#  Harvard Symposium on Applied Computational Text Analysis 

 



##  **May 2, 2018**

##  **Harvard University**

##  **Department of Sociology**

##  William James Hall 105

 The Harvard Symposium on Applied Computational Text Analysis will bring together a group of sociologists who are carrying out cutting-edge research with text analysis methods, and doing so in the service of theoretically and substantively important research questions. As the use of computational approaches has matured in the discipline, the time is ripe to showcase this kind of work. The goals of the event are twofold: (1) to generate dialogue between practitioners of text analysis and share insights about how these approaches can help sociologists answer old questions more effectively—and potentially ask new questions that were out of reach with traditional data and methods; and (2) to demonstrate to scholars unfamiliar with this type of work the promise of automated text analysis (tempered by an understanding of these methods’ limitations). The paper presentations will span the substantive areas of economic, political, and cultural sociology, while a keynote address by Professor Gary King will consider the future of computational methods in the social sciences more broadly.  
  
If you have any questions about the symposium or if you are planning to attend the lunch, **please RSVP no later than April 16**, by sending an email to [Odette Binder](mailto:///obinder@fas.harvard.edu).

##  **Program**

 **9:15-9:30 Opening remarks**  
Bart Bonikowski, Harvard University

 **9:30 - 10:30 Opening Keynote**  
Gary King, Harvard University  
[How the media activate public expression and influence national agendas](/acta/abstracts)  
  
**10:30 - 12:00 Economic Sociology**  
Paul DiMaggio, New York University  
[Interaction Ritual Threads: Does Collins' IRC Theory Work On-Line?](/acta/abstracts)  
Amir Goldberg, Stanford University  
[Duality in Diversity: Cultural Heterogeneity, Language, and Firm Performance ](/acta/abstracts)  
Carly Knight, Harvard University  
[A Good Trust: Moral Discourse and the Rhetoric of Corporate Legitimation](/acta/abstracts)

 **12:30 - 2:00 Lunch** (all attendees who RSVP are welcome)

 **2:00 - 3:30 Cultural Sociology**  
Taylor Brown, Duke University  
[Qualities and Inequalities: Gendered Valuation in the Contemporary Art Market](/acta/abstracts)  
Ryan Light, University of Oregon  
[Interviewer Effects and Historical Data: Race and the “Born in Slavery” Collection](/acta/abstracts)  
Alix Rule, Columbia University  
[Actor-oriented descriptions over the "longue duree"](/acta/abstracts)

 **3:30 - 5:00 Political Sociology**  
Laura Nelson, Northeastern University  
[Finding Simple Patterns in Complex Movements](/acta/abstracts)  
Chris Bail, Duke University  
[Exposure to Opposing Views can Increase Political Polarization: Evidence from a Large-Scale Field Experiment on Social Media](/acta/abstracts)  
Bart Bonikowski, Harvard University  
[Measuring Frames and Identities: What Computational Text Analysis Can Teach Us about Radical Politics](/acta/abstracts)

 **5:00 – 5:30 Concluding remarks**  
Christopher Winship, Harvard University

##  **Speakers**

Sort    ![Bail](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/bail.jpg)

 

 

  [Chris Bail](https://sociology.duke.edu/people/christopher-andrew-bail)

 *Douglas and Ellen Lowey Associate Professor of Sociology*

 *Duke University*

 

    ![Headshot of Bart Bonikowski, Assistant Professor of Sociology.](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/bonikowski.jpg)

 

 

  [Bart Bonikowski](/people/bart-bonikowski)

 *Associate Professor of Sociology*

 *Harvard University*

 

    ![brown](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/brown.jpg)

 

 

  [Taylor Brown](https://sociology.duke.edu/people/taylor-brown)

 *Doctoral Student in Sociology*

 *Duke University*

 

    ![DiMaggio](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/dimaggio3.jpg)

 

 

  [Paul DiMaggio](https://wagner.nyu.edu/community/faculty/paul-dimaggio)

 *Professor of Sociology*

 *New York University*

 

    ![goldberg](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/amir_goldberg.jpg)

 

 

  [Amir Goldberg](https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/amir-goldberg)

 *Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior*

 *Stanford University*

 

    ![king](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/king.jpg)

 

 

  [Gary King](https://gking.harvard.edu/)

 *Weatherhead University Professor*

 *Harvard University*

 

    ![Carly Knight](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/knight_carly.jpg)

 

 

  [Carly Knight](/people/carly-r-knight)

 *Doctoral Student in Sociology*

 *Harvard University*

 

    ![Light](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/light.jpg)

 

 

  [Ryan Light](https://sociology.uoregon.edu/profile/light/)

 *Associate Professor of Sociology*

 *University of Oregon*

 

    ![nelson](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/nelson.jpg)

 

 

  [Laura Nelson](https://cssh.northeastern.edu/people/faculty/laura-nelson/)

 *Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthroplogy*

 *Northeastern University*

 

    ![rule2](/sites/g/files/omnuum1481/files/sociology/files/rule2.png)

 

 

  [Alix Rule](http://sociology.columbia.edu/node/138)

 *Doctoral Student in Sociology*

 *Columbia University*