Great Britain's spatial twitter activity related to ‘fracking’

P. Bartie; A. Varley; J. Dickie; D. Evensen; P. Devine-Wright; S. Ryder; L. Whitmarsh; C. Foad

doi:10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101978

Great Britain's spatial twitter activity related to ‘fracking’

P. Bartie^*, A. Varley, J. Dickie, D. Evensen, P. Devine-Wright, S. Ryder, L. Whitmarsh, C. Foad

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Social and Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Fracking has proven to be a contentious issue in Great Britain, receiving wide press coverage from the initial sale of exploration and development licences, to the current moratorium. This research tracks the public activity online related to this ‘fracking’ journey by analysing over 317 million geolocated tweets from 2015 to 2020, mapping their location to compare the spatial distribution against the shale gas exploration sites. To spatially normalise the results for population density a χ-squared expectation surface was generated revealing higher than expected levels of interest near the previously active fracking site of Preston New Road and licenced extraction blocks in Lancashire. The data granularity allows for peaks of activity to be identified and topics analysed at higher temporal and spatial resolution than previously possible with more traditional surveys. The paper demonstrates the use of χ-squared expectation surfaces for normalising geotweets and the value of social media spatial-temporal analysis for monitoring local involvement in environmental issues, and for monitoring the changing level of interest across different regions in reaction to political decisions.

Original language	English
Article number	101978
Pages (from-to)	1-12
Number of pages	12
Journal	Computers, Environment and Urban Systems
Volume	103
Early online date	11 May 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101978
Publication status	Published - Jul 2023

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

fracking
geolocated tweets
social media
χ-squared expectation surface

Access to Document

10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101978Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

BartieEtalCEUS2023GreatBritainsSpatialTwitterActivityFinal published version, 9.06 MBLicence: Creative Commons: Attribution (CC-BY)

Cite this

@article{95b219042fc54507ba25ebda2515a951,

title = "Great Britain's spatial twitter activity related to {\textquoteleft}fracking{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "Fracking has proven to be a contentious issue in Great Britain, receiving wide press coverage from the initial sale of exploration and development licences, to the current moratorium. This research tracks the public activity online related to this {\textquoteleft}fracking{\textquoteright} journey by analysing over 317 million geolocated tweets from 2015 to 2020, mapping their location to compare the spatial distribution against the shale gas exploration sites. To spatially normalise the results for population density a χ-squared expectation surface was generated revealing higher than expected levels of interest near the previously active fracking site of Preston New Road and licenced extraction blocks in Lancashire. The data granularity allows for peaks of activity to be identified and topics analysed at higher temporal and spatial resolution than previously possible with more traditional surveys. The paper demonstrates the use of χ-squared expectation surfaces for normalising geotweets and the value of social media spatial-temporal analysis for monitoring local involvement in environmental issues, and for monitoring the changing level of interest across different regions in reaction to political decisions.",

keywords = "fracking, geolocated tweets, social media, χ-squared expectation surface",

author = "P. Bartie and A. Varley and J. Dickie and D. Evensen and P. Devine-Wright and S. Ryder and L. Whitmarsh and C. Foad",

note = "Funding Information: This research has been undertaken as part of the {\textquoteleft}The Attitudes to Shale GaS in Space and Time{\textquoteright} (ASSIST) project funded through ESRC and NERC (Grant Ref: NE/R017727/1). The authors also thank Twitter Inc. for supporting research through their developer programme.",

year = "2023",

month = jul,

doi = "10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101978",

language = "English",

volume = "103",

pages = "1--12",

journal = "Computers, Environment and Urban Systems",

issn = "0198-9715",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Great Britain's spatial twitter activity related to ‘fracking’

AU - Bartie, P.

AU - Varley, A.

AU - Dickie, J.

AU - Evensen, D.

AU - Devine-Wright, P.

AU - Ryder, S.

AU - Whitmarsh, L.

AU - Foad, C.

N1 - Funding Information: This research has been undertaken as part of the ‘The Attitudes to Shale GaS in Space and Time’ (ASSIST) project funded through ESRC and NERC (Grant Ref: NE/R017727/1). The authors also thank Twitter Inc. for supporting research through their developer programme.

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Fracking has proven to be a contentious issue in Great Britain, receiving wide press coverage from the initial sale of exploration and development licences, to the current moratorium. This research tracks the public activity online related to this ‘fracking’ journey by analysing over 317 million geolocated tweets from 2015 to 2020, mapping their location to compare the spatial distribution against the shale gas exploration sites. To spatially normalise the results for population density a χ-squared expectation surface was generated revealing higher than expected levels of interest near the previously active fracking site of Preston New Road and licenced extraction blocks in Lancashire. The data granularity allows for peaks of activity to be identified and topics analysed at higher temporal and spatial resolution than previously possible with more traditional surveys. The paper demonstrates the use of χ-squared expectation surfaces for normalising geotweets and the value of social media spatial-temporal analysis for monitoring local involvement in environmental issues, and for monitoring the changing level of interest across different regions in reaction to political decisions.

AB - Fracking has proven to be a contentious issue in Great Britain, receiving wide press coverage from the initial sale of exploration and development licences, to the current moratorium. This research tracks the public activity online related to this ‘fracking’ journey by analysing over 317 million geolocated tweets from 2015 to 2020, mapping their location to compare the spatial distribution against the shale gas exploration sites. To spatially normalise the results for population density a χ-squared expectation surface was generated revealing higher than expected levels of interest near the previously active fracking site of Preston New Road and licenced extraction blocks in Lancashire. The data granularity allows for peaks of activity to be identified and topics analysed at higher temporal and spatial resolution than previously possible with more traditional surveys. The paper demonstrates the use of χ-squared expectation surfaces for normalising geotweets and the value of social media spatial-temporal analysis for monitoring local involvement in environmental issues, and for monitoring the changing level of interest across different regions in reaction to political decisions.

KW - fracking

KW - geolocated tweets

KW - social media

KW - χ-squared expectation surface

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UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/computers-environment-and-urban-systems

U2 - 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101978

DO - 10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2023.101978

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VL - 103

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JO - Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

JF - Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

M1 - 101978

ER -

Great Britain's spatial twitter activity related to ‘fracking’

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

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Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of public attitudes and community responses to shale gas: an integrated approach

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Great Britain's spatial twitter activity related to ‘fracking’

Abstract / Description of output

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of public attitudes and community responses to shale gas: an integrated approach

Cite this