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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

Check out more insights in the paper ☛ doi.org/10.1038/s432...
Feel free to get in touch with any questions, or if you are interested in communicating volcanology across languages, or if you want to work with a mountain of social media data…

~fin~

Multilingual social media analysis reveals global patterns and language imbalances in volcanic eruption coverage - Communications Earth & Environment

Social media discourse reflects public engagement with volcanic hazard, but English is the dominant language even in non-English speaking regions, according to a four-year-long longitudinal study across 18 languages on /Twitter.

doi.org

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

Of course, these results are from Twitter data: not universally popular or even globally accessible. These results could look very different using data from other social media platforms like VK, Telegram, Bluesky, or QQ. The methods and analyses should be transferrable though.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

This undoubtedly influences our perceptions of the distribution and relative importance of volcanic hazard around the world.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

English dominates on Twitter. In the dataset used here, the max number of posts per day containing “volcanic eruption” was over 61,000. Compare that with say, French (max. ~3700 posts per day) or Amharic (max. 2 posts per day)...

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

We can use various stats and data visualisation approaches to compare & quantify interlingual dynamics: a picture emerges that some languages are dominant in shaping the online discourse about volcanic stuff (“leaders”), others are “followers,” and yet others are isolated online ecosystems.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

However, when an eruption becomes “newsworthy” they can significantly modify discourse about volcanic hazards in general. For example, there is a step-change in the background level of “erupción volcánica” posts that persists long after the cessation of the Tajogaite eruption.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

Not so for all eruptions: deadly eruptions like the Semeru 2021 catastrophe were underrepresented relative to less-damaging eruptions like Fagradallfjall, and some eruptions (e.g. Sakurajima Aug 2022 or Sheveluch Apr 2023) cause barely a ripple in the Twittersphere.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha`apai eruption stands out as the dominant event across almost all languages. People were talking about it all over the planet!

A graph of vertically overlapping timeseries, with a prominent spike labelled as “HTHH.” (Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai) The individual timeseries traces are labelled from top-to-bottom:
volcanic eruption;
erupción volcánica;
éruption volcanique;
letusan gunung berapi;
vulkanausbruch;
erupção vulcânica;
извержение вулкана;
volkanik patlama;
火山爆发;
vulkaanuitbarsting;
eldgos;
eruzione vulcanica;
ภูเขาไฟระเบิด;
ثوران†بركاني
산 분출;
火山噴火;
erupsi vulkanik;
የእሳተ ገሞራ ፍንዳታ.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

Using a short-term/long-term averaging approach, we can define an “anomaly score” α. Basically, spikes in α signify that Twitter activity is heightened above its background level. These event spikes tend to correspond to real-world events, which is cool.

A graph of vertically overlapping timeseries, with a prominent spike labelled as “Fagradalsfjall.” The individual timeseries traces are labelled from top-to-bottom:
volcanic eruption;
erupción volcánica;
éruption volcanique;
letusan gunung berapi;
vulkanausbruch;
erupção vulcânica;
извержение вулкана;
volkanik patlama;
火山爆发;
vulkaanuitbarsting;
eldgos;
eruzione vulcanica;
ภูเขาไฟระเบิด;
ثوران†بركاني
산 분출;
火山噴火;
erupsi vulkanik;
የእሳተ ገሞራ ፍንዳታ.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

It was a lot of data! More than 12 Million Tweet objects, each of which contains a host of information (identifier, text, URLs, timestamp, geolocation etc. etc. etc.). Sidenote: everyone puts a frightening amount of personal information on the internet.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

I set up a Python script to crawl all Twitter posts in a 24-hr period w/ predefined strings in 20 languages, including “volcanic eruption” and translated equivalents, e.g. “eruption volcanique”, “火山噴火”, etc. I downloaded all those posts every day for ~4 years, until Twitter went down the shitter.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

1. how does social media reflect real-world volcanic activity?
2. how do “notable” eruptions shape online discourse?
3. how do language and geography influence information dissemination?

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

My focus is on volcanology. Some awesome work has been done using social media data to analyse specific volcanic eruptions, incl. @jameshickey77.bsky.social and @eilyinskaya.bsky.social, or to gain insights from specific orgs (e.g. @bgs.ac.uk). I was very interested in three intersecting questions:

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · 8d

Once upon a time, the platform formerly known as Twitter was a vibrant meeting-place where scientists, the public, official orgs and more besides could exchange knowledge. I set out to find out how effective it could be for disseminating geoscience info

Skip to the paper ☛ doi.org/10.1038/s432...

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Reposted by Jamie Farquharson

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Sep 6

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Sep 6

I love this poem. Starts at a trot and finishes at a gallop 🏞️

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Aug 31

share.google/pvUKkh7o7nV3...

doi.org/10.5194/gc-4...

@thevolcanoguy.bsky.social @grumpyvolcano.bsky.social

Volcanoes in video games: the portrayal of volcanoes in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) video games and their learning potential

Abstract. Volcanoes are a very common staple in mainstream video games. Particularly within the action–adventure genres, entire missions (e.g. Monster Hunter: Generation Ultimate, 2018) or even full s...

share.google

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Jul 29

The symposium is free to attend and abstracts are free to submit, although there will be some social events and field excursions for which expenses will be collected locally in cash. Abstracts and registrations are still open!

Check out the website or contact me for more info.
www.thevolcano.world

Conference 2025 - Home

www.thevolcano.world

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Jul 29

We are thrilled to announce that the meeting will feature a keynote from Patricia Mothes from Instituto Geofísico of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional (IG-EPN @igepnecuador.bsky.social ), who has a wealth of experience on each of the symposium themes, and is sure to provide some terrific insights.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Jul 29

The “Knowledge-sharing” session will focus on how volcano research is transferred not only between researchers, but also to and from monitoring agencies and the general public. It will include a panel discussion feat. scientists from Earth Observatory Singapore, PHIVOLCS, and Earth Sciences NZ.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Jul 29

The "Exposure, preparedness, and risk reduction" day will feature a workshop led by ‪@laramani14.bsky.social‬
(University of Cambridge). “The next generation of volcano monitoring" will include an opportunity for showcasing monitoring software, tools, and technology.

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Jul 29

Themes:
1. "Exposure, preparedness, and risk reduction” (co-organised by @gvra.bsky.social );
2. “The next generation of volcano monitoring" (co-organised by Volcanotech www.volcanotech.co.uk);
3. “Knowledge-sharing” (co-organised by the Asian Consortium of Volcanology kazan.bosai.go.jp/en/acv/).

VolcanoTech

www.volcanotech.co.uk

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Jamie Farquharson @farquharson.bsky.social · Jul 29

Are you a volcanologist or working in an adjacent field? Consider signing up for Niigata University’s 1st international symposium on “Volcanology in Practice”:
www.thevolcano.world
which will run from 7th–10th of October 2025 in Niigata, Japan, endorsed by @iavcei.bsky.social.
#volcano #science ⚒️🌋

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Reposted by Jamie Farquharson

Global Volcano Risk Alliance @gvra.bsky.social · Jun 16

GVRA are co-organisers for the University of Niigata Symposium on 'volcanology in practice'. We are organising Day 1 on exposure, preparedness and risk reduction &will run a workshop. Registration &abstract submission are open now. www.globalvolcanoriskalliance.com/news/news-po...

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Reposted by Jamie Farquharson

Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · Jul 23

⏳Final week to sign up to the Green Party.

🗳️ Vote for Bold Leadership on August 1st.

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