Digital Commons Network^™

The Necessity Of Developing Responsible Use Policies: Advocacy For Use Of Web 2.0 Tools In A Comprehensive School Computing Program, David L. Russo

Policy Advocacy

Technology is omnipresent in our modern age: anyone with an Internet connection can use a computer, tablet, or phone to access an unfathomable amount of information. Today, teenagers use e-mail, texting, and social media to stay in nearly constant communication with friends and family anywhere in the world. With so much time spent exchanging ideas in cyberspace, there is an increased likelihood of teachers and students regularly crossing paths electronically for both legitimate academic purposes and social contexts. Without sufficient school district policies to guide these interactions, students and teachers could realistically place themselves in awkward situations and face district …

The Rise Of Viral Videos, Erika Clingerman

Graphic Communication

No abstract provided.

Understanding Wisconsin Legislators' Use Of Social Media, Christian T. Moran

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis used quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the use of social media by legislative offices of the Wisconsin State Assembly. A survey of legislators and their staff documented the extent to which each office uses Facebook or Twitter. In addition, multivariate analysis of the survey data provided an understanding of which kinds of legislators are more likely to use Facebook or Twitter. There were three important findings. First, most Wisconsin legislators whose offices use Facebook or Twitter do not seem to be doing so to reach the news media. Second, overall, the characteristics of a Wisconsin legislator are …

Two Formulas For Success In Social Media: Social Learning And Network Effects, Liangfei Qiu, Qian Tang, Andrew B. Whinston

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper examines social learning and network effects that are particularly important for online videos, considering the limited marketing campaigns of user-generated content. Rather than combining both social learning and network effects under the umbrella of social contagion or peer influence, we develop a theoretical model and empirically identify social learning and network effects separately. Using a unique data set from YouTube, we find that both mechanisms have statistically and economically significant effects on video views, and which mechanism dominates depends on the specific video type.

No Limits To Watching?, Katina Michael, M.G. Michael

M. G. Michael

Little by little, the introduction of new body-worn technologies is transforming the way people interact with their environment and one another, and perhaps even with themselves. Social and environmental psychology studies of human-technology interaction pose as many questions as answers. We are learning as we go: 'learning by doing' through interaction and 'learning by being'. Steve Mann calls this practice existential learning; wearers become photoborgs, a type of cyborg (cybernetic organism) whose primary intent is image capture from the domains of the natural and artificial. This approach elides the distinction between the technology and the human; they coalesce into one.

Cyber-Republicanism, Sarah Tran

William & Mary Law Review

In 1787 at the dawn of our nation, the Founding Fathers were embroiled in a raging debate over the role citizens and special interest groups should play in our political system. The Founding Fathers viewed influence from interest groups as a threat to government decision making, but they differed in their responses to this perceived problem. Proponents of republicanism, one of the dominant conceptions of politics at that time, adopted an optimistic approach. They anticipated that government leaders and citizens, guided by their education and civic virtue, would not allow factional tyranny to flourish. This republican optimism continues to markedly …

Identity Theft On Social Networking Sites: Developing Issues Of Internet Impersonation, Maksim Reznik

Touro Law Review

This Comment focuses on the dangers of social media sites when a person gains access to another's online account through two different methods: (1) stealing the third party's password, or (2) creating a completely fake profile and subsequently impersonating that person.

Ict, Social Media, And The Arab Transition To Democracy: From Venting To Acting, Mohammed M. Aman Dr.

Mohammed M. Aman

There is widespread use of information and communications technology (ICT) in the Middle East and North African countries. Blogging and social media have played an important role in the recent calls for reform and change. Using these new communication systems and devices, citizens have been venting their anger and frustration with their autocratic governments and rulers. Most recently, the venting has turned into action, as shown by the eradication of the old regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Yemen, as well as the ongoing struggle in Syria.

The most notable issues include lack of individual freedoms, deteriorating economic conditions, high …

An Instagram Is Worth A Thousand Words: An Industry Panel And Audience Q&A, Wendy Abbott, Jessie Donaghey, Joanna Hare, Peta J. Hopkins

Peta Hopkins

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe the industry panel session hosted by Bond University Library at the Australian Library and Information Association's Information Online 2013 Conference. The panel was held to discuss the use and implications of professional Instagram profiles. The panel included a professional photographer, an internet marketing expert, a social media expert, a librarian and a social media-savvy student. The inclusion of a range of perspectives from outside the library aimed to provide a holistic approach to the institutional use of Instagram and to provide inspiration. The panel took place on Wednesday 13 February 2013 …

Feel The Fear: Learning Graphic Design In Affective Places And Online Spaces, Anitra Nottingham

Learn X Design Conference Series

This paper explores the idea of pedagogic affect in both onsite and online graphic design learning spaces, and speculates on the role that this affect plays in the formation of the design student. I argue that embodied design knowledge is built by interactions with design professionals, activities that mimic the daily work of designers, and practices of display such as student work galleries within design schools. Therefore bodies in motion, and the places they move within, take on more importance in the making-up of a graphic design student than we may expect. This idea has implications for online design learning. …

