Tweeting the Mind and Instagramming the Heart: Exploring Differentiated Content Sharing on Social Media

Understanding the usage of multiple OSNs (Online Social Networks) has been of significant research interest as it helps in identifying the unique and distinguishing trait in each social media platform that contributes to its continued existence. The comparison between the OSNs is insightful when it is done based on the representative majority of the users holding active accounts on all the platforms. In this research, we collected a set of user profiles holding accounts on both Twitter and Instagram, these platforms being of prominence among a majority of users. An extensive textual and visual analysis on the media content posted by these users revealed that both these platforms are indeed perceived differently at a fundamental level with Instagram engaging more of the users' heart and Twitter capturing more of their mind. These differences got reflected in almost every microscopic analysis done upon the linguistic, topical and visual aspects.Comment: 4 pages, 8 figure

PLACE Events 2016-2017

This document describes PLACE events at Linfield College for 2016-2017

How do we increase public understanding of the benefits provided by SUDS?

Background to researchRecent Scottish Government policy is to develop Scotland as the world’s first Hydro Nation which places more emphasis on water as central to our national identity. This agenda isincreasing the international profile of Scotland’s skills and experience in supporting the good stewardship of water resources. There is a need to increase awareness among thepublic of the benefits that water provides and how our actions can help protect and improve them. Successful legislative and policy reform have been responsible for sustainable urbandrainage systems (SUDS) becoming commonplace in Scotland. There is a deficit of understanding surrounding the multiple benefits which SUDS can offer communities such as pollutioncontrol, flood prevention, enhancement of biodiversity and wildlife habitats. Conveying an understanding of benefits to those who live within close proximity to SUDS can help lendacceptance to these innovative green technologies that are replacing traditional forms of drainage.Objectives of researchKey CREW objectives are to develop a hydro literacy programme that:(a) increases public understanding of the benefits water provides and issues involved in its management(b) increase science engagement through community outreach/public education(c) support Scottish water policy.This project was a public outreach activity that targeted primary and secondary school children located to the north of Dundee where there are excellent examples of SUDS. The key objective was to raise awareness of the Hydro Nation agenda with a scope that was twofold: explain the urban water cycle; and promote awareness and understanding of the local SUDS and related benefits. To realise these objectives we had to ensure alignment of the science, environmental, engineering and social aspects related to SUDS with the curriculum forexcellence and which contributed to general science experiences and outcomes.Key findings and recommendationsDissemination of the Hydro Nation Agenda and the benefits of SUDS were delivered to a total of 106 children (ages 3-10) and 14 adults. Based on feedback, the outreach programmeto schools was deemed an unquestionable success by the Local Authority, teachers and school children alike. This was due to a strategic approach taken for the development anddelivery of a ‘water and SUDS’ learning package that included a variety of mechanisms and activities to fit the time available and suit the knowledge level of the target audiences. Thisfacilitated engagement, enthusiasm, knowledge retention and empowerment – learning whilst also having fun. Evaluation of feedback, and with hindsight, recommendations for improvingfuture outreach initiatives to school children and local community groups include:• Timing is crucial to ensure alignment with the curriculum, particularly secondary schools.• Hands on sessions including experiments and digital technology related to local real world issues combined with local walks were powerful strategies that provided a direct and personal connection that engaged, promoted and embedded learning concepts and new terminology.• Future roll out of the initiative would be beneficial to integrate the SUDS learning package materials with current lesson plans; specifically delivery of a practical legacy teaching asset that could be up scaled/rolled out across Scotland.• The Community Group session was put together quickly with limited time. This was beneficial for the Group regarding imminent dialogue with Dundee City Council planners however a more organised session and discussion would have enhanced understanding of current best practice SUDS.<br/

A comparison of patient testimonials on YouTube of the most common orthodontic treatment modalities: braces, in-office aligners, and direct-to-consumer aligners

Introduction: The objectives of this research was to investigate and compare the educational value of the most popular YouTube orthodontic patient testimonials between braces (B), in- office aligners (IOA), and direct-to-consumer aligners (DTCA), and to classify the emotional response of the viewers through a sentiment analysis of the video comments. Methods: Three different phrases relevant to B, IOA, and DTCA were searched on YouTube. The 20 most popular patient testimonial videos that met the criteria for each group were selected, for a total of 60 videos. Using the YouTube API for each video, 13 video metrics were extracted, an information completeness score (ICS) was assigned, and an analysis of the video comments was performed using sentiment analysis software. Results: The 60 videos included in this study were viewed 34,384,786 times by internet users. Braces videos have significantly more likes, comments, and a higher viewer interaction score than the IOA and DTCA videos. IOA videos had a higher median ICS than B and DTCA videos. Of the 5149 video comments with polarity, 53.6% were positive and 46.4% were negative (P Conclusions: There is high user engagement on YouTube with orthodontic patient testimonials. YouTube users interact with braces patient testimonials the most. YouTube viewers’ comments on orthodontic patient testimonials express more positive sentiment than negative sentiment. There is no significant difference in positive and negative sentiment between the video comments for the three different treatment modalities

