Big data and digital methods2015/16

The BD module is based on the following textbooks: Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier, Big data – A revolution that will transform how we live, work, and think, Aemon Dolan, 2013 (ISBN:978-0-544-00269-2), e Bernard Marr, Big data: Using SMART Big Data, Analytics and Metrics To Make Better Decisions and Improve Performance, Wiley, 2015 (ISBN:978-1-118-96583-2)

The DM module is based on the following material: Rogers, R. 2013. Digital Methods, Cambridge, MIT Press; Hine, C. 2015. Ethnography for the Internet: Embedded, Embodied and Everyday, London Bloomsbury; additional material provided in class. It is strongly recommended to attend class using a laptop, to learn the basics of the Digital Methods Initiative tools package, and to download the free software Gephi. Students not attending class are also asked to study on the book Kozinets, RV 2010. Netnography: Doing Ethnographic Research Online. Los Angeles: Sage.

BD module: overview of the «big data» world. Analysis of the «big data» phenomenon; analyzing big masses of data; data science: an example; working with incoherent data; looking for correlation among data; datafication; the value in data; risks linked to the «big data» phenomenon; possible evolution of the «big data» phenomenon. DM module: big data (opportunities and constrains); digital methods; ethnography of the Internet; netnography; digital ethnography; etnomining and short-term ethnography; useful heuristics; data collection tools; coding/programming scrapers; sentiment analysis; content analysis; quali-quantitative text analysis; online network analysis; introduction to Gephi; digital identity analysis; twitter analysis; data visualization; research design.