Blog » New Data: Teams identify evidence-rich data on social media sites

March 11, 2019

New Data: Teams identify evidence-rich data on social media sites

Research shows the top two places Canadians look for legal help are from family and friends, and online. The JDD Lab team used internet query analysis and identified Reddit: a social media platform that provides people an online forum to discuss an unlimited number of topics. Topics are organized into “subreddits”. People post and share their stories, seeking input and answers from others in the subreddit. In the subreddit “r/LegalAdviceCanada” people post first-hand stories describing their access to justice experiences and ask for help and information.

The data are first person, user-centred stories. The data provide a rich evidentiary base for the justice system’s shift to taking a person-centred approach to improving access to justice. The dataset is large and continues to grow: posts and membership have increased exponentially since the Lab identified the data source in 2021. The JDD Lab is currently the only group in Canada collecting and analysing Reddit data using the combination of data science and legal expertise.