Panel proposal for ICA, London, June Analyzing media content and use across platforms

Transcription

1 Panel proposal for ICA, London, June 2013 Analyzing media content and use across platforms Organizer: Frauke Zeller Chairs: Frauke Zeller, Kjetil Sandvik Respondent: Klaus Bruhn Jensen One of the key challenges in studying the current networked media environment is how to describe and assess media content and use across media types that have traditionally been examined separately, e.g. television, internet, and mobile media. With the rise of social media the cross-media characteristics of media productions and uses have become increasingly significant, challenging the ways in which media studies are conducted, from dealing with big amounts of data to capturing data which is generated (and also vanishing) in real-time as users move across digital platforms and services. Using social network sites (e.g. Facebook and Twitter) and services with social networking features (e.g. mobile apps) as an empirical starting point this panel raises the question: how do we create effective and adequate methods for analyzing media content and use across several media platforms and suggests that the cross-media nature of the current media environment calls for a cross-method approach. Social network sites encompass a range of different phenomena and pose numerous challenges to researchers. First and foremost it is difficult to grasp a total overview of the information and interactions in a social network. Websites and traditional online communities like discussion groups or web forums might be analyzed in their totality, because they are bounded in space online. There is normally a privileged position from which the researcher can retrieve all the information available and get an overview of all members or other actors involved. Since it is difficult to obtain server-side access to major social network sites (e.g. Facebook) and since these sites lack a fixed network centre, one has to study the activities from within the users own social network, thus implying that data collection must be conducted from the inside, using the media both as subject and tool of research. As such a data-driven approach to analyzing communication in social network sites seems recommendable. The panel combines more quantitative approaches originating in traditional network analysis with creative research strategies emerging from a qualitative tradition. It includes strategies for combining various methods through frameworks based on mixed methods as well as specific research tools and practical implications of the methods employed. By combining these different approaches the panel seeks to explore the frontline of research on media content and use across platforms as well as facilitating a dialogue between qualitative and quantitative approaches to studying cross-media use. Rationale Online communication is dynamic, ephemeral, and diverse in its forms (i.e. text, sound, video, images). Above that, it is being both produced and received via different platforms and media. All these points challenge researchers approach to online communication analysis, and until today we have seen a broad range of

2 different approaches and discussions. However, the practical side of the scientific dealing with online communication that is concrete studies that are being conducted in order to enhance our understanding of the nature of online communication often offers single use cases and approaches. What is lacking so far is a more exhaustive approach to online communication analysis, which addresses all steps of the research process: data collection/sampling, data processing, and data analysis. The panel Analyzing media content and use across platforms offers this exhaustive approach, by presenting papers to each of the aforementioned steps. Firstly, we address the challenge of the medium: How to gather data for example in our present day mobile media environment? Smartphones can be regarded as an ideal tool for data collection given that they are tightly integrated into our everyday practices. Anne Mette Thorhauge will therefore present methodological and analytical perspectives involved in using the smartphone as a tool for data collection. With the ephemeral and dynamic nature of online communication, researchers are also increasingly faced with the demand for so-called real-time research. Particularly regarding the discussion of specific topics in social networks, or even the phenomenon of viral news spreading with immense speed and a-sequentially in the online world, demand a re-thinking of our traditional approaches to data collection but also data sampling strategies. Jacob Ørmen therefore aims to answer the questions as to how to study the development of events on social network sites as they are occurring. The last two paper presentations in this panel discuss two different studies that both try to engage traditional methods and instruments from the social sciences. Jakob Linaa Jensen presents his study on Twitter usage for news sharing and a methodological framework that consists of different instruments that combine both qualitative and quantitative measures Frauke Zeller and Miguel Vicente finally introduce a mixed-methods design for quantitative and qualitative analyses of text-image-relationships in social network sites. By adapting also an interdisciplinary approach as to the computer tools used in their design, they provide not only the necessary theoretical/methodological background but also demonstrate a concrete hands-on-approach to this novel technique.

