You have an interest in corpus linguistics and the language usage on social media? Join our winter school in Łódź, Poland and learn how to collect, preprocess, and analyse social media data.
The seminar will start with an introduction to corpus linguistics, different analysis tools, and language usage in social media. You will learn how to collect and preprocess data from videos and texts using different social media platforms while also exploring the city of Łódź. The following online components will then allow you to work on your own group projects in international teams and virtually present your findings at the end of the seminar. This way you can deepen your knowledge on a topic of your choosing such as language variation, hate speech, or emoji usage. Everything you might need for the project will be covered in class – no prior experience with programming languages needed! However, if a question does come up, you can always discuss it in one of the regular check-up appointments with one of your teachers.
Interested? Learn more about funding options and how to apply here:
Schedule: We’ll start with a virtual kick-off meeting (date tbd.).
Preliminary schedule for the in-person meeting in Łódź (6.-10. October 2025):
| Day | 9:00-12:30 | 14:00-17:30 | ||
| Monday | Introduction | Lunch | Corpus Linguistics | Social Event |
| Tuesday | Corpus Tools | Lunch | Social Event | Social Event |
| Wednesday | Data Collection: Video | Lunch | Data Collection: Text | |
| Thursday | Corpus Analysis | Lunch | Group Phase | |
| Friday | Group Phase | Lunch | Group Phase |
The in-person phase in Łódź is followed by a virtual group phase with (bi-)weekly check-in appointments for each group between October and December. The class concludes with a virtual presentation of the group projects (date tbd.).
Credit Points:
- Germanistik students can get 5 CP for a Hauptseminar (B.A./M.A.) + optional Modulprüfung (mündlich/Hausarbeit)
- Students from other subjects can get 5 CP (Optionalbereich)
- Students who take the course as part of the Optionalbereich can receive credit points towards the DH-Zertifikat
Funding: An Erasmus+ grant can cover all costs of this class. Details on how to apply will follow after students have been selected.
General info on the Erasmus+ grant can be found here.
Application: To apply, send a letter of motivation (max. 1 page) by 31.05.25 to hannah.seemann@rub.de in which you describe your interest in the course. The motivation letter can be written in German or English and should include your subject of study and previous knowledge of corpus linguistics. Please also include a current Transcript of Records.