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An Automated Multiscale Map of Conversations: Mothers and Matters

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Social Informatics (SocInfo 2012)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 7710))

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Abstract

By augmenting conventional techniques of topic modeling with unigram analysis and community detection, we establish an automated method that generates a comprehensive and meaningful summary of forum conversations over time that also sheds light on patterns of user behavior. We combine these methods to obtain a multiscale representation of what topics are being discussed, what the users are saying about each topic, how the conversation is evolving over time, and how friendships relate to content. As an example of our methodology, we examine discussion boards on Cafemom–an online hub for women to share their experiences and discuss their views on issues pertinent to child rearing. We apply the method with a focus on the issue of vaccination- a subject matter which has become controversial in recent years. We demonstrate how our methodology provides valuable insights into the evolution of conversations and highlights similarities in attitudes of socially connected users.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh, India

    Ansuya Ahluwalia

  2. University of California, Los Angeles, USA

    Allen Huang, Roja Bandari & Vwani Roychowdhury

Authors
  1. Ansuya Ahluwalia
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  2. Allen Huang
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  3. Roja Bandari
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  4. Vwani Roychowdhury
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Distributed Information Systems Laboratory (LSIR), School for Computer and Communication Science (I&C), EPFL-IC,, Bâtiment BC, Station 14, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Karl Aberer

  2. Department of Sociology, ICS, University of Groningen, Grote Rozenstraat 31, 9712 TG, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Andreas Flache

  3. Groningen Center for Social Complexity Studies, Nettelbosje 2, 9747 AE, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Wander Jager

  4. Georgia Institute of Technology, KACB, room 3340,School of Computer Science, College of Computing, 266 Ferst Dr, 30332-0765, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ling Liu

  5. Tsinghua University, Rm 1-308, FIT Building, 100084, Beijing, China

    Jie Tang

  6. Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS), Anna van Saksenlaan 10, 2593 HT, Den Haag, The Netherlands

    Christophe Guéret

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ahluwalia, A., Huang, A., Bandari, R., Roychowdhury, V. (2012). An Automated Multiscale Map of Conversations: Mothers and Matters. In: Aberer, K., Flache, A., Jager, W., Liu, L., Tang, J., Guéret, C. (eds) Social Informatics. SocInfo 2012. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7710. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35386-4_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35386-4_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35385-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35386-4

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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