Blog | Page 2 | Andreas Jungherr

28 Jan 2020

Andreas Jungherr Publications Permalink

Neue Veröffentlichung: Kommunikation auf Sozialen Netzwerkplattformen

Andreas Jungherr 2020/01/28

Für das neue Handbuch Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung habe ich einen Überblickstext zur Rolle von Kommunikation auf Sozialen Netzwerkplattformen in politischer Kommunikation und Einstellungsbildung geschrieben [Preprint]. Der Text bietet hierzu einen aktuellen Forschungsüberblick.

Auch wenn die Forschung zur Rolle von Sozialen Netzwerkplattformen in der politischen Kommunikation noch am Anfang steht lassen sich bereits einige interessante Punkte in der Forschung identifizieren. Der Text spricht hier neben konzeptionellen, methodischen und grundsätzlichen Fragen zur Funktion dieser Plattformen die folgenden Themen an:

Soziale Netzwerkplattformen als

Orte politischer Information;

Orte politischen Austausches;

Orte politischer Beteiligung; und

Kampagnenwerkzeug.

Eine wichtige bisher in der Forschung noch unterrepräsentierte Perspektive ist die Untersuchung von Sozialen Netzwerkplattformen als Institutionen, die politischen Informationsfluss in Gesellschaften formen:

Die institutionelle Verzahnung zwischen Nachrichtenorganisationen, politischen Akteuren und den Betreibern sozialer Netzwerkplattformen bietet ein reiches bisher nur oberflächlich angerissenes Forschungsobjekt. Mit der steigenden Bedeutung sozialer Netzwerkplattformen als Quelle politischer Information stellt sich auch zunehmend die Frage nach der Transparenz und Regulierung von Algorithmen und Werbung, die Inhalte ausgewählten Nutzergruppen sichtbarer machen oder unsichtbar halten.

Hier liegen auch beträchtliche Forschungspotentiale in der Nutzung von Methoden der Computational Social Science (CSS). Neue umfangreiche Datensätze, die auf Sozialen Netzwerkplattformen gesammelt werden können bieten detaillierte Einblicke in Nutzerverhalten, algorithmisch gesteuerte Eingriffe in individuelle Informationsräume oder das gezielte Targeting von Nutzergruppen durch Anzeigen. Die CSS verspricht also empirisch messbaren Einblick in das Verhalten von Plattformen in abhängig interner und externer Governance. Dies setzt jedoch voraus, dass die CSS aktuelle methodologische Herausforderungen erfolgreich überwindet.

Die Fragen der institutionellen Eigenschaften, Verzahnung und Regulierung von digitalen Plattformen und die Entwicklung der Computational Social Science werden Gesellschaft und Politikwissenschaft in den nächsten Jahren noch ausgiebig beschäftigen. Warum also nicht jetzt schon einsteigen?

Aber auch für Lektüre über Soziale Netzwerkplattformen hinaus bietet der Sammelband viel Spannendes. Den Herausgeber Thorsten Faas, Oscar W. Gabriel und Jürgen Maier ist eine sehr interessante und nützliche Zusammenstellungen von Texten zu unterschiedlichen Aspekten der aktuellen Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung gelungen.

Andreas Jungherr (2020). Kommunikation auf Sozialen Netzwerkplattformen. In Einstellungs- und Verhaltensforschung: Handbuch für Wissenschaft und Studium, Hrsg. Thorsten Faas, Oscar W. Gabriel und Jürgen Maier. Baden-Baden: Nomos. S. 184-206. [Preprint]

07 Jan 2020

Andreas Jungherr Notes Permalink

“Retooling Politics” has a cover now!

Andreas Jungherr 2020/01/07

The finish line comes into sight: We have a cover now!

Coming to a book shop near you in June!

Donald Trump, the Arab Spring, Brexit: Digital media have provided political actors and citizens with new tools to engage in politics. These tools are now routinely used by activists, candidates, non-governmental organizations, and parties to inform, mobilize, and persuade people. But what are the effects of this retooling of politics? Do digital media empower the powerless or are they breaking democracy? Have these new tools and practices fundamentally changed politics or is their impact just a matter of degree? This clear-eyed guide steps back from hyperbolic hopes and fears to offer a balanced account of what aspects of politics are being shaped by digital media and what remains unchanged. The authors discuss data-driven politics, the flow and reach of political information, the effects of communication interventions through digital tools, their use by citizens in coordinating political action, and what their impact is on political organizations and on democracy at large.

