#popf16 semester-long hashtag study

Assignment Overview

In this semester-long project, each student will create a study around a particular Twitter hashtag (originally the goal was to investigate Instagram hashtags, but Instagram changed their API settings and posts can no longer be archived). The hashtag students choose will be related to any kind of social justice issue, interest group, community, or emerging news event, such as #climatechange, #blacklivesmatter, #icantbreathe, #alllivesmatter, #burkiniban, #brexit, #election2016, #neverhillary, #imwithher, #autism, #weneeddiversebooks, #believeinfilm, #springsteen, #popefrancis, #gameofthrones, #walkingdead, #oitnb. Students will archive the tweets using Martin Hawksey’s TAGS 6.1 GoogleDrive integrated archiving system and the Digital Methods Initiative’s Twitter Capture and Analysis Toolset.

The primary goals of this assignment (and the study) are four-fold: first, to observe how people are using Twitter to communicate in and for a possible community. We are not trying to prove or disprove anything. Rather, we will be letting the data inform the interpretation. Second, to become familiar with and apply theory on communities, networks, and participatory culture. Third, to build and expand on our data visualization and data graphics design skills. Fourth, to put into practice an important research methodology, Grounded Theory. In a Grounded Theory-based inquiry theories about the subject being studied emerge from the data itself. That is, theories or beliefs about the subject are not brought to the analysis, though knowledge of the community itself is important for understanding what happening in the data. The analyses will reveal quite a bit about how people are composing today and whether what emerges from the data can be considered a community at all.

When choosing your hashtag (or keyword) choose one that has tweets with a variety of content. For example, looking at the hashtags listed above reveals reactions to texts, links to reviews, links to user generated content, and others. These kinds of hashtags will provide you with the opportunity for nuanced data analysis.

During the course of the project, students will complete the following (each portion of the assignment will be explained in greater detail below):

Assignment Learning Objectives

This semester-long assignment covers each of the six course objectives:

Objective 1: Communication Design
Students will understand and apply human centered design approaches to communicating through digital media.

Objective 2: Effective Communication
Students will understand the principles and practices of effective media communication.

Objective 3: Ethics
Students will understand and articulate the ethical questions and principles that inform the use of digital media.

Objective 4: Reflection
Students will develop their understanding of the important role of reflection during the investigation, design, and communication process.

Objective 5: Research
Students will be able to effectively use digital media to research, gather, and assess digital information and knowledge.

Objective 6: Risk-taking
Students will know what it feels like to step out of their comfort zones and take risks with their approaches to and understanding of digital media and participatory culture.

Assignment Start and Due Dates

  • 9/8: come to class with 5 hashtags you might study
  • 9/15: research proposal due by class-time
  • 9/20 – 10/13: create extensive catalog of the texts and spaces associated with the hashtag
  • 9/20 – 10/13: create a library of scholarly texts on theories associated with your hashtag
  • 9/27: Benchmark 1 due: research study web page initial set-up complete
  • between 9/22 and 10/13: Official Study archive of Tweets completed
  • 10/6: Benchmark 2 due: Archive and Community Analysis
  • week of 10/25: conferences to discuss your study and coding
  • 11/15: Benchmark 3 due: Grounded Theory Analysis
  • week of 11/29: conferences to discuss network visualizations and infographics
  • 12/1 12/6: Network visualizations and analysis due
  • 12/8: data infographics rough draft due
  • 12/12: final data infographics and reflections due

Hashtag Study Proposal

This proposal will be just like most any other research proposal that you’ve written. I’d like you to propose the hashtag you’ll based your study on. Address at least the following questions:

  • What is the hashtag?
  • Why are you interested in studying it?
  • What community or communities are associated with the hashtag?
  • How familiar are you with the texts related to that hashtag or keyword and their associated communities?
  • How actively are people tweeting with that hashtag or keyword?

Your proposal should be between 350 – 500 words. Please include links to a Twitter search for the hashtag and any community spaces with which you’re already familiar (if you aren’t familiar with any, please find a few and link to them).

Due 9/15 by the start of class. Please have a digital version you can access on a computer (GoogleDoc, emailed, etc.). In class we will post it to the research study page of your collaborative blog (see below).

