As a Canadian overseas, I can’t say that I want to perpetuate news about Toronto’s Mayor Rob Ford, since he is often one of the main topics that people bring up in relation to Canada. However, as he’s still making headlines and causing a stir on Twitter, I thought a Ford story would be aContinue reading “When Canadians get mad (at Rob Ford), they retweet”
Tag Archives: Big data
Beginnings of a PhD project: Coming out and social media
(Image courtesy of the Degrassi Wiki) Let’s travel back to a formative time when I used to come home after school every day and watch reruns of the original Degrassi Junior High – a Canadian-made TV drama about tough teen issues. An episode* halfway through season three stands out: one of the main characters, Snake (theyContinue reading “Beginnings of a PhD project: Coming out and social media”
Not ready to throw in the towel yet: Thoughts on Big Data, digital social research, and academia
(Not the future, merely the Gladstone Link) Full disclosure: This was written for a ‘position paper’ assignment in my Digital Social Research course at the OII. The article by Savage and Burrows (2007) plays on an insecurity that haunts me every time I pay my tuition: what ensures that social researchers have valuable, employable skills?Continue reading “Not ready to throw in the towel yet: Thoughts on Big Data, digital social research, and academia”
When you’re this big, they call you Big Data*
Upon stepping off the plane from Canada, I was fortunate enough to attend the Oxford Internet Institute’s latest conference: Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges. It was a fascinating gathering of the leading experts in this small but substantially growing field. Since my background is in qualitative methods and I have yet toContinue reading “When you’re this big, they call you Big Data*”
Stefanie Duguay 