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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on February 13, 2011.
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Get access to the behind-the-scenes updates documenting the project production. This will include blog posts and video clips of work flow as they progress, and more!
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Get the behind-the-scenes updates and a thank you note mailed to you on a collectible Hip-Hop Word Count Card.
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Get access to the behind-the-scenes updates and a limited edition laser etched Rap cameo drawing.
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Get access to the behind-the-scenes updates, a temporary login/password for the Beta search site and a Rap Chocolate.
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Get access to the behind-the-scenes updates, a temporary login/password for the Beta search site, a limited edition laser etched Rap cameo drawing and a Famous Rap Singer Christmas tree ornament.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
Receive an invite to the February Friendraiser in New York City, get access to the behind-the-scenes updates, a temporary login/password for the Beta search site, one limited edition, hand signed HHWC Infographics poster.
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
Receive an invite to the February Friendraiser in New York City, get access to the behind-the-scenes updates, a temporary login/password for the Beta search site and two limited edition, hand signed HHWC Infographics posters.
Pledge $10,000 or more Pledge $10,000 or more
Receive a lifetime license to the Hip-Hop Word Count, invite to the February Friendraiser in New York City, access to the behind-the-scenes updates, a temporary login/password for the Beta search site, a limited edition hand signed HHWC Infographics poster and a Rap Chocolate.
Project By
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Creative Strategist. Creative Director. Reluctant Messiah. Peripheral Visionary. Hip-Hop Enthusiast. Native Queens New Yorker.
Any news on when there will be access to the beta site? I can't be the only one itching to play around with it!
Lance. Reemski. You guys should read the Updates section. Next batch is going out EOW. Thanks!
I never received my drawing either, nor have I heard anything about Beta access. What a bummer. I'm glad my $50 is going towards something that I think is cool, I just wish I had something to show for it.
Hmmm, never received my drawing? Is that on purpose?
This is an incredible project. You are utilizing the capability of code and applying it to something you are interested in. This is FANTASTIC!
And your list is soooooooo extensive. If you have Pop the Brown Hornet on there you probably have every rapper... ever.
Now I have a question; With the way media is changing and migrating towards the internet what qualifications does a "rapper" have to meet in order to be included on this list?
You see... I'm a rapper and I'd like to be included lol
@ Jess Thanks! You can support the project here: http://staplecrops.com
sorry I did not find this until you got funded. let us know how we can contribute later...
Congrats!!! Can't wait to get my laser etched drawing and to see how this thing works!!!! :-)
Wow congrats! This documentary here: http://kck.st/hS0Sk5 is similar to your project! Check it out!
Congrats Tahir.
CONGRATULATIONS!
@ Josh I'm working on it. If you have a direct link please email it to him or pass it on to me.
I just wanted to recommend emailing/calling KRS-One -- I think he would be interested in being involved in some way (funding, promo, sourcing, etc).
*$10,000 :)
Thanks so much for clarifying! I was under the mistaken impression that the $1000 donation was the only way that permanent access to the database would be guaranteed.
@Kyle McDonald The raw data will be accessible on the Public site.
congratulations :) just curious: will the raw data be open for other people to work with as well?
Yes, Yes Y'all!
Thanks! Jonathan. Jason. Jason. da'shon.
@Christina Masden The $10,000 pledge is an opportunity for an individual or institution to give support on a foundation level. An individual or institution that may have some data need that sits outside the scope of the public website.
@iedonor Yes indeed. And don't leave out mathematics & social studies. The pilot curriculum covers both. As far as "appropriate selections" yes if it will be used by public schools cuss words will have to be BLEEPED out. But I do find it ironic that the students have the uncensored songs on their iPods in their bookbags while class is being taught.
$7K! Loosen the cork!
I really hope this makes it's goal. I would love to see this thing hit 100% at least.
All I can do is chuckle. It's brilliant and necessary.
I want to contribute, but can you please explain why it will cost $1,000 dollars for a lifetime license to the database?
Yea Sun!
I see questions about curriculum. Some work would have to be done to find appropriate selections, but higher levels of learning start with the learner - interests, prior knowledge, etc. We can use these lyrics to learn about and teach figurative language, bias, meter, rhyme, vocabulary and maybe even have an enter into a well reasoned conversation with young adults about word choice and the power and influence of language. Word.
Jillian. Thanks! Now I know how I'll be spending this weekend O_o
Jacob. I'm glad the project resonates with you like it does. I hoped that it would. Good luck with your project.
Eira. Sub-genre isn't in the database yet but it won't be terribly difficult to get that info. Thanks for reminding me of next steps.
Gabriel. Joey. Thanks for your support!
CFP: Digital Humanities + American Studies NEH Summer Institute at USC!
Call for Proposals: Applications are due 1 February 2011
USC’s Department of American Studies and Ethnicity, Institute for Multimedia Literacy, Center for Transformative Scholarship, and the electronic journal Vectors are pleased to announce a NEH Fellowship Program for summer 2011 designed to address the intersection of the digital humanities and American and Ethnic Studies. The Institute will offer scholars the opportunity to explore the benefits of interactive media for scholarly analysis and authorship, illustrating the possibilities of multimodal media for humanities investigation within the context of American Studies. Fellows participating in the program will learn both by engaging with a variety of existing projects as well as through the production of their own draft projects in collaboration with the Vectors’ team. The projects that fellows create will at once enrich their understandings of the digital humanities and model the field for other scholars.