Symbiots: Conceptual interventions into energy systems

Symbiots set out to examine values such as ease-of-use, comfort, and rationality assumed within conventions of ‘good design’, in order to expose issues related to energy consumption and current human- (versus eco-) centered design paradigms. Exploring re-interpretations of graphical patterns, architectural configurations and electrical infrastructure typical in Swedish cities, Symbiots takes the form of a photo series in the genre of contemporary hyper-real art photography. Painting a vivid picture of alternatives to current local priorities around energy consumption, the three design concepts depicted are strangely familiar, alternatively humorous and sinister

ENGAGING WITH VIRTUAL INFLUENCERS: A NETNOGRAPHY STUDY

Virtual influencers on social media are an intriguing phenomenon on the rise. They are computer-generated characters that attract a large number of followers and audiences who interact and engage with virtual influencers. Audience engagement with virtual influencers is an interesting phenomenon; yet little is known about the motivation and essence of such engagement. This research takes a qualitative approach of netnography to study audience engagement with virtual influencers. Content analysis on audience comments left on three virtual influencers\u27 Instagram accounts (including Miquela, Noonoouri, and Guggimon) is conducted. Four major content themes emerge in audience comments: emotional attachment, source admiration, novelty, and expertise. We propose a conceptual model that postulates the impacts of these factors on engagement, moderated by the anthropomorphism of virtual influencers. This research reveals insights into drivers of audience engagement with virtual influencers, providing a theoretical model and practical implications

Unraveling Social Media Effects:How the Intertwinement of Online Content and User Behaviors Guides Mental Health and Body Image

The rapid growth in popularity of social media platforms has fueled concerns about the possible negative effects of social media use on young people’s mental health and body image. To unravel social media effects, scholars argued that social media activities should be divided into active and passive social media use. It has been hypothesized that active social media use (i.e., creating content) leads to positive effects on mental health and body image, whereas passive social media (i.e., viewing content) leads to negative effects. In some cases, however, active social media use appeared to also lead to more negative feelings about oneself and one’s life, while passive social media use can lead to more positive feelings about these matters. Hence, the active-passive dichotomy seems a rough division that needs further specification. What types of content do young people post online, and what do they passively consume? And how does that affect their mental health and body image? To advance our knowledge and insights on these matters, the overarching goal of this dissertation was to investigate if, when, and how social media use affects young people’s mental health and body image. In Chapter 2, findings of a systematic literature review indicated that how social media use coincides with mental health and body image largely depends on the content of the self-presentation created or passively consumed. For example, sharing negative life events was generally linked to decreased subjective well-being. In contrast, sharing authentic self-presentations was linked with increased subjective well-being. The second study (Chapter 3) examined how ethno-racial identities may predispose differences in publicly posted selfies. Facial recognition was used to classify the selfie-takers’ ethno-racial identity on over 3000 publicly posted selfies. Findings revealed that individuals varying in ethno-racial identity generally differed in their online self-presentations. For example, Asian and Hispanic selfie-takers posted more of their context and less of themselves than black and white selfie-takers. The third study in this dissertation examined how the prevalence of posting and seeing different photo-types was linked with mental health and body image (Chapter 4). This study included more than 400 adolescents. Findings of this study indicated that, for example, posting more authentic photos of oneself is associated with higher levels of mental health, whereas posting edited photos is associated with more body shame. The last study examined the potential longer-term impact of social media use (Chapter 5). This study included more than 400 Japanese adolescents and more than 500 Dutch adolescents. The adolescents completed three online surveys, with one-month intervals in between. Findings of this study indicated that both a higher frequency of posting and being exposed to authentic photos can induce positive outcomes for mental health and body image, whereas both a higher frequency of posting and being exposed to edited photos of others was found to relate to negative outcomes. Results were, however, different between Dutch and Japanese adolescents. The results of the studies in this dissertation generally conclude that time-based approaches of social media use reflect an oversimplification to interpret the possible effects on mental health and body image. The findings of this dissertation all advocate that there is a need to apply an integrated content-specific and behavior-specific approach. Moreover, social media effects are conditional, meaning that social media effects cannot be attributed to all adolescents and may vary across cultural context. Hence, if and when social media impacts mental health and body image largely depends on how and why they use social media as well as the way they respond to their social media use