Using 4CAT for 4chan research

[KatieEvans012]

Hi there,

I've just downloaded 4CAT onto my device and I'm familiarising myself with the system, and I've noticed that 4chan does not come under 'data sources' as it had previously done. However, it is still listed as compatible on here. Does this mean I cannot collect 4chan data at all, or is there another way to do this? My PhD thesis revolves around 4chan almost exclusively and after coming across this tool some months back I was glad to see that I could use this for my work as it aligns well with both my theoretical and methodological ideas. Any advice or reassurance would be much appreciated (it's all very new to me so I could very well be misinterpreting things!)

[sal-uva]

Hi Katie, thanks for the question.

We've recently changed how local data collection works for 4CAT. Instead of doing so directly through 4CAT, we now have a new tool specifically meant to collect and index large archives: Webjutter. This that can then send data to 4CAT via an API and a 4CAT extension.

However, this still needs some documentation work--Webjutter needs to be open-sourced and installation instructions need to be cleaned up. We will update this thread if this is ready.

In the meantime, please send us a message at 4cat {at} oilab.nl about what data you'd like to collect, and we can see if we can help you out directly.

[KatieEvans012]

Hi Sal,

Thank you for getting back to me and for this information.

I sent an email to 4cat@oilab.nl a couple weeks ago in response to this. I wanted to make sure this was the correct address as I haven't heard back. Thanks again.

[sal-uva]

Hi Katie, sorry for the super late response on this. My 4CAT mail was inactive and having some trouble getting back in, would you mind forwarding it to s.h.hagen {at} uva.nl ? Thanks!