Benchmark 1: Research Study Page Setup Complete

One of the ways internet researchers help maintain transparency in their research is to create a web site or page that provides some biographical information, details information about the study, and provides updates about the status of the study. You can see an example of this on BW’s Springsteen Fans and Twitter study web site. We’re going to be doing a stripped-down version of this by creating a static page on your collaborative web site which links off of the main navigation bar. Each student will create their own static page, which we started to do in class on Thursday.

To create the static page, in the WordPress dashboard go to Pages –> Add new (NOTE: This is not a Post, but a Page). In the title area, put the hashtag you’ll be studying and the word “Study.” In the content area, add the following by 9/27:

  • your study proposal
  • some biographical information (nothing too personal, just where you’re a student, if you’re a fan, if so, for how long, why you are interested in researching your subject, and that sort of thing)
  • detailed information about the study and its goals (methods, archiving software, link to class assignment; you can just summarize what we’re doing from the course description and above)
  • a statement saying people with questions can contact you @username (and make it a link)

Your page should me multi-modal, including alphabetic text, images, videos, etc., where applicable. After adding your content, click “Publish.”

To add the page to your blog navigation, or Menu, follow these instructions for creating a menu. Most of the groups were able to start creating their menus in class. If you are having trouble adding your Page to the menu, don’t stress; we’ll see what’s going on in class.

By the end of the semester, this page will include your additional benchmarks, network visualizations, and final graphics.

Due 9/27

by the start of class.

Benchmark 2: Initial Archiving and Community Impressions

This phase of the study asks you to glean some information about your hashtags based on an initial analysis of the TAGS 6.1 and DMI-TCAT archives and spaces your hashtag community uses or frequents. There are 3 parts to this phase.

PART ONE

I’d like to discuss what you have learned about your hashtag by looking at the test TAGS 6.1 archive you created and the DMI-TCAT archive you created in class during week 4.

Questions you might consider, but are not required to (do not just answer them in order in your post): Who are the top tweeters and what kinds of content are they tweeting? What hashtags are associated with your hashtag? What are people linking to and what kinds of images or videos are they uploading? Are people conversing or are they just stating something without replying? How often are they tweeting links? Are people retweeting and if so what kinds of content are they? (Update: That is, are you seeing shared practices, norms, and identities, as Baym describes?) Include screen shots of the TAGSExplorer visualization and any other important data, such as the top tweets.

PART TWO

I’d to discuss the various web sites associated with your hashtag. What do you learn about your hashtag by seeing these spaces? The web sites should be those often linked-to from the tweets and those that you might be familiar with. Use screen shots.

PART THREE

Please discuss the various social media spaces associated with your hashtag. What do you learn about your hashtag by seeing these spaces? Link to several and discuss in detail.

Include your content below the Benchmark 1 content on your study page.

Due 10/6 by the start of class.

Benchmark 3: Initial Archiving and Community Impressions

Now that we have completed our background research and have set up two archiving systems, it is time to start coding our data. Because of the limited timeframe of the semester and because I don’t want you sitting in front of the computer for hours upon hours (upon hours) on end, we are only going to code a fraction of what you might code for a long-term study. In short, we are going to apply Grounded Theory Open Coding practices to 200 tweets. From those 200, we are going to choose approximately 100 to apply Axial Coding practices. Once we have completed Axial Coding, we will apply Selective Coding practices.

To complete this work, we will be using tweets archives using DMI-TCAT. We will be using these tweets (and not TAGS 6.1) tweets because we’ll be creating complex visuals from DMI-TCAT and this will ensure consistency. You will also need:

Because there are several steps in this process, I’ve made a short video tutorial for you. Please take the time to watch it:

One thing not mentioned in the tutorial is the importance of freezing rows so you you always see the tweets and the codes you create. You can find instructions for freezing rows and columns using Open Office and using Excel.

