Research Project

Tracking meanings on the surface: methods of the automatic analysis of semantic imprints using transformation in images of the U.S. since 2001 as an example

Texts have semantic imprints on their surfaces that can be read as indices for their pragmatic, social or cultural function. These imprints lie beyond traditional concepts of meaning and have so far neither been systematically identified nor analyzed. Using transformations in im-ages of the U.S. since 2001 as a case study, this project will develop categories for the description of semantic imprints with a data-driven approach and integrate them into a model that allows an automatic semantic analysis of texts. In doing so, the project will explore possible applications of these models for the semantization of the internet and the methodology of social sciences and cultural studies.