Search (76 results, page 2 of 4)

  • × author_ss:"Thelwall, M."
  • × type_ss:"a"
  1. Payne, N.; Thelwall, M.: Mathematical models for academic webs : linear relationship or non-linear power law? (2005) 0.01
    0.012195333 = product of:
      0.073171996 = sum of:
        0.073171996 = weight(_text_:web in 1066) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.073171996 = score(doc=1066,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.50479853 = fieldWeight in 1066, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0546875 = fieldNorm(doc=1066)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Previous studies of academic web interlinking have tended to hypothesise that the relationship between the research of a university and links to or from its web site should follow a linear trend, yet the typical distribution of web data, in general, seems to be a non-linear power law. This paper assesses whether a linear trend or a power law is the most appropriate method with which to model the relationship between research and web site size or outlinks. Following linear regression, analysis of the confidence intervals for the logarithmic graphs, and analysis of the outliers, the results suggest that a linear trend is more appropriate than a non-linear power law.
  2. Thelwall, M.: Web impact factors and search engine coverage (2000) 0.01
    0.012070249 = product of:
      0.07242149 = sum of:
        0.07242149 = weight(_text_:web in 4539) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.07242149 = score(doc=4539,freq=6.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.49962097 = fieldWeight in 4539, product of:
              2.4494898 = tf(freq=6.0), with freq of:
                6.0 = termFreq=6.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0625 = fieldNorm(doc=4539)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Search engines index only a proportion of the web and this proportion is not determined randomly but by following algorithms that take into account the properties that impact factors measure. A survey was conducted in order to test the coverage of search engines and to decide thether their partial coverage is indeed an obstacle to using them to calculate web impact factors. The results indicate that search engine coverage, even of large national domains is extremely uneven and would be likely to lead to misleading calculations
  3. Thelwall, M.; Wilkinson, D.: Finding similar academic Web sites with links, bibliometric couplings and colinks (2004) 0.01
    0.011686969 = product of:
      0.07012181 = sum of:
        0.07012181 = weight(_text_:web in 2571) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.07012181 = score(doc=2571,freq=10.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.48375595 = fieldWeight in 2571, product of:
              3.1622777 = tf(freq=10.0), with freq of:
                10.0 = termFreq=10.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=2571)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    A common task in both Webmetrics and Web information retrieval is to identify a set of Web pages or sites that are similar in content. In this paper we assess the extent to which links, colinks and couplings can be used to identify similar Web sites. As an experiment, a random sample of 500 pairs of domains from the UK academic Web were taken and human assessments of site similarity, based upon content type, were compared against ratings for the three concepts. The results show that using a combination of all three gives the highest probability of identifying similar sites, but surprisingly this was only a marginal improvement over using links alone. Another unexpected result was that high values for either colink counts or couplings were associated with only a small increased likelihood of similarity. The principal advantage of using couplings and colinks was found to be greater coverage in terms of a much larger number of pairs of sites being connected by these measures, instead of increased probability of similarity. In information retrieval terminology, this is improved recall rather than improved precision.
  4. Thelwall, M.: Can Google's PageRank be used to find the most important academic Web pages? (2003) 0.01
    0.011686969 = product of:
      0.07012181 = sum of:
        0.07012181 = weight(_text_:web in 4457) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.07012181 = score(doc=4457,freq=10.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.48375595 = fieldWeight in 4457, product of:
              3.1622777 = tf(freq=10.0), with freq of:
                10.0 = termFreq=10.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=4457)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Google's PageRank is an influential algorithm that uses a model of Web use that is dominated by its link structure in order to rank pages by their estimated value to the Web community. This paper reports on the outcome of applying the algorithm to the Web sites of three national university systems in order to test whether it is capable of identifying the most important Web pages. The results are also compared with simple inlink counts. It was discovered that the highest inlinked pages do not always have the highest PageRank, indicating that the two metrics are genuinely different, even for the top pages. More significantly, however, internal links dominated external links for the high ranks in either method and superficial reasons accounted for high scores in both cases. It is concluded that PageRank is not useful for identifying the top pages in a site and that it must be combined with a powerful text matching techniques in order to get the quality of information retrieval results provided by Google.
