Detecting Persuasion Techniques in News

# Detecting Persuasion Techniques in News
# Based on Piskorski et al., SemEval 2023
# Paper: https://aclanthology.org/2023.semeval-1.317/
# Dataset: https://propaganda.qcri.org/semeval2023-task3/
#
# This task asks annotators to identify persuasion and propaganda techniques
# used in news paragraphs. Annotators both classify which techniques are
# present (multi-label) and highlight the specific text spans where each
# technique occurs.
#
# Annotation Guidelines:
# 1. Read the entire news paragraph carefully
# 2. Select all persuasion techniques present in the text
# 3. Highlight specific text spans that contain persuasive language
# 4. A single paragraph may contain multiple techniques
# 5. Some techniques may overlap in the same text span

annotation_task_name: "Detecting Persuasion Techniques in News"
task_dir: "."

data_files:
  - sample-data.json

item_properties:
  id_key: "id"
  text_key: "text"

output_annotation_dir: "annotation_output/"
output_annotation_format: "json"

port: 8000
server_name: localhost

annotation_schemes:
  - annotation_type: multiselect
    name: persuasion_techniques
    description: "Select all persuasion techniques present in this text"
    labels:
      - "Loaded Language"
      - "Name Calling"
      - "Repetition"
      - "Exaggeration"
      - "Appeal to Fear"
      - "Flag Waving"
      - "Causal Oversimplification"
      - "Appeal to Authority"
      - "Black and White Fallacy"
      - "Bandwagon"
    tooltips:
      "Loaded Language": "Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence the audience"
      "Name Calling": "Labeling the target with negative terms to discredit them"
      "Repetition": "Repeating the same message or phrase to reinforce it"
      "Exaggeration": "Overstating claims or magnifying events beyond reality"
      "Appeal to Fear": "Building support by instilling fear or anxiety in the audience"
      "Flag Waving": "Appealing to patriotic or group identity feelings"
      "Causal Oversimplification": "Assuming a single cause for a complex situation"
      "Appeal to Authority": "Citing an authority figure to support a claim without evidence"
      "Black and White Fallacy": "Presenting only two options when more exist"
      "Bandwagon": "Suggesting everyone is doing it so the reader should too"

  - annotation_type: span
    name: persuasion_span
    description: "Highlight the specific text spans that contain persuasive language"
    labels:
      - "Persuasion Span"

annotation_instructions: |
  You will see a news paragraph that may contain persuasion or propaganda techniques.
  1. Read the text carefully and select ALL persuasion techniques you identify.
  2. Then highlight the specific text spans where persuasive language occurs.
  A paragraph may contain multiple techniques, and techniques may overlap in the same span.

html_layout: |
  <div style="padding: 15px; max-width: 800px; margin: auto;">
    <div style="background: #fef2f2; border: 1px solid #fecaca; border-radius: 8px; padding: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px;">
      <strong style="color: #991b1b;">News Paragraph:</strong>
      <p style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.7; margin: 8px 0 0 0;">{{text}}</p>
    </div>
  </div>

allow_all_users: true
instances_per_annotator: 50
annotation_per_instance: 2
allow_skip: true
skip_reason_required: false