For full information, see:
http://web-app.usc.edu/ws/eo2/calendar/112/event/892112
Tahir -- This is totally awesome. It's 2:30 AM, and I'm uploading the final bits of my kickstarter campaign to launch in the morning. Having a tour around the site for the umpteenth time. I just realized I backed your project the first moment I read about it, from top to bottom, without watching the video. So now, at this late hour, I watch the video. So rad, so so def. Very excited to watch it happen. Cheers.
Really happy to be able help a little with this project. Keep grinding, man. Truly an inspiring project.
As an archivist with an interest in metadata, I am THRILLED by this project and wish y'all the best. How will you represent sub-genres in the database (e.g. New Orleans bounce)?
Thanks Jonathon!
@ Rukednous Yes. The analysis uses the Flesch-Kindcaid and SMOG readability tests. We customize the algorithms so they map better.
This is a pretty amazing project. I really can't wait to get my hands on it, not because I love hip-hop, but I also love the incredible, expansive database that you're doing. It's exciting!
Just became a backer, here's hoping for the project's success.
Lots of people with techie questions. I have those too. You can tell software geeks are excited about something when they ask very picky questions about it.
You mentioned assessing the grade level of the lyrics; I was wondering if you could speak on that a bit more. I heard that and my mind went instantly to the Flesch-Kindcaid readability tests & the Fry readability graph. Was I right to guess that that is in fact what you're applying?
If so do those tools create any challenges given that the HHWC corpus is verse and not prose? I mean perhaps J-Live's lyrics come with periods and commas in them, but not all verses map to paragraphs of sentences, and it seems like that could throw some noise into the statistics.
I really hope this makes the target, looks great!!
Tahir, the idea looks great. I'm a rap scholar myself and look forward to using this when it launches. You can check out my work at: http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.08.14.2/mto.08.14.2.adams.html and
http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.09.15.5/mto.09.15.5.adams.html
Can't wait to see the final product!
Basically any large set of text that has easily associated location and date info. Two ideas I mentioned in my post below:
- civil war letters
- Broadway song lyrics (with location tied to the composers and lyricists)
Of course I'll share my work - after its complete. The public WebApp will be highly customized for Hip-Hop but the model can be used for other datasets. Which ones do you have in mind?
Do you plan to share your work (software, visualizations, web interface) with others trying to text-mine and explore other data sets?
I wrote a blog post about your project today - hope it helps find you a bit more funding!
http://www.spellboundblog.com/2011/01/16/creative-funding-text-mining-visualization/
Thanks Dan. The data contained within the Corpus of Hip-Hop is a very complex data set. Especially if you look at its ideas as cultural influencer and cultural indicator.
From which circles have you heard that "much of rap and hip-hop is now under scrutiny as 30 years of worthless and destructive writing." ?
If the people in that circle want to research their hypothesis they can use the Hip-Hop Word Count to search for writing that they suspect is destructive and see if there's a correlation with it's usage and what they think is being affected. Is it economic, social, education, housing, health, the family?
The Hip-Hop Word Count contains geo coordinate info down to a county level so if a researcher's search results are connected with government data they should begin to get a nice picture.
Have you seen Columbia University's Million Dollar Blocks project?
http://www.spatialinformationdesignlab.org/projects.php…
I don't think you're a hater but, you don't take the expansive view that I share with my colleagues when it comes to the potential of this project.
Thanks for the critique.
I think it's a beautiful looking app. But finding out where the word "bitch" was first used in rap lyrics, what would a person do with that?
Not to be too strict on definitions but GIS and mining apps are intended to produce information relevant to some decision or strategy, often just a better perspective on complex data.
So I learn that "bitch" was first used in Detroit. What have I gained from that new knowledge? Does Detroit get points for that?
Not being a hater, I'd really like an intelligent answer. Because much of rap and hip-hop is now under scrutiny as 30 years of worthless and destructive writing.
Thanks Elaine. Yes I'm considering corpus linguistics, computational linguistics, natural language processing and lexical analysis. I'm planning part-of-speech tagging for the future. Your project sounds interesting. It's the kind of research I envisioned this tool would be used for.
This is fantastic!! Have you considered the applications to Corpus Linguistics? Will the text be tagged for POS? If not now, please consider it for the future. I'm working on my Master's in Translation Studies in Barcelona, and can already see tons of connections for this. For example, one of my interests is Argentine Tango lyrics, which have been compared on occasion to rap/hip-hop lyrics (by Robert Farris Thompson of Yale, among others). I can see a possible comparative study on, say, adjectives used in hip-hop vs. tango. That sort of thing. I think you're doing important work here--thanks!
@ Omar Marc Shane Tracy Susie Justin Victor Gregory Thank You!
Hi Jeanne. Someone at the September TimesOpen 2.0: Open Gov said that Refine was coming. I'll take a look. Thanks for the tip.