They yelled me Coronavirus: A Content Analysis of Racism towards Chinese amid Coronavirus Outbreak. An Exploratory and Descriptive Study using Twitter. (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Lloret-Pineda ◽  
Yuelu He ◽  
Josep Maria Haro ◽  
Paula Cristóbal Narvaez

BACKGROUND As the first COVID-19 cases were noticed in China, many racist comments on Chinese individuals spread. As there is a huge need to better comprehend why all these targeted comments and opinions developed specifically then, this paper emerged to carefully examine racism and advocacy efforts on Twitter in the first trimester of 2020 (from January 15th to March 3rd, 2020). OBJECTIVE The first question aimed to understand which type of racism was displayed on Twitter during the first semester of 2020. The second question was to inquire about Twitter users' behaviors regarding advocacy and activism. METHODS Content analysis was utilized. Using the NCapture browser link and the NVivo software, Tweets in English and Spanish from the Twitter data stream were pulled from January 15th to March 3rd, 2020. A total of 19,150 Tweets were captured using the advanced Twitter search engine with the keywords and hashtags #nosoyunvirus, #imNotAVirus, #ChineseDon’tComeToJapan, #racism, “No soy un virus” and,” Racismo Coronavirus.”After cleaning data, a total of 402 Tweets were codified and analyzed by the research team. RESULTS Data confirms racism during the first months of the Coronavirus outbreak towards Chinese Individuals. Physical and verbal aggression were highly denounced as well as some forms of rejection. Advocacy efforts were huge inside and outside the Chinese community; an allyship sentiment was foster by some White members and an identification with the oppression experienced by Chinese in the Black and Muslim worldwide community. Art, Asian food sharing, and community support activities were the main forms of activism showed on Twitter during the first semester of 2020. CONCLUSIONS Tweets displayed individual, cultural, and institutional racism against Chinese individuals. Individual racism was the most reported form of racism—specifically, physical and verbal aggression. As a form of resistance against racism, Twitter users created spaces for advocacy and activism. The hashtag “I am not a virus” helped break stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination on Twitter. White, Black, and Muslim allyship relationships were also present to support Chinese individuals. Activism through social media manifested through art, food sharing, and community support.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Kaji ◽  
Maggie Bushman

BACKGROUND Adolescents with depression often turn to social media to express their feelings, for support, and for educational purposes. Little is known about how Reddit, a forum-based platform, compares to Twitter, a newsfeed platform, when it comes to content surrounding depression. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study is to identify differences between Reddit and Twitter concerning how depression is discussed and represented online. METHODS A content analysis of Reddit posts and Twitter posts, using r/depression and #depression, identified signs of depression using the DSM-IV criteria. Other youth-related topics, including School, Family, and Social Activity, and the presence of medical or promotional content were also coded for. Relative frequency of each code was then compared between platforms as well as the average DSM-IV score for each platform. RESULTS A total of 102 posts were included in this study, with 53 Reddit posts and 49 Twitter posts. Findings suggest that Reddit has more content with signs of depression with 92% than Twitter with 24%. 28.3% of Reddit posts included medical content compared to Twitter with 18.4%. 53.1% of Twitter posts had promotional content while Reddit posts didn’t contain promotional content. CONCLUSIONS Users with depression seem more willing to discuss their mental health on the subreddit r/depression than on Twitter. Twitter users also use #depression with a wider variety of topics, not all of which actually involve a case of depression.


2021 ◽  
pp. 004728162110078
Author(s):  
Shanna Cameron ◽  
Alexandra Russell ◽  
Luke Brake ◽  
Katherine Fredlund ◽  
Angela Morris

This article engages with recent discussions in the field of technical communication that call for climate change research that moves beyond the believer/denier dichotomy. For this study, our research team coded 900 tweets about climate change and global warming for different emotions in order to understand how Twitter users rely on affect rhetorically. Our findings use quantitative content analysis to challenge current assumptions about writing and affect on social media, and our results indicate a number of arenas for future research on affect, global warming, and rhetoric.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1677
Author(s):  
Emma Uebelhor ◽  
Olivia Hintz ◽  
Sarah B. Mills ◽  
Abigail Randall

In the coming years, it is expected that reliance on utility-scale solar projects for energy production will increase exponentially. As a result, communities throughout the Midwest will become potential solar facility hosts. Previous research has sought to identify factors that influence community support and opposition to solar developments throughout the country. This paper builds upon prior research by examining community perceptions about the economic, environmental, local and global impact of solar projects in four Great Lakes states using a content analysis of local newspaper articles. Ultimately, this paper identifies the most common perceptions of solar facilities and offers some preliminary suggestions on strategies to mitigate the most prevalent concerns.


