"Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data?
An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically. For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article: Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141. But I suspect there are even earlier sources. Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu crowston.syr.edu
This idea comes from the beginnings of the Internet. The germs of it can be found in Vannevar Bush's 1945 article "As we may think" in the Atlantic. It was concretized by Nelson in 1974 (probably earlier) in his conception of hypertext in his book Dream Machines (although he's not talking about the Internet, but Berners-Lee did apply this idea to the Internet per se). It seems to me we have been playing off of these ideas in one way or another ever since. Michael -----Original Message----- From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Kevin G Crowston Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 11:17 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data? An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically. For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article: Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141. But I suspect there are even earlier sources. Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu crowston.syr.edu _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
The PLATO system, founded in 1960, recorded every keypress and touch input for each terminal connected to the system, and started doing so in the 60s. I’m not sure they used the phrase “digital trace” but the fact remains it was a common thing to do, given PLATO’s educational mandate, to record every input each user made, and timestamp it all, so that it was possible to reconstruct how students interacted with interactive lessons and simulations, including what kinds of mistakes they were making when answering questions. It was a great way to figure out if users were struggling with UI designs as well. Of course, as the system expanded and grew around the world in the 70s and 80s, PLATO was used for far more than just delivery of education to students. The tracing capabilities were also used to track down security breaches, anonymous threats posted in notesfiles (forums), as well as to locate and race to get help to suicidal users before it was too late. I’m not sure there was ever an academic article published regarding these capabilities on PLATO. If there was, I’m not aware of it. These capabilities were just taken for granted. - Brian Brian Dear PLATO History Project Santa Fe, NM brian@platohistory.org
On Oct 5, 2015, at 9:40 AM, Glassman, Michael <glassman.13@osu.edu> wrote:
This idea comes from the beginnings of the Internet. The germs of it can be found in Vannevar Bush's 1945 article "As we may think" in the Atlantic. It was concretized by Nelson in 1974 (probably earlier) in his conception of hypertext in his book Dream Machines (although he's not talking about the Internet, but Berners-Lee did apply this idea to the Internet per se). It seems to me we have been playing off of these ideas in one way or another ever since.
Michael
-----Original Message----- From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Kevin G Crowston Sent: Monday, October 05, 2015 11:17 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data?
An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically.
For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article:
Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141.
But I suspect there are even earlier sources.
Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies
Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu
crowston.syr.edu
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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Kevin - I like the term "digital trace data" and used extensively in my textbook Web Social Science (SAGE Publications, 2013). I consciously did not use the term "big data" in that book, because I thought digital trace data was a better description of the data I was focusing on. I'm sure SAGE wish I *had* used the term "big data", as it would have been good for sales.... I've recently bowed to the inevitable and now use "big data" in proposals for short courses/session etc. To get back to your question, I am of course not proposing the following as definitive but I do refer to tools for "collecting and analysing digital traces of human activity": Ackland, R. (2005), "Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) - Progress and Plans," refereed paper presented at the First International Conference on e-Social Science, 22-24 June 2005, University of Manchester. http://voson.anu.edu.au/papers/NCeSS_Ackland.pdf Regards -- Dr Robert Ackland Associate Professor, School of Sociology and ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods Leader, Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) Lab Australian National University My book: Web Social Science: Concepts, Data and Tools for Social Scientists in the Digital Age (SAGE Publications) e-mail: robert.ackland@anu.edu.au homepage: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/ackland-rj ________________________________________ From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Kevin G Crowston <crowston@syr.edu> Sent: Tuesday, 6 October 2015 2:17 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data? An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically. For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article: Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141. But I suspect there are even earlier sources. Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu crowston.syr.edu _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
Shouldn't this 'early prehistory' eventually veer off into something like the early history of accounting as a discipline? >=3k years ago, to wit. Log entries (digital or otherwise) are transactional events, generally.... can someone argue that 'digital traces' are fundamentally different than ledger entries? [You're going to have to work hard, I suspect...] I would be very interested in hearing about some sort of digital trace that isn't representable as either a sequence of events with metadata or as a time-series of values... given that those are the things I usually see. [These days I do a lot of metrics and measurement and logging....] Prove me short-sighted please :) --e On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Robert Ackland <robert.ackland@anu.edu.au> wrote:
Kevin - I like the term "digital trace data" and used extensively in my textbook Web Social Science (SAGE Publications, 2013). I consciously did not use the term "big data" in that book, because I thought digital trace data was a better description of the data I was focusing on. I'm sure SAGE wish I *had* used the term "big data", as it would have been good for sales.... I've recently bowed to the inevitable and now use "big data" in proposals for short courses/session etc.
To get back to your question, I am of course not proposing the following as definitive but I do refer to tools for "collecting and analysing digital traces of human activity":
Ackland, R. (2005), "Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) - Progress and Plans," refereed paper presented at the First International Conference on e-Social Science, 22-24 June 2005, University of Manchester. http://voson.anu.edu.au/papers/NCeSS_Ackland.pdf
Regards
--
Dr Robert Ackland Associate Professor, School of Sociology and ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods Leader, Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) Lab Australian National University
My book: Web Social Science: Concepts, Data and Tools for Social Scientists in the Digital Age (SAGE Publications)
e-mail: robert.ackland@anu.edu.au homepage: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/ackland-rj
________________________________________ From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Kevin G Crowston <crowston@syr.edu> Sent: Tuesday, 6 October 2015 2:17 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data?
