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Tue, Feb 19 2013 03:42:45

The future of the past

This is a story about a thing I made. I'm still not sure what to call it. Or what it's really for. But I like it. And I hope other people will too.

  1. This is what it looks like. Or what it looked like when I took this screenshot. It changes. Try for yourself. 
  2. The future of the past
    Wragge
    ·
    Sun, May 20 2012 17:00:00

  3. Act I: Getting carried away with words

    It all began with a large collection of newspaper articles...
  4. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    First run at generating tf-idf values for 10,000 newspaper articles referring to 'the future' grouped by year. May take a while...
    Tue, Apr 24 2012 18:12:47
  5. What's TDF-IF? 
  6. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    The top words by tf-idf for each year of my sample are like some wonderful puzzle where you have to create a story that links them all… [+]
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 05:13:47
  7. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    1896: sahara, transvaal, tuaregs, bread, polo, crayon, gympie, symons, caravans, flour, oxidised [+]
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 05:16:03
  8. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    1884: alderney, kissing, parkes, littoral, clericalism, suez, tunnel, miracles, artisan, canal, turk. And I've still got 50 years to go! [-]
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 05:19:48
  9. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    So now I want to create an interface to 'the future' of the past using these wonderful words. Can I do it before my public lecture on 8 May?
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 05:31:28
  10. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    I mean, there's got to be a novel in: prince, pronunciation, keyboards, zulu, begged, unbend, diddle, candlesticks, virtuoso, highness, pots
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 05:35:24
  11. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    That was from 1879...
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 05:36:25
  12. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    Aaand 'hitler' pops up in my tf-idf weighted words in 1937, along with 'mudguards', 'duchess', 'opossum', 'hollywood' and 'canberra'.
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 16:45:22
  13. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    I'm going to stop this now, but 1939: hitler, clydesdale, nicotine, trout...
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 17:32:08
  14. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    Finished generating tf-idf values after about 28hrs. Now to clean up the data some more and run it again...
    Wed, Apr 25 2012 22:58:19

  15. Act 2: Public performances

    Introduced to the world...
  16. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    I am making you something nice. It's made of words, and I think it's sort of mysterious and beautiful and intriguing. Next week...
    Tue, May 01 2012 21:25:42
  17. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    You can come to my NLA talk for a preview. ;-) bit.ly/Ifi680
    Tue, May 01 2012 21:26:46
  18. nlagovau
    National Library Aus@nlagovau
    Join Harold White Fellow, Dr Tim Sherratt as he investigates what changes when historical newspapers go online: ow.ly/aH2Rt
    Sun, May 06 2012 17:01:00
  19. mtchl
    Mitchell Whitelaw@mtchl
    .@wragge in fine form at the NLA - on the playful and evocative as ways of doing history, and the virtues of screwing around.
    Tue, May 08 2012 01:59:08
  20. Future past: how the future seemed before; how we might do history differently. Expansive, entertaining talk by @wragge yfrog.com/od44ixwj
    Cath Styles@CathStyles
    ·
    Tue, May 08 2012 04:02:03
  21. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    Slides from my Harold White fellows talk 'Mining for meaning' @nlagovau: bit.ly/JblHnY (arrow keys to move). Text & audio to come.
    Tue, May 08 2012 16:09:26
  22. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    You can also play with my experimental tf-idf thingy (needs a name) here bit.ly/IHhWJI
    Tue, May 08 2012 05:43:01
  23. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    @seth_denbo Playing with using tf-idf weighted words to explore a collection of 10000 newspaper articles containing the phrase 'the future'.
    Tue, May 08 2012 06:57:48
  24. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    @seth_denbo But I really just like the evocative nature of the word combinations. Will write up some details shortly.
    Tue, May 08 2012 06:58:32
  25. wragge
    Tim Sherratt@wragge
    Me and my suit 'mining for meanings' in @TroveAustralia at @nlagovau. Sound, slides and links included. bit.ly/K1YB1Z
    Wed, May 09 2012 05:18:57

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Tim Sherratt

Digital historian, web tinkerer, cultural data hacker.

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