Social Network Analysis grounded in domestic dynamics
Snapshots of doctoral research
Social media in Sri Lanka
Sanjana Hattotuwa | [email protected]
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Introduction
My doctoral research at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (NCPACS), University of Otago, is anchored to the study of social media in Sri Lanka. As a consequence, and far more than I expected when I started my course of study, the voluminous, varied and often violent socio-political developments on the ground have contributed to ever increasing content production on Twitter and Facebook. The academic rigour I am being schooled in requires a careful delineation and critical distance from observed events, processes and data collected. An interventionist gene, however, compels me to release and reflect more urgently and frequently than I thought I would. I am trying to navigate this tension - emphasis on trying. As partial evidence of my failure, this document captures some of my output since 2018 first and predominantly published on Twitter. Will keep updating this document with new or rediscovered content.
* Short bio on about.me. Profile on LinkedIn. Musings on Twitter.
* Blog on ICT/technology for peace and another one featuring archives of what was from 2015-2019 a regular Sunday column to Sri Lankan newspaper.
* Archives of web content anchored to socio-political developments in Sri Lanka since 2003.
Writing & visualisations
* Ourdiversity.org is where I publish, monthly, visualisations of my Twitter data collection anchored to the #lka and #srilanka hashtags. Read my tweets launching the blog here.
* A weekly column, which I stopped in December 2019, to the Sunday Island newspaper in Sri Lanka. The writing was often based on aspects of my doctoral research and resulting insights.
* My writing on the use of Information and Communications Technologies for peace, for close upon 15 years.
* My work with the ICT4Peace Foundation, since 2006, anchored to my research foci.
* My work with the Centre for Policy Alternatives, since 2002, covers a gamut of issues from FoE to civic media and misinformation.
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Data captures, writing & tweets around specific incidents
General Election, August 2020
* Click here for a document that captures data from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter in the lead up to the General Election 2020.
Covid19 / Coronavirus pandemic
* Click here for a document that captures data from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube on the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government’s response to the Coronavirus / Covid-19 pandemic.
Presidential Election, November 2019
* Click here for a document that captures data from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter in the lead up to the Presidential Election 2019.
* Also see semantic analysis of Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s key speeches in English.
Constitutional crisis, Sri Lanka, October to December 2018
* Click here for a document that captured, over 52 days, dynamics and developments around the constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka, from 26 October to mid-December 2018.
Christchurch terrorist attack, New Zealand, March 2019
Click here for a blog post with some data visualisations on the domestic and international conversations anchored to the terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. Also wrote 5 op-eds on the incident, analysing events and responses from a social media perspective.
1. A historic opportunity, Otago Daily Times
2. Principles over promises: Responding to terrorism, Scoop
3. Pulse points, Scoop
4. Terrorists know they have the upper hand on social media, Stuff.co.nz
5. NZ's response can lead the way, Otago Daily Times
Easter Sunday terrorist attacks, Sri Lanka, 21 April 2019
* Click here for a document capturing the content resulting from the terrorist attacks on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka, including data-driven perspectives on the use of VPNs during the social media blocks imposed by the government on three occasions.
* Document includes capture of Facebook content against violence, at the height of unrest on the ground, as well as, analysis of Google Search Trends data on VPN use during social media blocks in Sri Lanka, and to what degree it impacted use and access of Facebook etc.
* I also did a quick capture of responses on Instagram to the terrorist attacks.
Episodic data captures & tweet threads
Memes on Facebook in March 2021 critiquing government and the Rajapaksa family
* See tweet thread here.
On the proposed revisions to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure to encompass and criminalise hate speech
* See tweet thread here.
‘New Ec(h)o systems: Democracy in the age of social media’ conference
* Held on 16 and 17 March 2021 at the University of Otago. Tweets, videos (including message from New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern) and other content from the conference here.
Pushback against the Rajapaksa family (post-November 2019)
* Pushback against Chamal Rajapaksa, 23 March 2021.
* Pushback against Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 30 December 2021.
* Pushback against Mahinda Rajapaksa and Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 21 October 2021.
Tweet thread looking at the Chinese Embassy’s Twitter account on its 1st anniversary, falling on 20 March 2021
* Read the tweet thread here.
Tweet thread on the launch of Facebook’s Human Rights Policy, March 2021
* Read the tweet thread here.
