tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post6126062606880653702..comments2023-07-07T06:52:33.856-04:00Comments on floatingsheep: FAQ: The Geography of HateMark Grahamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00659652124105331552noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-65291729492532825012013-06-01T17:52:07.330-04:002013-06-01T17:52:07.330-04:00When you accuse something as being "bad scien...When you accuse something as being "bad science" please remember that science is an iterative process. Statistical rigor requires sampling methodologies (raw data) that can support more advanced analytic techniques. Real science does not happen like on CSI. It's not as simple as clicking the "factor out population density" button. I applaud the authors for making a brave step that they undoubtedly knew would get some of that hate thrown that way.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08267960099110899008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-54100341730357357142013-06-01T15:33:36.385-04:002013-06-01T15:33:36.385-04:00Of course population has something to do with it! ...Of course population has something to do with it! No, it probably isn't everything, but you can't just say 'oh, it's not a factor, trust me'! The reason California has few tweets could be MANY reasons. More black live in the east and south, that could be one. But even if this doesn't explain it, one thing is absolutely clear, all things equal you will get more tweets in places with more population. Now, maybe cities are more or less likely to engage in this behavior. But we don't even know because it's not adjusted for population. It's fine to not put it if for technical reasons, or anything really. But to say it doesn't have to do anything with population and that's why it's not included, that's just bad science.jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10285820790114546703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-84176134252718804992013-05-27T22:57:29.120-04:002013-05-27T22:57:29.120-04:00"I'm not seeing a response to the sample ..."I'm not seeing a response to the sample size critique that the methodology is biased against rural areas."<br /><br />Don't hold your breath. Statistical rigor is not high on the list for these guys, would be my guess.The Phantomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10159748429049446398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-40194877156867711472013-05-22T17:15:15.231-04:002013-05-22T17:15:15.231-04:00I'm not seeing a response to the sample size c...I'm not seeing a response to the sample size critique that the methodology is biased against rural areas. <br /><br />Here's a map of the 234 counties that are above average in at least 6 of the 10 words: (http://batchgeo.com/map/99189fa08dbe583c21d0312938df9023)<br />That point of view certainly makes it looks like the words are much more common in heavily populated counties.<br /><br />I've got a more detailed explanation here: (http://statexamples.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-map-called-geography-of-hate-seems-to.html)<br /><br />I would be interested to see a map where you divide by the square root of number of tweets in a county instead of the number of tweets.<br /><br />I also would be interested in data as to how many counties have 0 or 1 instance of the words.PBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05456540010128220427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-75963372974141123532013-05-21T19:25:56.192-04:002013-05-21T19:25:56.192-04:00I'd also point out that a sizeable subset of t...I'd also point out that a sizeable subset of the gay population now uses "queer" as a word to describe themselves, in the way that blacks will use "nigga" with each other.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04800448419515955717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-43870667511673868732013-05-21T19:23:29.692-04:002013-05-21T19:23:29.692-04:00Either someone in The Dalles, Oregon really doesn&...Either someone in The Dalles, Oregon really doesn't like dykes, or you missed the fact that Google has a big server farm at that location and somehow a bunch of Twitter emissions go through that point as well. You might want to check it out.Jakehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04800448419515955717noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-50239545064818618762013-05-21T13:49:43.535-04:002013-05-21T13:49:43.535-04:00The hover statistics don't seem to be working ...The hover statistics don't seem to be working right now. I tried it in 3 different browsers (IE, Firefox, Chrome) and was unable to get anything except intermittent popups and only when it was on the default setting. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13089750286311763023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-42477328407671957492013-05-21T11:38:20.833-04:002013-05-21T11:38:20.833-04:00My second thought when looking at this map (after ...My second thought when looking at this map (after "Whoa") was definitely "Why isn't retard on here?"Beccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11509267679800245452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-21268676155958159922013-05-21T09:18:23.418-04:002013-05-21T09:18:23.418-04:00I understand the realities of financial limitation...I understand the realities of financial limitations regarding the end result, but just in general I find it highly questionable that you had excluded outright terms not deemed on the wrong end of the euphemism treadmill. Hate can be thrown around just as well without "hateful" words.<br /><br />All this map really tells me is that the bigots in some parts of the nation apparently prefer "fag", "homo" and "queer", while others probably prefer "fairy", "sissy", "fudge packer" or just plain old "gay".<br /><br />Anyway, terminology-wise I'd also prefer "ablist" (and "orientationist" while I'm at it) and I agree that this really, really needs "retard" added at the very least (which unlike "cripple" and to a degree even all of the other terms listed really can't be used in a nice way other than calling out others for using it).