English, philosophy and comparative literature aren’t typically subjects that come to mind when thinking about big datasets. But the intersection between literature and data analysis is exactly where Anna Preus works. Preus, a University of Washington assistant professor of English and of data science, digitally streamlined the process of documenting the number of non-British poets published in early 20th-century Great Britain. The number was enormous, but these poets are still absent from the literary canon — a discrepancy that…