Dataset Card for Reddit Climate Comment

Dataset Description

The Reddit Climate Comment dataset is a collection of comments extracted from subreddits focused on discussions related to climate change, energy, and renewable energy. It includes comments from popular subreddits such as "Climate," "Energy," "RenewableEnergy”, “ClimateChange”, “ClimateActionPlan”, “Environment”, “Sustainability”, and “Zerowaste”. The dataset provides insights into user engagement, sentiment, and discussions surrounding environmental sustainability topics on Reddit. It was created using the Reddit API, with comments collected from the top posts in selected subreddits, totaling 80,400 comments. The dataset encompasses discussions in English language and serves as a comprehensive resource for text-based analyses in the domain of climate change and energy.

Dataset Details

The dataset is centered around discussions related to clean energy and climate change, obtained through the Reddit API by extracting information from the top ~1000 posts within specified subreddits and collected using a Python Library, Praw, on February 21st and 22nd, 2024. These subreddits include “Climate”, “Energy”, “RenewableEnergy”, and “ClimateChange”. The dataset collected comments and replies under each post. The selection of curated subreddit names is determined by assessing both the relevance of the subreddit to energy and climate change and the size of the subreddit community, measured by the number of Reddit users who have joined.

In the dataset, under the “Climate” subreddit category, there are 894 unique posts, 3,463 unique comments, and 7,913 unique replies (184k users in the community); under the “ClimateChange” subreddit category, there are 787 unique posts, 3,376 unique comments, and 7,657 unique replies (89k users in the community); under the “Energy” subreddit category, there are 958 unique posts, 6,919 unique comments, and 14,247 unique replies (181k users in the community); under the "Environment" subreddit category, there are 964 unique posts, 9,042 unique comments, and 28,063 unique replies (1,561k users in the community); under the “RenewableEnergy” subreddit category, there are 566 unique posts, 979 unique comments, and 1,754 unique replies (124k users in the community); under the “Sustainability” subreddit category, there are 749 unique posts, 2,365 unique comments, and 4,806 unique replies (571k users in the community); under the “ClimateActionPlan” subreddit category, there are 663 unique posts, 1,324 unique comments, and 2,613 unique replies (89k users in the community); under the “ZeroWaste” subreddit category, there are 969 unique posts, 5,259 unique comments, and 13,347 unique replies (1,082k users in the community);

In total, there are 6,650 unique posts across all subreddit. During the data collection process, timestamps were converted from Unix timestamps (seconds since the epoch) in the raw data into a UTC datetime object. The output is transformed into a CSV file and reorganized for users’ easy access.

Curated by: Reddit users and the Reddit platform
Language(s): English
License: MIT

Dataset Sources

API Documentation: Reddit API Documentation

Supported Tasks

The Reddit Climate Comment dataset is intended to be used for various natural text-based analyses related to discussions on climate change, energy, and renewable energy topics.

Sample Usage

Other supported tasks include:

Sentiment Analysis: determine the sentiment expressed in comments related to climate, energy, and renewable energy.
Topic Modeling: identify prevalent topics and themes within the energy and climate discussions.
Keyword Extraction: extract keywords or phrases that frequently appear in the dataset to understand the most discussed concepts within climate, energy, and renewable energy discussions
User Engagement Analysis: explore user engagement metrics, such as upvotes and comment length, to discern patterns in community participation and preferences.
Comparative Analysis: conduct comparative analyses between discussions in subreddits focused on "energy", "renewable energy", "climate", and “climatechange”. Explore how conversations differ across these thematic areas.
Temporal Analysis: investigate how discussions evolve by analyzing temporal patterns. Identify trends, peak activity periods, and correlations with real-world events.

Languages

The Reddit Climate Comment dataset primarily contains discussions in the English language. As Reddit is predominantly an English-language platform, the dataset mainly consists of comments written in standard English. However, it's worth noting that the dataset may include variations of English, such as informal language, colloquialisms, and possibly slang, commonly found in online discussions.

Out-of-Scope Use

While the Reddit Climate Comment dataset offers valuable insights into discussions surrounding climate change, energy, and renewable energy topics on Reddit, there are certain out-of-scope uses to consider:

The dataset should not be used for identifying or targeting individual Reddit users based on their comments.
Researchers and analysts should adhere to ethical guidelines and respect Reddit's terms of service when using the dataset. Any research or analysis conducted using the dataset should prioritize user privacy, respect community guidelines, and avoid harmful or malicious actions.

