Date: 4 March 2024

Time: 3-4PM

Venue: Informatics 1.16 / Zoom

Authors/Speakers: Emily Goldwin and Darja Wischerath

Social media data hold tremendous value for studying behavioural patterns over time and across contexts at individual, group and population levels, and are relevant to a broad range of disciplines in the social and behavioural sciences. Researchers can mainly access these data via platform-provided application programming interfaces (APIs), but these come with restrictive usage terms that mean studies cannot be reproduced or replicated. In this seminar we discuss how platform-owned APIs hinder access, transparency and scientific knowledge, other ways of accessing data, as well as legislative endeavours to promote researcher access to data. 

About the Speakers:

Darja Wischerath is a doctoral researcher at the University of Bath. Her research explores how belief in conspiracy theories can lead to violence and violent extremism through the mediating factors of psychological needs, social networks, and violence legitimating narratives. Email: dw942@bath.ac.uk

Emily Godwin (MSc, University of Bristol) is a Doctoral Researcher in Cyber Security at the University of Bath. She is interested in the spread of mis/disinformation online—with a particular focus on conspiracy theories—as well as the ways in which online spaces are moderated. Email: eg780@bath.ac.uk