430,667 research outputs found
Second-Level Digital Divide: Mapping Differences in People's Online Skills
Much of the existing approach to the digital divide suffers from an important
limitation. It is based on a binary classification of Internet use by only
considering whether someone is or is not an Internet user. To remedy this
shortcoming, this project looks at the differences in people's level of skill
with respect to finding information online. Findings suggest that people search
for content in a myriad of ways and there is a large variance in how long
people take to find various types of information online. Data are collected to
see how user demographics, users' social support networks, people's experience
with the medium, and their autonomy of use influence their level of user
sophistication.Comment: 29th TPRC Conference, 200
Social Media and Information Overload: Survey Results
A UK-based online questionnaire investigating aspects of usage of
user-generated media (UGM), such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, attracted
587 participants. Results show a high degree of engagement with social
networking media such as Facebook, and a significant engagement with other
media such as professional media, microblogs and blogs. Participants who
experience information overload are those who engage less frequently with the
media, rather than those who have fewer posts to read. Professional users show
different behaviours to social users. Microbloggers complain of information
overload to the greatest extent. Two thirds of Twitter-users have felt that
they receive too many posts, and over half of Twitter-users have felt the need
for a tool to filter out the irrelevant posts. Generally speaking, participants
express satisfaction with the media, though a significant minority express a
range of concerns including information overload and privacy
Recommended from our members
You better work : negotiating race, sexuality, gender, and neoliberalism in plus-size fashion blogs
Over the past decade, the explosion of social media has secured the Internet as a venue for political discussions of all sorts; as well as a realm of consumption and commodification. One population of women that has utilized social media in this way is the plus-sized fashion ("fatshion") community on the popular multimedia blogging site Tumblr. Through posting personal photos of 'outfits of the day' (OOTDs), participants use Tumblr to address the lack of size representation in the fashion industry as well as to share resources for finding fashionable, plus-sized clothing. This project examines how contributors to fatshion blogs negotiate identities as well as how participation in these blogs both supports and defies a neoliberal economic system that casts participating in fashion as a right, without considering how it contributes to oppression of other groups of women. The project discusses blogs as spaces for combatting the effects of sizeism, for negotiating racist images of women of color in the media, and, to a certain extent, for situating fatness within hegemonic femininity, and it also investigates the extent to which these blogs register or ignore the oppressive effects of the fashion industry in the global South. Some bloggers express an interest in repurposing and thrifting clothing, but their motivations are less explicit. The blogs provide clear answers to some of these questions and initiate only more questions about others, but regardless, the photos and commentary submitted to the blogs provide ample material for discussion. By attempting to answer these questions, it is possible to obtain a clearer picture of the relationship between systems of oppression and online environments, and how online communities might be used to challenge these systems
Graduating to Success in Employment: How Social Media Can Aid College Students in the Job Search
This issue brief, the second in a series on social media in workforce development, explores how college career service centers can assist college students and recent college graduates in using social media as part of their job search
Capturing the Visitor Profile for a Personalized Mobile Museum Experience: an Indirect Approach
An increasing number of museums and cultural institutions
around the world use personalized, mostly mobile, museum
guides to enhance visitor experiences. However since a typical
museum visit may last a few minutes and visitors might only visit
once, the personalization processes need to be quick and efficient,
ensuring the engagement of the visitor. In this paper we
investigate the use of indirect profiling methods through a visitor
quiz, in order to provide the visitor with specific museum content.
