UC Berkeley School of Information

To understand the role of storytelling in contemporary pop music, researchers at UC Berkeley, including Prof. David Bamman, created a machine learning algorithm that can identify narrative storytelling elements in song lyrics. In a new study, they used this algorithm to analyze more than 5,000 pop songs that made the annual Billboard Hot 100 list between 1960 and 2024, charting how storytelling in popular music has changed over the past 60 years.

Eight School of Information students have been awarded fellowships for 2025-26. From research on food waste, industry asset emissions, and platform risk for marginalized youth, these scholars are pushing the boundaries of cybersecurity, data science, and information science. These fellowships will support student endeavors to better digital information technologies, mitigate climate change, further lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer studies, promote cybersecurity, and use data science for good.