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CFP: Game Studies: 2013 PCA/ACA National Conference.
by Gerald Voorhees 20 Aug '12

20 Aug '12

The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference invites proposals for papers, panels and completed papers on games and game studies for the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference to be held Wednesday, March 27, through Saturday March 30, 2013 in Washington, DC. Below, please find: I. Topics of Interest II. Submission Process III. Information about the Conference IV. Contact Information ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *I. Topics of Interest* The organizers seek proposals and papers covering all aspects of gaming, gaming culture and game studies. Proposals can address any game medium (computer, social, console, tabletop, etc) and all theoretical and methodological approaches are welcome. Possible topics include but are not limited to: -- new game mediums and platforms (Facebook, iPhone/iPad/iPod, etc) -- representation or performance of race, class, gender and sexuality in games -- gaming culture, game specific cultures, and multicultural and cross-cultural issues -- game development, design, authorship and other industry issues -- game advertising, reviews, packaging, promotion, integrated marketing and other commercial concerns -- political and legal entailments such as regulation, censorship, intellectual property -- ludology, textual criticism, media ecology, narratology, etc as paradigms for games studies -- player generated content in MUDs and MMORPGs, Mods, maps and machinima -- game genres, platforms, consoles, console wars and connections to other media -- serious games for education, business, healthcare, (military) training, etc -- space and place in games, play spaces, virtual/physical communities, mobile gaming and localization -- digital literacy, discourse practices, social norms and norming, the politics of play -- public discourse/controversy over violence, militarism, sex, criminality, racism, etc in games *II. Submission Process* The Game Studies area of the National Popular Culture Association and the American Culture Association Conference, which began as the Video Games Studies area in 2003, has the most enduring footprint of any North American academic organization that give serious attention to the social and cultural impact of games and gaming. The area continues to grow and offers two avenues for scholars to participate and present their work. *A. Paper Proposals* For individual paper proposal submissions, please submit a 250-word (maximum) abstract by *November 30, 2012*. Submissions must be made online at http://ncp.pcaaca.org. Detailed instructions for using the online submission system can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/instructions.php. *B. Panel Proposals* For panel submissions, please submit a 250-word (maximum) panel abstract, as well as 100-word abstracts for each individual presentation, by *November 30, 2012*. Panel proposals must be emailed to digitalgames.pcaaca(a)gmail.com. Be sure to include the proposed title of the panel, the organizer’s name, affiliation, mailing address, and email, as well as this information for all panelists. Panel submissions may take the form of debates, dialogs, roundtable discussions, thematic panels, (or other format,) and should be designed to last approximately eighty minutes. *III. Information about the Conference* *A.* So that there will be ample time for discussion, each individual paper presentation should be designed to last approximately twelve to fifteen minutes (there will typically be four presentations per session with time for Q&A). *B.* Technology for use during presentations may be limited. More information about the conference can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/** *C.* Presenters will be required to join either the Popular Culture Association or the American Culture Association prior to attending the conference, as well as pay a registration fee for the conference. Information about these fees can be found at http://www.pcaaca.org/conference/membership_registration.php. *D.* Awards and Travel Grants are offered, on a competitive basis, by the National Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association 1. Travel Grants The *Michael Schoenecke Travel Grant for Graduate Students* to the National Conference (for 2012, 32 grants @ $300 each). For application requirements, please visit http://www.pcaaca.org/grant/schoenecke.php The *Peter Rollins Travel Grant for Early-Career Faculty* (for 2012, 12 grants @ $500). For application requirements, please visit http://www.pcaaca.org/grant/rollins.php The *Madonna Marsden International Travel Grant* for Individuals presenting at the National Conference (for 2012, 10 grants @$500 each). For application requirements, please visit http://www.pcaaca.org/grant/marsden.php ** *2. Graduate Student Awards* ** *William E. Brigman Award for the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper* presented at the National Conference in a specific year. Applications go to Brigman Award, c/o Gary Hoppenstand, *Journal of Popular Culture*, 4C Morrill Hall, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824 . Please send three hard copies of the paper (without author's name), as well as a copy on disc and photocopy of your student identification card. Those concerned for their privacy may obscure the Social Security number should it appear on the card. Please also include a copy of the acceptance letter/email from the PCA area chair who accepted the paper for presentation in the national conference. Papers should address popular culture and be accepted for a PCA panel. Submissions must be received by January 7th of the year the conference is held. The winning paper must be presented at the upcoming PCA/ACA meeting in the year it is accepted. Should the winning paper not be presented in person, the award will be forfeited. The winning author is invited to submit the essay to *The Journal of Popular Culture* and work with the editor toward its publication. This award is selected by a panel chosen by the editor of the journal. The winner receives a $500 travel award to attend the national conference in the year the paper is selected. * * *William M. Jones Award for the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper*presented at the National Conference in a specific year. Entries are submitted to Amy Dudley, Editorial Assistant, William M. Jones Graduate Student Paper Award Selection Committee, the* Journal of American Culture*, Virginia Wesleyan College, 1584 Wesleyan Drive, Norfolk, VA 23502. Papers must be submitted by January 7th of the year the conference is held. Three copies of the paper, as well as a photocopy of the applicant's student identification card must be submitted. Papers should address American culture. The winning paper must be presented at the PCA/ACA conference. The winner receives a $500 travel award to attend the national conference in the year the paper is selected. Should the winning paper not be presented in person, the award will be forfeited. The winning author should also submit the essay to the* Journal of American Culture* and work with the editor toward its publication. This award is selected by a panel chosen by the editor of the journal. ** *IV. Contact Information* Questions and concerns can be sent to digitalgames.pcaaca(a)gmail.com, or may be directed to one of the area chairs listed below. ** *Katie Whitlock*, Theatre Department, California State University, Chico klwhitlock(a)csuchico.edu** *Gerald Voorhees*, School of Art and Communication, Oregon State University gerald.voorhees(a)oregonstate.edu** ** *Joshua Call*, Department of English, Grand View University jcall(a)grandviewl.edu

