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Tracking Social Networking In Shakespeare Plays

An anonymous reader writes "By feeding PieSpy (an IRC bot used to visualise social networks) with the entire texts of Shakespeare plays, it became possible to produce drawings of the social networks present in his plays - it is now possible to visualize the relationships between the characters in his works, and see Shakespeare in an entirely new light."

34 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. 2 Pie or not /=\2 by scorp888 · · Score: 4, Funny

    That is the question...

    1. Re:2 Pie or not /=\2 by Rovaani · · Score: 5, Funny

      (2b)||(!2b) equals true, for any value of b.

      --
      Karma: Good! Napster: Baad!
    2. Re:2 Pie or not /=\2 by Gildor · · Score: 3, Funny

      The question is, of course, "what do you get if you multiply six by nine". But somehow I doubt that was what Shakespeare had in mind.

    3. Re:2 Pie or not /=\2 by haystor · · Score: 5, Funny

      It is a control structure not evaluated for the truth of expression but for the side effects.

      Clearly Hamlet is attempting first 2b. If that returns false, then he'll attempt !2b. As these are attempted in succession and not at the same time, it is possible though unlikely that both return false. More likely is a fatal error which Hamlet appears not to worry about trapping.

      --
      t
  2. Shakespearian Pr0n? by craenor · · Score: 0, Funny

    Sorry...but I read this through twice, and the thing I kept hearing in my mind was bad 70's porn music. Bowm, Chica, chica Bowm bowm. That would be shakespeare in a whole new light...

  3. What about other plays? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Wouldn't this work with any play? Why focus on Shakespeare... he was mediocre at best, totally overrated.

  4. The practical way by the+real+darkskye · · Score: 3, Funny

    The most practical way to tell the difference between Macbeth and Hamlet requires two days and a local theater company.
    Day One:
    Enter the theater and say "Hamlet" to each of the actors, observe their reaction
    Day Two:
    Enter the theater and say "Macbeth" to each of the actors, observe their reaction, be prepared to run away from an angry mob.

    --
    Music is everybody's possession.
    It's only publishers who think that people own it.
    Fuck Beta
    ~John Lenno
  5. Re:oh thank god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    MacBeth wasn't quite as big a pervert. Think of MacBeth as the PG version of Hamlet.

  6. Chat room relic.... by 16K+Ram+Pack · · Score: 3, Funny

    petruchio: Hi Shrew A/S/L?

    1. Re:Chat room relic.... by Channard · · Score: 3, Funny

      Shrew: No-one understands me! Livejournal at www.livejournal.com/~angstyshrew

  7. orkut by CGP314 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Great, the last thing I want is to have to ignore a friend request from Hamlet on Orkut. That guy is so whiney and needy.

    Now if only I could think of a clever way to start emailing Juliet.

    -Colin

    1. Re:orkut by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
      Now if only I could think of a clever way to start emailing Juliet.
      Communication with Juliet is managed via a priest-based transport system. However, it is vital to realise that this network does not have guaranteed delivery.
    2. Re:orkut by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny
      Dude! She's 13, underage and her daddy doesn't want her to get married for another two years. You are so busted!

      You've got law-enforcement!

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  8. Maybe someone can work out... by Channard · · Score: 4, Funny

    .. why so many of Shakespeare's works are called comedies just because everyone doesn't die at the end. I saw the Merchant of Venice and there wasn't a single pie-fucking scene in it. I want my money back, dammit.

    1. Re:Maybe someone can work out... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The pie-fucking scenes were lost somewhere between the First Folio and the commonly performed Quarto versions of the text.

    2. Re:Maybe someone can work out... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      unlikely, the quarto is c. 1598, and the folio edition 1623.

      the pie-fuckings are now excised as they are considered later additions and not by Shakespeare.

  9. Re:Hamlet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    goto castle;

    castle:
    if(!kill(Claudius))
    goto mother;

  10. BOT by essreenim · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, it seems like a good bot. I think it's abilities might be better served somewhere else though.

    If I named it fairy princess and recorded transcripts of conversations between me and my EX
    maybe I could convince her that it was in fact she who was the weak link in the social network!

  11. Porn by Woogiemonger · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you watch the sample video on the web site, you'd see the relationships take the shape of a woman's bra. Shakespeare was a pervert!

