{"id":{"repo_id":"greenwich","oai_identifier":"oai:gala.gre.ac.uk:8241"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/greenwich/oai:gala.gre.ac.uk:8241","repository":{"repo_id":"greenwich","name":"University of Greenwich","base_url":"https://gala.gre.ac.uk/cgi/oai2"},"display":{"title":"Automating Abell's theory of comparative narratives","abstract":"The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the progress that has been made towards the goal of producing a prototype computer model of Abell's Theory of Comparative Narratives, and subsequently, designing metrics to rigorously measure Abell's concept of 'closeness' of texts. The production of such a model does not simply involve the mechanical (though distinctly non-trivial) transference of Abell's theory from paper to machine; various facets of the theory are not of a sufficiently high specification for a computer model and the fulfilment of such a computer model requires attention to these areas, specifically: i) a repeatable method of comparing the structures of individual events; ii) a consistent procedure of comparing the overall structure of a pair of texts, following on from Abell's basic concept of paths of social determination. iii) metrics to demonstrate that the solutions proposed do indeed address the shortcomings of Abell's theory. In order to preserve the qualitative nature of the theory and to demonstrate its potential real-world uses, the computer model attempts to avoid complex mathematics as far as possible and to produce transparent, non-expert results.","abstract_html":"The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the progress that has been made towards the goal of producing a prototype computer model of Abell's Theory of Comparative Narratives, and subsequently, designing metrics to rigorously measure Abell's concept of 'closeness' of texts. The production of such a model does not simply involve the mechanical (though distinctly non-trivial) transference of Abell's theory from paper to machine; various facets of the theory are not of a sufficiently high specification for a computer model and the fulfilment of such a computer model requires attention to these areas, specifically: i) a repeatable method of comparing the structures of individual events; ii) a consistent procedure of comparing the overall structure of a pair of texts, following on from Abell's basic concept of paths of social determination. iii) metrics to demonstrate that the solutions proposed do indeed address the shortcomings of Abell's theory. In order to preserve the qualitative nature of the theory and to demonstrate its potential real-world uses, the computer model attempts to avoid complex mathematics as far as possible and to produce transparent, non-expert results.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Conyers, Toby Richard"],"institution":"University of Greenwich","degree_name":"phd","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Everett, Martin","White, Leroy"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":1999,"date_issued":"1999-04","date_published":"1999-04","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:25:42Z","subjects":["QA Mathematics"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":null,"outbound_label":null,"outbound_source":null},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Everett, Martin","White, Leroy"]},{"key":"dc:contributor.sponsor","label":"Sponsor","values":["Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Conyers, Toby Richard"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["1999-04"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1999-04"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.institution","label":"Dc Publisher Institution","values":["University of Greenwich"]},{"key":"dc:relation.isreferencedby","label":"Dc Relation Isreferencedby","values":["https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/8241/"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationname","label":"Dc Type Qualificationname","values":["phd"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["QA Mathematics"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/8241/1/Toby_Conyers_1999.pdf"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The purpose of this thesis is to demonstrate the progress that has been made towards the goal of producing a prototype computer model of Abell's Theory of Comparative Narratives, and subsequently, designing metrics to rigorously measure Abell's concept of 'closeness' of texts. The production of such a model does not simply involve the mechanical (though distinctly non-trivial) transference of Abell's theory from paper to machine; various facets of the theory are not of a sufficiently high specification for a computer model and the fulfilment of such a computer model requires attention to these areas, specifically: i) a repeatable method of comparing the structures of individual events; ii) a consistent procedure of comparing the overall structure of a pair of texts, following on from Abell's basic concept of paths of social determination. iii) metrics to demonstrate that the solutions proposed do indeed address the shortcomings of Abell's theory. 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