Minorities in Media: A data visualization of data from ASNE, CPB Diversity Reports, economic census data (SBA, et al), and the RTNDA. The bulk of the project will most likely include tracking down and scraping the data into a computer-readable format. From there, I would probably use Processing or OpenFrameworks to create an interactive visualization which would allow users to grasp the severe culture gap between white male and minority participation and ownership in mass media.

The Discourse of the Occupy Movement: Using the various Occupy movements’ Twitter feeds, I’d like to analyze the nature of their rhetoric as well as the way in which those writing about them or to them (via @mentions and @replies, respectively) are framing the movement. Are the majority of words considered “positive” or “negative”? Is Occupy answering questions from the peanut gallery? How are media outlets referring to the movement? Politicians? Cultural workers (musicians, artists)? In order to keep the scope to a reasonable size, I may only focus on OccupyBoston. I will also need to do some work to find a service to categorize words and phrases by tone.

Occupy in its Own Words: After speaking with a couple of participants at the OccupyBoston movement over the span of a few days, it amazes me how the group finds “consensus” in a generalized sense while they all seem to convey varying “personal” or specific points. Both individuals with whom I spoke in person continuously noted that what they were about to say was “only my opinion.” Where does the transition happen between “only my opinion” and consensus. This would include interviewing more individuals, reading through communicados and watching archived GA footage.