Janna Joceli Omena (Teaching Fellow)
Janna Joceli Omena (Teaching Fellow)
Research Profile
My research concerns the theory and practice of digital methods with a focus on the role of technical knowledge, practice and expertise (as problems and solutions) in method design and implementation. From a conceptual, technical, and empirical standpoint, I examine the technicity of computational mediums in digital research for methodological innovation. I have conducted research on the making and interpretation of (computer vision) digital networks, hashtag engagement studies, bot agency on social media and the visual analysis of image collections.
My research proposes a technicity perspective to the practice of digital methods, referring to the attitudes of: (1) being acquainted with computational mediums (digital platforms, web-based applications and research software), (2) understanding these latter from different levels, also in conceptual, technical and empirical aspects; (3) knowing how to orchestrate and interpret a technical ensemble composed by the medium and subject of analysis under investigation, the computational mediums necessary to implement research with digital methods, the required technical practices and the researcher own interventions. My work contributes to digital methods research and attempts to engage in arguments regarding methodology and theoretical foundations.
I have published in Social Media & Society, Information Communication and Society, Journal Diseña andJournal ICONO14, and also edited the book Métodos Digitais: Teoria-Prática-Crítica (2019).
Areas of Interest
Digital methods, software studies, methodological innovation, algorithmic techniques, visual network analysis, computer vision, social bots.
Academic Profile
I am a member of the Public Data Lab and a founding member of iNOVA Media Lab, where I founded and led an annual event devoted to conducting empirical/exploratory research with digital methods: the #SMARTDataSprint (themes & reports of the past six editions here).
Prior to joining CIM, I held positions in NOVA University Lisbon (2020-2022), King’s College London (Department of Digital Humanities) and the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) (2021). My teaching experience as part of a regular university program (four groups of postgrads and master students) started in February 2020 at NOVA Information Management School. There I developed a syllabus for the social media analytics course. In 2021, as a teaching assistant in digital methods at King’s College London and following flipped-classroom teaching, I facilitated data journalism workshops to master students for the development of projects about cultures of climate denial. In NOVA Social Sciences and Humanities School, as an invited associate professor, I developed two-course modules: introduction to digital methods: using vision AI to study collections of images and platform studies and social media. My teaching premise involves learning by doing and developing a broader technical mindset and a sensitivity for the engagement with digital fieldwork and software that digital methods work implies.
Research Projects
I have been awarded research grants to conduct bot studies on social media and computer vision analysis.
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Year |
Research Project |
Funder |
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2018 |
Instabots Detection |
UT Austin/Portugal Digital Media Program, Lisbon, Portugal |
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2019 |
Centre for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum, Germany |
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2021 |
Computer Vision Networks. Developing digital visual methods for social and medium research |
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Books
Omena, J.J.(ed.) (2019). Métodos Digitais: Teoria-Prática-Crítica. Lisboa: ICNOVA. ISBN: 978‐972‐9347‐34‐4
Selected Publications
(See my Google Scholar or ResearchGate page, I often publish my talks on SlideShare. Find me as @JannaJoceli on Twitter, search also for ‘Omena’, or visit my YouTube research channel).
Omena, J.J.(2021). Digital Methods and Technicity-of-the-Mediums. From Regimes of Functioning to Digital Research.[Doctoral Dissertation, Nova University Lisbon]. Repositório da Universidade Nova de Lisboa.http://hdl.handle.net/10362/127961
Omena, J. J., Pilipets, E., Gobbo, B., & Chao, J. (2021). The Potentials of Google Vision API-based Networks to Study Natively Digital Images. Diseña, (19), Article.1. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.19.Article.
Omena, J. J., Pilipets, E., Gobbo, B., & Chao, J. (2021). El potencial de las redes basadas en la API Google Vision para el estudio de imágenes digitales nativas. Diseña, (19), Article.1. https://doi.org/10.7764/disena.19.Article.
