New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery)

New Media and Public Communication: Mapping Australian User-Created Content in Online Social Networks

Understanding the ways people contribute to and use the Internet for a wide range of purposes is important to Australia's future from both a social and an economic perspective. Effective, evidence-based policy depends on developing a vastly improved understanding of the current level of Australians' online activities and interests. This project provides crucial, detailed baseline data on the social, cultural and technological dynamics of Australian online public communication, which can inform further government initiatives to strengthen the country's digital economy and to maximise civic engagement through media participation.

ARC Discover Project, 2010-2012

Snurb — Sunday 1 May 2011 23:56

Some Long-Overdue Updates

e-Government | Produsers and Produsage | Gatewatching and Citizen Journalism | Social Media Network Mapping | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Twitter | Social Media | Eidos 2011 | EMPA 2011 | Crisis Communication | CeDEM 2011 |

Sorry: it’s been a while since I’ve updated this blog. Largely, that’s because I’ve been so busy with our work on the Mapping Online Publics project – see the project blog for all the latest information. Following the various natural disasters we’ve endured – in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan, to begin with –, that work has focussed for the moment especially on the use of social media for crisis communication, with plenty of outcomes already. In particular, this includes our two most recent presentations:

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Snurb — Sunday 1 May 2011 22:59

Tracking Crises on Twitter: Analysing #qldfloods and #eqnz (EMPA 2011)

New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Twitter | Social Media | EMPA 2011 | Crisis Communication |

EMPA 2011

Tracking Crises on Twitter: Analysing #qldfloods and #eqnz

Axel Bruns

  • 12 Apr. 2011 – Emergency Media and Public Affairs conference, Canberra
Tracking Crises on Twitter: Analysing #qldfloods and #eqnz

View more webinars from Axel Bruns

Social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter have now emerged as important
additions to the arsenal of crisis communications tools – connecting emergency services
and mainstream media sources with affected citizens on the ground as well as onlookers
from further afield, and functioning also as a backchannel which can be used to send
feedback and requests to the authorities. This paper presents a close analysis of recent
events such as the Queensland floods and the Christchurch earthquake to provide important
insights into the way Twitter was used during these disasters, as well as outlining
approaches to tracking social media activities during future crisis events.

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Snurb — Wednesday 24 November 2010 13:43

Some More Presentations to Finish the Year

Politics | Elections | Journalism | Blogs and Blogging | Gatewatching and Citizen Journalism | Industrial Journalism | Social Media Network Mapping | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Twitter | Conferences |

As 2010 draws to a close, its perhaps appropriate that my last couple of conference presentations for the year take a somewhat retrospective nature, summarising and reflecting on the 2010 Australian federal election, with a particular view on what we’ve learned about the state of Australian journalism in general and the role of Twitter in election coverage and debate in particular. I’ll present both those papers at different conferences in Sydney this Friday (26 November):

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Snurb — Wednesday 24 November 2010 13:22

Election 2010: The View from Twitter (InASA 2010)

Politics | Elections | Journalism | Social Media Network Mapping | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Twitter | Conferences |

InASA ‘Double Vision’ 2010

Election 2010: The View from Twitter

Axel Bruns

  • 26 Nov. 2010 – International Australian Studies Association ‘Double Vision’ conference, Sydney
Election 2010: The View from Twitter

View more presentations from Axel Bruns.

Though it may not have had a substantial effect on the eventual outcome, Twitter was a highly visible component of the 2010 Australian election coverage. During the campaign, the #ausvotes hashtag alone generated over 400,000 tweets. This paper provides an overview of key trends in Twitter-based discussion of the Australian election.

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Snurb — Saturday 23 October 2010 00:15

Mapping Online Publics in Australia

Blogs and Blogging | Social Media Network Mapping | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Twitter | AoIR 2010 |

Gothenburg.
My own paper (with Jean Burgess, Thomas Nicolai, and Lars Kirchhoff) starts the final session of this second day at AoIR 2010. Below is the Powerpoint, and I’ll try to add the audio some time soon the audio is online now, too.

Mapping Australian User-Created Content: Methodological, Technological and Ethical Challenges

View more presentations from Axel Bruns.
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Snurb — Friday 15 October 2010 23:36

#ausvotes Twitter Activity during the 2010 Australian Election

Politics | Elections | Blogs and Blogging | Social Media Network Mapping | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Twitter | ECREA 2010 |

Hamburg.
My own paper was next at ECREA 2010. Here’s the presentation – and I also recorded the audio for it, and will add it as soon as I can which is now attached to the slides. As it turned out, one of the other presenters in the session also broadcast the whole event to Justin.tv – so go there to see it all in action (my presentation starts around 52 minutes in, and you can also see the other papers on our panel)…

Key Events in Australian (Micro-)Blogging during 2010

View more presentations from Axel Bruns.
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Snurb — Tuesday 12 October 2010 20:24

Mapping Online Publics: Methodological Observations

Politics | Blogs and Blogging | Social Media Network Mapping | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | ECREA 2010 |

Bremen.
The next speaker at ‘Doing Global Media Studies’ is my CCI colleague Jean Burgess, presenting on our Mapping Online Publics research project; this presentation is the methodological part, and I’ll show some more results at the main ECREA 2010 conference later in the week. Our research is part of an ARC Discovery project exploring methods for examining Australian social media use – the aim is to develop methods for computer-assisted cultural analysis. Over the course of the three years, we’ll examine blogs, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube.

Here’s Jean’s Powerpoint, and my transcript is below, too. I’ll …

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Snurb — Tuesday 14 September 2010 13:55

Coming Attractions

Travel | Produsers and Produsage | New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery) | Conferences |

It’s that time of the year again – I’m frantically working to get ready for my October overseas trip, which will take me through much of northern Europe. Here’s what’s on the agenda – if you’re in the neighbourhood, say hi (and connect with me on Dopplr to make catching up easier).

My first stop is in Berlin, where we’ve scheduled a couple of workshops for our Mapping Online Publics ARC Discovery team (involving my CCI colleague Jean Burgess as well as our partner researchers Lars Kirchhoff and Thomas Nicolai from Sociomantic Labs). From there, I’m heading on to …

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New Media and Public Communication (ARC Discovery)