Religious Studies News: big data approach to history
“While users can use the DRH similarly to an encyclopedia—that is, looking at individual entries—the database also reflects a Big Data approach to comparing and understanding large scale patterns or trends in the historical record.
Yes, although you can browse individual entries as in an encyclopedia, the DRH is actually a relational database with all of the powerful functionality that comes with the ability to manipulate data on a large scale. Answers to the various poll questions are ultimately grounded only in space and time, which allows users to analyze answers to specific questions within certain date ranges and geographical areas, to correlate answers with other types of geo-spacial data, or to visualize DRH data in a variety of ways.”
“Making Religious History Digitally Native,”Religious Studies News, March 2nd 2017