Digital Commons Network^™

What Do You Use Mobile Phones For? A Creative Method Of Thematic Drawing With Adolescents In Rural China, Jiachun Hong

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This study sets out to explore Chinese adolescents’ subjectivities toward the use of mobile phones, and reveal the dynamic relationship among students, parents, and school concerning mobile phone usage in rural China. Twenty-one high school students were recruited, and asked to draw a painting that expresses their perceptions of mobile phones in relation to family and school life. After analyzing the thematic drawings and their self-explanations upon the drawings, several themes arise: the mobile phone as a bridge of love, as an extension of the home, as an iron cage, as the blasting fuse of family conflicts, and as a …

A Phenomenological Investigation Of Social Networking Site Privacy Awareness Through A Media Literacy Lens, David Magolis, Audra Briggs

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This research study focused on the social networking site (SNS) awareness of undergraduate students, examining their experiences through the type and extent of the information shared on their SNSs in order to discover the students’ experiences with SNS privacy. A phenomenological research approach was used to interview eight undergraduate to explore the question, “what is the nature of undergraduate students’ social networking privacy?” Each recorded interview lasted up to one hour in duration and was transcribed verbatim. A thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that all of the participants were aware of their online privacy, but each had different …

People's War In Cyberspace: Using China's Civilian Economy In The Information Domain, Kieran Richard Green

Military Cyber Affairs

China is identified as posing a key challenge to US national security interests in cyberspace. These threats are incurred across the spectrum of conflict, ranging from low-level crime, to network penetration, to cyberattacks that have the potential to cause major physical destruction. Thus far, the majority of strategic assessments of China’s cyber capabilities have focused on the role of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which is officially tasked with undertaking offensive operations in cyberspace.[1] However, China does not employ its cyber capabilities in isolation. Rather, it considers cyber to be part of the “Information Domain.” In Chinese doctrine, controlling …

Leveraging Lexical Link Analysis (Lla) To Discover New Knowledge, Ying Zhao, Douglas J. Mackinnon, Shelley P. Gallup, Joseph L. Billingsley

Military Cyber Affairs

Lexical Link Analysis (LLA) is a form of text mining in which word meanings represented in lexical terms (e.g., word pairs) are treated as if they are in a community of a word network. LLA can provide automated awareness for analyzing text data and reveal previously unknown, data-driven themed connections. We applied LLA to develop authentic archetypes and conversely determine potential imposters of that same archetype. We use publically available social media data to develop a cyber professional as an example. This paper reports the development of the algorithm, the collection and labeling of data, as well as the results …

How Irish Political Parties Are Using Social Networking Sites To Reach Generation Z: An Insight Into A New Online Social Network In A Small Democracy, Kevin Lynch, John Hogan

Irish Communication Review

This study, using in-depth interviews and focus groups, examines perceptions of social networking sites as a means of communicating with Generation Z, from the perspectives of the major Irish political parties using these online resources and the perspective of their young target audience. There are two research questions: (1) How do political parties perceive social networking sites’ role in communicating with Generation Z? and (2) How do members of Generation Z perceive social networking sites’ role in communicating with political parties?

Media And Protests: The Utilisation Of Communication Technologies By Environmental Movements, Liam Leonard

Irish Communication Review

A notable feature of the recent political landscape has been the increasing incidents of confrontation between grassroots and elites. These conflicts have occurred in the wake of the declining relevance of the traditional left-right dichotomy, and have been exemplified by the campaigns of opposition led by environmental groups against the globalised corporate sector. This article will examine how new forms of political expression may arise from the environmental movements’ utilisation of the new technologies of communication as a strategic tool in their campaigns of protest.

