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Digital Skills Workshops for PhD Students (UNIGE and Geneva Graduate Institute)

Introduction to Computational Humanities and Social Sciences

DS48 - Introduction to Computational Humanities and Social Sciences

Florian Cafiero 

11 September 2024, 09:00-17:00, Room S12

This training session is tailored specifically for PhD students in the Humanities and Social Sciences. It aims to introduce the participants to the burgeoning fields of digital humanities and computational social science and their application across diverse academic disciplines. The session will provide an in-depth overview of the applications of Natural Language Processing (NLP), computer vision, and speech-to-text transcription, demonstrating how these tools can be harnessed to enhance our research and analyses.

The training will delve into how NLP can facilitate the analysis of extensive textual datasets—from historical documents and legal texts to social media content. This will aid students in gaining a more profound understanding of cultural, social, and economic patterns and trends. Key techniques such as automated annotation, topic modeling, sentiment analysis, and emotion detection will be highlighted to showcase the potential of NLP in uncovering nuanced insights.

Similarly, the session will explore the capabilities of computer vision in analyzing visual data from diverse sources, such as historical archives and media content, enhancing the traditional methodologies of visual studies. Furthermore, the utility of speech-to-text technology will be discussed, emphasizing its importance in transforming oral sources like speeches, interviews, and discussions into analyzable text, thus broadening the scope of qualitative research.

Practical demonstrations will accompany theoretical explanations to ensure participants can grasp simple yet effective computational techniques applicable to their specific research queries. Through real-world examples and case studies, the session aims to inspire these future scholars to integrate computational tools into their research endeavors, thereby fostering innovative and interdisciplinary approaches.

This introductory session is designed to be accessible and does not require participants to have prior experience in computational methods.

Florian Cafiero is a fellow in Artificial Intelligence for the Humanities and Social Sciences at PSL, where he gives lectures in computational social science and digital humanities at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Paris, Ecole nationale des chartes, and Université Paris-Dauphine.

 

PhD students of the Graduate Institute will be informed of each workshop by email.  For any questions regarding registration to the workshop, please contact: emma.cranfield@graduateinstitute.ch