Mobilizing the Multiple Dimensions of Data

In my experience, the undergraduate is trained neither for self-directed study, nor for the development and harvesting of her own ideas. Rather, she is expected to flourish under the tutelage of well-read and knowledgeable guides, and to critically assess the work of others. Consequently, when it finally happens, those first moments of self-direction are both chaotic and creative, disastrous and inspiring. True interests begin to surface and commingle. Interesting relationships and implications begin to fan out well beyond the scope of reason or feasibility. Between the horrifying aspect of one’s own ignorance awash in a sea of data, the kind-hearted supervisor, or maybe the deadlines, something generally happens to bring it all back into focus, and the paper is written, or the project finished.

Though undergraduate training does not provide a collated how-to handbook for long-term research and idea management, it does provide many useful research tips and experiences. Classes in research methodologies, directed readings, and research-driven seminar courses have launched my research interests out-of-bounds (beyond communication) towards metaphors in human-computer interaction, social implications and applications of technology, and to the political economy of science policy.

These interests have converged in my quest to build the specifications for an evolutionary research tool. I envision the tool drawing upon varied technological, methodological, and metaphorical sources. To establish the cutting edge and best practice in these fields, I will conduct a survey of each. First, a brief technology scan will establish trends in data mining, natural-language processing, complex data visualization, and the evolution of GUI metaphor. Then, by determining the pros and cons of existing technologies, programs, and metaphors, I will provide a better functional baseline for my tool. Finally, I hope a quick scan of research methodologies will ensure compatibility with a wide range of research methods and styles in the applied and social sciences. My approach to the research process will closely follow that of Sandra L. Kirby and Kate McKenna in Experience, Research, Social Change: Methods from the Margins.

The tool will assist the researcher at each step in the research process. It will be a medium for free-form note taking and idea-logging. It will be data-entry hub and a central repository for digital plain text. It will allow a researcher to code and annotate her texts along any dimension she finds relevant to her work. It will provide her with a number of analytical tools. It will adduce her interests from her use patterns, allowing her to recall, repeat, and modify her tasks or queries. She will be able to define the relationships between her codes and quickly search to code her texts. She will be able to interact seamlessly with any of her data—ideas, texts, codes, annotations, and their relationships— through an interface that highlights the multi-dimensional layers of text. She will be able to visualize the relationships within a given text or set of texts, and refine her focus between global and local views. She will be better able to mobilize her data, exporting bibliographies, outlines, concept maps, and illustrations of her research.

The primary research question of this project regards how the tool will best accomplish the above. This project is in no way contingent upon the production of the application in question. Though an external volunteer project may in fact develop a proof-of-concept, I cannot anticipate coinciding timelines. Nevertheless, a successful proof-of-concept may warrant further development or a market-feasibility-survey, as interesting extensions of this project,

The tool is intended for the academic researcher who wants to build, manage, and mobilize a personal data set from their ongoing research efforts. It is generally intended to extract economies of scale in information management for those who would be otherwise unable. In short, it is for anyone who wants to live and thrive on the edge.

Bibliography

Kirby, Sandra L. and Kate McKenna. (1989). Experience, Research, Social Change: Methods from the Margins. Toronto: Garamond.

Fry, Benjamin Jotham. (May 2000). Organic Information Design. Master’s Thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.