Climate change deniers and believers on the TikTok media platform: similarity and difference in the distribution of their knowledge claims
| Název práce v češtině: | Popírači a zastánci klimatické změny na mediální platformě Tik Tok: podobnosti a rozdíly v distribuci jejich poznávacích nároků |
|---|---|
| Název v anglickém jazyce: | Climate change deniers and believers on the TikTok media platform: similarity and difference in the distribution of their knowledge claims |
| Klíčová slova: | konspirace, vědění, důvěra, média, algoritmy |
| Klíčová slova anglicky: | Conspiracy, Knowledge, Trust, Media, Algorithms |
| Akademický rok vypsání: | 2021/2022 |
| Typ práce: | bakalářská práce |
| Jazyk práce: | angličtina |
| Ústav: | Katedra sociologie (23-KS) |
| Vedoucí / školitel: | PhDr. Mgr. Jan Balon, Ph.D. |
| Řešitel: | skrytý - zadáno vedoucím/školitelem |
| Datum přihlášení: | 26.08.2022 |
| Datum zadání: | 26.08.2022 |
| Datum a čas obhajoby: | 13.09.2023 13:00 |
| Místo konání obhajoby: | Areál Jinonice, B228, 228, seminární místnost ISS |
| Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: | 01.08.2023 |
| Datum proběhlé obhajoby: | 13.09.2023 |
| Oponenti: | Mgr. Linda Coufal |
| Zásady pro vypracování |
| Research question(s) (what to find out?)
- What is the mechanism of finding the justifiable source of information? - How often, where, and under which circumstances users of social medias encounter information which does not belong to their world view and contradicts their beliefs? - What differences do people notice between their online and offline infosphere? -What is the basis of their doubt toward alternative information? - Is there any changes in feeling of trust towards the official knowledge sources (academia, government, WHO, science journals etc.) in results of recent commotions? 5. Method(s) of data production (how?) -Qualitative method-interviews either offline or online (semi-structured approach) -sampling- 10 young people under 27 years old, active TikTok users, citizens of EU. 5 denials and 5 believers of climate change 6. Method(s) of data analysis (how?) Qualitative analysis of recorded interviews, transcripts. Main method being thematic coding supplemented with content analysis. These two methods would be sufficient for understanding the mechanism behind the people choice of knowledge sources. The thematic coding will help to recognize the patterns in respondents answers, and compare them to each other separately for each of the research question. Supporting method-content analysis to find differences in the purposes, interpretation and narratives of the two groups according to their choice of words. |
| Seznam odborné literatury |
| Bar-Tal, D. (1989). Delegitimization: The Extreme Case of Stereotyping and Prejudice. Stereotyping and Prejudice, 169–182. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-3582-8_8
Beer, D. (2016). The social power of algorithms. Information, Communication & Society, 20(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118x.2016.1216147 Chopra, R., & Sharma, G. D. (2021). Application of Artificial Intelligence in Stock Market Forecasting: A Critique, Review, and Research Agenda. Journal of Risk and Financial Management, 14(11), 526. https://doi.org/10.3390/jrfm14110526 Compton, J., Linden, S., Cook, J., & Basol, M. (2021). Inoculation theory in the post‐truth era: Extant findings and new frontiers for contested science, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 15(6). https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12602 Enders, A. M., Uscinski, J. E., Seelig, M. I., Klofstad, C. A., Wuchty, S., Funchion, J. R., Murthi, M. N., Premaratne, K., & Stoler, J. (2021). The Relationship Between Social Media Use and Beliefs in Conspiracy Theories and Misinformation. Political Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09734-6 Mahl, D., Schäfer, M. S., & Zeng, J. (2022). Conspiracy theories in online environments: An interdisciplinary literature review and agenda for future research. New Media & Society, 146144482210757. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221075759 Min, S. J. (2021). Who Believes in Conspiracy Theories? Network Diversity, Political Discussion, and Conservative Conspiracy Theories on Social Media. American Politics Research, 49(5), 415–427. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673x211013526 Taygi, A., & Carley, K. M. (2021). Climate Change Conspiracy Theories on Social Media. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.03318 Uscinski, J. E., Douglas, K., & Lewandowsky, S. (2017). Climate Change Conspiracy Theories. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Climate Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.328 |
| Předběžná náplň práce |
| The number of conspiracy theories, fake news, and other unverified but very believable knowledge have spiked in recent years. Those articles and videos find their consumers very easily with help of algorithm based social networks. One of such is TikTok that have become the fastest growing media platform with over 1 billion active users. And the main features or perks of the platform is personalized content recommendation algorithm that create an informational bubble around a user, keeping them within the context that they are used to. This has empowered phenomenons such as anti-vaccination movements during COVID fear of 5G technologies and climate-change deniers. The former is going to be the pivot of the research, taking both narratives : deniers and believers from the respective TikTok communities, this research will try to analyze what keeps them firm in their beliefs, what knowledge they base their opinion and what they bring to the discourse. New media environment functions as a narrative allocator: it provides people with who share similar beliefs with information that aligns with their world view and, knowledge. This negatively affects credibility that the users of the web give to any knowledge online now. The information would be gathered through interviews with the representatives of both parties.
State of the art The algorithms and AI (automated intelligence) are widely used in numerous fields where there integration has massively changed the rules by which the structure works. Another reason for the rise of disputes around common scientific knowledge is lack of consensus for some topics. “Inspired by narrative theory, we crawl social media sites and news reports and, through the application of automated machine-learning methods, discover the underlying narrative frameworks supporting the generation of rumors and conspiracy theories.” (Shahsavari et al., 2020). And other research has shown that exposure of users to multilateral media agendas affect people’s world view by corroding and accommodating innate believes-creating a breach for doubts. (Su et al., 2021) We perceive algorithm as a kind of mighty and dark force that pulls the strings of social network. Whereas the algorithm is a part of the background or setting, and it is people who create content. And when it comes to the wall of partition between climate change deniers and believers, it has been shown in a poll of 2013 in the US that the number of US citizens who think climate change is a lie comes up to 40% (Uscinski et al., 2017). Although, the situation in European Union is different, with around 90% of people viewing climate change as a major problem, there are still some who think that this is all a hoax. Ethical consideration The topic of false information, conspiracies and anything that undermines questioning beliefs is sensitive. Therefore, I will try to be as neutral to the topic as possible. All the data collected shall remain anonymous, and no participants will be forced to undergo interview and can withdraw at any moment. The point of the research is not to find what is the right answer, but to uncover the mechanisms behind people's beliefs, so no critical remarks, choices, and word are going to be used in respect of both opinions. |
| Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce |
| Research question(s) (what to find out?)
- What is the mechanism of finding the justifiable source of information? - How often, where, and under which circumstances users of social medias encounter information which does not belong to their world view and contradicts their beliefs? - What differences do people notice between their online and offline infosphere? -What is the basis of their doubt toward alternative information? - Is there any changes in feeling of trust towards the official knowledge sources (academia, government, WHO, science journals etc.) in results of recent commotions? 5. Method(s) of data production (how?) -Qualitative method-interviews either offline or online (semi-structured approach) -sampling- 10 young people under 27 years old, active TikTok users, citizens of EU. 5 denials and 5 believers of climate change 6. Method(s) of data analysis (how?) Qualitative analysis of recorded interviews, transcripts. Main method being thematic coding supplemented with content analysis. These two methods would be sufficient for understanding the mechanism behind the people choice of knowledge sources. The thematic coding will help to recognize the patterns in respondents answers, and compare them to each other separately for each of the research question. Supporting method-content analysis to find differences in the purposes, interpretation and narratives of the two groups according to their choice of words. |