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Yuerong Hu

@yrhu.bsky.social

Assistant Professor, Information and Library Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington

40 Posts113 Follower131 Folgt
Yuerong Hu@yrhu.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Hi DH friends, join us on Nov 10, 10-11 am CT, for “New Book History Research with Internet Data”, a hybrid panel sponsored by SHAR, to explore challenges and opportunities of using Internet data and digital methods for book history research. More info in the poster attached and comments :)

This is a panel on “Book History with Internet Data”, with 8 panelists from different IMLS/iSchools, funded by SHARP. Over the past two decades, a variety of internet-based datasets have emerged related to books, reading habits, and reader communities—ranging from crowd-sourced genre tags and online reviews to platforms like BookTok. These datasets are increasingly valuable for research in reading and readership, often complementing traditional book history approaches. However, they also raise new questions and challenges. To explore these opportunities and foster interdisciplinary collaboration, this panel will bring together eight panelists from diverse fields to discuss questions, such as: How can we critically understand the relationship between Internet-based “book” data and traditional research materials? What are the methodological challenges and potential pitfalls of using digital data in book history research? How can interdisciplinary approaches enrich the analysis of Internet book and reader datasets? Here are our amazing panelists: - Micah Bateman, Assistant Professor, School of Library and Information Science, The University of Iowa - Melanie Walsh, Assistant Professor, an Assistant Professor in the Information School and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the English Department, University of Washington - Wenyi Shang, Assistant Professor, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies, University of Missouri - Cici Ling, Assistant Professor, Department of Informatics, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington - Kai Li, Assistant Professor, School of Information Sciences, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville - Andrew Zalot, Assistant Professor, College of Education, East Carolina University - Alex Wingate, PhD Candidate, Department of Information and Library Science, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington
Yuerong Hu@yrhu.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Dear friends and colleagues, I am recruiting prospective PhD students for Fall 2026, in Digital Humanities, Cultural Analytics, Critical Data Studies, Social Media, and/or Platform Studies. Please feel free to reach out to me with questions, or share this with anyone who might be interested! Thanks!

Melanie Walsh@mellymeldubs.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Since book sales data is basically impossible to get, this is one of the few resources where you can actually see what people are reading and when. With the SPL checkout data, you can track trends for your favorite authors and novels, but also see aggregate patterns. E.g., COVID 🤝 audiobooks

This line plot shows checkouts from the Seattle Public Library from 2006 to 2025, broken out by audiobook, ebook, and print book. Print checkouts plummet around 2020, while ebook and audiobook checkouts rise, and stay high long after the peak of the pandemic, eventually outstripping print.
Neel Gupta@neel2112.bsky.social · 12mo ago

David Christensen, @mellymeldubs.bsky.social & I wrote about the Seattle Public Library open checkout dataset. The data is idiosyncratic and imperfect—but also a rare, detailed look at book popularity over time. Excited to see how others put it to use! openhumanitiesdata.metajnl.com/articles/10....