For the past several months, I’ve been exploring the use of generative AI to catalogue political stickers from Ukraine and Germany. Over time, I’ve fine-tuned my prompts, and ChatGPT 4o is producing some impressive results. At one point, a student was going to help catalogue some of the German stickers, and I asked AI if it would remember the work we had done together for another user. “No—I won’t retain memory of this conversation across different accounts. If someone else logs into another ChatGPT account, they’ll be starting fresh, without access to your previous chats, preferences (like formatting styles), or any sticker cataloging work we’ve done here. Would you like help creating a template for others to use when cataloguing?” “Why yes, I would,” said I!

AI produced a cataloguing instruction template, and after another few additional prompt tweaks of mine, it produced a revised template that follows here. It’s good! I’ll share some of the cataloguing results in my next post.

Sticker Cataloguing Instruction Template

✅ PURPOSE

This template is designed for cataloguing political stickers for scholarly, archival, or curatorial use. It emphasizes consistent formatting, detailed analysis, and integration of metadata such as Library of Congress subject headings and web resources.

⚙️ STRUCTURE OF EACH ENTRY

Each sticker entry must follow this order:

English Translation

– Translate all main visible German-language text into English.
– Only capitalize the first letter of each word.

German Text (with first letter of each word capitalized)

– Transcribe all visible German text from the sticker.
– Capitalize only the first letter of each word.
– Do not use all-caps even if the sticker uses them.

Sticker Description

– Write 150–250 words.
– Discuss both visual elements (color, typography, symbols) and textual content.
– Include context: political, historical, cultural (e.g., Berlin housing crisis, German military policy, Energiewende).
– If a date of production is known, tailor the analysis to that time period.
– Do not repeat the German or English sticker text here—it has already been transcribed.

Library of Congress Subject Headings (LoC)

– Provide 6–8 subject headings.
– Separate each entry with a semicolon.
– Use em dashes for subdivisions (e.g., Die Linke (Political party—Germany)).
– Tailor subject headings to the theme and time period of the sticker.

Website Resources (Title and URL)

– List 4–5 reliable sources for further research.
– Format as: Website Title (URL);
– Separate entries with semicolons.
– Prioritize:
  – https://www.linksjugend-solid.de
  – https://www.die-linke.de
  – https://www.rosalux.de
  – https://www.bpb.de
  – Issue-specific sites (e.g., https://www.dwenteignen.de, https://www.nulltarif.de)

🕰️ DATE-SPECIFIC NOTES

– 2013 stickers: Often address post-financial crisis austerity, militarization, precarity, and social inequality. Reference Energiewende, NSU scandal, and student/youth mobilizations.
– 2025 stickers: Address contemporary issues such as climate justice, rent control, queer socialism, anti-authoritarianism, and fare-free transit. Stickers often blend irony and meme culture with serious critique.

📌 STYLE NOTES

– Avoid overly academic jargon; use accessible, informed, and direct language.
– Highlight the political stakes or urgency behind the sticker.
– If the sticker uses humor or irony, identify how that serves its political message.
– Do not italicize or bold sticker text.
– Maintain a serious tone even when the design is whimsical or playful.