The 2016 US presidential election is the most "electric event" in electoral history—in the fullest sense of the term. Social media is playing an unprecedented role in the campaigns, allowing the candidates to interact with and influence voters to a greater extent than ever before (via memes, targeted advertisements, hashtags, bots, and other mechanisms). According to Frank Speiser of SocialFlow, "This is the first true social media election."
Following our interdisciplinary panel discussion, this interactive hands-on workshop will give participants the opportunity to analyse a sample of social media data related to the election. Spaces for the workshop are limited; the workshop follows a ticket for the discussion does not guarantee entry. You are also welcome to RSVP only for the workshop.
Workshop leaders
Dr Scott A. Hale is the Senior Data Scientist at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, and a Faculty Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute. He is particularly interested in the areas of multilingualism and user experience, mobilization/collective action, and data visualization. His recent publications include a co-authored book entitled Political Turbulence: How Social Media Shape Collective Action and a series of articles on the roles bilingual users play in social media platforms.
Peter Fairfax worked in polling and data analysis for lobbying and campaign groups before moving to Brandwatch as a Research Analyst. He is particularly interested in creating robust and innovative social media analysis methodologies as well as the crossover between social media research and opinion polling.
#SocialHumanities
Contact name: Yin Yin Lu
Contact email: yin.lu@balliol.ox.ac.uk
Website: RSVP on Eventbrite
Audience: Open to all
Media: #NeverHillary vs #NeverTrump Panel Discussion