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Music Discovery Requirements now available
by Newcomer, Nara 20 Aug '12

20 Aug '12

The Music Discovery Requirements document is now available on the Music Library Association's web site. http://committees.musiclibraryassoc.org/ETSC/MDR The Music Discovery Requirements document addresses the unique needs posed by music materials which must be considered for successful discovery. This document discusses the issues and when possible gives concrete recommendations for discovery interfaces. Three appendixes compile technical details of the specific indexing recommendations in spreadsheets. The document was created under the auspices of Music Library Association's Emerging Technologies and Services Committee and officially approved by the Music Library Association's Board of Directors. The Music Discovery Requirements document group welcomes your comments, questions, and other feedback on the document. The group is particularly interested in hearing how the document is being used, and in working with vendors and developers to create discovery interfaces optimized for the unique needs of music materials. Nara Newcomer Leader, Music Discovery Requirements Document Group ******************************************************* Nara Newcomer Assistant Music Librarian East Carolina University Greenville, NC

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Book Announcement – Guns, Grenades and Grunts: First-Person Shooter Games
by Gerald Voorhees 20 Aug '12

20 Aug '12

I'm pleased to announce the publication of a book I helped edit. Please encourage your library to obtain a copy. The second volume of Continuum’s Approaches to Digital Game Studies series, Guns, Grenades and Grunts gathers scholars from multiple disciplines to bring the weight of contemporary social theory and media criticism to bear on the public controversy and intellectually investigation of first-person shooter games. As a genre, FPS games have helped shepherd the game industry from the early days of shareware distribution and underground gaming clans to contemporary multimillion dollar production budgets, Hollywood-style launches, downloadable content, and worldwide professional gaming leagues. The FPS has been, and will continue to be a staple of the game market. >From the Back Cover: “Guns, Grenades and Grunts sets its sights on the first-person shooter, finally bringing much-needed analysis to one of the most popular and pervasive video game genres. From the trenches of *Medal of Honor* to * Halo’s* Blood Gulch, this collection of thoughtful essays challenges the reader/player to ponder what it means to pick up a virtual gun and navigate the ludic environments of the FPS. The book also makes a significant contribution to games, media, and popular culture studies because, by taking up just one type of video game, it underscores the importance of analytic specificity for a medium that is often too broadly – and thus superficially – discussed.” Nina B. Huntemann, Associate Professor, Communication and Journalism, Suffolk University, US. “The volume offers an illuminating tutorial that historically and theoretically frames the FPS and sets up the game field for further exploration and treasure hunting, by investigating, in-depth, the psyche of the individual player - as is constituted through the interaction with the game mechanics and avatars as well as the social dynamics of multiplayer game play. This rich and varied walk through the world of FPS game studies will certainly reinvigorate the intellectual equipment of the academic warrior as it will take the public and journalistic debates on the ‘violent’ FPS genre to a new level.” --Jan Simons, Associate Professor of New Media Studies, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands ---------------------------------------------------------------- Gerald Voorhees, PhD Assistant Professor of Media and Cultural Studies Speech Communication/New Media Communication Oregon State University ----------------------------------------------------------------

