Multi-level computational methods for interdisciplinary research in the HathiTrust Digital Library
Jaimie Murdock, Colin Allen, Katy Börner, Robert Light, Simon McAlister, Andrew Ravenscroft, Robert Rose, Doori Rose, Jun Otsuka, David Bourget, John Lawrence & Chris Reed
PLoS ONE 12 (9) (2017)
Abstract
We show how faceted search using a combination of traditional classification systems and mixed-membership topic models can go beyond keyword search to inform resource discovery, hypothesis formulation, and argument extraction for interdisciplinary research. Our test domain is the history and philosophy of scientific work on animal mind and cognition. The methods can be generalized to other research areas and ultimately support a system for semi-automatic identification of argument structures. We provide a case study for the application of the methods to the problem of identifying and extracting arguments about anthropomorphism during a critical period in the development of comparative psychology. We show how a combination of classification systems and mixed-membership models trained over large digital libraries can inform resource discovery in this domain. Through a novel approach of “drill-down” topic modeling—simultaneously reducing both the size of the corpus and the unit of analysis—we are able to reduce a large collection of fulltext volumes to a much smaller set of pages within six focal volumes containing arguments of interest to historians and philosophers of comparative psychology. The volumes identified in this way did not appear among the first ten results of the keyword search in the HathiTrust digital library and the pages bear the kind of “close reading” needed to generate original interpretations that is the heart of scholarly work in the humanities. Zooming back out, we provide a way to place the books onto a map of science originally constructed from very different data and for different purposes. The multilevel approach advances understanding of the intellectual and societal contexts in which writings are interpreted.Author Profiles
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0184188
My notes
Similar books and articles
Computational Methods to Extract Meaning From Text and Advance Theories of Human Cognition.Danielle S. McNamara - 2011 - Topics in Cognitive Science 3 (1):3-17.
Computational Scientific Discovery.D. Sozou Peter, C. Lane Peter, Addis Mark & Gobet Fernand - 2017 - In Lorenzo Magnani & Tommaso Bertolotti (eds.), Springer Handbook of Model-Based Science. Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 719-734.
The Structure and Logic of Interdisciplinary Research in Agent-Based Social Simulation.Nuno David, Maria Marietto, Jaime Sichman & Helder Coelho - 2004 - Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation 7 (3).
Exploration and exploitation of Victorian science in Darwin’s reading notebooks.Jaimie Murdock, Colin Allen & Simon DeDeo - 2017 - Cognition 159:117-126.
Cross-Cutting Categorization Schemes in the Digital Humanities.Colin Allen - 2013 - Isis 104 (3):573-583.
Theoretical Foundations for Digital Text Analysis.Gabe Ignatow - 2016 - Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 46 (1):104-120.
Exploratory analysis of concept and document spaces with connectionist networks.Dieter Merkl, Erich Schweighoffer & Werner Winiwarter - 1999 - Artificial Intelligence and Law 7 (2-3):185-209.
What is Multi–level Modelling For?Stephen Gorard - 2003 - British Journal of Educational Studies 51 (1):46-63.
Using digital archives in historical research: What are the ethical concerns for a ‘forgotten’ individual?Holly L. Crossen-White - 2015 - Research Ethics 11 (2):108-119.
Embedding philosophers in the practices of science: bringing humanities to the sciences.Nancy Tuana - 2013 - Synthese 190 (11):1955-1973.
Interdisciplinarity and Peirce's classification of the sciences: A centennial reassessment.Ahti-Veikko Pietarinen - 2006 - Perspectives on Science 14 (2):127-152.
The Cambridge Handbook of Computational Psychology.Ron Sun (ed.) - 2008 - Cambridge University Press.
A Comparison of Semi-Supervised Classification Approaches for Software Defect Prediction.Cagatay Catal - 2014 - Journal of Intelligent Systems 23 (1):75-82.
Analytics
Added to PP
2018-03-22
Downloads
270 (#45,107)
6 months
56 (#22,972)
2018-03-22
Downloads
270 (#45,107)
6 months
56 (#22,972)
Historical graph of downloads
Author Profiles
References found in this work
A solution to Plato's problem: The latent semantic analysis theory of acquisition, induction, and representation of knowledge.Thomas K. Landauer & Susan T. Dumais - 1997 - Psychological Review 104 (2):211-240.
Scientific change: Philosophical models and historical research.Larry Laudan, Arthur Donovan, Rachel Laudan, Peter Barker, Harold Brown, Jarrett Leplin, Paul Thagard & Steve Wykstra - 1986 - Synthese 69 (2):141 - 223.