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Presentation at digital media research seminar, The Centre for Communication and Computing, University of Copenhagen, November 14, 2012
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DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 1
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS: FACEBOOK DATA INFRASTRUCTURE
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 2
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 3
Research interest
• More fenced-off and ubiquitous internet (cross-platform/cross-services through login)
• How do we get access to closed data about users on private social networks as tool in virtual ethnography (e.g. Facebook)
– In order to analyze user behaviors with FB across websites – User data structures – Analyze navigation outside FB but related to FB (checkins) – Analyze use patterns during the day (timely) – Analyze digital cross-platform use of FB (laptop, smartphones,
pdas) – Analyze exposures to content from other website/media
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 4
Existing methods
• Virtual ethnography (howard, wittel, marcus, markham, kendall, baym, boyd)
• Friending: – You are not sure to get all activity because of sorting
algorithms of Facebook – You must manually export them to see patterns over time
• Following them physically – Time consuming – Too much intervention in everyday rhytms – But you will get a lot of detail on the context of activity on
Facebook that is not possible to get otherwise
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 5
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS as data retrieval tool
• Act as an external ‘company’/third party when extracting data from Facebook
• Designed a webbased system called DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS
• Using Facebook’s graph API • User consent that DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS draw info on users
like any other application/website using facebook connect • Users can withdraw anytime they like • Researchers can mine data from the users and answer
research questions in qualitative studies
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 6
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 7
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 8
Digital Footprints
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 9
Data extractions e.g.
• Demographics • Newsfeeds • Network and friends • Likes • Check-ins • Private/public groups • Pictures, status updates and uploaded material • Friends material through consent of the
participant etc. etc. etc….
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 10
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 11
• www.digitalfootprints.dk/login
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 12
Methodological triangulation (e.g.)
1. Harvesting private data with consent, mining these data (DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS)
2. Focus group interviews with participants to understand their attitudes and strategies
->Digital Footprints can help answer “what” and qualify other methods for asking “why”
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 13
Strengths & limitations
• Strenghts – Researchers can easily send link via email to participants, asking them to sign
up for the research project – Researchers can access closed data without profiles being public – Data is saved in database which makes it possible to extract and sort different
patterns – Digital Footprints also allow researchers to study the newsfeed of the
participants – Researchers can study a variety of Facebook activities in one system
• Limitations – Methodologically users must be chosen beforehand and asked to participate – Not representative sampling/data – Digital Footprints relies on the graph API settings which is controlled by
Facebook – Therefore “only” qualitative virtual ethnographic tool – Cannot register user traffic patterns (click-through analysis)
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 14
Future research
• (How) can we make data retrieval through Facebook Graph APIs representative – how do we recruit for quantitative analysis
• Problems: – Representative users or certain kind of users that uses this
application – If not application – certain types of users that has public profiles – What is the Facebook population from which we sample?
• What about the ethical question of retrieving friends data as well?
• Problems: – When retrieving data friends will comment, like etc. on the participant’s
data and therefore be visible in the system – Working on effective anonymization methods
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 15
Law & Ethics
• Privacy Law: – Comply to EU directive 1995, 1999, 2002, 2011 (with explicit consent, limited time,
explicit purpose, only data needed for that specific purpose etc.)
• Danish Data Protection Agency: – Apply for permission to make research project involving personal and sensitive user
data
• Facebook’s terms of (data) use: – You cannot redistribute user data to any third party stakeholder – User must be able to delete their data from the research project – Keep info up to date….?? – User’s friends data can only be used in the context of the user’s experience on your
application…??
• Ethics: – Is it okay to mine on data even with consent for research purpose? What are the
arguments for and against?
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 16
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 17
Articles submitted/in preparation
• Bechmann, A. & Vahlstrup, P.: (in review) Digital Footprints: Studying private user data on Facebook, CHI’13, Paris.
• Bechmann, A & Lomborg, S. (in review): Open APIs as a method for data collection on social media, The information Society, pp.1-20.
• Bechmann, A (in preparation): Personal data attitudes and behaviors in the EU and US.
DIGITAL FOOTPRINTS RESEARCH GROUP Peter Vahlstrup & Anja Bechmann 18
Thank you! Digital Footprint: http://digitalfootprints.dk
Peter Vahlstrup Lead programmer Aarhus University [email protected]
Anja Bechmann Head of Digital Footprints Research Group Aarhus University [email protected]