The cultural environment: measuring culture with big data

Bail, Christopher A.

doi:10.1007/s11186-014-9216-5

Cited by 243 publications

(208 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Unfortunately, much of the early analyses of large amounts of naturally occurring and digitized text data were first restricted to experts with the technical expertise to collect and organize it (e.g., computer scientists), resulting in "big" data content analyses that lacked theoretical depth or meaningful focus (35). This paper provides a model that focuses simultaneously on the fine-grained discursive content of texts and at the same time the ways in which these texts are embedded and produced within larger, complex, and densely connected socio-political networks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change

Farrell

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

451

248

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Drawing on large-scale computational data and methods, this research demonstrates how polarization efforts are influenced by a patterned network of political and financial actors. These dynamics, which have been notoriously difficult to quantify, are illustrated here with a computational analysis of climate change politics in the United States. The comprehensive data include all individual and organizational actors in the climate change countermovement (164 organizations), as well as all written and verbal texts produced by this network between 1993-2013 (40,785 texts, more than 39 million words). Two main findings emerge. First, that organizations with corporate funding were more likely to have written and disseminated texts meant to polarize the climate change issue. Second, and more importantly, that corporate funding influences the actual thematic content of these polarization efforts, and the discursive prevalence of that thematic content over time. These findings provide new, and comprehensive, confirmation of dynamics long thought to be at the root of climate change politics and discourse. Beyond the specifics of climate change, this paper has important implications for understanding ideological polarization more generally, and the increasing role of private funding in determining why certain polarizing themes are created and amplified. Lastly, the paper suggests that future studies build on the novel approach taken here that integrates largescale textual analysis with social networks.funding | polarization | politics | computational social science | climate change I deological polarization presents increasingly important challenges for sustainability science and solutions for climate change. Much attention has been given to the outcomes of polarization by demonstrating its effect on individual choices about energy-efficient behavior (1), individual attitudes about climate change (2-6), and variation in individuals' trust in science as a whole, especially among Americans who self-identify as politically conservative (7). Climate change is not the first issue with scientific consensus to become so highly polarized (8, 9), but the magnitude of its ecological and human-health effects-and the socio-political roadblocks for mitigating emissions-have led to a wide body of attitudinal research documenting the current sociopolitical environment of polarization that exists.Despite this fruitful body of individual-level research, we have considerably less data and understanding about the underlying organizational and financial factors that made polarization possible in the first place. Qualitative and historical research has suggested that well-funded and well-organized "contrarian" campaigns are especially important for spreading skepticism or denial where scientific consensus exist-such as in the present case of global warming, or in historical contrarian efforts to create doubt about the link between smoking and cancer (8-15). The primary way that contrarian campaigns create skepticism and ideological polarizati...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change

Farrell

2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

451

248

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“…To arrive at a meaningful volume of text, a relatively large sample (in qualitative research terms), needs to be generated. At the same time, we have little or no contextual data about those who are writing the tweets (Bail, 2014). Most of the conversations we looked at were dialogical rather than involving multiple actors, and many appeared to be between people with an existing relationship.…”

Section: Methodology: Following Feelings Onlinementioning

confidence: 99%

Empathy Rituals: Small Conversations about Emotional Distress on Twitter

Brownlie

Shaw

2018

Sociology

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There is growing research interest in the sharing of emotions through social media. Usually centred on 'newsworthy' events and collective 'flows' of emotion, this work is often computationally driven. This article presents an interaction-led analysis of small data from Twitter to illustrate how this kind of intensive focus can 'thicken' claims about emotions, and particularly empathy. Drawing on Goffman's work on ritual, we introduce and then apply the idea of 'empathy rituals' to exchanges about emotional distress on Twitter, a platform primarily researched using big data approaches. While the potential of Goffman's work has been explored in some depth in relation to digital performances, its emotional dimension has been less fully examined. Through a focus on Twitter conversations, we show how reading small data can inform computational social science claims about emotions and add to sociological understanding of emotion in (digital) publics.

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“…The implications of the exponential increase in information production and storage have only just begun to be considered. Bail (2014) notes that, in 2002, the volume of data accumulated in one year was the equivalent to all the data that had been amassed throughout human history to that point. In 2011, the 2002 volume of data was being collected every two days.…”

Section: Archives On the Internetmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to Bail (2014), it is important that the social sciences in general recognize the opportunities opened up by access to this big data, but remain clear about the difficulties of operationalizing research when dealing with such a large mass of potential information. The logic of archiving and the means of examining these databanks are crucial to making operational any research that uses big data.…”

Section: Amon Barrosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For his part, Featherstone (2000) makes it clear that the definition of what is or is not able to be archived changes according to the socio-cultural context of the practice. The value of what has been processed and archived itself alters over time and we have witnessed a paradigm shift in the meanings and practices that constitute archives, caused by the internet, by information technology in general (FEATHERSTONE, 2006) and by big data (BAIL, 2014).…”

Section: Final Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Archives and the “Archive”: dialogue and an agenda of research in organization studies

Barros

2016

Organ. Soc.

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T his text considers the "Archive" as a concept and a transitional space and to bring together discussions from history and organizations in relation to theoretical and methodological concerns involving the use of archives. It sets out from the supposition that broadening our understanding of these terms may support historical research in Management to advance new questions about of a range of objects, including documents and archives. During this process we focus on the changes brought about by advances in information technology, particularly the internet, and put forward certain considerations concerning Organization Studies that rely on archives. The conclusion indicates that archives and the Archive are constituent elements of practices and structures, and that the field would benefit from a research agenda that took into consideration: 1) greater methodological awareness about the implications of the use of documents and archives; 2) discussions about organizations that archive and how archives shape practices within these organizations; 3) studies of already available documents, including those online; 4) an interrogation of knowledge in Management in relation to Archives.Key Words: Organization Studies and History. Archives. Documents.os Arquivos e o "Arquivo": diálogos com e umA AgendA de pesquisA em estudos orgAnizAcionAis Resumo E ste texto pretende discutir o "Arquivo" enquanto conceito e enquanto espaço (em transição) e tem como objetivo aproximar as discussões em história e organizações das preocupações teóricas e metodológicas que envolvem o uso de arquivos. Parte-se do pressuposto que aprofundar o entendimento desses termos pode contribuir para que a pesquisa histórica em Administração avance como novos questionamentos sobre diversos objetos, inclusive os documentos e os arquivos. No percurso foi dado foco às mudanças trazidas pelo avanço das tecnologias de informação, especialmente da internet, e foram realizadas algumas ponderações sobre os Estudos Organizacionais que se valem de arquivos. A conclusão aponta que os arquivos e o Arquivo são elementos constituintes de práticas e de estruturas e que o campo se beneficiaria de uma agenda de pesquisa que considerasse 1) maior consciência metodológica sobre as implicações do uso de documentos e arquivos; 2) discutir as organizações que arquivam e como os arquivos impactam em práticas de atores na organização; 3) pesquisas sobre documentos já disponibilizados, inclusive online; 4) interrogar os conhecimentos da Administração em sua relação com Arquivos. Palavras-chave:Estudos Organizacionais e História, Arquivos, Documentos.

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The cultural environment: measuring culture with big data

Cited by 243 publications

References 53 publications

Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change

Corporate funding and ideological polarization about climate change

Empathy Rituals: Small Conversations about Emotional Distress on Twitter

Archives and the “Archive”: dialogue and an agenda of research in organization studies

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