Book Reviews: Volume 6

Irish Communication Review

S. Hornig Priest Doing Media Research, reviewed by Eoin Devereux

Groombridge and J. Hay (eds.) The Price of Choice - Public service broadcasting in a competitive European market place, reviewed by Amanda Dunne

I. Ang Living Room Wars - Rethinking Media Audiences for a Postmodern World, reviewed by Ciaran McConaghy

S. Aronowitz, B. Martinsons and M. Menser (eds.) TechnoScience and Cyber Culture, reviewed by Brian Torode

Political Polarization And Nisman’S Death: Competing Conspiracy Theories In Argentina, Leopoldo Rodriguez Ph.D., Shawn C. Smallman Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

The death of Alberto Nisman, the chief investigator of the 1994 AMIA bombing in Argentina, unleashed conspiracy theories and significant political turmoil upon President Cristina Fernández. We study the case and trace two of these theories, asking what they tell us about the Argentine political system and what can be inferred with respect to other countries in Latin America. We confirm that nations with high levels of political polarization are fertile ground for the emergence of conspiracy theories and that domestic and international media play an important role in both giving credence to and spreading such theories.

Zayani, M. Networked Publics And Digital Contention: The Politics Of Everyday Life In Tunisia. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015., Susan Marie Martin Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

Etzioni, A. Hot Spots: American Foreign Policy In A Post-Human-Rights World. New Brunswick And London: Transaction Publishers, 2014., Şerif Onur Bahçecik Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Book review.

The State Of African Economy And A Way Forward, Florian Cyril Mshanga

Young African Leaders Journal of Development

The current emerging market downturn in economic powerhouses like China, has already negatively affected African economic growth. For resource-rich countries, it is a chance to improve their public investment management (PIM) system, which could help boost growth; although from experience drawn, Sub-Saharan oil resourced countries on average score lower in PIM, reflecting weak administrative capacity and low transparency in the use of public resources, especially at the project appraisal and evaluation stages of the PIM process. Countries that have successfully diversified their economies will suffer less than those that have not and they will enjoy less stress than countries depending …

Komunikasi Homoseksual Berbasis Teknologi, Rusman Hadi Syahputra, Gati Dwi Yuliana

Jurnal Komunikasi Indonesia

Kaum gay masih sulit berkomunikasi dengan gay lainnya layaknya masyarakat dominan akibat orientasi seksual yangdimiliki. Oleh karena itu, kaum gay membutuhkan suatu media alternatif untuk dapat berkomunikasi guna memenuhi kebutuhan pribadinya, baik dalam hal sosial maupun seksual. Kaum gay pun menggunakan aplikasi Jack’D untuk memenuhi kebutuhan tersebut. Penelitian ini ingin mengetahui pola komunikasi antarpribadi yang terjadi di situs jaringan sosial oleh kaum gay sebagai pengguna aplikasi Jack’D. Penelitian ini menggunakan dua konsep sebagai landasan teoritisnya, yaitu Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) dan Social Information Processing Theory (SIP). Paradigma yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah konstruktivisme dengan pendekatan penelitian kualitatif. Adapun jenis …

Singles Looking To Mingle: An Analysis Of Self-Presentation In Online Dating, Leigha Jacobson, Abbey Atkinson, Ladan Mohamed, Jason Dorr

Concordia Journal of Communication Research

Online dating has become a commonplace in today’s society as more people are turning to it more than ever before. Because this type of dating has become so widely accepted, the researchers felt it was necessary to take a deeper look into self-presentation in online dating and how people choose to represent themselves. Participants of this study include single men and women, between the ages of 18-35, from a large Midwestern metro area in the United States. The purpose of this study was to gain information as to how men and women choose to represent themselves on online dating platforms. …

"Facebook To Mobilize, Twitter To Coordinate Protests, And Youtube To Tell The World": New Media, Cyberactivism, And The Arab Spring, Mohamed Arafa, Crystal Armstrong

Journal of Global Initiatives: Policy, Pedagogy, Perspective

Research on media and contentious politics in the Arab world point to the vital role that social media played in the Arab Spring. For the purposes of this article, the Arab Spring is defined as a series of demonstrations and democratic uprisings—and in the cases of Libya, Syria, and Yemen armed rebel movements—that arose independently and spread across the Arab world from Tunisia and Egypt to Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, and Syria in 2010-2011 and beyond. This article advances the theoretical assumption that while not causing the Arab uprisings, New Media (defined here as all forms of digital communication technology including …