In the book, we talk about:

The rise of digital media and the retooling of politics
The flow of political information
Reaching people
The effects of political information
Digital media and collective action
Changing organizations
Data in politics
Digital media and democracy
Digital media in politics.

Andreas Jungherr, Gonzalo Rivero, and Daniel Gayo-Avello. 2020. Retooling Politics: How Digital Media are Shaping Democracy. New York: Cambridge University Press. (Coming in June).

14 Nov 2019

Andreas Jungherr Public Speaking Permalink

Impulsvortrag: Fakultätentag Informatik

Andreas Jungherr 2019/11/14

Die Arbeit an den Grenzen der Sozialwissenschaft und der Informatik ist seit langem ein Schwerpunkt meiner Forschung. Deshalb freut es mich sehr, dass mich der Fakultätentag Informatik im Rahmen der Jahrestagung 2019 um einen Impulsvortrag gebeten hat. Dieser Einladung bin ich gerne nachgekommen und habe heute Nachmittag zur “Arbeit an der Grenze von Sozialwissenschaft und Informatik” gesprochen. [Folien]

Der Vortrag baut auf einer Präsentation auf, die ich letztes Jahr in einem Workshop der Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) zur “Bedeutung und Struktur der Forschung an digitalen Methoden und Verfahren” vorgestellt habe. [Folien].

22 Oct 2019

Andreas Jungherr Teaching Permalink

Syllabus: Die Analyse politischer Effekte Digitaler Medien – Methoden und Konzepte

Andreas Jungherr 2019/10/22

Im Wintersemester 2019/2020 biete ich an der Universität Konstanz einen neuen Kurs zur Untersuchung politischer Effekte digitaler Medien an. Ziel des Kurses ist, Studierende mit der praktischen Untersuchung entsprechender Effekte vertraut zu machen. Wir beginnen mit der Diskussion möglicher Effekte in unterschiedlichen politisch relevanter Gesellschaftsbereiche:

Informationsfluss in zeitgenössischen Mediensystemen;
Kommunikation in politisch homogenen und heterogenen Kommunikationsumfeldern: Echo-Kammern und Filter-Blasen;
Politische Reden und Texte;
Aktivismus: Aktivierung der Desinteressierten oder Ermächtigung der Ermächtigten?
Demokratie.

Studierende werden aus diesen Themenbereichen individuelle Fragestellungen erarbeiten und diese anhand von passenden Datensätzen im Verlauf des Semester in Gruppenarbeit untersuchen. Hierbei liegt ein Schwerpunkt des Seminars in der Vertrautmachung vielfältiger Effektarten, Datensätzen und Untersuchungsstrategien.

Kursbeschreibung:

Digitale Medien beeinflussen eine immer größere Zahl politischer Prozesse und Bereiche. Die Untersuchung ihrer spezifischen Charakteristiken und Effekte ist damit eine Kernaufgabe zeitgenössischer Politikwissenschaft. In diesem Seminar lernen Studieren- de, relevante Konzepte, Methoden und Datensätze für die Analyse unterschiedlicher politischer Effekte digitaler Medien kennen. Hierbei liegt der Schwerpunkt des Seminars darauf, dass Studierende lernen, Konzepte und theoretische Wirkungsannahmen zu ope- rationalisieren und anhand bestehender oder von ihnen erhobenen Datensätze empirisch zu untersuchen. Vorkenntnisse in der Nutzung quantitativer empirischer Methoden und der Nutzung von Programmen zur computergestützten Datenanalyse sind empfohlen. Prüfungsleistungen bestehen aus Präsentationen im Seminar, in Gruppenarbeit entwickelter Forschungsdesigns und der Abgabe einer empirischen Hausarbeit nach Ende des Seminars.

Lernziele: Studierende lernen ihre Erwartungen der Effekte digitaler Medien in der Politik in empirische Untersuchungsdesigns zu übersetzen und diese anhand empirischer Daten und Methoden umzusetzen.

