don't think valuable patterns emerge until more data is examined. And yes, it would be interesting to look at the second third our fourth most commonly used words (after goal) because they might reveal more useful information or commonalities.
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