2. POLITICAL RESEARCH ONLINE
WITH DIGITAL METHODS
1. Conceptual History of Online Research, 1994-2014
2. Digitized versus (Natively) Digital Methods
3. Doing Political Research with Digital Methods (neo-empirical research traditions)
4. The Future of Political Research with Digital Methods in Social Media (e.g., Twitter)
3. POLITICAL RESEARCH ONLINE
WITH DIGITAL METHODS
>1. Conceptual History of Online Research, 1994-2014
2. Digitized versus (Natively) Digital Methods
3. Doing Political Research with Digital Methods (neo-empirical research traditions)
4. The Future of Political Research with Digital Methods in Social Media (e.g., Twitter)
4. WHERE ARE WE NOW?
FROM VIRTUAL TO SOCIETAL SPACE
3 VIRTUALS, OR 3 WAYS OF SEEING THE WEB
Web as Cyberspace (1994-2000) Virtual as distinct from the real. Virtual studies
Web as Virtual Society? (2000-2007) Virtual is part of the real. Offline as baseline
Web as Virtual? Society (2007- ) 'Virtual' as indication of the real. Online as baseline
Now: Use online data about society & culture, and make 'online grounded' claims
6. WEB AS DATA
The Internet offers an entirely different channel for understanding
what people are saying...
Tracing the spread of arguments, rumors, or positions about
political and other issues in the blogosphere…
[T]he concerns of an electorate become visible in the searches
they conduct. They offer ample opportunities for research that
would otherwise be impossible or unacceptable.
D. Lazer et al., Computational Social Science, Science, 323, 2009.
Web data as offering the previously impossible and unacceptable
7. POLITICAL RESEARCH ONLINE
WITH DIGITAL METHODS
1. Conceptual History of Online Research, 1994-2014
>2. Digitized versus (Natively) Digital Methods
3. Doing Political Research with Digital Methods (neo-empirical research traditions)
4. The Future of Political Research with Digital Methods in Social Media (e.g., Twitter)
8. DIGITIZED METHODS
Online surveys - Finding the mailing lists to send them to
Online samples - Become difficult. Knowability of population?
Online interviews - Record interviewees?
Online user studies - Browser histories?
Online investigative reporting - Order of fact-checking changes?
Imported and migrated methods adapted slightly to the online
9. NATIVELY DIGITAL
In computing, software has a native mode when it is written for a
specific processor.
In computing, software has native support when it is written for
a specific operating system.
Methods are native when "written for the medium"
Natively digital is meant in a computing sense
10. DIGITAL METHODS
Digital Methods research steps:
Which objects and data are available? (links, tags, timestamps...)
How do dominant devices and platforms handle them?
How to learn from and repurpose the device methods?
Are findings grounded in the online? Is the online the baseline?
Distinction between methods that migrate to the medium and those ‘native’ to it
11. POLITICAL RESEARCH ONLINE
WITH DIGITAL METHODS
1. Conceptual History of Online Research, 1994-2014
2. Digitized versus (Natively) Digital Methods
>3. Doing Political Research with Digital Methods (neo-empirical research traditions)
4. The Future of Political Research with Digital Methods in Social Media (e.g., Twitter)
12. DIGITAL METHODS
OBJECTS &
APPROACHES
Hyperlinks - Show related sites, good to make a sample (for censorship research)
2 Search Engines - As research machines to detect partisanship and bias
3. Wikipedia - As cultural reference to study the politics of memory (reconciliation)
4. Social Media Platforms - As site to study political preference
5. Twitter - As machine providing accounts of events on the ground
14. LINK ANALYSIS TO STUDY
CENSORSHIP IN CHINA
Build list of Falun Gong websites
Crawl them and expand list (of related sites) with Issuecrawler
Check URLs for blocking in the Censorship Explorer tool
Color code Issuecrawler map to show extent of censorship
How effective is the censorship of Falun Gong sites (and content)?
19. CENSORSHIP MAPS:
IRAN & CHINA
The map are double-edged. They may be used by the censors, too.
