From Robots to Social Robots. Trends, Representation and Facebook Engagement of Robot-Related News Stories Published by Italian Online News Media

Authors

  • Nicola Righetti University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy
  • Marco Carradore University of Verona, Italy

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/isr.v9i3.298

Keywords:

social robots, robotics, Facebook

Abstract

In recent decades, robots, social robots and artificial intelligence have increasingly entered daily life, affirming their presence not only in traditional spheres such as industrial production, but also gaining access to social reproduction, expressive functions and domestic activities. Considering the social relevance robots have now acquired, this essay aims at investigating their cultural representations in Italian online news media. More specifically, the study investigates trends of robot-related topics in online newspaper coverage and Facebook engagement over time, and analyzes news topics through text mining techniques. The study relies on a dataset of about 3,000 news stories published between 2014 and 2018 by some 100 different Italian news media. Results show a constant increase in news relating to robots, a major interest in work issues and a thematic shift over time: more recent topics describe the social-reproduction functions of robots. Finally, some suggestions for future research are outlined.

Author Biographies

Nicola Righetti, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Italy

Department of Department of Communication Sciences, Humanistic and International Studies

Marco Carradore, University of Verona, Italy

Department of Human Sciences

Downloads

Published

26.09.2019

How to Cite

Righetti, N., & Carradore, M. (2019). From Robots to Social Robots. Trends, Representation and Facebook Engagement of Robot-Related News Stories Published by Italian Online News Media. Italian Sociological Review, 9(3), 431. https://doi.org/10.13136/isr.v9i3.298

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2019)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2019 Nicola Righetti, Marco Carradore

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

(APC) Article and submissions processing charges

ISR does not ask for articles and submissions processing charges APC

Authors who publish in this journal agree to the following points:

  1. Authors retain the rights to their work and give to the journal the right of first publication of the work, simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons License. This attribution allows others to share the work, indicating the authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. The authors may enter into other agreements with non-exclusive license to distribute the published version of the work (eg. deposit it in an institutional archive or publish it in a monograph), provided to indicate that the document was first published in this journal.
  3. Authors can distribute their work online (eg. on their website) only after the article is published (See The Effect of Open Access).

Most read articles by the same author(s)