Papers by Ekaterina Ignatova
This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at compari... more This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at comparing how two travel destinations, Moscow and London, are represented in tourism discourse of a popular travel website www.tripadvisor.com. In recent years there has been a surge of interest to utilizing multimodal approaches, which consider various expressive resources used for making meaning in texts, for instance, writing, images, layout (Van Leeuwen, 2015), for analysing tourism discourse (e.g. Francesconi, 2011, 2014). However, methodological frameworks for studying the representation of travel destinations in multimodal texts have not received much attention. The project aims at filling this gap by discussing two multimodal approaches to city representation analysis in travel-related texts. Due to the fact that such modes as layout, typography and hypertextual structure are predetermined by the website design and are similar for both cities, the primary concern of the current project is language and images. In both described approaches, corpus linguistics techniques, such as keywords comparison, concordance analysis of keywords, collocation comparison and concordance analysis of collocations, are applied for language analysis in order to search for the salient features of the texts and to compare how the two cities are represented. As for visual analysis, the first option implies a qualitative study of images, which is a popular approach in the field of tourism discourse. In addition to commonly used social semiotics visual analysis (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006), the proposed methodology includes a comparative and interpretative analysis based on Dann’s (1996) framework of visual techniques and Barthes’ (1977) theory of visual semiotics. The advantage of this methodology is that it allows to get deeper insights into what visual elements, structures and techniques are utilized to construct the representation of Moscow and London in the photographs on the website. The drawbacks, however, are that such analysis is time-consuming, consequently, only a limited number of images can be studied. The second approach combines the aforementioned corpus linguistics methods with an analogous visual mode analysis based on tagging images with topic words and comparing frequencies of the topic words across the corpora. This stage is aimed at identifying patterns in the use of images for representing travel destinations and comparing them between the two corpora. In addition, the analysis of how the images are used in context, namely, which texts they accompany, is proposed to interpret the patterns. This methodology can be applied to a larger number of multimodal texts and allows the exploration of similarities and differences in the representation of the two cities. Therefore, the two approaches complement each other and can be used individually or in combination depending on the time limit and research aims. The project is a further step in the development of multimodal corpus approaches to the study of the representation of travel destinations in tourism discourse.
Corpora and Discourse International Conference (CAD 2018), 2018
This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at compari... more This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at comparing how two travel destinations, Moscow and London, are represented in tourism discourse of a popular travel website www.tripadvisor.com. In recent years there has been a surge of interest to utilizing multimodal approaches, which consider various expressive resources used for making meaning in texts, for instance, writing, images, layout (Van Leeuwen, 2015), for analysing tourism discourse (e.g. Francesconi, 2011, 2014). However, methodological frameworks for studying the representation of travel destinations in multimodal texts have not received much attention. The project aims at filling this gap by discussing two multimodal approaches to city representation analysis in travel-related texts. Due to the fact that such modes as layout, typography and hypertextual structure are predetermined by the website design and are similar for both cities, the primary concern of the current project ...
This paper describes work in progress on the design of two comparable multimodal corpora of writt... more This paper describes work in progress on the design of two comparable multimodal corpora of written tourism discourse about London and Moscow. Multimodality is defined for the purposes of the current project as a combination of several discourse modes, including verbal and visual. The paper aims to contribute methodologically by providing a detailed description of the process and challenges of the multimodal corpora compilation. The building of the corpora is an essential precondition for using a multimodal corpus approach allowing to analyse a range of texts, to consider not only language but also images and layout, to search the data for patterns, to identify multimodal features of each set of texts and to compare these features across the two corpora. After introducing the project and its research questions, the paper highlights the principles of data selection. Then the planned structure of the corpora and data sources are described. The paper goes on by describing the construct...
This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at compari... more This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at comparing how two travel destinations, Moscow and London, are represented in tourism discourse of a popular travel website www.tripadvisor.com. In recent years there has been a surge of interest to utilizing multimodal approaches, which consider various expressive resources used for making meaning in texts, for instance, writing, images, layout (Van Leeuwen, 2015), for analysing tourism discourse (e.g. Francesconi, 2011, 2014). However, methodological frameworks for studying the representation of travel destinations in multimodal texts have not received much attention. The project aims at filling this gap by discussing two multimodal approaches to city representation analysis in travel-related texts. Due to the fact that such modes as layout, typography and hypertextual structure are predetermined by the website design and are similar for both cities, the primary concern of the current project ...
The paper explores how guests and hosts are represented in online travel reviews about Moscow. To... more The paper explores how guests and hosts are represented in online travel reviews about Moscow. Tourism provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the sociocultural background of other nations and potentially to improve international relations. Moscow, the capital of Russia, is sometimes viewed as an unfriendly or unsafe destination and the Russian Government aims to increase the popularity of the city. However, there are concerns that modern tourism discourse contributes to the maintenance of asymmetrical guest-host power relations. Guests are often accused of consumerism while hosts are frequently backgrounded or represented as servants or cultural markers. Such representation can lead to client-servant attitude and even cause discrimination against hosts. While online travel reviews are considered an important genre of tourism discourse, most studies analyse the representation of people in promotional or media discourse. Considering that multimodality is an integral feature of...
