0 Students have learned network analysis using VOSON
The VOSON software suite has been used for computer lab exercises, undergraduate and Masters-level courses
VOSON used in the online research methods course at the Australian National University
Dr. Rob Ackland established the Social Science of the Internet specialization in the ANU's Master of Social Research, in 2008. Since then, graduate students have learned to use VOSON to study hyperlink networks.
VOSON used at Northwestern University: Training in network concepts, insights and methods
For the past 6 years, Professor Noshir Contractor has used VOSON in undergraduate and graduate-level social network analysis and predictive analytics courses at Northwestern University.
VOSON for academic research
VOSON has been used by researchers from diverse fields as an empirical tool
for hyperlink and text data collection, data preparation, visualization and analysis
VOSON used in study on online structural racism
The journal article titled "Racial formation, inequality and the political economy of web traffic" explores whether online patterns of structural racism were comparable to physical manifestations e.g. spatial segregation. The research was conducted by Associate Professor Charlton McIlwain from New York University, who utilized VOSON to understand the network structure of websites and text analysis features, for the classification of sites based on meta-tag information.
Assessing the Prominence and Accessibility of Suicide Websites
VOSON was used to assess the visibility of various types of online information to suicide-risk individuals, and to assess the prominence and accessibility of “pro-suicide,” suicide prevention, and support sites. The research was published by Christopher Kemp and Sunny Collings in their 2011 article “Hyperlinked Suicide: Assessing the Prominence and Accessibility of Suicide Websites” in the Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention.
A study of climate change supporters and opponents
As part of his PhD research at the University of Colorado, Denver, Dr Dallas J. Elgin used VOSON to collect hyperlink network data in a study of opposing groups in the Colorado climate and energy policy subsystem, publishing the 2015 article “Utilizing Hyperlink Network Analysis to Examine Climate Change Supporters and Opponents” in the Review of Policy Research.
Using VOSON to explore the online ecosystem of an activist movement
Researchers from the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University, New York University and the University of North Texas examined the use of online media tools by an activist movement: Black Lives Matter, publishing the report titled "Beyond the hashtags: #Ferguson, #Blacklivesmatter, and the online struggle for offline justice".
For that study, co-author Associate Professor Charlton McIlwain from New York University used VOSON to collect data and conduct hyperlink analysis.
VOSON used to investigate audience formation
In 2015, Researchers from the University of Missouri and the Northwestern University published an article titled “How Do Global Audiences Take Shape? The Role of Institutions and Culture in Patterns of Web Use” in the Journal of Communication, which examines the role of cultural and technological factors in audience formation behavior, on the WWW.
The VOSON software was used by corresponding author Assistant Professor Harsh Taneja at the School of Journalism, University of Missouri, for collection, construction and analysis of networks of hyperlink data.
Uberlink SitReps: Understanding the global web presence of an organization
Uberlink provides diverse data sources and methodologies to help researchers gain actionable insights
Mapping the online presence of Australian cultural institutions, University of Canberra
Uberlink conducted a SitRep in 2014 measuring the online presence of Australian and international cultural institutions (museums, galleries and libraries). The SitRep covered Web 1.0 websites (hyperlink analysis), Facebook and Twitter and was commissioned by Professor Angelina Russo of the Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra.
Research into HIV online information provision, University of Canberra
A/Professor Jerry Watkins, from the News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra is using the SitRep service to identify influential HIV information websites. The research involves network and text analysis to evaluate the prominence of awareness-raising messaging campaigns in order to boost numbers of patients being tested and identified as disease-bearing.
Assessing the online presence of The Attorney-General's Department of Australia
As part of a consultancy undertaken by the media and public relations firm contentgroup, Uberlink conducted a quantitative analysis of the web presence of the Attorney General’s Department of Australia, providing key insights into the prominence of various AGD websites in different policy areas and online traffic analysis of these websites.
