Creating shared understandings of interpersonal relationships in online settings

Contemporary social scientists describe the current societal circumstances as the late modern era, which is characterized by an abundance of both options and uncertainties. Theorists sometimes associate these characteristics with the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Some argue that computer-mediated, networked interaction reinforces the fragmented conditions of late modernity. Others emphasize ICTs as the ultimate opportunity to participate in global networks of interaction. To contribute to the discussion on how the development of ICTs and the conditions of late modernity are intertwined, the discussion in this dissertation presumes that online interaction provides a way to create meaningfulness and continuity in late modern life. The context of the research is the phenomenon of social network sites (SNSs): the vastly popular online services whose central feature is the public performance of connection. Building on the tenets of symbolic interactionism, I argue that the performance of connection creates shared understandings of individuals interpersonal relationships. This dissertation examines what kinds of performances of interpersonal relationships take place in online settings, what kind of challenges people attribute to these performances and how they attempt to solve those challenges. The observed practices and interpretations are then contrasted with the results of a literature review covering the conceptualizations of mediated community in academic research, to suggest future directions in investigation of the creation of shared understandings of interpersonal relationships in online settings. The research problem is assessed through the use of qualitative methods, which permit the analysis of the expressions that the participants themselves used to describe the novel opportunities and challenges that online interaction offers for the performance of interpersonal relationships. On the basis of the four individual studies included in this dissertation, I argue that 1) people engage in a variety of creative but repetitive practices of constructing shared understandings of interpersonal relationships in online settings, 2) SNSs create a new interpretational frame and impose new challenges for the creation of shared understandings, 3) people engage in collaborative efforts to resolve these challenges, and 4) extending the analysis to the intergroup level would broaden our understanding of social bonds in the networked settings of late modernity. These findings portray the performance of interpersonal relationships in online settings as creative and collaborative attempts to construct shared understandings, continuity, and coherence for transient social bonds.Verkon yhteisöpalveluissa voi tehdä ihmissuhteistaan konkreettisempia ja näkyvämpiä, vaikkapa jakamalla kuvia ystävistään tai kommentoimalla heidän jakamiaan linkkejä. Ihmissuhteita koskevien jaettujen käsitysten rakentaminen vaatii kuitenkin luovuutta ja yhteistyötä, väittää Vilma Lehtinen. Lehtinen selvittää väitöskirjassaan, minkälaisia ihmissuhteiden esittämisen keinoja verkkovuorovaikutuksessa on havaittavissa, millaisia ongelmia esityksiin liittyy, sekä miten ihmiset ratkovat näitä ongelmia. Lisäksi väitöskirja suuntaa tulevaa tutkimusta kiinnittämällä kirjallisuuskatsausartikkelin avulla huomion siihen, mitä oletuksia verkkoyhteisön käsitteeseen liittyy alan tutkimuksessa. Väitöstutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto on kerätty havainnoimalla yhteisöpalveluiden käyttöä, sekä haastattelemalla eri sukupolvien edustajia siitä, miten he suhtautuvat ihmissuhteiden esittämiseen verkossa. Yksi artikkeliväitöskirjan osajulkaisuista käsittelee kotimaista yhteisöpalvelua IRC-Galleriaa, jonka suosio oli huipussaan ennen kansainvälisten sivustojen, kuten Facebookin, nousua. IRC-Gallerian teini-ikäisten käyttäjien keskuudessa tehty tutkimus havainnollisti, miten ihmissuhteita tehdään näkyväksi esimerkiksi omistamalla kuvia toisille, kirjoittamalla ystävien nimiä omaan profiiliin, sekä kommentoimalla mitä tahansa päätöntä toisen profiiliin, jolloin profiilien välille syntyy linkki. Näiden voidaan tulkita olevan luovia mutta rituaalin tapaan toistuvia käytäntöjä, jotka rakentavat jaettua käsitystä kyseessä olevista ihmissuhteista. Suurten ikäluokkien edustajien parissa tehty tutkimus puolestaan osoitti, että ihmissuhteiden esittäminen verkossa ei houkuttele, jos se on ristiriidassa niiden odotusten kanssa, joita läheisiin ihmissuhteisiin liitetään. Tutkimukseen osallistujat kokivat yhteisöpalveluiden julkisuuden epäsopivaksi siihen nähden, että he pitävät läheisissä ihmissuhteissaan tärkeimpänä yksityisyyttä ja luottamuksen säilyttämistä. Nuoremmat sukupolvet kuitenkin jakavat huolen siitä, että he saattavat vahingossa kyseenalaistaa jaetut käsitykset, joita on yhdessä yritetty rakentaa: esimerkiksi onnittelemalla uudesta työpaikasta, kun vanhat työtoverit eivät vielä tiedä asiasta. Näistä ongelmista selviäminen perustuu vahvasti yhteistyöhön. Haastattelemamme Facebookia aktiivisesti käyttävät nuoret aikuiset kuvasivat harkitsevansa tarkkaan etukäteen, minkälaista toisia ihmisiä koskevaa sisältöä jakavat. Muiden rakentamien esitysten huomioiminen kannattaa tehdä etukäteen, sillä vahinkojen paikkailu jälkikäteen voi herättää enemmän epäilyksiä elleivät ystävät sitten kuittaa koko asiaa huumorilla. Verkkoyhteisöllisyyttä, jonka eräänä muotona ihmissuhteiden esittämistä yhteisöpalveluissa voidaan pitää, on kirjallisuuskatsausartikkelin perusteella lähestytty akateemisessa tutkimuksessa lähinnä yhteisön sisäisenä prosessina. Verkkoyhteisöllisyyden tarkastelu ryhmien välisenä ilmiönä voisi kuitenkin osoittaa, että käsitys yhteenkuuluvuudesta rakentuu myös tekemällä eroja muihin ryhmiin ja että ulkopuolisilla on suuri merkitys yhteenkuuluvuuden rakentumisessa. Näiden tekijöiden tarkastelu voisi auttaa ymmärtämään vihamielisten suhteiden esittämistä, ilmiötä joka ei tämän väitöskirjan ystävyyssuhteita käsittelevissä osatutkimuksissa tullut esille. Näiden tulosten pohjalta ihmissuhteiden esittäminen verkossa näyttäytyy luovana, yhteistyöhön perustuvana toimintana, joka rakentaa jaettua ymmärrystä, jatkuvuutta ja yhtenäisyyttä myöhäismodernin, globalisoituneen yhteiskunnan hajanaisiin sosiaalisiin suhteisiin

