Visualization of Categorization: How to See the Wood and the Trees

Ophir Münz-Manor, Itay Marienberg-Milikowsky · Digital Humanities Quarterly 17(3) · 2023 · digital-humanities · record munzmanor2023-visualization-categorization
tag layer · index · concepts · authors · עברית
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Other fields define these differently the same word, defined another way in another discipline
visualization 2 fields

Tags on this paper

Every tag the record carries, each linking to every other paper in the corpus that carries it. A tag appears here whether or not its words occur in the article — the spans below are only the ones a sentence in this paper licenses. Of the 18 concept tags on this paper, 15 are grounded in a quoted sentence.
annotation categorization visualization tagset figurative language modeling in-line annotation inter-annotator agreement visualization of multiplicity close reading distant reading text classification CATMA ViS-À-ViS category system systematic annotation figurative density Hosha’not the original annotations are carried into the digital tool untouched, a rule the authors adopt because whether a word is figurative is a hermeneutical decision that differs between annotators and within one annotator at a later date the corpus's figurative share is correlated against two further corpora newly annotated for figurative language - the Psalms and a ninth-century poet - which is what supplies an answer to the question the dissertation could not answer, small in comparison to what a per-genre ratio of figurative to non-figurative words, set against the corpus-wide rate, which is what converts a qualitative impression about a genre into a checkable quantity annotation counts are aggregated into ten-percent chunks of each text, which normalises length and is what makes a positional pattern comparable across poems of different sizes individual tags can be withdrawn from the chart as well as added, so a pattern is exposed by subtracting annotations rather than only by displaying them a tagset too large and too hierarchical to grasp in the annotation tool itself is given an interactive network-oriented representation in the separate visualisation tool the chart collapses and uncollapses level by level, and a level's size is drawn as the number of children it has, which is what makes the inner hierarchy of the tagset readable as shape the annotations of two or more annotators are viewed side by side, which is what turns the scholar's attention to the individual and subjective interpretation of each annotator instead of to a single reading of the text the variation between annotators is not collapsed into a gold or a silver standard; the multiplicity is visualised instead, so the disagreement is left as a question about the correct annotation rather than answered figures of speech corpus practice-report
Method, as described: case study

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relation to other workclaim_relationshow this paper stands to another: agrees, contradicts, extends, qualifies
claim typeclaim_typethe shape of the claim: existence, mechanism, method, critique, prediction, null
concept edgeconcept_edgesan asserted relation between two concepts, with the sentence asserting it
conceptconceptsan idea the paper works with, quoted where the paper uses it
content tagcontent_tagsa finding, definition, quantity, statistic or variable named in the paper
contributioncontributionwhat the paper claims to add
controlcontrolsan experiment run to eliminate a rival explanation
limitationlimitationswhat the paper says its evidence cannot support
mechanismmechanismshow the reported effect is said to come about
methodmethodhow the paper produced its evidence
object of studyobject_of_studywhat the paper is about — the thing it investigates
phenomenonphenomenonthe effect or regularity under study
research questionresearch_questionthe question the paper sets itself
sensesensesa distinct use of a term, quoted where the paper fixes it

The paper

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Every tag on this page

claim_relations 4 · claim_type 1 · concept_edges 4 · concepts 15 · content_tags 6 · contribution 1 · controls 1 · limitations 13 · mechanisms 9 · method 1 · object_of_study 1 · phenomenon 1 · research_question 1 · senses 9

Relations on this page carry a quotation for the claim. Where a relation was separately evidenced — and so tested against the vocabulary for its type — the row says so; none of 4 relations here carry that mark. The rest are the tagger’s reading of the sentence quoted beside them.