Conclusions
20. DIGITAL METHODS
OBJECTS &
APPROACHES
Hyperlinks - Show related sites, good to make a sample (for censorship research)
>2 Search Engines - As research machines to detect partisanship and bias
3. Wikipedia - As cultural reference to study the politics of memory (reconciliation)
4. Social Media Platforms - As site to study political preference
5. Twitter - As machine providing accounts of events on the ground
21. SEARCH ENGINE AS
RESEARCH MACHINE
Search as research. Transform 'consumer information appliance’
into 'research machine.’ (Use research browser)
Query individual sites (Google site: query) to find bias, partisanship
and commitments. (Use the Google Scraper aka Lippmannian
Device available at tools.digitalmethods.net).
How to repurpose Google for social research?
68. S. Fred Singer
Robert Balling
Sallie Baliunas
Patrick Michaels
Richard Lindzen
Steven Milloy
Timothy Ball
Paul Driessen
Willie Soon
Sherwood B. Idso
Frederick Seitz
Skeptics
70. 1. Derive list of climate change skeptics
2. Query Google for “Climate Change” and retain top 100
results
3. Harvest URLs from the results
4. Enter URLs into top box of GoogleScraper, and the skeptics’
names in the bottom box.
REPURPOSING GOOGLE
72. Climate Change Sceptics on the Web (Frederick Seitz)
Research Question_To what extent are climate change 'skeptics' present
in the climate change spaces on the Web?
Findings_There is distance between the skeptics and the top of the
search engine returns.
Source_google.com
Query_“Frederick Seitz”
Method_Search for query “Frederick Seitz” in top 100. Organized in order.
Tools_Google Scraper and Tag Cloud Generator
Date_30 July 2007
Product_of the Digital Methods Initiative,
dmi.mediastudies.nl. Analysis_by Bram
Nijhof, Richard Rogers and Laura van der
Vlies. Design_Anne Helmond.
CC_BY:NC:SA
campaigncc.org (1)
climateark.org (4)marshall.org (8)
realclimate.org (35)
sourcewatch.org (21)
abc.net.au (0)
acfonline.org.au (0)
bbc.co.uk (0) bom.gov.au (0)
cbc.ca (0)
ciel.org (0)
climatechallenge.gov.uk (0)
climatechange.ca.gov (0)
climatechange.com.au (0)
climatechangecentral.com (0)
climatechangecollege.org (0)
climatecrisis.net (0)
climatescience.gov (0)
dar.csiro.au (0)
davidsuzuki.org (0)
defra.gov.uk (0)
dfat.gov.au (0)
ec.gc.ca (0)
ecn.ac.uk (0)
ecokids.ca (0)
ecy.wa.gov (0)
eea.europa.eu (0)
eldis.org (0)
energy.gov (0)
envirolink.org (0)
epa.gov (0)
exploratorium.edu (0)
faqs.org (0)
foe.co.uk (0)
ft.com (0)
g8.gov.uk (0)
gcrio.org (0)
greenpeace.org (0)
grida.no (0)
guardian.co.uk (0)
iea.org (0)
iisd.org (0)
ipcc.ch (0)
iucn.org (0)
ltscotland.org.uk (0)
metoffice.gov.uk (0)
mfe.govt.nz (0)
mofa.go.jp (0)
nature.com (0) nature.org (0)
ncdc.noaa.gov (0)
open2.net (0)
panda.org (0)
pewclimate.org (0)
royalsoc.ac.uk (0)
scidev.net (0)
scienceagogo.com (0)
state.gov (0)
theglobeandmail.com (0)
ucar.edu (0)
un.org (0)
unep.org (0)
who.int (0)
whoi.edu (0)
worldwildlife.org (0)
CLIMATE CHANGE
SCEPTICS
73. Climate Change Sceptics on the Web (Sherwood Idso)
Research Question_To what extent are climate change 'skeptics' present
in the climate change spaces on the Web?
Findings_There is distance between the skeptics and the top of the
search engine returns.
Source_google.com
Query_“Sherwood Idso”
Method_Search for query “Sherwood Idso” in top 100. Organized in order.
