The visualization network based on the people and places mentioned in the edited correspondence is large. This is illustrative of the diplomatic nature of Bodley’s work; and there are many instances in the correspondence where Bodley mentions a location or person only once. Cumulatively, this creates a huge network of multiple nodes.
When this information is fed into visualization software (even software that is appropriate for use with humanities data), the output can be extremely tangled and difficult to read, and the resulting view is of a mess, or ‘hairball’. While the point that the network is a large one is clear, the visualization requires closer analysis before it yields interesting or useful patterns and systems of connection.
Hairball I illustrates this point: it includes all geographical locations mentioned by Bodley and his correspondents. We have enlarged the view of the three primary correspondents of Bodley, Burghley and Sir Francis Walsingham. The nodes of geographical locations mentioned are manually manipulated into distinct clusters.