Collective Memories in Wikipedia - LiveMemories final review

Collective memories in
Wikipedia
Michela Ferron
Paolo Massa

Anti-Islamic
hate crimes
after 9/11

Movies & culture

Legislation &
surveillance

Collective memories
 A set of ideas, images, feelings about the past, built
through an active process of sense-making through time
7 July
10th 2005
anniversary London
of 9/11 bombings
memorial

9/11 Ocklaoma
memorial City
bombings
memorial

Collective memories
Psychology Sociology/Philosophy
Collective as a small group Collective as a nation

Outline

 (English) Wikipedia as a global memory place
 Commemoration in Wikipedia

 Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC)
Articles:
 Traumatic VS Non traumatic events
 Human-made and natural traumatic events

Talk pages:
 Linguistic markers of emergent memories over time

 Conclusions

Commemoration LIWC in Wikipedia Man - Nature Emergent memories Conclusions

Wikipedia

“[…] the online encyclopaedia is a global memory place
where locally disconnected participants can express and
debate divergent points of view and that this leads to the
formation and ratiﬁcation of shared knowledge that
constitutes collective memory.”
(Pentzold, 2009, p. 263)


Commemoration during
anniversaries

 Commemorations are
opportunities to
 Re-interpret the past
 Recover from traumatic
experiences

 Can we find signs of commemoration activities in Wikipedia
pages related to traumatic events?


anniversaries

 88 articles and talk pages
about traumatic events
Increased activity during
anniversaries

 During anniversaries of
traumatic events users
negotiate their interpretation
of the past


anniversaries
I find it extremely upsetting and unfortunate
that there were so many unneccessary
deaths involved in the September 11
"attacks". […] Emotional bonding
My heart goes out to the families,
My prayers are with those who are
friends and loved ones of anyone who lost
related/friends with the dead of Sept
their life in the 9/11 attacks. […]
11.
[…] my sympathy and prayers to those who mourn this
day.
[…] Spare a thought for those whose lives
were torn apart that day. Directive function
I believe the only way we can prevent another tragedy like
this is by educating ourselves about what went wrong.
This article does an outstanding job of doing exactly
that.
Wikipedia articles […] don't cause people to commit crimes.
Encyclopedias educate people. Educated people resist
ignorance and hate. Ignorance and hate beget injustice and
violence.

anniversaries

 Commemoration of traumatic events takes place in
Wikipedia

 Wikipedia can be interpreted as a global memory place
and can be studied to investigate collective memory
processes


LIWC applied to Wikipedia
Psychological processes Examples
 Linguistic Inquiry & Affective processes Happy, hate, kiss
Word Count Positive emotions Love, party, pleasant
Negative emotions Hurt, abuse, scary
(LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2001) Anxiety Worried, afraid
searches for words Anger Kill, aggression, destroy
Sadness Sad, cry, depression
across: Cognitive processes Cause, acknowledge, admit
Insight Think, assume, interpret
Causation Because, depend, elicit
 Linguistic categories (e.g. Discrepancy Should, could, if
pronouns, articles, tenses) Tentative Maybe, apparently, suppose
Certainty Always, absolutely, clear
 Psychological categories
Inhibition Block, abstain, avoid
(e.g. social, affective, Inclusive And, add, along
cognitive processes) Exclusive But, either, without
Social processes Mate, guy, boy
Family Daughter, brother, dad
Friends Buddy, friend, mate
Humans Adult, children, girl


66 articles 40 articles
HP: > negative emotions HP: > positive emotions
> cognitive processes
> social processes

All differences are statistically significant



 LIWC is effective in detecting

 Differences in content referred to psychological processes
related to articles about traumatic and non traumatic events


Natural and human-made
traumatic events
2004 IndianTsunami September 11 attacks

 How people remember traumatic events:
 Understand the consequences on the physical and
psychological health of people and communities
 Differences in the psychological processes:
 First step toward the understanding and the prediction of
trauma, typical responses to it, and short and long-term effects

traumatic events
 Traumatic events are unique

 Theoretical reasons to distinguish between natural and
human-made traumatic events

 Literature: human accidents may have longer and more
insidious effects on physical and psychological health:
 negative emotions; nervousness and anxiety (Cohn et al., 2004; Adler, 1943)
 psychological and work-related problems (Leopold and Dillon, 1963; Henderson
and Bostock, 1977; Ploeger, 1972)
 depression, anxiety, personality changes (Titchener and Kapp, 1976)
 sleep disturbances and psychiatric problems (Gleser et al., 1981; Gleser et al.,
1978)
 war-related dreams and aggravated assaults (Pennebaker and Harber, 1993)


traumatic events
Natural disasters Human disasters
Uncontrollable Loss of control
helplessness stress arousal
2004 IndianTsunami September 11 attacks

19 natural disasters 36 human-made
Wikipedia’s categories, e.g. “2008 Atlantic Wikipedia’s categories, e.g. “Assassinations”,
Hurricane Season”, “1993 natural disasters” “Terrorist incidents”


traumatic events
 Affective processes
 Man-made disasters: loss of control (distress)  higher anxiety,
anger
 Natural disasters: uncontrollable (helplessness)  higher sadness

 Cognitive processes
 Man-made disasters: loss of control  higher cognitive processes

 Social processes
 Man-made disasters: increased orientation toward others  higher
social processes


traumatic events

*  Human-made
*
traumatic events:
*  more anxiety,
anger (blame)

 Natural disasters:
 more sadness
Affective processes Happy, hate, kiss (passive behavior)
Positive emotions Love, party, pleasant
Anxiety Worried, afraid
Anger Kill, aggression, destroy


traumatic events

 Human-made
*
traumatic events:
 need for
explanation is
* critical (unexpected
* *
loss of control)

 Natural disasters:
Cognitive processes Cause, acknowledge, admit  need for
Causation Because, depend, elicit
explanation is less
Discrepancy Should, could, if pressing (nature is
Tentative Maybe, apparently, suppose uncontrollable)
Inclusive And, add, along
Exclusive But, either, without

traumatic events

*  Human-made
traumatic events:
 higher social
orientation?
*  more references
to people
(e.g., bomber’s
family or social
Social processes Mate, guy, boy relations)


traumatic events
 Different psychological and sensemaking processes
underlying users editing activity
 Specific patterns of emotional language

stressful Man-made high activation
focused anger disasters

heavier effects

negative positive

passive Natural
responses disasters
low activation


Linguistic markers of emergent
memories over time
7 July 2005 London bombings 2011 Egyptian revolution

> 1000 edits in 6 days > 2500 edits in 2 weeks


memories over time
 Literature: changes in emotional, cognitive and social
processes after traumatic events

 Increase in the negative mood; anxiety and nervousness;
depression, personality changes, hostility (Cohn et al., 2004; Koss &
Kilpatrick, 2001; Stroebe et al., 2001; Adler, 1943; Green, 1980; Gleser et al., 1981;
Pennebaker & Harber, 1993);

 Rationalization and critical thinking processes (Cohn et al., 2004; Davis
& Nolen-Hoeksema, 2001; Baum et al., 1983)

 Seeking of social support, increased social orientation (Cohn et al.,
2004; Mehl & Pennebaker, 2003; Pyszczynski et al., 2003; Rimé et al., 1998; Rimé et al.,
1992)


memories over time
7 July 2005 London bombings  HP: higher presence of
language related to

 Affective:
emotional impact
 Cognitive:
need for explanation
 Social processes:
social orientation

in the immediate aftermath of
the bombings

memories over time

7
Jul

 Each edit analyzed with LIWC
 Data grouped by day
12
Jul


memories over time
Condolences. I am so
*
* * sorry to hear about this
* *
terrible and barbaric act
of terrorism. My
* thoughts are with the
British people.
*

I am so sorry for
the victims, injured
and wounded
χ²(5)=19.39, p=.002
londoners.
Affective processes Happy, hate, kiss


memories over time
… there are bombs
everywhere. I'm
scared,
* but I'm sure it will all be
* okay.
Phone the police if
you're worried.
* * *
* * * Please add a "Missing
* Persons" section.
Over 24 hours people
are getting
desperate.
χ²(5)=12.64, p=.027


memories over time
It is officially being
called the worst UK
* *
* terrorist attack on Please READ MY
British soil FUCKING
ARGUMENTS.
There isn’t any reason
* to loose your
temper.
I tried to compromise,
but you are reverting my
edits out of pure spite.
χ²(5)=14.28, p=.014


memories over time

 High emotional load in the immediate aftermath of the
bombings


memories over time
Can we please have
* a reference for the
police conference…

* Gladys Wundowa has
disappeared from news
coverage, so presumably
there was a mistake.

χ²(5)=20.28, p=.001
Cognitive processes Cause, acknowledge, admit  Unexpected:
Causation Because, depend, elicit  Insight is higher after a
Discrepancy Should, could, if
Tentative Maybe, apparently, suppose
few days
Inclusive And, add, along
Exclusive But, either, without


memories over time
Contacting friends / families etc.
Does anyone know of a coordinated
attempt to get word of people who are
safe to their friends and relatives -
* something similar to what was used
during the tsunami etc. ?
It kind of helps to have the
* * numbers there, as people are
trying to find out information
about relatives, friends, etc.
χ²(5)=15.25, p=.009
 Initial preoccupation
for friends and
Friends Buddy, friend, mate relatives


memories over time

 Hp partially confirmed:

 Language related to affective and social processes was
higher immediately after the bombings

 Language expressing cognitive processes (insight) was
higher after a few days
 Contrary to previous research by Cohn et al. (2004) finding an
immediate increase in cognitive activity after 9/11


memories over time
 HP: higher presence of 2011 Egyptian revolution
language related to

 Affective:
emotional impact
 Cognitive:
need for explanation
 Social processes:
social orientation

in the most heated days of the
revolution

memories over time

~ 400 edits

~ 250 edits

25 2 11 17
Jan Feb Feb Feb
“Battle of “Friday of
the Camel” Departure” Two crucial
moments in the
time span
analyzed

memories over time

25
Jan

2
Feb

11
Feb
 Each edit analyzed with LIWC
 Data grouped by 2-days
17
Feb

memories over time
Pro-Mubarak protesters
are killing the pro-
Democracy protesters.
* OMG. 300 dead so far. Its
* * sicking
Scary scenes of
violence on al jazeera :(
* My thoughts are with
those in Egypt.

χ²(11)=20.10, p=.044


memories over time
Number of journalists attacked; human
rights members attacked.
This article from Forbes discusses
that 24 reporters were arrested on
* *
* Thursday and 21 were assaulted.
* *

* […] STOP CAT-
FIGHTING, YOUR NOT A
BUNCH OF RIOTERS IN
TIRIR SQUAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
χ²(11)=23.74, p=.014


memories over time
[…] Khaled Saeed was one of the
main catalysts for these protests and
his name is a rallying cry for the
protesters.
[…] I actually know Wael
* * personally. I hope he is
alive, I really do. Its very
sad.
* * * I think it's quite clear with
Mubarak's resignation that
this should be considered a
revolution.
χ²(11)=23.74, p=.014


memories over time

 High emotional load in the days corresponding to the
“Battle of the Camel”


memories over time
I think putting both of them
in the Reception section
would mitigate any POV
*
problems.
*
Should the takeover of
the Egyptian embassy in
Venezuela be added to
the article?

χ²(11)=29.40, p=.002  Discrepancy: linguistic
Cognitive processes Cause, acknowledge, admit politeness (Sexton & Helmreich, 2003)
Causation
Discrepancy
Because, depend, elicit
Should, could, if
 Unexpected:
Tentative Maybe, apparently, suppose  Discrepancy is higher
Inhibition Block, abstain, avoid before the “Battle of the
Inclusive
Exclusive
And, add, along
But, either, without
Camel”

memories over time
No, we need to
integrate it elsewhere,
then delete.
* and whose WE? because I
know Im not
*
OK. "We" except
you.
everyone above disagree
with (YOU). so again whose
WE?
And who is "everyone
above" that disagree with
χ²(11)=24.10, p=.012 "(ME)"? "We" - we, the
Social processes Mate, guy, boy community.


memories over time
The role of women
Women protesters number anywhere
* from 20% to 50% participation,
* depending on the time of day.
* *

* Number of journalists attacked;
* human rights members
attacked
This article from Forbes
discusses that…

χ²(11)=20.06, p=.045


memories over time

 High social orientations in the days corresponding to the
“Battle of the Camel”


memories over time

 Hp partially confirmed:

 Language related to affective and social processes was
higher during the 2-3 February (Battle of the Camel)
 No significant results on the 10-11 February

 Language expressing cognitive processes (discrepancy)
was higher during the 29-30 January, when emotional
language was low
 Contrary to the HP but consistent with previous results


memories over time
 Specular temporal
evolution of affective
and cognitive processes
 Wikipedia talk pages:
collaborative
environment
 The social context may
influence the co-
evolution of emotional
sharing, critical thinking
and linguistic politeness


Considerations

 LIWC
 Limitations (psychological categories are subjective and
context-dependent)
 Know your data (noise caused by bots, vandalism, templates)


Conclusions

 Commemoration of traumatic events takes place in
Wikipedia (global memory place)
 Different patterns of emotional language in articles about
man-made and natural disasters
 Specular temporal evolution of affective and cognitive
processes in talk pages of traumatic events
 Wikipedia: Quantitative and longitudinal study of
collective memories
 Empirically validate theoretical findings


Conclusions

Thank you!
Questions…?

Collective Memories in Wikipedia - LiveMemories final review

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