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Submit a report of four to five pages (double spaced, 12pt font) in which you discuss a community by analyzing discourse on Twitter. You should also connect the analysis with a broader concern or topic. You might--for instance--examine discourse linked with the hashtag #antivaxx in terms of vaccine misinformation or religious freedom. The hashtag and topic should resonate with and inform each other. You will use primary and secondary research to support the analysis. You will also provide support by analyzing tweet data associated with the hashtag.
The community will likely consist of users posting with a designated hashtag--e.g., #measles, but it might also bring in analysis from several different hashtag communities--e.g., #antvaxx, #provaxx, etc. Before beginning the report, be sure to have completed the Tweet coding and bibliography assignments.
Your analysis will include at least three types of information: visualizations based on tweet data; secondary research associated with your topic or Twitter/online interactions; and close readings of individual tweets. You will bring these types of information together as you develop a report that responds to questions like:
- What can be said about the community of users posting tweets with the hashtag(s) you have studied?
- What rhetorical strategies do Twitter users employ in their conversations about the topic?
- What do online conversations tell us about the social dimensions of your topic?
- What do details related to research on the topic tell us about the Twitter conversation?
- How can studying Twitter conversations help us engage with social issues?
You can take up other questions, but these should give you some good angles to work with. You will want to bring in details from your primary and secondary research to support your discussion.
Compose your report using a word processor. Include a bibliography with any secondary research sources you have used and any individual tweets that you discuss. These come from a different assignment, but you might find this example and this example helpful to look at.