Dataset Structure

This JSON example represents an example portion of the dataset. This nested structure allows for efficient navigation and analysis of posts, comments, and replies within specific subreddit communities and individual posts.

{
  "id": "1006cei",
  "post_title": "Amazing Water Filter Invention",
  "post_author": "User123",
  "post_body": "Check out this incredible water filter!",
  "post_url": "https://example.com/water_filter",
  "post_pic": "https://example.com/images/water_filter.jpg",
  "subreddit": "inventions",
  "post_timestamp": "2023-01-01T12:00:00Z",
  "post_upvotes": 123,
  "post_permalink": "/r/inventions/comments/1006cei/amazing_water_filter_invention/",
  "comments": {
    "CommentID": ["abc123", "def456"],
    "CommentAuthor": ["User456", "User789"],
    "CommentBody": ["This is awesome!", "How does it work?"],
    "CommentTimestamp": ["2023-01-01T12:30:00Z", "2023-01-01T13:00:00Z"],
    "CommentUpvotes": [5, 7],
    "CommentPermalink": ["/r/inventions/comments/1006cei/amazing_water_filter_invention/abc123/", "/r/inventions/comments/1006cei/amazing_water_filter_invention/def456/"],
    "replies": [
      {
        "ReplyID": ["xyz987", "pqr654"],
        "ReplyAuthor": ["User123", "User789"],
        "ReplyBody": ["Thank you!", "The filter uses a combination of activated carbon and ceramic membranes to remove impurities from water."],
        "ReplyTimestamp": ["2023-01-01T12:45:00Z", "2023-01-01T13:15:00Z"],
        "ReplyUpvotes": [10, 3],
        "ReplyPermalink": ["/r/inventions/comments/1006cei/amazing_water_filter_invention/abc123/xyz987/", "/r/inventions/comments/1006cei/amazing_water_filter_invention/def456/pqr654/"]
      }
    ]
  }
}

The dataset includes the following fields:

id: string - Unique identifier for the post.
post_title: string - Title of the post.
post_author: string - Username of the author who posted.
post_body: string - Body/content of the post.
post_url: string - URL of the post.
post_pic: Image - Image associated with the post.
subreddit: string - Subreddit where the post was made.
post_timestamp: string - Timestamp of when the post was made.
post_upvotes: int32 - Number of upvotes the post received.
post_permalink: string - Permanent link to the post.
comments: Sequence - Sequence of comments associated with the post.
- CommentID: string - Unique identifier for the comment.
- CommentAuthor: string - Username of the comment author.
- CommentBody: string - Content/body of the comment.
- CommentTimestamp: string - Timestamp of when the comment was made.
- CommentUpvotes: int32 - Number of upvotes the comment received.
- CommentPermalink: string - Permanent link to the comment.
  - replies: Sequence - Sequence of replies to the comment.
  - ReplyID: string - Unique identifier for the reply.
  - ReplyAuthor: string - Username of the reply author.
  - ReplyBody: string - Content/body of the reply.
  - ReplyTimestamp: string - Timestamp of when the reply was made.
  - ReplyUpvotes: int32 - Number of upvotes the reply received.
  - ReplyPermalink: string - Permanent link to the reply.

Dataset Creation

Curation Rationale

Research Interest in Climate Change and Energy Discourse: There is a growing interest in studying public discourse and attitudes towards climate change and energy sustainability. Reddit provides a rich source of user-generated content that reflects diverse perspectives, opinions, and discussions on these critical topics.
Understanding Public Opinion and Engagement: By analyzing discussions on Reddit, researchers can gain insights into public opinion, sentiment, and engagement regarding climate change and energy issues. Understanding the discourse dynamics and prevalent themes can inform policymakers, businesses, and advocacy groups about public perceptions and concerns.
Comparative Analysis Across Subreddits: The inclusion of multiple subreddits related to climate change, energy, and renewable energy allows for comparative analysis. By comparing discussions across different thematic areas, researchers can identify common trends, differences in perspectives, and evolving narratives within the Reddit community.
Community Representation and Diversity: The dataset aims to include comments from diverse subreddit communities to ensure a broad representation of opinions and perspectives. This diversity enriches the dataset and enables researchers to capture a wide range of voices and viewpoints on climate and energy-related topics.