3 Data on the fly: Mobile technologies and the documentation of media use in everyday contexts Anne Mette Thorhauge This paper will explore the methodological and analytical perspectives involved in using the smartphone as a tool for data collection. The smartphone is integrated into everyday practices beyond phone calls and text messaging such as getting around town, exercising, staying informed about relevant issues, and planning everyday life in general. This makes the smartphone an ideal tool for data collection for several reasons: 1) We tend to have it with us on any occasion, 2) its designed features allow for the collection of different types of data and 3) a combination of different data generating versatile and detailed accounts of everyday practices. Regarding the first perspective, the smartphone allows for a seamless collection of data about everyday practices as they take place. While interviews require interviewees to recall details about their everyday practices and participant observation requires the presence of an observer, collection of data by way of the smartphone allows for a less intrusive type of data collection that blends more easily into those everyday contexts they are to document. Concerning the second perspective, the designed features of the smartphone enable the collection of a broad variety of data types including found data, made data and metadata (Jensen, forthcoming). On the one hand, the smartphone allows for an extensive logging of automatically generated data regarding its use. On the other hand, the smartphone allows for the production of data beyond written or verbal accounts which may require less effort on behalf of the participants. Finally, regarding the third perspective, the integration of the smartphone into everyday practices allows for a combination of data during the process of collection that can enhance data validity and expand the analytical frames. Metadata may be used to probe accounts of everyday practices and accounts of everyday practices may inform the classification of metadata. Furthermore, accounts of everyday practices identify relevant patterns to be explored in the analysis of metadata. The paper will discuss existing methods of data collection on smartphones and how these can be combined. Furthermore, it will discuss how this type of analysis may expand our understanding social media and cross-media use by reinstating them into the context of the everyday practices they are part of. Being there, everywhere How to trace interactions on social media in realtime Jacob Ørmen In this presentation I address the challenge of conducting real time research in online social networks. More specifically, I engage the questions of how to study the development of events on social network sites as they are occurring, as well as how to capture the ever-changing nature of the social behavior in these networks (who says what to whom and when)? Drawing on the idea of liveliness how is a topic (or topics) changing over time (Marres and Weltevrede 2012) - I investigate different approaches (among others scraping, keyword analysis, log-data analysis, systematic screen dumping etc.) that are useful to study the variation in the type and volume of activity in online social networks. These different approaches encompass various conceptions of what data is

4 and how to capture this data. This opens up for an interesting discussion of the epistemological aspects of these data aggregation tools. On top of that, there are a multitude of methodological challenges related to studying social media in real-time. Firstly, there is the issue of what data to capture, at which points in time. Secondly, there is the pertinent challenge of access - both understood in terms of walled gardens, but also in terms of, how to access and retrieve data that is lost seconds after appearing online (e.g. the specific graphical and relational constellation of objects in social network sites). The latter relates to the general issue of how to recreate the context of a given social interaction in online as well as offline research. Lastly, there is a need to touch upon issues of representativeness, generalizability and validity of the available data. Throughout the presentation I will relate the methodological challenges to a more specific discussion of media events (Dayan and Katz 1992; Katz and Liebes 2007) in the era of social and networked media. In this context, I introduce two cases that have attracted substantial attention on online social networks (as well as in the mainstream media): Hurricane Sandy (the storm that rampaged the US east coast during a few days in October 2012) and Red Bull Stratos (the staged jump from the stratosphere, where an astronaut broke the speed of sound in a free fall). These cases have engaged users on a variety of online platforms (among others Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), and are thereby suitable for an inquiry into the methods used to study online social networks in real-time. Analysing news sharing on social network sites Jakob Linaa Jensen This paper addresses the specific challenges that SNS pose to researchers compared with other online phenomena. Online communities and websites are possible to study in their totality whereas researching for instance Facebook leaves the researchers with access basically limited to his or her own network, because of differences in the regulation of access to these different sites. Twitter, a public by default service, is another story as software such as Twapperkeeper allows the researcher to access at least public content from thousands of users. The differences in access considered, it is hard to get the total picture of content and social interaction going on at social network sites. The paper argues that a thorough examination requires objective as well as subjective measures: users must be interviewed about their habits and perceptions, but we also need to study their actual behavior as there might be a discrepancy between perceived (and ideal) actions and the actual lived practices. Empirically, the paper takes its point of departure in methodological issues raised in a research project analyzing how social networks contribute to alter the news cycle. We want to investigate how news are spread and shared through social network sites and how the flows go between and through users profiles and other media websites. It is discussed how objective and subjective measures must be combined. Objectively we can analyze the content on at least Twitter and hopefully to some

