Shakespeare: Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Sociomapping was developed primarily for visualizing relationships in small groups. At present, it is most often used for these kinds of purposes. We are, however, finding more and more areas where the use of Sociomapping has proven itself to be effective and advantageous. The following case study is a demonstration of how Sociomapping has been used to illustrate the relationships of characters in one of the classics in literature.
Shakespeare's Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet has been transformed into electronic form. After examining each act and scene, it was ascertained how often the characters appeared together on stage, and how often they communicated with each another. This information was then used to mark out where each of the characters stood on the map. Characters positioned close to one another often appear together on stage and frequently address one another (e.g. Juliet and Nurse, or Benvolio and Mercutio). On the other hand, those characters that do not meet on stage, and therefore are unable to speak together, are positioned far apart. The total number of words spoken in the play by each character was also calculated. This variable was then depicted on the map as height. Characters who spoke the most were elevated to higher ground (red areas, i.e. Romeo and Juliet). Those, who in comparison with other characters have fewer lines, are positioned at low points (blue areas, i.e. Benvolio, Lady Capulet).
Note: characters who are unimportant to the play have been removed, e.g. servants, musicians, etc.
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Without us even knowing the title of the work, from the Sociomap it is clear who Shakespeare's play is about. In this example it can be demonstrated very well, how Sociomapping is able to use quantitative data (number of words, time spent together on stage) to derive qualitative conclusions (which characters are close to each another, which far apart, who are the main characters, what is their relation to each another).