  5. Shifman, L.; Thelwall, M.: Assessing global diffusion with Web memetics : the spread and evolution of a popular joke (2009) 0.01
    0.011686969 = product of:
      0.07012181 = sum of:
        0.07012181 = weight(_text_:web in 3303) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.07012181 = score(doc=3303,freq=10.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.48375595 = fieldWeight in 3303, product of:
              3.1622777 = tf(freq=10.0), with freq of:
                10.0 = termFreq=10.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=3303)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Memes are small units of culture, analogous to genes, which flow from person to person by copying or imitation. More than any previous medium, the Internet has the technical capabilities for global meme diffusion. Yet, to spread globally, memes need to negotiate their way through cultural and linguistic borders. This article introduces a new broad method, Web memetics, comprising extensive Web searches and combined quantitative and qualitative analyses, to identify and assess: (a) the different versions of a meme, (b) its evolution online, and (c) its Web presence and translation into common Internet languages. This method is demonstrated through one extensively circulated joke about men, women, and computers. The results show that the joke has mutated into several different versions and is widely translated, and that translations incorporate small, local adaptations while retaining the English versions' fundamental components. In conclusion, Web memetics has demonstrated its ability to identify and track the evolution and spread of memes online, with interesting results, albeit for only one case study.
  6. Thelwall, M.: Extracting macroscopic information from Web links (2001) 0.01
    0.010668693 = product of:
      0.064012155 = sum of:
        0.064012155 = weight(_text_:web in 6851) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.064012155 = score(doc=6851,freq=12.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.4416067 = fieldWeight in 6851, product of:
              3.4641016 = tf(freq=12.0), with freq of:
                12.0 = termFreq=12.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=6851)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Much has been written about the potential and pitfalls of macroscopic Web-based link analysis, yet there have been no studies that have provided clear statistical evidence that any of the proposed calculations can produce results over large areas of the Web that correlate with phenomena external to the Internet. This article attempts to provide such evidence through an evaluation of Ingwersen's (1998) proposed external Web Impact Factor (WIF) for the original use of the Web: the interlinking of academic research. In particular, it studies the case of the relationship between academic hyperlinks and research activity for universities in Britain, a country chosen for its variety of institutions and the existence of an official government rating exercise for research. After reviewing the numerous reasons why link counts may be unreliable, it demonstrates that four different WIFs do, in fact, correlate with the conventional academic research measures. The WIF delivering the greatest correlation with research rankings was the ratio of Web pages with links pointing at research-based pages to faculty numbers. The scarcity of links to electronic academic papers in the data set suggests that, in contrast to citation analysis, this WIF is measuring the reputations of universities and their scholars, rather than the quality of their publications
  7. Thelwall, M.: ¬A layered approach for investigating the topological structure of communities in the Web (2003) 0.01
    0.010668693 = product of:
      0.064012155 = sum of:
        0.064012155 = weight(_text_:web in 4450) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.064012155 = score(doc=4450,freq=12.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.4416067 = fieldWeight in 4450, product of:
              3.4641016 = tf(freq=12.0), with freq of:
                12.0 = termFreq=12.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=4450)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    A layered approach for identifying communities in the Web is presented and explored by applying the flake exact community identification algorithm to the UK academic Web. Although community or topic identification is a common task in information retrieval, a new perspective is developed by: the application of alternative document models, shifting the focus from individual pages to aggregated collections based upon Web directories, domains and entire sites; the removal of internal site links; and the adaptation of a new fast algorithm to allow fully-automated community identification using all possible single starting points. The overall topology of the graphs in the three least-aggregated layers was first investigated and found to include a large number of isolated points but, surprisingly, with most of the remainder being in one huge connected component, exact proportions varying by layer. The community identification process then found that the number of communities far exceeded the number of topological components, indicating that community identification is a potentially useful technique, even with random starting points. Both the number and size of communities identified was dependent on the parameter of the algorithm, with very different results being obtained in each case. In conclusion, the UK academic Web is embedded with layers of non-trivial communities and, if it is not unique in this, then there is the promise of improved results for information retrieval algorithms that can exploit this additional structure, and the application of the technique directly to partially automate Web metrics tasks such as that of finding all pages related to a given subject hosted by a single country's universities.