[Seminarplan]

14 Oct 2019

Andreas Jungherr Teaching Permalink

Syllabus: Methoden der Sozialwissenschaftlichen Text- und Bildanalyse

Andreas Jungherr 2019/10/14

Im Wintersemester 2019/2020 biete ich an der Universität Konstanz einen neuen Kurs zur sozialwissenschaftlichen Arbeit mit Text- und Bilddaten an. Gleichzeitig wird der Kurs auch von Oliver Posegga an der Universität Bamberg für Studierende der Wirtschaftswissenschaft angeboten. Der Kurs zielt darauf, Studierende mit der praktischen Durchführung von interdisziplinären Forschungsprojekten auf Basis von Text- und Bilddaten vertraut zu machen. Hierfür werden wir in interdisziplinären Kleingruppen mit Teilnehmern beider Standorte an durch Studierende selbst entwickelten Projekten arbeiten. Die Forschungsprojekte fallen grob in die Bereiche:

Aktivismus;
Online-Kulturen: Flaming, Hatespeech und Gruppendynamik;
Politische Reden und Texte;
Skandale;
Verzahnung von Medienberichterstattung und Onlinekommunikation.

Studierende werden aus diesen Themenbereichen individuelle Fragestellungen erarbeiten und diese anhand von Text- oder Bilddaten aus unterschiedlichen Quellen (wie zum Beispiel Medienberichte, Parteiprogramme oder Social Media Dienste) im Verlauf des Semester untersuchen.

Kursbeschreibung:

Immer mehr Teile gesellschaftlichen Lebens werden durch Text dokumentiert. Dies öffnet unterschiedlichen Wissenschaften, wie zum Beispiel den Sozial- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften, neue Forschungsbereiche oder zumindest neue Perspektiven auf alte Fragen. Die Digitalisierung hat diesen Prozess verstärkt. Sie erlaubt nicht nur die Bereitstellung und Untersuchung großer Textmengen, sie schafft auch neue Form von textlicher Begleitung gesellschaftlichen Lebens, z. B. in Form von Social Media oder automatisierten Transkripten von Audio- oder Videoinhalten. In Ergänzung zu diesen neuen Textdaten gibt es auch viele etablierte Textarten, die vielversprechende Analyseobjekte darstellen; seien es z. B. die alltägliche Medienberichterstattung und öffentlich verfügbare Anschlusskommunikation in Form von Kommentaren oder offizielle Dokumente (wie z. B. Transkripte von Parlamentsdebatten, Gesetzestexte und Verordnungen oder offizielle Presseerklärungen). Solche und andere Textarten können sowohl quantitativen als auch qualitativen Analysedesigns als Grundlage dienen. Unabhängig des gewählten Forschungsdesigns stehen Forscher und Forscherinnen vor einer Reihe grundlegender Fragen, die sie im Ablauf ihrer Analysen bewusst beantworten müssen.

In diesem Seminar werden Studierende mit grundlegenden Verfahren der sozialwissenschaftlichen Textanalyse vertraut gemacht. Hierbei liegt der Schwerpunkt des Seminars darin, Studierende in Kleingruppen ein selbstgewähltes Forschungsprojekt durchlaufen zu lassen. Im Rahmen dieses Projektes lernen sie praktisch die typischen Entscheidungspunkte der Forschung auf Basis von Textdaten kennen und erfolgreich zu lösen. Entsprechend bestehen die Prüfungsleistungen des Seminars aus Präsentationen, verschiedener praktischer Übungen im Semesterverlauf und der Abgabe einer empirischen Hausarbeit nach Ablauf des Seminars.

[Kursplan]

[Projektwebseite]

19 Sep 2019

Andreas Jungherr Publications Permalink

New Publication: Digital Media and the Surge of Political Outsiders

Andreas Jungherr 2019/09/19

Ralph Schroeder, Sebastian Stier, and I have a new article out in Social Media + Society. In “Digital Media and the Surge of Political Outsiders: Explaining the Success of Political Challengers in the United States, Germany, and China“, we argue that digital media neutralize two former monopolies in structuring political discourse and political coordination and mobilization. In the past, these monopolies allowed media and political organizations to channel politics.

