Challenges of tracking
topical discussion
networks online
ICA 2010
Singapore, 25 June 2010
Tim Highfield Queensland University of Technology
Lars Kirchhoff Sociomantic Labs
Thomas Nicolai Sociomantic Labs

Topical discussion networks
the collection of sites or users commenting
on a particular event or issue, and
the links formed between them

Twitter
- trending topics, keywords, retweets
- hashtag – e.g. #ica2010, #spill
- 'flag tag' for World Cup
Marc Smith and NodeXL
[connectedaction.net]
Blogs
- keywords, links
- collectives, communities

Network of Twitter users
mentioning or linking to
'This is Perth' video,
September 2009.
Connections based
on retweets.

Project overview
comparative study of Australian
and French political blogging
January-August 2009:
post/article content and out-links
collected from blogs and media sites
French sites: 217 active (148 blogs)
22,989 blog posts collected

Initial steps
network formed between blogroll links
from the 217 sites represented in sample
(semi-permanent network)
topical networks formed around specific
themes or events, located within time
periods and through keywords
comparison of network and link types

Blogroll
network:
French
political
blogs

Tracking topical networks
Pilot study: French political blog posts
on the inauguration of Barack Obama
[20 January 2009]
Posts from 16-25 January 2009 isolated,
out-links from these posts used for study
Post titles and links containing keywords
used to locate topical network

All out-links,
16-25 January 2009

Obama-specific
topical network

Challenges
Link types: blogroll vs. in-text
Lifespan of links:
for how long can in-text citations be
treated as 'current'?
Arbitrary boundaries to topical periods
Representation of findings,
avoiding cumulative data
Link semantics

Further directions
Additional case studies
Dynamics, day-by-day linking
Refinement of method
Supporting content analysis
Applications for non-blog networks

Tim Highfield
t.highfield@qut.edu.au
timhighfield.net
twitter: @timhighfield
Lars Kirchhoff
lars.kirchhoff@sociomantic.com
sociomantic.com
twitter: @sociomantic
Thomas Nicolai
thomas.nicolai@sociomantic.com