5 extent within selected user groups on Facebook. We can show how news are shared and combine the data with traffic analysis from major news sites. However, we also need to know the more specific behavior among participants, the subjective perspective. How and why do they share news and do they have any elaborate criteria for what to share? Such data are achieved through focus groups and individual interviews. The paper further discusses advantages, disadvantages and ethical issues of such a combined approach. What are the different kinds of information achieved through anonymous traffic analyses, and socially negotiated outcomes of focus groups and practices discovered by the researchers observations? Lastly, the paper argues that such approaches ought to be combined with formal network analysis in order to get an even deeper understanding of practices of online social networks. Mixed Methods in Social Network Analysis Frauke Zeller & Miguel Vicente This presentation discusses the application of a mixed methods approach to online social network analysis. Results from a study will be presented that focus on the research question How can we define the role as well as interdependence or relationship of images and their comments in social network sites (SNS)? The answering of the research question also aims at developing a methodological approach to social network analysis that enables researchers to use both quantitative and qualitative instruments for the empirical analysis of different communication modalities, such as images, sounds, videos, and text. Images play an important role in SNS, since they enable users to develop their identities, express certain standpoints or initiate conversations on certain topics. However, quantitative analyses of images are problematic because of the ambiguous and polysemic nature, i.e. they can communicate different messages depending on the person who looks at it. Therefore, Bock et al. (2012) argue that simply counting what is shown in images is almost impossible. Moreover, given the vast amount of data to be found in SNS, a manual counting strategy also seems to be quite problematic. Hence, contextual information such as image communication should be added. Given the general challenges of anonymity online, we cannot always know the identity of the person who has posted certain images. Therefore, we interpret here image communication as the different comments and sub-images in comment threads on SNS. We present a study in which we explain the usage of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) in combination with quantitative text analyses. For our demonstration, we use the programmes ATLAS.ti and WordSmith Tools (Scott, 2008). ATLAS.ti is a high-end CAQDAS suitable for picture and video analysis. Furthermore, it enables researchers to adapt a mixed methods approach by also offering the option to either import or export quantitative data. In our demonstration, we will focus on an image analysis in Facebook together with a quantitative text analysis. WordSmith Tools, a professional lexical analysis tool, enables us to conduct analyses regarding word frequencies or collocation analyses (word pairs) that can then be imported into Atlas.ti as coding categories. These methods can provide insights into the specific language usage (genre analysis) in SNS, as well as reveal the forming of sub-groups through jargon

6 detection, or also framing processes of certain topics in combination with image usage. References Bock, A., Isermann, H. and Knieper, T. (2012) Quantitative content analysis of the visual, In E. Margolis & L Pauwels (Eds.). Sage handbook of visual research. Sage, pp Dayan, D. and Katz, E. (1992) Media Events. Cambridge: Harvard University Press Bolden, R., & Moscarola, J. (2000). Bridging the quantitative-qualitative divide: The lexical approach to textual data analysis. Social Science Computer Review, 18(4), Jensen, K. B. (forthcoming). Lost, found, and made: Qualitative data in the study of three-step flows of communication. In I. Volkmer (Ed.), Handbook of Global Media Research. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. Katz, E. and Liebes, T. (2007) No More Peace! : How Disaster, Terror and War Have Upstaged Media Events. International Journal of Communication, 1: Marres, N. and Weltevrede, E. (2012) Scraping the Social? Issues in real-time social research. Journal of Cultural Economy (subm.), pp [Article] : Goldsmiths Research Online. Scott, M. (2008). WordSmith Tools version 5. Oxford: Oxford University Press.