21,842 research outputs found

    The use of social media by organisations when engaging with their online community: the collective storytelling phenomenon

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    The pervasive nature and use of social media has transformed society and this transformation has attracted significant attention from both industry and academia. The organisational implementation and use of social media are plagued with many challenges, leaving managers frustrated at not achieving the desired results. This emergent and complex nature of the social media phenomenon requires researchers to consider novel approaches when conducting social media research. As the number of Information Systems (IS) researchers conducting research on the social media phenomenon increases, so too does the need to develop relevant and rigorous social media theories. This challenge must be addressed by IS researchers who are contemplating, or are busy conducting research on the social media phenomenon. My PhD thesis responds to the call made by academics and practice for the development of relevant and rigorous social media theories, with the aim of providing a better explanation than what is currently found in the social media literature on social media use within an organisational context. Owing to the emergent nature of the social media phenomenon, the grounded theory method (GTM) is used to develop a substantive theory that increases understanding of this particular phenomenon. Two organisations are selected as the case studies. Both are industry leaders in South Africa, with one being a prominent retailer with a very visible social media presence and the other, being a leading university in South Africa, which is actively growing its social media presence. The results show that organisations enter into a collective storytelling process with their online community. Risk to reputation and the need for online community engagement are identified as reasons for this. Organisations using social media need to be aware of the following conditions that impact on social media use: (1) the social media landscape, (2) the characteristics of social media for use, (3) the relationship between content and social media, (4) content quality, (5) the online community-organisation power dynamic, and (6) the provision of a seamless online experience for the community. Challenges during the collective storytelling process lead to organisations experiencing social media use failures. To overcome these failures, organisations implement education interventions. An evolving supportive social media strategy that provides formal guidelines for social media use ultimately leads to a reduction in the organisational risk to reputation and an improvement in online community engagement, initially identified as the reasons why organisations decide to use social media. The main theoretical contribution is the development of a holistic theoretical framework using the GTM to better explain social media use within organisations when engaging with their online community