  8. Barjak, F.; Thelwall, M.: ¬A statistical analysis of the web presences of European life sciences research teams (2008) 0.01
    0.010668693 = product of:
      0.064012155 = sum of:
        0.064012155 = weight(_text_:web in 1383) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.064012155 = score(doc=1383,freq=12.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.4416067 = fieldWeight in 1383, product of:
              3.4641016 = tf(freq=12.0), with freq of:
                12.0 = termFreq=12.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=1383)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Web links have been used for around ten years to explore the online impact of academic information and information producers. Nevertheless, few studies have attempted to relate link counts to relevant offline attributes of the owners of the targeted Web sites, with the exception of research productivity. This article reports the results of a study to relate site inlink counts to relevant owner characteristics for over 400 European life-science research group Web sites. The analysis confirmed that research-group size and Web-presence size were important for attracting Web links, although research productivity was not. Little evidence was found for significant influence of any of an array of factors, including research-group leader gender and industry connections. In addition, the choice of search engine for link data created a surprising international difference in the results, with Google perhaps giving unreliable results. Overall, the data collection, statistical analysis and results interpretation were all complex and it seems that we still need to know more about search engines, hyperlinks, and their function in science before we can draw conclusions on their usefulness and role in the canon of science and technology indicators.
  9. Kousha, K.; Thelwall, M.: Disseminating research with web CV hyperlinks (2014) 0.01
    0.010668693 = product of:
      0.064012155 = sum of:
        0.064012155 = weight(_text_:web in 1331) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.064012155 = score(doc=1331,freq=12.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.4416067 = fieldWeight in 1331, product of:
              3.4641016 = tf(freq=12.0), with freq of:
                12.0 = termFreq=12.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0390625 = fieldNorm(doc=1331)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Some curricula vitae (web CVs) of academics on the web, including homepages and publication lists, link to open-access (OA) articles, resources, abstracts in publishers' websites, or academic discussions, helping to disseminate research. To assess how common such practices are and whether they vary by discipline, gender, and country, the authors conducted a large-scale e-mail survey of astronomy and astrophysics, public health, environmental engineering, and philosophy across 15 European countries and analyzed hyperlinks from web CVs of academics. About 60% of the 2,154 survey responses reported having a web CV or something similar, and there were differences between disciplines, genders, and countries. A follow-up outlink analysis of 2,700 web CVs found that a third had at least one outlink to an OA target, typically a public eprint archive or an individual self-archived file. This proportion was considerably higher in astronomy (48%) and philosophy (37%) than in environmental engineering (29%) and public health (21%). There were also differences in linking to publishers' websites, resources, and discussions. Perhaps most important, however, the amount of linking to OA publications seems to be much lower than allowed by publishers and journals, suggesting that many opportunities for disseminating full-text research online are being missed, especially in disciplines without established repositories. Moreover, few academics seem to be exploiting their CVs to link to discussions, resources, or article abstracts, which seems to be another missed opportunity for publicizing research.
  10. Price, L.; Thelwall, M.: ¬The clustering power of low frequency words in academic webs (2005) 0.01
    0.010561468 = product of:
      0.063368805 = sum of:
        0.063368805 = weight(_text_:web in 3561) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.063368805 = score(doc=3561,freq=6.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43716836 = fieldWeight in 3561, product of:
              2.4494898 = tf(freq=6.0), with freq of:
                6.0 = termFreq=6.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0546875 = fieldNorm(doc=3561)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    The value of low frequency words for subject-based academic Web site clustering is assessed. A new technique is introduced to compare the relative clustering power of different vocabularies. The technique is designed for word frequency tests in large document clustering exercises. Results for the Australian and New Zealand academic Web spaces indicate that low frequency words are useful for clustering academic Web sites along subject lines; removing low frequency words results in sites becoming, an average, less dissimilar to sites from other subjects.
