Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Saskia Kok
United Na.ons University Maastricht Economic and Social Research
Ins.tute on Innova.on and Technology (UNU-MERIT)
Maastricht, 15 February 2017
S.L.E.Kok@uva.nl
How to study transna.onal migra.on with digital
methods?
Theory
CONNECTED MIGRATION
1. Conceptual History of (Connected) Migra9on Research
TYPES OF RESEARCH
Using online data about migrants and their networks, and making online
grounded claims.
TRANSNATIONAL MOBILITY
Recogni9on of the transmigrant
TRANSNATIONAL MOBILIZATION
New media as a signicant tool for crea9ng connec9ons among diaspora
networks, civil society actors and policymakers (Newland, 2010).
The signicance of online networks as a safe space for diasporic
interac9on is also recognized, where diasporas can nego9ate their sense
of self, express their hybrid iden99es, or demarcate what it means to be a
member of the diaspora
(Brinkerho 2009; Swaby 2013).
ENGAGEMENT AND CONNECTIVITY
However
The ontological and epistemological dimension of the connected migrant
and the spa9al complexity of diasporic networked behavior in empirical
analyses has been understudied.
THE CONNECTED MIGRANT
Migrant networks:
Capturing the spa9al complexity of connected migrants with digital
methods
Studying online structures
(Kissau and Hunger 2010; Adamson and Kumar 2014)
E-Diaspora Atlas Dana Diminescu
The Connected Migrant
Connec.vity, mobility and belonging
Digital transla9ons of physical actors and na9vely
digital actors and phenomena.
The digital migrant versus the connected migrant.
Epistemological dis9nc9on needs to be made.
The e-diaspora is a migrant collec9ve that organizes itself and is ac9ve rst and
foremost on the Web: its prac9ces are those of a community whose interac9ons
are enhanced by digital exchange.
(Diminescu, 2008).
How to study transna.onal migra.on with digital
methods?
Methodology
CONNECTED MIGRATION
1. Conceptual History of Connected Migra9on Research
> 3. Opera.onalizing Migra.on Research with Digital Methods: The Somali Diaspora
The emergence of the connected migrant raises important ques9ons
for the study of the diaspora (through its mobility and connec9vity),
par9cularly regarding rela9onships of iden.ty, territorial or
geographical belonging and (global) poli9cal engagement.
Methodological
Which methods and techniques are best suited to connected Somali migrant?
Digital methods, network analysis, content analysis
Empirical
How may ndings of the connected migrant and their rela9onships
between the local, na9onal as well as transna9onal networks inform
policy research?
Types of ac9vi9es (integra9on, advocacy, mobiliza9on, etc.)
Conceptual
Could diasporic engagement, belonging and iden9ty be constructed
through an imagined transna9onal community?
Yes and.. no
3. Data Enrichment
2. MIGRANT CORPUS BUILDING
a. Associa.ve query snowballing technique: to assemble lists of diaspora websites.
Local domain search engines ( e.g. google.co.uk, google.nl. Google.co.ke.
Google.se. google.dk, google.no, google.ca and google.com) were queried for
[Somali diaspora], [Somali community], [Somali interest group] and [inurl:rwanda
inurl:diaspora].
b. Issue Crawler network loca.on: URLs of Somali diaspora websites were extracted
from engine results and entered into the Issue Crawler, both per country as well
as collec9vely in one mother crawl. Facebook was found to be a key node.
c. Facebook search analysis was performed for all organiza9ons and group names.
d. The inter-page like network and most engaged with content was extracted using
Netvizz.
ISSUE CRAWLER
Made in somalia
Somali Youth
K NAAN
size of nodes
in-degree National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Credit Suisse Youth For New Vision
United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Aid for Africa
Global Fund for Education
Rwanda Girls Initiative
UN Women
Women s Major Group
Institute of Development Studies
Asante Africa Foundation SolarAid
Islamic Relief UK
USAID - US Agency for International Development
The United Nations Girls Education Initiative -(UNGEI) DFID - UK Department for International Development
UN Millennium Development Goals Unicef Somalia
Muslim Aid
Muslim Charities Forum
Women s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO)
UNICEF
African Development Aid Association (ADAA)
Build Africa Save the Children UK
Somali Relief& Development Forum
United Nations Global Compact International Labour Organization (ILO) Somali Humanitarian Operational Consortium (SHOC)
UN Capital Development Fund Mercy Corps World Food Program USA
UNESCO
African World Heritage Fund
Volunteer Community development and health worker) Self Help Africa
London Somali Youth Forum
ADT African Development Trust
Development Policy and Analysis Division of UN-DESA
World Food Programme Walk Free International Rescue Committee
GAVI Alliance Save the Children Boston Youth Zone
color of nodes Unesco - Education in Asia-Pacific Save the Children Italia
betweenness
United Nations UNFPA Young African Leaders for Change (YALC)
Adeso
Somali Women: Agents of Change
b. Plalorm specic content analysis was performed (sum of likes, shares, comments
and liked comments, both per country as well as overall).
Classica.on of Somali diaspora Facebook and Web corpora by organiza.on
type (N=226)
2NL@KH#H@RONQ@U
K
Most engagDC VHSGcontent on Facebook
ENGAGEMENT 85
ENGAGEMENT 19
ENGAGEMENT 44
ENGAGEMENT 55 ENGAGEMENT 73
47
58
ENGAGEMENT 47
ENGAGEMENT 74
ENGAGEMENT 58
49
ENGAGEMENT 49
99
72
Saskia Kok
United Na.ons University Maastricht Economic and Social Research
Ins.tute on Innova.on and Technology (UNU-MERIT)
Maastricht, 15 February 2017
S.L.E.Kok@uva.nl