Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure

Exploring the eco-attitudes and buying behaviour of Facebook users

Eco-friendly consumers’ attitudes are becoming increasingly frequent, recent research indicating that pro-environmental purchase behaviour not only lower costs on the long term, but also enhance business stakeholders’ and consumers’ confidence in high added value products and services. This paper undertakes an interdisciplinary research on how social media (i.e. Facebook) can influence users’ perceptions and buying behaviour related to five categories of ecological products and services (eco-food, eco-tourism, eco-housing, eco-textiles and eco-beauty & cosmetics). This research investigates how ecological products and services could gain popularity and overpass the identified purchasing barriers (e.g. high prices, low awareness, low availability) via superior integration in consumers’ daily experiences with Facebook. The research findings indicate that Facebook represents an effective and innovative environment that could build the necessary links between green attitudes and consumers’ hearts and minds

Measuring consumers' engagement with brand-related social-media content: development and validation of a scale that identifies levels of social-media engagement with brands

The main purpose of this study is to develop a scale to measure consumer's engagement with social media brand-related content. The reported scale (CESBC) comprises three dimensions: consumption, contribution, and creation. Qualitative techniques were used to generate an initial pool of items that capture different levels of consumer engagement with social media brand-related content. Quantitative data from a consumer survey (=2252) was then collected in two phases to calibrate and validate the ensuing scale. Results confirmed the structure and psychometric properties of the CESBC. As expected, each subscale is significantly correlated with nomological network constructs, i.e., brand equity and brand attitudes

A literature review of the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education

This review focuses on the use of Web 2.0 tools in Higher Education. It provides a synthesis of the research literature in the field and a series of illustrative examples of how these tools are being used in learning and teaching. It draws out the perceived benefits that these new technologies appear to offer, and highlights some of the challenges and issues surrounding their use. The review forms the basis for a HE Academy funded project, ‘Peals in the Cloud’, which is exploring how Web 2.0 tools can be used to support evidence-based practices in learning and teaching. The project has also produced two in-depth case studies, which are reported elsewhere (Galley et al., 2010, Alevizou et al., 2010). The case studies focus on evaluation of a recently developed site for learning and teaching, Cloudworks, which harnesses Web 2.0 functionality to facilitate the sharing and discussion of educational practice. The case studies aim to explore to what extent the Web 2.0 affordances of the site are successfully promoting the sharing of ideas, as well as scholarly reflections, on learning and teaching

Exploring the Eco-attitudes and Buying Behaviour of Facebook Users

Eco-friendly consumers’ attitudes are becoming increasingly frequent, recent research indicating that pro-environmental purchase behaviour not only lower costs on the long term, but also enhance business stakeholders’ and consumers’ confidence in high added value products and services. This paper undertakes an interdisciplinary research on how social media (i.e. Facebook) can influence users’ perceptions and buying behaviour related to five categories of ecological products and services (eco-food, eco-tourism, eco-housing, eco-textiles and eco-beauty & cosmetics). This research investigates how ecological products and services could gain popularity and overpass the identified purchasing barriers (e.g. high prices, low awareness, low availability) via superior integration in consumers’ daily experiences with Facebook. The research findings indicate that Facebook represents an effective and innovative environment that could build the necessary links between green attitudes and consumers’ hearts and minds.ecological products & services, Facebook, green attitudes, buying behaviour, eco-food, eco-tourism

Effects of narcissism, leisure boredom, and gratifications sought on user-generated content among net-generation users

This research identifies the gratifications sought by the net-generation when producing user-generated content (UGC) on the internet. Members of the Net-generation want to vent negative feelings, show affection to their frieds and relatives, be involved in others' lives, and fulfill their need to be recognized. These gratifications were all found to be significantly associated with the users' various levels of participation in UGC (e.g., Facebook, YouTube, blogs, online forums, etc.) What's more, narcissism was predictive of content generation in social networking sites, blogs, and personal webpage, while leisure boredom was significantly linked to expressing views in forums, updating personal website, and participating in consumer reviews. In particular, the results showed the Net-geners who encountered leisure boredom had a higher tendency to seek interaction with friends online. Implications of findings are discussed. --Narcissism,leisure boredom,user-generated content,uses and gratifications

Cultures and Communities in the Virtual World: Beginning the Exploration

Most of today's college students grew up as part of the Net Generation(Cooke-Plagwitz, 2009), and pedagogues may assume that motivatedstudents use technologies outside of class to improve their target languageskills. However, little research has been conducted to see how studentsactually use technology to engage with foreign cultures and communitiesbeyond the classroom setting. This exploratory study draws from bothquantitative and qualitative data sets to reveal the ways first-semesterstudents use technology to learn about German-speaking cultures andcommunities, and using Dörnyei's L2 Motivational Self System (2005 &2009), also shows how students' out-of-class learning via technologyrelates to their diverse motivations as language learners. Discussionincludes suggestions for exploring cultures and communities throughdigital tools both within and beyond the classroom setting

Employment experiences of Polish migrant workers in the UK hospitality sector.

2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journa