The power of Computational Literary Studies for Policy Makers
Policy can be complicated.
Much thought goes into the rationale and explanation of your policy documents. But how does your public connect the explanation to their cultural experience?
Literature can help.
Evidence of past and present culture
Make claims about the past and present identities and values through stories and fictional narratives.
Prototypes of future scenarios
Use literary narratives to provoke imagination and prototype future scenarios, cultures, technologies.
Example: Evidence of Island Culture
Root your explanations within the culture that your audience is familiar with and experiences. Contextualise authors’ narratives with their emotional content. For example, these European writers excel at capturing public sentiment towards island cultures:
- Sarah-Jane Dobner
- José Saramago
- Audrey Magee
Example: Festival Futures
By analysing literary and social media descriptions of an event like the Sziget Festival, Budapest, you can understand how certain topics and themes group together. This means communicating policy that is linked to cultural touchpoints.
Reference: Hinek, M., & Papp-Váry, Á.F. (2024). Topic modelling of festival-visitors’ opinions: A case study of Sziget Festival. European Journal of Tourism Research. (Link here)
Time Poverty
Policy makers are pressurised to explain issues quickly. New tools must be easy to use and understand.
Influence
Narratives do influence public opinion. They should not obscure facts and intentions.
Accessibility
Users need to understand how to navigate the sheer quantity of literature.
Let CLS get your attention.
For more details on tools, methods, training and more, check our Resources page or contact info@clsinfra.io!
Image credit: Storyset
Infographic concepts drawn from : “Understanding User Requirements beyond Academic Research. CLS Infrastructure (DARIAH): Deliverable 3.5”. 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tonJrL7tZXI., https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13605872).