Readme for 40486 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Confederate Monument Protests Collected Tweets, 2017-2018 Dataset: ============================================================= The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Wilson Library collection guide for this data can be found at: http://finding-aids.lib.unc.edu/40486/ Copyright is retained by the authors of tweets in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law. The dataset is provided 'as is' without warranty or any representation of accuracy, timeliness or completeness. The dataset format is line-oriented JSON in utf8 encoding. The tweet identifiers are provided in text (.txt) file format. Dataset Overview : ------------------ This dataset contains Twitter data collected from the @Move_Silent_Sam account and hashtags #silentsam and #silencesam, #StrikeBackUNC, and #StrikeDownSam. Several events prompted the collection of tweets between December 2018 and May 2019. The events were as follows: Announcement of the Board of Trustees' proposal for the disposition of the monument on 3 December 2018; The TA Grade Strike that started on 7 December 2018 (#StrikeDownSam); Removal of the monument pedestal by Chancellor Folt on 14 January 2019; Protests and counter-protests by neo-confederate groups and anti-racist activists on 3 December 2018 and 23 February 2019; Protests on 16 March 2019 during which members of a neo-confederate group were in possession of firearms on campus; Vandalism of the Unsung Founders monument and an art installation outside the Hanes Art Center on 31 March 2019; Rally and a new hashtag (#StrikeBackUNC) challenging campus policing at UNC-CH on 24 April 2019; Protests and counter-protests by neo-confederate groups and anti-racist activists on 4 May 2019. The tweets were collected using the twarc (https://github.com/edsu/twarc) python package that makes use of Twitter's API. The search function of the Twitter API retrieves tweets from the previous seven days. @Move_Silent_Sam was searched on 12/20/2018, 01/18/2019, 01/23/2019; 02/28/2019, 03/07/2019, 03/25/2017, 03/31/2019, 04/05/2019, 04/12/2019. #silentsam and #silencesam were searched on 12/6/2018, 12/13/2018, 12/20/2018; 01/18/2019, 01/23/2019; 03/07/2019, 03/22/2019, 03/29/2019, 04/05/2019, 04/12/2019, 04/25/2019, 05/03/2019, and 05/10/2019. The #SilenceSam hashtag was used infrequently during this collection period and new hashtags were introduced (#StrikeDownSam and #StrikeBackUNC). #strikedownsam was searched on 12/13/2018, 12/20/2018; 01/18/2019, 01/23/2019, and 03/07/2019. #strikebackunc was searched on 04/18/2019, 04/25/2019, and 05/03/2019. ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: ----- Due to Twitter Terms of Service the full JSON data collected is not publicly available. Files containing tweet identifiers (tweet ids) for all collected tweets are made available. You will need to "hydrated" the tweets prior to use by querying the Twitter API for the tweet content. Any tweets that have been deleted or made private since the original collection date will not be retrieved. Twarc can hydrate tweet ids. https://github.com/DocNow/twarc or https://github.com/DocNow/hydrator If you have questions, contact wilsonlibrary@unc.edu for assistance.