The Hajj research project, University of Canberra
As part of a study conducted by Professor Jerry Watkins, from the News & Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, Uberlink developed a SIT REP providing insights into the Australian web presence of the Hajj, focusing on identifying key organisations (companies, government and non-government) who promote Hajj tours.
The Twitter and Hyperlink Analytics Services: Collection and analysis of Twitter
and hyperlink real-time and historical network data
Uberlink has helped researchers explore community structure, discourse and message propagation
within Twitter and hyperlink networks, using social network analysis (SNA) and visualizations
U.S. Presidential debate Twitter analytics dataset (Michigan State University)
Uberlink provided an analytic dataset constructed from 6.5M Twitter activities authored during the 1st US Presidential debate in September 2016. The data are being used by a research team at Michigan State University's Quello Center to study democratic expectations and experiences of voters.
Australian advocacy groups and politicians on Twitter, Australian National University
ANU researchers Darren Halpin, Bert Fraussen, Haris Memic and Rob Ackland used the Uberlink Twitter Analytics Service to conduct text and network analysis of Twitter activity relating to Australian advocacy groups and politicians. Uberlink provided analytics datasets constructed from tweets/retweets authored over a one year period by 700+ Australian advocacy groups and all federal politicians. The tweets/retweets of other Twitter users who either mentioned, replied to or retweeted an advocacy group or politician were also collected. In total, around 15 million activities were collected.
Exploring sentiment, key actors, discourse strength and propagation in the Anti- and Pro-Vaccination Movements on Twitter
Dr Naomi Smith (Federation University), Dr Tim Graham (Australian National University) and Dr Rob Ackland (Australian National University) are using the Uberlink Twitter Analytics Service to conduct network and text analysis of the tweets/retweets that feature the main anti- and pro-vaccination hashtags, collected over a year. An aim of this research is to investigate the evolution of these online movements, in particular in response to offline events.
Web presence of the Western Australian tourism industry (Edith Cowan University)
As part of his PhD research in management at Edith Cowan University, Hossein Raisi used Uberlink's Hyperlink Analytics Service in 2015 to conduct a large-scale crawl of over 1500 websites in the Western Australian tourism industry (including tourism operators, hotels, information portals, government agencies).
VOSON featured in diverse studies: acknowledgment
and future reference for other researchers
Find here resources where VOSON is rated among other online analytics tools
and utilized as a case study for hyperlink analysis
VOSON featured in publication of the Oxford Internet Institute
VOSON is featured in the book: Knowledge Machines: Digital Transformations of the Sciences and Humanities by Eric T. Meyer and Ralph Schroeder, from the Oxford Internet Institute.
VOSON is discussed as part of the tools utilized in Social Sciences in the chapter titled "Digital research across disciplines: the Sciences and Social Sciences".
The VOSON Project: producing research into online networks since 2005
For a complete list of academic output of the Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks Project, please visit the VOSON Lab.
VOSON featured in Social Media Analytics book
VOSON is featured in Gohar F. Khan's book Seven Layers of Social Media Analytics: Mining Business Insights from Social Media Text, Actions, Networks, Hyperlinks, Apps, Search Engine, and Location Data. The book comprises diverse concepts, techniques and tools used to extract business insights from social media. A VOSON crawl was used as step-by-step example to conduct a study on hyperlink networks.
Prof. Gohar is an Assistant Professor at Korea University of Technology & Education (KoreaTECH).
VOSON featured in report evaluating digital media analytics tools
The study titled “Decoding Publics: a Review of Digital Media Analytics Tools” conducted by academics of the News & Media Research Centre at the University of Canberra, consists of the evaluation of 15 widely used digital media analytics tools.
From a user experience perspective, the report provides ratings evaluating different dimensions of the software, such as cost, ease of installation, complexity, possibilities, presentation of results, alternatives and personal impressions.
Under the category of Hyperlink Analytics tool, the VOSON Software obtained a score of 16 out of 20. The summary by the authors: Mathieu O’Neil and Daniel Kelley, described VOSON as a “powerful tool” which “rewards the user with very comprehensive and impressive data and analysis”.