Open Research Infrastructures and Resources for Communication and Media Studies

Many scholars and initiatives in communication and media research have called for a “cultural shift” in our discipline toward more open, reproducible, and replicable research practices and better access to infrastructures and shared research resources (e.g., Bowman & Spence, 2020; Dienlin et al., 2021; Haim & Puschmann, 2023). However, when we look at the main forums in our field, we still see a lack of opportunities to share information on and experiences with such infrastructures and resources. Typically, this information is limited to brief references in articles, documentation scattered across the web, and informal exchanges among colleagues. A growing, but still limited number of journals have started to provide dedicated space for in-depth presentations or discussions of tools, datasets, or other resources (e.g., Araujo et al., 2022; Haim et al., 2023; Musi et al., 2024; Ohme, 2023; Schoch & Chan, 2023; Shaw et al., 2021; Strippel et al., 2023).

This thematic issue aims to contribute to these efforts by providing a forum for debate and exchange on open research infrastructures for communication and media research, with a focus on non-commercial resources following open science principles. Hence, we particularly welcome submissions which:

• Present, compare, or evaluate datasets, databases, and archives that provide research material and instruments for data analysis or data collection in the field of communication and media research;
• Present, compare, or evaluate research software, models (e.g., classifiers), training data, dictionaries, or other resources, taking into account the specific requirements in the field of communication and media research;
• Assess the extent to which open research infrastructures and resources are created and (re)used in communication and media research, discuss the factors that enable or constrain their adoption, and provide suggestions for ways forward;
• Discuss the implications of creating, maintaining, and using reusable research data, archives, and tools for both quantitative and qualitative research practices in communication and media studies with regard to research inequalities between the Global North and the Global South or the English language hegemony (e.g., Dutta et al., 2021; Humphreys et al., 2021).

References

Araujo, T., Ausloos, J., van Atteveldt, W., Loecherbach, F., Moeller, J., Ohme, J., Trilling, D., van de Velde, B., de Vreese, C., & Welbers, K. (2022). OSD2F: An open-source data donation framework. Computational Communication Research, 4(2), 372–387. https://doi.org/10.5117/ccr2022.2.001.arau

Bowman, N. D., & Spence, P. R. (2020). Challenges and best practices associated with sharing research materials and research data for communication scholars. Communication Studies, 71(4), 708–716. https://doi.org/10.1080/10510974.2020.1799488

Dienlin, T., Johannes, N., Bowman, N. D., Masur, P. K., Engesser, S., Kümpel, A. S., Lukito, J., Bier, L. M., Zhang, R., Johnson, B. K., Huskey, R., Schneider, F. M., Breuer, J., Parry, D. A., Vermeulen, I., Fisher, J. T., Banks, J., Weber, R., Ellis, D. A., . . . de Vreese, C. (2021). An agenda for open science in communication. Journal of Communication, 71(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqz052

Dutta, M., Ramasubramanian, S., Barrett, M., Elers, C., Sarwatay, D., Raghunath, P., Kaur, S., Dutta, D., Jayan, P., Rahman, M., Tallam, E., Roy, S., Falnikar, A., Johnson, G. M., Mandal, I., Dutta, U., Basnyat, I., Soriano, C., Pavarala, V., . . . Zapata, D. (2021). Decolonizing open science: Southern interventions. Journal of Communication, 71(5), 803–826. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab027

Haim, M., Leiner, D., & Hase, V. (2023). Integrating data donations in online surveys. Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft, 71(1/2), 130–137. https://doi.org/10.5771/1615-634X-2023-1-2-130

Haim, M., & Puschmann, C. (2023). Opening up data, tools, and practices: Collaborating with the future. Digital Journalism, 11(2), 247–254. https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2023.2174894

Humphreys, L., Lewis, N. A., Jr., Sender, K., & Won, A. S. (2021). Integrating qualitative methods and open science: Five principles for more trustworthy research. Journal of Communication, 71(5), 855–874. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab026

Musi, E., Garcia Aguilar, E. E., & Federico, L. (2024). Botlitica: A generative AI-based tool to assist journalists in navigating political propaganda campaigns. Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS), 24(1), 161–169. https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2024.01.4270

Ohme, J. (2023). Research software reviews in mobile media & communication studies. Sage. https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/mmc/Research%20Software%20Reviews%20in%20Mobile%20Media_final-1646042282.pdf

Schoch, D., & Chan, C.-H. (2023). Software presentation: Rtoot: Collecting and analyzing Mastodon data. Mobile Media & Communication, 11(3), 575–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/20501579231176678

Shaw, A., Scharkow, M., & Wang, Z. J. (2021). Opening a conversation on open communication research. Journal of Communication, 71(5), 677–685. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqab033

Strippel, C., Breuer, J., Fürst, S., Koenen, E., Prandner, D., & Schwarzenegger, C. (2023). Editorial: Data, archives, and tools—Introducing new publication formats on infrastructures and resources for communication and media research. Publizistik, 68(2/3), 167–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11616-023-00806-7