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January 30, 2005
611 Project Plan
For 611, I want to work on a project involving recent CCCC keynote addresses delivered at the annual conference. I would like to render the speeches into a few different data sets, then look at keyword condensations (word/phrase frequencies and patterns) to determine whether or not tagged metadata enables a new/different/predictable way of reading the pulse of the field. What would such a project tell us about the relationship of keynote addresses to the currents of the field? How might this extend methodologically to other large-scale discourse analysis? Initially, I thought I might work with the ten most recent addresses, but now I'm less sure about whether such a sample will be manageable for this project. I also have concerns about lining up text copies of the talks (as well, how to account for the visuals figured into Yancey's talk last year and Lovas's talk in Denver) and scouring the data to validate the various sorts, clusters and so on. To theorize this work, I've been thinking about anything that might look at database vs. narrative (too simple, I know), and I have just started leafing through Lyotard with that dilemma in mind.
Posted by dmueller at January 30, 2005 06:34 PM
Comments
You might try looking at some of the linguistics corpus work for discussions of what databases can and can't show. I don't know if I can come up with any sources you couldn't, but I can try if you think they're of interest.
clo
Posted by: clo at January 31, 2005 04:00 PM
Yes, Carolyn, I'd definitely appreciate the chance to talk this over with you and pick through any bibliographic connections you hear in the plan. Thanks v. much for offering.
Posted by: Derek at January 31, 2005 06:37 PM
As you know, I'm extremely interested in this, and I am looking forward to your concrete project proposal. I share your concern about manageability. Start with five addresses, spaced 2 years apart, and see what that yields? The text copies of the CCCCs addresses are published in CCC. Dunno about NCTE. Maybe in EJ? I know Collin has your back on this, but how much background do you have with this sort of research? For the 611 project, I would recommend your simply conducting the analysis. You're right that the Lyotard, etc., will be essential, but not this semester. What's more important this semester is sources on the addresses themselves, though probably the only one is the one I've already forwarded to you. Browse the comp history bibliography, though, to see if you stumble across anything else, and also do a CompPile search.
Posted by: senioritis at February 6, 2005 06:49 PM