Category Archives: Research Methods

Posts about analytical approaches of all kinds as well as posts about finding, evaluating, and using information.

Digital text collections and computational text analysis

A major branch of the much discussed so-called digital humanities is computational text analysis. This quantitative approach to the study of texts requires—preferably large—collections of digital (or: digitized) texts.

Since an important branch of religious studies is also textual scholarship, it might be worthwhile to discuss if and how religious studies can benefit from these new methods. But it is also important to discuss the prerequisites and implications of such approaches.

In the session, I would like to give a very short introduction to computational analysis, but then mainly discuss with the participants:

  • What computational methods are already applied in religious studies?
  • What new methodological developments are potentially fruitful for religious studies?
  • Which digital collections of religious texts exist, and how can they be used?
  • How can the accessibility and interoperability of text collections be enhanced?

Mapping visitors of the Dutch online project ‘New We’

The Dutch multimedia New We project (www.nieuwwij.nl) started in December 2008. The aim of the project is to promote social cohesion in a society, which is at the same time secular, multi-ethnic and multi-religious. The challenge is to find answers to the question of how to live together in peace and harmony without denying the mutual differences. Starting from the motto ‘Connect the differences’, the project’s website Nieuwwij.nl offers elaborate information about different religious and spiritual backgrounds of people, and personal stories and views on topical issues in society from diverse perspectives. The idea behind the New We project is learning to deal with different worldviews without unnecessary anxiety towards ‘the other’ and with fewer prejudices. Information and communication in order to promote mutual understanding and connecting people are important ingredients in the search of a ‘New We’.

After six years the website Nieuwwij.nl has about 45.000 unique visitors every month and the number of visitors is still increasing. This autumn, a research is planned to ‘map’ these visitors. This will be done in terms of demographics (age, gender, ethnic/cultural/religious background and such), but also – actually the most important question – in terms of interests. Why do people visit the site, what do they hope to find, how is it relevant to their daily lives?

With this THAT camp session, I would like to call in the expertise and creativity of the participants of the conference. What could be interesting questions for this research to present to website visitors? And also: how to use the site and social media for doing research in an effective way, while at the same time building up a ‘new we’ community’?