Great New Design: How Do We Talk about Media Architecture in Social Media

TL;DR

This paper explores how media architecture is discussed on social media, using Twitter data analyzed with text-mining and machine learning to identify key concepts and patterns that could influence future practice.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of applying text-mining and machine learning to social media discussions on media architecture, revealing insights into community opinions and emerging trends.

Findings

Identification of key concepts in media architecture discussions

Patterns of opinion sharing among architects and designers

Potential for informing future trends in media architecture

Abstract

In social media, we communicate through pictures, videos, short codes, links, partial phrases. It is a rich, and digitally documented communication channel that relies on a multitude of media and forms. These channels are sorted by algorithms as organizers of discourse, mostly with the goal of channeling attention. In this research, we used Twitter to study the way Media Architecture is discussed within the community of architects, designers, researchers and policy makers. We look at the way they spontaneously share opinions on their engagement with digital infrastructures, networked places and hybrid public spaces. What can we do with all those opinions? We propose here the use of text-mining and machine learning techniques to identify important concepts and patterns in this prolific communication stream. We discuss how such techniques could inform the practice and emergence of future trends.