Measuring, Predicting and Visualizing Short-Term Change in Word Representation and Usage in VKontakte Social Network

Language in social media is extremely dynamic: new words emerge, trend and disappear, while the meaning of existing words can fluctuate over time. Such dynamics are especially notable during a period of crisis. This work addresses several important tasks of measuring, visualizing and predicting short term text representation shift, i.e. the change in a word's contextual semantics, and contrasting such shift with surface level word dynamics, or concept drift, observed in social media streams. Unlike previous approaches on learning word representations from text, we study the relationship between short-term concept drift and representation shift on a large social media corpus - VKontakte posts in Russian collected during the Russia-Ukraine crisis in 2014-2015. Our novel contributions include quantitative and qualitative approaches to (1) measure short-term representation shift and contrast it with surface level concept drift; (2) build predictive models to forecast short-term shifts in meaning from previous meaning as well as from concept drift; and (3) visualize short-term representation shift for example keywords to demonstrate the practical use of our approach to discover and track meaning of newly emerging terms in social media. We show that short-term representation shift can be accurately predicted up to several weeks in advance. Our unique approach to modeling and visualizing word representation shifts in social media can be used to explore and characterize specific aspects of the streaming corpus during crisis events and potentially improve other downstream classification tasks including real-time event detection

Media panic : the duo media - youth as problem for didactic and teaching plan

Relacja: młodzież i nowe media jest przedmiotem sprzecznych interpretacji, pełnych utopii lub wypełnionych niepokojami i lękami. Debaty o nowych mediach powodują rozgrzanie reakcji emocjonalnych. W tym przypadku mamy do czynienia z tym, co może być określane jako panika medialna. Panika przechodzi i jest zapominana, z wyjątkiem pamięci zbiorowej, innym razem powoduje zmiany o charakterze prawnym i społecznym. Moda na nowe media odsyła starsze media na drugi plan. K. Drotner twierdzi, że nowe media służą jako mentalne metafory do dyskutowania i debatowania o szeroko pojętych zagadnieniach społecznych. Autor podziela poglądy, że poprzez tworzenie sloganów określających konkretne pokolenie zwalniamy od odpowiedzialności wychowawców, nauczycieli i rodziców za dzieci i uczniów, w kwestii ich korzystania z nowych mediów. Jednocześnie firmy informatyczne bronią swoich pozycji w debacie publicznej.The relation between the modern media technologies and youth is extremely problematic because their debates are polarized. There is a view which emphasises benefits provided by new technologies and the genius of young digital natives; on the other hand, there is a point on the downside which is destructive and crumbles potentials. Therefore, youth and new media are subjects of contradictory representations full of utopia or full of anxieties and fears. In some cases, a debate of a new medium brings about heated, emotional reactions. In that case we have what may be defined as a media panic. The panic passes over and is forgotten, except in collective memory; at other times it has repercussions and might produce such change as those in legal and social policy. Like this the intense preoccupation with the latest media fad immediately relegates older media to the shadows of acceptance. K. Drotner argues that new media serve as mental metaphors for discussing and debating wider social concerns. We argue, with an approach close to S. Hall et al., that through the creation of slogans to indicate a specific generation, we give alibis to educators, teachers and parents not to feel their responsibilities for their children and students when they approach new media. At the same time, publishing and information technology companies are able to feed public debate about concerns or idealization inherent to new media, in order to defend their advantageous position

An Examination of Parental Transmission on Young Voters’ Political Party Affiliation, Parenting Style Mediations

This paper examines the relationship of parental transmission and young voter’s political affiliation by examining parental and offsprings’ political affiliations within the United States. Correlations between both maternal and paternal political affiliations with offspring political affiliations were significant. Paternal types of authoritative and permissive parenting acted as mediators of parental transmission. Examining literature from psychological, political science, historical, and sociological tests, the thesis explores how young voters’ develop their political affiliations. Suggestions from the text emphasize the importance of examining voters’ identities, historical events, and the priorities of the generation to understand young voters’ political behavior

A Comparison between Political Claims Analysis and Discourse Network Analysis: The Case of Software Patents in the European Union

