PLANS - Unitizing Plot to Advance Analysis of Narrative Structure
The project “Unitizing Plot to Advance Analysis of Narrative Structure” (PLANS) is an interdisciplinary effort towards exploring and modeling concepts of plot in narrative theory by
combining a theoretical perspective with an implementation-focused approach.
In PLANS, we will build on the event extraction in the predecessor EvENT project and adapt it in order to advance plot analysis. Plot is determined both by its textual representation and properties of the fictional world, such as characters and events. Accordingly the project bridges the gap from EvENT's more surface-level narration-based text analysis to the semantics of the text, from the how of narration to the what of narration. Specifically we seek to model the semantics of individual units of plot, that is to say small sections of text that are semantically coherent.
Natural Language Processing
Thus far, the NLP community has established a wide range of computational models of narrative that are typically domain specific. We hope that our unitized approach can be more generelizable while offering advantages in terms of simplicity and computational complexity over entire texts.
Narratology
The focus on the intermediate level of plot units between events and plot allows for a more general operationalization of narrative constitution, i.e. the principles that explain how events are combined and transformed into narrative text.
We expect to gain insights into the as yet under-theorized conceptual connections between theoretical models of plot and narrative constitution.
Partners
The project is conducted in close cooperation with the fortext lab at TU Darmstadt. See their project page for further details.
- Prof. Dr. Evelyn Gius
- Dr. Haimo Stiemer