Sacred Heritage of Indigenous Peoples: Who Has the Power? : Using critical discourse analysis to examine the existing power relations in the heritage field

The cultural and sacred heritage of indigenous peoples is in a vulnerable position, because of the general threats cultural and religious heritage are facing around the world and because indigenous peoples are often not in a position where their wishes and needs are listened to. In addition to this, indigenous heritage may require a special approach and the following of certain rules, which may clash with existing heritage practices. This thesis researches how the sacred heritage of indigenous peoples is discussed through analyzing documents pertaining to the subject of indigenous sacred heritage and discusses how this may affect the way this heritage is approached in practice. It focuses on the following question: who has the power to manage and care for the indigenous sacred heritage? Additionally, it analyzes how these documents accommodate the rights of indigenous peoples, if they do so at all. It attempts to reveal this by critically examining the discourses found within the texts. The core of the thesis discusses the visible and implicit power relations present in the heritage practices and the wider sector involving the indigenous sacred heritage. The primary source material consists of the Sacred Natural Sites – Guidelines for Protected Area Managers compiled by IUCN, the Australia ICOMOS Charter for Places of Cultural Significance, its practice note The Burra Charter and Indigenous Cultural Heritage Management and the Statement on Indigenous Cultural Heritage, produced by Australia ICOMOS. Critical Discourse Analysis is used as an analysis method and approach. The theoretical framework is based on the ideas presented in the Critical Heritage Studies, more specifically the Politics of Scale, concerning the issue of scale in the heritage field, and how heritage has commonly been understood and managed through the Authorized Heritage Discourse. The thesis shows that the existing power relations clearly preference the national scale of heritage, as well as the heritage practitioners in the management and overall control of indigenous sacred heritage. While the involvement of indigenous peoples is at times encouraged and even demanded, and some discourses present in the text give full control to indigenous peoples, these people ultimately have very little authority in the matters related to their heritage. The rights of indigenous peoples are only somewhat accommodated in the analyzed texts, partially due to the strong influence of the national scale, because the acknowledgment of the rights of indigenous peoples varies by country

More than a feeling: A unified view of stress measurement for population science.