The study of policy discourse comprises actor-centered and content-oriented approaches. We attempt to close the gap between the two kinds of approaches by introducing a new methodology for the analysis of political discourse called Discourse Network Analysis. It is based on social network analysis and qualitative content analysis and takes an entirely relational perspective. Political discourse can be analyzed in a dynamic way, and the approach makes previously unobservable cleavage lines and alignments measurable at the actor level, at the level of the contents of a discourse, and a combined layer. We compare discourse network analysis with political claims analysis, a competing method, and apply both methods to the European-level discourse on software patents. Our results demonstrate how an anti-softwarepatent coalition was mobilized and how it gained control over important frames, while the well-organized pro-software-patent discourse coalition was not able to gain sovereignty over the discourse.Software Patents, Intellectual Property Rights, Discourse Network Analysis, Social Network Analysis, Political Discourse, Policy Networks, Public Policy Analysis, Social Movements, Political Claims Analysis

Unpacking polarization: Antagonism and Alignment in Signed Networks of Online Interaction

Online polarization research currently focuses on studying single-issue opinion distributions or computing distance metrics of interaction network structures. Limited data availability often restricts studies to positive interaction data, which can misrepresent the reality of a discussion. We introduce a novel framework that aims at combining these three aspects, content and interactions, as well as their nature (positive or negative), while challenging the prevailing notion of polarization as an umbrella term for all forms of online conflict or opposing opinions. In our approach, built on the concepts of cleavage structures and structural balance of signed social networks, we factorize polarization into two distinct metrics: Antagonism and Alignment. Antagonism quantifies hostility in online discussions, based on the reactions of users to content. Alignment uses signed structural information encoded in long-term user-user relations on the platform to describe how well user interactions fit the global and/or traditional sides of discussion. We can analyse the change of these metrics through time, localizing both relevant trends but also sudden changes that can be mapped to specific contexts or events. We apply our methods to two distinct platforms: Birdwatch, a US crowd-based fact-checking extension of Twitter, and DerStandard, an Austrian online newspaper with discussion forums. In these two use cases, we find that our framework is capable of describing the global status of the groups of users (identification of cleavages) while also providing relevant findings on specific issues or in specific time frames. Furthermore, we show that our four metrics describe distinct phenomena, emphasizing their independent consideration for unpacking polarization complexities

Appraisal of Ethical Issues in the Media Framing of the Conflict in Peoples' Democratic Party

The core aim of this study is to provide media outfit, journalists and would-be journalists with higher education for peace with the aim of promoting among all journalists and politicians a spirit of understanding, tolerance, and peaceful coexistence, to stimulate cooperation among people, and to help lessen obstacles and threats to our internal democracy. Therefore, the study estimate the value of how newspapers in Nigeria, particularly Daily Trust, The Nation and Punch newspapers are setting agenda of conflict/peace journalism in reporting crisis ridden opposition party in their sustainability effort towards solidifying internal democracy; especially the issue of intra-party democracy which is vital to the development of the nation. In specific terms, the study focus on the recent crisis in Peoples’ Democratic Party by raising three objectives based on Johan Galtung classification of conflict/peace journalism. Empirical literatures were reviewed in line with the objectives of the study. A selected random sampling of 180 editions of selected newspapers published between August, 2016 to March, 2017 was reviewed using content analysis and discourse analysis research method. Results shows that conflict journalistic frame was the dominant frame adopted by the selected newspapers and stories that employ elite/government sources were prevalent and thereby contributed in escalating the tension between the two warring factions by focusing on groups differences and reaction to early stories. The framing and the social identity theories were also used to explain the study and it was discovered that the way the media have set the agenda and frame the conflict in Peoples’ Democratic Party has gone in a long way in determining party members’ drive for positive change and identity, self-esteem and social comparisons they make, this to large extent contributed to defection of members to other parties seeking an avenue to protect their political interest and office. Both the quantitative and qualitative data were clearly presented and analysed which helped in answering the research questions. Keywords: Conflict Sensitivism, Ethics, Framing, Internal Democracy, Intra-Party Conflict, PDP

Online hate speech and emotions on Twitter: a case study of Greta Thunberg at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in 2019

The presence of environmental activist Greta Thunberg at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in 2019 prompted reactions on social media, which grew exponentially after she was named Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2019 and even more so after then-president of the United States Donald Trump tweeted his reaction to her accolade. An analysis of 1,395,054 tweets gathered between November and December 2019 through R, network theory techniques, machine learning and natural language processing showed how messages sparking hatred and intense emotions generate posts, mainly negative ones that subsequently serve as catalysts. The results also demonstrate the relevance of the bubble filter and echo chamber theories and the fact that hate springs from a range of sentiments depending on each participant group