Theme 1: Research publications/Theory of science

Select a research journal that you believe is relevant for media technology research. The journal should be of high quality, with an “impact factor” of 1.0 or above. Write a short description of the journal and what kind of research it publishes.

I chose Social Networks with an impact factor of 2,931. It is an interdisciplinary and international quarterly. It provides a common forum for representatives of anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, biology, economics, communications science and other disciplines who share an interest in the study of the empirical structure of social relations and associations that may be expressed in network form.


Select a research paper that is of high quality and relevant for media technology research. The paper should have been published in a high quality journal, with an “impact factor” of 1.0 or above. Write a short summary of the paper and provide a critical examination of, for example, its aims, theoretical framing, research method, findings, analysis or implications. You can use some of the questions in Performing research article critiques as support for your critical examination.

The paper I selected is Geography of Twitter networks. The paper examines the influence of geographic distance, national boundaries, language, and frequency of air travel on the formation of social ties on Twitter, a popular micro-blogging website. Based on a large sample of publicly available Twitter data, their study shows that a substantial share of ties lies within the same metropolitan region, and that between regional clusters, distance, national borders and language differences all predict Twitter ties. They found that the frequency of airline flights between the two parties is the best predictor of Twitter ties. This highlights the importance of looking at pre-existing ties between places and people.


Bertrand Russell


1. What does Russell mean by "sense data" and why does he introduce this notion?

In the book The Problems of Philosophy (1912) Bertand Russell coined the term “sense-data”. Russell explains this term with a few examples. One of them is with a table. A table can look rectangular to one observer, and a different shape to another. But it can also be brown at some particular angles and white from others. All of these different perceptions regarding color and shapes are sense-data in contrast to the material table, which presumably has only one color and one shape. Therefore sense-data are only mental images that we receive form a given object in the physical world. The term was introduced as an intention only to denote that which we are directly aware of in perception.


2. What is the meaning of the terms "proposition" and "statement of fact"? How does propositions and statement of facts differ from other kinds of verbal expressions?

The meaning of the term ‘propostion’ is that it is an obvious fact but one that still is of the abstract kind. A good example is: We know that the candidate who gets the most votes will be elected (Exept from the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore) :-P. Or that ‘two and two are four’. This is things we know without any actual sensual experience.

The statement of fact is also best described with an example: If "All men are mortal", then "Some men are mortal". That is the relationship between 'all' and 'some'. And if "All men are mortal", and "Socrates is a man", then "Socrates is mortal". These are three statements of fact, if it is a fact that all men are mortal and that Socrates is indeed a man.

A statement/proposition is therefore a verbal expression that is either true or false.


3. In chapter 5 ("Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description") Russell introduces the notion "definite description". What does this notion mean?

The notion “definite description” Russell described as that all statements containing definite descriptions (of the form ‘so-and-so’) can be reformulated without definite descriptions while maintaining meaningful. As an example ‘a man’ is an ambiguous description, and ‘the man with the iron mask’ is a definite description.


4.In chapter 13 ("Knowledge, Error and Probable Opinion") and in chapter 14 ("The Limits of Philosophical Knowledge") Russell attacks traditional problems in theory of knowledge (epistemology). What are the main points in Russell's presentation?

Russells main points are:

The greater part of what would commonly pass as knowledge is more or less probable opinions. Russells explains it like this: if we firmly believe something and it’s true, it’s called knowledge. If it’s false it’s called error, and if it’s neither nor of them, it’s called probable opinion.

Russells also points out that philosophical knowledge does not differ essentially from scientific knowledge. The only thing that sets them apart is criticism. `Philosophy examines critically the principles employed in science and in daily life; it searches out any inconsistencies there may be in these principles, and it only accepts them when, as the result of a critical inquiry, no reason for rejecting them has appeared.´