Workshop: Tools for Text: Annotation Methods for Political Science Research

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Digitization is dramatically altering research demands and opportunities in political science. Governments around the world now release large volumes of digitized text on a daily basis, while national projects in many countries are now digitally scanning centuries of historical government documents. Online media developments are also dramatically increasing the amount and diversity of accessible digital political content, from the advent of 24 hour news coverage in mainstream media outlets, to campaign websites, political blogs, social networks and even YouTube.These developments are creating unprecedented research opportunities for political scientists. However, a central constraint to the study of text is the need to convert textual data to useful information about political patterns. Ultimately, scholars are interested in text for what it can tell us about the topics government addresses, relations among government actors, or which frames seems to carry the most weight, to name just a few examples. To answer these types of questions, approaches to categorizing text must be developed and applied.This workshop will equip newer faculty and advanced graduate students with the knowledge and skills required to incorporate well-established text annotation methods into their teaching and research. The workshop will be held at the University of Washington in Seattle and will include several introductory presentations by experts in different methods, including intensive focus on training and application of these tools. Participants will leave with an understanding the range of options available, the strengths and limits of different approaches, and actual experience in applying and evaluating them.