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Research article
First published online November 10, 2014

More than entertainment: YouTube and public responses to the science of global warming and climate change

Matthew A. Shapiro and Han Woo ParkView all authors and affiliations
Volume 54, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018414554730

Abstract

Abstract

The public receives and presents science-related information on global warming and climate change in many forms, but little is known about how this information is conveyed through the Internet. More specifically, very few studies have considered YouTube videos focusing on climate change. This study provides a better understanding of how this type of information may be disseminated through several levels of analysis. For this purpose, the exact narrative for the 10 most popular videos about climate change was first established by concentrating particularly on the presentation of the science of climate change. Then the public’s responses to and engagement in each video were examined through a semantic analysis of comments on the video. The results indicate that, regardless of the narrative, science-based comments dominated, but often discussed climate change in general instead of specific videos to which they were attached. In the absence of gatekeepers, YouTube users rode the coattails of popular videos about climate change and addended the videos’ messages by highlighting evidence of weak, strong, or politicized science.

Résumé

Le public reçoit et présente des informations d’ordre scientifique sur le réchauffement global et le changement climatique sous diverses formes, mais on sait peu de choses sur la manière dont ces informations sont véhiculées par l’Internet. Pour être plus précis, très peu d’études se sont intéressées aux vidéos de You Tube portant sur le changement climatique. A travers différents niveaux d’analyse, cette étude tente de faire mieux comprendre la façon dont ces informations peuvent être disséminées. A cet effet et en premier lieu, le contenu narratif exact des 10 vidéos les plus populaires sur le changement climatique a été recensé en se concentrant en particulier sur les présentations d’ordre scientifique du changement climatique. Puis les réponses du public visionnant les vidéos ont été examinées à travers une analyse sémantique des annotations sur les vidéos. Les résultats indiquent que, indépendamment du contenu narratif, les annotations d’ordre scientifique dominent, mais qu’elles portent souvent sur le changement climatique en général plutôt que sur les vidéos spécifiques auxquelles elles se rattachent. En l’absence de contrôle d’accès, les utilisateurs de You Tube profitent des vidéos les plus populaires sur le changement climatique pour faire passer des messages qui mettent l’accent sur des preuves d’ordre scientifique, que ce soit des données de vulgarisation scientifique, des données de la recherche scientifique, ou des données à visée politique.

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Biographies

Matthew A. Shapiro is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Illinois Institute of Technology and an East Asia Institute Fellow. Dr Shapiro’s published and ongoing research lies at the intersection between economics and public policy. More specifically, he attempts to understand how national innovation systems are formed and contribute to sustainable development, how climate change is addressed and impacted by relevant policies and political forces, and how communications from politicians, scientists, and the media impact both of these areas. More information about Dr Shapiro ([email protected]) can be found at understandgreen.com.
Han Woo Park is a Full Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at YeungNam University, South Korea. His research focuses on the use of new digital technologies in extending social and semantic networks, and on the role of communication in scientific, technical, innovative, and governmental activities. He has been a research associate at the Royal Netherlands Academy, a visiting scholar at the Oxford Internet Institute, and a director of the World Class University Webometrics Institute. He is currently the director of the Cyber Emotions Research Center and Asia Triple Helix Society. He has founded a prestigious conference on Triple Helix and Network Sciences in Asia, called DISC (Daegu Gyeongbuk International Social Network Conference, http://asia-triplehelix.org), and he sits on the editorial boards of important journals including Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia, Scientometrics, Quality & Quantity, Knowledge Economy, and Big Data & Society. Further, he has guest-edited special issues for both Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication and Asian Journal of Communication.

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Published In

Volume 54, Issue 1
Pages: 115 - 145
Article first published online: November 10, 2014
Issue published: March 2015

Keywords

  1. climate change
  2. global warming
  3. politicized science
  4. science communication
  5. semantic network analysis
  6. social network analysis
  7. webometrics
  8. YouTube

Mots-clés

  1. analyse de réseau sémantique
  2. analyse de réseau social
  3. changement climatique
  4. communication sur la science
  5. réchauffement global
  6. science politisée
  7. webométrie
  8. You Tube

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Authors

Affiliations

Matthew A. Shapiro
Department of Social Sciences, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA
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Han Woo Park
Department of Media and Communication, Yeungnam University, Gyeongbuk, South Korea
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Notes

Han Woo Park, Department of Media and Communication, Yeungnam University, 257 Humanities Hall, 280 Daehak-Ro Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk 712-749, South Korea. Email: [email protected]

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