Intro to Platforms Jennifer de Winter jdewinterwpi edu

Intro to Platforms Jennifer de. Winter jdewinter@wpi. edu

Something on which to build Digital Humanities typically need to contend with three different types of platforms: • Platforms that we look at and analyze • Platforms that we use to analyze data

Studying • Application Programming Interface (API) • Material Constraints • End User License Agreements • Affordances of Expression

"The API is not the database or even the server, it is the code that governs the access point(s) for the server. ” Eising 2017

Material Constraints Think about the politics of the hardware, from the construction of the materials, to the actual materials and how they form social interaction, to the end cycle of the material. Digital platforms always have a material system. Always.

End User License Agreements

Affordances of Expression

Analyzing • Organizing data • Querying data • Visualizing data • Representing data

Organizing Data • Collections of other people’s data • Create your own data set (oral histories, maps, etc) • Others

Querying Data • There a lot of tools to do this. It depends on the project that you want to do. I often point people toward open tool sets; however, there are good reasons to purchase tools or create your own. You might partner with someone at your institution in data science, information, computer science, or systems thinking/engineering

Visualizing Data

Data representation

Publishing • Platforms for disseminating your knowledge can include but at not limited to: books, free-access articles, articles behind a paywall, academia. edu or researchgate, born digital, websites, blogs, social media platforms, zines, and more.

Important All platforms perpetuate bias

A Platform Heuristic for digital humanities • What are the assumptions of the platform I am studying? What are the affordances of the hardware and software? Who controls this platform? Who uses this platform? Who owns the data? How do I access this data? What is the political economy of this platform? Who is empowered/disempowered? • What am I using to analyze data? What are the assumptions in the tool? What are the limitations? What is it strong at doing? How might the strengths blind me to different aspects and how might I account for that? How might I switch tools to triangulate assumptions? • What platform am I publishing on? How accessible do I want/need my data to be? Who owns the material that I publish? How interactive do I need my publication work? How have I considered accessibility of my material?

Image and Citation Credits • Slide 1 tree house platform: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: Non_invasive_method_of_fixing_a_tree_platform. JPG • Slide 2 Lego platform: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: Lego_Brick_BOSS_Table. jpg • Slide 3 social media platforms: https: //bornrealist. com/internet-celebrity/ • Slide 4 What is an API, image and quotation: https: //medium. com/@perrysetgo/what-exactly-isan-api-69 f 36968 a 41 f • Slide 5 material constraints: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: A_serviceman_accesses_social_media_channels_usin g_a_smart_phone, _outside_MOD_Main_Building_in_London_MOD_45156046. jpg • Slide 7 affordances of expression: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? title=Special: Search&limit=20&offset=40&profile=d efault&search=expression&advanced. Searchcurrent={}&ns 0=1&ns 6=1&ns 12=1&ns 14=1&ns 100=1&ns 106=1#/media/File: Human_Expressio ns. jpg

Image and Citation Credits (con’t) • Slide 8 Analyzing: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? sort=relevance&search=File%3 AAnti que+microscope. jpg&title=Special: Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&advance d. Searchcurrent=%7 B%7 D&ns 0=1&ns 6=1&ns 12=1&ns 14=1&ns 100=1&ns 106=1#/media/F ile: Leitz_117298_frei. jpg • Slide 9 organizing data: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? sort=relevance&search=oral+history &title=Special: Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&advanced. Searchcurrent=%7 B%7 D&ns 0=1&ns 6=1&ns 12=1&ns 14=1&ns 100=1&ns 106=1#/media/F ile: Congressmen_at_the_Oral_History_Project. jpg • Slide 10 Querying data: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File: 1890_U. S. _Census_form. jpg and screen shot of NYU Libraries Digital Humanities

Image and Citation Credits (con’t) • Slide 11 Data visualization: https: //www. informationisbeautifulawards. com/news/118 -the-nyt-s-bestdata-visualizations-of-the-year • Slide 12 Data representation: https: //commons. wikimedia. org/w/index. php? sort=relevance&search=data +representation&title=Special: Search&profile=advanced&fulltext=1&advan ced. Searchcurrent=%7 B%7 D&ns 0=1&ns 6=1&ns 12=1&ns 14=1&ns 100=1&ns 106=1#/ media/File: Blur-chart-data-69760. jpg • Slide 13 Publishing: screenshot of Kairos • Slide 14 Bias: cover of Algorithms of Oppression

Jennifer de. Winter • Worcester Polytechnic Institute • Professor of Rhetoric • Director of Interactive Media and Game Development • Book series co-editor Influential Game Designers • jdewinter@wpi. edu