About

Big Data & the Bard: A Machine Learning Approach to Shakespeare

This project applies machine learning techniques to the works of William Shakespeare in an effort to take what was meant to be a visual experience–watching a play–and turn it into a different kind of visual experience. The infographics included in these posts illustrate the emotional tone of characters, acts, and scenes in a format that can be used to reinforce or rethink centuries of scholarship on Shakespeare’s plays.

Long-term, I would like to turn the infographics and visualizations of the emotional tone of the plays into a book or series of books that show in pictures how we experience the dialogue and action of Shakespeare’s works. This idea is totally and solely my own (copyright 2016-present) #dontstealmystuff. But first, please read and comment as I build the pictures that represent the plays.

About Sarah

As a word-nerd working in software design and usability, this work represents the perfect intersection of Sarah’s professional skills and personal and academic interests.

Sarah E. Pagliaccio recently completed her ALM in Extension Studies at Harvard University in the field of English Literature. Her thesis provides a defense of Shakespeare’s Queen Margaret of Anjou, the only woman in Shakespeare who appears in four plays, 1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI, and Richard III. In laymen’s terms, Sarah’s feminist defense of this unpopular character makes the case that Margaret was the original “nasty woman.” In an attempt to further her research into Margaret’s impact on Shakespeare’s first tetralogy in general and Richard III in particular, she stumbled upon the idea of applying machine learning techniques to Richard III.

Sarah is the principal and founder of Black Pepper, a usability consulting studio based in Brookline, MA, USA. She is an expert in information architecture, content strategy, and web usability. Sarah also holds a BA/MA in psychology from Boston University. Sarah has guest lectured on persona development at DePaul University, information architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design, and on user research techniques at Tufts University. And she serves as the go-to digital usability consultant for the City of Boston and Harvard University Information Technology.

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