WEBOMETRICSINSTITUTE

Computational Social Sci-ence Approaches to Studying

Political CommunicationAsso. Prof. Han Woo PARKCyberEmotions Research Insti-tuteDept. of Media & Communica-tionYeungNam University214-1 Dae-dong, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do 712-749Republic of Koreahttp://www.hanpark.net http://asia-triplehelix.org A Keynote to 2012 International Communication Association’s Preconference

New Media and Citizenship in Asia: Social Media, Politics, and Community-Building.

Existing approaches in science and reality

WCUWEBOMETRICSINSTITUTEINVESTIGATING INTERNET-BASED POLITICS WITH E-RESEARCH TOOLS

Park, H. W. (2010). Mapping the e-science landscape in South Korea using the webometrics method. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 15, No. 2. 211 – 229

Computational perspective based on the use of high performance computing to facilitate high-speed processing of large volumes of digital data

e-Science in humanities and social sciences

The networking perspective based on virtual collaboration through the Grid

Two major strands exist in computa-

tional science (also called e-Science)

?A third alternative strand

Computational Social Science (CSS)

A minor but growing approach to the study of society

Focus on the methodological perspective based on the use of new digital tools to manage

the data deluge

CSS Approach1. development of webometric tools to automate

social Internet research process (e.g., data col-lection and analysis from search engines, SNS and microblogging sites)

2. experimentation with new types of data visual-ization (e.g, HNA and dynamic geographical mappings using Google)

Why CSS?

• Savage and Burrows (2007, p. 886) laments, “Fifty years ago, academic social scientists might be seen as occupying the apex of the – generally limited – social sci-ence research ‘apparatus’. Now they occupy an increasingly mar-ginal position in the huge research infrastructure.

Bonacich, P. (2004). The Invasion of the Physicists. Social Networks 26(3): 285-288

7

All modes are wrong but some are use-ful

- Emergence of data author on dataverse

“Webometrics refers to a set of research methods that illustrates texts and their web linkages as a network and quantitatively examine the spreadable aspects of web-mediated communication activities of social ac-tors and issues (Jenkins, 2011), in comparison to tra-ditional methods (Savage & Burrows, 2007; Salganik & Levy, 2012). ” (by Han Woo Park)

http://participatorysociety.org/wiki/index.php?title=Online_Research

Seminal publications: * 실시간 피인용률 보기 Garton, L., Haythornthwaite, C., & Wellman, B.

(1997). Studying online social networks. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(1).

Wellman, B. (2001). 'Computer networks as social networks,' Science, Vol. 293, Issue (14), pp. 2031-2034.

Park, H. W. (2003). Hyperlink network analysis: A new method for the study of social structure on the web. Connections, 25(1), 49-61 .

Park, H. W., & Thelwall, M. (2003). Hyperlink analyses of the World Wide Web: A review. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 8(4).

Recent special issues related to CSS Special issues

- Social Science Computer Review, 2011, 29(3) Theme: Social Networking Activities Across Countries

- Asian Journal of Communication, 2011, 21(5), Theme: Online Social Capital and Participation in Asia-Pacific

- Scientometrics, 2012, 90(2)Theme : Triple Helix and Innovation in Asia using Sciento-metrics, Webometrics, and Informetrics

- Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2012, 17(2)Theme: Hyperlinked Society

Selected publications related to CSS Recent publications

- Park, H. W., Barnett, G. A., & Chung, C. J. (2011). Structural changes in the global hyperlink network: Centralization or diversification. Global networks. 11 (4). 522–542

- Lim, Y. S., & Park, H. W. (2011). How Do Congressional Members Appear on the Web?: Tracking the Web Visibility of South Korean Politicians. Government Information Quarterly. 28 (4), 514-521.

- Sandra González-Bailón, Rafael E. Banchs and Andreas Kaltenbrunner (2012). Emotions, Public Opinion, and U.S. Presidential Approval Rates: A 5-Year Analysis of Online Political Discussions Human Communication Research

- Sams, S., Park, H. W. (2012 forthcoming). The Presence of Hyperlinks and Messages on Social Networking Sites: A Case Study of Cyworld in Korea. Journal of Computer-Mediated Com-munication

- Nam, Y., Lee, Y.-O., Park, H.W. (2013, March). Can web ecology provide a clearer understand-ing of people’s information behavior during election campaigns?. Social Science Information.

Web Hyperlink Networks as Social Net-works

Frequently occurring key words in e-science webpages in South Korea

E-science in Asia: Dreams and realities for social science research

Created on Many Eyes(http://many-eyes.com)

Results

Park, H. W. (2010). Mapping the e-science landscape in South Korea using the webometrics method. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 15, No. 2. 211 – 229

Websites retrieved more than two times

Note: Websites are larger according to their frequency of retrieval; however, heir colors and locations are randomly-chosen for the best visualization

Park, H. W. (2010). Mapping the e-science landscape in South Korea using the webometrics method. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 15, No. 2. 211 – 229

Author types of Korea e-science websites

Media sites were the most frequently retrieved, with slightly less than half of the sites for this study (44 out of 104 sites)

Author types No. of sites Percent

Mass media 27 26.0

Public/Government 18 17.3

Technology Media 17 16.3

Portals/Search engines/Blogs 15 14.4

Private/Industry 14 13.5

Academic/University 13 12.5

Total 104 100.0

Park, H. W. (2010). Mapping the e-science landscape in South Korea using the webometrics method. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 15, No. 2. 211 – 229

Co-link network analysis

Park, H. W. (2010). Mapping the e-science landscape in South Korea using the webometrics method. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 15, No. 2. 211 – 229

Inter-link network analysis diagram among Korean e-science sites within public domain

Park, H. W. (2010). Mapping the e-science landscape in South Korea using the webometrics method. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 15, No. 2. 211 – 229

WCU WEBOMETRICS INSTITUTE

Conclusion Mindset shift

• Scholars and researchers in social sciences need to recognize and acknowledge the op-portunities that are available

– E.g. access to vast data and new modes of data collection and analysis

• The emerging era of networked research leads to two possible scenarios –Education and training programs have to be put in place to produce a new breed of social scientists with combined expertise and knowledge of computational science and so-cial sciences–What is more actionable in the shorter term is to engender and promote collaborative ef-forts between these different fields

http://blog.jove.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Publishing.png

WCU WEBOMETRICS INSTITUTE

Conclusion Mindset shift

• In Korea, there appears to be a lack of desire for either distance international collaboration through the Ac-cess Grid or the use of high performance computing facilities among social scientists

– Little demand as social scientists’ current choices for their research practices are still shaped by offline facilities rather than online tech-nology capabilities

– Policy-makers and technology developers to involve social scientists in design and application processes, but change in mindset among researchers is needed to transform e-science into a reality for social scientists

Good role model in the West– Oxford Internet Institute, The Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities

and Social Sciences, The Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Har-vard University

The Future of Computational Social Science