Forms of contribution and contributors’ profiles: An automated textual analysis of amateur on line film critics

Abstract

Based on an automated textual analysis of 40,000 film reviews posted by 18,000 French contributors on a web-based platform providing information on cinema, this article examines the relationship between the status of contributors (number of reviews posted, length of time of subscription to the site) and the type of reviews posted (choice of films, date of publication, models of argumentation, and modes of ratings). The study identifies two strongly contrasting reviewing models (film-centered and reception-centered) and shows that the regularity of practice significantly influences reviews, with regard to both form and content. The more often an author posts reviews, the closer the critique will be to the norms and formats of a professional critique. This finding challenges the idea that an online amateur critique can undermine the hierarchies of evaluation of cultural goods.

The Tensions of the Cultural News Beat

“…The argument is that professional cultural critics base their emotional and subjective expressions on their aesthetic expertise rather than in mere immediate, popular responses, which is characteristic of non-professionals. This is supported by empirical research (e.g., Verboord 2014;Beaudouin and Pasquier 2017), suggesting discursive differences between professional and amateur critics, such that professional critics tend to use more high aesthetic discourses, while non-professionals provide more emotionally driven, reception-oriented responses in their reviews. This indicates that even though cultural journalists and critics apply analytical and interpretive approaches, these are grounded in professional expertise and a critical distance, which is part of their boundary work and thus of the distinctiveness of cultural journalism.…”

Perspectives on the evolution of a fabrication laboratory in an emerging country: a comparative lexicometric study of European FabLabs

“…The results are then displayed by the IRaMuTeQ interface (Loubère and Ratinaud, 2014). IRaMuTeQ can perform different kinds of statistical analysis of texts produced from interviews and documents, such as correspondence analysis, hierarchical classification, similarity analysis, word cloud and ALCESTE (Beaudouin and Pasquier, 2016).…”

Useful Creativity: Vernacular Reviewing on the Video-Sharing Platform Vimeo

“…So far, it has become common to distinguish between professional and amateur reviews (Verboord 2010(Verboord , 2011(Verboord , 2012(Verboord , 2014Kammer 2015, Steiner 2010. The relationship between the institutionalised or classical criticism and the online-native genre of (amateur) review has been examined in terms of migration from old media to new platforms (Domsch 2009, Orlik 2016, Rixon 2017, Gillespie 2012), a manifestation of diversification and democratization of opinion (McWhirther 2016, Frey & Sayad 2015, and professionalisation of the amateur activity of reviewing (Beaudouin & Pasquier 2017, McAuley & Leskovec 2013, Beuscart & Mellet 2016. The starting point for an increasing research interest is that, since the advent of the technological possibilities provided by social media, an increasing number of self-titled reviewers, in contrast to reviewing professionals who are commissioned and paid by media organisations and users contributing to platforms with pre-established amateur roles and genres, are producing reviews (Rixon 2017, Gillespie 2012.…”