Intellectual Network Map

Interactive visualization of 450+ books organized by core intellectual problems rather than traditional academic disciplines

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Overview

This project maps a personal reading collection to reveal patterns of intellectual inquiry across eight fundamental problem domains: Consciousness, Language, Violence, Social Structure, Aesthetic Experience, Self/Subject, Temporality, and Place/Space.

Rather than organizing by genre or discipline, books are categorized by the core questions they address, revealing which domains are well-covered, where gaps exist, and which authors serve as bridges between different modes of thinking.

Features

Interactive Landing Page

• 8 Problem Domains - Organized by fundamental questions (consciousness, violence, social structure, etc.)
• Network Statistics - 450+ books, 8 domains, 14 key connections
• Domain Overview - Visual cards showing each intellectual problem area

Wikipedia Author Cards ✨ New

• Clickable Bridge Authors - Click any of 8 bridge authors to open detailed biographical modals
• Wikipedia Integration - Automatic biography fetching via Wikipedia REST API
• Smart Caching - sessionStorage prevents redundant API calls
• Related Authors - Algorithm finds connections based on shared problem domains
• Dark Elegant Design - Smooth animations and mobile-responsive layout

Network Visualization

• Interactive Graph - Zoom, pan, and hover for details
• Connection Strengths - Edge weights show relationships between domains
• Bridge Authors - Key thinkers who span multiple intellectual territories
• Reading Volume - Node sizing based on books per domain

Technology Stack

Frontend:

• Vanilla JavaScript (no frameworks)
• CSS Grid & Flexbox
• Wikipedia REST API
• sessionStorage for caching

Visualization:

• Python (NetworkX, Plotly)
• Interactive HTML/CSS/JS

Data:

• JSON-based taxonomy
• 450+ books with metadata
• 8 problem categories with bridge authors

Project Structure

intellectual-map/
├── index.html              # Landing page with author cards
├── favicon.svg             # Network node favicon
├── css/
│   └── author-cards.css    # Modal and link styling
├── js/
│   └── author-cards.js     # Wikipedia integration & modal logic
├── data/
│   ├── authors.json        # Wikipedia metadata for 8 bridge authors
│   └── processed/
│       ├── book_metadata.json
│       └── problem_categories.json
├── src/
│   └── create_network_viz.py
├── notebooks/
│   └── exploratory_analysis.ipynb
└── visualizations/
    └── intellectual_network_map.html

Bridge Authors

The project identifies 8 key thinkers who bridge multiple intellectual domains:

• Peter Sloterdijk - Place/Space → Social Structure, Self/Subject
• Michel Foucault - Social Structure → Self/Subject, Place/Space
• Thomas Pynchon - Aesthetic Experience → Language, Social Structure, Temporality
• Daniel Dennett - Consciousness → Language, Self/Subject
• David Foster Wallace - Aesthetic Experience → Self/Subject, Language
• Joan Didion - Aesthetic Experience → Place/Space, Self/Subject
• Slavoj Žižek - Self/Subject → Social Structure, Aesthetic Experience
• Randall Collins - Violence → Social Structure

Local Development

View Landing Page

# Start local server
python3 -m http.server 8000

# Open in browser
open http://localhost:8000/index.html

Generate Network Visualization

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Run visualization script
python src/create_network_viz.py

# Open result
open visualizations/intellectual_network_map.html

Explore Data

# Launch Jupyter notebook
jupyter notebook notebooks/exploratory_analysis.ipynb

Data Structure

Problem Categories

Each problem domain includes:

• Description - Core questions addressed
• Key Concepts - Central ideas and frameworks
• Representative Books - Top-rated works (with ratings)
• Bridge Authors - Thinkers connecting to other domains
• Connections - Links to related problem areas with strength scores

Author Metadata

Bridge authors include:

• Full name and Wikipedia links
• Primary problem domain
• Bridge domains (connections to other areas)
• Key works from the collection
• Significance scores

Intellectual Problem Domains

1. Consciousness - Qualia, mind-body problem, phenomenology
2. Language - Meaning-making, cognitive linguistics, semantics
3. Violence - Micro-sociology, structural violence, conflict
4. Social Structure - Power, institutions, capitalism, networks
5. Aesthetic Experience - Art, beauty, horror, the sublime
6. Self/Subject - Subjectivity, identity, psychoanalysis
7. Temporality - Time, memory, historical consciousness
8. Place/Space - Phenomenology of place, spatial organization

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

Author

Joseph Z. Stafura

• GitHub
• Google Scholar
• LinkedIn

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Built with Python, NetworkX, Plotly, and vanilla JavaScript • View Project