Collaborative Discovery

Becky Adams, Jonathan Fortin, Lisa Potter, Eric Rabkin, Ross Smith

© 2006

Prelude to Discussion

Jon Fortin

Becky Adams

Lisa Potter

Eric Rabkin

Ross Smith

Genesis

Methodology

Some Fascinating Finds

TIME Cover Research

Mag Cover Test Drive

You Witty Participation

The GEP Hypothesis

Cultural creations evolve as do biological organisms, that is, as parts of complex

adaptive systems.

Complex Adaptive System

The whole adapts to the parts,

and the parts adapt to the whole.

History of the GEP

• January 1998

• Founders: Eric Rabkin and Carl Simon

• Interdisciplinary

• Collaborative

Genesis

Complex Adaptive Systems cont’d

A complex adaptive system is one in which the diverse parts adapt to the

whole and the whole adapts to the diverse parts.

Very Complex Adaptive System

Somewhat Complex Adaptive System

Simple Adaptive System

Nonadaptive System

Biosphere

Thermostat

Radio

Meat Grinder

• It is adequately complex• It is demotic• Students like to read it• We have a sensible operational definition:

(beginning April, 1926, with Amazing)fiction that appeared in American SF magazines

• We have excellent contextual data, such as:– precise dating– wide variations in format– observable advertising content– letters to the editor– letters from the editor– Astounding’s “Analytical Laboratory”– circulation figures

Why Choose Science Fiction?

Problems With CodingGen.1

[1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.[2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God movedupon the face of the waters.[3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice shehad peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of abook," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversation ?”

Preposition v. noun? The same third word?

World building? Works published in two parts?

Water imagery?Characters with purely internal motivation?Who talk to themselves?

How do we address theseproblems with coding?

MethodologyBecky Adams

Dialectical Database Design

• Traditionally, you:– Choose your output

(e.g., invoices).– Select the fields

and values you need.

– Build your database once and for all.

• But we:– Build a provisional

database.– Test plausible

fields and values.– Explore possible

outputs.– Repeat these

steps indefinitely.

Body Count

Methodology

Genre

• Genre Content- The element in the story that would make most readers

recognize the story as Science Fiction and without which the story might not be generally considered to be science fiction by ordinary readers.

• Genre Form- The basic form, or skeleton, on which the story is built.

Methodology

MethodologyStability

ICR, ICA

• Inter-Coder Reliability- Agreement between researchers on codings- Pair discussion

• Inter-Coder Accuracy- Correctly identifying and agreeing on codings- Group discussion

Methodology

Some Fascinating FindsLisa Potter

“The Medical Lessons of Science Fiction”

SF Stories by Dominant ScienceUsing GEP tacfile of 12/18/00 N % of

1836% of 1094

Expected random distribution of 1,836 total unique texts

102 5.56

Expected random distribution of 1,094 science-designated unique texts

61 5.56

Unique stories, dominant science = pedagogy 6 0.33 0.55

Unique stories, dominant science = physics 171 9.31 15.63

Unique stories, dominant science = medicine (p<0.0001)

41 2.23 3.75

Reprinted Medicine StoriesReprinted Stories, dominant science = medicine # of Reprints

“Flowers for Algernon” (Keyes, 1959) 19

“Of Mist, and Grass, and Sand” (McIntyre, 1973) 17

“The Planners” (Wilhelm, 1968) 8

“The Last Flight of Dr. Ain” (Tiptree, 1969) 7

“The Miracle of the Broom Closet” (Norbert, 1952) 2

In each story, note both the role of the doctor and the outcome.

Fascinating Finds: The Medical Lessons of Science Fiction

WHY?

Fascinating Finds: The Medical Lessons of Science Fiction

How have these hypotheses held up?

Discussed in “The Exaggerated Reports of the Death of Science Fiction”

• Judith Berman, “Science Fiction Without the Future” May 2001

1. Science fiction authors are getting older.2. Science fiction is now nostalgic.3. Science fiction now portrays technology in a

negative light.

The Future of SF

Berman Hypothesis #1

Science fiction writers are getting older.

The Future of SF

Average Author Age at Publication (1940 – 1997)

The Future of SF

Berman Hypothesis #2

Science fiction is now nostalgic.

The Future of SF

Percentage of Stories Set in the Past

The Future of SF

Berman Hypothesis #3

Science fiction now portrays technology in a negative light.

The Future of SF

Comparison of Texts Based on Setting Time, Outcome, and Technology Content

The Future of SF

“Bad” Outcomes and Technology

The Future of SF

Why has the science fiction magazine declined?

The Future of SF

The Future of SFWhere SF May Be Found…

Magazine CoversA New Frontier for the GEP

GEP: Magazine Covers (GEPMC)

TIME Covers Project

TIME Magazine

June 9, 2000

Further work: TIME Magazine

Pulp Magazine Covers

• Relationship to short fiction

• Editorial control

• “Interest grabbers”

• Same methods, new medium

Why Study Them?

Pulp Magazine Covers

• Concrete Data: Ready to Capture- Cover information

- Setting

- Agents

• Abstract Data: A Work in Progress- Initial impressions, Optimism vs. Pessimism

- Sexism? Racism? Militarism?

The State of the Instrument

What would you investigate?

Q&A