Words in Numbers

Data-Driven Approaches to Texts in the Humanities and Social Sciences

International Conference for Young Scholars

Big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) – the digital turn has changed the academic study of texts significantly in recent years. The international conference “Words in Numbers” for young scholars will focus on data science methods in disciplines such as theology, religious studies, history, linguistics, social sciences, and law.

March 27-28, 2025, Essen – Germany
ZukunftsZentrumZollverein (Triple Z, building G1)

The conference is aimed in particular at those who use computer-aided methods in their research or are interested in these methods.

Keynote speakers

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dipper, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Prof. Dr. Frederik Elwert, Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Prof. Jo Guldi, PhD, Emory University Atlanta

Jeri Wieringa, PhD, Princeton University

Conference Program

Thursday, March 27, 2025

12:00 pm

Reception at the TripleZ

12:45 pm

Welcome and introduction to the conference

1:00 pm

Jo Guldi, Emory University Atlanta: The Dangerous Art of Text Mining (talk and discussion)

2:00 pm

Poster presentations

3:00 pm

Coffee break

3:30 pm

Panel 1 and Panel 2

Panel 1: Conference Room 3 (Waschkaue)

• Lina Rodenhausen, Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Computational Text Analysis in the Study of Polarized Christian Subreddits

• Dr. Christian Thomas, Propyläen Weimar: Propyläen - FAIR Research Data from Goethe's Inbox

• Dr. Florian Nieser/ Jonathan Gaede/ David Schatz, Heidelberg Center for Digital Humanities: Chronopolitics in Political Discourse: Temporal Figures as Tools of Legitimization in Times of Change

Panel 2: Conference Room 1 (Lohnbüro)

• Jana Klinger, Bergische Universität Wuppertal: Collecting and Preparing Metadata to Visualize Changes in Page Dimensions. A Quantitative Approach to Researching Medieval Practices of Book Production

• Ismail Prada Ziegler, Universität Bern: A Hybrid Approach to Normalizing Historical Occupational Titles: A Case Study from the Historical Land Registers of Basel

• Dominic Weber, Universität Bern: Enhancing Named Entity Recognition for Digital History: Towards Explainable and Trustworthy Models

5:30 pm

Frederik Elwert, Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Where’s the “R” in Digital Humanities? Exploring the Current Intersection of Religious Studies and Digital Humanities (talk and discussion)

7:30 pm

Dinner at Rosemarie's Garden & Bar in downtown Essen

Friday, March 28, 2025

9:00 am

Arrival

9:15 am

Stefanie Dipper, Ruhr-Universität Bochum: “Heavy Mountain of the Dead” and “Heavenly Wedding Treasure”: Annotation and Analysis of Metaphors in Sermons (talk and discussion)

10:30 am

Panel 3 and Panel 4

Panel 3: Conference Room 3 (Waschkaue)

• Dr. Sebastian Rink: A Digital Research of Eternity in Schleiermacher’s Sermons

• Valentin Fuchs/Dr. Markus Totzeck, Ruhr-Universität Bochum: Enhancing Qualitative Text Analysis with Transformer-based Classification - Analyzing the Sermons of Friedrich Schleiermacher

• Patrick D. Brookshire, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Mainz: Tracking the Ups and Downs of Historical Lives. A Case Study on German Moravian Memoirs

Panel 4: Conference Room 1 (Lohnbüro)

• Dr. Anna-Maria Balbach, Universität Münster: Religion on the Radio: Corpus Linguistic Approaches to the Linguistic Analysis of 20,000 Radio Sermons

• Laura Hoffman, Universität Luzern: Worldviews and Future Visions of Young People in Switzerland: An Empirical-Qualitative Analysis of the Configuration of Identity, Worldviews and Visions of the Future of Society

12:30 pm

Lunch break

1:30 pm

Jeri Wieringa, Princeton: Context at Scale (talk and discussion)

2:30 pm

Final discussion and end of the conference

3:00 pm

Visit to the World Heritage Site Zeche Zollverein (optional cultural program)

The Conference Venue and How to Get There

The conference will take place at the

Arrival by streetcar

From Essen main station (within walking distance of the hotel) take line 107 in the direction of Abzweig Katernberg or Gelsenkirchen Hbf to the stop: Triple Z. The venue is located opposite the stop (building G1).

Location