Author(s):  
Kristen Weidner ◽  
Joneen Lowman ◽  
Anne Fleischer ◽  
Kyle Kosik ◽  
Peyton Goodbread ◽  
...  

Purpose Telepractice was extensively utilized during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is known about issues experienced during the wide-scale rollout of a service delivery model that was novel to many. Social media research is a way to unobtrusively analyze public communication, including during a health crisis. We investigated the characteristics of tweets about telepractice through the lens of an established health technology implementation framework. Results can help guide efforts to support and sustain telehealth beyond the pandemic context. Method We retrieved a historical Twitter data set containing tweets about telepractice from the early months of the pandemic. Tweets were analyzed using a concurrent mixed-methods content analysis design informed by the nonadoption, abandonment, scale-up, spread, and sustainability (NASSS) framework. Results Approximately 2,200 Twitter posts were retrieved, and 820 original tweets were analyzed qualitatively. Volume of tweets about telepractice increased in the early months of the pandemic. The largest group of Twitter users tweeting about telepractice was a group of clinical professionals. Tweet content reflected many, but not all, domains of the NASSS framework. Conclusions Twitter posting about telepractice increased during the pandemic. Although many tweets represented topics expected in technology implementation, some represented phenomena were potentially unique to speech-language pathology. Certain technology implementation topics, notably sustainability, were not found in the data. Implications for future telepractice implementation and further research are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-250
Author(s):  
Tyree Oredein ◽  
Kiameesha Evans ◽  
M. Jane Lewis

While the prevalence and adverse effects of violence in hip-hop music and music videos have been studied extensively, hip-hop entertainment journalism, which reports on hip-hop news and events, has been largely unexplored. The purpose of this study was to examine violent trends in hip-hop journalism. We conducted a content analysis on a random sample of 970 news articles, 218 interview articles and the accompanying photographs from three hip-hop themed websites, and 56 radio interviews from hip-hop themed FM radio stations. Content was coded for type of violence, reality status, narrative sequence, and tone. The findings suggest that a significant portion of hip-hop journalism communications contain violence. More than half of all articles (52.3%; n = 663) contained violence. The prevalence of violence was higher for interview articles (73.4%, n = 218) than for news articles (45.9%, n = 445). The most common categories were violent metaphors, weapons, feuding (e.g., verbal aggression), and fighting. Almost 70% of radio interviews ( n = 37) contained at least one mention of violence and the most common types of violence were fighting/physical assault and feuding. Furthermore, the majority of violence for all articles and radio content were reported as real and were presented from the performer sequence. News articles depicted more consequences, whereas interview articles and radio interviews depicted more positive portrayals. Potential implications for youth exposure hip-hop journalism are discussed.


Author(s):  
Sameh N. Saleh ◽  
Christoph U. Lehmann ◽  
Samuel A. McDonald ◽  
Mujeeb A. Basit ◽  
Richard J. Medford

Abstract Objective: Social distancing policies are key in curtailing severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spread, but their effectiveness is heavily contingent on public understanding and collective adherence. We studied public perception of social distancing through organic, large-scale discussion on Twitter. Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study. Methods: Between March 27 and April 10, 2020, we retrieved English-only tweets matching two trending social distancing hashtags, #socialdistancing and #stayathome. We analyzed the tweets using natural language processing and machine-learning models, and we conducted a sentiment analysis to identify emotions and polarity. We evaluated the subjectivity of tweets and estimated the frequency of discussion of social distancing rules. We then identified clusters of discussion using topic modeling and associated sentiments. Results: We studied a sample of 574,903 tweets. For both hashtags, polarity was positive (mean, 0.148; SD, 0.290); only 15% of tweets had negative polarity. Tweets were more likely to be objective (median, 0.40; IQR, 0–0.6) with ~30% of tweets labeled as completely objective (labeled as 0 in range from 0 to 1). Approximately half of tweets (50.4%) primarily expressed joy and one-fifth expressed fear and surprise. Each correlated well with topic clusters identified by frequency including leisure and community support (ie, joy), concerns about food insecurity and quarantine effects (ie, fear), and unpredictability of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its implications (ie, surprise). Conclusions: Considering the positive sentiment, preponderance of objective tweets, and topics supporting coping mechanisms, we concluded that Twitter users generally supported social distancing in the early stages of their implementation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spencer B. Olmstead ◽  
Kathryn A. Conrad ◽  
Kristin M. Anders

