Combining network structures and meanings: Tweeting over the IPCC report

Iina HellstenVU University AmsterdamDept. Organization SciencesAffiliated The Network Institute(e) i.r.hellsten@vu.nl

Kim HolmbergVU University AmsterdamDept. Organization Sciences

(e) kim.holmberg@abo.fi

Sunbelt, St Pete Beach, Florida, February 2014

In September 2013 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published its 5th Assessment report, the first comprehensive assessment of physical climate science in six years, constituting a critical event in the societal debate about climate change. This research investigates the content of that debate on Twitter.

Background

RQ1) What kind of topics and meanings integrate the (structural) communities?

2) What kind of topics and meanings differentiate the (structural) communities?

Research Questions:

Tweets containing the acronym “IPCC” were collected between September 17 and October 8, 2013 (with http://lexiurl.wlv.ac.uk/)

Users stance (convinced, neutral, sceptic) in climate change debate coded by Pearce et al. (under review)

The content of these users’ tweets as data

Data

Climate change on Twitter: topics, communities and conversations about the IPCCPearce, Holmberg, Hellsten & Nerlich (under review).

239 usernames coded according to their stance in the climate change debate as convinced, neutral, sceptics

Semantic networks of each group: 110 most frequently used noun phrases in the tweets (extracted with VOSviewer)

Projected the maps for each group on to a base map, which showed the comprehensive situation (visualization with Gephi)

Methods

This is fraud. This is IPCC fraud. Why have the AR4 projections mysteriously disappeared or been changed? http://t.co/5liqycDmt7

Climate Models Used By IPCC Fail To Reproduce Decadal & Multidecadal Patterns Since 1850 @[…] http://t.co/n4drUNCF1d

@IPCC_CH: Information about the #IPCC and how it produces reports http://t.co/pT6N5t4xQ1 #AR5 #climatechange

#IPCC in #AR5: "Most aspects of #climate change will persist for many centuries even if emissions of #CO2 stopped" #Globalwarming is real and human

beings are responsible: #IPCC http://t.co/lhnsXZBtXg #nature #world #environment #mot…

Example tweets

Analyzing content of the IPCC tweets by tweeter groups

Base map: All

Analyzing content of the IPCC tweets by tweeter groups

Skeptics

Analyzing content of the IPCC tweets by tweeter groups

Convinced

Analyzing content of the IPCC tweets by tweeter groups

Neutrals

Table 1. Pearson r for the similarities between the noun phrases used in each group

sceptic convinced neutral

sceptic 1.000

convinced 0.686 1.000

neutral 0.703 0.918 1.000

Results

Significant overlap between the noun phrases used by each group

Sceptic n Convinced n Neutral nipcc report 103 report 299 ipcc report 91science 86 ipcc report 286 report 81scientist 68 climate change 219 climate change 46report 66 scientist 132 summary 33global warming 60 science 91 scientist 32year 55 world 85 new ipcc report 25model 43 climate 84 science 20warming 41 change 80 year 20models wrong 40 global warming 79 blog 19co2 39 new ipcc report 77 tweet 19progress 38 action 65 stockholm 17climate change 35 twitter chat 63 climate 16earth 35 today 62 today 16fact 35 government 61 policymaker 16poverty servitude 35 time 58 friday 15ipcc ar5 report 33 stockholm 54 global warming 13time 31 year 53 comment 13climate 30 summary 53 question 13data 30 ipcc climate report 49 week 12humanity 30 risk 43 reaction 12

Table 2. Top 20 noun phrases (shared highlighted)

Discussion 1(2)

Shared set of words and phrases:

1) general words related to the event (IPCC report, climate change, global warming, science, scientists)

2) general targeted audiences (policy making)

Discussion 2(2)Unique set of words and phrases:

1) opposing views on anthropogenic climate change Sceptics: shame and crimeConvinced: emission, fossil fuels and scenarios

2) different sub-topicsSceptics: poverty, humanity, modelConvinced: government, public opinion, news, climate system

3) naming each otherSceptics: alarmistsConvinced: denier

ConclusionsOpposing positions in the debate on anthropogenic impact on climate change (different words/phrases used to refer to same event)

Shared words:Between communities: General focus, integration Within communities: Different interpretations, meanings, focus

Unique words:Between communities: Differentiation Within communities: Integration

Kim HolmbergVU University AmsterdamDept. Organization Sciences(e) kim.holmberg@abo.fi

AcknowledgementsFunding: NWO Open Research Area (ORA) project ”Climate Change as a complex social issue”, grant number 464-10-077

Thank you for your attention