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New Course on "New Media" in Asian University for Women:Seeking your inputs/advice
by Faheem Hussain 18 Aug '12

18 Aug '12

Dear Colleagues, As a professor of ICT in Asian University for Women ( http://www.asian-university.org/)- the first regional liberal arts university for women in South Asia, I am going to teach "*New Media*" in the coming fall semester (*September, 2012*). For this class, I am gathering latest literature on New Media case studies, communication theories, methodologies, and critical analyses. I will highly appreciate if you can contribute/recommend any of your own work or some papers/case studies you think needs to be included for this class. Your advice/help will be recognized in any academic product coming out of this class. For your further information, I have copied the summary course description at the end of this mail. Warm regards, Faheem Hussain ************************************************** Faheem Hussain, Ph.D Assistant Professor of ICT & Computer Science Asian University for Women Chittagong, Bangladesh Cell: +88 01711614724 Skype: +1 480 409 1255 Twitter: @faheem_h * New Media * * * This course offers a unique blend of communication and development studies, policy analysis, and technology based innovation research. New Media is a global phenomenon, emerged in late 20th century, which symbolizes the near omnipresence of on-demand media content across the world. New Media encompasses online social networking, voice and data based communications, and digital audio-visual contents. It works as a catalyst of wide scale media convergence in every sphere of human society. This course looks into history of New Media, its place in global communication anthology, its present socio-economic impacts on developed as well as developing countries, and the participatory and “democratic” nature of its information dissemination process. Major issues related to Freedom of Expression, Privacy, Social Mobilization, Empowerment, Right to Information and the possible roles of New Media on defining those will also be discussed, based on contemporary case studies (e.g. Arab Spring, London Riot, WikiLeaks, Facebook, 4G Network, etc.). Finally, this course focuses on the key challenges and opportunities of New Media in the coming years, especially from the Global South’s perspective. -- ************************************************** Faheem Hussain, Ph.D Assistant Professor of ICT & Computer Science Asian University for Women Chittagong, Bangladesh Cell: +88 01711614724 Skype: +1 480 409 1255 Twitter: @faheem_h

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Histories of public perception of the internet?
by David Brake 18 Aug '12

18 Aug '12

Dear all, Any recommendations for histories of how the public perception of the internet has changed? I was reminded by Eszter Hargittai recently (who circulated this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m4KZHDVWRE&feature=youtu.be) how the internet was once viewed unproblematically as a great place to get information. Then (thanks to Howard Rheingold) as a place where likeminded people could find each other. Then disillusionment set in (was it that Rimm Cyberporn paper http://www.columbia.edu/cu/21stC/issue-1.2/Cyber.htm that started it?). Now there's a long laundry list of reasons why we try to keep kids off it. This is just my recollection though - has anyone written a paper or book that tackles all the twists and turns? PS There's a great, readable and teachable paper: Cassell, J. and M. Cramer (2007) "High Tech or High Risk: Moral Panics About Girls Online" in Digital Young, Innovation, and the Unexpected, pp. 53-75. http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/dmal.9780262633598.053 which goes all the way back to Victorian concern about the intrusiveness of the telegraph but it's a focused critique of sexual predator discourses about the internet rather than a broader history. Regards, David -- David Brake (@drbrake http://davidbrake.org/) Senior Lecturer, Journalism & Communications, University of Bedfordshire http://www.beds.ac.uk/departments/jc +44 (0) 1582 743028

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Curating Public Sphere readings discussion
by David Brake 18 Aug '12

18 Aug '12

Dear all, In the spirit of the recent Arab Spring literature collection I and colleagues produced <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DU8AOlkTV6F0ZyoGcbk_060iBZG5tWKwj_n97EJ…> I was thinking I might try to pull together the many texts mentioned recently and commentary and make a public document to help other scholars and act as a convenient record. Any objections? Should it be limited to the texts or can I use some of the valuable commentary? If so would those who commented on texts wish to be identified and have their email addresses (suitably spam-protected) added? -- David Brake (@drbrake http://davidbrake.org/) Senior Lecturer, Journalism & Communications, University of Bedfordshire http://www.beds.ac.uk/departments/jc +44 (0) 1582 743028

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Re: [Air-L] Wikipedia article edit history extraction tools?
by Brian Keegan 17 Aug '12

