Conclusion

While the data collected from Jane Addams Papers Project tell us valuable information about Jane Addams’s works, the organizations she was involved in, and also about her associates, it is not perfect when it comes to giving all the information. Even after rigorous cleaning of the HTML encoded information, there are still discrepancies and challenges invited by the Text-Based Data. The unstructured nature of text-based data, that is, the lack of any sort of predetermined format makes it difficult to analyze and process compared to structured data, which is organized into a predetermined format. Additionally, text data can be noisy and contain errors, and typos that can make it even more difficult to analyze. In this particular case, the random use of abbreviations on names of states, randomly misspelled words, and random use of spacing made it arduous to extract meaning from the data. Despite these challenges, text data can be very valuable and can provide insights that are difficult to obtain from other types of data. As long as you have all the necessary tools, knowledge, and resources to work with text data, it is often worth the effort. 

By looking at all the information about locations, we open the archive of Jane Addams’ world and reimagine her association all across the world. Sorting and analyzing the addresses illuminates the scope of the women's rights movement revealing an array of intellectual affiliations which are not likely to be interpreted without digital tools. 

Further readings on the project:

• Initial Data Cleaning Process
• Analysis of Textual Data
• Analysis of Personal Network Data