Researching Online Communities

Researching Online Communities

and Cyberactivism

Methodology

Shadi Abu-Ayyash

Research Questions

Examining:

Online Collective Unified Discourse

Identity

Bonds & Ties

Study Case: pro-Palestine Activists and Solidarity Groups

1. Geographical basis: Ireland, Scotland & England

2. Groups in Major Cities

• Example: Groups in Ireland

3.On & Off-Campus Groups

4. Online Activity

websites, blogs, email lists & social media

Interviews-Semi-Structured-

• First Stage:

Pilot Interviews- September 2012: 8 Irish, Scottish and English Activists

• Second Stage:

Large Scale Interviews-October 2012-Feb.2013

Questions Focus

- Offline Activism Element- Online Activism Involvement- Nature of Online Content- Relation Among Cyber Activists- Expressing Self-Identity and Collective

Identity Online

Online Surveys

• Participants:

Targeting university groups and activists who are much more active online.

• Selection of participants will be based on:

- Internet Activity- Gender- Ethnic Background- Level of University Education* Using SurveyMonkey

Survey Questions

• Constancy of Online Activism

• Time & Effort Contributed to the Cause Online

• Type of Online Content Posted:- Organising offline/on ground activities?- Exchange of Information?

Online Content Analysis

• Analysing content of:- Groups Official Websites

- Content of Newsletter/Press Releases

- Social Media network Groups

- Activists Blogs

Online Content Analysis

• Selected Content posted in 2011, 2012 and 2013

• Considering:- Major Political Events- Level of Online and Offline Activities

Analysing Text, Image and Video

• Terms Used• Source of Contents: Original, Shared or

Copied from Other Sources• Does it express all members’ position(s)?• Comments/replies: - Positive- Negative- Neutral

Nvivo

• For organising qualitative data collected from interviews (text & audio content) online, and questionnaires

• Nvivo 10 would analyse social media and webpages content

Visualising Data

• Mapping Major Groups in Ireland and Britain

• Online Connectivity Among Transnational Activist

• Online Relation Among Activists in Social Media Networks

• Groups/Activists Level of Online Involvement

NodeXL* Examining information exchange among activists who are twittering /tweeting trending topics on Twitter

*Example of connection among users tweeting the phrase welcome2palestine

Gephi to visualise ties among FB group

members using Netvizz application

Example of Connectivity among Westminster University-Palestine solidarity group members on Facebook

Expected Outcomes

• Emergence of Cyber Groups Collective Identity

• Effect of Online Involvement on Offline/Ground Activism

• What Decides the Strength of Ties Among Online Activists: Topic, Geography, Political Position, Level of Participation?

In short

RQs Bonds, Identity & Discourse

Data Interviews, Online Surveys & Online Content Analysis

Focus Groups Offline and Online Activity & Geography

Software Nvivo, SurveyMonkey, Gephi, Netvizz &

NodeXl

Results 2014/2015

Useful Links

• Gephi: https://gephi.org/

• Survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/

• Nvivo:http://www.nuigalway.ie/cs/staff/software/nvivo.html

• Netvizz: http://apps.facebook.com/netvizz/• NodeXl : http://nodexl.codeplex.com/

Thank You

Shadi Abu-AyyashHuston School of Film & Digital Media, NUIGshadi.abu-ayyash@nuigalway.ie http://actdigital.wordpress.com/

@shadi3000