2,369 research outputs found

    When Law Frees Us to Speak

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    A central aim of online abuse is to silence victims. That effort is as regrettable as it is successful. In the face of cyberharassment and sexualprivacy invasions, women and marginalized groups retreat from online engagement. These documented chilling effects, however, are not inevitable. Beyond its deterrent function, the law has an equally important expressive role. In this Article, we highlight law’s capacity to shape social norms and behavior through education. We focus on a neglected dimension of law’s expressive role: its capacity to empower victims to express their truths and engage with others. Our argument is theoretical and empirical. We present new empirical research showing cyberharassment law’s salutary effects on women’s online expression. We then consider the implications of those findings for victims of sexual-privacy invasions

    Cyberfeminism: A Relationship between Cyberspace, Technology, and the Internet

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    The current of cyberfeminism has been active for 30 years now, also referred to as the “third wave” of feminism. Despite being an ambiguous and multifaceted movement involving multiple instances, cyberfeminism is represented in the imagination by women with strong knowledge of media and digital technologies. The purpose of this article is to analyze the socially and culturally constructed value that the media assume in this movement. The very concept of identity is undergoing a phenomenon of control whereby it is redefined by “control grids” (D. Haraway) that prevent free access to participation in life on the web. The utopian theories of feminists actually alternate with fundamental gender analyses within cyberspace that determine the amount of access to resources. The last phase of this phenomenon is instead characterized by the intent to break down gender inequalities through a series of digital products that produce changes in common perceptions: online magazines, YouTube channels, webinars, and entrepreneurship actions on the web. New media and, more generally, access to information are fundamental to social and political participation, in which the phenomenon of exclusion or production of inequalities is more visible. Gender divisions on the web also reinforce sociocultural barriers and sometimes create regressive and destructive forms of social bonds. Globalization also affects these dynamics and accentuates exaggerated forms of individualism and cognitive stiffening, which further accentuate the distinctive traits of gender inequalities in cyberspace

    Virtual Dance and Motion-Capture

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    A general view of various ways in which virtual dance can be understood is presented in the first part of this article. It then appraises the uses of the term “virtual” in previous studies of digital dance. A more in-depth view of virtual dance as it relates to motion-capture is offered, and key issues are discussed regarding computer animation, digital imaging, motion signature, virtual reality and interactivity. The paper proposes that some forms of virtual dance be defined in relation to both digital technologies and contemporary theories of virtuality

    A Review of Qualitative Research Groups in Web 2.0 Social Networking Communities: Prepare to Be Amused, Inspired, and Even Blown Away

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    The presence of qualitative research groups on Web 2.0 social networking applications, like Facebook, has continued to grow. These groups are self organizing systems of people interested in particular aspects of qualitative research. Many of these qualitative research groups have companion internet websites and some also have companion YouTube channels, creating a very strong cyber presence. While visitors to these groups are encouraged to evaluate their quality for themselves, in general, the groups provide accessibility and good information for practitioners, students, and teachers of qualitative research alike. Most importantly, a number of these online qualitative research groups can serve as incubators for innovation for both the group members and visitors to the groups

    No dust in cyberspace?: the effects of internet technology on perceptions of archives

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    Drawing on research into digital technologies and their effects on society and archives, as well as research on the public image of archives, this thesis examines whether technological changes, specifically the Internet, have had any effects on public perceptions of archives and if so to determine the nature of those effects. It relies on a survey to measure possible effects of Internet technology on perceptions of archives. Findings suggest that there are a number of ways in which the Internet may be affecting perceptions of archives, including prompting both increased expectations for the provision of digital information and materials and also a decrease in the perceived accessibility and value of archives; adding possible definitions for what may be considered an archive ; changing which tasks people associate most strongly with archives; and altering which stereotypes people are most likely to associate with archives. Responses also suggest that there are a number of influences besides the Internet which may affect the stereotypes applied to archives

    Witnessing the Web: The Rhetoric of American E-Vangelism and Persuasion Online

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    From the distribution of religious tracts at Ellis Island and Billy Sunday’s radio messages to televised recordings of the Billy Graham Crusade and Pat Robertson’s 700 Club, American evangelicals have long made a practice of utilizing mass media to spread the Gospel. Most recently, these Christian evangelists have gone online. As a contribution to scholarship in religious rhetoric and media studies, this dissertation offers evangelistic websites as a case study into the ways persuasion is carried out on the Internet. Through an analysis of digital texts—including several evangelical home pages, a chat room, discussion forums, and a virtual church—I investigate how conversion is encouraged via web design and virtual community as well as how the Internet medium impacts the theology and rhetorical strategies of web evangelists. I argue for “persuasive architecture” and “persuasive communities”—web design on the fundamental level of interface layout and tightly-controlled restrictions on discourse and community membership—as key components of this strategy. In addition, I argue that evangelical ideology has been influenced by the web medium and that a “digital reformation” is taking place in the church, one centered on a move away from the Prosperity Gospel of televangelism to a Gospel focused on God as divine problem-solver and salvation as an uncomplicated, individualized, and instantaneously-rewarding experience, mimicking Web 2.0 users’ desire for quick, timely, and effective answers to all queries. This study simultaneously illuminates the structural and fundamental levels of design through which the web persuades as well as how—as rhetoricians from Plato’s King Thamus to Marshall McLuhan have recognized—media inevitably shapes the message and culture of its users

    Cyber-Bullying Portrayals in the News Media

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    Cyber-bullying is a phenomenon that is widely studied. Researches have examined the characteristics of perpetrators and victims, impacts of cyber-bullying on both the victims and offenders, the development and application of law and the development of programs to stem cyber-bullying. Despite a great amount of research dedicated to these aforementioned areas, studies examining the portrayal of cyber-bullying by news media outlets are rare. An understanding of this portrayal is important as the news media is a significant source of public opinions about a vast array of topics in society. As such, the goal of the present research is to provide both a quantitative and qualitative understanding of the ways in which newspaper articles discuss the phenomenon of cyber-bullying among middle school students in the United States

    Cyber-Bullying Portrayals in the News Media

    Get PDF
    Cyber-bullying is a phenomenon that is widely studied. Researches have examined the characteristics of perpetrators and victims, impacts of cyber-bullying on both the victims and offenders, the development and application of law and the development of programs to stem cyber-bullying. Despite a great amount of research dedicated to these aforementioned areas, studies examining the portrayal of cyber-bullying by news media outlets are rare. An understanding of this portrayal is important as the news media is a significant source of public opinions about a vast array of topics in society. As such, the goal of the present research is to provide both a quantitative and qualitative understanding of the ways in which newspaper articles discuss the phenomenon of cyber-bullying among middle school students in the United States

    The Chronicle [April 4, 1995]

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    The Chronicle, April 4, 1995https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/chron/4124/thumbnail.jp

    All Hail Helix: The Internet’s Role in the Creation of Culture and Narrative

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