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-33629524174756621562013-05-20T15:45:50.388-04:002013-05-20T15:45:50.388-04:00I second what other people have said, "Retard...I second what other people have said, "Retard" should be included in the ablism side. Also, if the titles are "racist" and "homophobic" please use "ableist" to keep it consistent. "Disability" is not an "ism."<br /><br />I am really glad that you included ableism though, most people overlook it. PLEASE add "retard" and "retarded" though.<br /><br />Also, the current maps looks like a population map (as others have said). What if you did a hate per capita map? Wouldn't that be more telling?Yapshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14985453234118700528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-90435241619215677072013-05-20T12:54:42.368-04:002013-05-20T12:54:42.368-04:00I am interested in the research, and I think it is...I am interested in the research, and I think it is valuable. However, as others have mentioned above, I think methodology might might be suffering slightly from the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem. Since counties are smaller east of the Rockies, its more likely that clustering appear there using your current methodology. One way you might try to get around this problem would be to overlay a grid and calculate the variables of interest for each cell. This would help standardize scale.<br />Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17266817394036698982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-70810066854587635662013-05-20T11:08:19.885-04:002013-05-20T11:08:19.885-04:00Way to make yourself and others think you're m...Way to make yourself and others think you're making the world a better place.Quinn Culverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18105117370688316806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-79525199209051094502013-05-18T16:02:13.991-04:002013-05-18T16:02:13.991-04:00This is a fascinating study! My question is was th...This is a fascinating study! My question is was there a distinction made in the use of the "N" word from a white person as opposed to black person's use of this word? In essence; used by a white person it would be hateful and used by a black person it would not.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17189532640093171158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-64671918602572817242013-05-18T09:27:19.202-04:002013-05-18T09:27:19.202-04:00Thanks for this fascinating map. It is disappointi...Thanks for this fascinating map. It is disappointing that Palmyra VA, where I teach, is such a hotbed of n-word tweets. I would expect some to come from vernacular use by African American students, as I see this a lot, but Palmyra has a much lower percentage of persons of color than, say, Charlottesville and Richmond, so it is extremely disproportionate. Regarding excluding data, please note the spike in the word "dyke" just north of Earlysville (which is just north of Charlottesville). There is a perfectly logical explanation for this; there is a small town there, named "Dyke."marsbar078https://www.blogger.com/profile/00374530112267825097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-21019480584169938022013-05-17T17:01:56.237-04:002013-05-17T17:01:56.237-04:00@Al:
The thing I find most disturbing about this i...@Al:<br /><i>The thing I find most disturbing about this is my belief that Twitter is, for the most part, a young person's tool. These are supposed to be our enlightened upcoming generation and we're still seeing this? </i><br /><br />Good point, Al. But I'd also note that it's characteristic of many young people to use taboo words <b>for their shock value</b> -- and in 21st century American speech, "faggot" and "nigger" are much more shocking than most of the terms in George Carlin's famous list (possibly the word rhyming with "runt" can still be called highly taboo, because of its use by misogynists).<br /><br />So, if a lot of young Twitter users are throwing around hateful slurs like Mardi Gras beads, one possible reason is that "fuck" doesn't upset the grown-ups like it used to.Throberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238523669344877281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-42789040407141238442013-05-17T16:49:56.573-04:002013-05-17T16:49:56.573-04:00Sorry if this has been addressed in one of your ea...Sorry if this has been addressed in one of your earlier FAQs somewhere, but I'm wondering whether the tweets are read by the students under "blind" conditions. Which is to say, were the avatars, usernames, and geographic information viewable by the students who were evaluating the written content of the tweet, or were these stripped off?<br /><br />I mean, a reader's judgement-call as to whether a Tweeter's use of a slur was "truly hateful" or "just sarcastic" could possibly be influenced by subconscious bias based on what the user's avatar looks like, or where the user is Tweeting from. Throberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07238523669344877281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-88019150816264225192013-05-17T07:27:55.457-04:002013-05-17T07:27:55.457-04:00An easy to compute notion of significance would be...An easy to compute notion of significance would be to divide each county's total number of geo-coded tweets with a key word by the square root of the total number of geo-coded tweets from that county. You could then measure how many standard deviations from the mean the sample from each county is. This should level the playing field for small and large counties.