Cortext platform
At Cortext, our goal is to empower researchers in the social sciences and humanities by promoting advanced qualitative-quantitative mixed methods. Our primary focus is on studies about the dynamics of science, technology and innovation, and about the roles of knowledge and expertise in societies.
We understand the move towards digital humanities and computational methods not as addressing a technological gap for the social sciences, but rather as entailing entirely new assemblages between its disciplines and those of modern statistics and computer sciences. We work to tackle ever more complex research problems and deal with the profusion of new and diverse sources of information without losing sight of the situatedness and reflexivity required of studies of human societies.
Cortext is hosted by the LISIS research unit at Gustave Eiffel University, and was launched by French institutes IFRIS and INRAE, receiving their continued support.
Cortext Manager
Cortext Manager is our current main attraction, a publicly available web service providing data analysis methods curated and developed by our team of researchers and engineers.
You upload a textual corpus in order to analyse its discourse, names, categories, citations, places, dates etc, with methods for science/controversy/issue mapping, distant reading, document clustering, geo-spatial and network visualizations, and more.
You can jump straight to Cortext Manager and create an account, but we strongly suggest taking a look at the Documentation and Tutorials as you start your journey.
Latest journal articles employing our instruments
Online
2020
Baciu, Robert; Bersezio, Ludovic; Béchet, Nathalie; Boboc, Roxana Varvara; (Doris), Yujie Dong; Stirum, Roline Van Limburg; Macpherson, Ava; Oettle, Josephine; Yedema, Emma
(DMI), The Digital Methods Initiative (Ed.): 2020, visited: 30.01.2020.
@online{Baciu2020,
title = {Who is /ourguy/?: Studying political Internet subcultures through their identification with public figures},
author = {Robert Baciu and Ludovic Bersezio and Nathalie Béchet and Roxana Varvara Boboc and Yujie Dong (Doris) and Roline Van Limburg Stirum and Ava Macpherson and Josephine Oettle and Emma Yedema},
editor = {The Digital Methods Initiative (DMI)},
url = {https://digitalmethods.net/Dmi/WinterSchool2020OurguyReddit},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-30},
urldate = {2020-01-30},
abstract = {The primary outcome of our research has been an approach to analysing the renegotiation and contestation of public figures, or /ourguy/, through the use of a 5 step protocol. The second aim was to showcase our model’s potential by doing a case study on political subreddits and looking at which public figures their communities discuss, as well as how they do so. The protocol allows for cross-subreddit and single-subreddit analysis and can easily be replicated for the study of other subreddits. To compile the protocol, we repurposed subreddit metrics to create a toolkit that allows us to characterize web communities. First the appropriate subreddits are selected based on a set of criteria, next we extract the most mentioned names in those subreddits using natural language processing. Then we make a selection of the relevant public figures among these names. After this we employ a twofold method of using contrast analysis and network mapping the subreddits. Lastly we generate and analyse word trees for a deeper understanding of how negotiations surrounding these public figures happen. This protocol is a useful framework for future subreddit analysis and shows that meaningful social research can still be conducted post-API.
},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {online}
}
PhD Theses
2020
Gray, Daniel
Tweeting About Women: A Critical Discourse Analysis of International Women’s Day on Twitter PhD Thesis
School of Social Sciences, 2020.
@phdthesis{Gray2020,
title = {Tweeting About Women: A Critical Discourse Analysis of International Women’s Day on Twitter},
author = {Daniel Gray},
url = {https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/137810/
https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/137810/1/Thesis%20Daniel%20Gray%20Corrected%201-11-2020%282%29.pdf},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-11-01},
urldate = {2020-11-01},
address = {Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT},
school = {School of Social Sciences},
abstract = {This thesis is a work of critical digital sociology, investigating discourse which occurred on International Women’s Day 2017 (IWD2017) on Twitter, a widely used social media network, using innovative methodology. The principle finding presented in this thesis is methodological. I demonstrate that it is possible and productive to bring together qualitative analysis and so-called ‘big data’, specifically a large quantity of tweets, via innovative and original methodology, while preserving the unique and valuable affordances of critical, qualitative, theory-informed analysis.
Alongside demonstrating this, I also present a range of analytic findings related to the discourse I have analysed. The analytic findings include the use of popular and ‘fringe’ hashtags in linking mainstream and right-wing/reactionary topics, the prominence of anti- feminism and anti-Islam sentiment in discourse associated with supporters of US president Donald Trump, the antifeminist discursive splitting of feminism and feminists into benign and maligned categories, and the ways women are constructed by Twitter accounts representing police and armed forces.
