Witch Tools

We have developed a series of tools including a Throwing Bones Interface a visuzlization too, an expandable databrowser, a mapping tool, and the proximity search datamining tool will enable the researcher a more naturalistic way of seeing textual patterns, and will enable her to engage meaningfully with the ones she sees. To try these tools out, pick them from the side navigation.

Several technologies are invoked to construct this multidimensional picture of how witchcraft was represented in print for the WEME project. Along with my RAs, I make use of a data entry interface (Django) to record assertions - the who, what, when, where, and how – of the events of early English witchcraft. These assertions include an excerpt from the original text and page numbers / signatures and the interpretation and classification of the event structured by one or more hierarchical classifications, such as “Bewitchment,” “Injury,” and “Accusation” Geographic data is recorded, indicating the parish and county and corresponding latitude and longitude. People are also classified hierarchically with classifications such as “Witch”, “Unwitcher”, or “Victim.” The system uses these assertions to produce clusters of cards in the Throwing Bones interface. This interface makes use of several web technologies and frameworks including PHP, Django, J2EE, AJAX, MySQL, JQuery, and Apache, as well as off-the-shelf analysis and visualization packages such as the Flamenco data browser, Google Maps API. Making use of these pre-existing technologies helps the project present agile and interactive modes of recording and interacting with early modern English witchcraft.

 


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