  11. Thelwall, M.; Stuart, D.: Web crawling ethics revisited : cost, privacy, and denial of service (2006) 0.01
    0.010561468 = product of:
      0.063368805 = sum of:
        0.063368805 = weight(_text_:web in 6098) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.063368805 = score(doc=6098,freq=6.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43716836 = fieldWeight in 6098, product of:
              2.4494898 = tf(freq=6.0), with freq of:
                6.0 = termFreq=6.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0546875 = fieldNorm(doc=6098)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Ethical aspects of the employment of Web crawlers for information science research and other contexts are reviewed. The difference between legal and ethical uses of communications technologies is emphasized as well as the changing boundary between ethical and unethical conduct. A review of the potential impacts on Web site owners is used to underpin a new framework for ethical crawling, and it is argued that delicate human judgment is required for each individual case, with verdicts likely to change over time. Decisions can be based upon an approximate cost-benefit analysis, but it is crucial that crawler owners find out about the technological issues affecting the owners of the sites being crawled in order to produce an informed assessment.
  12. Vaughan, L.; Thelwall, M.: ¬A modelling approach to uncover hyperlink patterns : the case of Canadian universities (2005) 0.01
    0.010561468 = product of:
      0.063368805 = sum of:
        0.063368805 = weight(_text_:web in 1014) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.063368805 = score(doc=1014,freq=6.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43716836 = fieldWeight in 1014, product of:
              2.4494898 = tf(freq=6.0), with freq of:
                6.0 = termFreq=6.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.0546875 = fieldNorm(doc=1014)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Hyperlink patterns between Canadian university Web sites were analyzed by a mathematical modeling approach. A multiple regression model was developed which shows that faculty quality and the language of the university are important predictors for links to a university Web site. Higher faculty quality means more links. French universities received lower numbers of links to their Web sites than comparable English universities. Analysis of interlinking between pairs of universities also showed that English universities are advantaged. Universities are more likely to link to each other when the geographical distance between them is less than 3000 km, possibly reflecting the east vs. west divide that exists in Canadian society.
  13. Thelwall, M.; Wilkinson, D.: Graph structure in three national academic Webs : power laws with anomalies (2003) 0.01
    0.010453141 = product of:
      0.062718846 = sum of:
        0.062718846 = weight(_text_:web in 1681) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.062718846 = score(doc=1681,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43268442 = fieldWeight in 1681, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=1681)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    The graph structures of three national university publicly indexable Webs from Australia, New Zealand, and the UK were analyzed. Strong scale-free regularities for page indegrees, outdegrees, and connected component sizes were in evidence, resulting in power laws similar to those previously identified for individual university Web sites and for the AItaVista-indexed Web. Anomalies were also discovered in most distributions and were tracked down to root causes. As a result, resource driven Web sites and automatically generated pages were identified as representing a significant break from the assumptions of previous power law models. It follows that attempts to track average Web linking behavior would benefit from using techniques to minimize or eliminate the impact of such anomalies.
  14. Thelwall, M.: ¬A comparison of sources of links for academic Web impact factor calculations (2002) 0.01
    0.010453141 = product of:
      0.062718846 = sum of:
        0.062718846 = weight(_text_:web in 4474) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.062718846 = score(doc=4474,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43268442 = fieldWeight in 4474, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=4474)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    There has been much recent interest in extracting information from collections of Web links. One tool that has been used is Ingwersen's Web impact factor. It has been demonstrated that several versions of this metric can produce results that correlate with research ratings of British universities showing that, despite being a measure of a purely Internet phenomenon, the results are susceptible to a wider interpretation. This paper addresses the question of which is the best possible domain to count backlinks from, if research is the focus of interest. WIFs for British universities calculated from several different source domains are compared, primarily the .edu, .ac.uk and .uk domains, and the entire Web. The results show that all four areas produce WIFs that correlate strongly with research ratings, but that none produce incontestably superior figures. It was also found that the WIF was less able to differentiate in more homogeneous subsets of universities, although positive results are still possible.