This allowed them to arbitrate which political voices and options reached the public thereby filtering out challenges to the political status quo. On the plus side, this contributed to a more or less civil political discourse and kept extremists from establishing viable organizational challenges. On the negative side, this also limited the opportunities of legitimate but underrepresented voices to provide alternatives to the political status quo. By breaking these monopolies digital media extend the space of political competition for the good but also for the bad.

In the article, we discuss cases from China, Germany, and the USA how political outsiders have attempted to use digital media to mount a viable challenge to the political status quo thereby strengthening the position of outsiders across political and media systems.

A broadening of the spectrum of political discourse does not mean that extreme factions will win or stay in power. Instead of witnessing a decline of democracy driven by digital media, we are observing the erosion of institutions that kept discourse artificially restricted.

While the future of political competition might be noisier and less polite than we are currently used to, opening up the space of political competition might also be an invigorating stimulus that contemporary social conditions demand.

Abstract: There has been a recent surge of political actors and groups challenging the legitimacy of established political institutions and mass media. We argue that this wave is no accident; rather, it is driven by digital media. Digital media allow outside challengers to route around social institutions that structure political discourse, such as parties and legacy media, which have previously held a monopoly on political coordination and information distribution. Digital media have weakened the power of these institutions, allowing outsiders to maintain extreme positions that formerly would have been filtered out or suppressed by institutions structuring political discourse. In this article, we explicate mechanisms linking digital media to the rise of outsiders by discussing the successes of a diverse set of challengers fighting for attention and representation in the different political contexts of the United States, Germany, and China. We thus provide a novel explanation that systematically accounts for the political consequences of digital media.

Andreas Jungherr, Ralph Schroeder, and Sebastian Stier. Digital Media and the Surge of Political Outsiders: Explaining the Success of Political Challengers in the US, Germany and China. Social Media + Society 5(3): 1-12. doi: 10.1177/2056305119875439.

30 Jul 2019

Andreas Jungherr Public Speaking Permalink

Normalizing Digital Trace Data: SICSS edition

Andreas Jungherr 2019/07/30

Carsten Schwemmer was kind enough to invite me to speak at the Bamberg branch of this year’s Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS). So I used the chance to speak about some of the limitations of current practices in computational social science and the need to foreground social science methodology and practices in the work with advanced computational methods and large data sets:

Social scientists have found themselves confronting a massive increase in available data sources. In the debates on how to use these new data, the research potential of “digital trace data” has featured prominently. While various commentators expect digital trace data to create a “measurement revolution”, empirical work has fallen somewhat short of these grand expectations. In fact, empirical research based on digital trace data is largely limited by the prevalence of two central fallacies: First, the n=all fallacy; second, the mirror fallacy. These fallacies can be addressed by developing a measurement theory for the use of digital trace data.

The talk is motivated by two recent papers. In Normalizing Digital Trace Data, I wrote about the limitations of computational social science if it does not sufficiently engage topical debates in the social sciences and loses sight of concept validation [Preprint]. Building on this, the paper The Empiricist’s Challenge (with Yannis Theocharis) focused on the need for theory-driven research in computational social science.

Here are the slides.

17 Apr 2019

Andreas Jungherr Publications Permalink

New Publication: Political Discussions in Homogeneous and Cross-Cutting Communication Spaces

Andreas Jungherr 2019/04/17

Jisun An, Haewoon Kwak, Oliver Posegga, and I just released a preprint of our upcoming ICWSM paper “Political Discussions in Homogeneous and Cross-Cutting Communication Spaces” on arXiv. In the paper, we compare user behavior on Reddit in politically homogeneous and cross-cutting communication spaces.

We show that a majority of users who were active in a subreddit supporting a given candidate (homogenous spaces) were also active in subreddits without clear political affiliation. But they did not necessarily interact with supporters of opposing candidates.

We also found users to switch communication styles and linguistic features depending on whether they communicated in a politically homogenous or cross-cutting environment and whether they were interacting across party lines.

To us these findings point to a more complicated picture of political discourse online than that which currently prevails publicly. For example, instead of echo chambers we find a complicated mix of behavior depending on contexts.

Lots of caveats apply of course, but to us these findings indicate that we should use more precise conceptualizations that allow for examining structural patterns, behaviors, and outcomes independently rather than as part of some conceptual package, such as the “echo chamber”.

