Publication Date

2022

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Alhoori, Hamed

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Computer Science

Abstract

Research and development have always initiated innovation and breakthroughs in technology. These technological advancements in recent years have provided a global medium for research to be disseminated through online platforms. These web-based platforms and the interactions that take place on them affect the dissemination, impact, and perception of online information. This thesis investigates the broader impact of science and health using social media posts, online patents, videos, and images by building machine learning and topic models. First, this study predicts patent citations to scientific research and identifies important factors essential to economic impact. We found that the citation of research in patents is a strong indicator of economic impact and strengthens the popularity of scholarly research. Second, we studied video communication of scholarly research and found that it has been increasing and there is a lack of studies in this area. Therefore, this study bridges the gap between scientific videos and research by building models to predict videos’ scholarly and societal impact. Finally, this study aims to understand the impact of health-related topics on the public. Instagram images with textual features express different views on topics from users’ perspectives worldwide. We built topic models on the posts related to health and COVID-19 to analyze users' perceptions across different locations. The thesis identifies factors essential in recognizing the broader influence of science and health. Based on the results, we will have a better understanding of the economic and societal impact of science and the public understanding of health.

Extent

112 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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