A research infrastructure for the social sciences and humanities
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.
@mastersthesis{Pan2018,
title = {Understanding the message functions in health communication, promotion and pubic engagement on Twitter: An exploratory analysis of the SunSmart campaign},
author = {Ying-Ling Pan},
url = {https://essay.utwente.nl/76515/1/Pan_BA_faculty.pdf},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-31},
address = {Enschede, the Netherlands},
school = {University of Twente},
abstract = {Background. As the mortality of skin cancer has risen rapidly over the recent decades, skin health organisations largely use social media as a communication tool to promote health campaigns and encourage participation. However, little is known about the specific approach to foster engagement via tweets as a form of health communication and promote health campaigns to engage the public. By focusing on the SunSmart skin health campaign on Twitter, this study aims to investigate how the communication during the campaign is characterised in terms of the functions of messages, to what extent the use of these messages can create public engagement, and how message contents play out among the functions. Methodology. By focusing on the SunSmart health campaign on Twitter, this study adopts a multi-method approach. First, a descriptive statistical analysis is used to understand whether levels of engagement among types of usersand message functions differ. Second, Natural Language Processing(NLP) is adopted for developing a codebook in which four message functions manifested from the SunSmart data are identified. Third, content analysis is used to manually classify each tweet to different user types and message functions. Last, by using Natural Language Processing(NLP) and the hashtag visualisation the matic analysis, we further explore whether the composition of content (i.e., keywords & thematic topics) among message functions differ. Results. Using the 2014 SunSmart health campaign on Twitter as an empirical context and on the basis of comparison between individuals and organisations(i.e.,the public), results show that individual users are more engaged in the SunSmart campaign on Twitter than organisations did. In addition, we find the levels of engagement among the four main message functions between individuals and organisations differ. At the content level, results show that utilisation of keywords and thematic topics among different message functions generally differ among individuals and organisations. Contributions. This study offers contributions to research on media studies, health communication, and health campaign marketing. Practically, the results provides with insight on strategic health communication and marketing campaigns.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {mastersthesis}
}
Background. As the mortality of skin cancer has risen rapidly over the recent decades, skin health organisations largely use social media as a communication tool to promote health campaigns and encourage participation. However, little is known about the specific approach to foster engagement via tweets as a form of health communication and promote health campaigns to engage the public. By focusing on the SunSmart skin health campaign on Twitter, this study aims to investigate how the communication during the campaign is characterised in terms of the functions of messages, to what extent the use of these messages can create public engagement, and how message contents play out among the functions. Methodology. By focusing on the SunSmart health campaign on Twitter, this study adopts a multi-method approach. First, a descriptive statistical analysis is used to understand whether levels of engagement among types of usersand message functions differ. Second, Natural Language Processing(NLP) is adopted for developing a codebook in which four message functions manifested from the SunSmart data are identified. Third, content analysis is used to manually classify each tweet to different user types and message functions. Last, by using Natural Language Processing(NLP) and the hashtag visualisation the matic analysis, we further explore whether the composition of content (i.e., keywords & thematic topics) among message functions differ. Results. Using the 2014 SunSmart health campaign on Twitter as an empirical context and on the basis of comparison between individuals and organisations(i.e.,the public), results show that individual users are more engaged in the SunSmart campaign on Twitter than organisations did. In addition, we find the levels of engagement among the four main message functions between individuals and organisations differ. At the content level, results show that utilisation of keywords and thematic topics among different message functions generally differ among individuals and organisations. Contributions. This study offers contributions to research on media studies, health communication, and health campaign marketing. Practically, the results provides with insight on strategic health communication and marketing campaigns.
@mastersthesis{Theel2018,
title = {Digital Nomadism as an extension of new media work: Travelling between ideology and practice},
author = {Mandy Theel},
url = {https://scripties.uba.uva.nl/search?id=record_24483},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-07-28},
urldate = {2018-07-28},
school = {University of Amsterdam},
abstract = {In a world where technology intertwines increasingly with everyday life and work, the traditional career fades into the background and work how we know it is transformed. The structural organisation and subjective perception of work are moving towards new notions of freedom and nomadism while new labour forms arise. This thesis is a journey into the world of Digital Nomads, their imagination and implementation of a new kind of work practice. The research aims to examine the changing notion of work in new media industries caused by technological and societal developments. Through the lens of a mixed methods approach using digital methods in a quantitative content analysis and qualitative semi-structured interviews, the study analyses the values and practices of Digital Nomads.The movement of Digital Nomadism will be regarded from a new media perspective where it proves to extend the existing understanding of the new media work practices. The thesis provides a model based on discourse analysis that contrasts the ideology and practice of this work and lifestyle. Moreover, it contributes new insights into the changing notion of work proposing that, especially in the new media industries, work experiences an “industrialisation of nomadism”.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {mastersthesis}
}
In a world where technology intertwines increasingly with everyday life and work, the traditional career fades into the background and work how we know it is transformed. The structural organisation and subjective perception of work are moving towards new notions of freedom and nomadism while new labour forms arise. This thesis is a journey into the world of Digital Nomads, their imagination and implementation of a new kind of work practice. The research aims to examine the changing notion of work in new media industries caused by technological and societal developments. Through the lens of a mixed methods approach using digital methods in a quantitative content analysis and qualitative semi-structured interviews, the study analyses the values and practices of Digital Nomads.The movement of Digital Nomadism will be regarded from a new media perspective where it proves to extend the existing understanding of the new media work practices. The thesis provides a model based on discourse analysis that contrasts the ideology and practice of this work and lifestyle. Moreover, it contributes new insights into the changing notion of work proposing that, especially in the new media industries, work experiences an “industrialisation of nomadism”.
