Framing Big Data: The Media Framing of Aggregate Data and New Data-Based Processes in Comparison of Communicative Forms, Time Periods, and Countries

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian Pentzold
• Subject Area: Communication Sciences
• Term: from 2020 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447465824

The project investigates how aggregate data and new data-based processes are framed in the media. Using a broad sampling of materials, it reconstructs in comparative perspective the framing of big data. To this end, it connects three levels: First, frames in professional communicative forms are compared with those from participatory formats. Second, the relations of influence between the journalistic and user-generated frames are traced on a temporal scale. Third, the analysis of these processes considers three countries, that is, Germany, the U.S., and South Africa. With this, the project addresses three gaps in our understanding of cultural sensemaking in the context of extensive datafication. First, it maps the repertoire of frames of big data from journalistic media and mass-self communication. Second, it explores the dynamic unfolding of the discourse around big data across time. Third, it discusses the variance of perspectives on big data in cross-country comparison. To achieve the three research objectives, the project uses a multi-method design. The combination of data and methods allows for the comparative capture of media frames and the temporal relationship between journalistic and user-generated contributions. It includes the qualitative pre-analysis of socio-political topic aspects and presentation aspects. The sampling criteria for the press articles are based on this overview. Within the journalistic material, key events are inductively identified as those phases in which the volume of thematically relevant articles increases significantly. The key events thus identified then serve as criteria for sampling user-generated communication. This is followed by the manual content analysis of the verbally and visually manifested frames in the corpus of press articles and in the corpus of user-generated communications. In the next step, the discourse relationships between both corpora are explored over time. The similarities and differences in the interpretations of and the discourses around big data will be discussed across countries.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, USA
• Cooperation Partners: Professorin Dr. Payal Arora; Professor Dr. Göran Bolin; Professor Dr. Dietram A. Scheufele; Professor Dr. Mike Schäfer
• Co-Investigators: Professor Dr. Lars Günther; Professor Dr. Jakob Jünger; Dr. Felix V. Münch; Professor Dr. Cornelius Puschmann; Professor Malte Ziewitz, Ph.D.