The Scholarly Kitchen

Jan 9, 2010

Journals were originally collections of letters from scientists and scholars to their community or between one another. Before this, there was the Republic of Letters in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Now, Stanford scholars have used social network visualization tools to peek into these networks:

A fascinating economy of information presentation, and great insights into the networks that set many foundations we build upon still.

 

4 Responses to “The Republic of Letters, Visualized as Social Networks”

1. Cherine Munkholt Says:

   
   Jan 10, 2010 at 3:09 pm

   What a fantastic way of visualizing history!

   Reply
2. Carl Kinbar Says:

   
   Jan 11, 2010 at 12:24 pm

   More info here: http://speaking.stanford.edu/highlights/Mapping_the_Republic_of_Letters.html

   Unfortunately, the visualization reflects a very incomplete database. From One would not know, for example, that Italians were at least as prominent in the Republic as were the French and English.

   Reply
3. 18th-century social network of letters :Annenberg Networks Network Says:

   
   Jan 16, 2010 at 3:12 am

   [...] The Republic of Letters, Visualized as Social Networks (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org) [...]

   Reply
4. snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes « info-fetishist Says:

   
   Jul 27, 2010 at 7:12 pm

   [...] This digital history project at Stanford:  The Republic of Letters. [...]

   Reply