Finding ‘anonymous’ in the digital archives: The problem of Arden of Faversham

AbstractThis investigation re-examines debates about the authorship of the play Arden of Faversham, first published (anonymously) in 1592, and sometimes attributed to Shakespeare, Kyd, or Marlowe. More generally, it seeks to explain why modern data-driven attribution methods, which have created consensus about the authorship of The Revenger's Tragedy and other seventeenth-century plays, have failed to produce consistent results for plays written for the London commercial theaters in the years up to 1594. It proposes that attribution problems in that period can be better understood if plays are tested against authorial canons that include non-dramatic as well as dramatic works, using algorithms based on the evidence of n-grams and collocations, which seem not to be genre-dependent. It tests a sample passage from Scene 10 of Arden against the digital canons of fifteen writers known or suspected to have been writing for the commercial theater in the period 1585–92, using primarily EEBO-TCP. All tests identify the author as the poet, translator, and playwright Thomas Watson (1555–92). These data do not establish Watson's authorship of the entire play but open several new lines of enquiry for Arden and other anonymous and collaborative early plays.

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El tratamiento de la mitología en los dramas con música realizados para ámbitos privados en la primera mitad del siglo XVIII

Cuadernos de Estudios del Siglo XVIII ◽

10.17811/cesxviii.28.2018.157-189 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 157

Author(s):

Adela Presas Villalba

Keyword(s):

Eighteenth Century ◽

Seventeenth Century ◽

Private School ◽

Musical Theatre ◽

Dramatic Works ◽

Textual Content

RESUMENAparte de las funciones teatrales y cortesanas, de gran aparato escénico, existió durante el siglo XVIII la costumbre de representar zarzuelas, y otros tipos de obras dramáticas con música, tanto en casas particulares como en ámbitos privados, escolares o culturales. Es además constatable que estas obras estuvieron siempre basadas en la mitología, y aunque este es un rasgo común en el teatro músico del siglo XVII y de la primera mitad del XVIII en España, es interesante observar si recibe, en este caso, un tratamiento diferenciado. En el presente artículo se plantea la interacción que se produce entre el elemento musical (formato y contenido textual) y la temática mitológica en estas obras dedicadas a un público diferente al de los teatros, ya sean cortesanos o populares, y para un entorno privado que contaba, además, con unas limitaciones evidentes tanto en el aspecto escenográfico como, especialmente, en el musical.PALABRAS CLAVEZarzuela, mitología, teatro musical español, siglo XVIII, funciones privadas. TITLEThe treatment of mythology in dramas with music made for private circles in the fi rst half of the 18th centuryABSTRACTApart from the theatrical and court performances, of great scenic apparatus, there was during the eighteenth century the custom of representing zarzuelas, and other types of dramatic works with music, both in homes as well as in private school and cultural areas. It is also verifiable that these works were always based on mythology, and although this is a common feature in the music theatre of the seventeenth century and first half of the eighteenth century in Spain, it is interesting to note whether it receives, in this case, a differentiated treatment. This article puts forward the interaction between the musical element (format and textual content) and the mythological subject in these works devoted to a different audience than that of the theatres, either court or popular, and for a private milieu which had, in addition, obvious limitations both in the scenography and, especially, in the musical features.KEY WORDSZarzuela, mythology, Spanish musical theatre, eighteenth century, private performance.

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“Here comes Bio-me”: An analysis of a biobank campaign targeted at children

Public Understanding of Science ◽

10.1177/09636625211022648 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 096366252110226

Author(s):

Karoliina Snell ◽

Heta Tarkkala

Keyword(s):

Seventeenth Century ◽

Biological Material ◽

Double Helix ◽

Data Driven ◽

Scientific Practices ◽

Embryological Development ◽

Age Appropriate

Finnish biobanks have started to recruit children. The national supervising authority has emphasized the centrality of providing children with age-appropriate information. We analyzed one such campaign. We argue that by simplifying the complex socio-technical arrangements of biobanking with the introduction of a new metaphor-like concept, “Bio-me,” the campaign presents a misleading and reductionist picture of data-driven biomedicine and biobank participation. First, the Bio-me character seems to bear similarities to the seventeenth-century explanations of embryological development. Second, the focus in the campaign is on biological material while crucial connections to different sorts of data are ignored. Third, we point to the absence of verbal references to genes and DNA, although the prevailing visualization comprises the double helix. We argue that the campaign has potential to contribute to public misunderstanding of science by introducing a new term that has little connection to actual biology or scientific practices it tries to promote.

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WAKING TO NORMAL: Examining Archival Appraisal in Data-driven Society

10.31235/osf.io/2befk ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Roberta M Fitzgerald

Keyword(s):

Data Driven ◽

The Internet ◽

Archival Theory ◽

Digital Archives ◽

Historical Overview ◽

Digital Models ◽

Archival Appraisal ◽

Appraisal Process

The COVID-19 environment, where the internet is the literal lifeline and livelihood of humanity, has exposed the chasm between those equipped for technological existence and those shocked by abrupt isolation. For archives, many institutions are on an unforgiving precipice of irrelevancy. The focus of this paper is not to iterate the necessity of archival theory but to examine the position of appraisal within a technologically-driven, internet society. Of significance to this evaluation is that organization, retrieval, and use of information have evolved, and users are central players in curation cycles. Also, of importance are those archives shifting to, and innovating, decentralized digital models - and thriving. A historical overview of both fields shows that appraisal falters in technical maturation and in response to changes in how society generates, captures, and retrieves information. There exist alternate paradigms for archival roles and appraisal, however, including recognizing that users derive the interpretation of information and that transdisciplinary archivists are vital. There are also developments in digital archives where access is the bedrock of the arrangement and description and the entire appraisal process.

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