The cybernetics thought collective project: Using computational methods to reveal intellectual context in archival material

Bethany Genn Anderson, Christopher John Prom, Kevin Hamilton, James A. Hutchinson, Mark Sammons, Alex Dolski

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This paper discusses 'The Cybernetics Thought Collective: A History of Science and Technology Portal Project,' a collaborative effort among four institutions that maintain archival records vital to the exploration of cybernetic history - the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the American Philosophical Society, the British Library, and MIT. With recent grant funding from the NEH, the multi-institutional team is developing a prototype web-portal and analysis-engine to provide access to archival material related to the development of the field of cybernetics, which influenced the development of modern computing and provided a common language to articulate similar questions about behavior across disciplines - regardless of whether the subject of study was animal, machine, or social group. The project is also enabling the digitization of the personal archives of four founders of cybernetics - Heinz von Foerster, W. Ross Ashby, Warren S. McCulloch, and Norbert Wiener. Using computational methods based on advanced machine-learning algorithms to yield network and entity relationships maps from the digitized texts, this project seeks to create access to archival material that enables humanities scholars to better understand the development of cybernetic ideas and to enable scientists and engineers to reuse and access cybernetic data.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2017
EditorsJian-Yun Nie, Zoran Obradovic, Toyotaro Suzumura, Rumi Ghosh, Raghunath Nambiar, Chonggang Wang, Hui Zang, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Xiaohua Hu, Jeremy Kepner, Alfredo Cuzzocrea, Jian Tang, Masashi Toyoda
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages2213-2218
Number of pages6
ISBN (Electronic)9781538627143
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 1 2017
Event5th IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2017 - Boston, United States
Duration: Dec 11 2017Dec 14 2017

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2017 IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2017
Volume2018-January

Other

Other5th IEEE International Conference on Big Data, Big Data 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston
Period12/11/1712/14/17

Keywords

  • cybernetics
  • digital archives
  • machine learning
  • named entities
  • natural language processing

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Hardware and Architecture
  • Information Systems
  • Information Systems and Management
  • Control and Optimization

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