A computational analysis of group representation at U.S. Congressional hearings since 1877

FAIN: FEL-273936-21

Vilja Hulden
University of Colorado, Boulder (Boulder, CO 80303-1058)

Research and preparation of a digital publication based on the computational analysis of Congressional hearing records to explore the history of group representation and lobbying between the mid-19th and later 20th centuries.

The United States Congress has historically held hundreds and even thousands of hearings a year to investigate societal problems and collect viewpoints on proposed legislation. This project aims to understand long-term patterns in representation at these hearings by conducting a large-scale computational analysis of hearings over the past 140 years using available metadata (hearings title, witness name, etc.) and the full text of hearings. The analysis will provide a birds-eye view as well as examine three case studies (labor, women, and the environment.) The final product will be a multifaceted digital book (using Scalar) aimed at scholarly and general audiences in equal measure. It constructs a narrative that engages scholarly arguments about lobbying and representation, but also offers a modular structure and multiple pathways that invite students and the general public to explore who and what Congress has paid attention to over the years.