Is Web Content a Good Proxy for Real-Life Interaction?

International audience—Today, many people spend a lot of time online. Their social interactions captured in online social networks are an important part of the overall personal social profile, in addition to interactions taking place offline. This paper investigates whether relations captured by online social networks can be used as a proxy for the relations in offline social networks, such as networks of human face-to-face (F2F) proximity and coauthorship networks. Particularly, the paper focuses on interactions of computer scientists in online settings (homepages, social networks profiles and connections) and offline settings (scientific collaboration, face-to-face communications during the conferences). We focus on quantitative studies and investigate the structural similarities and correlations of the induced networks; in addition, we analyze implications between networks. Finally, we provide a qualitative user analysis to find characteristics of good and bad proxies

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe current study examined over 3000 visual images on the homepages of 234 National University to determine how power relations are depicted. Using a hybrid methodology of grounded theory, critical discursive analysis, and facial prominence scoring, the work culminates in a theory: The (Im)Balanced Theory of College Identity Formation Online. The theory holds that colleges used different tactics, strategies, and resources when depicting various subject positions on their homepages

Studying Similarities and Differences in Higher Education Organisations based on their Websites – Comparative Methodological Approaches and Research Potential

This article discusses the possible ways in which visual research methodologies can be extended and applied to study similarities and differences in higher education institutions (and systems) in the context of the visual and digital turn in social science methodologies. The article focuses on the methodological potential of the institutional website analysis as a fruitful approach in comparative higher education research. The article futher focuses on two specific comparative methodological issues: different purposes of comparisons and different organisational aspects which can be compared. The review of the current state of research based on university websites found that the analyses are largely cross-sectional and focused on issues related to institutional identities and positioning of individual self-identities towards institutions as well as on representations of different types of students. Organisational aspects of structure and hierarchies, disciplinary differences, leadership and management cultures, organisational aesthetics as well studies which focus on the representation of non-student groups of university members, are rare and represent potential research frontiers. Most of the reviewed articles are guided by linear causal explanation logic, while other comparative purposes like a better description, critique and provision of alternative explanations are less present and potentially could lead to a better understanding of higher education

Refusing a Spoiled Identity: How the Swinger Community Represents on the Web

This dissertation examines whether and how Websites provide a way for the unique community of swingers, also called Lifestylers, to represent a new (and revise an old) deviant identity without risk to their social and employment standing. Unlike many marginalized social groups who publically rally, swingers have had to take advantage of virtual space to safely appeal to their audiences. The time period studied includes the history of the swingers spoiled identity via academy articles, newspaper headlines, and moral turpitude clauses from the 1950s to the current use of the Web to showcase swingers and their clubs. The study used visual and linguistic rhetorical analysis and swingers\u27 use of rhetorical refusals to examine one-hundred screen shots collected in 2012. One hundred Web pages from twenty-five swing club Websites served as a case study. Two analytical strategies were employed: (1) a qualitative analysis of five linguistic and 12 visual design characteristics and (2) a search for rhetorical refusals, both of the kind previously identified by Schilb and possible new refusal types. The analysis clarified the process by which a Web presence allows previously silenced subgroups to transform social structures and the constraints they face in doing so. In essence, this dissertation challenges the argument that subgroups remain shamed and private if they differ from standard societal behaviors. Some see these groups as detrimental to society\u27s well-being, but that power differential can be undone when counter public groups use the Internet to publically challenge that presumption with an alternative perspective. The findings not only show swingers\u27 deliberate, rhetorical efforts to entice new members through appealing Websites about the Lifestyle, but also demonstrate how such Websites can propel social change as swingers defy socially social expectations to remain invisible, frame themselves as good people, and take the opportunity to redefine desire, monogamy, and loyalty

The Effect of Social Networking on Grief

Death and loss are complicated issues. They are further complicated by the Internet and the increased usage of social media; however, there is little research on the effects of social media on grief. This project\u27s goal was to gather information about grieving via online social networking sites. Data was collected from 20 in memoriam profile webpages on Facebook and MySpace. The deceased were between the ages of six months and 32 years. Results indicate that society is using social media as a form of support and comfort in times of loss

Defining Privacy and Utility in Data Sets

Is it possible to release useful data while preserving the privacy of the individuals whose information is in the database? This question has been the subject of considerable controversy, particularly in the wake of well-publicized instances in which researchers showed how to re-identify individuals in supposedly anonymous data. Some have argued that privacy and utility are fundamentally incompatible, while others have suggested that simple steps can be taken to achieve both simultaneously. Both sides have looked to the computer science literature for support. What the existing debate has overlooked, however, is that the relationship between privacy and utility depends crucially on what one means by privacy and what one means by utility. Apparently contradictory results in the computer science literature can be explained by the use of different definitions to formalize these concepts. Without sufficient attention to these definitional issues, it is all too easy to overgeneralize the technical results. More importantly, there are nuances to how definitions of privacy and utility can differ from each other, nuances that matter for why a definition that is appropriate in one context may not be appropriate in another. Analyzing these nuances exposes the policy choices inherent in the choice of one definition over another and thereby elucidates decisions about whether and how to regulate data privacy across varying social context

The International Review | 2005 Fall

Interpreting the U.S. Constitution via International Law? Legal Efforts Against Terrorist Financing: Opportunities and Obstacles The United Nations in Control of the Internet Implosion of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty End of the European Union Constitution? Law School: A cure for foreign competition? While the U.S. barely passes the Central American Free Trade Agreement ... ... the outcome of ongoing WTO talks remains uncertain Undermining the Kyoto Protocol? A WTO open to the public?https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/international_review_newsletter/1015/thumbnail.jp