Pim van Bree and Geert Kessels, LAB1100

Nodegoat: a web-based research environment for object-oriented analyses and visualisations in the humanities

In 2014 LAB1100 has launched nodegoat (http://nodegoat.net/), a web-based research environment specifically focused on research in the humanities. Within nodegoat we are working on combining data management functionalities with the ability to seamlessly analyse and visualise data. nodegoat can be used as any other database application as it allows users to define, update and query multiple data models. As soon as data is entered into the environment, various analytical tools and visualisations are instantly available. Tools such as in-depth filtering, diachronic geographical mappings, diachronic social graphs, content driven timelines, and shortest path calculation enable a user to explore the context of each piece of data. The explorative nature of nodegoat allows users to trailblaze through data; instead of working with static ‘pushes’ – or exports – of data, data is dynamically ‘pulled’ within its context each time a query is fired. This approach produces a number of advantages, opportunities, and challenges we plan to discuss in this presentation.

We will combine the exploration of the nodegoat methodology and its functionalities with the demonstration of a number of projects that run on nodegoat. Joep Leerssen uses nodegoat for his project ‘SpInTime – Dynamically visualizing how cultural patterns, networks and exchanges evolve in space and time’ (see: http://spinnet.eu/spintimemappings). The KNAW-funded project ‘Mapping Notes and Nodes in Networks’ run at Huygens-ING in cooperation with UvA/VU used nodegoat to integrate a number of heterogenous datasets (see: https://www.huygens.knaw.nl/mapping-notes-and-nodes-in-networks/?lang=en). The Ghent Center for Digital Humanities uses nodegoat to map conference attendence in the long nineteenth century (see: http://www.tic.ugent.be/?q=VRE_description). In June 2014, students of UNIKA university in Semarang Indonesia used nodegoat during a workshop organised by NIOD. During this workshop, they interviewed survivors of anti-communist violence and built interactive mappings of an infrastructure of violence in nodegoat (see: http://www.niod.nl/en/projects/memory-landscapes-and-regime-change-1965-66-semarang).

 

Bio

Pim van Bree [left]      Geert Kessels [right] 

LAB1100 (http://LAB1100.com/) is a research and software development firm established by Pim van Bree and Geert Kessels in 2011. LAB1100 partners with universities, research institutes and educational experts to conceptualise and produce dynamic applications. Pim van Bree received his MA in New Media at the University of Amsterdam. Geert Kessels received his MA in History (research master) at the University of Amsterdam.