17 Aug '12

Wikipedia has its own API which makes a variety of data acquisition tasks trivial once you get the hang of it. Documentation for API: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php For example, extracting the revision IDs, timestamps, users, userids, and article size (rvprop=ids|timestamp|user|userid|size) for the 500 (rvlimit=500) most recent (rvdir=older) revisions (prop=revisions) to the article "Feminism" (titles=Feminism) is: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=revisions&titles=Femini… Adding the content of each revision (rvprop=ids|timestamp|user|userid|size|content): http://en.wikipedia.org/w/api.php?action=query&prop=revisions&titles=Femini… This will return the content in XML, JSON, or other structured data formats which could be read into Excel, MySQL, etc. with some basic scripting using Python. The API offers a variety of other options to return data like which categories an article belongs to (prop=categories), which other articles the article links out to (prop=links), which articles editors have contributed to (list=usercontribs), and parsing prior versions of articles (action=parse) like what they previously linked to, and many other things. Analogous to the Twitter API, the Wikipedia API imposes limits on how many revisions you can return on a single call (500). Libraries like python-wikitools (http://code.google.com/p/python-wikitools/) will seamless handle making the calls so that you can get the complete history. Example Python 2.7.3 code using python-wikitools: from wikitools import wiki, api def do_complete_wikipedia_query(query_params): site = wiki.Wiki() # This defaults to en.wikipedia.org request = api.APIRequest(site, query_params) result = request.query() return result[query_params['action']] def get_article_revisions(article_name): ''' Input: article_name - A string containing the title of an article as it would appear in the URL, e.g., "Northwestern University" Output: revisions - A list of revisions for the given article, each given as a dictionary. This will include all properties as described by revision_properties, and will also include the title and id of the source article. ''' revisions = [] try: result = do_complete_wikipedia_query({'titles': article_name, 'prop': 'revisions', 'rvprop': 'ids|timestamp|user|userid|size', 'rvlimit': '500', 'rvdir': 'newer', 'action':'query'} ) if result and 'pages' in result.keys(): page_number = result['pages'].keys()[0] r = result['pages'][page_number]['revisions'] r = sorted(r, key=lambda revision: revision['timestamp']) for revision in r: revision['pageid'] = page_number revision['title'] = article_name # Sometimes the size key is not present, so we'll set it to 0 in those cases revision['size'] = revision.get('size', 0) revisions.append(revision) print u"{0} revisions found in {1}".format(len(revisions),article_name) except api.APIError: print u"{0} does not exist".format(article_title) pass return revisions feminism_revisions = get_article_revisions('Feminism") On Wed, Aug 15, 2012 at 3:00 PM, <air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org> wrote: > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:38:53 -0700 > From: Monika Sengul-Jones <jones.monika(a)gmail.com> > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Subject: [Air-L] Wikipedia article edit history extraction tools? > Message-ID: > <CAD_EfP+5jdaG8MDPfGMSwMO= > vCifMU_bR8+7MPvDUF5Yb2AVyQ(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 > > Hello Air-L list: > > This summer I'm doing research on Wikipedia entries in the field of Science > and Technology Studies. A central question I'm asking is the extent to > which this field, as it is now on Wikipedia, includes/features/references > contributions made by women, feminist theorists, and feminist theory. > > To answer this, I'm gathering data on existing pages using a variety of > mixed methods. I would like to ask for recommendations on tools for > extracting the history of editing on a page. I want to see how many times a > given article has been edited, by whom, and what types of edits and content > contributions are made over time. So far, I've found the "history" tool on > the Wikipedia page limited. I cannot see how many edits have been made on a > particular article and understanding what kinds of edits are made (e.g. > grammatical, content) requires going into each historical page view. I'd > love to find a way to download the history of an article and extract the > data into a spreadsheet -- perhaps this is a tall order. > > So far, I've found tools for extracting data on Wikipedia from the Digital > Methods Initiative website (which was first introduced to me by this list > serve! :)). Specifically, the program History Flow is useful to an extent > for visualizing types of content contributions and edits over time. But > there is no way to translate these visualizations into a spreadsheet format > -- as far as I can tell -- so I've been doing that manually, somehow > piecing together the history of edits on an article. Meanwhile, I was > recommended a tool called WikiChecker ( > http://en.wikichecker.com/article/?a=science_studies) but the summary > format is limited and, at times, contradictory to data I get elsewhere. > > If anyone has any other tools or methods to suggest for ways to collect > data on content contributions and edits on Wikipedia I would be most > grateful. > > I'd also be happy to be in conversation with anymore interested in the > concept of the project. I'm working on it as a part of the FemTechNet > Initiative, spearheaded by Anne Balsamo and Alexandra Juhasz. I'm not sure > if information on the initiative has circulated here, so I'll paste in a > copy of the "call" which took place last spring. * > > http://aljean.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/femtechnet-long-form-invite-may-2… > * > > Thank you, > Monika > > -- > Monika Sengul-Jones > Graduate Student > Communication & Science Studies > University of California, San Diego > msengul(a)ucsd.edu > > -- Brian C. Keegan Ph.D. Student - Media, Technology, & Society School of Communication, Northwestern University Science of Networks in Communities, Laboratory for Collaborative Technology

