Complexities and nuances of online book reviews in scholarly research

In the last two decades, the abundance of online book reviews has opened up unprecedented research opportunities for scholars who are interested in empirically studying the interaction between readers and books, particularly in digital humanities (DH). However, limitations and challenges have emerged from existing scholarly conceptualization and usage of such datasets in DH. In particular, the real-world complexities and nuances associated with online book reviews have been under-investigated, which poses questions about the scholarly usability of such datasets and the significance of research findings. To address these gaps, this dissertation conducts three case studies on online book ratings, ranked book lists, and textual reviews collected from Douban and Goodreads (two large online book review platforms based in China and the U.S. respectively). The case studies empirically illuminate three under-examined aspects of online book reviews: transiency, cultural dependency, and user participation dynamics. The findings of this dissertation (1) empirically reveal the real-world complexities and under-investigated features of online book reviews and their impacts on scholarly research; and, (2) demonstrate practical methods for examining and improving the scholarly usability and interpretability of such datasets for more contextualized and critical research on online book reviews

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Information Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2024

Author dc:creator

• Hu, Yuerong

Contributors dc:contributor

• Downie, John Stephen
• Underwood, Ted
• Diesner, Jana
• LeBlanc, Zoe

• Digital Humanities
• User-generated Content
• Book Reviews
• Data Quality
• Critical Data Science

Statement dc:rights

• © 2024 Yuerong Hu

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124648

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F124648