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Datasets:
oberbics
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Topic-specific-genre-classification_german_historical-newspapers

Tasks:
Text Classification
Modalities:
Image
Text
Formats:
csv
Languages:
German
Size:
< 1K
Tags:
history
newspapers
emigration
DOI:
Libraries:
Datasets
pandas
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metadata
task_categories:
  - text-classification
language:
  - de
tags:
  - history
  - newspapers
  - emigration
pretty_name: Topic-specific Genre Classification of German Historical Newspapers
size_categories:
  - n<1K
license: afl-3.0

Dataset Card for Topic-specific Genre Classification of German Historical Newspapers

This dataset was developed to train and evaluate topic-specific genre classification of German-language historical newspaper clippings.

  • Curated by: [Sarah Oberbichler]
  • Language(s) (NLP): [German]
  • License: [afl-3.0]

Uses

  • Evaluation of machine learning models for topic-specific classification of ocr-processed historical texts with varying quality levels.
  • Fine-tuning models on topic-specific classification tasks in German Language

Dataset Structure

The dataset consists of digitized historical German newspaper articles related to emigration, with each entry containing several structured fields. Each record includes a unique document identifier that combines the newspaper name, publication date, and article number. The temporal information is provided through precise dating (date and time), and each article is linked to its digital representation via a IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) of the NewsEye platform: https://platform2.newseye.eu/users/sign_in

Dataset Creation

The dataset - which can be split into training and texting datesets- was compiled using keyword searches for various German terms related to emigration, including "Auswander" (emigrant), "Ausgewanderte" (emigrated), "Emigrant" (emigrant), "Emigrierte" (emigrated), "Emigration" (emigration), "Kolonist" (colonist), and "Ansiedler" (settler). The clippings were then enriched with human annotations categorizing them into different genres:

  • "Commercial Announcements & Public Appeals
  • "News Reports & Current Events"
  • "Cultural Affairs & Society"
  • "General Information & Guidance"
  • "Crime & Legal Proceedings"
  • "Financial & Economic Reports"
  • "Statistical Data & Demographics".

Source Data

  • Source: Historical newspapers between 1850 and 1950
  • Primary Source: Arbeiter Zeitung, Illustrierte Kronen Zeitung, Neue Freie Presse, Innsbrucker Nachrichte
  • Primary Source Quality: OCR with varying accuracy levels and typical historical document digitization or layout recognition errors
  • Manual verification and annotation of articles and their boundaries

Who are the source data producers?

  • Austrian National Library
  • NewsEye Platform

Annotations

Human annotations

Annotation process

Manual annotation

Who are the annotators?

Sarah Oberbichler

Personal and Sensitive Information

The dataset contains only public domain historical newspaper content and has no copyright restrictions. It does contain personal information

Bias, Risks, and Limitations

  • Historical perspective and biases
  • Language and cultural context limitations
  • OCR quality variations
  • Topic-specific focus may limit generalization

Citation

Dataset Card Authors

Sarah Oberbichler

Dataset Card Contact

Sarah Oberbichler ([email protected])