Digital Commons Network^™

The Potential Scientist’S Dilemma: How The Masculine Framing Of Science Shapes Friendships And Science Job Aspirations, G. Robin Gauthier, Patricia Wonch Hill, Julia Mcquillan, Amy N. Spiegel, Judy Diamond

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

In the United States, girls and boys have similar science achievement, yet fewer girls aspire to science careers than boys. This paradox emerges in middle school, when peers begin to play a stronger role in shaping adolescent identities. We use complete network data from a single middle school and theories of gender, identity, and social distance to explore how friendship patterns might influence this gender and science paradox. Three patterns highlight the social dimensions of gendered science persistence: (1) boys and girls do not differ in self-perceived science potential and science career aspirations; (2) consistent with gender-based norms, both middle …

Public Awareness Of The Scientific Consensus On Climate, Lawrence C. Hamilton

Sociology

Questions about climate change elicit some of the widest political divisions of any items on recent U.S. surveys. Severe polarization affects even basic questions about the reality of anthropogenic climate change (ACC), or whether most scientists agree that humans are changing the Earth’s climate. Statements about scientific consensus have been contentious among social scientists, with some arguing for consensus awareness as a “gateway cognition” that leads to greater public acceptance of ACC, but others characterizing consensus messaging (deliberate communication about the level of scientific agreement) as a counterproductive tactic that exacerbates polarization. A series of statewide surveys, with nationwide benchmarks, …

Students' Use Of Personal Technology In The Classroom: Analyzing The Perceptions Of The Digital Generation, Debra A. Langan Dr., Nicole D. Schott, Timothy G. Wykes, Justin K. Szeto, Samantha Lynn Kolpin, Carla Lopez, Daniel Smith

Criminology

Faculty frequently express concerns about students’ personal use of information

and communication technologies in today’s university classrooms. As a requirement

of a graduate research methodology course in a university in Ontario,

Canada, the authors conducted qualitative research to gain an in-depth understanding

of students’ perceptions of this issue. Their findings reveal students’

complex considerations about the acceptability of technology use. Their analysis

of the broader contexts of students’ use reveals that despite a technological revolution,

university teaching practices have remained largely the same, resulting in

‘cultural lag’ within the classroom. While faculty are technically ‘in charge’, students

wield power through …

He Used The Internet - I Used The Encyclopedia, Rebekah Mccloud

UCF Forum

I was talking recently with one of my students who will graduate in May. He told me about his first year in college and began his reminiscence with: “Back in the day…”

The Wild Borderlands Of Science And Technology, Kelly Moore

Sociology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

A review of recent scholarship in the sociology of fringe and counterculture science.

Techno-Apocalypse: Technology, Religion, And Ideology In Bryan Singer’S H+, Edward Brennan

Books/Book chapters

This essay critically analyses the digital series H+. In the near future, adults who can afford them, have replaced tablets and cell phones with nanotechnology implants. The H+ implant acts as a medical diagnostic and can overlay the user's senses with a computer interface. The apocalypse comes in the form of a computer virus which infects the H+ network and instantly kills one third of humanity. The series represents the anxiety and religiosity that surrounds the possible social consequences of digital technology. It also explores the tensions and intersections between technology and faith. This essay makes the case, however, that …

Death, After-Death And The Human In The Internet Era: Remembering, Not Forgetting Professor Michael C. Kearl (1949-2015), Connor Graham, Alfred Montoya

Sociology & Anthropology Faculty Research

Today, humans have remains that are other than physical, generated within and supported by new information communications technologies (ICTs). As with human remains of the past, these are variously attended to or ignored. In this article, which serves as the introduction to this special issue, we examine the reality, meaning and use of enduring digital remains of humans. We are specifically interested in the evolving practices of remembering and forgetting associated with them. These previously posited considerations of ‘human remains’ and ‘what remains of the human’ are useful for exploring the relationship between the Internet, the body, remembering and forgetting. …

Producing Goods, Shaping People: The Materiality Of Crafting, Julia A. Hendon

Anthropology Faculty Publications

The study of craft production has a long and venerable history in archaeological research on ancient societies. In this chapter, I consider the crafting of useful and desired things from a materiality perspective by looking at the interactions between the craftpersons, the materials with which they work, and the ways that their end products are valued in society. I use two examples: working with fibers by the Maya of Mesoamerica and with metals by the Moche of Andean South America. These are two very different kinds of materials whose characteristics affect how one interacts with them. Crafting was a part …

Social Media Use And Hiv Transmission Risk Behavior Among Ethnically Diverse Hiv-Positive Gay Men: Results Of An Online Study In Three U.S. States, Sabina Hirshfield, Christian Grov, Jeffrey T. Parsons, Ian Anderson, Mary Ann Chiasson

