research.html

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title: Research | Nathan Drezner
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    <p>
        As an undergraduate at McGill, I was involved in several research
        projects.
    </p>
    <br /><br />

    <h2>Wikipedia</h2>
    <p>
        From Fall 2018 to Spring 2020, I headed a research project studying the
        salient patterns of language and behaviour on Wikipedia. This project
        evolved over time from a language-driven study of argument on Wikipedia
        to a network analysis-driven study of user behaviour.
    </p>

    <p>
        The project was overseen by Profs. Andrew Piper and Richard Jean So as
        part of the <a target="_blank" href="https://txtlab.org/">.txtLab</a> at
        McGill, and in Summer 2018 I was granted an
        <a
            target="_blank"
            href="https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/research"
            >Arts Research Internship Award (ARIA)</a
        >
        for my work on the project.
    </p>

    <p>
        A paper,
        <a
            target="_blank"
            href="https://txtlab.org/2020/09/do-wikipedia-editors-specialize/"
            >"Everyday Specialization: The coherence of editorial communities on
            Wikipedia"</a
        >, was published in September 2020. More general information on the
        project is available in my
        <a href="/2020/09/30/wikipedia-txtlab">blog post</a>
        on the subject.
    </p>
    <br /><br />

    <h2>Computational Linguistics</h2>
    <p>
        Through the
        <a target="_blank" href="https://mcqll.org/"
            >McGill Computational & Quantitative Linguistics Lab</a
        >, I was part of a research project studying productivity in language.
        The project involved reconstructing a qualitative model of productivity
        in an algorithmic representation to test its validity based on
        real-world productive patterns. More generally, the MCQLL studies
        fundamental questions about language acquisition, processing, use in
        society, and change over time.
    </p>

    <br /><br />
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