Tools_Google Scraper and Tag Cloud Generator
Date_30 July 2007
Product_of the Digital Methods Initiative,
dmi.mediastudies.nl. Analysis_by Bram
Nijhof, Richard Rogers and Laura van der
Vlies. Design_Anne Helmond.
CC_BY:NC:SA
realclimate.org (42)
sourcewatch.org (14) climatescience.gov (0)
greenpeace.org (0) campaigncc.org (1)
climateark.org (1)
abc.net.au (0)
acfonline.org.au (0)
bbc.co.uk (0) bom.gov.au (0)
cbc.ca (0)
ciel.org (0)
climatechallenge.gov.uk (0)
climatechange.ca.gov (0)
climatechange.com.au (0)
climatechangecentral.com (0)
climatechangecollege.org (0)
climatecrisis.net (0)
dar.csiro.au (0)
davidsuzuki.org (0)
defra.gov.uk (0)
dfat.gov.au (0)
ec.gc.ca (0)
ecn.ac.uk (0)
ecokids.ca (0)
ecy.wa.gov (0)
eea.europa.eu (0)
eldis.org (0)
energy.gov (0)
envirolink.org (0)
epa.gov (0)
exploratorium.edu (0)
faqs.org (0)
foe.co.uk (0)
ft.com (0)
g8.gov.uk (0)
gcrio.org (0) grida.no (0)
guardian.co.uk (0)
iea.org (0)
iisd.org (0)
ipcc.ch (0)
iucn.org (0)
ltscotland.org.uk (0)
marshall.org (0)
metoffice.gov.uk (0)
mfe.govt.nz (0)
mofa.go.jp (0)
nature.com (0) nature.org (0)
ncdc.noaa.gov (0)
open2.net (0)
panda.org (0)
pewclimate.org (0)
royalsoc.ac.uk (0)
scidev.net (0)
scienceagogo.com (0)
state.gov (0)
theglobeandmail.com (0)
ucar.edu (0)
un.org (0)
unep.org (0)
who.int (0)
whoi.edu (0)
worldwildlife.org (0)
CLIMATE CHANGE
SCEPTICS
74. Climate Change Sceptics on the Web (Sallie Baliunas)
Research Question_To what extent are climate change 'skeptics' present
in the climate change spaces on the Web?
Findings_There is distance between the skeptics and the top of the
search engine returns.
Source_google.com
Query_“Sallie Baliunas”
Method_Search for query “Sallie Baliunas” in top 100. Organized in order.
Tools_Google Scraper and Tag Cloud Generator
Date_30 July 2007
Product_of the Digital Methods Initiative,
dmi.mediastudies.nl. Analysis_by Bram
Nijhof, Richard Rogers and Laura van der
Vlies. Design_Anne Helmond.
CC_BY:NC:SA
climateark.org (2)marshall.org (6)
realclimate.org (55)
abc.net.au (0)
acfonline.org.au (0)
bbc.co.uk (0) bom.gov.au (0)
cbc.ca (0)
ciel.org (0)
climatechallenge.gov.uk (0)
climatechange.ca.gov (0)
climatechange.com.au (0)
climatechangecentral.com (0)
climatechangecollege.org (0)
climatecrisis.net (0)
dar.csiro.au (0)
davidsuzuki.org (0)
defra.gov.uk (0)
dfat.gov.au (0)
ec.gc.ca (0)
ecn.ac.uk (0)
ecokids.ca (0)
ecy.wa.gov (0)
eea.europa.eu (0)
eldis.org (0)
energy.gov (0)
envirolink.org (0)
epa.gov (0)
exploratorium.edu (0)
faqs.org (0)
foe.co.uk (0)
ft.com (0)
g8.gov.uk (0)
gcrio.org (0) grida.no (0)
guardian.co.uk (0)
iea.org (0)
iisd.org (0)
ipcc.ch (0)
iucn.org (0)
ltscotland.org.uk (0)
metoffice.gov.uk (0)
mfe.govt.nz (0)
mofa.go.jp (0)
nature.com (0) nature.org (0)
ncdc.noaa.gov (0)
open2.net (0)
panda.org (0)
pewclimate.org (0)
royalsoc.ac.uk (0)
scidev.net (0)
scienceagogo.com (0)
state.gov (0)
theglobeandmail.com (0)
ucar.edu (0)
un.org (0)
unep.org (0)
who.int (0)
whoi.edu (0)
worldwildlife.org (0)
greenpeace.org (0) campaigncc.org (0)
sourcewatch.org (0) climatescience.gov (0)
CLIMATE CHANGE
SCEPTICS
75. Climate Change Sceptics on the Web (Robert Balling)
Research Question_To what extent are climate change 'skeptics' present
in the climate change spaces on the Web?
