Speculative Practices: Utilizing InfoVis to Explore Untapped Literary Collections

Area of Science:

• Digital Humanities
• Information Visualization (InfoVis)
• Literary Studies

Background:

• InfoVis is increasingly discussed in digital humanities, but its integration with traditional humanities research remains debated.
• There's a need for case studies detailing InfoVis design challenges specific to literary and humanities research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To exemplify how InfoVis supports speculative thinking, hypothesis testing, and interpretation in literary research.
• To address the lack of case studies on InfoVis design challenges in humanities research.
• To explore the potential of InfoVis for analyzing large, untapped literary collections.

Main Methods:

• Case study of the Speculative W@nderverse tool, designed for analyzing science fiction short stories.
• Two empirical studies involving general-interest readers and literary scholars over one year.
• Analysis of user interaction with an evolving visualization prototype.

Main Results:

• Identified a design space for visualizing literary collections based on relevance, interpretive methods, and approach (result- vs. process-driven).
• Visualization can bridge qualitative and quantitative approaches, fostering curiosity and providing access to collections.
• The Speculative W@nderverse supports various aspects of humanities research processes.

Conclusions:

• InfoVis can effectively support literary analysis and interpretation.
• Design for InfoVis in humanities must consider the unique nature of cultural collections and research methodologies.
• Visualization tools can enhance both public and academic engagement with literary studies.