פיוט אנלוגי בעולם דיגיטלי: לקראת מחקר ממוחשב של ספרות הפיוט

Computational-quantitative study in the humanistic disciplines has been increasing steadily in recent years thanks to the accessibility of computers, the rise in digital literacy, and the rapid digitization of texts and artifacts. research in this digital
environment makes possible unorthodox approaches to well-established methods and raises questions that could not have been asked in the past. Tools that enhance human interpretation by means of computational power and processing big data-sets
sometimes change the hermeneutical perspective.
This article illustrates new possibilities in computational literary study with an interesting case study: a reexamination of my doctoral dissertation on figurative language in early Piyyut that was written fifteen years ago. The detailed literary analyses from the dissertation were uploaded into cATMA, a web-based annotation tool, and were explored using visualization capabilities of the tool as well as other statistical methods. The comparison of the analog and digital explorations corroborated some of the findings of the dissertation and refuted others. More importantly, new insights were fleshed out using ‘distant reading’ techniques. All in all, the article seeks to promote a sober and accessible Digital Humanities that do not strive to replace traditional humanistic methods but to provide scholars with new tools and approaches.