The TTLab (Text Technology Lab), headed by Prof. Alexander Mehler, is part of the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics (Fachbereich Informatik und Mathematik) at the Goethe Universität in Frankfurt. It investigates formal, algorithmic models to deepen our understanding of information processing in the humanities. We examine diachronic, time-dependent as well as synchronic aspects of processing linguistic and non-linguistic, multimodal signs. The Lab works across several disciplines to bridge between computer science on the one hand and corpus-based research in the humanities on the other. To this end, we develop information models and algorithms for the analysis of texts, images, and other objects relevant to research in the humanities.
News
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New publication accepted at SoftwareX
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The following article was published in the journal SoftwareX:
Docker Unified UIMA Interface: New perspectives for NLP on big data
2025. Docker Unified UIMA Interface: New perspectives for NLP on big data. SoftwareX, 29:102033.BibTeX
@article{Abrami:et:al:2025:a, title = {Docker Unified UIMA Interface: New perspectives for NLP on big data}, journal = {SoftwareX}, volume = {29}, pages = {102033}, year = {2025}, issn = {2352-7110}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2024.102033}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352711024004047}, author = {Giuseppe Abrami and Markos Genios and Filip Fitzermann and Daniel Baumartz and Alexander Mehler}, keywords = {duui, Docker, Kubernetes, UIMA, Distributed NLP}, abstract = {Processing large amounts of natural language text using machine learning-based models is becoming important in many disciplines. This demand is being met by a variety of approaches, resulting in the heterogeneous deployment of separate, partly incompatible, not natively scalable applications. To overcome the technological bottleneck involved, we have developed Docker Unified UIMA Interface, a system for the standardized, parallel, platform-independent, distributed and microservices-based solution for processing large and extensive text corpora with any NLP method. We present DUUI as a framework that enables automated orchestration of GPU-based NLP processes beyond the existing Docker Swarm cluster variant, and in addition to the adaptation to new runtime environments such as Kubernetes. Therefore, a new driver for DUUI is introduced, which enables the lightweight orchestration of DUUI processes within a Kubernetes environment in a scalable setup. In this way, the paper opens up novel text-technological perspectives for existing practices in disciplines that deal with the scientific analysis of large amounts of data based on NLP.} }
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New publication accepted at DHd 2025
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The following publication was accepted at the DHd 2025 in Bielefeld, Germany (03. – 07.03.2025).
DUUI: A Toolbox for the Construction of a new Kind of Natural Language Processing
2025. DUUI: A Toolbox for the Construction of a new Kind of Natural Language Processing. Proceedings of the DHd 2025: Under Construction. Geisteswissenschaften und Data Humanities. accepted.BibTeX
@inproceedings{Abrami:et:al:2025:b, author = {Abrami, Giuseppe and Baumartz, Daniel and Mehler, Alexander}, title = {DUUI: A Toolbox for the Construction of a new Kind of Natural Language Processing}, year = {2025}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the DHd 2025: Under Construction. Geisteswissenschaften und Data Humanities}, numpages = {3}, location = {Bielefeld, Germany}, series = {DHd 2025}, keywords = {duui}, note = {accepted} }
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Nomination for the Goethe-University Innovation Prize
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The Bundestags-Mine has been nominated for the Innovation Prize of the Goethe-University!
A final pitch will take place on December 10th, 2024 at 6 PM in the Festsaal Casino at Campus Westend. All the finalists will compete for the final ranking and the corresponding prize money, which is sponsored by the Sparkasse Foundation. If you’d like to join, tickets are freely avaiable on eventbrite.
The project idea was initiated through a lecture held by Prof. Dr. Alexander Mehler and Giuseppe Abrami. After the course ended, it was continued privately by one of the students, Kevin Bönisch, while maintaining contact with the Text Technology Lab. In 2023, the project was published in the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Applications series, again through the Text Technology Lab in conjuction with Sabine Wehnert from the Georg-Eckert-Institut.
The Bundestags-Mine leverages artificial intelligence to analyze various data formats from the German Bundestag, including plenary proceedings, polls, agenda items, and more. The processed data is curated within the platform and made available for download. All data is freely accessible and can be obtained directly from the Bundestags-Mine website. This approach enables personalized access to the vast amounts of data produced daily by the German Bundestag, making politics more accessible. Additionally, it utilizes state-of-the-art AI techniques for advanced analysis, including sentiment analysis, topic modeling, summarization, and more, provided by the tools that were developed within the Text Technology Lab.
The Text Technology Lab actively encourages students to go beyond expectations, supporting them in publishing their first scientific papers, bachelor’s or master’s theses, and, as demonstrated in this example, achieving distinguished awards. The lab also provides guidance and infrastructure for large-scale research projects when necessary.
So if you are interested in research projects, bachelor’s or master’s theses that align with our research, or have other inquiries, feel free to contact us.
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