Abstract: Online platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, provide users with a rich set of features for sharing and consuming political information, expressing political opinions, and exchanging potentially contrary political views. In such activities, two types of communication spaces naturally emerge: those dominated by exchanges between politically homogeneous users and those that allow and encourage cross-cutting exchanges in politically heterogeneous groups. While research on political talk in online environments abounds, we know surprisingly little about the potentially varying nature of discussions in politically homogeneous spaces as compared to cross-cutting communication spaces. To fill this gap, we use Reddit to explore the nature of political discussions in homogeneous and cross-cutting communication spaces. In particular, we develop an analytical template to study interaction and linguistic patterns within and between politically homogeneous and heterogeneous communication spaces. Our analyses reveal different behavioral patterns in homogeneous and cross-cutting communications spaces. We discuss theoretical and practical implications in the context of research on political talk online.

Jisun An, Haewoon Kwak, Oliver Posegga, and Andreas Jungherr (2019). “Political discussions in homogeneous and cross-cutting communication spaces: Interaction patterns and linguistic strategies on Reddit”. ICWSM 2019: Proceedings of the 13th International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media. (Forthcoming). [Preprint]

04 Apr 2019

Andreas Jungherr Publications Permalink

New Publication: Discursive Power in Contemporary Media Systems – A Comparative Framework

Andreas Jungherr 2019/04/04

The Journal of International Press/Politics just published a new article written by Oliver Posegga, Jisun An, and I. In “Discursive Power in Contemporary Media Systems” we provide a comparative framework for the empirical analysis of influence in contemporary media systems.

In the piece, we argue that in order to understand power relationships between contributors to contemporary media systems, we should start mapping the flow of entities in their coverage between them. For this, topics, frames, and speakers featured in the coverage of political episodes are promising candidates.

We also should remain mindful of likely determinants of consistent patterns of influence that can be found in individual characteristics of contributors, organizational features, and characteristics of media systems. This raises the importance of comparative work.

Determinants of Discursive Power.

The article provides the theoretical backbone of an ongoing project financed by the VolkswagenStiftung in their computational social science funding line. In the project, we attempt to track the flow of topics, frames, and speakers through political communication spaces in Germany, South Korea, UK, and USA.

Abstract: Contemporary media systems are in transition. The constellation of organizations, groups, and individuals contributing information to national and international news flows has changed as a result of the digital transformation. The “hybrid media system” has proven to be one of the most instructive concepts addressing this change. Its focus on the mutually dependent interconnections between various types of media organizations, actors, and publics has inspired prolific research. Yet the concept can tempt researchers to sidestep systematic analyses of information flows and actors’ differing degrees of influence by treating media systems as a black box. To enable large-scale, empirical comparative studies aimed at identifying interdependencies and power relationships in contemporary media systems, we propose the concept of discursive power. This describes the ability of contributors to communication spaces to introduce, amplify, and maintain topics, frames, and speakers, thus shaping public discourses and controversies that unfold in interconnected communication spaces. We also provide a theoretical framework of how structural features of organizations and media systems contribute to the emergence of discursive power for different types of actors in various contexts. This adds to the theoretical toolkit available to researchers interested in the empirical analysis of contemporary media systems.

03 Apr 2019

Andreas Jungherr News Permalink

Call for Papers in Political Communication: SI on Computational Political Communication

Andreas Jungherr 2019/04/03

Yannis Theocharis (University of Bremen) and I will be editing a special issue of Political Communication focusing on Computational Political Communication: Theory, Applications, and Interdisciplinary Challenges. Our goal is to offer a forum for work that illustrates the potential of computational methods and large data sets in political communication research.

Computational Political Communication: Theory, Applications, and Interdisciplinary Challenges

