Organized by:
To propose a presentation, please contact: simon.porcher@dauphine.psl.eu
To attend, please contact: bruno.chavesferreira@dauphine.psl.eu
This workshop explores how digital technologies and language models are reshaping systems of representation and analysis. The session brings together leading researchers to discuss how computational methods are transforming our understanding of language, text, and information across multiple scales and disciplines. The first presentation examines the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in social sciences, focusing on large-scale content analysis and discussing opportunities and epistemological risks linked to this “augmentation” of researchers. The second talk addresses the transition from traditional lexicons to LLMs in economic measurement, showing how these tools transform the production and interpretation of indicators derived from text. The third presentation investigates the informational efficiency of writing systems compared to spoken languages, using measures of compressibility and symmetry applied to typologically diverse scripts. Together, these contributions shed light on the socio-technical and cognitive challenges posed by codes and models that structure scientific and social practices.
Programme
8h30-9h00: Welcome coffee
9h00-9h10: Introduction
9h10-10h00: Etienne Ollion (Ecole Polytechnique) - Augmenting ourselves. How LLMs change Content Analysis, and Social Sciences altogether
10h00-10h50: Thomas Renault (Paris-Saclay) - Turning text into economic measurement - From Lexicons to LLMs
10h50-11h20: Coffee break
11h20-12h10: Olivier Morin (Institut Jean Nicod) - Letter shapes do not encode information as efficiently as the sounds of languages do
12h10-12h15: Conclusions
12h15-13h30: Buffet lunch