Technical report and user guide: the 2010 EU kids online survey

This technical report describes the design and implementation of the EU Kids Online survey of 9-16 year old internet using children and their parents in 25 countries European countries

An Exploratory Study of COVID-19 Misinformation on Twitter

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social media has become a home ground for misinformation. To tackle this infodemic, scientific oversight, as well as a better understanding by practitioners in crisis management, is needed. We have conducted an exploratory study into the propagation, authors and content of misinformation on Twitter around the topic of COVID-19 in order to gain early insights. We have collected all tweets mentioned in the verdicts of fact-checked claims related to COVID-19 by over 92 professional fact-checking organisations between January and mid-July 2020 and share this corpus with the community. This resulted in 1 500 tweets relating to 1 274 false and 276 partially false claims, respectively. Exploratory analysis of author accounts revealed that the verified twitter handle(including Organisation/celebrity) are also involved in either creating (new tweets) or spreading (retweet) the misinformation. Additionally, we found that false claims propagate faster than partially false claims. Compare to a background corpus of COVID-19 tweets, tweets with misinformation are more often concerned with discrediting other information on social media. Authors use less tentative language and appear to be more driven by concerns of potential harm to others. Our results enable us to suggest gaps in the current scientific coverage of the topic as well as propose actions for authorities and social media users to counter misinformation.Comment: 20 pages, nine figures, four tables. Submitted for peer review, revision

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationDiabetes is a complex condition that can significantly affect quality of life and economic burden. New approaches to promoting diabetes knowledge and support to enhance diabetes management are necessary. Peer health is occurring within the diabetes online community (DOC), although very little is known about how it is being used to help manage diabetes. The purpose of this research was to better understand peer health within the nonmoderated, nontrained peer context of the DOC. In this multiple method approach, a cross-sectional survey was posted to DOC social media sites to describe adult DOC users, indicators of their health status, and perceived credibility of DOC information. A baby boomer subset of participants were interviewed to understand why they participated in the DOC, how they anticipated continued DOC use as they aged, and how they determined credibility of DOC information. Transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. Apomediation Theory guided this research. There were several significant findings. Individuals highly engaged with the DOC had better glycemic control. DOC users had high levels of diabetes self-care, health-related quality of life, and social capital. Baby boomers were using the DOC to increase their knowledge to improve self-care and for emotional support. The DOC was used in adjunct to, not in place of, regular healthcare visits to fill gaps in tacit knowledge and support. Baby boomer participants valued the wisdom of experienced individuals, "diabetes elders." Participants employed a process to find credible health information through the guidance of peers. Overall, DOC users found the DOC to be helpful with very little harm reported, suggesting DOC use is beneficial with low risk. Finally, DOC users found information from their healthcare providers to be more competent and trustworthy than information from the DOC, indicating DOC users still find their healthcare providers valuable. The findings from this research are promising. DOC users engage in a reciprocal process of sharing diabetes related experiences, encouraging knowledge attainment and support. Peer health in a naturally occurring online environment has the capacity to augment the traditional healthcare model by providing health information and peer support conveniently and at a low cost

Inspired: The Burton D. Morgan Foundation 2013 Annual Report

The Burton D. Morgan Foundation celebrates 2013 as the year of the mentor. The practice of mentorship across the region has become the critical link that connects experienced talent with entrepreneurially minded people of all ages who seek guidance and networks. Our 2013 annual report focuses on the dynamic relationships that have flourished between mentors and their mentees across Northeast Ohio. We hope their stories will be an inspiration to our readers as we recognize the contributions of mentors and advisors who are devoting their time and energy to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams and simultaneously make our region a better place for all of us

Social media in collaborative learning in higher education : a qualitative case study of teachers’ and students’ views