Stress can influence health throughout the lifespan, yet there is little agreement about what types and aspects of stress matter most for human health and disease. This is in part because "stress" is not a monolithic concept but rather, an emergent process that involves interactions between individual and environmental factors, historical and current events, allostatic states, and psychological and physiological reactivity. Many of these processes alone have been labeled as "stress." Stress science would be further advanced if researchers adopted a common conceptual model that incorporates epidemiological, affective, and psychophysiological perspectives, with more precise language for describing stress measures. We articulate an integrative working model, highlighting how stressor exposures across the life course influence habitual responding and stress reactivity, and how health behaviors interact with stress. We offer a Stress Typology articulating timescales for stress measurement - acute, event-based, daily, and chronic - and more precise language for dimensions of stress measurement

The capital structure of banks and practice of bank restructuring : eight case studies on current bank restructurings in Europe ; final report

This study presents an empirical analysis of capital and liability management in eight cases of bank restructurings and resolutions from eight different European countries. It can be read as a companion piece to an earlier study by the author covering the specific bank restructuring programs of Greece, Spain and Cyprus during 2012/13. The study portrays for each case the timelines between the initial credit event and the (last) restructuring. It proceeds to discuss the capital and liability management activity before restructuring and the restructuring itself, launches an attempt to calibrate the extent of creditor participation as well as expected loss by government, and engages in a counterfactual discussion of what could have been a least cost restructuring approach. Four of the eight cases are resolutions, i.e. the original bank is unwound (Anglo Irish Bank, Amagerbanken, Dexia, Laiki), while the four other banks have de-facto or de-jure become nationalized and are awaiting re-privatization after the restructuring (Deutsche Pfandbriefbank/Hypo Real Estate, Bankia, SNS Reaal, Alpha Bank). The case selection follows considerations of their model character for the European bank restructuring and resolution policy discussion while straddling both the U.S. (2007 - 2010) and the European (2010 - ) legs of the financial crisis, which each saw very different policy responses...

The Examination of the Effect of Various Social Constructs on Activities at Social Network Sites

The rapid growth of the Internet has led to the proliferation of technology, including the use of social network sites (SNS). Social network sites facilitate communications between online users with shared interests and enable users to share content seamlessly. Participation in SNS is increasingly global in nature by individuals from diverse social and cultural backgrounds. Accordingly, the rapid growth of social network site usage necessitates the analysis of factors affecting usage of SNS and the creation of social networks on the social network sites. There are numerous drawbacks related to SNS usage. Inherent drawbacks of SNS include naivety of social network users freely divulging personal information, the potential of exploitation by devious members and loss of privacy. These drawbacks could negatively affect trust and reciprocity in social network site transactions. A research model that focuses on the measurement of cultural diversity, native language diversity, identification needs, trust in SNS interactions, reciprocity in SNS interactions, configuration of SNS, sense of community and effective communication on the activities of social network sites. The model suggests how the configuration of SNS and the diversity of SNS users influence different relational facets of social capital such as trust, reciprocity and identification needs in SNS and the sense of community in SNS. We conducted a web-based survey to collect the data to test our hypotheses. We find that SNS users identification needs and trust in interaction have positive relationships with reciprocity in SNS interactions. We also find that the development of the sense of community promotes effective communication in SNS

Explication of moral disgust: assessing physiological and behavioral responses to disgust eliciting videos

