Anthology of Computers and the Humanities · Volume 6

Discursive Signatures: A Computational Method for Mapping How Meaning Varies Across Communities

Mark J. Hill1 , Vince Miller2 and Tiago Moreira3

  • 1 Department of Digital Humanities, King’s College London, London, UK
  • 2 School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
  • 3 Department of Sociology, Durham University, Durham, UK
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Permanent Link: https://doi.org/10.63744/dVXq85XJAhwJ

Published: 25 October 2026

Keywords: computational discourse analysis, cultural analytics, social media, community-level modelling, discourse topology, mental health technology

Abstract

This paper presents a computational method for studying how the meaning of cultural artefacts varies across online communities. Rather than treating topic model outputs as thematic labels, we propose using full topic-proportion vectors as discursive signatures that capture meaning at both the level of individual expression and the community contexts that shape it. By aggregating these signatures at the community level, validating groupings with PERMANOVA, applying hierarchical clustering, and projecting the resulting space via PCA, we produce a topology of discourse: a spatial representation of how meaning-making varies systematically across contexts. We demonstrate the method through a case study of mental health technology discourse on Reddit (289,039 posts across 445 subreddits), showing how the same technologies are conceptualised differently depending on community context. The method is designed to be transferable to any domain where researchers seek to understand how technologies, practices, or concepts are variably constituted across online spaces.