Findings_There is distance between the skeptics and the top of the
search engine returns.
Source_google.com
Query_“Robert Balling”
Method_Search for query “Robert Balling” in top 100. Organized in order.
Tools_Google Scraper and Tag Cloud Generator
Date_30 July 2007
Product_of the Digital Methods Initiative,
dmi.mediastudies.nl. Analysis_by Bram
Nijhof, Richard Rogers and Laura van der
Vlies. Design_Anne Helmond.
CC_BY:NC:SA
campaigncc.org (2)
climateark.org (2)marshall.org (2)
realclimate.org (11)
sourcewatch.org (4)
greenpeace.org (0)
climatescience.gov (11)
abc.net.au (0)
acfonline.org.au (0)
bbc.co.uk (0) bom.gov.au (0)
cbc.ca (0)
ciel.org (0)
climatechallenge.gov.uk (0)
climatechange.ca.gov (0)
climatechange.com.au (0)
climatechangecentral.com (0)
climatechangecollege.org (0)
climatecrisis.net (0)
dar.csiro.au (0)
davidsuzuki.org (0)
defra.gov.uk (0)
dfat.gov.au (0)
ec.gc.ca (0)
ecn.ac.uk (0)
ecokids.ca (0)
ecy.wa.gov (0)
eea.europa.eu (0)
eldis.org (0)
energy.gov (0)
envirolink.org (0)
epa.gov (0)
exploratorium.edu (0)
faqs.org (0)
foe.co.uk (0)
ft.com (0)
g8.gov.uk (0)
gcrio.org (0) grida.no (0)
guardian.co.uk (0)
iea.org (0)
iisd.org (0)
ipcc.ch (0)
iucn.org (0)
ltscotland.org.uk (0)
metoffice.gov.uk (0)
mfe.govt.nz (0)
mofa.go.jp (0)
nature.com (0) nature.org (0)
ncdc.noaa.gov (0)
open2.net (0)
panda.org (0)
pewclimate.org (0)
royalsoc.ac.uk (0)
scidev.net (0)
scienceagogo.com (0)
state.gov (0)
theglobeandmail.com (0)
ucar.edu (0)
un.org (0)
unep.org (0)
who.int (0)
whoi.edu (0)
worldwildlife.org (0)
CLIMATE CHANGE
SCEPTICS
77. DIGITAL METHODS
OBJECTS &
APPROACHES
Hyperlinks - Show related sites, good to make a sample (for censorship research)
2 Search Engines - As research machines to detect partisanship and bias
>3. Wikipedia - As cultural reference to study the politics of memory (reconciliation)
4. Social Media Platforms - As site to study political preference
5. Twitter - As machine providing accounts of events on the ground
78. WIKIPEDIA AS CULTURAL
REFERENCE
As articles mature, they may express a national as opposed to
neutral point of view. Neutral to whom?
Compare article elements: title, authors (or editors), table of
contents, images and references. Also: location of the anonymous
editors (based on IP address), and a reading of the talkpages.
How to have language Wikipedia versions show cultural reference?
How to show the politics of memory (and reconciliation)?
