Fraping, social norms and online representations of self

Charting the Digital Lifespan research project was funded by EPSRC Grant Reference No EP/L00383X/1.This paper reports on qualitative insights generated from 46 semi-structured interviews with adults ranging in age from 18 to 70. It focuses on an online social behaviour, ‘fraping’, which involves the unauthorised alteration of content on a person's social networking site (SNS) profile by a third party. Our exploratory research elucidates what constitutes a frape, who is involved in it, and what the social norms surrounding the activity are. We provide insights into how frape contributes to online sociality and the co-construction of online identity, and identify opportunities for further work in understanding the interplay between online social identities, social groups and social norms.PostprintPeer reviewe

Friendships in Gamers and Non-Gamers

Online social technologies, such as email, social networking applications, texting and others, are now used by a majority of individuals in the U.S. (Pew, 2018a). As a result, it is not uncommon to develop friendships with others that are conducted primarily in an online environment. However, we know little about the qualities of online friendships and how they may, or may not, differ from traditional face to face friendships. The present study focused on exploring friendship quality in online and offline domains using two groups: a gamer group and a non-gamer group that used non-gaming applications to connect with others online. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire to gather information about their online and face to face friendships, the McGill Friendship Questionnaire (Mendelsohn & Aboud, 2014) for their closest online and offline friends and measures of happiness, anxiety, and depression. In Study 1, within group comparison found that gamers’ online friendships were of significantly higher quality than their offline friendships. For non-gamers, the opposite results were found. A second study was done using a larger, non-college-based sample. Results of Study 2 found that for gamers and non-gamers offline friendships were of higher quality than online friendships, although both types of friendships existed in both groups. There were no differences between groups in general life happiness, anxiety or depression. Suggestions for follow-up research are presented

UK young adults' safety awareness online: is it a 'girl thing'?

This article reports on a recent research project undertaken in the UK that investigated young adults' perception of potentially risky behaviour online. The research was undertaken through the use of an online survey associated with the UK teen soap opera Being Victor. The findings of the project suggest that this sample of British young adults was mostly aware of the risks they might encounter online and made thoughtful judgements on what they posted. However, male respondents were less safety aware than female respondents, which may be related to both societal norms for male adolescents and online safety campaigns that have been more targeted at girls. Despite previous researchers finding that girls were more likely to suffer cyberbullying and to be cyberbullies themselves, more male respondents reported both being bullied and bullying behaviour online. Over half of respondents had been subjected to some sort of cyberbullying or online harassment, but 40% admitted to behaving in this manner themselves. However, 'frape' or 'Facebook rape' was considered by respondents as a reciprocal rather than bullying phenomenon. It is suggested that a focus on girls' online safety may have resulted in the message that boys' behaviour online does not need safeguards

Designing In With Black Box Technologies and PD

Building on prior work we examine design research challenges posed by working with new technological applications of Blockchain within multidisciplinary research. Drawing from recent design research of others, we articulate the value – and associated challenges – of Participatory Design creative approaches involving codesign of similar ‘black box’ technologies. We go on to report on three workshops, including one in which we invited technologists and designers to work together to talk through and materially represent their tacit understandings of how two Blockchain applications – BITNATION and Trust Stamp – work. We demonstrate how creative methods are useful in enabling critical reflection and knowledge exchange providing a useful bridge between radically different disciplines; to counter emerging technologies’ ‘unconscious image’ as magic; and to valuably inform on future oriented design implications

The Law and Ethics of Virtual Sexual Assault

This chapter provides a general overview and introduction to the law and ethics of virtual sexual assault. It offers a definition of the phenomenon and argues that there are six interesting types. It then asks and answers three questions: (i) should we criminalise virtual sexual assault? (ii) can you be held responsible for virtual sexual assault? and (iii) are there issues with 'consent' to virtual sexual activity that might make it difficult to prosecute or punish virtual sexual assault

New Rules of Engagement:How Adaptation To Online Media Changes Older Adults' Social Connectedness

