The threshold of the real: A site for participatory resistance in Blast Theory's Uncle Roy all around you (2003)

This article examines the collision of virtual and real spaces through simultaneous live and online play in Uncle Roy All Around You, and how this disruption of immersion is used to expose the habitual engagements associated with the digital interface. The nature of the participants' immersion and the subsequent reintegration into the real will be explored, before attempting to articulate what defines this piece as politically resistant, through discussion of a self reflexive participation, which undermines what Baudrillard terms the 'simulated response' (Baudrillard 1985/1988 p.216

Exploring Identities in Online Music Fandoms: How identities Formed in Online Fan Communities Affect Real Life Identities

This thesis set out to explore the identities formed by members of online fandom communities, and to determine the ways in which those identities affect their real life, offline identities. This qualitative study encountered elements related to stereo types of young women who are fans of mainstream pop music, and provided insight on their experiences through interviews with five long time boy band online fandom members. This study asked if fans prefer to keep their fandom identities internal or let them reflect outward, how one\u27s online identity affects or translates to their real life identity, and what experiences in the online fandom were the most impactful to the individual\u27s real life identity or led to new knowledge. It was revealed that online community platform is the place where fans gather to enjoy a similar passion, but it is the relationships and discussions held on the site between fans that truly affect an individual and their identity, rather than the more superficial elements of being in a fandom. Through fandom discourse, members found social support and solidarity with one another

Design and Assessment for Hybrid Courses: Insights and Overviews

Technology is influencing education, providing new delivery and assessment models. A combination between online and traditional course, the hybrid (blended) course, may present a solution with many benefits as it provides a gradual transition towards technology enabled education. This research work provides a set of definitions for several course delivery approaches, and evaluates five years of data from a course that has been converted from traditional face-to-face delivery, to hybrid delivery. The collected experimental data proves that the revised course, in the hybrid delivery mode, is at least as good, if not better, than it previously was and it provides some benefits in terms of student retention

Exploring the democratic potential of online social networking: The scope and limitations of e-participation

Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Information Systems.The availability and promise of social networking technologies with their perceived open philosophy has increasingly inspired citizens around the world to participate in political activity on the Web. Recent examples range from opposing public policies, such as government funding cuts, to organizing revolutionary social movements, such as those in the Middle East and North Africa. Although online spaces create remarkable opportunities for various forms of political action, there are concerns over the power of existing institutions to control and even censor such interaction spaces. The objective of this article is to draw together different insights on the online engagement phenomenon, highlighting both its potential and limitations as a mechanism for fostering democratic debate and influencing policy making. We examine recent examples from Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Finally, we summarize the implications of our work and outline directions for further research

The meaning and experience of well-being in dementia for psychiatrists involved in diagnostic disclosure: a qualitative study

Literature indicates that people's experiences of receiving a diagnosis of dementia can have a lasting impact on well-being. Psychiatrists frequently lead in communicating a diagnosis but little is known about the factors that could contribute to potential disparities between actual and best practice with regard to diagnostic disclosure. A clearer understanding of psychiatrists’ subjective experiences of disclosure is therefore needed to improve adherence to best practice guidelines and ensure that diagnostic disclosure facilitates living well with dementia. This study utilized qualitative methodology. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 11 psychiatrists were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three superordinate and nine subordinate themes emerged from the data analysis. These included the following: (i) “The levels of well-being” (Continuing with life, Keeping a sense of who they are, Acceptance of the self), (ii) “Living well is a process” (Disclosure can set the scene for well-being, Positive but realistic messages, Whose role it is to support well-being?), and (iii) Ideal care versus real care (Supporting well-being is not prioritized, There isn't time, The fragmentation of care). Findings indicate that psychiatrists frame well-being in dementia as a multi-faceted biopsychosocial construct but that certain nihilistic attitudes may affect how well-being is integrated into diagnostic communication. Such attitudes were linked with the perceived threat of dementia and limitations of post-diagnostic care. Behaviors used to manage the negative affect associated with ethical and clinical tensions triggered by attempts to facilitate well-being at the point of diagnosis, and their impact on adherence to best practice disclosure, are discussed

Technology for Older Adults: Maximising Personal and Social Interaction : Exploring Opportunities for eHealth to Support the Older Rural Population with Chronic Pain

Funding The TOPS project is supported by an award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Hub, award reference EP/G066051/1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Exploring the effect of the Looking China Student Film Project on its participants

I wrote and presented a 22-page research paper at the annual symposium of the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture, November 26, 2016. The paper, titled "Exploring the Effect of the Looking China Youth Film Project on its Participants" analyzed data I collected from past participants in the Looking China Program and drew conclusions concerning the formation of a cultural image, and how the process of making a documentary film enhances certain observational skills. The paper was subsequently published in the academic journal, "International Communication of Chinese Culture," Beijing Normal University Press, China

Foreign objects? Web content management systems, journalistic cultures and the ontology of software

Research on ‘digital’ journalism has focused largely on online news, with comparatively less interest in the longer-term implications of software and computational technologies. Drawing upon a six-year study of the Toronto Star, this paper provides an account of TOPS, an in-house web content management system (CMS) which served as the backbone of thestar.com for six years. For some, TOPS was a successful software innovation, while for others, a strategic digital ‘property’. But for most journalists, it was slow, deficient in functionality, aesthetically unappealing and cumbersome. Although several organizational factors can explain TOPS’ obstinacy, I argue for particular attention to the complex ontology of software. Based on an outline of this ontology, I suggest software be taken seriously as an object of journalism, which implies: acknowledging its partial autonomy from human use or authorization; accounting for its ability to mutate indefinitely; and analyzing its capacity to encourage forms of ‘computational thinking