Tweets on invitation by Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry to Myanmar junta official to participate in BIMSTEC meeting
* Read the tweet thread here, including visualisations of those from Myanmar pleading with the Sri Lankan government to not recognise Tatmadaw.
* Subsequent tweet flagging the absurdity of what was discussed at the BIMSTEC meeting versus what the UN was calling for.
Tweets with gigapixel collages (10k) of photos posted to Instagram around the Myanmar military coup (#MyanmarCoup)
* Collage of ~6,000 public images posted to Instagram with #MyanmarCoup hashtag from 1-17 February. Rendered against photo by Htin Linn Aye.
* Collage of ˜2,140 public images posted to posted to Instagram with #MyanmarCoup hashtag from 17-27 February. Rendered against photo off Sky News.
* Collage of 4077 public images posted to posted to Instagram with #MyanmarCoup hashtag from 27 Feb to 10 March. Rendered against a (heart-breaking) photo taken by @myitkyinanewsj, featured in the Guardian.
* Collage of 3,068 images on #Instagram w/ #MyanmarCoup hashtag from 10/3-20/3, Rendered against photo by @drnyinyikyaw framing Ma Kyal Sin before she was killed.
* Collage of 3,509 images on #Instagram w/ #MyanmarCoup hashtag from 20/3-1/4. Rendered against photo by @nytimes.
Tweet thread looking at the release of the gazette permitting the burial of Muslims who died because of Coronavirus, on 26 February 2021
* See initial tweet thread here.
Study of responses on Facebook and Twitter to PM Mahinda Rajapaksa’s statement in Parliament on the burial of Muslims who died because of Coronavirus, 10 February 2021
* See initial tweet thread here.
Tweet thread on the hacking of Sri Lanka’s country-level domain registry, 6 February 2021
* See initial tweet thread here.
* Follow up threads here and in response to tweet by the Sri Lankan Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) another one here.
* Thread on the number of times since 2006 Sri Lankan Government sites have been hacked.
Tweet thread on Facebook’s platform bias towards Sinhalese males in ad targetting
* See tweet thread here.
Study of Chinese Facebook accounts targetting Sinhala speaking audiences in Sri Lanka
* See tweet thread here. This follows up from the tweet thread here which looked at just two accounts.
Coverage of the release of a report by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) and posts about Gotabaya Rajapaksa on 28th January 2021.
* See tweet thread here.
On two Chinese Facebook accounts / pages purporting to be journalists and running ads targetting Sinhala speaking journalists in Sri Lanka
* See tweet thread here. Also see the tweet thread here which looks at a larger set of accounts on Facebook from China.
On the shortcomings and limitations of Oxford Internet Institute (OII) report on disinformation 2020 in capture of Sri Lanka’s propaganda landscape
* See tweet thread here.
* Tweets on ad by private military contractor in Sri Lanka calling for influential Facebook and YouTube admins to join it.
On the virality generated by posts featuring a 17-year-old Muslim girl on 18 January 2021 and “good Muslim” tropes on Facebook
* See tweet thread here.
(Social) media regulation in Sri Lanka: Flagging normalisation of media illiteracy over memes on Facebook
* See tweet thread here.
Tweet thread on speech by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Ampara, January 2020
* See tweet thread here. Includes graph on President’s Facebook page engagement from 1 January 2019 to 9 January 2021.
(Social) media regulation in Sri Lanka: Responses to comments by Government MPs in December 2020
* See tweet thread here responding to Keheliya Rambukwella’s comments on the registration of all social media users in Sri Lanka, and Charitha Herath’s subsequent contradictions and clarifications.
* See tweet thread here responding to Keheliya Rambukwella’s garbled comments.
Tweet thread (and related infographics) on the release of the New Zealand Royal Commission’s Report into the Christchurch terrorist attack
* See tweet thread here.
* See related thread on output, including input into the Christchurch Call and leading Twitter’s first #DataForGood partnership in New Zealand, since the March 2019 terrorist incident.
* See related tweet thread comparing Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary Select Committee Report on the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks and the Royal Commission Report.
(Social) media regulation in Sri Lanka: Encapsulation of responses from PhD fieldwork in Jan/Feb 2020
* See tweet here.
Sri Lanka's official Covid-19 tracing app is a privacy night