Publications and Research

Though Black and Hispanic men who have sex with men (MSM) are at an increased risk for HIV, few HIV risk reduction interventions that target HIV-positive MSM, and even fewer that use technology, have been designed to target these groups. Despite similar rates of social media and technology use across racial/ethnic groups, online engagement of minority MSM for HIV prevention efforts is low. Since minority MSM tend to have less representation in online HIV prevention studies, the goals of this online anonymous study of HIV-positive gay-identified men were to test the feasibility of conducting targeted recruitment by race/ethnicity and sexual …

Answering Your Question: The Electronics Effect, Kari Sandouka

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"I am curious to read if there is any data on neurological/developmental effects of early exposure to certain forms of technology."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the effects of technology on young children from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/answering-your-question-the-electronics-effect/

Challenges And Opportunities For Development Of Sustainable Tourism In Bosnia And Herzegovina, Clifford J. Shultz, Almir Peštek, Eve Geroulis

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

An examination of the challenges of sustainable tourism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Yes, It's Equality, But It's Not What It Used To Be, Edward Brennan

Articles

No abstract provided.

Batec: Broadening Advanced Technological Education Connections, Deborah Boisvert

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

BATEC brings together cross-sector stakeholders from education, industry, and the community to collectively build a seamless and robust education-to-workforce pathway among students underrepresented in IT fields, including women, those from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds, and students with disabilities.

The Digital Gap: An Investigation Into The Access And Use Of Internet In Matagalpa, Nicaragua, Kayla Steinberg

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Although still less than 20 percent of the Nicaraguan population has access to the internet, in the years preceding 2012, internet in Nicaragua grew by 113 percent. This rapid development of internet in the country generates several questions, including: “Who has access to the internet in Nicaragua?,” Where are they using the internet?,” and “How are they using it?” This paper answers these three questions and investigates how the answers differ between different demographic groups, especially between young and older people and women and men, through the results of a survey distributed primarily in a public park with free wifi …

“My Brain Database Doesn’T See Skin Color” Color-Blind Racism In The Technology Industry And In Theorizing The Web, Jessie Daniels

Publications and Research

In this article, I examine three interconnected notions about color-blind racism and the Internet. The first is the fantasy that the Internet as a technology is color-blind with regard to race; the second is the reality that color-blind racism operates in the tech industry. The third notion is the way color-blind racism shapes Internet studies of race and racism, in which race is contained as a “variable” or as an “identity” that inhere exclusively in people of color, but that leaves the way race is embedded in structures, industry, and the very idea of the Internet unexamined. To explore these …

Information Technology, Social Networking, And Controlling Behaviors Among Adolescent Girls Involved In Dating Violence, Meredith C. Joppa, Christie J. Rizzo, Jessica Johnson

Title IX Research and Resources

Hypothesis: Girls with dating violence (DV) histories will report high levels of involvement in social networking and information technology (SNIT) as well as frequent engagement in controlling behaviors via SNIT.

Technology And Political Participation, Chris Molina

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The most efficient way to get people to take action has always been a big topic of discussion when it comes to political mobilization. Technology has greatly affected the way that people mobilize; it has created a platform for people to have easier access to those of like minds. With social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter it is very easy in today's era to get your point across to thousands of people and if need be mobilize them into a political rally or protest. It is important to see if technology has actually had an impact in the …

The Marriage Market: The Mail-Order Bride Industry In The United States!, Penelope Burner

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

The international bride market has generated more than 2 billion dollars in 2010 in the United States alone. The concept of a “mail-order bride” is one that dates back to the founding of the United States. Many people believe this practice to be antiquated, but with the addition of technology, this industry has become very prevalent in modern society. I will examine the effects the mail order bride industry has had on views regarding women in the United States, Asia and Europe and show how this industry still has relevance today. I will track the way this industry has shaped …

Understanding Fair Labor Practices In A Networked Age, Tamara Kneese

Media Studies

Unionization emerged as a way of protecting labor rights when society shifted from an agricultural ecosystem to one shaped by manufacturing and industrial labor. New networked work complicates the organizing mechanisms that are inherent to unionization. How then do we protect laborers from abuse, poor work conditions, and discrimination?

Appreciating The Simple Moments More Than Onslaught Of Technology, Leandra Preston-Sidler

UCF Forum

I admit it. I’m addicted.

A Vision For Inclusion: An Lgbt Broadband Future, Jessie Daniels, Mary L. Gray

Publications and Research

This report provides an overview of the current scholarship and policy around the particular needs of LGBT people and the Internet.

