7,961 research outputs found
On the discovery of social roles in large scale social systems
The social role of a participant in a social system is a label
conceptualizing the circumstances under which she interacts within it. They may
be used as a theoretical tool that explains why and how users participate in an
online social system. Social role analysis also serves practical purposes, such
as reducing the structure of complex systems to rela- tionships among roles
rather than alters, and enabling a comparison of social systems that emerge in
similar contexts. This article presents a data-driven approach for the
discovery of social roles in large scale social systems. Motivated by an
analysis of the present art, the method discovers roles by the conditional
triad censuses of user ego-networks, which is a promising tool because they
capture the degree to which basic social forces push upon a user to interact
with others. Clusters of censuses, inferred from samples of large scale network
carefully chosen to preserve local structural prop- erties, define the social
roles. The promise of the method is demonstrated by discussing and discovering
the roles that emerge in both Facebook and Wikipedia. The article con- cludes
with a discussion of the challenges and future opportunities in the discovery
of social roles in large social systems
Rhetorical moves and identity performance in online child sexual abuse interactions
Online child sexual abuse (OCSA) is a pervasive problem facilitated by the anonymity afforded to offenders online. From a largely social constructionist perspective, this thesis explores linguistic expressions of identity by participants across a range of OCSA interactions, including offenders and suspected offenders, victims, and undercover police officers. The thesis is structured around three individual studies, each involving a different abusive interaction type. Each study employs Swalesâ (1981; 1990) move analysis framework, exploring how participants use rhetorical moves as a resource for identity performance. Study 1 concerns a convicted offender who strategically cycled through numerous adopted personas when interacting with victims online. It considers his performance of various identity positions through his use of rhetorical moves across different personas. One persona is found to diverge significantly from the rest, and is identified as a possible reflection of the offenderâs âhome identityâ. Study 2 considers interactions between suspected offenders and undercover police officers posing as offenders. It compares the participantsâ move use and explores linguistic realisations of supportive exchanges, finding that aside a few notable differences, undercover officers perform the offender identity similarly to genuine suspected offenders. Study 3 explores dark web forum posts authored by ânewbiesâ attempting to join existing online communities of suspected offenders. It examines the identity positions performed in the posts and considers how positions of competence and expertise contribute to the persuasive process of seeking membership into online offending communities. Taking findings from these studies, the thesis discusses the possible contributions of move analysis to OCSA research and how rhetorical moves are used as a resource for identity performance, and offers an approach to identity analysis based on rhetorical moves. It concludes by arguing for move analysis as a useful goal-centred approach to identity investigation and describes potential implications of this work for law-enforcement, education and research
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Interim evaluation of lifelong learning networks
The Open University's Centre for Higher Education Research and Information was commissioned in June 2007 to undertake a formative evaluation of Lifelong Learning Networks (LLNs). Research to inform the interim evaluation has been two-fold:
desk research of LLN documentation and
visits to and interviews with personnel involved in eight LLNs.
The report's main conclusion was that LLNs are making progress in terms of encouraging institutions to offer curricula and put in place procedures that, in the fullness of time, could make a significant difference to the coherence, clarity and certainty of progression opportunities for vocational learners. However, it went on to say that it is too soon to be able to make substantive and well-evidenced statements about LLNs' overall progress on meeting this overarching objective of the LLN initiative
From âotherâ to involved: User involvement in research: An emerging paradigm
This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2013 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.This article explores the issue of âotheringâ service users and the role that involving them, particularly in social policy and social work research may play in reducing this. It takes, as its starting point, the concept of âsocial exclusionâ, which has developed in Europe and the marginal role that those who have been included in this construct have played in its development and the damaging effects this may have. The article explores service user involvement in research and is itself written from a service user perspective. It pays particular attention to the ideological, practical, theoretical, ethical and methodological issues that such user involvement may raise for research. It examines problems that both research and user involvement may give rise to and also considers developments internationally to involve service users/subjects of research, highlighting some of the possible implications and gains of engaging service user knowledge in research and the need for this to be evaluated
Chapter 5: Evaluation
The OTiS (Online Teaching in Scotland) programme, run by the now defunct Scotcit programme, ran an International e-Workshop on Developing Online Tutoring Skills which was held between 8â12 May 2000. It was organised by HeriotâWatt University, Edinburgh and The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK. Out of this workshop came the seminal Online Tutoring E-Book, a generic primer on e-learning pedagogy and methodology, full of practical implementation guidelines. Although the Scotcit programme ended some years ago, the E-Book has been copied to the SONET site as a series of PDF files, which are now available via the ALT Open Access Repository. The editor, Carol Higgison, is currently working in e-learning at the University of Bradford (see her staff profile) and is the Chair of the Association for Learning Technology (ALT)
Communicating Climate Change In Internet Discussion Fora: Processes and Implications
Communicating climate change issues in the Internet era requires new strategies
that incorporate online communication. The rapid growth of new media and
widespread use of the internet has marked everyday lifestyles in modern society.
Information on a wide range of social issues, including climate change, is
disseminated and debated through online discussions in internet fora.
In this research, communication on internet fora and other potential forms of
online social interaction are explored, to identify ways to enhance climate change
communication on the Internet. The thesis raises three research questions to explore
the communication context of internet fora discussion, namely: what are
characteristics of the communication process on internet fora? Who is involved in the
communication process? What influences do these online communication activities
have on usersâ everyday activities? The research applies a mixed-methods approach of
analysing the usage of Internet fora and the contents of fora communication activities
to explore these questions. This includes qualitative reviews of topic-thread
discussions to reveal usersâ roles in discussions, as well as surveys of fora users. It is
argued that with increasing levels of interaction among communicators (people who
post or reply to articles in order to express or respond ideas) on internet fora, these
communicators are mobilised to join the online discussion process, competing for
opinion leadership. The online discussions further contribute to the formation of
opinions on climate change, as climate change and related issues are discussed The
thesis thereby aims to contribute to the development of effective approaches for
opinion formation and climate change communication online, and to encourage
individuals to discuss changing behaviour patterns and public engagement of
greenhouse gas reduction actions
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