  15. Thelwall, M.: Interpreting social science link analysis research : a theoretical framework (2006) 0.01
    0.010453141 = product of:
      0.062718846 = sum of:
        0.062718846 = weight(_text_:web in 4908) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.062718846 = score(doc=4908,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43268442 = fieldWeight in 4908, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=4908)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Link analysis in various forms is now an established technique in many different subjects, reflecting the perceived importance of links and of the Web. A critical but very difficult issue is how to interpret the results of social science link analyses. lt is argued that the dynamic nature of the Web, its lack of quality control, and the online proliferation of copying and imitation mean that methodologies operating within a highly positivist, quantitative framework are ineffective. Conversely, the sheer variety of the Web makes application of qualitative methodologies and pure reason very problematic to large-scale studies. Methodology triangulation is consequently advocated, in combination with a warning that the Web is incapable of giving definitive answers to large-scale link analysis research questions concerning social factors underlying link creation. Finally, it is claimed that although theoretical frameworks are appropriate for guiding research, a Theory of Link Analysis is not possible.
  16. Thelwall, M.; Vann, K.; Fairclough, R.: Web issue analysis : an integrated water resource management case study (2006) 0.01
    0.010453141 = product of:
      0.062718846 = sum of:
        0.062718846 = weight(_text_:web in 5906) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.062718846 = score(doc=5906,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43268442 = fieldWeight in 5906, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=5906)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    In this article Web issue analysis is introduced as a new technique to investigate an issue as reflected on the Web. The issue chosen, integrated water resource management (IWRM), is a United Nations-initiated paradigm for managing water resources in an international context, particularly in developing nations. As with many international governmental initiatives, there is a considerable body of online information about it: 41.381 hypertext markup language (HTML) pages and 28.735 PDF documents mentioning the issue were downloaded. A page uniform resource locator (URL) and link analysis revealed the international and sectoral spread of IWRM. A noun and noun phrase occurrence analysis was used to identify the issues most commonly discussed, revealing some unexpected topics such as private sector and economic growth. Although the complexity of the methods required to produce meaningful statistics from the data is disadvantageous to easy interpretation, it was still possible to produce data that could be subject to a reasonably intuitive interpretation. Hence Web issue analysis is claimed to be a useful new technique for information science.
  17. Thelwall, M.; Buckley, K.: Topic-based sentiment analysis for the social web : the role of mood and issue-related words (2013) 0.01
    0.010453141 = product of:
      0.062718846 = sum of:
        0.062718846 = weight(_text_:web in 1004) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.062718846 = score(doc=1004,freq=8.0), product of:
            0.14495286 = queryWeight, product of:
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.43268442 = fieldWeight in 1004, product of:
              2.828427 = tf(freq=8.0), with freq of:
                8.0 = termFreq=8.0
              3.2635105 = idf(docFreq=4597, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=1004)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    General sentiment analysis for the social web has become increasingly useful for shedding light on the role of emotion in online communication and offline events in both academic research and data journalism. Nevertheless, existing general-purpose social web sentiment analysis algorithms may not be optimal for texts focussed around specific topics. This article introduces 2 new methods, mood setting and lexicon extension, to improve the accuracy of topic-specific lexical sentiment strength detection for the social web. Mood setting allows the topic mood to determine the default polarity for ostensibly neutral expressive text. Topic-specific lexicon extension involves adding topic-specific words to the default general sentiment lexicon. Experiments with 8 data sets show that both methods can improve sentiment analysis performance in corpora and are recommended when the topic focus is tightest.
