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New forms of data

Social scientists are increasingly drawing on new forms of data beyond the traditional genres of surveys and interviews. These data include administrative records, commercial transactions, social media and internet data, geo-spatial data, and image and audio data. These types of new data present challenges for technical infrastructure, legal governance, and ethically responsible research and digital preservation.

Researchers at GESIS are investigating several vital topics in this domain:

  1. linking digital behavioral data (e.g., social media) with survey data
  2. digital preservation of social media data to enable access while protecting privacy
  3. georeferencing surveys to link them to small-scale neighborhood information found in geo-spatial data

Learn more about our consulting and services:

  • Weller, Katrin. 2013. "Open online communities: from knowledge to metrics." Presentation at Open Online Communities Workshop, 2013-02-06.
  • Weller, Katrin, and Axel Bruns. 2013. "Das Spiel dauert 140 Zeichen: wie deutsche Fußballvereine Twitter für Marketing und Fan-Kommunikation entdecken." In HiER 2013. Proceedings des 8. Hildesheimer Evaluierungs- und Retrievalworkshop, edited by Joachim Griesbaum, Ben Heuwing, Josef Ruppenhofer, and Katrin Werner, 119-131. Hildesheim: Universität Hildesheim. https://www.uni-hildesheim.de/media/fb3/informationswissenschaft/HIER/hier2013_proceedings_vorab.pdf.
  • Thamm, Mark, and Arnim Bleier. 2013. "When politicians tweet: a study on the Members of the German Federal Diet." In ACM Web Science 2013: Conference Proceedings; May 2-4, 2013 Paris, France, 6. New York: ACM. http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1305/1305.1734.pdf.
  • Weller, Katrin, and Chris J. Demmer. 2013. "Twitter und die Landtagswahl in Nordrhein-Westfalen 2012." Workshop “Social Media und politische Öffentlichkeit", 2013-05-03.
  • Weller, Katrin, and Axel Bruns. 2013. "Das Spiel dauert 140 Zeichen : wie Fußballvereine Twitter für Marketing und Fan-Kommunikation entdecken." HIER 2013 - 8. Hildesheimer Evaluierungs- und Retrievalworkshop, 2013-04-26.