32,630 research outputs found

    How authentic should a learning context be? Using real and simulated profiles in a classroom intervention to improve safety on social network sites

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    With the rise of social network sites (SNSs), there is an increasing need for safety education within the current cyber society. To this end, a variety of educational materials have been developed to prepare children to be vigilant when interacting on such sites. However, little is known about the critical design aspects necessary to make these materials effective. In this study, we build on the results of two previous studies, in which we found that general instructional principles drawn from constructivism, such as collaborative learning, are not always appropriate to teach children how to behave safely online. This study therefore focuses on the importance of authentic learning and active learning as critical design features. A quasi-experimental study was conducted in secondary schools in order to compare the impact of two classroom interventions about the risks on SNSs. As part of the intervention, students were presented scaffolds towards different risks related to an SNS-profile through a series of questions. In the control condition, these questions concerned a simulated SNS-profile on paper containing signs of many risks. In the experimental condition, students had to answer the same questions about their own SNS-profile on a computer. It was hypothesized that the simulated profile would not be experienced as realistic, and that students would have difficulties identifying with it. On the other hand, teenagers were expected to be able to recognize more risks on the simulated ‘worst-case scenario’ profile than on their own profile, which would facilitate the scaffolding process in the control condition. The results of the study mostly confirmed these hypotheses. Furthermore, the question arose as to whether the intervention based on the student’s own rea listic profile was educationally more valuable than the intervention based on the simulated profile, but no such added value was found. On the contrary, the scaffolding questions about the simulated profile were found to be more effective in teaching the teenagers about the different categories of risks that were tackled. Based on these findings, the importance of an authentic setting was put into perspective. Within the context of a classroom intervention to promote safety on SNSs, the exercise based on the simulated SNS-profile is put forward as the more effective teaching strategy

    Slut shaming, girl power and sexualisation : Thinking through the politics of the international SlutWalks with teen girls

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    This viewpoint begins by exploring whether the global phenomenon of the 2011 ‘SlutWalks’ constitutes a feminist politics of re-signification. We then look at some qualitative, focus group data with teen girls who participated in a UK SlutWalk. We suggest girls are not only negotiating a schizoid double pull towards performing knowing sexy ‘slut’ in postfeminist media contexts, but also managing de-sexualising protectionist discourses in school, particularly in relation to the highly regulatory moral panic over child ‘sexualistion’. We consider whether the SlutWalks are adult-centric and if teen girls’ involvement in a SlutWalk offered any critical rupturings to sexual regulation in their everyday lives

    Imaging, Keyboarding, and Posting Identities: Young People and New Media Technologies

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    Part of the Volume on Youth, Identity, and Digital Media Clicking, posting, and text messaging their way through a shifting digital landscape, young people are bending and blending genres, incorporating old ideas, activities, and images into new bricolages, changing the face, if not the substance, of social interaction and altering how they see themselves and each other. From data collected in Britain, Canada, and South Africa, we have selected cases that involve a range of technologies and contexts, from adult-mediated activities in schools and community centers to spontaneous media production done in private at home. Whether it be postings on websites, improvisations in video production, or the incorporation of objects in a multi-media presentation, these cases illustrate that, like digital cultural production, identity processes are multifaceted and in flux, constructed and deconstructed through a process of bricolage that we label as "identities-in-action." Analysis of the cases reveals certain shared features of digital production that contribute to identities-in-action: the "constructedness" of production, the collective and social aspects of individual productions, the neglected but crucial element of embodiment, the reflexivity and negotiation involved in producing and consuming one's own images, the creativity in media convergence, and the value of constructivist models of learning

    The Influence of the Media on the Epidemic of Eating Disorders in the United States

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    There is an epidemic happening in the United States. It is highly visible, yet it is still largely ignored. It affects women ninety percent of the time but can also affect men, and has been seen recently in younger and younger people (Hesse-Biber et al., 2006). It is an epidemic of eating disorders, and anyone who has lived through the past few decades can see that it has gotten worse. This paper will discuss several ways in which our society has contributed to the increase in eating disorders, namely in the use of visual portrayals of extremely thin women, the proliferation of weight-loss advertising, and the effect of these on one’s immediate socio-cultural network in continuing the obsession with weight. I will focus on women in this paper, though that is not to discount the men who are afflicted with eating disorders. In fact, eating disorders are increasingly affecting men and it is a very serious issue. It is a topic that deserves much more research and comparison with women’s experiences. I will conclude this paper by discussing ways in which we might reverse this epidemic and what is already being done to prevent and eventually end eating disorders

    Is Advertising to Teenagers Ethical? Media’s Influence on Body Image and Behavior

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    An examination of the ethics involved in advertising to adolescents. Specifically, a content analysis and survey research was conducted dealing with how television commercials and magazine advertisements targeted towards males ultimately affect female body image and behavior. The content analysis consisted of Axe Body Spray advertisements, as well as Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit Edition. Findings of survey research include increased body monitoring as a result of exposure to advertisements. Implications and future opportunities are discussed

    When Insiders Become Outsiders: Parental Objections to Public School Sex Education Programs

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    This Note argues that parents\u27 fundamental right to direct their children\u27s moral and educational upbringing includes the right to exempt their children from objectionable sex education programs in public schools. Schools usurp parents\u27 fundamental rights when they unilaterally introduce children to topics of human sexuality without parental notice or permission. Alleged violations of these rights merit strict scrutiny review from courts. When parents\u27 objections are confined to discrete, tangible events, parents are constitutionally entitled to exempt their children from objectionable activities. The efficacy of this constitutional relief is more limited, however, when parental objections are pervasive and unassociated with a particular aspect of the school\u27s program or curriculum

    Behind Valencia: A Contemporary Play

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    SYNOPSIS The purpose of this play is to highlight the length that modern females go to in order to maintain a desired appearance, especially across social media. These desired appearances are influenced by the glamorous and unrealistic looks and physiques that are prevalent in the media. Essentially, the primary goal of these characters is to attract the attention of their male counterparts because of the gender roles society promotes. This shallow lifestyle can be completely consuming for impressionable, young females

    Shush: A Creative (Re)Construction

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    Shush: A Creative (Re)Construction stems from work conducted during a sabbatical in fall 2017. The audio piece, Shush Me Awake, is a composition that explores the shush as a performative act. The accompanying framing essay uses an autoethnographic approach to provide a contextualized look at the composition process for this piece, while simultaneously situating it within existing scholarship in library and information studies on the image of the librarian and stereotypes. The composer notes provide additional technical details about the audio piece itself

    She\u27s Sold: Persuading American Women Through Advertising

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    This study attempted to analyze the effects of an advertising campaign on American women in to illustrate that these women are vastly unaware of just how influential advertising is on their thoughts and actions. It aimed to make women more aware of the presence of advertising in their lives by giving a brief history of the subject, by outlining some current claims in the field, and by introducing a new concept known as shared gender culture. To follow up on secondary research, this study also conducted an experiment on thirty-four women ages eighteen to fifty-five to discover their reactions to a new, never seen advertising campaign for beef. The study attempted to persuade and analyze the effects of persuasion. The study was conducted by survey and asked women their thoughts on and uses of beef before and after revealing the entire print campaign to them. Results showed that half of the participants were not persuaded by the campaign at all through their first and only viewing of it; 26.5% of the women consider themselves entirely invulnerable to advertising persuasion at all. Many women showed great distrust for claims in advertisements, calling them false. Those who did admit to persuasion did so out of a desire to be sexy, happy, healthy, and nurturing to others
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