When the U.K. newspaper the Sunday Times outed J.K. Rowling as the author of detective novel The Cuckoo's Calling earlier this year, computer scientists were among the first people called in. Although the novel was published under the pen name Robert Galbraith, two computational scholars––including Duquesne University's Patrick Juola––were tasked with confirming or denying whether the novel belonged to the Harry Potter author, or one of three other possible writers. That Juola succeeded (his conclusions were later confirmed by Rowling herself) speaks volume about the the potential that algorithms and computer science can have, even with application to a field as notoriously subjective as literature. Which raises an interesting question: Can we use software to help us think about literature? Reverse Engineering J.K. Rowling To explore that question, we should first look at how the Juola cracked Rowling's writing style. To begin the process, Juola loaded 1,000–word samples of The Cuckoo's Calling in to his self–designed Java Graphical Authorship Attribution Program (JGAAP), along with several other texts, including The Casual Vacancy, Rowling's first post–Harry Potter novel. A freely available Java–based, modular program for textual analysis, categorization, and authorship attribution, JGAAP analyzed the texts on four different variables: word–length distribution, the use of common words like "the" and "of," recurring–word pairings, and the distribution of "character... Continue reading at 'Fast Company'
[ Fast Company | 2013-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 18/07/2011 - 15:22 Amazon.com is giving students the ability to rent textbooks on Kindle e-readers. The company said students can save up to 80% off textbook prices with the new initiative, which launched today. Kindle Textbook Rental will also... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 31/03/2011 - 09:10 Arts Council England (ACE) portfolio funding for literature organisations will rise 9.9% in real terms compared to the previous funding period, the government claims, as ACE revealed its new national portfolio of arts... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 11/03/2011 - 08:50 Changing copyright laws in the UK could strike a blow to investment in literature, a report has found. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) has produced the document for the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), which reveals that out... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Googles algorithmic changes (which the search giant claims will effect 11.8 percent of queries) take aim at what it says are low-quality sitessites which are low-value add for users, copy content from other web sites or sites that are just not very useful. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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While many media pundits purport that magazine readership is dropping or that printed magazines are soon to be extinct, the truth emerges that year after year magazine readership continues to grow. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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