Mapping Twitter Topic Networks: From Polarized Crowds to Community Clusters

Conversations on Twitter create networks with identifiable contours as people reply to and mention one another in their tweets. These conversational structures differ, depending on the subject and the people driving the conversation. Six structures are regularly observed: divided, unified, fragmented, clustered, and inward and outward hub and spoke structures. These are created as individuals choose whom to reply to or mention in their Twitter messages and the structures tell a story about the nature of the conversatio

Unfolding the Multi-layered Structure of the French Mediascape

Unfolding the Multi-layered Structure of the French Mediascap

CHORUS Deliverable 2.1: State of the Art on Multimedia Search Engines

Based on the information provided by European projects and national initiatives related to multimedia search as well as domains experts that participated in the CHORUS Think-thanks and workshops, this document reports on the state of the art related to multimedia content search from, a technical, and socio-economic perspective. The technical perspective includes an up to date view on content based indexing and retrieval technologies, multimedia search in the context of mobile devices and peer-to-peer networks, and an overview of current evaluation and benchmark inititiatives to measure the performance of multimedia search engines. From a socio-economic perspective we inventorize the impact and legal consequences of these technical advances and point out future directions of research

Comparing Grounded Theory and Topic Modeling: Extreme Divergence or Unlikely Convergence?

Researchers in information science and related areas have developed various methods for analyzing textual data, such as survey responses. This article describes the application of analysis methods from two distinct fields, one method from interpretive social science and one method from statistical machine learning, to the same survey data. The results show that the two analyses produce some similar and some complementary insights about the phenomenon of interest, in this case, nonuse of social media. We compare both the processes of conducting these analyses and the results they produce to derive insights about each method\u27s unique advantages and drawbacks, as well as the broader roles that these methods play in the respective fields where they are often used. These insights allow us to make more informed decisions about the tradeoffs in choosing different methods for analyzing textual data. Furthermore, this comparison suggests ways that such methods might be combined in novel and compelling ways

Coordinated amplification, coordinated inauthentic behaviour, orchestrated campaigns:A systematic literature review of coordinated inauthentic content on online social networks

The internet and online social networks have resulted in dramatic changes in the information landscape. Pessimistic views fear that networks and algorithms can limit exposure to various content by exposing users to pre-existing beliefs. In this respect, coordinated campaigns can amplify these individuals' voices above the crowd, capable of hijacking conversations, influencing other users and manipulating content dissemination. Through a systematic literature review, this chapter locates and synthesises related research on coordinated activities to (i) describe the state of this field by identifying the patterns and trends in the conceptual and methodological approaches, topics and practices; and (ii) shed light on potentially essential gaps in the field and suggest recommendations for future research. Findings show an evolution of the approaches used to detect coordinated activities. While bot detection was the focus in the early years, more recent research focused on using advanced computational methods based on training datasets or identifying coordinated campaigns by timely and similar content. Due to the data availability, Twitter is the most studied online social network, although studies have shown that coordinated activities can be found on other platforms. We conclude by discussing the implications of current approaches and outlining an agenda for future research

Science for Disaster Risk Reduction

This thematic report describes JRC's activities in support to disaster management. The JRC develops tools and methodologies to help in all phases of disaster management, from preparedness and risk assessment to recovery and reconstruction through to forecasting and early warning.JRC.A.6-Communicatio

The Palgrave Handbook of Digital Russia Studies

This open access handbook presents a multidisciplinary and multifaceted perspective on how the ‘digital’ is simultaneously changing Russia and the research methods scholars use to study Russia. It provides a critical update on how Russian society, politics, economy, and culture are reconfigured in the context of ubiquitous connectivity and accounts for the political and societal responses to digitalization. In addition, it answers practical and methodological questions in handling Russian data and a wide array of digital methods. The volume makes a timely intervention in our understanding of the changing field of Russian Studies and is an essential guide for scholars, advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying Russia today

The Palgrave Handbook of Digital Russia Studies

This open access handbook presents a multidisciplinary and multifaceted perspective on how the ‘digital’ is simultaneously changing Russia and the research methods scholars use to study Russia. It provides a critical update on how Russian society, politics, economy, and culture are reconfigured in the context of ubiquitous connectivity and accounts for the political and societal responses to digitalization. In addition, it answers practical and methodological questions in handling Russian data and a wide array of digital methods. The volume makes a timely intervention in our understanding of the changing field of Russian Studies and is an essential guide for scholars, advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying Russia today