Regarding emojis. I did some playing around and it seems (at least on my computer) that you need to follow these steps to ensure the emojis show in OpenOffice:

  1. In DMI-TCAT click “download” for either a random sample of 1000 or for the full archive.
  2. When the pop-up window appears, DO NOT select the Open With option. Instead, choose Save File.
  3. Open Open Office and then open the file you just downloaded. (Do not ever open that file in Excel; Excel reformats the file in ways emojis don’t like.)
  4. You are opening a .csv file, which means Comma Separated Value. This is a file type that removes spreadsheet formatting which makes for a smaller file size, among other things. When you open it, you will get a pop-up window. Make sure your selected options are exactly the same as here:
    open office comma separated values
  5. You should now see emojis. If not, let me know.
  6. When saving the file, save as an ODF Spreadsheet (which has the .ods extension):
    ODS Spreadsheet

Open Coding

Please complete open coding on 200 tweets, including detailed definitions for each code you create. These must be completed and uploaded to the shared GoogleDrive Dropbox folder by the start of your conference. [Link to the folder emailed to class on 10/22.]

When coding, remember to code the Twitter functionalities you see—such as RTs, @replies (which typically occur at the start of the tweet), @mentions (which typically occur in the middle of the tweet), hashtags, links, etc.—and the content of the tweet—such as, if there is direct reference to a show event, or direct reference to a geographical location, or a reference to a character or famous person, etc. You might also code emotional reactions, such as a tweet with all caps and lots of !!!!!!! or OMFG. And tweets with emojis and the various kinds of emojis you see, such as a code for emoji use overall, a code for the penguin emoji, a code for the crying emoji, and so on.

Please look to the kinds of codes that emerged from the data in my Baby, We Were Born to Tweet article on the Corpus Characteristics page and the process of coding individual tweets on the Perpetuating, Historicizing, Integrating, Intertextual, and Mediating pages. Those pages explain exactly why a tweet was coded in the way it was.

When coding a tweet, always use a “1” in the cell. Never add a “2,” even if there are, for example, replies to 2 people or 2 hashtags. You can make a new code for multiple replies (m@r) or multiple hashtags (m#) and then add a “1” for those.

Regarding RTs: You have the option of coding RTs as just a RT, or also coding the contents of the retweet itself. Unless there are many RTs, I would just code each tweet as a RT and then move to the next. If there are many RTs, then you should code what is inside them because you can help understand why people are RTing.

The more you can code the more meaningful the project will become. In our meeting we’ll talk about your codes.

Axial Coding

Axial coding will be completed following our conference. To complete Axial Coding, choose a selection of tweets codes for Open Coding. Your selection should be based on a particular code, such as all tweets with links, or all RTs, or all tweets about a particular character. They should total around 100 tweets (it’s okay to combine which codes you choose to reach that number).

These should be completed by 11/3.

Publishing your findings

Publish your Coding findings below the Benchmark 2 content on your study page. When completing Benchmark 3, look to the Corpus Characteristics page of “Baby, We Were Born to Tweet” as an example.

Break your Benchmark into 4 sections: Open Coding, Axial Coding, Selective Coding, Conclusion. In each section complete the following:

  • Open Coding:
    • A brief introduction about the process of open coding. That is, how the tweets were archived; what dates you chose to use for open coding and why those dates were important; how they were exported; how many tweets were coded; and what you used to complete the coding.
    • Then include a list of all codes, percentages, and definitions.
    • Discuss 3 conclusions you can come to based on what you are seeing in the open codes.
  • Axial Coding:
    • A brief introduction in which you discuss the Open Codes you chose to focus on; why you chose to focus on those Open Codes; and how many tweets you coded. If you are focusing on RTs only, discuss how that impacted your coding.
    • Then include a list of all codes, percentages, and definitions (including references to texts that helped you create the codes).
    • Then include the bar chart we discussed in class on Tuesday.
    • Discuss 3 conclusions you can come to based on what you are seeing in the open codes. Reference texts in those conclusions. For example, you might look to discussions of interactivity, or participatory culture, and any of the texts I asked you to read based on the type of hashtag you are studying.
  • Selective Coding:
    • A brief introduction to the process of selective coding, in part describing the process of grouping the Axial Codes into more general categories.
    • Include a list of all your Selective Categories and the Axial Codes that fall within them (you should have at least 4 Selective Codes; Axial Codes can fall within more than one Selective Code)
    • Discuss 3 conclusions you can draw from your Selective Coding, referencing the course and other texts, as necessary.
  • Conclusions:
    • In this section, I’d like you to think about what you have learned overall about your hashtag based on your coding. What surprised you? What changed from when you first started going through this process? Then, importantly, what claims can you make overall about the practices of users of that hashtag? What do those practices say about the possibilities of Twitter as a space for communication and community building? Make direct reference to your Axial Codes and Selective Codes and the texts, as necessary.
    • When completing this section, look to the discussion of each Axial Code and the Conclusion in “Baby, We Were Born to Tweet” as examples.
    • Make reference to the course texts as a way to help you understand the process.
    • This section should be 350 – 400 words.