81. Referenced hosts in the Srebrencia articles per Wikipedia language version, colored
by frequency, and ordered by frequency and by alphabet, 20 December 2010
1 2 3 4 5 6
Serbian Bosnian Dutch Croatian Serbo-Croatian English
un.org un.org un.org un.org un.org un.org
srebrenica.ba srebrenica.ba icty.org srebrenica.ba srebrenica.ba srebrenica.ba
icty.org ic-mp.org groene.nl icty.org
srebrenica-
zepa.ba
icty.org
bosnia.org.uk idc.org.ba vandiepen.com bosnia.org.uk srebrenica.nl bosnia.org.uk
guardian.co.uk srebrenica-zepa.ba books.google.nl guardian.co.uk vladars.net guardian.co.uk
ic-mp.org helsinki.org.yu
dutchbat.luchtmobiel.
nl
icj-cij.org ic-mp.org
icj-cij.org hlc.org.yu dutchbat1.com idc.org.ba icj-cij.org
iwpr.net ogrish.com
emperors-
clothes.com
iwpr.net idc.org.ba
news.bbc.co.uk sense-agency.com nu.nl news.bbc.co.uk iwpr.net
nytimes.com vladars.net ochtenden.nl nytimes.com news.bbc.co.uk
ohr.int dzemat-oberhausen.de volkskrant.nl ohr.int nytimes.com
srebrenica-zepa.ba inzl.unsa.ba vreme.com ohr.int
vreme.com preventgenocide.org balkaninsight.com vreme.com
128.121.186.47
srebrenica-
genocide.blogspot.com
bim.ba 128.121.186.47
b92.net zeneucrnom.org domovina.net b92.net
helsinki.org.yu edition.cnn.com balkaninsight.com
hlc.org.yu europarl.europa.eu bim.ba
news.independent.co.u
k
independent.co.uk domovina.net
ogrish.com newsweek.com edition.cnn.com
reuters.com pbs.org europarl.europa.eu
slobodan-milosevic.org potocarimc.ba groene.nl
82. Burial of 465 identified Bosniaks,
Potočari, 2007.
Map of the Srebrenica military
operations, made by the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency, with green
arrow showing the route of the
Bosnian forces.
Map of the location of Srebrenica,
the Republika Srpska,
Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial and
Cemetery, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Grave of a 13-year old Bosniak boy.
Ratko Mladic.
An exhumed body with blindfold
and hands tied behind his back. As of
September 2012, the photo has been
removed from Wikipedia article.
Exhumed grave of victims, 2007.
Podrinje Identification Project's
facility for storing, processing, and
handling exhumed remains..
"UN left 8,000 to die in Bosnia."
Headline in The Independent,
30 October 1995.
Satellite photo of Nova Kasaba
mass grave.
International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia, Den Haag,
the Netherlands.
Srebrenica Genocide Memorial
Stone at Potočari, with the victim
count of 8,372.
Skull exhumed outside
of Potočari, July 2007.
Wall of names at the Srebrenica
Genocide Memorial.
War-damaged buildings
in Srebrenica.
The Bosniak enclaves of Srebrenica
and Zepa, declared safe areas by the
U.N. in 1993.
DUTCH ENGLISH BOSNIAN CROATIAN SERBIAN
SERBO-
CROATIAN
84. COMPARATIVE REFERENCE
AND IMAGE GRIDS
The reference and image grids show 'alignment' and
non-alignments of 'national' cultural accounts. They may be
seen as indicators of current state of politics of memory and
reconciliation.
Conclusions
85. DIGITAL METHODS
OBJECTS &
APPROACHES
Hyperlinks - Show related sites, good to make a sample (for censorship research)
2 Search Engines - As research machines to detect partisanship and bias
3. Wikipedia - As cultural reference to study the politics of memory (reconciliation)
>4. Social Media Platforms - As site to study political preference and engagement
5. Twitter - As machine providing accounts of events on the ground
86. POLITICAL PREFERENCE
Do friends of political party leaders have similar interests?
Aggregate friends' interest and show compatibility.
One may also show compatibility of interests (e.g., Islam and
Christianity).
Social media profile and interest data as source for studying political preference
89. ENGAGEMENT IN CAUSES
Which content has the most (and most consistent) likes,
shares, comments and liked comments in Facebook pages
and groups? What animates users to engage?
