Automated Delineation of Subgroups in Web Video: A Medical Activism Case Study

Abstract

Web 2.0 tools in general, and Web video in particular, provide new ways for activists to express their viewpoints to a broad audience. In this paper we deployed tools that have been used to find subgroups automatically in social networks and applied them to the problem of distinguishing between two sides of a controversial issue based on patterns of online interaction. We explored the problem of distinguishing between anti-and pro-vaccination activists based on a social network of videos and associated comments posted on YouTube.Videos for the analysis were selected by submitting the term ''vaccination'' to a search on YouTube. A content analysis of the selected videos was then performed (Keelan et al, 2007) to classify videos as pro-or anti-vaccination. Then, a modified version of the SCAN method (Chin and Chignell, 2008) IntroductionWeb video has become a powerful tool for communicating ideas and expressing opinions. Activists are using Web videos, blogs, podcasts and a number of other tools to disseminate their ideas and to win over converts to any number of causes. In the case of healthcare, activism may sometimes be damaging, if high quality clinical evidence and policies set to benefit society as a whole are over-ruled based on emotional appeals and over-reliance on isolated cases. However, it should also be recognized that activism may sometimes have a salutary effect on medical practice.Recently a number of healthcare issues have become a matter of debate between activists who question the current medical approach, and healthcare professionals who seek to maintain current medical practices. The research reported in this paper studied online medical activism using a case study of YouTube videos that can be divided into anti-vaccination and pro-vaccination videos. The research question asked was: can automated social network analytic methods distinguish between the pro and con sides of a medical issue based on social networks constructed from online interactions?The particular medical issue examined in this case study was vaccination (immunization). While childhood immunization programmes are among the most successful public health interventions, and are based on compelling scientific evidence, public support for universal immunization continues to be undermined by controversy over vaccine safety and efficacy. Champions of a now discredited link between routine immunizations and autism have been successful in garnering public support to change public policy and stimulate public discourse about the safety of routine childhood immunization (Taylor et al, 1999;Hvid et al, 2003). Celebrityadvocates such as Jenny McCarthy have successfully mobilised public campaigns arguing for a moratorium on standard immunization practices. Organized resistance to routine childhood immunization and the defence of immunization by prominent scientists and public health organizations has led to two polarized camps, one comprised of staunch vaccine critics on the one hand and the other consisting of defenders of immunizations...

Headless, Hungry, and Unhealthy: A Video Content Analysis of Obese Persons Portrayed in Online News

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“…Online video sharing has the potential to communicate health information to a large segment of the population (Chin et al, 2010). Websites offering video streaming to users, such as YouTube (http:// www.youtube.com) allow user tagging, viewer rating, commenting and ranking, and enable the formation of groups around certain viewpoints (Keelan, Pavri-Garcia, Tomlinson, & Wilson, 2007;Lange, 2007).…”

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