Due by 11/8 Tuesday, 11/15 at 11:00pm — we will have time to discuss your work in class on Tuesday

Network Visualizations

Four Network MapsIn this part of the assignment, we will be moving from our Grounded Theory analysis into network visualizations using Gephi. The processes will be very similar to the one you used to create the homework for November 22. Each of the parts should be posted to your study web page below Benchmark 3. Use clear subheadings.

The three parts to this assignment are:

1. In-Degree and Out-Degree Network Maps of Your Archive
Create In-Degree and Out-Degree Network Maps for at least a 2-3 week range of your archive. The 2-3 week range should be for archives with many more tweets, such as TV show hashtags. If your archive has fewer tweets, you might use the whole archive. The key determinant will be when you calculate the Modularity in Gephi. If you find that you have over 100 communities, then you should use a small date range.

If your date range from the homework for 11/22 fits within these guidelines, you can use the visuals you created for homework for this part of the assignment. You can see the dates you archived and how to set the dates below:

dmitcat-datesPost large images of each of the visualizations and then discuss them in terms of the following:

  • the settings you used to complete the visualization: layout system, degree range settings, and communities emerging from the Modularity statistics;
  • tell the story of the visualizations; that is, what do the visualizations reveal about your archive? (300 words)

2. One or More Cohesive Subgroups
From your the In-Degree and Out-Degree network maps you used in Part 1, choose 1 or more cohesive subgroups. Post pictures of the subgroup(s) with usernames and address the following:

  • Why are these users grouped together? How do they connect to the larger archive? That is, EXACTLY why and what story does that tell? (250 words for first subgroup; 100 words for each additional subgroup)

For each subgroup you discuss beyond the first, you can receive up to 10 extra credit points.

3. Co-Hashtag Graph
Create a co-hashtag graph by following the below tutorial:

Post pictures of your co-hashtag graph, including the hashtags on the nodes, and address the following:

  • Tell the story of your co-hashtag graph. That is, what do the hashtags associated with the hashtag you are studying (and the way they are grouped) reveal about the people tweeting? (250 words)
  • Focus on one Modularity Community and discuss why those hashtags are grouped together. Include a close-up screenshot of that Modularity Community. (200 words)

Due Dates
Rough Drafts of the just the images due by your conference with Bill; Upload them to the visualizations folder in Dropbox. Name your visualizations:

  • yourlastname-indegree.png
  • yourlastname-outdegree.png
  • yourlastname-subgroup.png
  • yourlastname-cohashtag.png

12/6: Final Draft of complete posts due on study web site by 11:00pm

Final Data Infographics

For the final project of the semester, we are going to create infographics that tell the story of our semester-long study for a community of people who will be interested in seeing them. That is, those who use the your hashtag. To complete these we will be using Canva or Moovly. You have three options for creating your final infographics:

Option 1: One Large Infographic Designed Using Canva
Full-size infographics work best when they tell the story of a particular subject. In our case, the subject would be your hashtag study, from the initial background work up to and including the network visualizations.

The only design requirements are:

  • 800px width by 2000px height.
  • Find and modify Canva templates at https://www.canva.com/templates/infographics/ or create your own from scratch.
  • Use only Public Domain, Creative Commons, or Fair Use images and icons
    • Note: Infographics are considered critiques so still images from shows or news footage can be used
  • List of Sources that includes URLs for all images or icons used
  • You can use Canva icons, but not Canva photographs
  • Use ethical decision making when determining whether to include tweets and usernames
  • Incorporate 3 course readings that help explain or contextualize your infographic

Option 2: Five Smaller Infographics Designed Using Canva
Whereas a full size infographic works best as a story, these smaller ones can be seen as fragments of a whole. They each don’t need to tell he fully story, but when seen together, a viewer will learn about the study. Each graphic, however, should be able to be understand and appreciated on it’s own. The graphics should cover the initial background work up to and including the network visualizations.