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Internet, Mobile Media, and Journalism: Technologies of News in the 21st Century, AoIR pre-conference
by Holly Kruse 17 Aug '12

17 Aug '12

A reminder that the deadline for submissions to the Internet, Mobile Media, and Journalism: Technologies of News in the 21st Century pre-conference workshop/seminar is Monday, August 27th (the deadline was extended). The pre-conference will take place on Thursday, October 18th. Thanks, Holly ---- http://ir13.aoir.org/2012/07/pre-conference-workshop-the-internet-mobile-me… The Internet, Mobile Media, and Journalism: Technologies of News in the 21st Century Over the past several years, journalism has undergone profound changes as people seeking information increasingly turned to the internet and mobile apps for news and commentary. Some traditional news outlets, like the New York Times and the Times of London, have instituted paywalls to recoup lost sales revenue. Others, like the Christian Science Monitor, stopped publishing print editions altogether and now exist only online. Many journalists working in print media lost their jobs, while reporting done by “citizen journalists” using platforms like blogs, YouTube, and Twitter, became increasingly central to the dissemination of news. A recent poll of prominent U.S. journalists who work for traditional national news media conducted by the Atlantic and the National Journal found that a majority of these journalists believe that journalism has been hurt more than helped by Internet. Is this in fact the case? What is the state of reporting in the digital age, an age in which, for instance, bloggers writing from embattled neighborhoods in Syria give information that is picked up by mainstream news outlets whose reporters can’t reach these locations? Or, conversely, what is the state of reporting when bloggers from less “newsworthy” locations, like inner city neighborhoods, write about experiences that don’t fit traditional news narratives but now have an opportunity to at least try to broadcast their stories via the web? Questions that participants in this pre-conference seminar might address in their papers and papers-in-progress include: How have traditional news media responded to new media – for instance, by offering news on a “third screen” or entering into ventures with new media companies – and how effective have these forays been? What constitutes a citizen journalist, and what effects are citizen journalists having as sources of information for the public and for more established media outlets? How has the internet affected reporting and its practices? What is the role of the online news audience in the creation and dissemination of news when compared to the audience of print news? What effect have the internet and mobile media had on reporting on breaking news and on crisis communication? How has in-depth investigative reporting been affected by the emergence of the internet and mobile media as crucial sources of news? What opportunities has the internet afforded writers, including those in marginalized social and economic groups, that they wouldn’t have had in traditional media? How have print and broadcast media covered the development of digital news media? Has the content of news changed as digital and mobile media as sources of news grown more popular? Who are the gatekeepers in the new news environment, and what role do online gatekeepers play? What are the social and cultural implications – locally, regionally, nationally, and globally – for the declining popularity of print news media and the growth of digital news media? Participants in this pre-conference seminar are invited to investigate these questions and interrogate mainstream understandings of the nature of digital and print news sources and their audiences, and the relations between and among them. This pre-conference will be a half-day seminar and workshop in which each participant will present his/her current research on a relevant topic, and each presentation will be followed by discussion. If you are interested in participating, please submit a working paper or paper proposal of approximately 200-500 words to Holly Kruse at hkruse(a)rsu.edu by August 20th. Submissions will be reviewed, and those accepted to the seminar will be notified by August 27th.

