Online users today are exposed to misleading and propagandistic news articles and media posts on a daily basis. To counter thus, a number of approaches have been designed aiming to achieve a healthier and safer online news and media consumption. Auto
matic systems are able to support humans in detecting such content; yet, a major impediment to their broad adoption is that besides being accurate, the decisions of such systems need also to be interpretable in order to be trusted and widely adopted by users. Since misleading and propagandistic content influences readers through the use of a number of deception techniques, we propose to detect and to show the use of such techniques as a way to offer interpretability. In particular, we define qualitatively descriptive features and we analyze their suitability for detecting deception techniques. We further show that our interpretable features can be easily combined with pre-trained language models, yielding state-of-the-art results.
The objective of subtask 2 of SemEval-2021 Task 6 is to identify techniques used together with the span(s) of text covered by each technique. This paper describes the system and model we developed for the task. We first propose a pipeline system to i
dentify spans, then to classify the technique in the input sequence. But it severely suffers from handling the overlapping in nested span. Then we propose to formulize the task as a question answering task by MRC framework which achieves a better result compared to the pipeline method. Moreover, data augmentation and loss design techniques are also explored to alleviate the problem of data sparse and imbalance. Finally, we attain the 3rd place in the final evaluation phase.
This paper presents the solution proposed by the 1213Li team for subtask 3 in SemEval-2021 Task 6: identifying the multiple persuasion techniques used in the multi-modal content of the meme. We explored various approaches in feature extraction and th
e detection of persuasion labels. Our final model employs pre-trained models including RoBERTa and ResNet-50 as a feature extractor for texts and images, respectively, and adopts a label embedding layer with multi-modal attention mechanism to measure the similarity of labels with the multi-modal information and fuse features for label prediction. Our proposed method outperforms the provided baseline method and achieves 3rd out of 16 participants with 0.54860/0.22830 for Micro/Macro F1 scores.
This paper describes our system participated in Task 6 of SemEval-2021: the task focuses on multimodal propaganda technique classification and it aims to classify given image and text into 22 classes. In this paper, we propose to use transformer base
d architecture to fuse the clues from both image and text. We explore two branches of techniques including fine-tuning the text pretrained transformer with extended visual features, and fine-tuning the multimodal pretrained transformers. For the visual features, we have tested both grid features based on ResNet and salient region features from pretrained object detector. Among the pretrained multimodal transformers, we choose ERNIE-ViL, a two-steam cross-attended transformers pretrained on large scale image-caption aligned data. Fine-tuing ERNIE-ViL for our task produce a better performance due to general joint multimodal representation for text and image learned by ERNIE-ViL. Besides, as the distribution of the classification labels is very unbalanced, we also make a further attempt on the loss function and the experiment result shows that focal loss would perform better than cross entropy loss. Last we have won first for subtask C in the final competition.
Among the tasks motivated by the proliferation of misinformation, propaganda detection is particularly challenging due to the deficit of fine-grained manual annotations required to train machine learning models. Here we show how data from other relat
ed tasks, including credibility assessment, can be leveraged in multi-task learning (MTL) framework to accelerate the training process. To that end, we design a BERT-based model with multiple output layers, train it in several MTL scenarios and perform evaluation against the SemEval gold standard.
The research's title: Lithography Technique and its impact on the European poster printing. It includes four parts:
The first part (The Discovery of Lithography and Its role in the art of printmaking.)
In its first chapter - The Art of Etching and
Printmaking as a concept and its relation with the European society- It introduces a brief overview of the major historical events that contributed in implementing the ideas and tools which paved the way to create techniques and ways linked to the concept of printing as a means and an end.
Starting from caves painting to cylinder seals, through the invention of papers and the start of its usage for writing, ending with the first printing attempts that took different approaches of messages or writings used at first to document religious legislation and instructions in various cultures.
