Understanding social media and identity work in young people transitioning to university

Social media (SM) are a core component of young people's lives and have been researched in relation to relationship building and maintenance. While SM are known to be useful in supporting life transitions for young people, we know little about the specific use patterns or activities associated with social adjustment during the specific transition to university. We explore the use of social media during the student transition to university in relation to theories of social comparison and community building and describe a three stage process which accounts for this transition. Participants move through the stages of affirmation, assimilation and integration similar to other life transitions, but in doing so, we reveal the importance of the intersection between offline and online activities and highlight the benefits and limitations of SM use in this transitional period

From blues to rainbows: the mental health and well-being of gender diverse and transgender young people in Australia

This study of gender diverse and transgender young people reveals high rates of depression, suicidal thoughts and anxiety. Introduction This report is the culmination of many months of engagement across Australia with young people aged between 14 and 25 who have shared their thoughts, understandings, experiences, hopes and dreams with us through an online survey and online interviews. Their narratives are insightful, touching, and hopeful. Young voices have told us how they care for themselves as well as shining a light on how health services, schools, government and policy makers can better serve their needs. This research was designed to expand on findings from previous Australian research with young people that found that gender-questioning and transgender young people not only experienced higher rates of self-harm and suicidal thoughts, but were also more likely to be involved in activism than their cisgender and same-sex attracted peers. This later finding is a potentially positive one and points to the need for research to not only explore the mental health needs of these young people but also the ways in which they advocate and care for themselves in the face of discrimination and abuse

Characterizing Transgender Health Issues in Twitter

Although there are millions of transgender people in the world, a lack of information exists about their health issues. This issue has consequences for the medical field, which only has a nascent understanding of how to identify and meet this population's health-related needs. Social media sites like Twitter provide new opportunities for transgender people to overcome these barriers by sharing their personal health experiences. Our research employs a computational framework to collect tweets from self-identified transgender users, detect those that are health-related, and identify their information needs. This framework is significant because it provides a macro-scale perspective on an issue that lacks investigation at national or demographic levels. Our findings identified 54 distinct health-related topics that we grouped into 7 broader categories. Further, we found both linguistic and topical differences in the health-related information shared by transgender men (TM) as com-pared to transgender women (TW). These findings can help inform medical and policy-based strategies for health interventions within transgender communities. Also, our proposed approach can inform the development of computational strategies to identify the health-related information needs of other marginalized populations

Promoting Prevention, Targeting Teens: An Emerging Agenda to Reduce Domestic Violence

Reviews the history of efforts to respond to domestic violence in the U.S., and defines new strategies -- targeting teens, young parents and their children, and perpetrators -- that place greater emphasis on prevention

Youth Activism and Public Space in Egypt

Examines youth activists' use of virtual and physical public spaces before, during, and after the January 25 Revolution. Profiles three organizations and analyzes the power and limitations of social media to spur civic action, as well as the role of art

Building a new brand community through online media: The transition from print to online platforms at \u3cem\u3eLe 10 Sport\u3c/em\u3e

As online media increasingly assumes dominance in the marketplace, we use the case study of French company Le 10 Sport to explore the complexities associated with transition from print to online media and the impact on brand community. Le 10 Sport is a sport media company that has successfully gone online. As traditional print media outlets are increasingly pressured by the need to abandon existing readerships and go online, the essential question explored in this paper is can a sports media producer build and maintain its brand community while transitioning to the online platform? The findings suggest the transition from print to online was ultimately positive for this company, enabling them to differentiate from competitors and re-position after a tumultuous start. Le 10 Sport’s experience is instructive for seeing how transition to online poses particular challenges for media marketers, particularly those seeking to transition their product and their marketing. Therefore, some general implications are discussed

The role of the “Inter-Life” virtual world as a creative technology to support student transition into higher education

The shape of Higher Education (HE) in the UK and internationally is changing, with wider access policies leading to greater diversity and heterogeneity in contemporary student populations world-wide. Students in the 21st Century are often described as “fragmented”; meaning they are frequently working whilst participating in a full time Degree programme. Consequently, those in the HE setting are required to become “future ready” which increasingly involves the seamless integration of new digital technologies into undergraduate programmes of teaching and learning. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of the “Inter-Life” three-dimensional virtual world as a suitable Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) tool to support the initial stages of transition from school into university. Our results demonstrate that Inter-Life is “fit for purpose” in terms of the robustness of both the educational and technical design features. We have shown that Inter-Life provides a safe space that supports induction mediated by active learning tasks using learner-generated, multi-modal transition tools. In addition, through the provision of private spaces, Inter-Life also supports and fosters the development of critical reflective thinking skills. However, in keeping with the current literature in the field, some of the students expressed a wish for more training in the functional and social skills required to navigate and experience the Inter-Life virtual world more effectively. Such findings resonate with the current debate in the field which challenges the notion of “digital natives”, but the present study has also provided some new evidence to support the role of virtual worlds for the development of a suitable community to support students undergoing transition to university

Imag(in)ing Trans Partnerships: Collaborative Photography and Intimacy

In this peer reviewed journal article, Davidmann argues that collaborative photography offers dynamic potential for imag(in)ing trans* intimate partnerships beyond the authority of textual representation. Davidmann presents five photographic and narrative case studies, spanning a range of trans* partnerships in the UK, to demonstrate some of the complex ways in which bodies, genders, sexualities, and time intersect in trans* intimacy. She argues that the photographs create an imaginative resource, both for the people depicted in the photographs and for those viewing the photographs, providing new possibilities for thinking about trans* partnerships, expanding the ways in which trans intimate partnerships are imag(in)ed, and opening up new spaces of possibility for gender and sexual identities

Online reverse discourses? Claiming a space for trans voices

In recent years, online media have offered to trans people helpful resources to create new political, cultural and personal representations of their biographies. However, the role of these media in the construction of their social and personal identities has seldom been addressed. Drawing on the theoretical standpoint of positioning theory and diatextual discourse analysis, this paper discusses the results of a research project about weblogs created by Italian trans women. In particular, the aim of this study was to describe the ways online resources are used to express different definitions and interpretation of transgenderism, transsexuality and gender transitioning. We identified four main positioning strategies: \u201cTransgender\u201d, \u201cTranssexual before being a woman\u201d, \u201cA woman who was born male\u201d and \u201cJust a normal woman\u201d. We conclude with the political implications of the pluralization of narratives about gender non-conformity. Specifically, we will highlight how aspects of neoliberal discourses have been appropriated and rearticulated in the construction of gendered subjectivities