Published July 20, 2017 | Version v2
Conference paper Open

Semantic social networks: a new approach to scaling digital ethnography

  • 1. Edgeryders
  • 2. University College London
  • 3. University of Bordeaux

Description

We propose a data-based approach to doing ethnographic research in a digital environment. It has three main components. First, it treats online conversational environments as human communities that ethnographers can engage with as they would in onsite fieldwork. Second, it represents those conversations and the fieldnotes made by researchers thereon in network form. We call these networks semantic social networks, as they incorporate information on social interaction and their meaning. They encode a map of the associations between key concepts as perceived by informants as a group. Third, it uses methods borrowed from network science to process these data. We present an application of this method to a large online conversation about community provision of health and social care, and discuss its potential for harnessing collective intelligence.

Files

insci-2017-opencare.pdf

Files (631.5 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:179b867fd20e9c3c0ad973318cbdc13e
631.5 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Funding

OPENCARE – Open Participatory Engagement in Collective Awareness for REdesign of Care Services 688670
European Commission