In 2024, we had the pleasure of organizing a digital workshop as part of the POP-LITE project, dedicated to exploring how digital resources and tools can be integrated into literary studies, opening up new possibilities for the development of computational literary studies. The event brought together passionate students and young scholars, creating a collaborative space for discussion and hands-on activities.

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1. Literary Corpora in Computational Literary Studies: why and how using them?

The workshop started with a broad discussion on the use of literary corpora in digital literary studies. Participants had the opportunity to discover the importance and how to use large collections of literary texts in computational literary studies. Three major projects that serve as important resources in this field were presented:

• ELTeC – European Languages Text Collection (1850-1920).
• HAI-RO – Romanian Hajduk novels collection (1850-1950)
• POP-LITE – Romanian Popular novels collection (1850-1920)

2. StyloR – a tool for stylistic analysis

Another main focus of the workshop was the introduction of the StyloR tool, an innovative R-based stylistic analysis solution for quantitative research in literature. StyloR offers the possibility to analyze literary style statistically. Participants were trained on how to use this tool, exploring its potential in researching the resources made available through the Pop-Lite project.

3. Discussion Sessions: literary subgenres and stylometric attribution

The workshop was introduced several hands-on sessions:

• Introduction to literary corpora: Giving participants an overview of how literary corpora can be used for research in literary studies.
• StyloR Workshop: In this hands-on session, students used StyloR to investigate the similarities between sub-genres of the consumer novel, particularly between the historical and the sentimental novel.
• Literary Authorship in Foileton Novels: The discussion focused on identifying the hidden authorship of nineteenth-century foileton novels using stylometric analysis also with StyloR.
• Introduction to TEI markup: Participants learned about the structure of a TEI document, elements of hierarchy, metadata needed for a digital document; they were also able to visualize the files included in the Pop-Lite corpus and the various editing steps as they appear on github.

4. „Hands-on” as PBL method for students in humanities/ letters/ philology

A key part of the workshop was the hands-on section, where students had the opportunity to work individually with StyloR and the corpora presented. This hands-on approach allowed participants to apply their theoretical knowledge in an experimental setting, discovering new ways of researching and understanding literature.

5. Student Feedback

Students were excited by the new insights offered by digital tools and how they can facilitate the exploration and understanding of literacy. The innovative approaches proposed in the POP-LITE project generated a deep interest in further research in this area.The 2024 workshop was a success, providing participants with a deeper understanding of the use of digital resources in computational literary studies.