On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers

Konstantinos Kogkalidis; Stergios Chatzikyriakidis

doi:10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12

On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers

Konstantinos Kogkalidis
, Stergios Chatzikyriakidis

University of Crete

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

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Abstract

This paper is a critical reflection on the epistemic culture of contemporary computational linguistics, framed in the context of its growing obsession with tables with numbers. We argue against tables with numbers on the basis of their epistemic irrelevance, their environmental impact, their role in enabling and exacerbating social inequalities, and their deep ties to commercial applications and profit-driven research. We substantiate our arguments with empirical evidence drawn from a meta-analysis of computational linguistics research over the last decade.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities (LM4UC 2025)
Editors	Sang Truong, Rifki Afina Putri, Duc Nguyen, Angelina Wang, Daniel Ho, Alice Oh, Sanmi Koyejo
Publisher	Association for Computational Linguistics
Number of pages	12
ISBN (Print)	979-8-89176-242-8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12
Publication status	Published - 2025
MoE publication type	A4 Conference publication
Event	Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities - Albuquerque, United States Duration: 4 May 2025 → 4 May 2025

Workshop

Workshop	Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities
Abbreviated title	LM4Uc
Country/Territory	United States
City	Albuquerque
Period	04/05/2025 → 04/05/2025

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10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12Licence: CC BY

On Tables with Numbers, with NumbersFinal published version, 513 KBLicence: CC BY

https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06062

Cite this

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title = "On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers",

abstract = "This paper is a critical reflection on the epistemic culture of contemporary computational linguistics, framed in the context of its growing obsession with tables with numbers. We argue against tables with numbers on the basis of their epistemic irrelevance, their environmental impact, their role in enabling and exacerbating social inequalities, and their deep ties to commercial applications and profit-driven research. We substantiate our arguments with empirical evidence drawn from a meta-analysis of computational linguistics research over the last decade. ",

author = "Konstantinos Kogkalidis and Stergios Chatzikyriakidis",

year = "2025",

doi = "10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12",

language = "English",

isbn = "979-8-89176-242-8",

editor = "Sang Truong and \{Afina Putri\}, Rifki and Duc Nguyen and Angelina Wang and Daniel Ho and Alice Oh and Sanmi Koyejo",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities (LM4UC 2025)",

publisher = "Association for Computational Linguistics",

address = "United States",

note = "Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities, LM4Uc ; Conference date: 04-05-2025 Through 04-05-2025",

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Kogkalidis, K & Chatzikyriakidis, S 2025, On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers. in S Truong, R Afina Putri, D Nguyen, A Wang, D Ho, A Oh & S Koyejo (eds), Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities (LM4UC 2025). Association for Computational Linguistics, Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States, 04/05/2025. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12

On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers. / Kogkalidis, Konstantinos; Chatzikyriakidis, Stergios.
Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities (LM4UC 2025). ed. / Sang Truong; Rifki Afina Putri; Duc Nguyen; Angelina Wang; Daniel Ho; Alice Oh; Sanmi Koyejo. Association for Computational Linguistics, 2025.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference article in proceedings › Scientific › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers

AU - Kogkalidis, Konstantinos

AU - Chatzikyriakidis, Stergios

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - This paper is a critical reflection on the epistemic culture of contemporary computational linguistics, framed in the context of its growing obsession with tables with numbers. We argue against tables with numbers on the basis of their epistemic irrelevance, their environmental impact, their role in enabling and exacerbating social inequalities, and their deep ties to commercial applications and profit-driven research. We substantiate our arguments with empirical evidence drawn from a meta-analysis of computational linguistics research over the last decade.

AB - This paper is a critical reflection on the epistemic culture of contemporary computational linguistics, framed in the context of its growing obsession with tables with numbers. We argue against tables with numbers on the basis of their epistemic irrelevance, their environmental impact, their role in enabling and exacerbating social inequalities, and their deep ties to commercial applications and profit-driven research. We substantiate our arguments with empirical evidence drawn from a meta-analysis of computational linguistics research over the last decade.

U2 - 10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12

DO - 10.18653/v1/2025.lm4uc-1.12

M3 - Conference article in proceedings

SN - 979-8-89176-242-8

BT - Proceedings of the 1st Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities (LM4UC 2025)

A2 - Truong, Sang

A2 - Afina Putri, Rifki

A2 - Nguyen, Duc

A2 - Wang, Angelina

A2 - Ho, Daniel

A2 - Oh, Alice

A2 - Koyejo, Sanmi

PB - Association for Computational Linguistics

T2 - Workshop on Language Models for Underserved Communities

Y2 - 4 May 2025 through 4 May 2025

ER -

On Tables with Numbers, with Numbers

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Workshop

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