Research Activities for Brian Kokensparger

At Creighton University, we conduct research "to enhance teaching, to contribute to the betterment of society, and to discover new knowledge" (from the Creighton University Mission Statement, available here). In my time as a faculty member at Creighton University, I have done all three.

Here are some areas where I have done research in the past or am currently doing research:

Computer Science Education and Pedagogy

As a computer science instructor, I am required to keep up with the latest pedagogical trends and methods. Having received my Ph.D. in Instructional Technology, I spend much more time evaluating and adopting new technologies for the classroom. Much of this work goes into my research, where I write and present papers, nifty assignments, workshops,and posters regarding computer science education. I have presented at the national SIGCSE and the regional CCSC Central Plains conferences, both of which are excellent ways to network with other faculty members. I always come away from these conferences with some good ideas to try in the classroom. My actual papers, abstracts, and nifty assignments are available in my CV.

Digital Humanities Programming

Creighton University has recently developed a Digital Humanities initiative, and I got into it by developing digital humanities assignments for my CSC 221 (Introductory Programming) course. The basic premise was for all students (both computer science and digital humanities) to receive basic instruction in basic programming techniques in the Python language, and they would also gain exposure to digital humanities programming techniques by completing homework assignments. I wrote a book that provides the assignments, including advice on how to introduce and manage these assignments in the classroom.

I have also been involved with Creighton's Digital Maximilian-Bodmer Archive and am involved with a multi-year project to digitize all of the burial permits for the Prospect Hill Cemetery, a nearby pioneer cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska.

Textual Analysis of Early Modern English Drama

I received a fellowship at the Folger Shakespeare Library, in Washington, D.C., to participate in EMDA 2015. This excellent introduction to all phases of digital humanities scholarship in Early Modern studies provided me with the kickstart I needed to begin serious textual analysis of Early Modern English Drama. Near the end of the fellowship, we were provided an opportunity to share some of the work that we had done during the fellowship. I showed the Linguistic Complexity tool that I built during the fellowship, and compared some of the works attributed to William Shakespeare to the lyrics attributed to Kanye West.

I extended this research in a paper delivered at Digitorium 2016, at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which is being published in a book on Big Data that is due to be out soon. When it is published I'll provide a link to it at that time.

Following that conference, I extended it further by tracing "character walks" among Shakespeare's characters in his plays. I presented this work at DADH 2017 in Taipei, Taiwan, and the paper is due to be published by November of 2018. I will provide the link to it here once it is published.

I am currently doing stylometric analysis of Early Modern Drama, focusing particularly on the author attribution problem of the play A Yorkshire Tragedy. I recently presented my work on this topic at Digitorium 2018, again in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in early October of 2018. I have made modifications to the paper, and will present the new developments on this area of my research at DADH 2018, coming up at Dharma Drum Center of the Arts near Taipei, Taiwan, in late December of 2018.

Here are some other areas where I have done research or development in the past:

• Assessment and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
• Linguistic Landscape/Applied Linguistics
• Multi-Processor Research Methods

For more specific information on my research activities, please see my CV.