Social media data as means to study content engagement
90. F O R Z A
N U O VA
S I C I L I A
ATA K A
P L ATA F O R M A
P E R C ATA L U N YA
R I S P O S T E
L A I Q U E
L I G U E D E
D E F E N C E
F R A N C A I S E
P E R U S S U O M A L A I S E T
S I O E
F R A N C E
V O TA
F O R Z A
N U O VA
A L L E
C O M U N A L I
D I M I L A N O
N O R -
W E G I A N
D E F E N C E
L E A G U E
S W E D I S H
D E F E N C E
L E A G U E
D E R D A N S K E
V O R E N I N G
PA X
E U R O PA
F R E M S K R I T T S PA R T I E T S
V E N N E R
E S PA Ñ A
2 0 0 0
B R I T I S H
N AT I O N A L
PA R T Y
S I O E
E N G L A N D
SIAD
DENMARK
SIOE
DEUTSCHLAND
B L O C
I D E N T I TA I R E
93. PREFERENCE AND ENGAGE-
MENT IN SOCIAL MEDIA
Preference. Like sociometric or psychometric profiles, the
aggregated interests of politicians' friends provide the politics
of TV shows, music, movies and media more generally.
Engagement. Likes, shares, comments and liked comments
are seen as forms of engagement in content for causes.
Conclusions
94. DIGITAL METHODS
OBJECTS &
APPROACHES
Hyperlinks - Show related sites, good to make a sample (for censorship research)
2 Search Engines - As research machines to detect partisanship and bias
3. Wikipedia - As cultural reference to study the politics of memory (reconciliation)
4. Social Media Platforms - As site to study political preference
>5. Twitter - As machine providing accounts of events on the ground
95. TWITTER STUDIES WITH
DIGITAL METHODS
First, decide whether you are studying Twitter I, Twitter II or
Twitter III
Twitter I: Banal, phatic, ambient friend-following
Twitter II: News-following, elections and disasters
Twitter III: Generic data on social phenomena, any topic
Digital Methods contributions to the study of social media
97. TWITTER I, TWITTER II,
TWITTER III
Twitter I (2006-2009): Urban lifestyle tool (origins) and 'Banal'
Tagline: "what are you doing?"
Twitter II (2009-2012): Elections, disasters and revolutions.
Tagline: "what's happening?"
Twitter III (2012- ): Research tool and data market
Tagline: "compose new tweet"
'Twitter' as object of study and critique
98. Berman, Ari (2009), “Iran's Twitter Revolution,”
The Nation blog, The Nation, 15 June.
100. method.
Step 1: Capture all tweets with #iranelection
between 10 and 30 June 2009,
and archive them at rettiwt.net.
102. the collection.
#iranelection dataset (10-30 June 2009):
Tweets tagged with #iranelection: 653,883
Unique number of Twitter users with #iranelection tag: 99,811
Twitter users of #iranelection with multiple tweets: 46,702
Twitter users of #iranelection with more than 20 tweets: 6,000
Twitter users of #iranelection with 1 tweet: 53,109
Twitter users of #iranelection who were retweeted: 36,913
Twitter users of #iranelection retweeted multiple times: 16,336
Twitter users of #iranelection retweeted at least 10 times: 2,829
Twitter users of #iranelection retweeted 1 time: 20,577
Number of languages using #iranelection: 26
Number of tweets with #iranelection in English: 612,373
105. Mousavi holds an
emergency press
conference. The voter
turn-out is 80%. SMS is
down; Mousavi’s website
and Facebook are
blocked. Police are
using pepper spray.
Mousavi is under house
arrest; he is prepared
for martyrdom. Neda is
dead. There’s a riot in
Baharestan Square.
First aid info is here.
Bon Jovi sings “Stand by
Me” in support.
Ahmadinejad is
confirmed the winner.
Light a candle for the
ppl of Iran.
106. DIGITAL METHODS
FOR POLITICAL RESEARCH
ONLINE
Hyperlink analysis for censorship research
2 Search engine queries for partisanship research
3. Wikipedia comparisons for the study of the politics of memory (and reconciliation)
4. Social media platforms to study political preference and engagement in causes
5. Twitter to make an account (and timeline) of events on the ground
107. POLITICAL STUDIES ONLINE
THANK YOU
See also:
R. Rogers, _Digital Methods_, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013
Digital Methods Initiative, http://www.digitalmethods.net
Contact: rogers@uva.nl
Come to the 2014 Digital Methods Summer School!