Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the functionality of #AcademicFreezeNOW in creating ‘ad hoc’ publics (Bruns et al., 2016). A total of 85,372 tweets were harvested and processed using visual analytic platforms, offering an alternative way of doing anthropological research in a pandemic.

Paper long abstract:

Days after colleges and universities in the Philippines started their school year and roughly a month before primary and secondary schools reopen amid the Covid-19 pandemic, #AcademicFreezeNOW was the top trending hashtag on Twitter on September 4, 2020. This paper explores the functionality of this hashtag in creating ‘ad hoc’ publics (Bruns et al., 2016). A total of 85,372 tweets containing the said hashtag were harvested within a certain time period using Twitter Archiving Google Sheet (TAGS) and processed using visual analytic platforms such as Tableau and Gephi. Using sentiment and network analysis to map out the conversation on academic freeze on Twitter, initial findings reveal the shifting form and composition of publics, as well as its key themes. Although the hashtag started to gain traction through users who were for an academic freeze, a counterdiscourse later emerged when Twitter picked up tweets from users with extensive networks. The use of this methodology in understanding the public conversations on Twitter offers an alternative way of conducting anthropological research in a pandemic.