Özkula, S.M., Reilly, P.J. orcid.org/0000-0002-6890-778X and Hayes, J. (2022) Easy data, same old platforms? A systematic review of digital activism methodologies. Information, Communication & Society, 26 (7). pp. 1470-1489. ISSN 1369-118X
Abstract
Burgess and Bruns (2015) have linked the computational turn in social media research to an increase in the number of studies focussing exclusively on ‘easy data’, such as the ‘low hanging fruit’ provided by Twitter hashtags. This paper explores whether there is a preponderance of such easy data in digital activism research through a systematic review of relevant journal articles published between 2011 and 2018 (N = 315). Specifically, it examines whether computational digital methods have become increasingly prominent in digital activism research during this period. A key focus of the paper is the extent to which digital activism research focused on easily accessible Twitter data, and whether these were obtained via standard API services. Results indicate that (1) traditional research methodologies were more commonly deployed in these articles than digital methods, but (2) Twitter was the most researched platform in the corpus, and (3) single-platform hashtag studies were an archetype of digital activism research alongside single-platform Facebook studies and holistic approaches (hybrid, multi-method & multi-sited, e.g., ethnography). The paper concludes by advocating for greater diversity in terms of the methodological approaches adopted in digital activism research.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Information, Communication and Society. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | easy data; digital activism; digital bias; digital methods; APIs |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Information School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Jan 2022 07:29 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2024 10:14 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/1369118x.2021.2013918 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:182384 |