30,966 research outputs found
Semantic Variation in Online Communities of Practice
We introduce a framework for quantifying semantic variation of common words
in Communities of Practice and in sets of topic-related communities. We show
that while some meaning shifts are shared across related communities, others
are community-specific, and therefore independent from the discussed topic. We
propose such findings as evidence in favour of sociolinguistic theories of
socially-driven semantic variation. Results are evaluated using an independent
language modelling task. Furthermore, we investigate extralinguistic features
and show that factors such as prominence and dissemination of words are related
to semantic variation.Comment: 13 pages, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on
Computational Semantics (IWCS 2017
Аналіз відмінностей тем, якості письма та стилістичного контексту в есеях студентів коледжу на основі комп’ютерної програми Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC).
Machine methods for automatically analyzing text have been investigated for
decades. Yet the availability and usability of these methods for classifying and scoring specialized
essays in small samples–as is typical for ordinary coursework–remains unclear. In this paper we
analyzed 156 essays submitted by students in a first-year college rhetoric course. Using cognitive
and affective measures within Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), we tested whether
machine analyses could i) distinguish among essay topics, ii) distinguish between high and low
writing quality, and iii) identify differences due to changes in rhetorical context across writing
assignments. The results showed positive results for all three tests. We consider ways that LIWC
may benefit college instructors in assessing student compositions and in monitoring the
effectiveness of the course curriculum. We also consider extensions of machine assessments for
instructional applications.Машинні методи автоматичного аналізу тексту та їхні можливості
вивчалися впродовж десятиліть. Однак питання доступності та зручності використання цих
методів для класифікації та оцінки спеціалізованих есеїв у невеликих зразках, як,
наприклад, курсових роботах, залишається досі малодослідженим питанням. У статті
проаналізовано 139 есеїв із курсу стилістики, написаних студентами першого курсу. На
основі використання когнітивних та афективних категорій програми Linguistic Inquiry and
Word Count (LIWC) було перевірено здатність машинного аналізу: а) розмежовувати теми
есеїв, б) розрізняти високу та низьку якість письма та в) виявляти відмінності через зміни
стилістичного контексту написаних завдань. Дослідження засвідчило позитивні результати
для всіх трьох тестових перевірок. Увагу авторів зосереджено на тому, як LIWC може
полегшити роботу університетських викладачів під час оцінки ними студентських творів та
моніторингу ефективності навчальної програми курсу. Крім того, у статті розглянуто
питання перспектив машинного оцінювання викладацьких застосунків
Econometrics meets sentiment : an overview of methodology and applications
The advent of massive amounts of textual, audio, and visual data has spurred the development of econometric methodology to transform qualitative sentiment data into quantitative sentiment variables, and to use those variables in an econometric analysis of the relationships between sentiment and other variables. We survey this emerging research field and refer to it as sentometrics, which is a portmanteau of sentiment and econometrics. We provide a synthesis of the relevant methodological approaches, illustrate with empirical results, and discuss useful software
The Self-Organization of Meaning and the Reflexive Communication of Information
Following a suggestion of Warren Weaver, we extend the Shannon model of
communication piecemeal into a complex systems model in which communication is
differentiated both vertically and horizontally. This model enables us to
bridge the divide between Niklas Luhmann's theory of the self-organization of
meaning in communications and empirical research using information theory.
First, we distinguish between communication relations and correlations among
patterns of relations. The correlations span a vector space in which relations
are positioned and can be provided with meaning. Second, positions provide
reflexive perspectives. Whereas the different meanings are integrated locally,
each instantiation opens global perspectives--"horizons of meaning"--along
eigenvectors of the communication matrix. These next-order codifications of
meaning can be expected to generate redundancies when interacting in
instantiations. Increases in redundancy indicate new options and can be
measured as local reduction of prevailing uncertainty (in bits). The systemic
generation of new options can be considered as a hallmark of the
knowledge-based economy.Comment: accepted for publication in Social Science Information, March 21,
201
Escaping the Trap of too Precise Topic Queries
At the very center of digital mathematics libraries lie controlled
vocabularies which qualify the {\it topic} of the documents. These topics are
used when submitting a document to a digital mathematics library and to perform
searches in a library. The latter are refined by the use of these topics as
they allow a precise classification of the mathematics area this document
addresses. However, there is a major risk that users employ too precise topics
to specify their queries: they may be employing a topic that is only "close-by"
but missing to match the right resource. We call this the {\it topic trap}.
Indeed, since 2009, this issue has appeared frequently on the i2geo.net
platform. Other mathematics portals experience the same phenomenon. An approach
to solve this issue is to introduce tolerance in the way queries are understood
by the user. In particular, the approach of including fuzzy matches but this
introduces noise which may prevent the user of understanding the function of
the search engine.
In this paper, we propose a way to escape the topic trap by employing the
navigation between related topics and the count of search results for each
topic. This supports the user in that search for close-by topics is a click
away from a previous search. This approach was realized with the i2geo search
engine and is described in detail where the relation of being {\it related} is
computed by employing textual analysis of the definitions of the concepts
fetched from the Wikipedia encyclopedia.Comment: 12 pages, Conference on Intelligent Computer Mathematics 2013 Bath,
U
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