Series overview:

Text-mining refers to techniques which can involve the collection, processing and parsing of text derived from a range of sources (e.g., corpora, digital libraries, web forums). Text-mining is often performed with the goal of analyzing text to gain insights not readily available without the use of digital methods. It is useful to or shares methods with fields which seek to understand words and their context using computer friendly representations (e.g., word embeddings, or word vectors) such as natural language processing, computational models of language, psycholinguistcs, or digital humanities. In this workshop series, students and researchers will learn text-mining and natural language processing (NLP) techniques using the Python programming language for a range of use-cases. Four workshop sessions are currently available. Participants may choose to attend whichever of these self-contained sessions they find useful, but it is recommended that participants who are new to this topic attend at least Session 2. Readers who are interested in learning about additional tools and methods for text-mining and computer-based analysis of natural language are encouraged to consult the recently published text-mining guide, written by the text-mining support group at Information & Library Services (textminingsupport@ru.nl).. Questions about these workshops or their contents can be sent via email to daniel.sharoh@ru.nl.

Session 1: Python basics

Do you want to learn how to use Python? The Digital Competence Centre organizes the Python Basics workshop to teach participants how to set up a programming environment, develop familiarity with the language, and learn a number of basic programming constructs essential to coding in an academic environment.

This introductory session is a pre-panion workshop for the other sessions and is typically given on the same day or week as these sessions. The Basics workshop provides training concerning the setup of the Python language, interpreter and development environment on RU-issued computers, essential programming constructs, and Python syntax and quirks. After following this session, participants should understand data types, functions and methods, working with textual data and lists, if-statements, conditionals, for-loops, working with files, importing libraries, writing custom functions, and more. Participants in this session will also learn how to debug code, learn about Python through querying docstrings and other documentation, and develop a foundation for future learning. Participants who have previously setup python environments and who have some experience programming in Python may already be familiar with this material. Materials for this session will be made available and can be reviewed by participants who are unsure of their own level of experience.