Rural Tech & Innovation Meetup - Twitter, Trump & Climate Opinions
At this month's meetup, academic collaborators Drew Bush and Jin Xing of McGill University will present the findings of their studies of Twitter, Trump, and climate change... examining the big data of public opinion online.

Public discourse on climate science often fails to reflect actual scientific findings. For scientists, the challenge can be identifying where in the vast amount of online discourse their voices might be valued. This talk examines how a data mining technique (Word2Vec) popular in the digital humanities can aid researchers studying public perceptions of climate change using real-time, big data online. Our presenters will also share their findings on the role of Twitter and online blogs in civic discourse.

Also, FREE PIZZA!


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Dr. Drew Fulton Bush is the Director of Programs at the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, and also conducts research in McGill University’s School of Environment. His work focuses on efforts to introduce young students and the public to hands-on inquiry and citizen science to learn Earth and environmental science. Drew first worked on federal climate and energy policy as a communications specialist at The Wilderness Society. This work inspired his subsequent master's research at Duke University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Drew has conducted research at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, taught for Cornell University/University of NH's Shoals Marine Laboratory in Maine, and helped introduced environmental science to NYU's Prison Education Program at the Wallkill Correctional Facility. At the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium, Drew helps manage and develop public and educational programming.

Dr. Jin Xing joined the school of Engineering at Newcastle University as the lecturer in geospatial analysis in 2018. He obtained his Ph.D. in Geographic Information Science from McGill University’s Department of Geography in 2017. His doctoral research in urban land use change was recognized by the Rathlyn GIS Award. Before joining Newcastle University, he conducted smart city research at Laval University, Canada, with the support of MITACS fellowship. His research has been published in top Geographic Information Science and Remote Sensing journals and presented at a variety of international conferences in Canada, the United States, and Europe.