The research as well shows in this chapter the early stages of printing in Europe and the events that contributed to its arrival and prevalence, the research also navigates the main techniques that formed the base for the outbreak of printmaking and printing as an original art entity on its own just like woodcut and metal printing, reaching the phase that came right before the invention of the Lithographic printing.
As for the second chapter - The Discovery of the Lithography Technique in Germany- The research here starts with introducing the discoverer of the Lithograph technique the German “Alois Senefelder” and the factors that lie behind the invention of this technique.
The research then demonstrates the most important steps and technical experiences that the German inventor went through until he reached a clear singular formula that enabled him to represent those experiences as a new approach in the world of presses. depending on limestone and other printing materials such as ink and chemical transparencies.
The research broke those components down to reach to the essential material used in the process of lithography.
Research also approaches the efforts that Senefelder puts forth to start promoting and spreading this technique in Germany and later on in Europe...
In the third chapter of the first part – The Propagation and Prevalence of Lithography and its Trespassing over the other techniques.- The research deals with the historical era that followed the time of which the invention of the lithograph in Europe happened. Where the industrial revolution and the popular movement in some of the countries lead to spark the awareness for most people.
Thus the newly found technology became an answer and a tool for many artists and publicists for its illustrations that highly served the field of book printing. Which started utilizing those illustrations in the process of printmaking through lithography.
The industrial revolution arrived to demand new requirements for the market. To advertise for merchandises and products on one side and to promote for artistic and cultural activities on the other, which The Old continent have witnessed and especially France. Due to the presence of a group of artists that perpetuated through their artworks the newly found technique( lithography) most especially in representing posters for commercial and social purposes, for example ( Jules Cheret) who was considered the godfather of European posters. This research will go through some details from his experiences and artworks due to his contributions which he presented in this field through hundreds of posters submitted in various methods of lithography.
The research briefly states the immense role of the French (Toulouse Lautrec) in implementing the structure of the poster as a popular advertising tool. Capable of meeting the needs of advertisers on one side and as a complete artistic work on the other. all through lithography which witnessed at that time its golden age of popularity and prevalence In addition to saving time and money through the process of printing. Not to mention the broad possibilities it offered, such as colorful prints with highly pictorial effects.
In the second part which is titled - The concept of the poster and its development in the European countries-
The research begins approaching the concept of the poster and its early stages as well as its connection with the concept of advertising since the Greek’s era long time ago, who used oral commercial advertising, and its development with the help of the Romans later on through implementing the written element into the poster and later on the improvement done by the Japanese and Chinese. Until its clear manifestation in England (1480) after the arrival of the poster with the help of (William Caxton), coming
down to the huge shift in the field of publicity and advertising that came along with the industrial revolution.
In the first chapter of this part - The Stages of The Poster between form and expression- the research touches the concept of the poster here through its beginnings and the development of its aspects and usages and the effect of the newly discovered techniques in the field on the poster.
The research here focuses on the experience of (Cheret) and sheds the light on his contributions and knowledge in the field of creating an advanced poster with a special visual form different than what people were already used to. With an overview of his artworks which were considered back then a revolution in the arena of colored prints, he used several colored printing stones for this exact purpose.
Thus this method paved the way for ( Lautrec) in continuing what ( Cheret ) started he invested his congenital excellence with lines and colored areas which added to the artistic value of the poster’s visual design and dramatic approach to issues at that time depending sometimes on his sense of humor and some other times on exaggeration.
All that made the artwork of those two artists undoubtedly part of the visual memory of the French people specifically, and anyone with an interest in the poster art.
Then the research approaches the differences that emerged in the methods of the imported posters depending on the country of origin. for those artworks were influenced by the backgrounds of those artists who produced it. Due to the fact that the poster is mostly committed to addressing the different social local groups for publicity and advertisement purposes.
The research after that talks about the development of concepts and designing schools that ruled the poster production process. These improvements were influenced by the new innovative schools consecutively, and the social development in Europe generally.
