This study presents an empirical perspective on the early history of digital humanities by tracing publications in two foundational journals (Computers and the Humanities, established in 1966, and Literary and Linguistic Computing, established in 1986), with particular emphasis on media types and authors’ disciplines. These efforts are in broad solidarity with alternative histories of the field that attempt to move past the heterodox narrative of textual corpora and specific disciplines.

This study analyzes formal Anglo-American digital humanities curricula, including degree and certificate programs, with particular emphasis on the structure, skills, and requirements (e.g., internship, fieldwork, final deliverables) of each. To reflect the broad and varied nature of the field, we use the community-driven Taxonomy of Digital Research Activities in the Humanities (TaDiRAH) to code program descriptions and required courses.

This network study examines co-occurrence of keywords in bioethics articles from 1970–2010. Articles are selected from the PubMed database, which contains over  22.1 million references on the life sciences and biomedical topics organized by Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary. Our network represents over 66 million keyword co-occurrences in 123,794 articles, examining high-level topic areas in the field.

Lexis maps (also “Lexis diagrams”) are used mainly by demographers to show population trends over time. Most Lexis diagrams span a hundred years or more for ages 0–100+, resulting in tens of thousands of data points in a single display. Lexis maps can also be used on non-demographic datasets, and this post explains how to create Lexis maps in Tableau Public, a free visualization program that publishes web-based interactive displays that are sharable and embeddable in HTML.

Visual First Amendment uses data-driven visualizations to produce a new and engaging look at Supreme Court rulings on the First Amendment. Our interactive displays allow visitors to explore the interrelation of issues, cases, courts, and justices over time, and to consider the broad social and legal changes that have impacted First Amendment rulings on the freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. The project contributes to a growing body of public datasets and interfaces used by journalists, researchers, and the general public for a variety of purposes, among them civic literacy and government accountability. A short video describing the project is available at http://bit.ly/VFAintro.

Bioethics is a highly interdisciplinary field, drawing together philosophers, theologians, physicians, nurses, public health professionals, policymakers, and more. This work examines disciplinarity in the field literature using bibliometric techinques. This citation analysis reveals which educational backgrounds are most prominent in the literature, as well as patterns of scholarly communication—for example, are philosophers more likely to cite other philosophers rather than physicians (and vice versa) and, if so, to what degree?

Demographers study the structure, interactions, and shifting trends of human populations. To date, artificial and opt-in populations have received little attention. This work applies demographic methods to the field of philosophy to understand its past, current, and future directions. For example, this adapted population graph shows North American philosophy PhDs by sex between 1905–2005. Read more in “Philosophy through the Macroscope.”

Phylo combines data sources, user feedback, and visual analytics to advance the study of the discipline of philosophy. Our work traces the flow of ideas across time by documenting the people, places, and institutions associated with philosophy. As a service to the philosophical community, Phylo also provides free information on professional opportunities and activities, including job listings and placement records.