This paper describes work in progress on the design of two comparable multimodal corpora of writt... more This paper describes work in progress on the design of two comparable multimodal corpora of written tourism discourse about London and Moscow. Multimodality is defined for the purposes of the current project as a combination of several discourse modes, including verbal and visual. The paper aims to contribute methodologically by providing a detailed description of the process and challenges of the multimodal corpora compilation. The building of the corpora is an essential precondition for using a multimodal corpus approach allowing to analyse a range of texts, to consider not only language but also images and layout, to search the data for patterns, to identify multimodal features of each set of texts and to compare these features across the two corpora. After introducing the project and its research questions, the paper highlights the principles of data selection. Then the planned structure of the corpora and data sources are described. The paper goes on by describing the construct...
Tourism Culture & Communication
This article critically analyzes how tourists and hosts are represented verbally and visually in ... more This article critically analyzes how tourists and hosts are represented verbally and visually in a travel brochure about Russia and what power relations might such representation shape. The interaction between hosts and tourists, one of the essential aspects of tourism, provides an opportunity to get acquainted with the sociocultural context of other nations, thus improving international relations. Russia is sometimes regarded as an unfriendly or unsafe travel destination and the Russian Government aims at increasing the popularity of the country among international tourists. However, there are concerns that promotional tourism discourse contributes to shaping asymmetrical power relations between tourists and locals and jeopardizes hospitality. While a number of researchers have examined the representation of people in tourism discourse, most of these studies have only considered the representation of hosts. Moreover, despite indications that various destinations can be represented ...
This paper describes work in progress on the design of two comparable multimodal corpora of writt... more This paper describes work in progress on the design of two comparable multimodal corpora of written tourism discourse about London and Moscow. Multimodality is defined for the purposes of the current project as a combination of several discourse modes, including verbal and visual. The paper aims to contribute methodologically by providing a detailed description of the process and challenges of the multimodal corpora compilation. The building of the corpora is an essential precondition for using a multimodal corpus approach allowing to analyse a range of texts, to consider not only language but also images and layout, to search the data for patterns, to identify multimodal features of each set of texts and to compare these features across the two corpora. After introducing the project and its research questions, the paper highlights the principles of data selection. Then the planned structure of the corpora and data sources are described. The paper goes on by describing the constructed pilot corpora, as well as some technical moments of corpora building, arising problems and possible solutions. To conclude, I highlight the limitations of the article and its implications.
Conference Presentations by Ekaterina Ignatova
Corpora and Discourse International Conference (CAD 2018), 2018
This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at compari... more This poster presentation introduces two approaches to multimodal corpus analysis aimed at comparing how two travel destinations, Moscow and London, are represented in tourism discourse of a popular travel website www.tripadvisor.com. In recent years there has been a surge of interest to utilizing multimodal approaches, which consider various expressive resources used for making meaning in texts, for instance, writing, images, layout (Van Leeuwen, 2015), for analysing tourism discourse (e.g. Francesconi, 2011, 2014). However, methodological frameworks for studying the representation of travel destinations in multimodal texts have not received much attention. The project aims at filling this gap by discussing two multimodal approaches to city representation analysis in travel-related texts. Due to the fact that such modes as layout, typography and hypertextual structure are predetermined by the website design and are similar for both cities, the primary concern of the current project is language and images. In both described approaches, corpus linguistics techniques, such as keywords comparison, concordance analysis of keywords, collocation comparison and concordance analysis of collocations, are applied for language analysis in order to search for the salient features of the texts and to compare how the two cities are represented. As for visual analysis, the first option implies a qualitative study of images, which is a popular approach in the field of tourism discourse. In addition to commonly used social semiotics visual analysis (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2006), the proposed methodology includes a comparative and interpretative analysis based on Dann’s (1996) framework of visual techniques and Barthes’ (1977) theory of visual semiotics. The advantage of this methodology is that it allows to get deeper insights into what visual elements, structures and techniques are utilized to construct the representation of Moscow and London in the photographs on the website. The drawbacks, however, are that such analysis is time-consuming, consequently, only a limited number of images can be studied. The second approach combines the aforementioned corpus linguistics methods with an analogous visual mode analysis based on tagging images with topic words and comparing frequencies of the topic words across the corpora. This stage is aimed at identifying patterns in the use of images for representing travel destinations and comparing them between the two corpora. In addition, the analysis of how the images are used in context, namely, which texts they accompany, is proposed to interpret the patterns. This methodology can be applied to a larger number of multimodal texts and allows the exploration of similarities and differences in the representation of the two cities. Therefore, the two approaches complement each other and can be used individually or in combination depending on the time limit and research aims. The project is a further step in the development of multimodal corpus approaches to the study of the representation of travel destinations in tourism discourse.
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Papers by Ekaterina Ignatova
Conference Presentations by Ekaterina Ignatova