Review of Paper Machines, produced by Chris Johnson-Roberson and Jo Guldi

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Paper Machines Version: 0.3.6
Requirements: Zotero, Python 2.7.3, Java.

Reviewed: 25 February 2013
Tested on: Mac OS X v. 10.6.8, and Windows 7
Tested with Zotero for Firefox 3.0 and Zotero Standalone 3.0

Paper Machines is an interactive multi-tool that allows users to perform textual analyses on their Zotero notes, tags, HTML snapshots, or attached pdfs (if OCR layer is present) directly in Zotero. The project provides users with an effective way to get an intellectual grasp of a corpus relatively quickly. This Zotero add-on currently ships with five different tools, which make it possible to determine anything from the topics found in a user’s Zotero library to the geographic distribution of the references present. The project works in both Zotero’s Firefox and standalone versions, which makes it particularly convenient for Zotero users but considerably less appealing for anyone who stores their research material in another program or format. Paper Machines is a promising and visually appealing teaching tool that would be particularly useful for introducing students to topic modeling, but needs some improvements to the code and documentation to be world class.

Acrymble on Journal of Digital Humanities

Review of Paper Machines, produced by Chris Johnson-Roberson and Jo Guldi