[Air-L] QDAP/Texifter Foul Language List

[Stuart Shulman]

The work of the committe is non-public. Suffice it to say it was  
extremely interesting and very thought provoking. The dirty word list  
is just one of the angles we are taking up.

~Stu's iPhone

Stu at polsci.umass.edu
Dr. Stuart W. Shulman
UMass Amherst, Political Science


On Nov 30, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Deen Freelon <dfreelon at gmail.com> wrote:

> Dr. Shulman,
>
> By any chance are the findings or proceedings of the Secret Service  
> NAS workshop you mention below publicly available? Via Google I  
> could only find this: http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bbcss/Committee_on_Communications_and_Behavior.html 
>  , which I assume is what you were referring to. I imagine others on  
> this list might be interested as well. Thanks, ~DEEN
>
> Stuart Shulman wrote:
>> All great questions and comments. I put my reply to Jerom below and  
>> can now
>> make an interim update.
>>
>> My lawyer is reviewing the risk associated with release of the  
>> list, which
>> is 250+ items so far. A cautious person naturally avoids unintended  
>> harm
>> that might result from use of the list for purposes other than  
>> those stated.
>> I can envision sharing the list with established research labs  
>> working in
>> this area.
>>
>> I see many indirect benefits accruing to users of software  
>> developed in
>> proprietary settings. I also give away powerful software for free  
>> over the
>> Web. Both are good models that leverage the Internet to distribute  
>> work with
>> innovative tools and data sets easily to many volunteers, users, or  
>> content
>> creators.
>>
>> In this case, my new research on threat detection has both basic  
>> research
>> (QDAP) and commercial (Texifter) potential and the added chance of  
>> making
>> public figures potentially safer in a volatile political climate. I  
>> am
>> responding to a direct need expressed through the National  
>> Academies of
>> Science recent workshop for the US Secret Service and to other agency
>> personnel from across the federal government.
>>
>> We are looking for ways to design, test and deploy useful tools  
>> that make
>> democracy run a little more smoothly when millions of people are
>> participating online. If US health care reform drives significant  
>> numbers of
>> people to say awful things, or if the first African American  
>> President is
>> just too much for some folks to bear, simple dictionaries of hate and
>> threats may be required to make the landscape of democracy more  
>> navigable
>> and civil for those who chose not to go there.
>>
>> In some cases, we are talking about making it easier for law  
>> enforcement
>> officials to preempt aggressive or violent behavior. In others, we  
>> are
>> looking at modeling the behavior of depraved citizens who use  
>> rhetoric for
>> purposes that go beyond worldly comprehension.
>>
>> Finally, no, to all who wondered it, I am not planning to leave  
>> academia to
>> become the next George Carlin either.
>>
>> Doggedly yours,
>> ~Stu
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Stuart Shulman <stuart.shulman at gmail.com>
>> Date: Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 1:51 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Air-L] QDAP/Texifter Foul Language List
>> To: Jerom Janssen <jfjanssen at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>> Jerom,
>>
>> I am wary of legal repercussions and would probably think it  
>> unwise. The
>> language is both awful and valuable as research data.
>>
>> What would you do?
>>
>> ~Stu
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 2:01 PM, Jessica Richman
>> <jessica.richman at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Yes, I was wondering this too. It seems unfair to ask for public
>>> contribution if this is a private project that only your company  
>>> will profit
>>> from.
>>>
>>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 6:48 PM, Jerom Janssen  
>>> <jfjanssen at gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Dear Dr. Stuart Shulman,
>>>>
>>>> This is a very interesting project. Will the results (tokens/ 
>>>> phrases plus
>>>> their counts and ratings) be put in the public domain?
>>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> Jerom Janssen
>>>>
>>>> On Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 13:58, <stuart.shulman at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> If you have trouble viewing or submitting this form, you can  
>>>>> fill it out
>>>>> online:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dGNQZGVLNUQ3SHhxYXU3ZjZsS3JsZVE6MA
>>>>
>>>>> QDAP/Texifter Foul Language List
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> We are compiling a list of oaths, dirty words, racist and sexual
>>>>>
>>>> derogatory
>>>>
>>>>> and other offensive terms to build new language models and  
>>>>> software
>>>>>
>>>> tools.
>>>>
>>>>> The notable increase in public and private threats communicated  
>>>>> via the
>>>>> Internet to Congress and the White House makes it important to  
>>>>> do basic
>>>>> research that identifies the precursors of aggressive or violent
>>>>>
>>>> behavior.
>>>>
>>>>> Adding your uniquely offensive contribution to the list, with an
>>>>>
>>>> associated
>>>>
>>>>> rating from 1-7, with 1 representing a mildly offensive term and 7
>>>>> representing the most foul term, will advance this work.
>>>>>
>>>>> We are not collecting any data about the people submitting items  
>>>>> to this
>>>>> list. The process is anonymous. The research is jointly  
>>>>> sponsored by
>>>>>
>>>> QDAP &
>>>>
>>>>> Texifter, LLC and directed by Dr. Stuart Shulman, QDAP Director  
>>>>> and
>>>>>
>>>> Texifter
>>>>
>>>>> President & CEO.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://www.umass.edu/qdap/
>>>>> http://texifter.com/
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Insert your word *
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Rate the word 1-7 (1 = least & 7 = most offensive) *
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Powered by Google Docs Report Abuse - Terms of Service -  
>>>>> Additional
>>>>>
>>>> Terms
>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
>>>>> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
>>>>> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
>>>>> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>>>>>
>>>>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>>>>> http://www.aoir.org/
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
>>>> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
>>>> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
>>>> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>>>>
>>>> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
>>>> http://www.aoir.org/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Deen Freelon
> Ph.D. Student, Communication
> University of Washington
> dfreelon at u.washington.edu
> ReCal = online intercoder reliability calculator
> http://dfreelon.org/utils/recalfront/
>
>