SCMS Topic Evolution

Rank Changes (topics in 3+ years)

About This Visualization
Methodology

This visualization tracks the evolution of topics in Japan-related sessions at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) across 15 conference years (2008–2026). Four tabs explore different dimensions: thematic concerns, literary figures, genres/media, and historical periods.

Each tab provides a stacked bar chart (showing topic frequency per year) and a bump chart (tracking rank changes of the most persistent topics over time). Click legend items to isolate specific topics, and use the count/percentage toggle to switch views.

Topic Extraction

Topics are extracted from paper titles and session titles using four regex-based keyword dictionaries. Matching applies Unicode diacritics flattening and word-boundary enforcement.

Dictionaries

  • Themes: 15 categories (~180 keywords) covering gender, empire, modernity, war, etc.
  • Periods: 7 eras (~40 terms) from classical/Heian through contemporary.
  • Genres/Media: 9 types (~50 terms) including novel, poetry, film, manga.
  • Literary Figures: ~45 authors with ~120 romanization variants.

Visualization

The stacked bar chart shows raw counts or percentages per year. The bump chart filters to topics appearing in 3+ years and shows rank trajectories. Click items in the legend to isolate or combine topics.