This master
thesis lies in the field of Digital Humanities and Communication Studies. –
combining humanities and data analysis together. The significance of this study
lies in its contribution to understanding how political messages are
constructed and disseminated on TikTok, a platform known for its unique format
that combines short videos with various audiovisual elements. Traditional
annotation tools often face challenges in accurately capturing and analyzing
such content due to its multimodal nature. ELAN, developed by the Max Planck
Institute for Psycholinguistics, offers a robust framework for multimodal
research but requires critical evaluation and potential enhancement to be
effectively applied in this context. By improving our understanding of ELAN’s
capabilities and addressing its limitations, this study aims to advance the
field of multimodal political communication analysis and provide insights into
the sophisticated strategies used in digital propaganda.
The
rationale for focusing on Zelensky’s TikTok appearances is twofold. First,
Zelensky’s background as a former comedian and actor gives him a unique
approach to political communication that is particularly suited to the TikTok
format. His videos often blend humor, directness, and emotional appeal, making
them an interesting case study for multimodal analysis. Second, the
geopolitical context of Ukraine, especially in light of the ongoing conflict
with Russia, adds a layer of urgency and relevance to understanding how
political messaging is crafted and perceived. Analyzing Zelensky’s TikTok
content through the lens of ELAN can reveal not only the techniques used but
also the broader implications for political communication in digital spaces.
There is a
data set of 10 short Tik Tok videos featuring President Zelensky’s appearances.
THe task is to manually annotate them using ELAN software, and then provide
multimodal discourse analysis. You should create annotation framework including
srveral layers – transcribed speech analysis, gestures – head gestures and
facial expressions analysis, audio analysis – music, sound effects, Rhetorical
devices, Speech Acts, Intonation patterns,
Message Intent, Tempo, Pitch. Visual cues – Symbolic objects, Setting
and background, Use of colors, Captions. You also should support the choice of
labels in controlled vocabularies of annotation framework with corresponding
references from theoretical literature. The annotation framework should have
strong dependencies and hierarchy relevant for this research. The thesis has no
hypothesis – it should answer two questions : What are the current capabilities
and limitations of ELAN and automated tools for the semi-automatic annotation
of multimodal audiovisual data?
2. What
patterns and trends are evident in the representation of ideological messaging
in TikTok videos featuring Zelensky? Therefore you should describe in detail
annotation framework you created using scientific references from multimodal
discourse analysis, describe the annotation process and the chellenges you
encountered. In Results/ Discussion part you should come with comparative
analysis of patterns and trends in Zelensky’s representation – compare
different features e.g. gestures with transcribed speech, visual cues with
auditory features, rhetorical devices with gestures, tempo, pitch, intonation
patterns etc. The ELAN software you can easily find online download and use on
your computer free. After finishing
annotating – you can export annotatations as csv or json files and use them for
creating comparable visualizations for quantitative analysis. Uou also should
provide and describe qualitative analysis before that and come up with
conclusions representing the trends of propagandistic political representation
of Zelensky – as 10 videos is not quite a representative dataset – you should
mention that this research is just pathway workflow example of possible
political study of Zelensky’s appearances. As it is not possible to attach the
videos in mp4 format that you need to annotate – I can send it to you later via
google drive link So that you could download them in ELAN and create
annotations.Also I can further provide on request the preliminary thesis notes
for literature review, introduction and videos’ dataset description together
with references list – that might be helpful to you The thesis should contain
at least 50 pages – app 10000 – 13000 words – the minimum condition is 20000
words but I understand it is too much for such a short time