This is a JSON challenge, or a hackers wanted call. Specifically, I am looking for leads on how to slurp up a JSON file and create a cool (or "kewl") Web interface to the data. Let me explain.

I have created a small matrix consisting of about 125 rows by 125 columns. Each row represents a book in the series called the Great Books of the Western World. Columns include identifiers, word counts, grade levels, readability scores, and integers I call "Great Idea Coefficients". For more information about this data, see the blog posting. [1]

Here's the challenge:

  1. convert the matrix into a JSON object
  2. save the object as a file
  3. write a Javascript library allowing the
     patron to manipulate, aggregate, summarize,
     chart, and display variations of the JSON

For example, slurp up the JSON and simply display a pretty list of all the elements. Allow the user to sort the list by author, title, length, or any one of the Coefficients. Allow the user to select only the items authored by Shakespeare and display the same sort of... sorts. Allow the user to select all the items with a love Coefficient greater than n, sort them by n, and illustrate the result using a bar chart. Create a scatter plot denoting any relationships between length of book and its "greatness". Allow the user to drag and drop selected items into a container (a div element) and summarize them according to grade level or readability. Etc.

The goal is to allow the patron to analyze the texts -- do "distant reading" -- and to create many different visualizations.

Ideally this Javascript library would exploit JQuery for all of its cool user interface characteristics.

In the end, the techniques used to quantitatively describe the Great Books could be applied to other texts (other books, blog postings, open access journal articles, etc.), and this Javascript library could be used as a part of a "next, next generation library catalog" or "discovery system".

Fun?

[1] blog - http://infomotions.com/blog/2010/09/great-books-data-dictionary/

-- 
Eric Morgan
University of Notre Dame