fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 17/09/2026🌿 Three days of team retreat in Vienna: the fortext lab has been using the time away from the office to plan the coming year, talk about collaborations and collect ideas for new projects. Between all the planning, there was also plenty of time for coffee and snacks. 191
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 19/06/2026We are thrilled to announce that the fortext lab has a new addition, a second software developer for CATMA! 🎉 We would like to extend a warm welcome to Immanuel von Detten. Immanuel will support the team with the continuous development and a redesign of the user interface of @catma.bsky.social 0101
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 11/06/2026We’re excited to share that we published the “Characters in Action” (ChiA) annotation guidelines on Zenodo today. ChiA captures three key dimensions of character representation in narrative texts: mention in text, participation in event, and direct speech. 👉 doi.org/10.5281/zeno... (1/3) #DH 181
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 02/06/2026Have you already taken a look at the forTEXT journal issues featuring teaching concepts on the topics text annotation and reflected text analysis yet? 👉 journal.fortext.org #DH #teachingconcepts #DHpedagogy #openaccess (1/4) 151
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 26/05/2026Last week @evelyngius.bsky.social took part in the international conference "Plot and Genre in Computational Literary Studies" at ZPD Würzburg: Two days dedicated to discussions on how we model plot, and what genre has to do with it. (1/4) 1125
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 20/05/2026This week we have a special guest: Our former team member @guhrs.bsky.social has joined us in Darmstadt! While Evelyn is traveling to present on Measurement Theory, Svenja stepped in to lead this week's seminar session on manual and automated annotation. 2122
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 04/05/2026The third and final article from our Special Issue on Reflected Text Analysis is now available! The teaching concept by @haimostiemer.bsky.social and @evelyngius.bsky.social introduces students to the analysis of Kafka’s characters from a narratological perspective. (1/3) 151
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 28/04/2026…you can't work all the time, sometimes you just need to wind down. 🥂 We raised a glass to the end of the day and sent warm greetings — Cheers, everyone! (4/4) 020
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 28/04/2026The semester is back in full swing, and so are our weekly lab meetings! 💃 On last week's agenda: Krippendorff and Inter Annotator Agreements – the theory, the challenges, and how to actually put it into practice. (1/4) 162
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 31/03/2026In their article, @mkschumacher.bsky.social and Nora Ketschik present a one-semester teaching concept for this method based on the approach of reflective text analysis (the CRETA workflow @cretaverein.bsky.social) (2/3) 191
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 25/03/2026We made a preliminary plan for the next half year, discussed the ongoing projects and upcoming lecture period, brainstormed research ideas, etc. For lunch, we sat in the spring sunshine in the palace moat. (Yes, we work in a palace and we have a moat, but no water 🚣, alligators 🐊 or bears 🐻 😉) (2/2) 050
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 25/03/2026Last week we got together in Darmstadt for one of our two big yearly meetings – the other being the lab retreat, which we reported on in September. Like at the retreat, we spent some time reflecting on the past half year and our achievements, as well as our teamwork. (1/2) #DigitalHumanities 171
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 16/03/2026The forTEXT journal team is thrilled to announce: The first articles of our first Special Issue on Reflected Text Analysis, edited by guest editors @axelpichler.fedihum.org.ap.brid.gy and @nilsreiter.de, are available now at: journal.fortext.org/issues/ (1/4) #DH #DHTeaching #DHPedagogy 162
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 27/02/2026At the poster session, Mari and Steffi presented the editorial workflow of the fortext journal, from Call for Papers to publication. 📝 Great conversations with participants sparked new ideas for future editions and underlined the ongoing importance of a focus on DH teaching. (3/4) 172
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 27/02/2026In the session “Epistemology & Interpretation,” @evelyngius.bsky.social made the case for measurement in DH, showing what analysis processes can learn from measurement theory, bridging everything from temperature to hermeneutic interpretation. A manifesto in the making. ✨ (2/4) 282
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 12/02/2026We are currently compiling a collection of German-language climate fiction novels. So we have a question for the community: Which texts come to mind for you? #climate-change-fiction #CLS #ecocriticism #climate-fiction #digitalhumanities #cli-fi #germanliterature #climate-change (1/2) 81510
