ACE Research Vignette 045: Are “Entrepreneurial Opportunities” a meaningful topic for entrepreneurship research?

This series of research vignettes is aimed at sharing current and interesting research findings from our team of international entrepreneurship researchers. In this vignette, Professor Per Davidsson discusses research on “entrepreneurial opportunities”. A “Government Health Warning” is in place for this particular vignette: it mainly concerns matters internal to entrepreneurship research; however, reflective practitioners may find it to be of interest.

Anatomy of a trending topic : Methods for the visualisation of retweet chains [Anatomie eines Trending Topics: Methoden zur Visualisierung von Retweet-Ketten]

Twitter and other social networking sites play an ever more present role in the spread of current events. The dynamics of information dissemination through digital network structures are still relatively unexplored, however. At what time an issue is taken up by whom? Who forwards a message when to whom else? What role do individual communication participants, existing digital communities or the technical foundations of each network platform play in the spread of news? In this chapter we discuss, using the example of a video on a current sociopolitical issue in Australia that was shared on Twitter, a number of new methods for the dynamic visualisation and analysis of communication processes. Our method combines temporal and spatial analytical approaches and provides new insights into the spread of news in digital networks. [Social media dienen immer häufger als Disseminationsmechanismen für Medieninhalte. Auf Twitter ermöglicht besonders die Retweet-Funktion den schnellen und weitläufgen Transfer von Nachrichten. In diesem Beitrag etablieren neue methodische Ansätze zur Erfassung, Visualisierung und Analyse von Retweet-Ketten. Insbesondere heben wir hervor, wie bestehende Netzwerkanalysemethoden ergänzt werden können, um den Ablauf der Weiterleitung sowohl temporal als auch spatial zu erfassen. Unsere Fallstudie demonstriert die verbreitung des videoclips einer am 9. Oktober 2012 spontan gehaltenen Wutrede der australischen Premierministerin Julia Gillard, in der sie Oppositionsführer Tony Abbott als Frauenhasser brandmarkte. Durch die Erfassung von Hintergrunddaten zu den jeweiligen NutzerInnen, die sich an der Weiterleitung des Videoclips beteiligten, erstellen wir ein detailliertes Bild des Disseminationsablaufs im vorliegenden Fall. So lassen sich die wichtigsten AkteurInnen und der Ablauf der Weiterleitung darstellen und analysieren. Daraus entstehen Einblicke in die allgemeinen verbreitungsmuster von Nachrichten auf Twitter].

Outdoor portrait of Jenny Gutman (left) and Erna Strasburger with unidentified young boy Portraits Groups

Digital Image

Unidentified nurses and injured World War I soldiers celebrating with champagne and flowers Portraits Groups

Handwritten correspondence on verso covered over with pasted black paper

Studio portrait of Frau Muelde Portraits Women

Digital Image

Studio portrait of Werner and Hans Rath; Mannheim Portraits Family

Digital Image

Henny? Beitman with a bicycle; Dielkirchen, Falkenstein, Germany Portraits Women

Digital Image

Studio portrait of Uncle Loeb Portraits Men

Digital Image

Portrait of young Hans Frankenbach seated at a desk Portraits Men

Digital Image

Portrait of Surgeon Major Dr. Meyer of Dueren (Rhineland) in military uniform Portraits Men

Digital Image

Portrait of Surgeon Major Dr. Bing of Nuernberg in his military uniform Portraits Men

Digital Image

Studio portrait of Henny Meyerstein nee Rosenbaum and Harry Meyerstein Portraits Couples

Handwritten postcard from Henny and Harry Meyerstein to Hans Frankenbach

Family portrait including Elsa Fleissig nee Loewenthal, August Fleissig, Lena Loewenthal, Hans Frankenbach and Justin Loewenthal Portraits Family

Digital Image

Walther Simon of Hamburg with his wife and daughter Ursula outdoors; Schenectady, New York Portraits Family

Digital Image

Judge Max Frankenbach of Berlin hiking with his wife Grete Frankenbach nee Bernstein; Sassal-Massone Portraits Couples

Digital Image