E-DataViewer

In 2007 I began developing a system to help qualitative researchers code and visualize large data sets of uniform, time-stamped data. Recognizing that current qualitative analysis software packages (i.e. ATLAS.ti) treated timestamps as textual strings, I developed the E-DataViewer to display CMC data over time, showing linkages between messages within conversations or threads. Originally developed for cell phone data, I later adapted and then optimized the EDV to visualize and analyze Twitter data during crisis events.

The E-DataViewer is meant to allow researchers to make sense of large data sets, to see the data from close up and far away, and to code each message quickly—and in context. Tools allow a user to zoom in on sections of the data. Accompanying windows show message content, user and stream information, and offer a variety of coding, coloring, sizing, and sorting tools, adapted to each data set.

The EDV has been used for several papers related to the FREE Project and for five papers published by researchers with Project EPIC. The Project EPIC papers are listed below.

The EDV is currently being used for analysis of information flow on Twitter and the surrounding information ecosystem after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. I plan to continue to maintain the EDV for internal use and am working to find a way to share the system more broadly (with other researchers). If you're interested in utilizing some of the ideas behind the EDV in your own (Open Source) system, contact me and I'll help you!

Original EDV poster presented at CSCW 2008:

Starbird, Kate. (2008). E-Data Visualization for Qualitative Research. Interactive Poster presented at ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW ’08), San Diego, CA

Contributed to qualitative analysis for publications:

Starbird, Kate and Leysia Palen. (2011). “Voluntweeters”: Self-Organizing by Digital Volunteers in Times of Crisis. Proceedings of the ACM 2011 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2011), Vancouver, CA. (26% acceptance rate. Honorable Mention Award, top 5%)

Starbird, Kate, Leysia Palen, Amanda L Hughes, and Sarah Vieweg. (2010). Chatter on The Red: What Hazards Threat Reveals about the Social Life of Microblogged Information. Proceedings of the ACM 2010 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2010), Savannah, GA, pp. 241-250. (20% acceptance rate. Honorable Mention for “Best of CSCW,” top 5%)

Vieweg, Sarah, Amanda L. Hughes, Kate Starbird, and Leysia Palen. (2010). A Comparison of Microblogging Behavior in Two Natural Hazards Events: What Twitter May Contribute to Situational Awareness. Proceedings of the ACM 2010 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2010), Atlanta, GA, pp. 1079-1088. (22% acceptance rate)

Starbird, Kate and Leysia Palen. (2010). Pass It On?: Retweeting in Mass Emergencies. Presented at the 2010 Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management Conference (ISCRAM 2010), Seattle, WA.

Starbird, Kate and Leysia Palen. (forthcoming). (How) Will the Revolution be Retweeted? Information Diffusion and the 2011 Egyptian Uprising. Proceedings of the ACM 2012 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2012).


© Kate Starbird 2017