At times it might be desirable to determine what storylines on a narrative database contain certain key elements.  In the example below, the object “Alien Allan” is used to compile a listing of titles on the database that are in thematic agreement.  But rather than simply provide the listing of titles, the algorithm tabulates the key elements contained in these titles.  Notice that the most important elements resulting from the search do not necessarily match the elements in the submitted…

A person will ordinarily search the contents of a database using matching keywords and tags.  Sophisticated databases might allow for filtering:  for example using NOT, AND, OR on a number of keyword strings such as both titles and product descriptions.  It is not normally possible to submit, say, a personality profile to a database - or a personality profile and a setting.  Searching for “serial murders subway terminals” might lead to event information about precisely this, apparent serial…

In my last blog, I explained my “Animal Spirit Model,” which I used to consider Paddock the Vegas shooter and the fictitious character Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson) in the 1980 horror movie “The Shining.”  In this blog, I will be considering the character of Mrs. Torrance - Jack’s wife (played by Shelley Duvall).  Below I present the computer generated description for Mrs. Torrance followed by her animal spirit on Excel.  The descriptor program responds to the settings on the…

How might a person go about studying something elusive like serial murder or terrorism?  I have no formal exposure in this area.  Much of the technology that I mention in this blog is meant for another purpose.  That other purpose is to study characters in movies, which for me is a great diversion.  In particular, I like to map out where certain characters might be found (or lost - i.e. missing characters): the settings they occupy, their roles, their relationships.  It goes without saying…

Can data bring the best in humanity? Can it evoke emotions? Can it speak to us?

Every time I walk by a memorial wall, I am filled with visuals. Some folks run their fingers on the wall and when they spot a dear one’s name, a feeling of acknowledgement envelops their face. Many others stand in front of the wall to capture their own memories with their camera.

 As I watch the wall, I stand in awe. The combination of symbolism of the wall in totality and a tribute…

In recent blogs, I have been distinguishing between quantitative data and narrative data. I believe that I separated the two forms relatively well. Although I originally focused on the differences in data in order to give narrative "its own space," actually there can be a symbiotic relationship between the two types of data. In my last blog, I said that quantitative data can be incorporated into narrative data. In my submission today, I will be discussing how the narrative can be used to…

In this blog, I will be discussing the use of attribution models in relation to codified narrative. For this purpose, I will be referring to the plots of two films: the 1974 horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”; and a 2014 dark comedy called “Tusk.” I have my own codification system called BERLIN: this is short for “Behavioural Event Reconstruction Linguistic Interface for Narratives.” An attribution model supports the inference of meaning from data. Imagine a student one day going…

BERLIN stands for Behavioural Event Reconstruction Linguistic Interface for Narratives. I introduced BERLIN a few blogs ago - in my "final blog." Theoretically after one's final blog, no further blogs are forthcoming. However, I am now posting bonus blogs reflecting aspects of the same closing subject. Today, I will be elaborating on BERLIN's syntax and how its searches are facilitated. As a general rule, the objective of BERLIN is to convert human-friendly narrative into computer-friendly…