@online{Karsgaard2018,
title = {Canadian Pipeline Politics: Mapping (visual) discourse in platform spaces},
author = {Carrie Karsgaard and Lucia Bainotti and Serena Del Nero and Giacomo Flaim and Michael Hockenhull and Maggie MacDonald and Antonio Martella and Erika Valderrama and Gabriel Valerio},
editor = {The Digital Methods Initiative (DMI)},
url = {https://digitalmethods.net/Dmi/SummerSchool2018PipelinePolitics
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ieIJDHakx44Glre3VRdJu2Z6o60is22aIJoRobw6YF4/edit#slide=id.p},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-08-02},
urldate = {2018-08-02},
abstract = {Methodological findings: Twitter
Twitter’s free-form user location field enables political expression where location-identifiers have political significance; in the Canadian landscape, for instance, users may identify according to Indigenous place names rather than officially sanctioned place names.
The implication for digital methods research is that user location provides a means of exploring issue alignment and political stance for issues with geographical components.
Methodological findings: Instagram
An analytical challenge - but also an opportunity - is posed by Instagram’s multiple discursive spaces - images, text, and hashtags - as they are variously used over time. The project prototypes a comparative approach to these multiple spaces through analysis of each through multiple time slices, including analysis of the linkages between various discourses where possible (i.e. by hashtag-image and text-image analysis). Included is a new approach to text-image analysis using Cortext, which allows exploration of the user-generated text in Instagram posts, beyond what is available via hashtag analysis.
Taken together, multiple maps reinforce certain issue patterns through their repeated representation in various visualizations; at the same time, individual maps reveal nuances of the issue that only emerge through a single discourse (whether visual, textual, or connective via hashtags). This project thus demonstrates how critical discourse analysis and visual analysis may be conducted at multiple and intersecting levels through a critical cartographical approach, enabling a more robust understanding of the issue as it is performed online.
Substantive Findings
Our findings indicate that when analyzed as above, the tools embedded in both Twitter and Instagram allow us to infer discursive alignment with issue positioning, not only for/against the key issue, but also within sub-groups, allowing a nuanced view of the issue. For instance, within anti-pipeline sentiment, analysis of locations, hashtags, text, and images reveals competing ideals between protection of the land (as pristine), ownership of the land (as a Vancouver resident), and stewardship of the land (as already occupied by Indigenous peoples). By tracing these discursive groups over time, we see increasing overlap within our issue network visualizations, where distinct clusters are replaced by heterogenous networks, indicating that the pipeline issue may function as a boundary object, bringing various publics closer together.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {online}
}
Twitter’s free-form user location field enables political expression where location-identifiers have political significance; in the Canadian landscape, for instance, users may identify according to Indigenous place names rather than officially sanctioned place names.
The implication for digital methods research is that user location provides a means of exploring issue alignment and political stance for issues with geographical components.
Methodological findings: Instagram
An analytical challenge - but also an opportunity - is posed by Instagram’s multiple discursive spaces - images, text, and hashtags - as they are variously used over time. The project prototypes a comparative approach to these multiple spaces through analysis of each through multiple time slices, including analysis of the linkages between various discourses where possible (i.e. by hashtag-image and text-image analysis). Included is a new approach to text-image analysis using Cortext, which allows exploration of the user-generated text in Instagram posts, beyond what is available via hashtag analysis.
Taken together, multiple maps reinforce certain issue patterns through their repeated representation in various visualizations; at the same time, individual maps reveal nuances of the issue that only emerge through a single discourse (whether visual, textual, or connective via hashtags). This project thus demonstrates how critical discourse analysis and visual analysis may be conducted at multiple and intersecting levels through a critical cartographical approach, enabling a more robust understanding of the issue as it is performed online.