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 29/01/2026Last week, Steffi from our forTEXT team attended the final “Fokus Portale” workshop in Hamburg, hosted by Stiftung Innovation in der Hochschullehre - reflecting on the past funding phase of our forTEXT journal and annotation software @catma.bsky.social. (1/4) 151
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 12/01/2026The importance of community building and exchange can't be overstated. To quote the unnamed: "The best ideas are had when drinking a beer [or an organic, unsweetened and alcohol-free hot apple-cinnamon drink] together!" We did just that over an Indian dinner and a visit to the Xmas Market. (4/5) 160
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 12/01/2026A few weeks ago, we hosted a small one-and-a-half day workshop here in Darmstadt for research software engineers. A prior workshop with the same participants had taken place at University of Bielefeld in spring. The primary topic this time was (software) project management. #DHTech #RSE (1/5) 183
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 10/12/2025They will show how LLMs can be used to systematically analyze how literary histories depict objects and perspectives across three canonical German literary-history works — revealing recurring patterns in what gets included and how it is framed. (5/6) 130
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 10/12/2025Using a newly released corpus of 10,000 verb-class annotations, they will demonstrate how verb semantics can illuminate genre patterns and thematic structures in German-language fiction. Session: LLMs and Content Mining (11:00 - 12:30, December 11) (3/6) 130
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 08/12/2025What happens when colleagues from archives, libraries, and the humanities come together to talk about metadata? A wonderfully inspiring workshop "Metadaten in den Humanities" with great people and great conversations at the Zentralbibliothek Zürich! #metadata #CLS #Humanities (1/4) 1129
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 04/11/2025Last week, we held a small but intensive workshop in Darmstadt on how literary history and computation can go together. The talks either adapted traditional literary concepts for computational analysis or introduced new digital approaches. (1/3) 2194
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 20/10/2025📢 Reminder – The forTEXT journal's Open Call is still live! We’re looking for German-language teaching concepts on text annotation in higher education. Deadline: Oct 31 👉 journal.fortext.org/site/cfp/ (1/3) 123
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 10/10/2025As part of the program, @hanshatzel.bsky.social, @evelyngius.bsky.social & @haimostiemer.bsky.social presented our current work on the PLANS project — including analyses based on our full dataset on modeling Plot Units. Our @narrativesimtask.bsky.social also sparked lively discussion! (3/4) 111
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 10/10/2025At this week’s closing meeting of the DFG Priority Programme Computational Literary Studies at @uni-wuerzburg.de, 19 talks were presented and discussed over 4 days with more than 40 participants. An inspiring week full of exchange and ideas! #ComputationalLiteraryStudies #CLS #DH (1/4) 142
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2025In the evenings we strolled around the old town of Fulda and had dinner together. And the last point of order always had to be a round of Bananagrams! From now on a must for all future team retreats! (4/4) 120
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2025The second day was also dedicated to talking about a grant proposal to come. We brainstormed claims, impact and outputs we would like to see covered in the project. (3/4) 110
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2025Everyday started with a quick check-in to warm up (see an example below), followed by either project discussions or planning sessions. Twice a year we review the projects and tasks of the last six months and make a preliminary plan for the next six. (2/4) 110
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 29/09/2025Last week we got together for our yearly lab retreat! For 2,5 days we planned, discussed and brainstormed together, tucked away in a monastery (no joke) in beautiful Fulda. (1/4) 181
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 22/09/2025At #Germanistentag 2025's panel "Network as Method", @haimostiemer.bsky.social presented the ChiA project, developed at @fortextlab.bsky.social in collaboration with @evelyngius.bsky.social. #germanistik #CLS #fortextlab @tu-braunschweig.de (1/5) 161
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2025They have presented projects on Computational Literary Studies, Knowledge Representation and Computational Social Science. A small part of the first day was also dedicated to a look back on ten years of the CRETA community, including a sneak peek at the development of the CRETA logo! (3/4) 120
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2025The CRETA-Werkstatt took place at University of Stuttgart's lovely Eulenhof. Most of the time was dedicated to discussing current projects and collecting informal feedback. At the heart of the CRETA-Werkstatt, however, lies the presentation of the dissertation projects of the CRETA coachees. (2/4) 120