Data Collection and Processing

The data collection process involved extracting comments from the top posts in selected subreddits, including "Climate," "Energy," "RenewableEnergy”, “ClimateChange”, “ClimateActionPlan”, “Environment”, “Sustainability”, and “Zerowaste”, using the Reddit API. The PRAW Python library was utilized for interacting with the Reddit API. Specifically, the top ~1000 posts were considered in each subreddit, with comments and replies collected under each post. The data collection was performed on Feburary 21st and 22nd, 2024 with code in reddit_collect_data.py.

The dataset can be found at my Github Repository

The processing steps included:

Parsing Timestamps: convert timestamps to a standardized date-time format.
Empty Cell: convert empty cells to None ensure dataset integrity and cleaness.
Updated Data Organization: update data structure to enhance the organization of the dataset and improve users' assessibility.

Benefits of the New Structure

Each post is uniquely identified by an assigned post ID, facilitating easy referencing and retrieval of information for specific posts.
Structured Comment Grouping provides a coherent and organized representation of discussions under each post and each subreddit community.
The array-based structure enhances the dataset's readability and accessibility, streamlining the process of extracting and analyzing information for each post.
The standardized format ensures a consistent approach to retrieving relevant data elements, such as authors, comment bodies, timestamps, and upvotes, for analysis or visualization.

These steps aimed to prepare the data for analysis while maintaining and improving its quality and consistency.

Who are the source data producers?

The source data producers are Reddit users who contributed comments to discussions on climate change, energy, and renewable energy topics within the specified subreddits.

Bias, Risks, and Limitations

When dealing with discussions related to climate, energy, and renewable energy on the Reddit platform, it's essential to consider potential biases that may influence the data and subsequent analyses.

Selection Bias: the demographic composition of Reddit users may not be representative of the general population. Certain age groups, geographic regions, or ideological perspectives might be overrepresented or underrepresented, influencing the nature of discussions.
Subreddit Selection Bias: the choice of subreddits (e.g., "climate," "energy," "renewableenergy", and “climatechange”) introduces bias towards specific topics. This may lead to a skewed representation, as discussions in these subreddits may not reflect the broader spectrum of opinions on climate and energy.
User Engagement Bias: the dataset may primarily capture comments from active participants, potentially overlooking the opinions of more passive or silent observers. This could result in a biased representation of sentiments and perspectives.
Temporal Bias: the dataset's timeframe might be influenced by specific events, leading to a temporal bias. For instance, discussions during a major climate event may differ significantly from those during less eventful periods.
Upvote Bias: highly upvoted comments may receive more visibility, potentially shaping the perceived popularity of certain opinions. This could result in a bias towards more commonly accepted viewpoints.
Moderation Bias: different subreddits may have varying moderation policies, influencing the types of discussions allowed. Biases may arise if certain perspectives are disproportionately favored or discouraged by moderators.
Social Desirability Bias: users may conform to the prevailing opinions within a subreddit to avoid conflict or gain social approval. This social desirability bias may impact the authenticity of expressed opinions.

In addition to biases, there are several other known limitations associated with working with datasets focused on climate, energy, and renewable energy discussions on Reddit. Being aware of these limitations is crucial for researchers and analysts to interpret results accurately and responsibly:

Anonymity and Reliability: Reddit users typically operate under pseudonyms, making it challenging to verify the credibility and reliability of information shared. The lack of real-world identity verification introduces a potential limitation in assessing the authenticity of comments.
Quality of Comments: the quality of comments can vary widely, ranging from well-informed opinions to low-quality or irrelevant contributions. The dataset may include noise and off-topic discussions, affecting the overall quality of insights derived.
Limited Context: Reddit comments often lack the depth of context found in longer-form content. This limitation may make it challenging to fully understand the nuances of certain discussions or to interpret the sentiment accurately.
Reddit Algorithm Impact: the visibility and accessibility of comments are influenced by Reddit's algorithms. Changes in these algorithms may affect the reach and engagement of certain discussions, introducing a dynamic aspect that researchers should be mindful of.

Recommendations

Users should be made aware of the risks, biases, and limitations of the dataset. More information is needed for further recommendations.

Citation

BibTeX:

@InProceedings{huggingface:dataset,
title = {Reddit Climate Comment},
author={Catherine Wang},
year={2024}
}

Contribution

We express gratitude to the Reddit community for their contributions to climate change and energy discussions. Special thanks to the PRAW library for enabling efficient Reddit API interactions, making this dataset possible.