Mapping Techno-Literary Spaces: Adapting Multiple Correspondence Analysis for Literature and Art Informatics

Abstract

This paper describes the use of multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) for data exploration as part of a recently completed study of the use of information technology (IT) by literary authors. The study (Paling, 2005) discussed in this paper constitutes part of an ongoing effort to establish Literature and Art Informatics (LAI), the interdisciplinary study of the design, uses and consequences of information technologies that takes into account their role in the creative efforts of writers and artists (Paling, 2006; Kling, 1999). This paper is primarily methodological in nature, and has two goals: