Drawing Constellations Amongst the Stars: Opportunities and Challenges of Studying Vulnerable Populations via Computational Social Science

• In Event: Emerging Research Agendas at the Intersection of Communication and Computational Social Science

Abstract

Computational methods allow for different perspectives on human communicative behaviors and when using publicly available social media data, can provide an unobtrusive means of observing participants. Social media data collection can be especially useful to study vulnerable populations in a non-invasive way. However, because computational methods can produce patterns of relationships that would be otherwise invisible, the analytical product these unobtrusive measures can affect participants. In a case study of a social media social network analysis of an opposition protest in an authoritarian state, the researcher will describe the unexpected audiences of this research and the ethical challenges of publishing work that may provide intelligence to an oppressor.

Author

• Katy Elizabeth Pearce, U of Washington