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2025Good research needs strong scientific communities! That's why earlier this week, fortext lab members @evelyngius.bsky.social, Stefanie Messner and @julianhaeussler.bsky.social attended the CRETA-Werkstatt. A gathering of the Centre for Reflected Text Analysis (@cretaverein.bsky.social). (1/4) 191
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 10/09/2025We are in the university campus quiz category. Who knows where the PLANS project met yesterday? In PLANS we explore text phenomena relevant for action and tackle CLS challenges like segmentation. #fortext #CLS #DigitalHumanities #DH #CompLit (1/3) 142
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 25/08/2025We’ve recently started sharing teaching concepts in the forTEXT issue “Text Annotation in Higher Education.” Now we’re on the lookout for more German-language perspectives on how it’s taught, practiced, and conceptualized. Our call for papers is open again 👉 journal.fortext.org/site/cfp (1/3) 033
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 20/08/2025The narratological study of fairy tales has a long tradition - and it continues to offer fascinating insights today. This semester we explored them computationally with students, focusing on how characters shape narrative structures. #DigitalHumanities #DHinTeaching #AcademicTeaching #DHMakes (1/4) 241
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 01/08/2025🎉 We’re excited to kick things off! We’re launching SemEval-2026 Task 4: Narrative Story Similarity and Narrative Representation Learning. This is a joint effort by @hanshatzel.bsky.social (University of Hamburg) and the fortext lab, as part of the PLANS project, in collaboration with Toloka AI. 220
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 11/07/2025Last week @fortextlab.bsky.social members @evelyngius.bsky.social and @julianhaeussler.bsky.social, as well as fortext lab alum @guhrs.bsky.social, spend two intense and insightful days at #CCLS2025 in beautiful Krakow, Poland. Looking forward to the future of #CLS! @jcls-io.bsky.social 1103
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 25/06/2025We are very excited to announce the publication of our forTEXT issue on text annotation in higher education. It brings together tried-and-tested, reusable teaching concepts in German centred on the method of text annotation in the humanities. 👉 www.fortext-hefte.de (1/4) 194
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 27/05/2025We’re looking forward to welcoming @dbamman.bsky.social to Darmstadt in early June! During his week at the fortext lab, we’ll exchange ideas, workshop our projects, and dive into shared interests in computational analysis. (1/3) 183
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 02/05/2025This week, Anne Heumann from @unimainz.bsky.social joined us to talk about how book reviews are incentivized on the platform LovelyBooks. Do free copies of books bias reviewers? Thanks to Anne for the fascinating talk and to all our guests for the lively discussion! (1/4) 162
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 09/04/2025@evelyngius.bsky.social also highlighted key issues that arise when LLMs perform narratological text analysis. (5/5) 030
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 03/04/2025We kicked off this year's workshop with a review and meta-reflection on our ways of working together. Alongside detailed planning and discussion of proposals for new projects (stay tuned!), CATMA, PLANS and forTEXT shared their current project status with the team. (2/4) 160
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 26/02/2025Exchanging ideas with colleagues from the CLS-DFG priority program is always exciting. Last Friday, we discussed characters, character features, and plot in narrative texts with Julia Nantke, @nilsreiter.de , and Janis Pagel from the CompAnno project in Hamburg. 👇 (1/3) 163
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 10/02/2025Was it really always Kafka's father’s guilt? evelyngius.bsky.social and haimostiemer.bsky.social had lively debates with their students in the Kafka seminar at the fortext lab, which concludes this week. 👇 (1/4) 171
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 20/01/2025He introduced his corpus Fachlichkeit des Deutschunterrichts: Literaturvermittlung (FaDe:Live), which contains 1171 texts, including, among others, various articles, monographs, but also legal texts and syllabi. (2/3) 121
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 20/01/2025How was German literature taught at secondary schools in the 19th Century? This is the central question, Hendrick Heimböckel (University of Osnabrück) asks in his habilitation project, which he presented at our advanced seminar this week. Read on, for a quick overview 👇 (1/3) 132
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 19/12/2024In #2024, our lab took over a crucial part of editing the conference issue of the Journal of Computational Literary Studies. #JCLS #CCLS24 jcls.io 283
fortext lab @fortextlab.bsky.social · 06/12/2024So what’s next? We’re definitely interested in delving deeper into the phenomenon of animacy – possibly also in different kinds of prose. Feel free to read our paper, take a look at our published code or reach out! (6/6) 📄 Paper: tinyurl.com/yc3kvkdp 🤖 Code: tinyurl.com/4z4n995p 060