Older adults often struggle to adjust to the rapid changes in the digitizing media landscape. In this article, we study, first, how 10 older adults adapt new online media into their daily lives and, by doing so, adjust to the changing "rules of engagement" that guide online-media use in their social surroundings. Second, we analyze how this adaptation process generates change in older adults' social connectedness. Results suggest that older adults' non-use of popular online media results in social exclusion. Enhancing their social connectedness, requires older adults to (partially) conform to new communication norms and values. Based on our findings, we propose three adaptation strategies that enhance both offline and online social connectedness

Digital Photographic Practices as Expressions of Personhood and Identity:Variations Across School Leavers and Recent Retirees

Over the last two decades, digital photography has been adopted by young and old. Many young adults easily take photos, share them across multiple social networks using smartphones, and create digital identities for themselves consciously and unconsciously. Is the same true for older adults? As part of a larger mixed-methods study of online life in the UK, we considered digital photographic practices at two life transitions: leaving secondary school and retiring from work. In this paper, we report on a complex picture of different kinds of interactions with visual media online, and variation across age groups in the construction of digital identities. In doing so, we argue for a blurring of the distinctions between Chalfen’s ‘Kodak Culture’ and Miller and Edwards’ ‘Snaprs’. The camera lens often faces inwards for young adults: tagged ‘Selfies’ and images co-constructed with social network members commonly contribute to their digital identities. In contrast, retirees turn the camera’s lens outwards towards the world, not inwards to themselves. In concluding, we pay special attention to the digital social norms of co-creation of self and balancing convenience and privacy for people of varying ages, and what our findings mean for the future of photo-sharing as a form of self-expression, as today’s young adults grow old and retire

The Violence of Impact: unpacking relations between gender, media and politics

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version.Engaging in public dialogue is a crucial part of the impact agenda, but what are the politics of this engagement? What happens when female academics engage with, or are reported by media, in disseminating their research? Does negative impact ‘count’ as impact? Adopting a poststructuralist intersectional feminist analysis, this article uses the REF policy agenda as a case study in order to explore these questions. Drawing on extensive qualitative interview data, I operationalise the concept ‘cultural sexism’ as a mechanism to connect micro and macro analysis; using cumulative individual experiences to render visible wider social and political power structures. This article argues that while women may seek to actively build impact and public engagement in to their research agendas, we need to be cognizant that the site of interaction between media and academia is gendered and raced. I argue that we therefore need to reflect upon the ethics of pursuing a policy which: 1) disproportionately exposes a diversity of women to structural and symbolic violence; 2) has the potential to silence women’s contribution to knowledge and; 3) conversely may serve to simply privilege masculinised assumptions as to what does and does not count as knowledge

‘I feel like we’re really behind the game’: perspectives of the United Kingdom’s intimate partner violence support sector on the rise of technology-facilitated abuse

Technology-facilitated abuse or ‘tech abuse’ in intimate partner violence (IPV) contexts describes the breadth of harms that can be enacted using digital systems and online tools. While the misappropriation of technologies in the context of IPV has been subject to prior research, a dedicated study on the United Kingdom’s IPV support sector has so far been missing. The present analysis summarises insights derived from semi-structured interviews with 34 UK voluntary and statutory sector representatives that were conducted over the course of two years (2018–2020). The analysis identifies four overarching themes that point out support services’ practices, concerns and challenges in relation to tech abuse, and specifically the Internet of Things (IoT). These themes include (a) technology-facilitated abuse, where interviewees outline their experiences and understanding of the concept of tech abuse; (b) IoT-enabled tech abuse, focusing on the changing dynamics of tech abuse due to the continuing rise of smart consumer products; (c) data, documentation and assessment, that directs our attention to the shortcomings of existing risk assessment and recording practices; and (d) training, support and assistance, in which participants point to the need for specialist support capabilities to be developed within and beyond existing services.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Key messages&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;UK statutory and voluntary support services do not feel well equipped to respond to tech abuse.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Shortcomings in documentation and assessment practices make it difficult to estimate the full scale and nature of tech abuse.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tech abuse training and other support mechanisms are needed to amplify the UK sector’s ability to assist IPV victims/survivors.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt; </jats:p