Advancing an internet research agenda for CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security

As digital platforms increasingly influence social interactions, social scientists have had to evolve their methodologies to capture this transformation.

At CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security, the digital innovations team have been advancing this internet research agenda by leveraging digital methods approaches within the context of climate, peace, security and human mobility. To further their engagement with the research community, early in July, team members Bia Carneiro, Giulia Tucci and Giosuè Ruscica, took part in the Digital Methods Initiative (DMI) 2024 Summer School.

The Digital Methods Initiative (DMI), established at the University of Amsterdam, pioneers new approaches to internet research. The initiative focuses on designing methods and tools that repurpose online devices and platforms (such as Facebook, TikTok, Google, etc.) for research into social and political issues. Digital methods are increasingly relevant as internet-based communications shape narratives around global issues like migration and climate change.

Since its inception, the DMI has organized summer and winter schools that attract researchers from around the globe. These events operate as a "data sprint," a method that compresses traditional research timelines into a week-long intensive experience in which participants collaborate on a research project. The schedule is brisk, allowing participants to dive straight into analysis without getting bogged down in theoretical discussions. The focus is on generating visual results and answering research questions quickly. This fast-paced approach enables participants to learn new skills and build on each other's experiences.

At this year's summer edition, the CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security team was present to facilitate a research project and to introduce TeleCatch, an open-source tool designed to extract data from the instant messaging platform Telegram. Developed by the digital innovations team, TeleCatch allows researchers, even those without programming expertise, to create datasets, filter messages, and analyze publicly available content that circulates on Telegram.

The research project, entitled "Uncovering visual narratives about human mobility on Telegram" explored visual discourses that emerge from platform content. After creating a curated list of Telegram groups and channels, participants employed TeleCatch to construct datasets for thematic case studies. Artificial Intelligence tools were then applied to analyze image collections generated from these datasets and to identify trends in visual representations of migration, displacement, and movements of people across various contexts.

According to Giulia Tucci, visiting researcher at CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security, "the summer school's collaborative approach allowed project participants to dive into their own datasets and unique topics, creating a level of ownership and engagement that traditional research environments often miss". She adds, "when researchers choose what they're working on, they're more invested, and that energy drives not only better results but also a more innovative process." As a result, human mobility was studied in six distinct case studies, ranging from disinformation in conspiracist groups to narratives influenced by climate activism.

Results from the analyses were presented in a poster session and through the publication of project reports.

Poster session output - Uncovering visual narratives about human mobility on telegram

Reflecting on this experience, research team leader Bia Carneiro highlights that bringing together scholars from diverse backgrounds and fields enables exploring research questions from multiple perspectives; "each unique case study uncovered new insights into how migration and displacement are perceived across segments of our society, and this understanding can inform how human mobility challenges are tackled by actors at the policy or programming levels."

From a research perspective, Bia also adds that the Summer School was an opportunity to disseminate TeleCatch: "While initially TeleCatch was developed to resolve our data needs, we believe its data curation and collection capabilities make it a valuable asset to the broader digital methods community."

As the digital innovations team at CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security builds its portfolio of projects, tools and methodologies, their aim is to continue establishing an agenda for internet research at CGIAR, while also contributing to the advancement of this dynamic field.

Authors: Bia Carneiro, Giulia Tucci, Ibukun Taiwo and Rukeme Olomu (Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT)// Photo image: CGIAR FOCUS Climate Security digital methods team at the Digital Methods Initiative 2024 Summer School

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.