Methodologically, this thesis provides a detailed account of the practicalities, challenges and strategies involved in approaching big social media data as a critical researcher using qualitative analysis. In doing so I argue that big social media data may be a fruitful area for qualitative work, but that in approaching it we should not discard our previous theoretical, analytical and ethical frameworks.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
Alongside demonstrating this, I also present a range of analytic findings related to the discourse I have analysed. The analytic findings include the use of popular and ‘fringe’ hashtags in linking mainstream and right-wing/reactionary topics, the prominence of anti- feminism and anti-Islam sentiment in discourse associated with supporters of US president Donald Trump, the antifeminist discursive splitting of feminism and feminists into benign and maligned categories, and the ways women are constructed by Twitter accounts representing police and armed forces.
Methodologically, this thesis provides a detailed account of the practicalities, challenges and strategies involved in approaching big social media data as a critical researcher using qualitative analysis. In doing so I argue that big social media data may be a fruitful area for qualitative work, but that in approaching it we should not discard our previous theoretical, analytical and ethical frameworks.
Trabelsi, Sonia
Geographies of green and health in Belgium: measurements, opportunities, and challenges PhD Thesis
Université catholique de Louvain, 2020.
@phdthesis{Trabelsi2020,
title = {Geographies of green and health in Belgium: measurements, opportunities, and challenges},
author = {Sonia Trabelsi},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/237672
https://dial.uclouvain.be/pr/boreal/object/boreal%3A237672/datastream/PDF_01/view.pdf},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-02-28},
urldate = {2020-02-28},
school = {Université catholique de Louvain},
abstract = {With an expected increase in urban population and the burden of healthcare costs, the role of the environment for human health has become a topical issue in the scientific and political debate. Numerous studies have investigated the benefits of green spaces on specific morbidities and mortalities while governments are looking to green environments as an alternative to improve citizens' wellbeing and decrease healthcare expenditures. This thesis first explores the definitions and measures of "green" through an analysis of the literature and empirical tests conducted on four landuse data sources in Belgium. It shows that the choice of the measure of green, as well as its level of aggregation, can lead to contradictory conclusions concerning the associations between green and health. Then, using medication reimbursement data recently made available in Belgium, this thesis investigates spatial associations of five groups of medication (a priori associated with the environment) with green spaces. At different scales and at different aggregation levels, medication reimbursement data appear not to be a proxy of individual health but of healthcare practices. Spatial variations of reimbursement are rather linked to exogenous factors such as education of the practitioners, or pharmaceutical and commercial practices. This thesis emphasizes the importance of a clear definition and interpretation of environmental and health data to correctly inform decision makers, particularly when data in use are diverted from their original aim and include spatial information. There is a clear risk of misinterpretation when using new types of data without a multidisciplinary perspective.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
Provençal, Josée
Le Développement durable comme signifiant vide:l’hétérogénéité de la question énergétique PhD Thesis
Université d’Ottawa, 2020.