In this study, it was investigated how social media are used in collaborative learning in higher education and also how it can be better used in teaching and learning according to the students and teachers. The research questions of this study were: 1) How social media are used in collaborative learning by the teachers and students in higher education for educational purposes? 2) How could social media be used in collaborative learning process in higher education, according to the students and teachers? Qualitative interviews were conducted to collect the data from ten students and five teachers from the different faculties of University of Lapland and Lapland University of Applied Sciences. In conclusion it was found that, social media were not much used in collaboration with teachers by the students of both institutions. In case of teachers, it was found that all of them were using social media in their collaborative ways of teaching design and they have found social media as useful tool to deliver their teaching. Most of the students and all the teachers found social media to be useful in their teaching and learning. But there were also some challenges faced and areas of improvements identified by them. Thus the higher educational institutions should understand the importance of using social media in teaching and learning and take initiatives to overcome the current challenges identified by the students and teachers

Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites

Analyzes survey findings about how teenagers navigate the world of "digital citizenship," including experiences of, reactions to, and sources of advice about online cruelty; privacy controls and practices; and levels of parental regulation

Smartphones

Many of the research approaches to smartphones actually regard them as more or less transparent points of access to other kinds of communication experiences. That is, rather than considering the smartphone as something in itself, the researchers look at how individuals use the smartphone for their communicative purposes, whether these be talking, surfing the web, using on-line data access for off-site data sources, downloading or uploading materials, or any kind of interaction with social media. They focus not so much on the smartphone itself but on the activities that people engage in with their smartphones

Outlaw Community Innovations

Recent studies of outlaw communities provide qualitative evidence of their existence and the organisation of the underlying innovation processes. We provide descriptive results from a large scale survey of two online outlaw communities focussing on Microsoft's XBox. In line with previous findings, we identify two types of participants in outlaw communities - user innovators and adopters. Based on 2,256 responses, we find that users modify their XBox mainly to be able to increase the set of available functions of their XBox. Users are also motivated to modify their XBox for the sake of having fun and to conduct pirate behaviour. Finally, the results from our survey suggest that user innovators are largely intrinsically motivated by fun and the intellectual stimulation of writing code for homebrew software

The Efficacy Of A Novel Facebook-Based Psychosocial Intervention For Adults With Chronic Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Social networking-based groups such as Facebook groups have become increasingly popular among people with chronic conditions, and the affordances of such groups make them a promising platform for chronic disease intervention. Yet, there have been few controlled tests of the effects of social networking-based groups. Our team developed a Facebook-based intervention that focuses on enhancing social support by connecting adults with peers who also have chronic pain. Using a randomized controlled clinical trial, we aimed to understand the efficacy of this intervention and to explore whether a professional-led support group leads to greater effects than a support group alone. The study sample included 119 adults with chronic nonmalignant pain. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (1) a control condition (peer-led Facebook group; n = 60) in which participants were instructed to offer mutual support for the duration of the group and (2) an experimental condition (professional-led Facebook group; n = 59) in which the investigators disseminated several training components that were selected based on research on social and emotional influences on pain. Participants engaged in their assigned Facebook group for four weeks and completed a battery of measures at baseline, weekly, post-intervention, and 1-month follow-up. Across conditions, participants showed significant reductions in pain severity, pain interference, and depressive symptoms after participating in their Facebook groups for four weeks (medium to large effects). Participants retained their outcomes one month after the Facebook groups ended, and those in the professional-led Facebook groups continued to improve significantly in pain interference. The overall sample did not show significant reductions in anxiety symptoms at post-intervention or 1-month follow-up, but greater Facebook group use was associated with lower anxiety at post-intervention. Between-group analyses showed no significant differences between conditions at post-intervention or 1-month follow-up. Findings from this study indicate that Facebook-based support groups may be beneficial and enjoyable for adults with chronic pain, particularly those who feel unsupported or invalidated by friends and family, are ambivalent about expressing emotions, and have chronic primary pain. There was little evidence of adverse events. Thus, this study supports the use of Facebook-based support groups as an additional tool to address chronic pain and its impact on mood and functioning. Quality improvement studies are needed to enhance and test this novel experimental intervention, which could potentially reduce barriers to treatment for this critical public health problem