Free Text Analytics Workshop @UBC 1.19.12

Unlock the Power of Text
Open Lecture and Free Software Training on Text and Social Media Analysis

Date: Thursday January 19, 2011
Time: 9:00 AM – 12:00 Noon
Location: Irving K. Barber Centre, School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Room 458 (4th Floor), University of British Columbia

Presentation: “Measuring Validity in Annotation”
Tools for reviewing, coding, and retrieving text found in qualitative data analysis packages carry with them no particular attributes for ensuring the reliability or validity of the recorded observations. Based on more than 10 years of multidisciplinary experience doing qualitative research, this presentation guides researchers through all aspects of coder validity and reliability. This presentation demonstrates how text mining and analytic tools can be used to focus attention on difficult to code concepts and themes, which in many cases, constitute the most interesting terrain for investigation.

Training: DiscoverText Software
A PhD-holding Political Scientist, Stu knows the importance of easy to use, powerful, text analytic software. As founder of a technology start up (http://texifter.com) and the QDAP labs (http://www.umass.edu/qdap), Stu’s work advances text mining and natural language processing research. His software demonstrations link these worlds via straightforward and easy to understand explanations of software features that can be tailored for all experience levels and industries. For the training, participants may bring their own laptops or use the desktop machines in the lab to connect to the UBC wireless network and learn to use DiscoverText (http://discovertext.com).

Dr. Stuart Shulman (PhD U Oregon 1999) is founder & CEO of Texifter, LLC and an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is the founding Director of the Qualitative Data Analysis Program (QDAP) at the University of Pittsburgh and at UMass Amherst, as well as Associate Director of the National Center for Digital Government. Dr. Shulman is Editor Emeritus of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics, which is the official journal of Information Technology & Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

All interested participants are requested to reserve a spot by sending an RSVP to luanne.freund@ubc.ca, including your name and academic unit.