  12. Re:What about... by Bigman · · Score: 2, Funny

    Having read the linked article, I must say that's the single most amusing thing I've seen in ages!! I say we should translate all of the linux kernel into SPL - that would shove it up Darl's nose bigtime. Introduce him to the list of characters and we can all have fun making up negative constants.....

    --
    *--BigMan--- Time flies like an arrow.. but personally I prefer a nice glass of wine!
  13. Re:Mirror by LarsWestergren · · Score: 2, Funny

    Macbeth: "Is this a Slashdotting I see before me? It's URL pointing to my own server? Here, let me hold you!"

    --

    Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

  14. Here you go... by the_twisted_pair · · Score: 1, Funny

    <i>Now if only I could think of a clever way to start emailing Juliet</i>

    Maybe you could write a script not unlike:

    #define "Spam Juliet"
    #include "Duke.h"
    #include "Curio.h"
    #include "Musicians_attending.h"

    void if_love(void)
    {
    if (music() = food_of_love)
    {
    next();
    give me("excess_of_it", ALWAYS);
    Surfeit(music);
    appetite_wither();
    }

    }

  15. Re:Symmetric vs. Asymmetric relationships by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    A really advanced version of PieSpy, like, say, I don't know, a high school English class?

    When we "need" a chat bot to understand the works of a writer considered by many to be the greatest (English-language) in history, I fear for society.

    I agree in essence with the original poster's thoughts on symetric/asymetric relationships, I just think that this thread is getting ahead of itself with the whole "Ohmygawd! We found social networks in Shakespeare" bit. Next week we'll see if there is any symabolism in "Paradise Lost."

    Okay, that will be two weeks from now, next week we will see this post duped twice.

  16. Social Networks or not... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...IRC is living proof that a million monkeys with keyboards will NOT eventually produce the works of Shakespeare.

  17. Robert Jordan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    With about a dozen books released so far, a tool like this might be nice to keep track of which characters know each other, which ones hate each other, and who's masquerading as someone else.

    Sometimes a name appears in a book and you have to think back four or five books to the last time you saw that person to figure out whether they're with the Light or with the Shadow.

  18. Re:ENG 201 by Unknown+Kadath · · Score: 2, Funny

    It might not always work. I was Romeo in the balcony scene. Fuckin' embarrassing as a high school freshman. ;)

    -Carolyn

    --
    Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
  19. How fitting... by JoeLinux · · Score: 2, Funny

    They called it "MacBeth", and they got slashdotted. Guess it really is unlucky. :)

  20. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm not a great coder, but I'm an engineering student, which requires me to occasionally code projects for class. Recently, we began writing programs to compute Gibbs free energy as a function of temperature and composition for a binary system. As I'm one of the only people in the class who doesn't code in VBA, I often feel put upon whenever I present code in Fortran. I've considered writing my programs in C++, but I'm not confident enough in my C++ skills.

    My next program will be written in SPL. it's going to be difficult to express free energies in terms of great big kingdoms and golden hairs, but I think it will be fun.

  21. Re:What about... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    IRC Shakespeare...

    <HAMLET> Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow
    of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath
    borne me on his back a thousand times;

    <L33tBoi> ROFL LOL!!!? u r a fag

  22. Re:Not so smart (Snug/Joiner) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    i suppose the bot must have split while snug typed /nick lion

  23. Re:ENG 201 by teklob · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because he's dead.

  24. Re:Henry V by johndiii · · Score: 2, Funny

    :-)

    In a darker moment, one might imagine MacFriends, "that Scottish sitcom". Perhaps directed by Roman Polanski. Hmmm... Francesca Annis/Jennifer Anniston. Perhaps I'm on to something here...

    --
    Floating face-down in a river of regret...and thoughts of you...
  25. Re:Henry V by Unknown+Kadath · · Score: 3, Funny

    *thinks*

    Macbeth: "Will you go out with me?"

    L. Macbeth: "Yeah, when the great Birnam Woods come to Dunsinane, you loser."

    Macduff: "Ooh,
    snap!"

    *laugh track*

    Macbeth (mutters): "Jeez. No man of woman born can lay that chick."

    *laugh track*


    I shudder.

    -Carolyn

    --
    Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
  26. Then there's the FPS version... by Mr.+Bad+Example · · Score: 3, Funny

    Malcolm: Let every soldier hew him down a bough
    And bear't before him: thereby shall we shadow
    The numbers of our host and make discovery
    Err in report of us.

    Macbeth: OMG! WTF camping n00b