Congratulations Dr. Schweitzer
In the email announcement of the choice, JAPA Editor Sandi Rosenbloom said:
“The winning paper is one you have heard a lot about lately, “Planning and social media; A case study of public transit and stigma on Twitter,” by Lisa Schweitzer, Associate Professor at the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. It was published in Vol. 80, issue 3, pp. 218-238. Schweitzer’s analyses of 64,000 tweets about ten public transit systems, other public services, and some “villains” and “heroes” find that social media users describe transit planning and management in terms little better than those about maniacal dictators while also containing a large share of racist, sexist, classist, ageist, and homophobic slurs about riders. Worried that these negative comments can affect the way voters and public officials think about additional support and spending on public transit, she finds that transit systems that engage individually with tweeters on social media can markedly improve the content and tone of tweeted comments, irrespective of the actual performance of the transit system. As you may remember, the paper has been widely discussed in the media and on important urban blogs.”
Congratulations Dr. Schweitzer! This is a well-deserved honor.
See the USC Press Release here.