Visualizing the Shishuo Xinyu through Graphs and Maps

The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University presents Jack W. Chen.

Information visualization, in recent years, has taken on increasing prominence within the humanities and social sciences.  What is it, however, that visualization provides for disciplines traditionally focused upon discursive and rhetorical analysis?  And is the time that is required for the data preparation of a single graph worth it, when the outcome is uncertain, or even perhaps completely obvious?  Professor Chen explores the visualization of the early medieval anecdote collection, Shishuo xinyu, as a test case for such computational approaches.  He will show how visualization can aid in textual analysis and examine more generally the principles underlying information visualization.

Jack W. Chen is associate professor in Asian languages and cultures at the University of California, Los Angeles.  He received his PhD from the Department of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.  His book, The Poetics of Sovereignty: On Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, was published by Harvard University Asia Center in 2010.  Since then, he has been working on an edited volume of essays on gossip and anecdote, and on his second book, which is on the Shishuo xinyu.  His other interests include the practice of reading in China, medieval ghost poetry, and sounds made by donkeys.