Results indicate a significant self-reported disgust response among core animal reminder and contamination domains whereas the moral domains elicited both anger and disgust. Physiologically no change was measured in skin conductance; heart rate decrease in response to animal reminder contamination community and autonomy video clips. Significant behavioral avoidance was demonstrated when presented with the core and animal reminder video clips. Further when measuring facial muscle activation the levator labii was significantly activated in response to the core video clip but no others. The current study highlights the difficulty in establishing characteristic responses to disgust stimuli especially within the moral domain. However it is evident that the moral domain video clips do elicit a mixed emotional response primarily anger and disgust. This finding further establishes the complexity of the domain and supports future research focusing on the incorporation of additional physiological measures as well as parsing out additional emotional responses. The emotion disgust consists of four domains: core animal reminder contamination and moral. Moral disgust is a relatively new concept and characterized by moral violations of community autonomy and divinity. The CAD triad hypothesis proposes that the moral emotions of contempt anger and disgust correspond with the aforementioned violations respectively. Disgust like all emotions is comprised of three components: cognitive physiological and behavioral. The current study examined individuals’ cognitive (self-report) physiological (skin conductance; heart rate) and behavioral (avoidance; facial muscle activation) responses when exposed to disgust eliciting videos specifically to explicate the moral domain. Participants were 108 undergraduate students (62% female) who participated in exchange for research or course credit. The sample consisted of 70.4% Caucasian 13.9% African-American 13% Asian 2.8% Hispanic and 2% multiracial individuals. Ages ranged from 18-26 years (M = 19.04; SD = 1.33). Individuals presented to the lab completed self-report measures and engaged in a behavioral task that entailed watching six 2:00 minute disgust eliciting video clips. Each video clip was associated with a specific domain of disgust including core animal reminder contamination moral - community moral - autonomy and moral - divinity

Neighborhood hotspot and community awareness : the double role of social network sites in local communities

There is a tendency in the literature on local digital media use and neighborhood outcomes to conceptualize Social Network Sites (SNSs) as mere transmission channels, thereby ignoring SNSs’ dynamics and limiting the understanding of their role in neighborhood life. Informed by Communication Infrastructure Theory and social media literature, we propose and test a model to investigate the association between the use of SNSs, appropriated as online neighborhood networks, and neighborhood sense of community. We administered a survey to Flemish online neighborhood network users (n = 590) and found that active localized SNS use brings about an online sense of community and community awareness, which both independently lead to a neighborhood sense of community. Based on these findings, we argue that SNSs, appropriated as online neighborhood networks, function simultaneously as neighborhood hotspots in a neighborhood’s communication action context as well as community awareness media in a neighborhood’s storytelling network

The impact of using social networking sites on academic relations and student learning in University setting