Omena, J. J., Rabello, E. T., & Mintz, A. G. (2020). Digital Methods for Hashtag Engagement Research. Social Media + Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305120940697
Omena, J. J., & Granado, A. (2020). Call into the platform! Merging Platform Grammatisation and Practical knowledge to study digital networks. Journal ICONO14, 18(1), 89-122. https://doi.org/10.7195/ri14.v18i1.1436
Omena, J.J. & Amaral, I. (2019). Sistema de leitura de redes digitais multiplataforma. In: Métodos Digitais: Teoria-Prática-Crítica, edited by Janna Joceli Omena. Lisboa: ICNOVA. ISBN: 978‐972‐9347‐34‐4
Pearce, W., Özkula, S. M., Greene, A.K., Teeling, L., Bansard, J. S., Omena, J.J. & Rabello, E.T. (2018): Visual cross-platform analysis: digital methods to research social media images, Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2018.1486871
Omena, J. J.; Cano-Orón, L.; Gobbo, B. & Flores, A. M. (2022). What are data sprints for?. Dígitos. Revista de Comunicación Digital, 8: 9-30. DOI: 10.7203/drdcd.v1i8.253
Omena, J. J., Currie, M. (Ed.), (2022). Collecting Data Using APIs Part 1: How to Understand APIs and Navigating API Documentation [How to Guide]. SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529611441 https://methods.sagepub.com/how-to-guide/collecting-data-apis-part-1-understand-apis-navigating-api
Omena, J. J., Currie, M. (Ed.), (2022). Collecting Data Using APIs Part 2: How to Communicate With and Access APIs [How to Guide]. SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529611458 https://methods.sagepub.com/how-to-guide/collecting-data-apis-part-2-how-to-communicate-access-apis
Giorgi, G., Rogers, R., & Omena, J. J., (2022). How to Make Meme Collections [How to Guide]. SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529611267 https://methods.sagepub.com/how-to-guide/how-to-make-meme-collections
Research Software
In collaboration with Jason Chao, I have conceptualised the Offline Image Query and Extraction Tool and helped in idea generation of Memespector GUI, also in software testing.
Chao, T. H. J. & Omena, J. J. (2021). Offline Image Query and Extraction Tool (Version 0.1) [Software]. Available from https://github.com/jason-chao/offline-image-query.
Offline Image Query and Extraction Tool: a command-line tool that locates image files scattered in nested and sparse directories by filename, copies them to a new location and then inserts labels as prefixes to the image filenames. This tool serves the study of visual content for social or media research but it is not limited to this purpose, allowing researchers to explore and analyse specific collections of images on demand.
Chao, T. H. J. (2021). Memespector GUI: Graphical User Interface Client for Computer Vision APIs (Version 0.2) [Software]. Available from https://github.com/jason-chao/memespector-gui.
Memespector-GUI is a cross-platform client for computer vision APIs with a graphical user interface. It supports Google Cloud Vision API, Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services, Clarifai Computer Vision and an API for open source models. This tool offers easy access to vision APIs, facilitating the study of image collections.
Other Materials
[Encyclopedia entries]
Omena, J.J. Hashtag politics. In: Ceron, A. (Ed.). Encyclopaedia of Technology & Politics. Edward Elgar Publishing LTD (forthcoming, 2022).
Omena, J.J. Technicity-of-the-mediums. In: Ceron, A. (Ed.). Encyclopaedia of Technology & Politics. Edward Elgar Publishing LTD (forthcoming, 2022).
[Coordination of special issue]
Omena, J.J., Gobbo, B., Cabo-Orón, Flores, AMM. 8th Special Issue (2022): The Data Sprint Approach to Research: Experiments, Protocols and Knowledge. Revista Dígitos (forthcoming)
[Data sprints’ reports from 2014-2022]
[Talks]
Omena, J.J. (2021, May 21). Unpacking Digital Methods. ICNOVA Online Conference. [video] (see other versions of this talk: SMART Data Sprint 2020 [short talk][slides]; Play with Data Conference, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain. [slides]).
Omena, J.J. (2021, March 17). Computer Vision Networks. Developing digital visual methods for social and medium research. CAIS Colloquium. Center for Advanced Internet Studies, Bochum, Germany. [video] [slides]
Omena, J.J. (2021, October 20). Visão computacional – metodologia digital para análise de imagens. Grupo de Pesquisa em Jornalismo On-Line Cast (GJOL CAST). (Evento virtual organizado pelo Faculdade de Comunicação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação e Culturas Contemporâneas). Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil. [video]
Omena, J.J. (2021, September 23). Estudos sobre plataformização mediante a três pilares dos métodos digitais. (Opening keynote). Seminário Internacional Ecologia de Mídia no Contexto da Plataformização. (Evento virtual). Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brasil. [video] [slides]
Contact
B1.19, Social Sciences Block, Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL