This practical workshop led by
Prof. Richard Rogers (University of Amsterdam) historicises and theorises digital
methods, situating them as a part of the computational turn
in internet-related research, however distinct from big data, and
contrasts them ontologically and epistemologically from virtual methods,
or the importation of methods from the humanities and the social sciences onto
the web. It subsequently introduces the study of the ‘natively digital’
(and the notion itself) and discusses the prospects of making findings or
having research outcomes that may be grounded in the online, putting
forward the notion of ‘online groundedness’.
The workshop is
practical, introducing how to do digital methods through discussions of how to
study Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Reddit, 4chan as
well as Telegram. Participants discuss the research questions as well as the
outputs of such methods as cross-lingual analysis (for Wikipedia),
audience segmentation (Twitter), misinformation engagement (Facebook),
geolocation and antagonistic hashtag analysis (Instagram), subscription
networks and algorithmic excitability (YouTube), national subreddits
(Reddit), general posts and the politics of deletion (4Chan) and deplatforming
and cross-platform analysis (Telegram).
Organised by the CDCS Digital Social Science cluster
Chair: Dr. Morgan Currie,
School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh
This event was first
broadcast on Thursday 1 October, 2020