1. Introduction
The study of personal names offers valuable insight into the structure and dynamic of human populations (Longley et al 2011). The belief being that personal names offer a strong indicator of their bearer’s cultural, ethnic and linguistic characteristics (Mateos et al. 2011).
The utility of this information inherent within personal names has led to the development of the World Names Database (WND: http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org/); a synthesis of National Census and Telephone Directory data for twenty-six countries across four continents accounting for approximately 2 billion of the Earth’s population. Figure 1 provides an illustration of the WND coverage to date. Whilst offering a significant step forward in the analysis and understanding of global populations, the WND is limited by its current inclusion of countries. The primary challenge in this respect being the availability of publicly available population registers.
This study forms part of an overarching goal to develop proxy population registers by using publically available online social media data. In this instance, the platform being demonstrated is Twitter. Launched in 2006, Twitter has 255 million active users of which a large proportion accesses the service through a mobile device (Twitter, Inc., 2014).
This paper will briefly outline the creation of such a population register for Greater London at borough and electoral regions levels, the methods used to assess its representative capability, and finally present preliminary results of this analysis with a discussion as to its potential strengths and weaknesses. Proving successful, the methodology proposed will be applied to further countries, as yet not included in the WND.
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...the ethnicity and identity of Twitter users in Greater London.
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because it is not their names that is important, but rather the information they give. Not only
Pearlmann, J. and Mary Waters. 2002. The New Race Question: How the Census Counts Multiracial Individuals. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
A pedigree, which is also called a genealogy, can be formally defined as “a group of individuals together with a full specification of all the relationships among them” (Thompson, 1986). Pedigrees can be shown graphically. One example of a pedigree is shown in Figure 2.3. By convention we use a square to denote a male and a circle to denote a female. Horizontal lines below couples are used to represent marriages. Parents and their children are linked through vertical lines. The individuals who are in the same level in the pedigree are in the same generation, often denoted by Roman numerals. Each person in each generation is labelled by Arabic numbers. Individuals with data e.g. those who are affected by a disease, are shown by shading. By
Naming of newborns is an issue that is rooted under cultural and geographical backgrounds, with different places having a strong history concerning it and a unique process of doing it. Although the naming process has changed in one way or another among different communities, there are some trends that still remain, which are important in an attempt to try to understand the naming process among various ethnic groups.
People from various parts of the world have different features that can be used to identify where they originate. The question of whether or not human races truly exist is now a prevalent one in the scientific community. Some scientists believe that race is biologically meaningless while others believe that race can be used to determine medical treatment for a person (Jorde & Wooding, 2004). Although there are genes that determine the different physical characteristics of people their genetic variation is mainly due their geographic location. There is some biological basis for the phenotypic differences in humans, but the way we define and understand these differences are flawed. There is no individual trait or gene that separates members of one race from all the members of another race (Brace & Gill, 2000).
writing." Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. 35.3 (2010): 411. EBSCO. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
A medium is a means of mass communication, such as television, radio, or newspapers. Harold Innis, a leading scholar of communication and media theories, separated media into two categories, time-biased and space-biased. Time-biased media last longer but reach few, while space-biased mediums reach many but are short lived. Twitter is a social form of media, which sends short messages that have the potential of a massive audience on a global scale, putting in Harold Innis’ category of a space-biased form of media.
Brazil’s African descendants are very racially and ethnically mixed, with many different names to describe their racial identity. Racial identity in Brazil is difficult
As technology progresses, social media continues to have a positive impact on people’s lives. It helps individuals communicate with loved ones that are farther away, become informed easier, and it helps open doors to businesses. Domains such as Facebook and Twitter have truly revolutionized the way individuals interact.
I have read an account called " 'What's in a Name? " ", which is composed by Henry Louis Gates. This account demonstrates to us a youth experience of the creator that happened amid the mid-1950s. In the article, Gates alludes to an occurrence when a white man, Mr. Wilson, who was well disposed with his dad, called his dad "George", a name which was a prominent method for alluding to African Americans in those circumstances. In any case, Gates' dad needed to acknowledge this separation and couldn't make a move around then. By utilizing sentiment to bring out individuals' enthusiastic reaction, and utilizing suggestion, Gates effectively communicates his claim that name shapes individuals' discernments
In recent decades, with the spread of secular education and growing urbanisation, the influence of caste has somewhat declined, especially in cities where different castes live side-by-side and inter-caste marriages are becoming more common. In certain southern states and in the northern state of Bihar, many people began using just one name after social reform movements. Despite the changes though, caste identities remain strong, and last names are almost always indications of what caste a person belongs
The technological revolution of the late twentieth century has arguably caused some of the greatest changes in the global society. Few realize the full effects of the computer age. The Internet in particular has brought the corners of the world closer together. Even in the most remote areas of the globe, such as Katmandu, one can see an advertisement for e-mail (Stefik 235). One might begin to wonder what the social consequences of this pervasiveness are. The Internet brings many diverse groups of people together to participate in many aspects of life from trade to conversations. Some might wonder if these interactions might lead to an end of diversity. In chatrooms and instant messages, the push towards uniformity in style is undeniable. However, this change is far from limited to these small areas of the Internet.
In establishing the exact users or target audience of social media, it is paramount to note that every social media platform is different in its application. Some of the general insights on the users shows that approximately 83 percent of people who are aged 18-29 are the main users of the social media; followed by approximately 77 percent of people aged 30-49. Another significant insight is that 70 percent of the urbanites are the major users of social media, and the target is across all levels of income as the platforms are not expensive as compared to the outbound advertising and marketing measures (Kumar & Rani, 2014).
Over decades, our ancestors migrated all around the world spreading genetic characteristics. Interestingly, all humans share similar biological needs like food, water, and two biological parents. What specifically differentiates individuals from one another? In many instances, distinct differences in characteristics, temperament, upbringing, and family structure can separate individuals from certain ethnic groups. Ethnicity separates groups of individuals who identify with each other by common nationality or shared cultural traditions and values. In comparison to race, which refers to the concept of dividing people into populations or groups by various sets of physical characteristics. For instance, I was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba in 1993
Crawford, Saffi, and Geraldine Sullivan. The Power of Birthdays, Stars, & Numbers: The Complete Personology Reference Guide. New York: Ballantine, 1998. Print.