Informational Privacy and Self-Disclosure Online: A Critical Mixed-Methods Approach to Social Media

This thesis investigates the multifaceted processes that have contributed to normalising identifiable self-disclosure in online environments and how perceptions of informational privacy and self-disclosure behavioural patterns have evolved in the relatively brief history of online communication. Its investigative mixed-methods approach critically examines a wide and diverse variety of primary and secondary sources and material to bring together aspects of the social dynamics that have contributed to the generalised identifiable self-disclosure. This research also utilises the results of the exploratory statistical as well as qualitative analysis of an extensive online survey completed by UCL students as a snapshot in time. This is combined with arguments developed from an analysis of existing published sources and looks ahead to possible future developments. This study examines the time when people online proved to be more trusting, and how users of the Internet responded to the development of the growing societal need to share personal information online. It addresses issues of privacy ethics and how they evolved over time to allow a persistent association of online self-disclosure to real-life identity that had not been seen before the emergence of social network sites. The resistance to identifiable self-disclosure before the widespread use of social network sites was relatively resolved by a combination of elements and circumstances. Some of these result from the demographics of young users, users' attitudes to deception, ideology and trust-building processes. Social and psychological factors, such as gaining social capital, peer pressure and the overall rewarding and seductive nature of social media, have led users to waive significant parts of their privacy in order to receive the perceived benefits. The sociohistorical context allows this research to relate evolving phenomena like the privacy paradox, lateral surveillance and self-censorship to the revamped ethics of online privacy and self-disclosure

A STUDY ON THE ANONYMITY PERCEPTIONS IMPACTING ON POSTING MALICIOUS MESSAGES IN ONLINE COMMUNITIE

The development ICT provides many benefits in business, shopping, leisure, finance, information exchange, and community life with a variety of people. However, due to anonymity, a characteristic of cyber space which one can hide him yourself, there are many negative effects such as cyber crimes, use of illegal contents, malicious messages, game addiction, etc. In order to resolve such problems, causes behind cyber crimes need to be determined according to users\u27 personal and psychological attributes. This study dealt with the causal relationship between online community users\u27 degree of anonymity perception and posting malicious messages. Especially, the study was focused on reviewing existing studies regarding anonymity and looking into the effect of anonymity which has been divided into the types of social, visual, definitive, and location anonymity on posting malicious messages. Based on the study results, this study make a contribution in establishing a standard for controlling the degree of anonymity in laying out online community service designs that could reduce the amount of malicious messages in online communities and the phenomenon of cyber verbal violence. Keywords: Anonymity perception, malicious message, online community, bright internet

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Online courses for healthcare professionals: is there a role for social learning?

Background: All UK postgraduate medical trainees receive supervision from trained supervisors. Training has traditionally been delivered via face to face courses, but with increasing time pressures and complex shift patterns, access to these is difficult. To meet this challenge, we developed a two-week massive open online course (MOOC) for faculty development of clinical supervisors. Summary of Work: The MOOC was developed by a group of experienced medical educators and delivered via the FutureLearn (FL) platform which promotes social learning through interaction. This facilitates building of communities of practice, learner interaction and collaboration. We explored learner perceptions of the course, in particular the value of social learning in the context of busy healthcare professionals. We analysed responses to pre- and post-course surveys for each run of the MOOC in 2015, FL course statistics, and learner discussion board comments. Summary of Results: Over 2015, 7,225 learners registered for the course, though 6% left the course without starting. Of the 3,055 learners who began the course, 35% (1073/3055) were social learners who interacted with other participants. Around 31% (960/3055) learners participated fully in the course; this is significantly higher than the FL average of 22%. Survey responses suggest that 68% learners worked full-time, with over 75% accessing the course at home or while commuting, using laptops, smart phones and tablet devices. Discussion: Learners found the course very accessible due to the bite-sized videos, animations, etc which were manageable at the end of a busy working day. Inter-professional discussions and social learning made the learning environment more engaging. Discussion were rated as high quality as they facilitated sharing of narratives and personal reflections, as well as relevant resources. Conclusion: Social learning added value to the course by promoting sharing of resources and improved interaction between learners within the online environment. Take Home Messages: 1) MOOCs can provide faculty development efficiently with a few caveats. 2) Social learning added a new dimension to the online environment