SocialWorkSynergy

Our guest expert this week is Desmond Upton Patton, Ph.D., who will discuss how analyzing Twitter data (though digital qualitative research) can help us understand how social media communications –around grief, trauma, or love– can lead to off-line gun violence.

Photo: Joshua Lott, Getty Images

Using data sets from Chicago, he hopes his research will help prevent murders and provide insight into healthy ways to intervene and cope with trauma. The participation of youth as translators of the tweets – telling the story within the story – help social workers identify moments that are prime for intervention. As an introduction to this chat’s topic, please watch this 12-minute video, a 2017 Ted X Broadway Talk by Dr. Patton:

They Are Children: How Posts on Social Media Lead to Gang Violence

“While social media often portrays a curated version of people’s lives, it can also help tell a more complete…