Identifying the underlying structure and dynamic interactions in a voting network

We analyse the structure and behaviour of a specific voting network using a dynamic structure-based methodology which draws on Q-Analysis and social network theory. Our empirical focus is on the Eurovision Song Contest over a period of 20 years. For a multicultural contest of this kind, one of the key questions is how the quality of a song is judged and how voting groups emerge. We investigate structures that may identify the winner based purely on the topology of the network. This provides a basic framework to identify what the characteristics associated with becoming a winner are, and may help to establish a homogenous criterion for subjective measures such as quality. Further, we measure the importance of voting cliques, and present a dynamic model based on a changing multidimensional measure of connectivity in order to reveal the formation of emerging community structure within the contest. Finally, we study the dynamic behaviour exhibited by the network in order to understand the clustering of voting preferences and the relationship between local and global properties.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Physica

Examining collusion and voting biases between countries during the Eurovision song contest since 1957

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an annual event which attracts millions of viewers. It is an interesting activity to examine since the participants of the competition represent a particular country's musical performance that will be awarded a set of scores from other participating countries based upon a quality assessment of a performance. There is a question of whether the countries will vote exclusively according to the artistic merit of the song, or if the vote will be a public signal of national support for another country. Since the competition aims to bring people together, any consistent biases in the awarding of scores would defeat the purpose of the celebration of expression and this has attracted researchers to investigate the supporting evidence for biases. This paper builds upon an approach which produces a set of random samples from an unbiased distribution of score allocation, and extends the methodology to use the full set of years of the competition's life span which has seen fundamental changes to the voting schemes adopted. By building up networks from statistically significant edge sets of vote allocations during a set of years, the results display a plausible network for the origins of the culture anchors for the preferences of the awarded votes. With 60 years of data, the results support the hypothesis of regional collusion and biases arising from proximity, culture and other irrelevant factors in regards to the music which that alone is intended to affect the judgment of the contest.Comment: to be published in JASS

How does Europe Make Its Mind Up? Connections, cliques, and compatibility between countries in the Eurovision Song Contest

We investigate the complex relationships between countries in the Eurovision Song Contest, by recasting past voting data in terms of a dynamical network. Despite the British tendency to feel distant from Europe, our analysis shows that the U.K. is remarkably compatible, or 'in tune', with other European countries. Equally surprising is our finding that some other core countries, most notably France, are significantly 'out of tune' with the rest of Europe. In addition, our analysis enables us to confirm a widely-held belief that there are unofficial cliques of countries -- however these cliques are not always the expected ones, nor can their existence be explained solely on the grounds of geographical proximity. The complexity in this system emerges via the group 'self-assessment' process, and in the absence of any central controller. One might therefore speculate that such complexity is representative of many real-world situations in which groups of 'agents' establish their own inter-relationships and hence ultimately decide their own fate. Possible examples include groups of individuals, societies, political groups or even governments

Love thy Neighbor, Love thy Kin: Voting Biases in the Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest provides a setting where Europeans can express their sentiments about other countries without regard to political sensitivities. Analyzing voting data from the 25 contests between 1981-2005, we find strong evidence for the existence of clusters of countries that systematically exchange votes regardless of the quality of their entries. Cultural, geographic, economic and political factors are important determinants of points awarded from one country to another. Other non-quality related factors such as order of appearance, the language of the song and the gender of the performing artist, are also important. There is also a substantial host country effectEurovision, Social Network, Games of Trust

An Investigation into Factors Which Explain the Scores and Voting Patterns of the Eurovision Song Contest.

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an annual international television song competition. Participating countries send a group or individual artist to perform an original song at the competition. The winner is decided by all participating countries using a voting system that incorporates both a public televote and an expert jury vote. Countries are excluded from voting for their entry and the country with the highest score wins. A high scoring performance and the voting patterns of the ESC can be explained by a complex set of factors. These factors can be divided into three groups; performance factors, competition factors and external factors. Performance factors relate to the performance itself, such as the song and the music. Competition factors relate to the way the competition is run and organised, such as the type of voting method used and the order of appearance for the performers. External factors encompass the social, cultural and political factors that influence voting at the Eurovision. The research presented here focuses on among other factors, whether voting blocs, music factors derived from Echo Nest services and migration patterns can explain the points and voting patterns of the 2016 ESC. The data was stratified into three datasets based on the voting systems; combined vote, televote and jury vote. A multiple linear regression model was fitted to each dataset and the significance of the predictor variables in explaining the response variable Points were evaluated using T-tests. The results showed that both the voting blocs and migration patterns were significant in explaining the scores and voting patterns of the competition. With regards to the music factors, the most successful songs appeared to be more acoustic and less dance orientated

The “return” of performance art from a glocal perspective

Various authors have characterized the contemporary world through the notion of "structural hybridization" (Pieterse 2001; Canclini 2001, among others). This notion refers to the mixing of different times and spaces that gives rise to "spatiotemporal" hybrid configurations. One of the factors of this process is usually translated by the term "hybrid cycles" (Stross 1999), through which a new cycle recovers historical and social characteristics of previous cycles, sometimes distant in time. Through this theoretical framework, which combines concepts such as hybridity, cyclicality, mimesis, reflexivity and performativity, this paper intends to problematize issues such as the so-called "social turn" (Bishop 2006)or "return to the real" (Foster 2001) in art or, more generally, the "performative turn" (Alexander 2006), with the aim of analyzing the cyclical dynamic of performance (social) art (an art that relies on notions of participation and even performative intervention in a public space) from a global perspective – from Portugal to the world and vice versa

How to manage international collaboration? : Case : Eurovision Song Contest

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is one of the longest running international TV shows in the world and has been organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956. ESC has been studied from political, sociological, national and cultural perspectives, but research about collaboration and management between organising actors is missing. The aim of this research is to fill that gap. The study uses qualitative methods to examine how the international collaboration in the Eurovision Song Contest is managed. The thesis focuses on management processes and structures in the management of the ESC collaboration between main organising actors named by the EBU: The EBU, Executive Supervisor, Reference Group, Host Broadcaster, Heads of Delegation, and Participating Broadcasters. I examine the ESC cases which are selected based on the availability of data, language, location and personal interest: Helsinki 2007, so far the only one held in Finland, and more recent events relying on reports, research, and documents available. I interview representatives from the EBU and public broadcaster in Finland (YLE) involved in the ESC management. The thesis is based on the case study, drawing on relevant documents, ESC studies, articles and theories about collaboration management and interorganisational cooperation. I identify responsibilities and tools of managing the international collaboration and conclude that in the ESC management structures there are both hierarchy and networked organisations with highly coordinated and formalised processes. The results will provide insight about international collaboration management in media projects