{"title":"From robots to social robots. Trends, representation and Facebook engagement of robot-related news stories published by Italian online news media","authors":"Nicola Righetti, Marco Carradore","doi":"10.31235/osf.io/tzucw","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"In recent decades, robots, social robots and artificial intelligence have increasingly entered daily life, affirming their presence not only in traditional spheres such as industrial production, but also gaining access to social reproduction, expressive functions and domestic activities. Considering the social relevance robots have now acquired, this essay aims at investigating their cultural representations in Italian online news media. More specifically, the study investigates trends of robot-related topics in online newspaper coverage and Facebook engagement over time, and analyzes news topics through text mining techniques. The study relies on a dataset of about 3,000 news stories published between 2014 and 2018 by some 100 different Italian news media. Results show a constant increase in news relating to robots, a major interest in work issues and a thematic shift over time: more recent topics describe the social-reproduction functions of robots. Finally, some suggestions for future research are outlined.","PeriodicalId":38025,"journal":{"name":"Italian Sociological Review","volume":"9 1","pages":"431"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"5","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Italian Sociological Review","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/tzucw","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 5
Abstract
In recent decades, robots, social robots and artificial intelligence have increasingly entered daily life, affirming their presence not only in traditional spheres such as industrial production, but also gaining access to social reproduction, expressive functions and domestic activities. Considering the social relevance robots have now acquired, this essay aims at investigating their cultural representations in Italian online news media. More specifically, the study investigates trends of robot-related topics in online newspaper coverage and Facebook engagement over time, and analyzes news topics through text mining techniques. The study relies on a dataset of about 3,000 news stories published between 2014 and 2018 by some 100 different Italian news media. Results show a constant increase in news relating to robots, a major interest in work issues and a thematic shift over time: more recent topics describe the social-reproduction functions of robots. Finally, some suggestions for future research are outlined.
期刊介绍:
The Italian Sociological Review is as an academic journal for the dissemination of theoretical reflections and results of empirical research on social science, conducted with scientific methodologies and made available to a wider audience. The research results may have an impact on policy-makers, on the processes of formation of the students and the development and integration of theories and paradigms. It is therefore important that the journal maintains a high level of quality and transparency in the process of publication.