OCNews

Okanagan College (OC) invites the community to an upcoming OC Speaker Series event that explores online conversations using data. The talk, Making Big Data Qualitative: Sentiment Analysis on Reddit, will take place on January 15 from 12 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. at the Penticton Campus Lecture Theatre.

The session will be led by Ashley Peckford, a criminology instructor and researcher. In her talk, Peckford will share her research on online discussions in the Canadian subreddit r/Canada. Her work looks at how extreme political ideas can appear and change in everyday online spaces.

Peckford uses tools that analyze the tone of online comments, along with close reading and theme-based research. This helps show how language and emotions rise and fall during major events like elections or acts of violence. She will also talk about the limits of computer tools and why human understanding is still important when studying social issues.

This OC Speaker Series event offers students, faculty, and community members an opportunity to engage with timely research and gain insight into how digital platforms shape public conversation.

Event Details:
 What: OC Speaker Series – Making Big Data Qualitative: Sentiment Analysis on Reddit
 When: January 15, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
 Where: Okanagan College, Penticton Campus, Lecture Theatre

Admission is free and all are welcome to attend.

This speaker series event is one of the many ways that Okanagan College’s Arts and Foundational programs encourage open dialogue, critical thinking, curiosity and community learning on issues that shape our world.