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Customize your network visualization
In my last post, I explained how you can visualize a network of film personnel (really, any kind of network) using Cytoscape. When I left off, we’d created a network visualization, but it didn’t look exactly terrific. Here’s how you can customize the look of your network visualization so that you can see what you…
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Visualize a network of film casts and crews
A friend of mine wrote to me recently with a request. For his dissertation, he’s unearthing the filmmaking culture of a particular time and place. “I keep running across these names of actors and filmmakers,” he wrote, “and I know I’ve seen them before, but I can’t remember all the relationships. Is there a way…
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My Ada
Today is Ada Lovelace Day, which celebrates women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics by honoring Ada Lovelace, whom many name the first computer programmer. My Ada is Dora B. Goldstein, or Dody, as everyone called her, who died Sunday. She was a pioneer in so many ways: one of the first women to enroll…
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History, Narrative, and the Body
Want to read a great big chunk of formal prose? Of course you do! This is an excerpt from the introduction to my dissertation, which is called Depth Perception. Here, I attempt to explain why anyone would write (or care) about medical films. When we picture the human body, what do we see? The answer…
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Some basic things you should know about being in a Ph.D. program
Disclaimer: This post is not about the politics of humanities Ph.D. programs, the ethics of these arrangements, or whether you should go to grad school in the first place. But if you haven’t already looked into this and you’re thinking of going to grad school, you need to do your homework on this stuff. Start…
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So, you’re moving to New Haven: Do you need a car? (Answer: No.)
(This is my third post about moving to New Haven. I’ve also written about where to live and what to do. I wish you the very best of luck on your move, but I regret that I don’t have time to answer individual questions about your situation.) If there’s one thing that everyone knows about…
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Thoughts on the Scholarly Communication Institute
Last week I was really fortunate to attend the Scholarly Communication Institute 9 at the University of Virginia. This was the final in an annual series of meetings designed to provoke discussion (and action) about the way scholarship is produced, consumed, and disseminated. The roster of attendees was impressive, and I was decidedly junior. Consequently,…
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An eventful few months
In the words of Jim Anchower, it’s been a long time since I’ve rapped at ya. I’ve had a busy few months, and while I’ve mentally composed a bunch of blog posts, I haven’t actually managed to get them on the page. Some of what I’ve been up to:
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Yale’s film studies “canon”: the readings
Long, long ago, I posted the the filmography from the “canon” exam that Yale’s Film Studies Ph.D. program administers to all of its graduating students. I promised to post the readings, too, and then promptly forgot. Anyway, here they are, in case you’re interested in some light reading. Apologies for the formatting errors; I didn’t…