@phdthesis{Provençal2020,
title = {Le Développement durable comme signifiant vide:l’hétérogénéité de la question énergétique},
author = {Josée Provençal},
url = {https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/40591/3/Provencal_Josee_2020_Th%C3%A8se.pdf},
year = {2020},
date = {2020-01-01},
school = {Université d’Ottawa},
abstract = {Largement répandu au sein des populations, le concept de développement durable semble désormais incontestable, tout en étant critiqué pour l'ambiguïté de sa signification.Qu’est-ce qui se trouve exactement derrière le déploiement du discours politique relatif au développement durable ? Comment le discours sur le développement durable est-il devenu si dominant malgré le fait qu’il acquiert de nombreuses significations, parfois divergentes ? L’apport de cette thèse au discours sur le développement durable ne se trouve pas dans la présentation de l’édification et de l’institutionnalisation de ce concept, mais réside plutôt dans sa capacité à rendre visibles les conflits inhérents aux sens à donner au développement durable au sein du discours politique. Notre questionnement sur les sens attribués au développement durable vise dans un premier temps à comprendre si celui-ci est un signifiant vide ou flottant. Dans la présentation des luttes en cours pour le sens à octroyer au développement durable, cette thèse s’attarde au rôle qu’occupe l’énergie au sein de la signification du discours,un rôle souvent tenu pour acquis ou du moins peu énoncé. Ainsi, dans un deuxième temps,nous cherchons à comprendre quel est le rôle occupé par l’énergie quant au cadrage (framing) du discours politique relatif au développement durable.La contribution de cette thèse est méthodologique, elle associe l’analyse discursive post structuraliste d’Ernesto Laclau et Chantal Mouffe à l’analyse quantitative de l’analyse des réseaux sémantiques. La clé de l’analyse discursive de Laclau et Mouffe s’inscrit dans l’importance qu’ils accordent au rôle de l’hégémonie au sein des luttes discursives à travers l’articulation du discours. L’analyse de réseau, pour sa part, rend visibles les agencements centraux à travers une structure centre-périphérie. Cela permet de faire émerger les luttes discursives en cours. Cette thèse cherche à saisir la nature des relations et des conflits qui structurent le sens attribué au développement durable. En faisant entendre les voix exclues et les voix qui en contestent l’articulation hégémonique, il devient possible de percevoir les antagonismes et les possibles recompositions du discours. Cette étude démontre que le sens attribué au développement durable est fixe et que l’énergie, bien qu’énoncée par plusieurs acteurs, n'acquiert qu’un caractère fragmenté. },
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {phdthesis}
}
NotesVIEW ALL
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Long trends on twitter: intertemporal clusters combining hashtags and terms on Scientometrics, Altmetrics, Bibliometrics and Science Of Science
Long trends on twitter: inter-temporal clusters combining hashtags and terms, for all tweets on Scientometrics, Altmetrics, Bibliometrics and Science Of Science from Jan. 2017 to dec. 2021, on a semester base. Query used to extract tweets: lang:en (Scientometrics OR “ScienceOfScience” OR “Science Of Science” OR “Altmetrics” OR “altmetric” OR “bibliometrics” OR “bibliometric” OR “citation metrics” […]
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Présenter CorTexT Manager en 2 minutes
Cortext Manager est une application web construite par des chercheurs et par des ingénieurs à destination de chercheurs en sciences humaines et sociales, au plus près des questions portées par les chercheurs qui nous entourent et par notre communauté d’utilisateurs. Cette application web peut produire un grand nombre d’analyses différentes qui ont trait aux champs […]
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Analysis of the scientific production that mentioned the use of CorText Manager
There are two ways to understand what CorTexT Manager is. The first one is to look at what has been achieved in terms of methods, tools and therefore lines of code. The second one is studied below, by analyzing (here with CorTexT Manager) what academic users have published using… CorTexT Manager. Our study of the […]
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10 years of CorText Manager v2
It took us more than 10 years to come with CorText Manager version 2 as it is now! Behind the scenes CorText Manager begun with a first version in 2009. More than thirty contributors has worked directly or indirectly on the two versions, year after year. All the ideas, inspirations, all this accumulation of pieces […]
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RISIS Training: Thematic and spatial analysis of technologies using CorText Manager and RISIS patent database
One of the best CorText Manager training courses was organized and offered by the RISIS project. Here is the program of this training which lasted 3 days: Monday 08/11/21 14h-16h30: Session 1 Session 1a: Introduction on patent analysis (60’) Introductory lecture session • Welcoming introduction (Philippe Larédo) 5’ • Type of patents documents (Antoine Schoen) […]
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Early 2021 CorText Manager training sessions
CorText organized a series of training workshops on CorText Manager and its methods in January 2021! These workshops were imagined as a staircase with three successive steps : Session 1: Introduction Session 2: Method comparisons Session 3: Research questions and work on user’s corpus For these sessions, the subject chosen for the demonstrations and exercises […]
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Seminar and workshop during the Summer School of PPGCI IBICT UFRJ, Rio de Janeiro – 03/2020
In March 2020, the LabEx SITES post-doctoral researcher, Ale Abdo, traveled to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to organize two trainings on textual analysis and on a new method he developed and integrated at the CorText Infrastructure, as well as to participate in discussions on open and citizen science in Brazil, including the discussion […]
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A CorText Manager distance training session in the framework of the nanocellulose project – Grenoble, June 2020
For complementing the RISIS access requested (to Leiden publications DB and RISIS patent DB) by the GAEL laboratory (UMR INRAE, CNRS, UGA, INPG), in the framework of a research project on nanocellulose, the CorText team has provided , in June and July 2020, an advanced training on the use of CorText. After setting up of […]
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