#HostileNetworks is an ethnographic, data scraping project to create #HostileNetworks, which has two outputs:
(1) a data visualization of different hashtags, such as like #refugeeswelcome, #refugeesNOTwelcome and #illegals across Twitter,
(2) an audio podcast that contained stories like that of 14 years old Moaath, who sought asylum in Berlin because of the war in his home country of Syria.
This project, conceived and developed in Berlin (Germany) at the peak of refugee crisis, also uses audio podcast as a means of narrative storytelling to encapsulate his life, then and now.
The interactive map on the left highlights the different parts of the world where the hashtag was used over a decade, beginning 2006 until the end of 2016.
The audio podcast, embedded below the map, is used as a narrative tool to educate the listener about on-going Syrian war followed by an interview with Moaath, capturing raw emotions through his own voice.
The project also uses an interview with a volunteer at the refugee camp, and a professor at NYU Berlin, Jessica Menz, about her experience, inspiration and expectations working at the camp.
Transcript of the interview: Moaath, Jessica
Technology: Beautiful Soup (python), CartoDB
Project Date: December 2015