150 research outputs found

    Using the clustering coefficient to guide a genetic-based communities finding algorithm

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    The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23878-9_20Proceedings of 12th International Conference IDEAL, Norwich, UK, September 7-9, 2011.We describe an approach taken for automatically associating entries from an on-line encyclopedia with concepts in an ontology or a lexical semantic network. It has been tested with the Simple English Wikipedia and WordNet, although it can be used with other resources. The accuracy in disambiguating the sense of the encyclopedia entries reaches 91.11% (83.89% for polysemous words). It will be applied to enriching ontologies with encyclopedic knowledge

    Fair oder Foul?: Punktevergabe und Platzierung beim Eurovision Song Contest

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    Spätestens seit dem letztjährigen Auftritt von Conchita Wurst mit ihrem provokanten Mix aus männlichen und weiblichen Zügen hat der Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in ganz Europa Aufmerksamkeit erregt. Neben der großen öffentlichen Teilnahme existieren aber auch eine ganze Reihe wissenschaftlicher Untersuchungen zu möglichen Einflussfaktoren der Punktevergabe beim ESC. Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit ist es, auf Grundlage einer eigenen empirischen Datenerhebung verschiedene Faktoren hinsichtlich ihres Einflusses auf die Bewertung der Auftritte beim ESC zu untersuchen. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, ob es systematische Einflüsse gibt, die die Chancen eines Songs Punkte zu erhalten, beeinflussen. Dazu werden alle Teilnehmerländer für den relevanten Zeitraum der Jahre 1999 bis 2014 betrachtet. Im Mittelpunkt stehen drei Hypothesen zum Einfluss (1) des Startplatzes, (2) der Songsprache und (3) eines möglichen Blockvoting. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden Untersuchung zeigen, dass der Startplatz den deutlichsten Einfluss auf die Bewertung hat. Das heißt, je später der ESC-Auftritt stattfindet, desto besser wird er bewertet. Sogenanntes Blockvoting oder politisches Voting innerhalb gemeinsamer Kultur- und Sozialräume, bspw. aus Solidarität, Ethnizität oder wegen gemeinsamer politischer Präferenzen, konnte nicht (zweifelsfrei) identifiziert werden. Zusammenfassend spricht dies für dynamische Entwicklungen bei der Punktevergabe, die zum Teil exogen (kulturell, sozial und politisch) determiniert aber auch endogen durch Antizipation der Punktevergabe anderer Länder hervorgerufen werden. Beides verhindert die Ermittlung stabiler Wirkungszusammenhänge und damit auch die Prognose von Punkteresultaten. Insoweit sind Qualität oder zumindest Popularität und zufällige Einflüsse ausschlaggebend für das Abschneiden eines Beitrags. Dies ist im Hinblick auf den Anspruch des ESC ein fairer Wettbewerb zu sein aber ein eher hoffnungsvolles Ergebnis.The performance of Conchita Wurst at the European Song Contest (ESC) in 2014 has attracted a lot of public interest and awareness. Her performance intentionally is a statement of tolerance and individual freedom and triggered a debate on the factors influencing the success or failure of a particular song, i.e. the points a performance receives. To what extent the sex of the artist, the language of the song or political preferences and geographical proximity impact aggregate voting behavior and thus the odds of winning the contest? This paper bases on the voting-data from 1999 to 2014 and investigates three hypotheses, i.e. the impacts of (1) the serial position of a performance, (2) the language of the song and (3) the existence of voting blocs. By analyzing a sample of the aggregate points of 394 songs this study shows that ordering effects when judging the songs are at hand: Participants that perform later receive more points on average. There is no - or at least only very weak - evidence for voting bias on the basis of geography and political voting blocs or linguistic preferences. This outcome strikingly contradicts a lot of other empirical studies as to voting patterns in the ESC. Two explanations are put forward: First, the voting behavior is an endogenous variable. If it is well known that a country receives votes due to political preferences and not because of the quality of its song the other countries anticipate this and tend to give less points. Thus at the aggregate level 'logrolling' of points inside voting blocs are cancelled out. Second, a closer look at the literature reveals that a lot of empirical studies identify voting blocs, but these voting blocs are almost always different groups of various countries. Summing up, it emerges that there are very few stable patterns of voting behavior, probably due to dynamic changes of political, cultural and social preferences. Therefore the evidence backs the idea that the quality of a song or at least the popularity of a performance dominate the success. This is certainly a favourable outcome given the goal of a fair and impartial song contest

    An Investigation into Factors Which Explain the Scores and Voting Patterns of the Eurovision Song Contest.