An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically.
For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article:
Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141.
But I suspect there are even earlier sources.
Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies
Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu
crowston.syr.edu
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
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Marc Smith and colleagues have used the accounting metaphor in the context of digital trace data, see for example, the following (http://www.connectedaction.net/marc-smith/): Gleave, Eric and Marc Smith. 2007. “Reflections and Reactions to Social Accounting Meta-Data.” Communities and Technologies 2007. pp87-106 Springer. Smith, Marc., Turner, Tammara, Gleave, Eric. Sharing Social Accounting Metadata – Lessons from Netscan, Conference on eSocial Science 2007. As an economist (and I even worked for a short time as an accountant working with ledgers containing $, not digital traces of social activity...) I'm very receptive to quantitative approaches for studying online behaviour. But in response to your question: "can someone argue that 'digital traces' are fundamentally different than ledger entries? [You're going to have to work hard, I suspect...]": Imagine you went to your social accountant. He/she might be able to determine that your net position over the past year has changed by X hyperlinks, Y Twitter follows, X Facebook likes etc. But how do you value and aggregate each of these types of digital transactions, given there is no common currency? It depends on who you are, and who you are receiving attention from and sending it to. So, I would say that digital trace data can definitely be represented in some kind of ledger but the whole point of accounting systems is providing meaningful aggregations of transactions i.e. ascribing value, and that is more challenging here. Related to this, the following paper introduces the concept of attention-metric utility (a network analogue to money-metric utility): R. Ackland and L. Wu (2013), "Index Numbers and Information Networks," working paper. http://voson.anu.edu.au/papers/InfoNetworkIndexNumbers.pdf Regards, Rob ________________________________________ From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Elijah Wright <elijah.wright@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, 6 October 2015 5:44 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data? Shouldn't this 'early prehistory' eventually veer off into something like the early history of accounting as a discipline? >=3k years ago, to wit. Log entries (digital or otherwise) are transactional events, generally.... can someone argue that 'digital traces' are fundamentally different than ledger entries? [You're going to have to work hard, I suspect...] I would be very interested in hearing about some sort of digital trace that isn't representable as either a sequence of events with metadata or as a time-series of values... given that those are the things I usually see. [These days I do a lot of metrics and measurement and logging....] Prove me short-sighted please :) --e On Mon, Oct 5, 2015 at 1:27 PM, Robert Ackland <robert.ackland@anu.edu.au> wrote:
Kevin - I like the term "digital trace data" and used extensively in my textbook Web Social Science (SAGE Publications, 2013). I consciously did not use the term "big data" in that book, because I thought digital trace data was a better description of the data I was focusing on. I'm sure SAGE wish I *had* used the term "big data", as it would have been good for sales.... I've recently bowed to the inevitable and now use "big data" in proposals for short courses/session etc.
To get back to your question, I am of course not proposing the following as definitive but I do refer to tools for "collecting and analysing digital traces of human activity":
Ackland, R. (2005), "Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) - Progress and Plans," refereed paper presented at the First International Conference on e-Social Science, 22-24 June 2005, University of Manchester. http://voson.anu.edu.au/papers/NCeSS_Ackland.pdf
Regards
--
Dr Robert Ackland Associate Professor, School of Sociology and ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods Leader, Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks (VOSON) Lab Australian National University
My book: Web Social Science: Concepts, Data and Tools for Social Scientists in the Digital Age (SAGE Publications)
e-mail: robert.ackland@anu.edu.au homepage: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/ackland-rj
________________________________________ From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Kevin G Crowston <crowston@syr.edu> Sent: Tuesday, 6 October 2015 2:17 AM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] "Definitive" citation for the concept of digital trace data?
An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically.
For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article:
Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141.
But I suspect there are even earlier sources.
Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies
Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu
crowston.syr.edu
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
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Brady Robards has done some great work using the concept of digital traces, and Bowker’s chapter in Karaganis’s book Structures of Participation in Digital Culture, from 2007, is the earliest obvious reference I remember. But I can be forgetful. Steve
On Oct 5, 2015, at 10:17 AM, Kevin G Crowston <crowston@syr.edu> wrote:
An argument for studies of online behaviour is that the systems collect records of what people do and that such digital trace data provide a rich source of evidence for all kinds of studies. I’m trying to trace back that idea but it seems so taken for granted that there’s often not a citation. So I wondered what people consider the definitive citation for that idea, and for the term "trace data” in this context more specifically.
For example, there’s a 2008 handbook article:
Welser, H. T., Smith, M., Fisher, D., and Gleave, E. 2008. "Distilling Digital Traces: Computational Social Science Approaches to Studying the Internet," in The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods, N. Fielding, R.M. Lee and G. Blank (eds.). London, England: SAGE Publications, Ltd, pp. 116–141.
But I suspect there are even earlier sources.
Kevin Crowston | Distinguished Professor of Information Science | School of Information Studies
Syracuse University 348 Hinds Hall Syracuse, New York 13244 t (315) 443.1676 f 315.443.5806 e crowston@syr.edu
crowston.syr.edu
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (6)
-
Brian Dear -
Elijah Wright -
Glassman, Michael -
Kevin G Crowston -
Robert Ackland -
Steve Jones