I came across this intriguing article recently on the An Quant ar Buile website.
The writer (who interestingly remains anonymous but works in Killarney) has taken the original step of utilising modern data science techniques and applying them to aspects of Irish history.
Take for example the social sciences theoretical construct of a social network, something we all have in one way, form or another. This is a network of individuals (such as friends, acquaintances, and coworkers) connected by interpersonal relationships. The social network can be used to study relationships between individuals, groups, organisations, or even entire societies. Based on the Six Degrees of Separation concept (the idea that any two people on the planet could make contact through a chain of no more than five others), social networks establish connections between people and from this, certain assumptions can be made.
Now this is Ireland, so we really don't do the Six Degrees of Separation here... it's more like Two Degrees of Separation or at a push, three.
The writer took the Dublin Metropolitan Police force detective files 'Movement of Extremists' released in June 2015 (and also featured here on this site) for the period June 1915 to April 1916 (The 'Movement of Extremists' report was completed daily by DMP Superintendent Owen Brien from detectives assigned to observe and report on Irish Nationalists. This report was then sent to the Under Secretary & Chief Secretary for Ireland in Dublin Castle).
The anonymous genius behind 'An Quant ar Buile' next applied data analytical techniques to produce something new and original in historical research.
Analysing these data analytical techniques, a remarkable picture of the Nationalist movement in Ireland appears: "... two segregated communities linked by individuals loyal to Clarke and the isolation of figures like Eoin MacNeill and Arthur Griffith is in agreement with what we know today of how the 1916 Rising came about."
1915/1916 Irish Nationalist social network example below
The writer (who interestingly remains anonymous but works in Killarney) has taken the original step of utilising modern data science techniques and applying them to aspects of Irish history.
Take for example the social sciences theoretical construct of a social network, something we all have in one way, form or another. This is a network of individuals (such as friends, acquaintances, and coworkers) connected by interpersonal relationships. The social network can be used to study relationships between individuals, groups, organisations, or even entire societies. Based on the Six Degrees of Separation concept (the idea that any two people on the planet could make contact through a chain of no more than five others), social networks establish connections between people and from this, certain assumptions can be made.
Now this is Ireland, so we really don't do the Six Degrees of Separation here... it's more like Two Degrees of Separation or at a push, three.
The writer took the Dublin Metropolitan Police force detective files 'Movement of Extremists' released in June 2015 (and also featured here on this site) for the period June 1915 to April 1916 (The 'Movement of Extremists' report was completed daily by DMP Superintendent Owen Brien from detectives assigned to observe and report on Irish Nationalists. This report was then sent to the Under Secretary & Chief Secretary for Ireland in Dublin Castle).
The anonymous genius behind 'An Quant ar Buile' next applied data analytical techniques to produce something new and original in historical research.
Analysing these data analytical techniques, a remarkable picture of the Nationalist movement in Ireland appears: "... two segregated communities linked by individuals loyal to Clarke and the isolation of figures like Eoin MacNeill and Arthur Griffith is in agreement with what we know today of how the 1916 Rising came about."
1915/1916 Irish Nationalist social network example below
"Arthur Griffith continues to be pushed further away from the centre, being kept in the dark as to what was being planned. Joseph Plunkett appears on the outskirts of the Irish Volunteers cluster; he spent time traveling to Germany and New York in mid and late 1915 and suffered severe ill health in the later stages of the planning. James Connolly, bought into the IRB only in January, appears isolated in the top left, having appeared in reports mainly through Labour and Union meetings."
Of course, I have to admit to a certain bias here. I had to see just where Diarmuid Lynch featured in the statistical analysis. Here is his position in the Social Network of Irish Nationalists as monitored by the DMP over a century ago:
Of course, I have to admit to a certain bias here. I had to see just where Diarmuid Lynch featured in the statistical analysis. Here is his position in the Social Network of Irish Nationalists as monitored by the DMP over a century ago:
The article appears in full here.
The writer has also applied current statistical techniques to The Treaty Debates and Farming since the Famine and if you'd like a break from history, perhaps the articles on Political Diversity in Dail Eireann or The European Union, Rugby Player Position Classification or even The Late Late Toy Show might interest.
The writer has also applied current statistical techniques to The Treaty Debates and Farming since the Famine and if you'd like a break from history, perhaps the articles on Political Diversity in Dail Eireann or The European Union, Rugby Player Position Classification or even The Late Late Toy Show might interest.