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    The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an annual international television song competition. Participating countries send a group or individual artist to perform an original song at the competition. The winner is decided by all participating countries using a voting system that incorporates both a public televote and an expert jury vote. Countries are excluded from voting for their entry and the country with the highest score wins. A high scoring performance and the voting patterns of the ESC can be explained by a complex set of factors. These factors can be divided into three groups; performance factors, competition factors and external factors. Performance factors relate to the performance itself, such as the song and the music. Competition factors relate to the way the competition is run and organised, such as the type of voting method used and the order of appearance for the performers. External factors encompass the social, cultural and political factors that influence voting at the Eurovision. The research presented here focuses on among other factors, whether voting blocs, music factors derived from Echo Nest services and migration patterns can explain the points and voting patterns of the 2016 ESC. The data was stratified into three datasets based on the voting systems; combined vote, televote and jury vote. A multiple linear regression model was fitted to each dataset and the significance of the predictor variables in explaining the response variable Points were evaluated using T-tests. The results showed that both the voting blocs and migration patterns were significant in explaining the scores and voting patterns of the competition. With regards to the music factors, the most successful songs appeared to be more acoustic and less dance orientated

    Popular Music and Public Diplomacy: Transnational and Transdisciplinary Perspectives

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    In the early years of the Cold War, Western nations increasingly adopted strategies of public diplomacy involving popular music. While the diplomatic use of popular music was initially limited to such genres as jazz, the second half of the 20th century saw a growing presence of various popular genres in diplomatic contexts, including rock, pop, bluegrass, flamenco, funk, disco, and hip-hop, among others. This volume illuminates the interrelation of popular music and public diplomacy from a transnational and transdisciplinary angle. The contributions argue that, as popular music has been a crucial factor in international relations, its diplomatic use has substantially impacted the global musical landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries

    Popular Music and Public Diplomacy

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    In the early years of the Cold War, Western nations increasingly adopted strategies of public diplomacy involving popular music. While the diplomatic use of popular music was initially limited to such genres as jazz, the second half of the 20th century saw a growing presence of various popular genres in diplomatic contexts, including rock, punk, reggae, and hip-hop. This volume illuminates the interrelation of popular music and public diplomacy from a transnational and transdisciplinary angle. The contributions argue that, as popular music has been a crucial factor in international relations, its diplomatic use has substantially impacted the global musical landscape of the 20th and 21st centuries

    Russia’s Cultural Statecraft

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    This book focuses on Russia’s cultural statecraft in dealing with a number of institutional cultural domains such as education, museums and monuments, high arts and sport. It analyses to what extent Russia’s cultural activities abroad have been used for foreign policy purposes, and perceived as having a political dimension.Peer reviewe

    Russia’s Cultural Statecraft

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    This book focusses on Russia’s cultural statecraft in dealing with a number of institutional cultural domains such as education, museums and monuments, high arts and sport. It analyses to what extent Russia’s cultural activities abroad have been used for foreign policy purposes, and perceived as having a political dimension. Building on the concept of cultural statecraft, the authors present a broad and nuanced view of how Russia sees the role of culture in its external relations, how this shapes the image of Russia, and the ways in which this cultural statecraft is received by foreign audiences. The expert team of contributors consider: what choices are made in fostering this agenda; how Russian state authorities see the purpose and limits of various cultural instruments; to what extent can the authorities shape these instruments; what domains have received more attention and become more politicised and what fields have remained more autonomous. The methodological research design of the book as a whole is a comparative case study comparing the nature of Russian cultural statecraft across time, target countries and diverse cultural domains. It will be of interest to scholars and students of Russian foreign policy and external relations and those working on the role of culture in world politics
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