Gephi Blog

For our network project, we chose the subject of colonization. Within Herland the three men represent the idea of colonization and we wanted to make connections between their ideas of Herland and the examples of colonization within an eighty-four year period. Because the novel was published in 1915, we wanted to keep in that time window to relate it to the mindset of the men in Herland. For our edges, we chose the themes of American Exceptionalism, the idea of White Man’s Burden, Imperialism, Contact Zone, and United Nations.

For our nodes, we used the 1830 Indian Removal Act, the installation of the Baptism of Pocahontas painting in the U. S. Capitol building, the founding of Dole Food company in 1851, the overthrow of Hawaii occurring from 1893-1898, the Venezuelan crisis of 1895, the Spanish-American War in 1898, the Philippine-American War from 1899-1902, the publishing of Rudyard Kipling’s White Man’s Burden in 1899, the Platt Amendment of 1901, Roosevelt’s Big Stick Ideology originating in 1904, the building and opening of the Panama Canal beginning in 1904, the Roosevelt Corollary of 1904, and the first use of the Panama Canal in 1914. We also wanted to use a political cartoon from 1897 portraying Uncle Sam and the queen of Hawaii in a shotgun wedding, but couldn’t figure out how to show the image in Gephi.

Speaking of Gephi, Bill was really helpful in navigating that. He placed everything to make sense, added color, and made different sized nodes. I honestly don’t know how he did all of that, but the end result looked great. Personally, Gephi was the most difficult tool to use effectively. I did use the tutorials, but I really struggled with actually using the app. So I am glad that Bill was able to understand and use the software with little to no problems.

I found the other group’s network to be helpful because it was focused on the topic of women in relation to Herland. Because our project didn’t primarily address that subject, I thought their information was beneficial in gaining a better understanding of the novel. Also I found it helpful to see the decisions they made in designing their network. Specifically, I thought the idea of creating a network with a similar frame as a family tree was interesting with one node leading to another. Also I thought the use of quotes from the book for their edges was a great idea as well. Even though it was a simple network, the minimalist look helped to have clear information in a simple way.

Overall, my experience with Gephi and networking provided another way to better understand Herland and other texts. I don’t think I will use Gephi specifically again, but I will continue to draw out networks or at least researching connected concepts. I am glad that I now have this tool to use in gaining a better analysis of literature and other concepts in history, social sciences, etc. In looking at a network, I think the information could give someone enough information for a distant reading, but it does take a close reading to make an effective and informative network.