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ICA 2010 presentation. 25 June 2010, Singapore.
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Challenges of trackingtopical discussionnetworks online
ICA 2010Singapore, 25 June 2010
Tim Highfield Queensland University of TechnologyLars Kirchhoff Sociomantic LabsThomas Nicolai Sociomantic Labs
Topical discussion networks
the collection of sites or users commentingon a particular event or issue, andthe links formed between them
- trending topics, keywords, retweets- hashtag – e.g. #ica2010, #spill
- 'flag tag' for World Cup
Marc Smith and NodeXL[connectedaction.net]
Blogs
- keywords, links- collectives, communities
Network of Twitter usersmentioning or linking to'This is Perth' video,September 2009.Connections basedon retweets.
Project overview
comparative study of Australianand French political blogging
January-August 2009:post/article content and out-linkscollected from blogs and media sites
French sites: 217 active (148 blogs)22,989 blog posts collected
Initial steps
network formed between blogroll linksfrom the 217 sites represented in sample(semi-permanent network)
topical networks formed around specificthemes or events, located within timeperiods and through keywords
comparison of network and link types
Blogrollnetwork:Frenchpoliticalblogs
Tracking topical networks
Pilot study: French political blog postson the inauguration of Barack Obama[20 January 2009]
Posts from 16-25 January 2009 isolated,out-links from these posts used for study
Post titles and links containing keywordsused to locate topical network
All out-links,16-25 January 2009
Obama-specifictopical network
Challenges
Link types: blogroll vs. in-text
Lifespan of links:for how long can in-text citations betreated as 'current'?
Arbitrary boundaries to topical periods
Representation of findings,avoiding cumulative data
Link semantics
Further directions
Additional case studies
Dynamics, day-by-day linking
Refinement of method
Supporting content analysis
Applications for non-blog networks