facettagfieldconf.whose words
object_of_studyFigurative language in a corpus of late-antique Hebrew liturgical poetry, investigated from both a manual and a computational point of view.
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object_of_studythe paper's words
research_questionHow much room is there for sample-based research in a computationally-based annotation process, and can a particular concept of categorization support it?
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research_questionthe paper's words
contributionProposes a playful approach to the epistemological status of categories, in which they are returned to and re-examined critically rather than fixed at the start of annotation.
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contributionthe paper's words
claim_typemethod
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claim_typethe paper's words
phenomenona hermeneutical circle in which visualizing the annotations sends the analyst back to re-assess the categories that produced them
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phenomenonthe paper's words
methodpractice-report
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methodthe paper's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[0]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[1]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[2]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[3]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[4]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[5]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[6]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[7]0.9the tagger's words
mechanismsmechanisms
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mechanisms[8]0.9the tagger's words
limitationsAnnotation is stated to be hermeneutical and unstable across annotators and across time, including within the same annotator.
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what this limits: the annotations as a fixed measurement: the paper states the same annotator may annotate differently at a later date
limitations[0]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe original annotation phase had no well-defined tagset and the category definitions were flexible.
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what this limits: the dissertation-era annotations as a defined category system: the paper says no well-defined tagset existed
limitations[1]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe examples analysed in the original work were not selected for representativity.
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what this limits: treating the analysed examples as a sample of the corpus: they were chosen for interest, not representativity
limitations[2]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsMoving from many annotated texts to a statement about the corpus is said to involve an almost inevitable reduction.
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what this limits: corpus-level generalisations from this workflow: the paper states some
limitations[3]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe paper states that adopting the computational option carries a price rather than delivering objectivity.
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what this limits: reading the digital re-annotation as more objective than the manual one: the paper denies this
limitations[4]0.9the tagger's words
limitationsThe paper argues that excessive textual anchoring of speculation and hypothesis carries a cost.
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what this limits: textual anchoring as a cost-free virtue: this paper argues excessive anchoring has a price
limitations[5]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe exploratory visualization phase is declared unpredictable in duration and in whether it yields anything.
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what this limits: planning or costing the exploratory phase: the paper says its length and fruitfulness cannot be predicted
limitations[6]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe tool interoperates with one annotation system only.
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what this limits: use of the tool outside CATMA: at the time of writing
limitations[7]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsA quantitative and a qualitative reading of the same genre disagree, and the paper holds both to be valid rather than resolving them.
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what this limits: the figurative-density figure as the genre's figurative character: the paper holds the qualitative reading equally valid
limitations[8]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe price of a category system is named as an effect on the annotator, not on the data: students become addicted to it and are described as ending in a different intellectual position from the one they started in.
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what this limits: systematic annotation as a neutral instrument: the paper states the practice changes the annotator's disposition, describing students as moving from one critical position to another through annotating
limitations[9]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe stated end state of the process is that the interpretation itself becomes rigid.
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what this limits: annotation followed by query and visualization as making interpretation legible: the paper states the same sequence ends with metadata becoming data and the interpretation becoming rigid
limitations[10]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsA claim in the author's own earlier dissertation is identified as incorrect by the quantitative measure, and the paper says so in print, naming the source: the genre was described as low on figurative language and measures at more than twice the corpus density.
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what this limits: the qualitative characterisation of a genre's figurative language: the paper reports its own earlier published assertion about the Hosha'not as incorrect once the density was counted
limitations[11]1.0the tagger's words
limitationsThe reason the human reading was wrong is named, and it is not carelessness: the words are figurative but the poem does not sound figurative, so impression and count come apart.
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what this limits: figurative density as a proxy for how figurative a text reads: the paper states the same poem can be high in figurative words and low in figurative effect, and explains why
limitations[12]1.0the tagger's words
controlscomparing a genre's figurative density against the overall figurative density of the whole corpus
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eliminates: that a genre's apparently high figurative density is the corpus-wide rate rather than a property of that genre · outcome: held
controls[0]0.8the tagger's words
conceptsannotation
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also in: annotation
concepts[0]the paper's words
conceptstagset
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also in: tagset
concepts[3]the paper's words
conceptsmodeling
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also in: modeling
concepts[5]the paper's words
conceptsin-line annotation
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concepts[6]the paper's words
conceptsinter-annotator agreement
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concepts[7]the paper's words
conceptsvisualization of multiplicity
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concepts[8]the paper's words
conceptsclose reading
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also in: close reading
concepts[9]the paper's words
conceptsdistant reading
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concepts[10]the paper's words
conceptstext classification
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concepts[11]the paper's words
conceptsCATMA
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also in: CATMA
concepts[12]the paper's words
conceptsViS-À-ViS
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also in: ViS-À-ViS
concepts[13]the paper's words
