-- AlexGekker - 26 Jun 2013

Group members: Alex, Aron, Karin, Sam

RESEARCH QUESTION:

What shifts can be identified in the locational discourse surrounding Snowden's case?

---

Method one:

What topics were dominant in the Twitter discourse around Snowden between july 20 till july 26?

• In TCat search Snowden within PRISM dataset
• Create a .csv file that contains hashtag frequencies.
• identify the top 5 hashtags per day
• identify how these hashtags appear over the entire period
• calculate what percentage these hashtags appear per day
• visualize in excel

---

Method two:

What were the main themes in the SNOWDEN query in the PRISM dataset between july 9 till july 26?

• Tag cloud - per day - synthesizing the main themes - get some #s, compare to general words.
• If we found places - Do tag clouds of places on a per day basis
• Find links between places and extratiodion discourses - corellation (statistical analysis) between places and themes.

What terms were associated with these locations in the Twitter discourse around Snowden on these dates?

• We identified the top places in the themes and visualized them outside the SNOWDEN query using through co hashtag analysis

---

Challenges:

• the discourse around PRISM is defined by DMI (keywords: nsa, palanteer, prism, spying, cyberwar, wiretap)
• we search for SNOWDEN within this discourse to try and isolate discourse around snowden more specifically (keyword: snowden)
• hashtags PRISM, SNOWDEN, and NSA dominate, making it hard to note minor topical shifts
• problem in dataset because backup system at 4:00 am
• no geographical locations mentioned in top hashtags
• Co-hashtag analysis instead of co-word analysis

---

TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS PART 1:

• What kind of locations are being discussed? [these locations digitally grounded]

The matrix shows an indicates a shift from a focus on Hong Kong (where he was). To America and China to an interlude of Britain and Iceland. Last couple of days Hong Kong, Ecuador, Moscow/Russia.

TENTATIVE CONCLUSIONS PART 2:

• Fugitive Geographies - Iceland (19-20 june): Assange, wikileaks, Asylum, Whistle-blower
• Fugitive Geographies - Hong Kong (20-24 june): Speculations (moscow, russia, cuba, venezuela), wikileaks (surveillance & whistleblower moving away)
• Fugitive Geographies - Moscow (25-26 june): hollidayinnfullofspies-hotel-motel, extradition-wikileaks-whistleblowers, political outfall (poetin, russia)

See our powerpoint presentation: Where_in_the_world_is_Edward_Snowden_-_Final.ppt