This study investigates academic relations of educators, tutors, and students in university settings. Academic relations refer to the controlling and productive relations of power that operate at both societal and interpersonal level between academic actors and through them, knowledge is produced and identities are constructed. From a Critical theoretical point of view, power is unequally distributed in society and psychological development is fundamentally mediated by power relations which are socially and historically constituted. Given the capacity of power configurations to influence learning coupled with the fact that such relations are both relational and psychological, the notion of unequal social power is critical to understanding academic relations in university settings. The psychological and relational aspects of power suggest that underprepared students from disadvantaged academic backgrounds may suffer a sense of powerlessness and social domination as they interact with academics and more capable peers from privileged academic backgrounds. Research suggests that students (especially the previously disadvantaged) form peer-based knowledge sharing clusters (for example, study groups) to augment their intellectual potential and resource limitations. Mindful of these underprepared students' social domination (social and psychological) by high achieving peers and academics, and the capacity of peer-based clusters/ relations to democratise academic relations through presenting opportunities for exchange of perspectives, these peer-based relations present viable proxies for unpacking academic relations. The problem, therefore, is that while academic relations (lecturer-student, tutor-student, and student-peer) in face-to-face contact are quite central to student meaningful learning and transformation, capturing and studying these relations is complex. This complexity is explicated by the incapacity of traditional classrooms to capture and sustain academic relations due to: 1) The temporality, time and spatially bounded nature of academic relations in class, 2) Class sizes, academics' huge workloads and time constraints that limit one-on-one lecturer-student engagements especially at undergraduate level 3) Transmission pedagogy and classroom space configuration that mute lateral discourses, and 4) Student complex histories and cultural diversity. Research suggests that student knowledge sharing clusters are shifting from face-to-face to social networking sites (SNS), that is, online social networks that support group collaboration vii and support. The persistence of these online interactions, opportunities for peer-based discourses, peer-generation of artefacts on SNS challenge the limitations of traditional classrooms, making SNS essential for unpacking classroom lecturer-student and student-peer relations by proxy (if academics participate). These opportunities, and computer-mediated communication theory' suggestion that computer-mediated nature of textual interaction has potential to undermine status, gender and power asymmetries built in face-to-face interaction inform my thesis that SNS interaction has potential to equalise power relations of academic actors. The goal of this study was therefore, to use lecturer-student, student-peer interaction on SNS as proxies for unpacking academic relations and learning that unfold in traditional academic settings (classrooms, computer laboratories). The research question instigated the impact of lecturer-student, student-peer interaction on the academic /power relations and learning of academics and students in formal university settings. Using a Critical ethnographic approach, the research investigated power relations and learning manifested in: 1. academics and student text-based messages posted on SNS (Facebook), 2. lecturer and student experiences of using Facebook and its influence on classroom interactions, and 3. Lecturer-student and student peer interactions in class. Mindful of the democratisation potential of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on previously disadvantaged learners, the relational nature of power, the influence of structural forces on mediated interaction and higher mental development, this research was informed by three theories namely, Critical Theory of Technology (CTT), Critical Theories of Power (CTP), and Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), respectively. As a participant observer in online ethnography, the researcher employed CTT to examine the democratisation potential and constraints of computer-mediated communication (that is SNS) on learning and academic relations. While CTT was useful for examining the technological effects on mediated learning, the theory was less insightful for unpacking the power contestations in text-mediated discourses. To this end, Critical Discourse Analysis' (CDA) (which draws on CTP) was employed to examine how vertical and horizontal relational power were articulated and contested via textual messages, to complement CTT in its limitations. Although CTP was insightful for the examination of power manifested in lecturer-student, and peer-based interaction, CTP equally proved inadequate for the examination of mediated learning, that is, the role of artefact-mediated action on psychological development. Mindful viii of CHAT's focus on the influence of symbolic mediation on psychological development, CHAT offered a rational complement to CTP for the examination of mediated learning. This was important given that this research on academic/power relations and student learning unfolded in a technology-mediated learning environment (that is SNS). CHAT was adopted as a theoretical and methodological approach to examine how mediated interaction and the interplay of different elements of the lecture activity system impacted on student psychological development and lecturer's teaching practices. In summary, the study examined these empirical materials: text-based interactions (lecturer and student Facebook postings), lecturer and student narratives of lectures and Facebook interactions (interview transcripts, lecturer debriefings after classroom observations), in-class actions and discourses (lecture observations and focus group discussions). The findings of this study are that SNS democratized academic relations and communication for academically inclined students through: widening the academic networking space, breaching lecturer-student social boundaries that often hindered student access to knowledge resources, and offering 'safe haven' for student contestation of unpopular academic practices. Facebook also allowed shy and timid students to be more assertive in requesting academic support. The unintended effect of SNS was that it reconfigured peer-based relations as high achievers assumed additional vertical, 'super tutor' roles of advising peers. Facebook also regulated in-class interaction by hiving off mundane questions on course administration and practicals from the class. SNS thus augmented classroom interaction as online and classroom learning cross fertilised each other. The practical contribution of this work is in the insight into how student informal academic and social support online networks could be drawn upon in student in-class learning. The study proposed a 'best practice' pedagogical model/ strategy that draws on: 1) Informal peer-based and lecturer-student knowledge sharing on Facebook and associated SN tools, 2). Student reflexivity on self-generated and peer-generated content, and 3). Self and peer-based evaluation as a basis for academic empowerment. The theoretical contribution lies in the methodology or approach for analysing the interplay between academic relations and student learning using SNS as proxy. In particular, this work contributes a new body of knowledge through the integration of Critical Theories (Critical Theories of Power and Critical Theories of Technology) and CHAT

Internet skills, sources of support and benefiting from internet use

This study added communication Internet skills to an existing skill framework of operational, formal, information, and strategic skills. The study investigated how people deal with inadequate skill levels by identifying support sources. Furthermore, we investigated which of the Internet skills actually matter for attaining beneficial Internet outcomes and whether support sources employed moderate these effects. Results of a large-scale survey revealed three support patterns: independents, social support seekers, and formal help seekers. The newly added communication skills prove to be an important addition because they have an independent effect on beneficial Internet use. The group of independent Internet users benefited more from Internet use than formal help seekers and much more than social support seekers. Internet communication skills hold the potential for achieving a high degree of independence in using the Internet by compensating for information skills so as to attain beneficial Internet outcomes