conceptscategory system
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concepts[14]the paper's words
conceptssystematic annotation
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concepts[15]the paper's words
conceptsfigurative density
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concepts[16]the paper's words
conceptsHosha’not
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also in: Hosha’not
concepts[17]the paper's words
sensescategorization - built upward from the data, by collecting instances until a category that contains them is defined
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senses[0]1.0the tagger's words
sensescategorization - built downward by formalization, by removing actual data until an abstract category remains
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senses[1]1.0the tagger's words
sensesreading - distant reading, which the paper says is better understood as a metaphor, since meaning is extracted without reading the text
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senses[2]1.0the tagger's words
sensesannotation - a close reading practice, based on sensitive attention to every detail in the text
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senses[3]1.0the tagger's words
sensesannotation - a modelling operation that prepares the object for future, as-yet-unknown questions
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senses[4]0.9the tagger's words
sensesinter-annotator variation - the driving force of interpretation, to be visualized rather than collapsed into a standard
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senses[5]1.0the tagger's words
sensesthe price of a category system - not inaccuracy but ATTRACTION: solidity, precision and caution are named as what makes it seductive, and the seduction is the cost
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senses[6]1.0the tagger's words
sensesfigurative density - a counted ratio of figurative to non-figurative words, which for one genre is 25% against a corpus figure of 11%
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senses[7]1.0the tagger's words
sensesfigurative density - the aesthetic impression of figurativeness, which the paper states can be LOW in the same poem whose counted density is high
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senses[8]1.0the tagger's words
claim_relationsdistinguishes-from → Franco Moretti, distant reading
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differs in: WHETHER EACH TEXT IS INTERPRETED ON THE WAY. The method reaches the same place - a claim about a whole corpus - and the paper refuses the label anyway: 'this is NOT another version of Franco Moretti's distant reading, because, Quotation withheld.' The distinction is in the procedure, not in the output, which is why it is invisible in the result
claim_relations[0]0.95the tagger's words
claim_relationsbuilds-on → Rieder and Röhle (2012)
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differs in: WHETHER GOING COMPUTATIONAL BUYS OBJECTIVITY. The move is described as widely PERCEIVED as 'a move in the direction of objectivity, scientification, and the like', and then: 'However, as we shall see, and as other scholars have already argued, the picture is more complex, since, even in such a case, this move has a price'. The borrowed claim is that a method change costs something rather than only adding rigour
claim_relations[1]0.95the tagger's words
claim_relationsqualifies → Piper
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differs in: WHICH COMPUTATIONAL PRACTICE THE ARGUMENT IS PAIRED WITH. The agreement is stated first - 'Our approach here is NOT VERY DIFFERENT FROM PIPER'S' - and the difference is the instrument: projects relying on 'the systematic annotation of texts, rather than on machine learning algorithms, which - despite being based on pre-existing annotated texts - emphasize the distance from the text itself'. Same argument, different tooling, and the reason given is proximity to the text
claim_relations[2]0.9the tagger's words
claim_relationsextends → Marienberg-Milikowsky et al. (2022)
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differs in: WHAT TO DO WITH DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN ANNOTATORS. The prior work argued variation is the driving force of interpretation; this paper turns that into a tool behaviour: 'Instead of collapsing the variation into a gold or a silver standard, ViS-À-ViS advocates for the visualization of multiplicity ... instead of providing an answer concerning the "correct" annotation, it RAISES A QUESTION about it'. Inter-annotator disagreement stops being noise to be resolved and becomes the displayed result
claim_relations[3]0.9the tagger's words
concept_edgesannotation —is-a→ modeling
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strength of the relation: 1
also in: annotation · modeling
concept_edges[0]the tagger's words
concept_edgesinter-annotator agreement —contrasted-with→ visualization of multiplicity
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strength of the relation: 1
concept_edges[2]the tagger's words
concept_edgesViS-À-ViS —distinct-from→ CATMA
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strength of the relation: 1 Audit 2026-09-28: DOUBTFUL - read against its full span and kept, but endpoint by anaphora: 'This reality' = CATMA's basic visualisation capabilities (previous sentence).
also in: ViS-À-ViS · CATMA
concept_edges[3]the tagger's words
concept_edgesclose reading —contrasted-with→ distant reading
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differs in: THE AXIS IS WHETHER THE TEXT IS ACTUALLY READ. 'unlike close reading, where the scholar actually reads the text closely, distant reading - regardless of its specific history - is BETTER UNDERSTOOD AS A METAPHOR.' The contrast is not two techniques on a scale of distance; one names an activity and the other is said to name none. · strength of the relation: 1
concept_edges[4]the tagger's words
content_tagsVisualising the annotations repeatedly forced the categories to be revised.
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about this quote: QUOTE RECOVERED FROM THE PAPER'S OWN CHARACTERS. The recorded quote was LETTERS-ONLY IDENTICAL to this stretch of the staged text but not an exact substring of it - spaces, hyphens, ligature glyphs or mathematical operators differed, so it could never anchor. This is the file's own text between the same two letters: not produced by a rule about the damage, copied out of the file. Round-trip checked (the recovered span is letters-only equal to the original) and length-checked. The text as originally recorded is kept in evidence as extracted.
content_tags.findings[0]the tagger's words
content_tagsCategorisation and visualisation form a hermeneutic circle: each changes the other.
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content_tags.findings[1]the tagger's words
content_tagsThe first annotation pass had a working notion of categories but no defined tagset — the tagset came later.
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about this quote: QUOTE RECOVERED FROM THE PAPER'S OWN CHARACTERS. The recorded quote was LETTERS-ONLY IDENTICAL to this stretch of the staged text but not an exact substring of it - spaces, hyphens, ligature glyphs or mathematical operators differed, so it could never anchor. This is the file's own text between the same two letters: not produced by a rule about the damage, copied out of the file. Round-trip checked (the recovered span is letters-only equal to the original) and length-checked. The text as originally recorded is kept in evidence as extracted.
content_tags.findings[2]the tagger's words
content_tagsThe initial scheme was flat: four devices with no hierarchy between them.
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content_tags.findings[3]the tagger's words
content_tags25% — figurative density of the Hosha'not genre: one word in four
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content_tags.quantities[0]the tagger's words
content_tags11% — figurative density of the whole corpus, the comparison the 25% stands out against
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content_tags.quantities[1]the tagger's words

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