<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>One of the roles of media research is to explain social phenomena. The Internet became a place where society expresses itself and where society could be influenced or even manipulated. Therefore, online communication analysis becomes a tool that is expected to guarantee the transparency of the social communication process. Unfortunately, the size of the Internet makes analysis difficult, and traditional methods of analysing communication are not always enough or force the researcher to focus on a fragmentary data. The author asks a question which research methods are suitable for Internet research and allow to improve transparency. It focuses on the method group referred to in the article as Mass Automated Internet Analysis. In the final part, the author shows examples of several – existing or being developed – research methods and techniques (including data collection and data analysis field), what research methods can improve the quality of digital communications research.</p></abstract>

One of the roles of media research is to explain social phenomena. The Internet became a place where society expresses itself and where society could be influenced or even manipulated. Therefore, online communication analysis becomes a tool that is expected to guarantee the transparency of the social communication process. Unfortunately, the size of the Internet makes analysis difficult, and traditional methods of analysing communication are not always enough or force the researcher to focus on a fragmentary data. The author asks a question which research methods are suitable for Internet research and allow to improve transparency. It focuses on the method group referred to in the article as Mass Automated Internet Analysis. In the final part, the author shows examples of several – existing or being developed – research methods and techniques (including data collection and data analysis field), what research methods can improve the quality of digital communications research.

Mass Automated Internet Analysis and Cyberspace Transparency

Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie

Wydział Teologii, Instytut Edukacji Medialnej I Dziennikarstwa

Social Communication

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Mass Automated Internet Analysis and Cyberspace Transparency"}

One of the roles of media research is to explain social phenomena. The Internet became a place where society expresses itself and where society could be...

Mass Automated Internet Analysis and Cyberspace Transparency

Published Online: Dec 31, 2019

Page range: 32 - 44

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sc-2019-0007

Keywords
The Internet, internet research, online research methodology, Mass Automated Internet Analysis, Webscan, WebStream, transparency of the Internet

© 2019 Marek Robak, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mass Automated Internet Analysis and Cyberspace Transparency

Published Online: Dec 31, 2019

Page range: 32 - 44

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/sc-2019-0007

KeywordsThe Internet, internet research, online research methodology, Mass Automated Internet Analysis, Webscan, WebStream, transparency of the Internet

© 2019 Marek Robak, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
The Internet, internet research, online research methodology, Mass Automated Internet Analysis, Webscan, WebStream, transparency of the Internet