The only design requirements are:

  • 1024px width by 520px height.
  • When starting your design, choose the Twitter Post:
    canva-twitter-post
  • Use only Public Domain, Creative Commons, or Fair Use images and icons
    • Note: Infographics are considered critiques so still images from shows or news footage can be used
  • List of Sources that includes URLs for all images or icons used
  • You can use Canva icons, but not Canva photographs
  • Use ethical decision making when determining whether to include tweets and usernames
  • Incorporate course readings on 3 of the 5 of the infographics

Option 3: One 45 – 60 Second Video Designed Using Moovly
Moovly is a cloud-based video-design application that allows designers to create dynamic videos with animated text and images. I just learned about it this semester from students in #bsocialf16 and was very impressed with what they were able to create in a short period of time. I think you might find it fun to try out.

The only design requirements are:

  • VideoHD 16:9 format:
    moovly format
  • Find the Moovly User Guide and watch videos in their Gallery for ideas.
  • Use only Public Domain, Creative Commons, or Fair Use music, images, and icons
    • Note: Infographics are considered critiques so still images from shows or news footage can be used
  • List of Sources at the end that includes URLs for all music, images, or icons used
  • Use ethical decision making when determining whether to include tweets and usernames
  • Incorporate 3 course readings that help explain or contextualize your infographic

For all options, be sure you adopt visual metaphors that are associated with your hashtag, such as crosses and silver bullets for #TVD, maps and flags for #prayforsyria, and so on. Some might be more difficulty to come up with; if you are having trouble thinking of ideas, we can talk about it.

You have a wide range of flexibility in this project, so think as creatively and expansively as you can. They should be well designed, fun to look at, and informative—in that order. They should also relay the information as clearly as possible in the limited amount of space you have.

Tweet Your Graphics

Prior to posting your final graphics to your course study page, compose a series of tweets in which you tweet graphics using your hashtag and mentioning the top human (that is, not corporate-owned) tweeters and retweeters revealed by your network visualizations. These can include fans, celebrities, and other human beings. Embed (not screenshot) your tweets along with your infographics in your required post on your study page.

Reflections

As a way to help me understand your thought-processes when creating your Infographics, I’d like you to complete three written reflections:

  1. What is your experience with visual and infographic design? What is your experience with Canva and/or Moovly? Considering your experience with visual/infographic design and the software we used, how did you approach creating your visuals? Please walk me step-by-step through your process, being as specific as possible.What would you have liked to have done on your infographic but weren’t able to due to time or inexperience with designing infographics? (250 – 300 words)
  2. Discuss the goals of your infographic(s) in relation to your overall study considering that these are designed specifically to be send to your hashtag communities. That is, how did you construct it for a particular community? Are you, for example, trying to build awareness, advocate for change, or something else? What parts of the infographic do you see enhancing your ability to do just that? How is it different from what you’ve written on your study page (other than it being an infographic, of course)? (250 – 300 words)
  3. Considering the whole semester, what would you have liked to have learned in terms of social media and participatory culture that we did not address? Think also in terms of what you think might be helpful if this course were taught again. (up to 200 words)

Due dates
12/8: Rough drafts of images uploaded to Dropbox; Rough drafts should be:

  • if you choose Option 1: 1/2 of the full infographic
  • if you choose Option 2: 2 of the 5 infographics
  • if you choose Option 3: 30 seconds of video

Tuesday, 12/13: Final Graphics and Reflections due on Study Page by 11:00pm. Post in the following order under the heading Final Infographics:

  1. The Infographics: Include a brief summary of how the graphics were made
  2. Tweets to the Community: Embed the tweets in which you shared your infographics and briefly explain why you tweeted to who you tweeted to
  3. Reflections: Include both reflections

Creating the TAGS 6.1 Archive

To create your TAGS 6.1 archive, please follow this tutorial:

Further archiving guidelines to be given individually based on your project.

Creating the DMI-TCAT Archive

You can find the instructions to set up DMI-TCAT at http://archives.williamwolff.org/dmi-tcat/.

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