Substantive Findings
Our findings indicate that when analyzed as above, the tools embedded in both Twitter and Instagram allow us to infer discursive alignment with issue positioning, not only for/against the key issue, but also within sub-groups, allowing a nuanced view of the issue. For instance, within anti-pipeline sentiment, analysis of locations, hashtags, text, and images reveals competing ideals between protection of the land (as pristine), ownership of the land (as a Vancouver resident), and stewardship of the land (as already occupied by Indigenous peoples). By tracing these discursive groups over time, we see increasing overlap within our issue network visualizations, where distinct clusters are replaced by heterogenous networks, indicating that the pipeline issue may function as a boundary object, bringing various publics closer together.
@online{Omena2023,
title = {Visualising hashtag engagement: imagery of political polarization on Instagram},
author = {Janna Joceli Omena and Elaine Rabello and André Mintz and Natalia Sanchez-Querubin and Suay Ozkula and Gabriela Sued and Ece Elbeyi and Alessandra Cicali},
editor = {The Digital Methods Initiative (DMI)},
url = {https://digitalmethods.net/Dmi/InstagramLivenessVisualisingengagement},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-07-10},
urldate = {2018-07-10},
abstract = {Engagement is a key parameter in social media studies: a conductor for scientific analysis and thoughts. The overall engagement is not only a representative form (or depiction) of human activities, but also a common path to think political and social issues. However, engagement can stem from and be fostered by algorithms or bots, advertising, the popularity of actors or subjects, local or global context. On social media, engagement gathers the sum of different grammars of actions (Agre, 1994) or the reoccurrence of isolated actions, which, taken together, may represent collective thought. In other words, engagement is typically perceived through a dual logic: the sums of actions media items receive (e.g. the total number of likes and comments in a picture on Instagram); the recurrent use of natively digital objects or grammars of action from many people about a topic, e.g. the adoption of hashtags (that can be driven by personal, isolated or collective acts of communication). The first returns the most engaged list what can be defined as the dominant voices, the second returns the ordinary list that is composed by the ordinary voices.
Studies based on engagement have been commonly undertaken by vanity metrics instead of critical analytics; the former being comprised of measures of analysis based on a content or actor being well-known or influential, whereas, the latter, proposes metrics of engagement (dominant voice, concern, commitment, positioning and alignment) that focus on causes and issues overtime (Rogers, 2016). That is why we should not oversimplify engagement behind “the most engaged lists or active users”. On the contrary, we should investigate and analyze the domains of engagement activity; logic, structure and the vocabulary of actions together with an understanding of the social relations. Thus,instead of looking only at most popular actors/content or total of reactions on posts, how can we study engagement through the constant repetition of ordinary voice publications?},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {online}
}
Engagement is a key parameter in social media studies: a conductor for scientific analysis and thoughts. The overall engagement is not only a representative form (or depiction) of human activities, but also a common path to think political and social issues. However, engagement can stem from and be fostered by algorithms or bots, advertising, the popularity of actors or subjects, local or global context. On social media, engagement gathers the sum of different grammars of actions (Agre, 1994) or the reoccurrence of isolated actions, which, taken together, may represent collective thought. In other words, engagement is typically perceived through a dual logic: the sums of actions media items receive (e.g. the total number of likes and comments in a picture on Instagram); the recurrent use of natively digital objects or grammars of action from many people about a topic, e.g. the adoption of hashtags (that can be driven by personal, isolated or collective acts of communication). The first returns the most engaged list what can be defined as the dominant voices, the second returns the ordinary list that is composed by the ordinary voices.
Studies based on engagement have been commonly undertaken by vanity metrics instead of critical analytics; the former being comprised of measures of analysis based on a content or actor being well-known or influential, whereas, the latter, proposes metrics of engagement (dominant voice, concern, commitment, positioning and alignment) that focus on causes and issues overtime (Rogers, 2016). That is why we should not oversimplify engagement behind “the most engaged lists or active users”. On the contrary, we should investigate and analyze the domains of engagement activity; logic, structure and the vocabulary of actions together with an understanding of the social relations. Thus,instead of looking only at most popular actors/content or total of reactions on posts, how can we study engagement through the constant repetition of ordinary voice publications?
Last week, Ale Abdo and Joenio Costa presented at the first ever OpenAlex User Conference a short talk entitled “Analysing OpenAlex data with Cortext”, highlighting the current and [...]
On May 2024, Ale Abdo was at the University of São Paulo invited by two departments to talk about different aspects of Cortext. On the 22nd, a workshop organized with professor Gisele Craveiro [...]
Here in the outskirts of Paris, at Champs-sur-Marne, work is ongoing to build the future of Cortext. It will soon be 8 years since the second version of the open-for-all web service, Cortext [...]
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 [...]
CorText Newsfeed
Want to stay up-to-date with the latest training sessions and developments in our methods and data? We invite you to subscribe to Cortext Newsfeed, our succint and researcher oriented quarterly newsletter.
Nous utilisons des cookies pour vous garantir la meilleure expérience sur notre site. Si vous continuez à utiliser ce dernier, nous considérerons que vous acceptez l'utilisation des cookies.Ok