POLITICAL-SCIENCE - KEDS - A PROGRAM FOR THE MACHINE CODING OF EVENT DATA

This paper describes in technical detail the Kansas Event Data System (KEDS) and summarizes our experience in coding Reuters data for the Mi ddle East. The components of KEDS are first described; this discussion is intended to provide sufficient detail about the program that one c ould develop a more sophisticated machine-coding system based on our r esearch. We then discuss a number of problems we have encountered in m achine coding, focusing on the Reuters data source and the KEDS progra m itself. The paper concludes with a discussion of future approaches t o machine coding in event data research and other potential applicatio ns of the technology.