Visualization and rhetoric: Key concerns for utilizing big data in humanities research: A case study of vaccination discourses: 1918-1919

Visualization of data mining results is the linchpin of successful research in the humanities that uses computational techniques. This paper describes efforts to utilize “big data” in a case study of news reporting on vaccination before, during, and after the 1918 influenza pandemic, focusing primarily on the conventions underlying methods of data extraction, data visualization practices, and the rhetorical impact of visualization design choices on researchers' observations and interpretive decisions. Purposeful attention to visualization and the methodological conventions that are embedded in particular visualization practices will allow humanists to have more confidence in their interpretations of big data, a key element in the acceptance of data mining as a valuable method for humanities research.