2019-20 Academic Year Research Progress Report

Linked Data Research Group
School of Library and Information Studies
College of Communication and Information Sciences
University of Alabama

Purpose

The purpose of this page is to report on progress occurring during the 2019-20 academic year related to RGC grant-related research accomplishments. The primary results of this research year pertained to completing the requirements of an RGC grant. General background information about the grant is available from this conference paper (PPT).

Research Team

1. Dr. Steven MacCall, SLIS associate professor and director of the Link Data Research Group
2. Melissa Anderson, GTA and SLIS student, who helped design our data collection procedures using Zooniverse and then managed our volunteer transcriber pool
3. Huapu Liu, SLIS graduate, who contributed to semantic data modeling and Wikibase management process

Semantic Indexing of 2 Games from 1992 Alabama Football Season

As a result of RGC grant funding, we investigated the recovery of play-by-play data from the historical record. For games in 1992, the historical record consisted of typed play-by-play datasets requiring manual transcription by volunteers, which allowed us to investigate the inclusion into our data processing pipeline of a crowdsourcing method for historical data transcription. We reported on these efforts in this conference paper (PPT). A summary of our results:

1. Alabama versus Tulane on October 10, 1992 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, LA; RECOVERED PLAY-BY-PLAY DATA: 176 plays from 26 drives
2. Alabama versus LSU on November 7, 1992 at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, LA; RECOVERED PLAY-BY-PLAY DATA: 185 plays from 26 drives

Example SPARQL queries for retrieving plays from these two games (only) from the 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football season meeting a variety of query criteria (PLEASE NOTE: To run each query, click on the Blue Arrow icon in lower left portion of screen after clicking on links below):

1. All rushing touchdowns that went for over 15 yards that occurred during the 2 games of the 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football season that we currently have in our play database
2. Running plays for over 10 yards occurring on 3rd down in the available games of the 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football season (Just those running plays for which there are video clips).
3. Interceptions by George Teague from the 2 games we have from the 1992 Alabama Crimson Tide football season.

Semantic Indexing of 2 Games from 1961 Alabama Football Season

As part our RGC grant, we investigated games from the 1961 season. For games from 1961, there were no historical records available containing explicit play-by-data. However, there are other documentary sources of such data, including journalistic newspaper accounts of those games. In our study, we investigated the inclusion into our data processing pipeline of a crowdsourcing method for historical data-extraction from newspaper articles. We chose to use articles published in the Tuscaloosa News available online. We reported on these efforts in this conference paper (PPT). A summary of our results:

1. Alabama versus Tulane on September 30, 1961 at Ladd Stadium in Mobile, AL. (Newspaper source: "Alabama Nips Tulane 9 to 0" by Charles Land appearing in the October 1, 1961 edition of the Tuscaloosa News). RECOVERED PLAY-BY-PLAY DATA: 104 plays and 22 drives
2. Alabama versus Vanderbilt on October 7, 1961 at Dudley Field in Nashville, TN. (Newspaper source: "Tide Engulfs Vandy, 35-6" by Charles Land appearing in the October 8, 1961 edition of the Tuscaloosa News). RECOVERED PLAY-BY-PLAY DATA: 129 plays and 25 drives
3. Alabama versus Auburn on December 2, 1961 at Legion Field in Birmingham, AL; RECOVERED PLAY-BY-PLAY DATA: All plays and all drives

Example SPARQL queries for retrieving plays from these two games (only) from the 1961 Alabama Crimson Tide football season meeting a variety of query criteria (PLEASE NOTE: To run each query, click on the Blue Arrow icon in lower left portion of screen after clicking on links below):

1. All passing touchdowns for 15 or more yards from available games of the 1961 Alabama football season with video clips that we currently have in our play database
2. All pass completions by Pat Trammell from the 3 games we have from the 1961 Alabama Crimson Tide football season (just those pass completions for which we have video clips
3. All plays from the 1961 Iron Bowl in which Bill Battle was a featured player (contributed directly to play's outcome)
   1. Just those Iron Bowl plays in which Bill Battle had a: pass interception

Volunteer Transcribers for Games from the 1992 Season

We would like to acknowledge and thank the following volunteer transcribers of the play-by-play datasets from the two games of the 1992 season:

1. Dr. Jim Elmborg
2. Dr. Elizabeth Aversa
3. Rocco Aversa
4. Dr. Ann Bourne
5. Dr. Steven Yates