Digital communication has opened up completely new avenues for social and political interactions that have radical effects on political information environments and the democratic attitudes and behaviors they shape. It has also helped advance the analytical toolkit available to communication scholars, with new data and methodological approaches, often labeled Computational Communication Science (CCS). The goal of this Special Issue (SI) is to foreground the theoretical, empirical, and institutional opportunities and challenges of CCS that are relevant to the political communication community. We focus on research that develops, synthesizes and applies data collection and analysis techniques relying primarily on computational methods and tools, with the objective to answer substantive theory-driven questions in the field of political communication. Despite its vast potential, as of yet CCS has only had marginal impact on core tenets in the field of political communication: CCS research is still pursued by a small minority of political communication researchers, it is heavily undertheorized, its capacities to reveal novel aspects of political communication processes are often misunderstood, it remains largely descriptive or can sometimes showcase methodological rigor at the expense of well-defined theoretical mechanisms, and its highly interdisciplinary nature makes it institutionally cumbersome. With this SI, we plan to map the potential of CCS for the political communication community and demonstrate its broad appeal beyond that of highly technically skilled researchers, focusing on approaches and perspectives that not only demonstrate its methodological innovation but, most importantly, illustrate its theoretical, practical, and institutional relevance, as well as challenges in realizing its potential.

Call for Contributions

This is an open call for contributions. The SI is driven by the urgency of identifying potentials, challenges, and limitations of CCS openly within political communication. The SI is explicitly not just about the application of computational methods. Instead, we seek contributions that will tackle head-on the theoretical, practical, interdisciplinary, and institutional consequences of CCS, and demonstrate its broader relevance for political communication research. The SI will accept three types of contributions that speak to the issues raised above:

Theory: Many of the objections raised about the potentials and problems of so-called “big data” research in other social science fields – especially regarding the theoretical richness (or vacuum) of such approaches – have been transferred intact to CCS. Answers are still pending regarding the following important questions: What is the role of theory in CCS? What existing theoretical problems in political communication does CCS help us solve and what theories can it help us advance? What are the trade-offs and the main ethical questions to be addressed?
Applications: While a number of inspiring studies have shed light on how computational approaches can be used to understand the effects of, for example, selective and incidental exposure, these endeavors have often been driven by pressing political phenomena or developments in the field of political communication, and have largely focused on the United States (polarization and “fake news” are perhaps the most prominent examples). We seek theory-driven studies that address major questions in political communication and demonstrate how CCS can help us better understand political communication processes related, but not limited, to: (multi)platform dynamics and biases, campaign effects, news consumption, mobilization, disinformation, gender dynamics in political communication, the emergence and proliferation of counter-cultures and their impact on public discourse.
Institutional and interdisciplinary challenges: By definition CCS brings a strong interdisciplinary component that involves the importation of data collection strategies, methodological applications from other fields, and predominantly computer science. This makes it challenging to adopt for individual researchers, but also for institutions even though its potential and applicability are vast. Institutional support is thus crucial. Currently, there are very few successful interdisciplinary groups focusing on CCS. Part of the reason is that, for all the rhetoric about the benefits of interdisciplinarity, few institutions are able and willing to support scholars in organizing and positioning a CCS research group. At the same time, writing grants with high risk (but high returns) due to their computational components and newly imported concepts and methods crash often on disciplinary boundaries. We seek contributions by CCS group leaders discussing experiences and providing advice and good practices for the new generation of political communication scholars interested in establishing such groups. We will host these contributions as “Forum”-style papers as an integral part of the SI.

We are interested in featuring contributions that give voice to contributors and issues underfeatured in the current debate about the application of CCS in political communication. We strongly encourage contributions by female authors and would like to see manuscripts focusing on gender, inequalities, and Asia or the Global South.

Submission guidelines

We hope the call inspires authors to freshly reflect on challenges and potentials of CCS in political communication research. It is explicitly not our goal to provide authors with just another space to publish yet one more computational-methods-driven paper. This is reflected in our publication schedule that should give authors the time and opportunity to react to the issues raised in our call. Once ready, please submit your work through the journal’s online submission portal. We also encourage everyone to review the journal’s Instructions for Authors prior to submitting.

Paper Submissions: 1 October 2019
First decision: 1. December 2019
Deadline Revisions: 1 February 2020
Final Decision: 1. March 2020

Special issue editors:

Yannis Theocharis, University of Bremen
Andreas Jungherr, University of Konstanz

Editor Political Communication:

Claes de Vreese, University of Amsterdam

What's new?

“Retooling Politics” has a cover now!

Syllabus: Die Analyse politischer Effekte Digitaler Medien – Methoden und Konzepte

Syllabus: Methoden der Sozialwissenschaftlichen Text- und Bildanalyse

New Publication: Digital Media and the Surge of Political Outsiders

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives