Presented at the Association of Internet Researchers conference, Seattle, October 2011.

1. ACUTE EVENTS
IN SOCIAL MEDIA
JEAN BURGESS | @jeanburgess
QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
KATE CRAWFORD | @katecrawford
UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES
ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE FOR CREATIVE
INDUSTRIES & INNOVATION

6. acute events
: JohanBerglund
Common dynamics: sharp
peaks, high volume and
intensity
Highly mediated, involving
multiple actors/interests
In twitter, often coordinated
around particular #hashtags
Produce controversies &
‘adjunctive conversations’

7. Event-driven research
‘peakiness’ and
‘burstiness’
Andreas Jungherr and Pascal Jürgens (2011) ‘A
map drawn in sand: Twitter data and the
structure of political campaigns’. Düsseldorf
Workshop on Interdisciplinary Approaches to
Twitter Analysis
(DIATA11), Düsseldorf, Germany on 14-15
Flickr: gabrielaP93 September 2011.

9. #ausvotes (2August. 2011)

11. #royalwedding (29 Apr. 2011)

12. Crises
• Unplanned/unforeseen acute events
• High stakes, multiple interests, adverse
impacts
• Disruptive/productive effects on systems
Flickr: Daveybot

13. #qldfloods
Flickr: Jono Haysom

14. #eqnz
Flickr: NZ Defence Force

15. #spill

17. New epistemologies?
Boyd, danah & Kate Crawford, ‘Six
Provocations for Big Data’, A Decade in
Internet Time: Symposium on the Dynamics of
the Internet and Society, September 2011.

18. Time and accessibility

19. Need for mixed methods
Flickr: teachernz

20. Ethics of access
Flickr: Lightmash

21. New digital divides

22. Thank you…
je.burgess@qut.edu.au
k.crawford@unsw.edu.au
Flickr: pierofix