Our study was guided by a developmental lens (emerging adulthood) and the theory of symbolic interaction as we attended to the meanings and definitions that contextualize expectations for engaging in hookups while attending college. Using a directed approach to qualitative content analysis, we examined first semester college men’s and women’s ( N = 253) responses to a series of open-ended questions focused on definitions of and expectations for hooking up. Six definitional variations of hooking up emerged from these responses: (a) “sex” left undefined, (b) making out, (c) a range of sexual activities, (d) “sex” defined as intercourse, (e) the “all but sex” continuum, and (f) hanging out or going on a date. Chi-square analyses indicated no proportional differences in these definitions based on participant gender. Characteristics of hookup partners were also identified in participant responses. Whereas a greater proportion of men identified physical appearance as a necessary attribute of a potential hookup partner, a greater proportion of women discussed (a) familiarity with a hookup partner and (b) hookups as occurring between noncommitted individuals. Also, a greater proportion of men than women indicated expectations to hookup while attending college. Implications for research, relationship and sexual health education, and policy are discussed.


Author(s):  
Jennifer R Curry ◽  
Angela W Webb ◽  
Samantha J Latham

The powerful nature of novice teachers’ experiences in their first years of teaching has been well documented. However, the variance in novices’ initial immersion in the school environment is largely dependent on perceived personal and professional support as well as the environmental inducements that lend to novice teachers’ success in the classroom. For the purposes of this study, 72 participating novices, who were participants in an alternative certification program, drew representations of their current teaching environments. Of the 72 initial participants’ pictures, 58 were used in this content analysis. The interrater analysis involving multiple documentation of codes between and among researches, revealed five themes from the novices’ pictures: (a) concerns about students, (b) overwhelmed and struggling, (c) relationships with others, (d) concerns about education quality and excessive accountability, and (e) issues with administration. Implications are provided.


Author(s):  
Petrus Angula Mbenzi

Linguistic features were used by Bishop Kleopas Dumeni of Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) in the pre-independence era to persuade the audience to support the struggle for independence. Bishop Kleopas Dumeni used linguistic devices in an attempt to convince his target audience that the Namibians suffered a great deal at the hands of the colonial authorities. Thus international community support was desired to break the shackles of colonialism. Although Bishop Kleopas Dumeni employed various linguistic features in his speeches as a tool to whip up support for struggle for independence of Namibia, his language choices were never subjected to a critical examination to unravel their contribution to the effectiveness of the speeches. This paper thus examines how Bishop Dumeni used linguistic devices in his speeches to appeal to his audience as well as the effects these features had on the audience to support the struggle for Namibian independence. The paper is pegged on Aristotelian theory to reveal how language choice affects the three appeals of Aristotle namely, ethos, logos and pathos. Content analysis was used to deconstruct the selected speeches of Bishop Dumeni thereby identifying and evaluating the linguistic features in the speeches. The conclusion from this investigation is that Bishop Kleopas Dumeni effectively used the linguistic devices to woo his audience to his side to support in his efforts to end the wickedness of colonialism in Namibia.


Author(s):  
Toni Rodon ◽  
Francesc Martori ◽  
Jordi Cuadros

This article examines the use of Twitter during the 2016 Catalan Diada (Catalan National Day). We aim at analysing the characteristics of the users that employed certain hashtags. To what extent there are significant differences across users employing different hashtags? Drawing on theories of national identity and polarisation, we look at the content of the tweets sent during the Diada. Taking advantage of a massive mobilisation event, we examine how Twitter users clustered around different hashtags, the content they transmitted or in which language they tweeted. The empirical analysis is based on a Twitter corpus of about 60,000 unique users and more than 200,000 tweets, which allows us to analyse their characterristics, the content they sent, and the language in which they did it. Our findings show that users clustered around different hashtags and that language is strongly correlated with the content of the tweet. In addition, content analysis of the messages sent within each of the clusters shows distinguishable political views on the independence debate.


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