    Critical Story Sharing as Communicative Action in Organisational Change

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    My PhD journey started with my research question: “How can digital storytelling support organisational change?” My research perspective was grounded in radical humanism. This led me to engage with others who were interested in social change because radical humanism sees organisational change as a change in the social relationships of people who share a common purpose, rather than seeing change from a structural perspective. Social change from a Habermasian critical theory perspective is built on relationships and communication that value equality, justice and freedom to participate in re-designing our organisations to meet the needs of the people they serve and the people who work for them. The goal is to create organisations and decision-making systems that are more humane, compassionate and innovative in order to be part of the solution to the challenges we face in the twenty-first century and support the common good. My research journey included being a participant in a story circle, working with others to capture the essence of the story I felt compelled to tell and to understand. I was holding one image that captured the essence of my story; my relationship with my brother and my fear of speaking about difference. Philip was 18 months older than I am. When we were in our late 20s he was diagnosed with AIDS. Before he died he asked me if I was afraid of him. My experience of participating in a digital storytelling workshop, where I was given time to creatively reflect on and work with familiar images, music and important stories was personally transformational. Our life experience leads us to the organisations that we chose to work for. The stories of our life experience and our ability to listen deeply and bear witness to others, gives us the power to participate in the transformation of our organisations guided by our shared values for the common good. I was influenced by Laughlin’s (1991) application of Habermasian critical theory to models of organisational transitions and transformations. He captured the essence of first order change through models of rebuttal and reorientation; and second order change through models of colonisation and evolution. I was further influenced by Laughlin’s (1995) and Broadbent and Laughlin’s (2008) middle range thinking approach to research that supports partial general empirical patterns providing skeletal theory including: a structured role for the observer’s engagement; critical discursive analysis; qualitative data narrative and; the use of documents, interviews and observation in data collection methods. A skeletal theory is used to frame empirical observations before entering the field (Laughlin, 1995) and used to guide thinking, communication and change. I used a critical-emancipatory action research approach (Duberley & Johnson, 2009) to contextualise digital storytelling theory in practice. My life’s experience, both in my personal life and my business activities, led me to introduce digital storytelling into a local women’s wellness charitable company where I continued my research journey by facilitating others to share their stories. The women who worked for the organisation and volunteered to participate in the pilot were given the opportunity to listen deeply and share deeper. Their lived experience gave them their natural authority to contribute to the shared story of Women’s Wellness in New Zealand. This pilot helped me to identify and understand issues that arise when implementing digital storytelling in an organisational context and was a springboard to induct my Digital Storytelling Intervention (DSI) skeletal theory from the literature. My DSI skeletal theory had mediation, the ability to resolve difference, at the heart of digital storytelling, organisational storytelling and organisational change. This supported communicative action, the ability to communicate openly in plain language in order to reach a shared understanding, create new knowledge and agree on action, within a community of practice that leads to changes in individual practice, group practice and ultimately to organisational change. When I reviewed the literature, I uncovered a gap in the application of critical theory to organisational story and storytelling. The next step in my research journey was to interview organisational and digital storytelling practitioners to learn from their experiences. I interviewed a diverse range of twenty practitioners; from leaders in their field to new and emerging practitioners and researchers. This supported me to compare, contrast and critique existing methods of digital storytelling practice within the context of my skeletal theory. I used my DSI skeletal theory as a structure to present my findings as four case studies and make sense of other practitioners’ experience. The insights I gained helped me to develop and refine DSI into Critical Story Sharing (CSS) skeletal theory which focuses on the use of all forms and modes of critical story sharing in a larger conversation to support action and change. CSS is about having a personal connection and lived experience to share with others who face the same challenge; for example the state of the health care system. It is about listening and bearing witness to others who have contradictory experience and insights so that we can work together to resolve our differences and create new knowledge and agree on new action because we can change the system and change organisations to better meet our shared needs. CSS can be seen as a journey from personal transformation, to changes in shared practice to critically mediated organisational change. I then did a cross case comparison where the case studies were mapped to: sociological paradigms (Burrell & Morgan, 1979); communication approaches (Deetz & McClellan, 2009); change models (Laughlin, 1991); engagement typology (Kellerman, 2007) and my CSS skeletal theory. Finally I used my CSS skeletal theory as a structure to present alternative anecdotes from the field to amplify its meaning. CSS was developed through an iterative process of reflection on both theory and practice. My thesis contributes CSS skeletal theory as a guide to support a diverse group of people to participate in organisational change. The case studies flesh out all four of Laughlin’s (1991) organisational change models. My thesis also contributes to the third generation of critical theorists who focus on the role of lived experience in the process of transformation (Scherer, 2009). Critical story sharing captures the essence of lived experience which can be used as a catalyst in a dialectical conversation to transform thinking, improve communication and prompt action toward the common good. CSS skeletal theory is based on the values of equity of voice, freedom to participate and justice to support the common good. The transformational process of mediation develops partnerships based on trust, compassion and respect in order to humanise the work place and re-design systems to meet the needs of the people who use them. CSS skeletal theory can guide diverse decision-making, support social creativity and innovative practice to address twenty-first century business challenges. I ended my research journey back in a story circle mediating difference between practitioners’ experience in order to contribute to our shared discipline and start the next cycle in our dialectical discussion. My lived experience, my relationship with my brother and my research journey taught me to listen deeply and share deeper in order to resolve difference. It is my hope that CSS skeletal theory will allow others to use critical story sharing to help co-create a world that we want to live, learn and work in

    A Content Analysis of Non-Profit Organizations Social Media: Through the Lens of Compliance-Gaining & Persuasion