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SoLAR Flare Practitioner’s Conference: Using Analytics to Create Real Solutions for Real Problems
by Akesha 17 Aug '12

17 Aug '12

SoLAR Flare Practitioner’s Conference: Using Analytics to Create Real Solutions for Real Problems Purdue University October 1-3, 2012 The challenges facing higher education in the United States and abroad are wide ranging with varying degrees of urgency. In many cases, the use of academic analytics to address some of these challenges is being considered – but generally on a small, highly-localized scale that makes them difficult to justify and continue long-term. The use of “big data” to address challenges in higher education requires ideas for collaboration, development, implementation, scaling, and promulgation. At the Society of Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) Flare Practitioner’s Conference, you’ll have an opportunity to work with a team of faculty, staff, and administrators from various institutions on challenges to develop big ideas to be put into practice. You won’t be working with real data—instead groups will work under the assumption that access to all data is already secured. Working groups will have access to unlimited resources; however, groups may encounter restrictions during the process. The working groups will produce real solutions to real problems. This won’t be like any other conference that you have attended lately – there will be very little talking “at” you. Concurrent sessions with presenters will not be happening. Instead, you will have the opportunity to connect with colleagues and do practical work – to collaborate with faculty and staff from around the country to tackle some of higher education’s biggest challenges through the application of learning analytics. Through the working group collaborations, you will learn more about the issues and how others are looking to analytics as part of the solution. Topics for discussion may include: · Increasing success among women and minorities in STEM fields · Enhancing community college success and completion rates · Improving access and success rates for first-generation and/or low-income students · Addressing higher education pipeline issues · Developing a means for more students to graduate with a college degree · Altering the design and delivery of gateway courses · Examining the relationship between student engagement, learning outcomes, and performance · Evaluating theory-based programs designed to increase student success · Gathering appropriate data for predicting student success, retention and graduation – and developing interventions based on student success systems Each topic will be facilitated by a thought leader in higher education. Thought leaders will provide a clearly-defined challenge to be addressed by each group prior to the event. Each team will work on developing a practical solution, considering both technical and non-technical attributes, that focuses on sustainability and scalability. Further, solutions should present information to students, faculty, and administrators alike – such that each person at the institution can become instrumental and responsible for student success. The solutions will be presented in two ways: First, at the conclusion of the conference, each working group will present its solution to the larger group. Second, each group will develop a brief write-up of their solution while at the conference. These write-ups will be synthesized into a broader white paper addressing analytic solutions to challenges found in higher education. We believe that collaboration across institutional and commercial boundaries is the only way to fully address the challenges facing higher education today. We look forward to working with people with different roles and perspectives of the education sector to develop solutions for these challenges – and potentially bringing them to fruition. We hope to have you join us as well. Early Registration ends August 17! For more information, or to register for the conference, visit www.solaresearch.org/flare/purdue2012 Kindest Regards, Akesha Horton Senior Educational Technologist | Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP) | Purdue University http://www.itap.purdue.edu/learning/ (765) 496-3499 | akesha(a)purdue.edu

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Wikipedia article edit history extraction tools?
by Monika Sengul-Jones 17 Aug '12

17 Aug '12

Hello Air-L list: This summer I'm doing research on Wikipedia entries in the field of Science and Technology Studies. A central question I'm asking is the extent to which this field, as it is now on Wikipedia, includes/features/references contributions made by women, feminist theorists, and feminist theory. To answer this, I'm gathering data on existing pages using a variety of mixed methods. I would like to ask for recommendations on tools for extracting the history of editing on a page. I want to see how many times a given article has been edited, by whom, and what types of edits and content contributions are made over time. So far, I've found the "history" tool on the Wikipedia page limited. I cannot see how many edits have been made on a particular article and understanding what kinds of edits are made (e.g. grammatical, content) requires going into each historical page view. I'd love to find a way to download the history of an article and extract the data into a spreadsheet -- perhaps this is a tall order. So far, I've found tools for extracting data on Wikipedia from the Digital Methods Initiative website (which was first introduced to me by this list serve! :)). Specifically, the program History Flow is useful to an extent for visualizing types of content contributions and edits over time. But there is no way to translate these visualizations into a spreadsheet format -- as far as I can tell -- so I've been doing that manually, somehow piecing together the history of edits on an article. Meanwhile, I was recommended a tool called WikiChecker ( http://en.wikichecker.com/article/?a=science_studies) but the summary format is limited and, at times, contradictory to data I get elsewhere. If anyone has any other tools or methods to suggest for ways to collect data on content contributions and edits on Wikipedia I would be most grateful. I'd also be happy to be in conversation with anymore interested in the concept of the project. I'm working on it as a part of the FemTechNet Initiative, spearheaded by Anne Balsamo and Alexandra Juhasz. I'm not sure if information on the initiative has circulated here, so I'll paste in a copy of the "call" which took place last spring. * http://aljean.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/femtechnet-long-form-invite-may-2… * Thank you, Monika -- Monika Sengul-Jones Graduate Student Communication & Science Studies University of California, San Diego msengul(a)ucsd.edu

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