Increasing Access And Success In The Stem Disciplines: A Model For Supporting The Transition Of High School Students With Disabilities Into Stem-Related Postsecondary Education, Martie Kendrick, Marnie Bragdon-Morneault, Janet May, Alan Kurtz

Transition-Age Resources

This publication (191-page PDF) contains a package of evidenced-based transition supports that can be used by educators or instructors with high school students with disabilities who are interested in pursuing STEM-related postsecondary education and careers. The publication contains information and instructional activities related to the following: self-advocacy and self-determination; exploring STEM careers; disability disclosure; the accommodations process in college; identifying assistive technology; mentoring relationships and internships; and using student- and family-centered planning to prepare for college.

Course Syllabus (Fa13) Coli 211 Literature & Psychology: "Power, The Subject, And Technological Rationality", Christopher Southward

Comparative Literature Faculty Scholarship

Course Description and Objectives:

In this course, we will examine mechanisms of power and the processes by which these produce categories of subjectivity. Theoretically speaking, we will begin by considering these processes at the level of society and then dwell on their human experience at the level of the psyche. Here, we will aim to discover processes by which the subject reproduces conditions of domination by power at the level of psychic experience. Power-practices assume their condition of possibility by positing, on the one hand, that the category of the subject is a priori existent and, on the other, that …

The Tech Apprentice Internship Program: Engaging Youth In It, Felicia Vargas, Olu Ibrahim, Neil Sullivan, Deborah Boisvert

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Tech Apprentice program was designed to provide Boston Public School (BPS) students work-based learning opportunities within information technology (IT) departments across a diverse array of industries for seven-week, paid summer internships. A robust technology internship program encourages BPS students to pursue IT-related post-secondary degrees. Tech Apprentice has expanded from 25 student placements in the first summer to 123 who were employed in 2012, and the program has placed over 600 students in internships since the program launched in 2006. 98% of graduates attend colleges and 78% are pursuing an IT-related degree.

Gendered Jobs And The New Gender Gap, George K. Thiruvathukal, Jon Ross

Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This presentation discusses how to address 21st Century employment challenges by dismantling gender-specific barriers to entry. We take an interdisciplinary approach by focusing on areas such as education, public policy, culture, and media (among others).

The Politics Of Transgenic Food: An Ethnographically Informed Analysis Of The Ban On Genetically Modified Crops In Bolivia, Kristin Gjelsteen

Summer Research

This research investigates a country that has recently committed itself to replacing all genetically modified crops with non-altered crops. Limitations and benefits associated with allowing or banning transgenic technology are examined through interviews with farmers, agricultural researchers, agronomists, biologists and environmental advocates in three diverse communities in Bolivia. This research explores how these stakeholders experience and understand the recent national rejection of this agricultural technology. Controversy surrounding development and use of transgenic technology illustrates moral, political, social and economic conflicts, presents risks and creates complex societal decisions with the potential to impact ecological systems, diversity of life, health (both natural …

Technology Can Be Blessing, Curse To Students, Alexandra Pittman

UCF Forum

Many college students seem to have forgotten what a university is for because they have become lost within their own technology.

The Social Context Of Oncofertility, Dorothy E. Roberts

All Faculty Scholarship

A field known as oncofertility provides female cancer patients with a variety of ways to preserve their fertility so that they may bear genetically related children after successful cancer treatment. Some women delay cancer therapy so doctors can collect their eggs, which are then cryopreserved in an unfertilized state or used to create embryos through in vitro fertilization for freezing. An experimental procedure for preserving the fertility of prepubertal girls, known as ovarian tissue cryopreservation, involves surgically removing their ovarian tissue and growing the immature eggs to a mature state so they can be frozen and stored until the girls …

Computer-Based Cognitive Training For Age-Related Cognitive Decline And Mild Cognitive Impairment, James Fortman

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Cognitive Training has been shown to be an effective tool in enhancing cognitive functioning. Research has also shown video game playing can improve certain aspects of visual attention and cognitive processing speed. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of both a specific computer-based cognitive training program and non-specific video game playing in improving cognitive functioning for individuals with age-related cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment. Twenty-nine older adults were recruited into the study and randomly assigned to either the cognitive training group or video-game playing group. Nineteen participants completed the study, engaging in either cognitive training …

The Emergent Challenges For Policing Terrorism: Lessons From Mumbai, Simon O'Rourke

Australian Counter Terrorism Conference

On November 26, 2008 ten armed terrorists from Lashka-e-Toiba utilised military assault style tactics to attack a number of establishments including restaurants and hotels in the city of Mumbai, India. This new attack paradigm indicated a significant shift in tactics from the placement of improvised explosive devices or deployment of suicide bombers, and contains valuable lessons for contemporary law enforcement particularly with regard to intelligence, response, and media management. There are few agencies currently geared to deal with the sheer scope of an event involving trained terrorists well versed with small team tactics, heavily armed and equipped conducting operations in …