Digital Resources and Projects on East Asia

This page introduces a collaborative database/table created using Airtable that collects English-language digital resources and projects on East Asia into one central location.

The aim of this table is to provide researchers and educators with a convenient way to locate and explore digital materials based on a variety of thematic content. The content can be filtered through a variety of labels and tags (explained below) or searched with keywords. Submissions to the table may be entered via the submission form included below.

The comprehensiveness of this collection relies on the input of others. In order to provide a balance between utility and ease of use, the table does not juggle a great deal of detail in its tagging system (such as topic-specific keywords or localized periodic divisions). It is my hope that individuals looking to develop multimodal syllabi and lectures for survey/area-specific courses or who seek examples of digital methods employed in East Asian projects will find this source of helpful for reference or exploration.

I welcome questions, comments, and suggestions as to how such a list might be improved. Explanations of categorical divisions may be found below. Scroll to the bottom to view the table (embedded, with preferred pop-out option).

How to Navigate the Table

The table includes the following labels and tags (click tabs for details):

This label refers to the title of the website or project.
This label refers to the approximate time period or periods the site is about. Given the various and often contested means of periodization, these divisions are broadly defined. The options are the following:

- premodern: roughly before 1900
- modern: roughly after 1900

If the site is a larger institutional/organization site, there is no indication of time period.

This label refers to the geographic location or locations on which the website or project focuses.

These include specific locations (Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia) and broad locations (Asia, East Asia). If the site is more generally about Asia or East Asia at large, those categories are used. The general Asia/East Asia tags are not included alongside location-specific ones (i.e. something marked "Japan" need not also include "Asia").

This label refers to the home institution or author responsible for the website or project.

This label refers to the URL of the website or project.

Categories help indicate the methods used in the project of the site or the general content of the site at large. These categories are necessarily blunt instruments and reflect both specific digital methods as well as broader characterizations of the sites given for ease of grouping functions. Multiple categories may be selected.

A rough explanation of categories is as follows:

- text mining: The project/page includes methods of or related to deriving/analysis of unstructured data from texts; information such as patterns and trends are typically derived through means such as statistical pattern learning/natural language processing.

- network analysis: The project/page includes methods of or related to creating or analyzing networks and/or creating network visualizations (graphs or node-link diagrams expressing relationships).

- OCR: The project/page includes methods of or related to Optical Character Recognition, the mechanical or electronic conversion of images of typed, handwritten or printed text into machine-encoded text.

- visual tools: The project/page includes methods of or related to the exploration and analysis of visual sources, particularly art or original source materials, such as visual/translation overlays and/or annotations of handscrolls or digitized primary texts.

- maps/mapping: The project/page includes methods of or related to producing and analyzing maps and/or visualizing data on maps.

- data set/statistics: The project/page includes methods of or related to providing data sets or statistics for public use.

- topic modeling: The project/page includes methods of or related to using statistical models for discovering the abstract "topics" that occur in a collection of documents.

- research project: The project/page focuses on a particular research topic or theme produced by an individual or group, often with analyses or essays included.

- pedagogy: The project/page is produced with the explicit goal of providing teaching materials/pedagogical resources and plans for the classroom.

- how-to-guide: The project/page provides how-to guides for particular research methods (e.g.: topic modeling, network analysis, OCR, etc.).

- archive: a collection of documents or materials

- database: a collection of documents or materials with search functionality

- curated collection: a collection (such as art, postcards, or other materials) that is either a part of a museum or tailored to a particular theme or type of resource

- bibliography: The project/page provides a set of bibliographic resources

- dictionary: The project/page is intended for use as a dictionary resource, providing definitions or entries on particular items.

- institute/organization: The project/page of a general group, conference, or other institutional organization that is focused on promoting the digital in relation to Asia or East Asia.

- podcast: a podcast on an East Asia-related topic.

This label refers to the accessibility of the website and its contents.

- open access: anyone can access
- partial open access: anyone can access, but with limitations such as creating a login/userid
- not open access: access is limited by institution or paid subscription

This label refers to a one-sentence explanation of the website and its contents.

How to Search the Table

The table view may be filtered and searched through several methods:

  • Hide fields: This hides one or more labels from the view that you are not interested in seeing.
  • Filter: This shows only entries that contain a specific keyword (you input) with a label, or specific labels or categories you select. (i.e.: You might select all entries that contain premodern, China, and visual tools).
  • Group: This groups entries by one or more categories. It is possible to separate entries into as specific or broad of groupings as you like.
  • Sort: This sorts specific labels by order such as A to Z, Z to A, or First to Last, etc.

The table can also be searched using the magnifying glass icon on the top right, or can be downloaded to your own computer as a static CSV file.

How to Submit Resources to the Table

I welcome submissions of new and established digital resources and projects on East Asia to better serve the community at large. Clarifications on how to categorize each label are included in the submission form. Submissions will be checked and edited monthly.

Click to Submit a Site

The table is best viewed in a new window. Please click "view larger verson" on the bottom right of the table to do so.