Step 4: Why Voyant and Lexos?
In this tutorial, the tools Voyant and Lexos are being used. They have been chosen because they are "out of the box," meaning they don't require any coding, they are relatively easy to use, and they have many capabilities. As such, they are great tools for getting started in text analysis.
Generally speaking, "out of the box" tools tend to be blunter instruments in that they do not allow for the level of customization and specificity that using coding and scripting languages like Python and R do. Consequently, if you want to run more in-depth text analysis queries, you would eventually need to gain some coding and scripting skills. If tools like Voyant and Lexos serve all of your text analysis requirements, then they might be all you need.
Lexos, which is more complex than Voyant, allows some more in-depth work and can be used for scraping, scrubbing, and cutting text in addition to conducting analyses. Voyant has a flexible and friendly interface that provides a lot of different ways into a text. In this tutorial, you will learn about a way in which Lexos and Voyant work well together.
When first using Voyant and Lexos, it is good to look over their guides and other helpful information. Voyant has an extensive guide, with the tools list and tool instructions being particularly helpful. The question marks on the Voyant interface also provide information. Lexos has helpful information within the tool. Click on a question mark to learn what something does, or click on "Help" in the top right of the navigation bar to open the help window on the left.
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