In the second chapter of this part – The Role of The Poster as an advertising message, and a guided artwork. –
This research explains the concept of the poster as an advertising tool through the objective and visual form. For that, the importance of the poster in the field of publicity and advertisement rose significantly over the past two centuries. Its role required a deeper investigation and higher knowledge in approaching the phycology of the recipient and his lifestyle.
Those concepts kept improving, diversifying and altering according to the societies, their needs, and their mentality. Which gave the poster a broader scope __________.
The research arrived in categorizing types of posters according to their marketing purposes: educational – economical- social- entertainment. The research as well gives an analytical study for a collection of posters according to their various purposes.
In the third part that is titled - The Aesthetic values of Lithography-
This part starts with the first chapter that is called- The Applied Function of Lithograph and its Development- it focuses on the technology of lithography and the improvements that it came across since the early nineteenth century until the early twentieth century. It took a broader approach towards meaning and form, on the level of the printing process such as its speed and the tools used throughout the process, but it held onto the original concept which depends on the basis of sorting the colors before the printing process begins.
Here the research clarifies the requirements of the colored printing process in its early stages, and the way it prevailed over time.
In addition to the outbreak of the new technical discoveries in this field.
Like the transferring method that (Senefelder ) created or formed using the transfer paper. Which enables the artist to work freely on this paper without the need to reverse the drawing.
The research then returns to focus on the technical development that contributed in the development of printing presses and the ongoing search that lead to the replacement of the expensive, rare printing limestones with Aluminum sheets covered with a layer of thermal ceramic.
This development and improvement in the fields of printing tools and presses each separately resulted in the use of those sheets in the new presses where they started depending on cylinders. The Rateau was replaced with a single cylinder at first and then with multiple cylinders (inking cylinder- wiping cylinder- and pressing cylinder)
Then this printer was improved in which the picture could be transferred to an extra rubber cylinder before being printed on paper- and that’s how the offset printing method prevailed and it’s popular until this day.
As well as the admittance of the (serigraph) also known as silkscreen enabled the artists who worked in the arena to print their artwork. ( the research explain this step by step)
Lithography found a helpful invention in photography. This partnership between the two was known as (photolithography) where they depended on directly printing the photograph on the limestone or metal sheet. Which gave a new technical advancement, and fixated the lithograph partnership in the process of printing until the early twentieth century.
All those innovations and improvements and more of which were mentioned in the research made this technique utilized in all sorts of printing fields and specifically ones related to publicity.
In the second chapter – The Influence of The Lithograph on the European society (during the World War for an example)-
The research discusses the major role that the posters played in the European societies and uses World War 1 as an example for this role.
After displaying the direct and indirect reasons behind the burst of this war, the research starts showing the role that the political and military posters played at that time. and its major influence in addressing the public awareness of the European societies during the military recruitment conflicts on one side and the moral support for the home front of the participating countries ** the research focuses on the importance of the political and social poster not only in its …. war time but also in documenting the daily challenges that those societies experienced, through the picture and the text that helped in its visual message those societies and their values that they boasted about and which made this war from their perspective a means to achieve justice and victory of the righteous.
Then the research approaches a collection of posters produced throughout the wartime and sorts or categorizes them according to their visual or advertising messages and their producer, it also analyses those artworks according to their structural form and the moral role for each one of them.
After showcasing the artworks and analyzing them, the research displays at the end the leap that the world of designing in all its forms witnessed, after the World War and with the outbreak of modern art schools that enormously influenced the designing mentality, in addition to the great need for foundations that tended to the field of publicity and advertisement to provide for the needs of the societies and their economic growth and urban activity.
All those aspects urged the specialized corporates and graphic designers to start using the offset printers and workers in the process of poster production after The World War, for those reasons there was a graphic designing specialty made only for artists of this field, with its own approach and way of thinking that could be used in all fields.
The research ends with displaying the latest poster experience that used the lithograph as a method of printing and production, which was in Switzerland 1945 by Peter Birkhauser.
