Topic: From Communication Computation to Computational communication: Some Thoughts on the Topic Selection and Writing of a Cross-Disciplinary Doctoral Dissertations
Speaker: Dr. Wang Hanxiao
Host: Professor Wang Chengjun
Time: 12:15 p.m. to 1:45 p.m., Friday, October 23, 2020
Location: Room 311, Zijin Building, Xianlin Campus
Tencent Meeting: 172 289 123
Synopsis:
The introduction of computational communication studies brought not only changes in research methods and paradigms of journalism and communication, but a platform for cross-disciplinary researchers and others who are interested in human communication behavior. Wang Hanxiao studied library and information science for his master’s, and when he entered the field of journalism and communication, he also thought about how to adapt to the area and, in particular, how to find an appropriate topic for his doctoral dissertation.
His dissertation was titled A study of relations in the network of visible and hidden agendas among media in issues of vaccine safety. Based on studies in China and other countries of the agenda-setting theory and vaccine safety, the dissertation utilizes the technologies of natural language processing and machine learning to improve the analysis methods of the network of visible and hidden agendas. Taking as examples the most influential vaccine safety crises, the Shandong vaccine case and Changsheng vaccine event, his study analyzed, from perspectives of visible and hidden relations, the network of agendas of major participants in the Weibo community, namely, government Weibo accounts, state media, commercial media, opinion leaders, and the public. The dissertation also inferred cause and effect of agenda guidance between the public and other participants.
Bio:
Wang Hanxiao is a teacher at the Department of Network and New Media at the School of Journalism and Communication, Nanjing Normal University. He received his doctorate in journalism from the same school and joined the faculty there. He is also a member of the Computational Communication Committee of Journalistic History Association of China. His research focuses on media effects and online public opinion with research methods of computational sociology. During his doctoral studies, he published papers as first author in journals including Journalism& Communication, Chinese Journal of Journalism& Communication, and Journalism Research.
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Published October 22, 2020