How do people feel about their lives and the societies in which they live? Are they happy, hopeful, or concerned about the future?

Surveys can help answer these questions, of course. But, in the June 2022 issue of Significance, Stefano M. Iacus and Giuseppe Porro argue for using social networks and sentiment analysis to let citizens speak for themselves.

Also in the June issue, we publish an analysis by Karen Lamb, Jessica Kasza, Sophie Calabretto, Rushani Wijesuriya, and Linda McIver looking at authorship by gender in Significance. Their conclusion: Too few of our featured experts are women, and this needs to change.

Plus:

• Wordle, a word puzzle game, is a viral phenomenon. But who plays it better: humans or machines? Mary J. Kwasny investigates.
• The COVID-19 pandemic led many US colleges to drop requirements for admissions tests. Daniel Robinson and Howard Wainer consider what the consequences of this decision might be—for students and universities.
• For many years, women astronomers were not permitted to use the world’s biggest telescopes. Elizabeth L. Scott used this story to get people to pay attention to her statistics on the status of women in academia, as Amanda L. Golbeck explains.
• Sam Gilbert, author of Good Data: An Optimist’s Guide to Our Digital Future, argues for the benefits of data openness and data-driven advertising.

The digital version of Significance is online now. Print issues will be mailed to subscribers soon.