Home Work #4

Turn in Homework #4 here:

1. Step one:   create your google doc of your HW4. 
2. Share with anyone with the link 
3. Copy the link that the dialog box creates
4. Open the following survey, and enter your name and the paste the link. 
5. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFBzekozaS1iVTVYaWtRMV9XWGxacWc6MQ
6. Thanks!

Homework #4 involves data collection (and analysis) from a thread in an online community called reddit.   The thread is one of the most active in recent weeks where people discussed the situation of Scott Olsen.  Scott is a two-tour veteran of the Iraq war who was hit in the head by a tear-gas canister during an 'occupy' protest in Oakland California.

Here are the instructions on HW4-- you can get started on the first two tasks as soon as you want.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VVpqOjxgNSFaVBfPQQ5_EIC0kTaNNrDyRqiC7Nim8LE/edit

Here is a link to the thread:

http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/lq1y3/scott_olsen_twotour_veteran_of_the_iraq_war_who/?limit=500

Here is the link to the “Login ID Variables" datasheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArdK55LJYgKQdFdhWGhaOGVQaGkyUlZDQ19IUEFIMmc

Here is the link to the OlsenMessageContentCoding
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArdK55LJYgKQdHJfN3FBUk11M2ZyTklRbnh3R0JLeGc


Initial tasks:

1. Read some of the thread.  There are over 2000 posts in the discussion so you should read a selection.  
1. Notice that you can change the order of how posts are displayed by choosing different sort options (the default is best).   
2. Begin identifying attributes of the discussion that we might want to measure.  
1. attributes of the content
1. what people talked about, media, violence, etc.
2. attributes of how people talked to others
1. expressed thanks, criticized another poster, 
3. whatever else seems important
4. Note that the posts are voted up or down by other readers and low scoring contributions are, but default, not shown.
3. What do you think is important or interesting about this topic?
4. What do you think is interesting about this conversation?
5. Finally-- you might want to get a sense of related threads or conversations on the site.
6. Finally, finally, here is a quantcast plot of the popularity of the general reddit site over the recent years. 

All of the stories on reddit are contributed by readers / users of the sites, and the links and each persons comment are all subject to voting.