<br /><br />I'm assuming we are viewing all of the geo-coded tweets from a county as a random sample from all tweets (thoughts?, messages?) from that county. The number of tweets with a key word then has a binomial distribution.PBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05456540010128220427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-37655505324489059892013-05-17T02:38:40.709-04:002013-05-17T02:38:40.709-04:00Patrick's point about the size of counties see...Patrick's point about the size of counties seems to pretty much nail the reason why the "hate map" looks exactly like a map of 1/county size. I think this is a really interesting exercise, so I'm looking forward to version 2 of the map.owen howletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07838224095157569867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-88594667586145566632013-05-17T02:22:17.717-04:002013-05-17T02:22:17.717-04:00So what's the total number of geotagged tweets...So what's the total number of geotagged tweets (not just the rude ones, I mean the total population)? I'd be interested to know what percentage of tweets contain some kind of hate speech. owen howletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07838224095157569867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-11507359251653142302013-05-16T18:49:51.690-04:002013-05-16T18:49:51.690-04:00Hi Monica, as mentioned in this MeFi thread (http:...Hi Monica, as mentioned in this MeFi thread (http://www.metafilter.com/128081/Hate-Map#4979364) I think there may be a problem with the Google Map visualization. The vis appears to aggregate by area, but counties are closer together in the Eastern half of the country, so even if the "hate hot-spots" were distributed randomly you would still expect to see that Eastern bias at the national zoom level.<br /><br />I would also be curious to see what the map looks like using some notion of statistical significance - you can test for significant enrichment of hateful tweets using a Fisher's exact test or chi-squared, and then plot some type of corrected p-value (or false discovery rate) instead of the raw enrichment ratio. That should take care of the "small county being driven by a single racist" problem.<br /><br />Interesting work, though, and I'm looking forward to reading the paper.Patrickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14710200927063033652noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-86497936449101370522013-05-15T15:33:46.197-04:002013-05-15T15:33:46.197-04:00Very interesting! Thank you for taking this on.
...Very interesting! Thank you for taking this on. <br /><br />A couple of thoughts. I apologize if they have already been asked and answered. If so maybe you could point me to the answer. <br /><br />1 - Why was the word "retard" left off? When it comes to disability hate terms, "retard" is at the top of the list. <br />2 - Could the focus of hate tweets coming from the East side of the US be an indicator that Twitter as a tool is used at a higher rate in the part of the country?ittybittykittyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02852590872322215067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-4607478795919201892013-05-15T11:50:49.848-04:002013-05-15T11:50:49.848-04:00As someone involved in the dog world, I can confir...As someone involved in the dog world, I can confirm that dog breeders not only use Twitter, but they commonly refer to female dogs as "bitch" - as in, "We lost a beautiful 3 y.o. bitch when she was hit by a car." So I don't blame you for excluding this word from the count - that's a lot of tweets.Lee Bridgeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02154673943926117961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-81651432449417281502013-05-15T11:04:30.504-04:002013-05-15T11:04:30.504-04:00Hi Monica,
Really fascinating. I wanted to ask th...Hi Monica,<br /><br />Really fascinating. I wanted to ask though-- how were you able to pull location data from the tweets? I understand that twitter *sometimes* has longlat data attached to tweets for those who enable it; other tools pull general city/state info from the "about" section.sumeethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03451173941119556555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-78857328781436098622013-05-15T03:31:43.233-04:002013-05-15T03:31:43.233-04:00Well said James. Objective analysis of facts (how...Well said James. Objective analysis of facts (however insular, ie Twitter using public) is relevant to discussion.<br /><br />The thing I find most disturbing about this is my belief that Twitter is, for the most part, a young person's tool. These are supposed to be our enlightened upcoming generation and we're still seeing this? Just sad is all. <br />Alhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10439972976703826468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1166669645725536266.post-4415010424499676192013-05-15T02:37:02.334-04:002013-05-15T02:37:02.334-04:00If I may address this as someone who's not aff...If I may address this as someone who's not affiliated with the project...<br /><br />This really has nothing to do with the first amendment, simply by virtue of the fact that it is not a governmental project. The Constitution of the US defines and limits governmental action and power, not private action and power.<br /><br />Beyond that (and perhaps more importantly), it is also not in any way attempting to legally prevent people from saying/tweeting what they will. <br /><br />—and Twitter itself is a private company, and thereby not obligated to allow its users to say whatever they want (but they do allow almost anything, as you know). See above re: the Constitution.<br /><br />As for the statement that "...one is entitled to be left alone and not harassed for their beliefs," quite true, quite true. The map doesn't provide any identifying information about individuals, however. The people who tweeted the flagged messages were not personally contacted or harassed in any way. <br /><br />I do quite understand where you're coming from with all of this. It's good to be conscientious of rights, and good to be thoughtful towards folks of all kinds.<br /><br />...but one might easily point out that freedom of speech includes the ability to comment upon other speech. The US is not a nation of monologuists. Conversation is the real goal, and this map/project is a part of that conversation.<br />James Moreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06891191343545828794noreply@blogger.com