WordBuzz: Narbs

© KEN BENNETT / WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

Ananda Mitra, professor of communication at Wake Forest ­University.

Narrative bits, or “narbs,” refer to small bits of information in the digital universe that, when collected, tell an otherwise untold story. The term is credited to Wake Forest University communication professor Ananda Mitra, who believes that narbs offer a way to turn massive amounts of social communication into a tool for predicting behavior and reactions.

For example, using computer algorithms to analyze hundreds of blogs written in English by people in the Arab world, Mitra concludes that the deadly protests in September 2012 following the release of an anti-Muslim video on YouTube could have been predicted.

“The research so far shows patterns emerging that indicate anti-Muslim images would have excited existing emotions that were identifiable in the writings of people in the region,” he says. “There were things going on in these narratives that gave us a moment for pause.”

Source: Wake Forest University, www.wfu.edu.