Big Data and the Rhetorical Narrative

This project effectively illustrates a tactic by which the constructs of narrative inquiry from a humanist perspective, in particular the rhetorical narrative tradition, can migrate into a larger methodology while simultaneously recognizing and training agents in narrative visualization via up-to-date computational tools. The Reddit platform in particular, served as a suitable illustration for a multifaceted approach to novel methods in narrative inquiry due to the free accessibility to online storytelling in addition to a substantial collection of unstructured data it offers. This permitted an effective exploration through means of analyzing mediated narratives while concurrently using computational methods to assemble, filter, and interpret "Reddit narratives." The project progresses in two parts. First I offer a model for contemporary rhetorical narrative analysis that embraces social media as a viable source of user-generated narrative data. The second half of the project illustrates a data analysis template that employs a rhetorical lens for the creation of narrative maps. Collectively this project proposes a model for continued rhetorical narrative inquiry that intersects at traditional qualitative analysis and the contemporary deployment of textual analytic software.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Bowling, Roy Nathaniel

• Big Data

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/47448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/47448