Methods Workshop - Digital Media Task

This task involves the collection and analysis of a public figure’s twitter content. There are a number of steps.

1. If you do not already have a twitter profile, you will need to create one for this assignment. You are free to use pseudonym and will not have to post or share any
   personal information to complete this assignment.
2. Select a public figure that interests you. Whether they are an actor, athlete, celebrity, journalist, politician, or social media influencer, they must have a ‘blue
   check’ authenticating that they are a verified public figure, so that we are not ethically encroaching on the private lives of everyday individuals through
   their social media profiles. Given their public figure status, their twitter can be considered public rather than private communication.
3. Copy their twitter handle and input it into the site the allmytweets.net
4. Let the twitter content load, this may take a while depending on the public figure that you have chosen.
5. Be sure to anonymise your analysis and any discussion of other individuals mentioned or interacting with them, only referring to basic non-identifying
   demographic traits, their occupation, and country of residence or nationality. You will be penalized 2/10 points if you fail to anonymise your research.
6. Conduct a digital ethnographic analysis of the public figure’s usage of twitter. This will have three distinct parts:
   Part 1: User and Use Analysis [600 words MAX]
   Conduct an analysis of the manner in which the public figure uses twitter as a platform:
   • Select a ‘purposive sampling’ technique(s) from W4 (ie maximum variation, typical cases, sensitive cases, extreme cases etc.) to choose 5 or more different days
   of twitter content for a total of at least 25 tweets. Explain your sampling choice and its utility, given your interests in this type of public figure.
   • Discuss the public figure’s use of the platform and types of tweets by reflecting on the following:
   o Reflect on their use of platform affordances (ie Retweets, @ function, # hashtags, hyperlinks, and emojis) as well as some of the communicative conventions that
   are not programmed into the interface (such as HT for Hat Tip or MT for Mention Tweet as well as internet slang).1
   o Reflect on the timing and frequency of their posts.
   o Reflect on the types of individuals, organizations, media content, and hyperlinks that are included (or not included) in their posts.
   o How would you categorise or code their different ways of tweeting?
   o Code each of the tweets within your sample. What does this tell you about this individual as a public figure and as a twitter user?
   Part 2: Discourse Analysis [600 words MAX]
   • Select a ‘purposive sampling’ technique(s) from W4 (ie maximum variation, typical cases, sensitive cases, extreme cases etc.) to choose 5 tweets or threads with
   at least 1 link within that selection of tweets. Explain your sampling choice and its utility, given your interests in this type of public figure and their tweeting.
   • Click through to find the original tweet and comments. Include anonymized screenshots of the tweets. Using Discourse Analysis Techniques, in single
   paragraph for each tweet, analyse the 5 tweets and the basic information of the link(s) or media involved. Be sure to clearly indicate your 3 Stages of Analysis:
   o Analyze the formal properties of the Text including plausible frames and any discernable structure to the post and commentary.
   o Analyze the relationship between Text and Production/Interpretation [Encoding and Decoding]
   o Analyze the shaping influence of wide societal or cultural factors

1 Here are two handy references for the various support formats and conventions on twitter:
http://aprescott.github.io/twitter-format/twitter-format.7
http://coraliecarlson.com/twitter
ACMB02H3 MWA 4 Worksheet. NOTE: This is not a template for the final write up of the assignment but a tutorial activity to start thinking through the task.
Select a public figure that interests you. Whether they are an actor, athlete, celebrity, journalist, politician, or social media influencer, they must have ‘blue
check’ authenticating that they are a verified public figure. Use your phone or a computer to review their Twitter timeline.
How does the public figure use twitter’s platform affordances (ie Retweets, @ function, # hashtags, hyperlinks and emojis)?

How does the public figure use communicative conventions that are not programmed into the interface (such as HT for Hat Tip or MT for Mention Tweet, and
internet slang)?________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reflect on the timing and frequency of their posts. What can you learn about the public figure through this?_______________________________

Reflect on the types of individuals, organizations, media content, and hyperlinks that are included (or not included) in their posts. What does this tell you about their
use of twitter as a communication platform?____________________________________________________________________________

How would you categorise or code their different ways of tweeting?___________________________________________________________

Select 5 specific tweets with or without links and answer the following questions.
What are the formal properties of the Text or, rather, what is the structure of the post and commentary? ________________________________

How do they use of platform syntax and twitter-specific features? How do they use of communicative conventions or slang?___________________

What are the plausible cultural frames references or observable in the text? _____________________________________________________

What can you discern about possible encoding of the text, or the conditions of its production? How does the public figures position or job impact this analysis?__

What can you discern about the possible decoding of the text or the possible conditions that will affect its interpretation? How does the assumed audience of the public
figure impact this analysis?_________________________________________________________________________________________

What wider social influence or cultural factors could be contributing to or influencing the text, its production or its interpretation? ?_____________