Affective feedback: an investigation into the role of emotions in the information seeking process

User feedback is considered to be a critical element in the information seeking process, especially in relation to relevance assessment. Current feedback techniques determine content relevance with respect to the cognitive and situational levels of interaction that occurs between the user and the retrieval system. However, apart from real-life problems and information objects, users interact with intentions, motivations and feelings, which can be seen as critical aspects of cognition and decision-making. The study presented in this paper serves as a starting point to the exploration of the role of emotions in the information seeking process. Results show that the latter not only interweave with different physiological, psychological and cognitive processes, but also form distinctive patterns, according to specific task, and according to specific user

Cross Cultural Transition Success: Personality Variables Influencing Cross-Cultural Transitions According to the Perceptions of a Population of Third Culture Kids

Cross-cultural transitions are often difficult for individuals of any background, and are associated with such difficulties as missing friends and family, ignorance of one’s home culture, culture shock, and cultural homelessness. These issues have led researchers to seek out those factors that are common to resilient individuals. Third Culture Kids are a unique population that commonly experiences periods of adjustment and transition, and are a focus of this study. From the literature, several protective trait-based features have been identified: self-efficacy, self-esteem, extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, social connectedness, ethnic identity, cross-cultural identity, emotional stability, and cultural flexibility. Using self-report survey responses from a sample of TCKs at a large, private university, it was determined that self-efficacy, agreeableness, and cultural flexibility were self-identified as important for making successful cross-cultural transitions, while ethnic identity, cross-cultural identity, and extroversion were not considered as important. Self-efficacy, social connectedness, and cultural flexibility were considered critically important, while ethnic identity and cross-culture had minimal importance. These results, though having limited generalizability, could be useful to laypeople and mental health professionals seeking to meet the needs of TCKs, and for parents seeking to raise resilient TCKs

Youth and Digital Media: From Credibility to Information Quality

Building upon a process-and context-oriented information quality framework, this paper seeks to map and explore what we know about the ways in which young users of age 18 and under search for information online, how they evaluate information, and how their related practices of content creation, levels of new literacies, general digital media usage, and social patterns affect these activities. A review of selected literature at the intersection of digital media, youth, and information quality -- primarily works from library and information science, sociology, education, and selected ethnographic studies -- reveals patterns in youth's information-seeking behavior, but also highlights the importance of contextual and demographic factors both for search and evaluation. Looking at the phenomenon from an information-learning and educational perspective, the literature shows that youth develop competencies for personal goals that sometimes do not transfer to school, and are sometimes not appropriate for school. Thus far, educational initiatives to educate youth about search, evaluation, or creation have depended greatly on the local circumstances for their success or failure

Resilience, Acculturative Stress, and Family Norms Against Disclosure of Mental Health Problems Among Foreign-Born Filipino American Women

The present study explores the relationships between resilience, acculturative stress, and family norms against disclosure of mental health problems among foreign-born Filipino American women. The sample consisted of 159 foreign-born Filipino American women aged 18 years and above and residing in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Participants completed paper-and-pencil questionnaires. Results indicated high levels of resilience and moderate levels of acculturative stress. Findings also showed a significant negative correlation between resilience and acculturative stress, and a significant predictive effect of resilience on acculturative stress. We also found a significant negative relationship between resilience and family norms against disclosure of mental health problems but no significant mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between acculturative stress and family norms. This lack of significant findings related to the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between acculturative stress and family norms against disclosure of mental illness may be due to the absence of theoretical models and research regarding the role of resilience in the context of acculturation among Filipino American women. Our findings imply the need to further explore underlying mechanisms that explain the relationships between resilience, acculturative stress, and family norms. The findings of the study also confirm the need to develop interventions and resources that ameliorate acculturative stress and promote an increase of the disclosure and reporting of mental health problems among Filipino American women

Which affects affect the use of new technologies? Italian adaptation of the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A) and criterion validity with problematic use and body dissatisfaction