  18. Thelwall, M.; Prabowo, R.: Identifying and characterizing public science-related fears from RSS feeds (2007) 0.01
    0.009633917 = product of:
      0.057803504 = sum of:
        0.057803504 = weight(_text_:wide in 137) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.057803504 = score(doc=137,freq=2.0), product of:
            0.19679762 = queryWeight, product of:
              4.4307585 = idf(docFreq=1430, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.29372054 = fieldWeight in 137, product of:
              1.4142135 = tf(freq=2.0), with freq of:
                2.0 = termFreq=2.0
              4.4307585 = idf(docFreq=1430, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=137)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    A feature of modern democracies is public mistrust of scientists and the politicization of science policy, e.g., concerning stem cell research and genetically modified food. While the extent of this mistrust is debatable, its political influence is tangible. Hence, science policy researchers and science policy makers need early warning of issues that resonate with a wide public so that they can make timely and informed decisions. In this article, a semi-automatic method for identifying significant public science-related concerns from a corpus of Internet-based RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds is described and shown to be an improvement on a previous similar system because of the introduction of feedbased aggregation. In addition, both the RSS corpus and the concept of public science-related fears are deconstructed, revealing hidden complexity. This article also provides evidence that genetically modified organisms and stem cell research were the two major policyrelevant science concern issues, although mobile phone radiation and software security also generated significant interest.
  19. Thelwall, M.: Homophily in MySpace (2009) 0.01
    0.009633917 = product of:
      0.057803504 = sum of:
        0.057803504 = weight(_text_:wide in 2706) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.057803504 = score(doc=2706,freq=2.0), product of:
            0.19679762 = queryWeight, product of:
              4.4307585 = idf(docFreq=1430, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.29372054 = fieldWeight in 2706, product of:
              1.4142135 = tf(freq=2.0), with freq of:
                2.0 = termFreq=2.0
              4.4307585 = idf(docFreq=1430, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=2706)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Social network sites like MySpace are increasingly important environments for expressing and maintaining interpersonal connections, but does online communication exacerbate or ameliorate the known tendency for offline friendships to form between similar people (homophily)? This article reports an exploratory study of the similarity between the reported attributes of pairs of active MySpace Friends based upon a systematic sample of 2,567 members joining on June 18, 2007 and Friends who commented on their profile. The results showed no evidence of gender homophily but significant evidence of homophily for ethnicity, religion, age, country, marital status, attitude towards children, sexual orientation, and reason for joining MySpace. There were also some imbalances: women and the young were disproportionately commenters, and commenters tended to have more Friends than commentees. Overall, it seems that although traditional sources of homophily are thriving in MySpace networks of active public connections, gender homophily has completely disappeared. Finally, the method used has wide potential for investigating and partially tracking homophily in society, providing early warning of socially divisive trends.
  20. Kousha, K.; Thelwall, M.: Can Amazon.com reviews help to assess the wider impacts of books? (2016) 0.01
    0.009633917 = product of:
      0.057803504 = sum of:
        0.057803504 = weight(_text_:wide in 2768) [ClassicSimilarity], result of:
          0.057803504 = score(doc=2768,freq=2.0), product of:
            0.19679762 = queryWeight, product of:
              4.4307585 = idf(docFreq=1430, maxDocs=44218)
              0.044416238 = queryNorm
            0.29372054 = fieldWeight in 2768, product of:
              1.4142135 = tf(freq=2.0), with freq of:
                2.0 = termFreq=2.0
              4.4307585 = idf(docFreq=1430, maxDocs=44218)
              0.046875 = fieldNorm(doc=2768)
      0.16666667 = coord(1/6)
    
    Abstract
    Although citation counts are often used to evaluate the research impact of academic publications, they are problematic for books that aim for educational or cultural impact. To fill this gap, this article assesses whether a number of simple metrics derived from Amazon.com reviews of academic books could provide evidence of their impact. Based on a set of 2,739 academic monographs from 2008 and a set of 1,305 best-selling books in 15 Amazon.com academic subject categories, the existence of significant but low or moderate correlations between citations and numbers of reviews, combined with other evidence, suggests that online book reviews tend to reflect the wider popularity of a book rather than its academic impact, although there are substantial disciplinary differences. Metrics based on online reviews are therefore recommended for the evaluation of books that aim at a wide audience inside or outside academia when it is important to capture the broader impacts of educational or cultural activities and when they cannot be manipulated in advance of the evaluation.