The (Social) Media Observatory will create a database for the systematic observation of media-based public opinion, which other projects at the Research Institute for Social Cohesion can use for their own projects.
The aim of this project is to set up a “(Social) Media Observatory” (SMO). As a central organizational unit, the SMO is to perform five key tasks within the entire FGZ:
- the conception and implementation of a technical infrastructure consisting of cloud-based virtual servers, a comprehensive database of social actors and organizations and specially developed open source scripts and freely accessible software packages, which will be used throughout the project period for the a) continuous and stakeholder-related and b) systematic monitoring of media-based publicity on a case-by-case basis (INFRA);
- the creation and maintenance of a German-language “handout” in the form of a wiki that refers to existing data sets, tools, software packages or similar in the field of “(social) media observation” (DOKU);
- the development of a training program with regular biannual workshops on the collection and analysis of social media data (WORK);
- the establishment of a contact and advice center that supports the consortium partners in the pre-processing, analysis and evaluation of (social) media data on a project-related basis as required, e.g. through scheduled and project-based consultation hours (BERA);
- Collaboration with external institutional partners (GESIS, Social Science One) to ensure the secure, reliable and long-term archiving of the (social) media data collected within the consortium and thus tap into its reuse potential (ARCH).
The project therefore does not pursue its own content-related issues, but has the task of providing all interested FGZ projects with data, tools and skills to enable them to work independently on issues relating to the media-based public sphere.
- to the (Social) Media Oberservatory‘s own project page
- to the project description on the FGZ website
