Nina Cesare

Using Twitter for Demographic and Social Science Research Tools for Data Collection and Processing

Despite recent and growing interest in using Twitter to examine human behavior and attitudes, there is still significant room for growth regarding the ability to leverage Twitter data for social science research. In particular, gleaning demographic information about Twitter users—a key component of much social science research—remains a challenge. This article develops an accurate and reliable data processing approach for social science researchers interested in using Twitter data to examine behaviors and attitudes, as well as the demographic characteristics of the populations expressing or engaging in them. Using information gathered from Twitter users who state an intention to not vote in the 2012 presidential election, we describe and evaluate a method for processing data to retrieve demographic information reported by users that is not encoded as text (e.g., details of images) and evaluate the reliability of these techniques. We end by assessing the challenges of this data collection strategy and discussing how large-scale social media data may benefit demographic researchers.

Developments in Anti-Trafficking Efforts: 2008–2011

Human trafficking has drawn increasing public attention since the early 2000s, accompanied by significant developments in anti-trafficking efforts (ATEs) around the world. Focusing on ATE developments since 2008, this article provides statistical data on 586 governmental, intergovernmental, and nongovernmental agencies and organizations engaged in ATE, including their geographical bases and areas of operation, and the types of trafficking and victims on which these actors’ ATEs are focused. Second, this article analyzes changes between 2008 and 2011 in the prevalence and robustness of eight types of ATEs: (a) research; (b) policy advocacy; (c) awareness-raising; (d) prevention; (e) intervention; (f) law enforcement; (g) restoration; and (h) equipping. Data for this developmental analysis were gathered through an 85-measure structured content analysis of the Web sites from a panel of approximately 150 geographically diverse agencies and organizations, sampled purposively from a pool of over 586 actors. Findings evidence large increases in the prevalence and robustness of reported ATEs in research, awareness-raising, prevention, and restoration and moderate increases in intervention, enforcement, equipping, and advocacy. Findings are also reported by geographical region, pointing to substantial increases in restoration and enforcement in South America, equipping in the Caribbean, and enforcement in Southeast Asia.

Mourning and memory in the twittersphere

Abstract Emerging work in the field of social media and mourning suggests that social media spaces have changed the landscape of grief by encouraging mourners to form communities online, post public statements about loss, and maintain continuing bonds with the deceased. While existing studies restrict their analyses to public or private online spaces, we examine a space that is suited to both private communication and information broadcast. In this paper, we analyse mentions of deceased Twitter users and find that Twitter facilitates multiple types of mourning behaviours previously identified in isolation within other online spaces. While some Twitter users engage directly with the deceased and display evidence of continuing bonds, others use Twitter to comment on the death of high profile individuals or individuals whose death sparked their interest – often connecting these deaths to broader topics, including current events and calls for social change. Overall, our findings suggest that Twitter is a unique online space that encourages users to engage in a variety of personal and public communication that ranges from highly personal and intimate interaction to abstracted and impersonal commenting.

Promises and Pitfalls of Using Digital Traces for Demographic Research

Abstract The digital traces that we leave online are increasingly fruitful sources of data for social scientists, including those interested in demographic research. The collection and use of digital data also presents numerous statistical, computational, and ethical challenges, motivating the development of new research approaches to address these burgeoning issues. In this article, we argue that researchers with formal training in demography—those who have a history of developing innovative approaches to using challenging data—are well positioned to contribute to this area of work. We discuss the benefits and challenges of using digital trace data for social and demographic research, and we review examples of current demographic literature that creatively use digital trace data to study processes related to fertility, mortality, and migration. Focusing on Facebook data for advertisers—a novel “digital census” that has largely been untapped by demographers—we provide illustrative and empirical examples of how demographic researchers can manage issues such as bias and representation when using digital trace data. We conclude by offering our perspective on the road ahead regarding demography and its role in the data revolution.

Multi-stage Collaborative filtering for Tweet Geolocation

Data from social media platforms such as Twitter can be used to analyze severe weather reports and foodborne illness outbreaks. Government officials use online reports for early estimation of the impact of catastrophes and to aid resource distribution. For online reports to be useful they must be geotagged, but location is often not available. Less then one percent of users share their location information and/or acquisition of significant sample of geolocation messages is prohibitively expensive. In this paper, we propose a multi-stage iterative model based on the popular matrix factorization technique. This algorithm uses the partial information and exploits the relationship of messages, location, and keywords to recommend locations for non-geotagged messages. We present this model for geotagging messages using recommender systems and discussion the potential applications and next steps in this work.

Examining Community Policing on Twitter: Precinct Use and Community Response

A number of high-profile incidents have highlighted tensions between citizens and police, bringing issues of police-citizen trust and community policing to the forefront of the public’s attention. Efforts to mediate this tension emphasize the importance of promoting interaction and developing social relationships between citizens and police. This strategy – a critical component of community policing – may be employed in a variety of settings, including social media. While the use of social media as a community policing tool has gained attention from precincts and law enforcement oversight bodies, the ways in which police are expected to use social media to meet these goals remains an open question. This study seeks to explore how police are currently using social media as a community policing tool. It focuses on Twitter – a functionally flexible social media space – and considers whether and how law enforcement agencies are co-negotiating norms of engagement within this space, as well as how the public responds to the behavior of police accounts.