Given the negative role of problematic use of new technological devices (NTD) in behavioral and psychological domains, the aim of the study is the Italian adaptation and validation of the Internet Motive Questionnaire for Adolescents (IMQ-A) in order to understand the motivation for the use of NTD. A total of 769 students 10-19 aged (M = 13.22, SD = 1.56) completed the IMQ-A, the Collins Figures Rating Scale, and two measures regarding the problematic NTD use, focused on overuse during the night and during meals. The IMQ-A showed adequate internal consistency with regard to its four subscales: Coping (α = .84), Social (α = .80), Enhancement (α = .80), and Conformity (α = .68) motives. However, with regard to factorial structure, a threefactor model (excluding Conformity subscale) showed slightly better fit indices than the original model. Coping motive was correlated with problematic NTD use and succeeded in predicting higher scores in body dissatisfaction as evidence of criterion-related and external validity. The Italian adaptation of the IMQ-A can be useful in both research and clinical fields, in order to propose alternative strategies for coping to users and to improve emotion regulation facets

Negotiating reality as an approach to intercultural competence

In an increasingly global business environment, managers must interact effectively with people who have different values, behavioral norms, and ways of perceiving reality. Many jobs now entail an international dimension, so the need to develop intercultural competences has taken on a greater importance for more people in business than ever before. Intercultural competence is the ability to recognize and use cultural differences as a resource for learning and for generating effective responses in specific contexts. We conceive of this as negotiating reality. The approach draws on concepts from international management, sociology, crosscultural psychology, action science and conflict resolution. -- In einer zunehmend globalisierten Umwelt müssen Führungskräfte immer häufiger mit Menschen aus anderen Kulturen zusammenzuarbeiten, die unterschiedliche Wertevorstellungen haben, verschiedene Verhaltensnormen pflegen und ihre jeweils eigene Wahrnehmung der Realität haben. Damit steigt der Bedarf an interkultureller Kompetenz, der Fähigkeit, kulturelle Unterschiede als Lernressourcen zu erkennen und für die jeweilige Situation adäquate Lösungen zu erarbeiten und einzusetzen. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt einen innovativen Ansatz, den wir negotiating reality nennen, der sich aus unterschiedlichen Theoriebereichen, u.a. dem internationalen Management, der Soziologie, der interkulturellen Psychologie, und der Konfliktforschung speist.

Korean Transnational Students’ School Adjustment: An Ecological Perspective

This research explored Korean early study abroad students’ school adjustment in the U.S., as well as how their microsystems (family, peer, school) affect their experiences. To understand their experience, we posed two research questions: 1) What are Korean early study abroad students’ experience like in adjusting to American middle schools? and 2) How do these students’ microsystems (family, peer, and school) affect their experiences in the process of adjustment? Four Korean early study abroad students participated in a collective case study. Each student was interviewed three times and observed in both their content area and ESL classes. All students described tremendous challenges in adjusting to their new school in the U.S. Specifically, their challenges were pertaining to different aspects of learning experiences as well as school belonging. While their limited English proficiency was a primary factor in these challenges, a lack of support from their peers, parents, teachers and school also seemed to affect their school adjustment. Moreover, findings indicated disconnections among their microsystems, contributing to a lack of support in their school adjustment

"The dearest of our possessions": applying Floridi's information privacy concept in models of information behavior and information literacy

This conceptual paper argues for the value of an approach to privacy in the digital information environment informed by Luciano Floridi's philosophy of information and information ethics. This approach involves achieving informational privacy, through the features of anonymity and obscurity, through an optimal balance of ontological frictions. This approach may be used to modify models for information behavior and for information literacy, giving them a fuller and more effective coverage of privacy issues in the infosphere. For information behavior, the Information Seeking and Communication Model, and the Information Grounds conception, are most appropriate for this purpose. For information literacy, the metaliteracy model, using a modification a privacy literacy framework, is most suitable

Intercultural New Media Studies: The Next Frontier in intercultural Communication

New media (ICT\u27s) are transforming communication across cultures. Despite this revolution in cross cultural contact, communication researchers have largely ignored the impact of new media on intercultural communication. This groundbreaking article defines the parameters of a new field of inquiry called Intercultural New Media Studies (INMS), which explores the intersection between ICT\u27s and intercultural communication. Composed of two research areas—(1) new media and intercultural communication theory and (2) culture and new media—INMS investigates new digital theories of intercultural contact as well as refines and expands twentieth-century intercultural communication theories, examining their salience in a digital world. INMS promises to increase our understanding of intercultural communication in a new media age and is the next frontier in intercultural communication