Building on our experience of a first study aimed at the design,
implementation and user testing of a short quiz version at the
Acropolis Museum, a second parallel study was devised. This
paper introduces this research, which collected and analyzed data
from two environments: the Acropolis Museum and social media
(i.e. Facebook). Key profiling issues are identified, results are
presented, and guidelines towards a generalized approach for the
profiling needs of cultural institutions are discussed
Broadcasting to the masses or building communities: Polish political parties online communication during the 2011 election
The professionalisation of political communication is an evolutionary process (Lilleker & Negrine, 2002), a process that adapts to trends in communication in order to better engage and persuade the public. One of the most dramatic developments in communication has been the move towards social communication via the Internet. It is argued to affect every area of public communication, from commercial advertising and public relations to education (Macnamara, 2010). It is no longer sufficient to have an online presence; we are now in an age of i-branding; with the âiâ standing for interactive. Yet, trends in online political electoral campaigning over recent years indicate a shallow adoption of Web 2.0 tools, features and platforms; limited interactivity; and managed co-production. The Internet is now embedded as a campaigning tool however, largely, the technologies are adapted to the norms of political communication rather than technologies impacting upon internal organizational structures, party relationships to members and supporters, or the content and style of their communication. We examine these themes, and develop them through a focus on the targeting and networking strategies of political parties, in more detail in the context of the Polish parliamentary election of 2011. Through a sophisticated content analysis and coding scheme our paper examines the extent to which parties use features that are designed to inform, engage, mobilise or allow interaction, which audiences they seek to communicate with and how these fit communication strategies. Comparing these findings with maps built from webcrawler analysis we build a picture of the strategies of the parties and the extent to which this links to short and long term political goals. This paper firstly develops our rationale for studying party and candidate use of the Internet during elections within the Polish context. Secondly we develop a conceptual framework which contrasts the politics as usual thesis (Margolis & Resnick, 2000) with arguments surrounding the social shaping of technologies (Lievrouw, 2006) and the impact on organisational adoption of communication technologies and post-Obama trends in Internet usage (Lilleker & Jackson, 2011) and posit that, despite the threats from an interactive strategy (Stromer-Galley, 2000) one would be expected within the context of a networked society (Van Dyjk, 2006). Following an overview of our methodology and innovative analysis strategy, we present our data which focuses on three key elements. Firstly we focus on the extent to which party and candidate websites inform, engage, mobilise or permit interaction (Lilleker et al, 2011). Secondly we assess the extent to which websites attract different visitor groups (Lilleker & Jackson, 2011) and build communities (Lilleker & Koc-Michalska, 2012). Thirdly we assess the reach strategies of the websites using Webcrawler technology which analyses the use of hyperlinks and whether parties lock themselves within cyberghettoes (Sunstein, 2007) or attempt to harness the power of the network (Benkler, 2006)
Come On In. The Water's Fine. An Exploration of Web 2.0 Technology and Its Emerging Impact on Foundation Communications
According to the authors of Come on in. The water's fine. An exploration of Web 2.0 technology and its emerging impact on foundation communications, foundations that have adopted new and still emerging forms of digital communications -- interactive Web sites, blogs, wikis, and social networking applications -- are finding that they offer "opportunities for focused convenings and conversations, lend themselves to interactions with and among grantees, and are an effective story-telling medium." The report's authors, David Brotherton and Cynthia Scheiderer, of Brotherton Strategies, who spent nearly a year exploring how foundations are using new media, add that "electronic communications create an opportunity to connect people who are interested in an issue with each other and the grantees working on the issue."The report also acknowledges that the new technologies raise skepticism and concern among foundations. They include the "worry of losing control over the foundation's message, allowing more staff members to represent the foundation in a more public way, opening the flood gates of grant requests or the headache of a forum gone bad with unwanted or inappropriate posts."Still, the report urges foundations to put aside their worries and make even more forceful use of new media applications and tools. The report argues that whatever is "lost in message control will be more than made up for by the opportunity to engage audiences in new ways, with greater programmatic impact."Acknowledging that adoption of new media tools will require some cultural and operational shifts in foundations, the report offers suggestions from Ernest James Wilson III, dean and Walter Annenberg chair in communication at the University of Southern California, for how to deal with these challenges. He says that for foundations to make the best use of what the technology offers, they should concentrate on three things:Build up the individual "human capital" of their staffs and provide them the competencies they need to operate in the new digital world.Make internal institutional reforms to reward creativity and innovation in using these new media internally and among grantees.Build social networks that span sectors and institutions, to engage in ongoing dialogue among private, public, nonprofits and research stakeholders.As Wilson also says, "All of these steps first require leadership, arguably a new type of leadership, not only at the top but also from the 'bottom' up, since many of the people with the requisite skills, attitudes, substantive knowledge and experience are younger, newer employees, and occupy the low-status end of the organizational pyramid, and hence need strong allies at the top.
Building and Executing MOOCs: A Practical Review of Glasgow's First Two MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses)
No abstract available
An analysis of the key factors affecting the success of a re-launched destination marketing website in the UK
Business Information Systems
e-Commerce/e-business
Computer Appl. in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Marketing
Information Systems Applications (incl. Internet)This paper presents a case study of the re-launch of a DMO website in the UK. It evaluates the perceived usability of the new website and identifies the key factors affecting customersâ intention to use the new website. A large-scale online survey was developed to understand a number of issues relating to usability (e.g. aesthetics, effectiveness) and psychological and behavioural indicators (e.g. perceived trustworthiness and intent to use). Both quantitative and qualitative data was analysed to understand usersâ perceptions, behaviour and attitudes towards the re-launched website. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was developed to identify the factors affecting their intention to use the new website. The SEM model identified the impact of a variety of factors on intention to use and the descriptive analysis, using both qualitative and quantitative data, highlights further areas of research
- âŠ