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    Non-profit organizations utilize social media platforms like Instagram to reach the community, fundraise, convey their mission and vision, establish themselves, and educate others. This study examined whether the communication artifacts of selected nonprofit organizations employed Cialdini\u27s (2021) compliance-gaining strategies through an eight-week qualitative digital content analysis on Instagram to address the problem of understanding how non-profit organizations use Instagram tools to influence and persuade their audience. Compassion International (@compassion), CARE (@careorg), and Direct Relief (@directrelief), the three non-profit organizations chosen in this study, demonstrated the usage of Cialdini’s (2021) compliance-gaining strategies within their digital media communication strategy. Non-profit organizations operate in a highly competitive environment, with many organizations vying for attention and resources from donors and supporters. They must understand how to effectively use Instagram and compliance-gaining theory to influence and persuade their audience, ultimately increasing their impact and reach. How are these three non-profit organizations engaging and mobilizing their audience through this influence and persuasion to support their respective cause? Are there commonalities in how each non-profit organization is using Cialdini’s (2021) compliance-gaining framework? This study showed that the three non-profit organizations chosen effectively used Cialdini’s (2021) compliance-gaining framework on Instagram to influence and persuade their audience, while also contributing to the existing literature on social media marketing, compliance-gaining theory, and digital content analysis. The analysis provided valuable insights for communication professionals, marketers, and non-profit organizations seeking to create compelling social media campaigns

    Beyond virtual cultural tourism: history-living experiences with cinematic virtual reality

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    Virtual reality offers unprecedented opportunities for creating cultural tourism experiences that tell visitors emotionally engaging stories about the past.  This paper focuses onthe latest frontier of immersive storytelling rivalling feature films, cinematic virtual reality, which can immerse users into 360-degree films making them feel like living the story. Through a qualitative analysis of five projects, this paper explores how this new media form has been applied for cultural heritage storytelling and analyses the reactions of users to the historyliving experiences with an emphasis on their emotional responses. Based on the findings of the analysis, implications are discussed for the design of VR experiences in cultural tourism

    D1.3 List of available solutions

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    This report has been submitted by Tempesta Media SL as deliverable D1.3 within the framework of H2020 project "SO-CLOSE: Enhancing Social Cohesion through Sharing the Cultural Heritage of Forced Migrations" Grant No. 870939.This report aims to conduct research on the specific topics and needs of the SO-CLOSE project, addressing the available solutions through a state-of-the-art digital tools analysis, applied in the cultural heritage and migration fields. More specifically the report's scope is:To define proper tools and proceedings for the interview needs -performing, recording, transcription, translation. To analyse potential content gathering tools for the co-creation workshops. To conduct a state-of-the-art sharing tools analysis, applied in the cultural heritage and migration fields, and propose a critically adjusted and innovative digital approach

    Digital politics and voting geography. Potential connections between online storytelling and electoral results in the Campania regional elections

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    Digital political communication has undergone a revolution due to the emergence of new digital media platforms, significantly impacting electoral campaigns. However, there remains limited understanding of the implications of digital communication in local elections and its correlation with territorial vote concentration. The objective of this study is to investigate these relationships during the 2020 regional elections in Campania. Specifically, the focus is on four candidate profiles from the outgoing president’s political list. The employed methodology follows a quantita- tive approach, entailing a secondary analysis of an extensive dataset encompassing the candi- dates’ digital profiles and electoral outcomes within the Naples district. The digital content from their public Facebook pages is extracted using Api strategies, encompassing textual aspects, language style, political communication sentiment, and follower engagement. Through spatial analysis of the candidates’ obtained votes, potential relationships between the geographical distribution of votes and candidates’ digital activity are identified and summarized using the Digital activity index. The findings suggest promising avenues for future research concerning the evolution of political communication in the digital era and its interplay with electoral outcomes

    Psychology, Learning, Technology

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    This open access book constitutes the refereed proceedings of 1st International Workshop on Psychology, Learning, Technology, PLT 2022, Foggia, Italy, during January 2022. The 8 full papers presented here were carefully reviewed and selected from 23 submissions. In addition, one invited paper is also included. Psychology, Learning, ad Technology Conference (PLT2022) aims to explore learning paths that incorporate digital technologies in innovative and transformative ways and the improvement of the psychological and relational life. The conference includes topics about the methodology of application of the ICT tools in psychology and education: from blended learning to the application of artificial intelligence in education; from the teaching, learning, and assessment strategies and practices to the new frontiers on Human-Computer Interaction
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