Tracking the language of time and space, 1945-2008

• Main Authors: HART, Roderick P., LIM, Elvin T.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
• Subjects: Communication; Place; Rhetoric; Space; Time; Political History; Political Science
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2809; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4066/viewcontent/JCH__1_.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This article explores how contemporary historians can avail themselves of quantitative approaches to examine how elusive concepts like ‘time’ and ‘space’ have been used in the public domain. By making use of specifically designed programs, historians can use digital tools to harness an unprecedented mass of information. This is a particularly important methodological innovation at a time of rapidly expanding data: news, speeches, and commentary are available first electronically, and they are available on countless sites in an unprecedented array of formats. Mastering these sources digitally is not only imperative for the contemporary historian; it also provides essential source material for understanding how language and meanings change over time, between contexts, and across different media.