Examining The Efficacy Of A Facebook-Mediated Intervention To Increase Steps Per Day In College Freshmen, Aubrianne Elise Rote

Theses and Dissertations

During the transition from high school to college, physical activity levels tend to decrease. Given the numerous benefits of regular physical activity, it is essential to encourage college students to develop the habit of being regularly active. The internet is one tool that has been used to deliver physical activity interventions to this population but is hindered by low participant engagement and high monetary cost of development. Social media is an internet entity that can be used to deliver a physical activity intervention that facilitates higher participant engagement and reduces cost. The purpose of this study was to compare the …

Trayvon Martin And Election 2012 Social Media Messaging: An Analysis Of Framing, Rhetoric, And Media Types In Online Messages By Civil Rights Organizations, Riva Renee Brown

Dissertations

This content analysis study explored framing, rhetoric, and media types used by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Urban League, National Action Network, and ColorOfChange.org in website and social media messages posted during the Trayvon Martin case and Election 2012. It also examined the mainstream print news media coverage these civil rights organizations generated.

On February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman, a 28 year old White and Hispanic male, fatally shot Martin, a 17 year old Black male, in Florida. After authorities did not charge Zimmerman with the teenager’s murder, these organizations drafted petitions and staged rallies …

Women In Engineering: Identity Communication In Social Media, Dongni Wang

All Theses

This thesis examines women engineers' experience in social media with a focus on identity communication. Framing as a case study, this study attempts to explore women engineers' online presence and how they utilize social media in their daily activities. Using the concept of intersectionality, this study addresses the differences of social media usage among women engineers in terms of the use of social media by professional organizations of women engineers and the use of individual women engineers. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the public available data from a Facebook page maintain by a well-known women engineers' professional organization. Online …

Like Or Dislike: The Emotional Toll Of Being On Facebook, Lauren N. Weathers

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study examined the relationship between affect changes or lack thereof when one logs onto Facebook or Yahoo!. Facebook was specifically chosen for examination in the current study due to its widespread use, its vast effect on society, and its unique features that allow users to obtain information and have social interaction at the same time. Yahoo! served as a control due to the fact that it is a highly popular site that has similar features of Facebook without having the social functions. Both sites allow users to observe news that is pertinent and of interest to them and …

Explaining Social Media Variation: An Analysis Of Internal Municipal Factors That Shape Canadian Municipal Websites, Julien Patel

MPA Major Research Papers

This paper explains the variations in social media features on Canadian municipal websites by measuring internal characteristics of key municipal administrators. The research process used a questionnaire to measure administrators’ attitudes towards engagement and municipal corporations’ capacity to improve websites moving forward. The results of the survey are contrasted with a dataset that scores each respondent’s municipality using predetermined criteria. Representatives from 43 Canadian municipalities agreed to participate in the study. The findings reveal that age, citizen pressure to provide online services, and engagement efforts with local stakeholders significantly explain a proportion of variation in municipal social media features.

Social Implications Of Wearable Computing And Augmediated Reality In Every Day Life (Ieee Symposium On Technology And Society, Istas13), Katina Michael

Associate Professor Katina Michael

It was in July 2012 that Steve Mann and I corresponded on the possibility of hosting a conference on wearable computing in Toronto, Canada. Steve had just returned home from a family holiday to France and publicly blogged about an unfortunate incident that had happened to him while away. On 17th July 2012 he posted: “Physical assault by McDonald’s for wearing Digital Eye Glass”. We both knew the timing was right for such an event that was not just a technical engineering or applied orientation on the theme of smart worlds, but an event that would grapple with the dichotomies …

Computational Techniques For Public Health Surveillance, Scott H. Burton

Theses and Dissertations

Public health surveillance is a critical part of understanding, and ultimately influencing, health behaviors. Traditional methods, such as questionnaires and focus groups have significant limitations including cost, delay, and size. Online social media data has the potential to overcome many of the challenges of traditional methods, but its exploitation is not trivial. We develop and apply computational techniques to enable public health surveillance in novel ways and on a larger scale than currently performed.In this regard, we present techniques for mining the who, what, and where of public health surveillance in social media. We show how computational methods can identify …

Hashtag Politics: The Polyphonic Revolution Of #Twitter, Bud Davis

Pepperdine Journal of Communication Research

Social media has revolutionized how citizens communicate and interact with each other. President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign notably demonstrated just how impactful online interconnectivity could be in reaching out to key demographics. More specifically, Twitter has become increasingly popular in achieving communication with constituents while enabling voters to become citizen journalists and active participants in the political process. This paper seeks to trace the evolution of Twitter as a political resource and determine what influence it has in enhancing and inhibiting political communication. By drawing on Kristeva’s concept of intertextuality, I argue that Twitter’s unique functionality contains the potential …

Big Data: New Opportunities And New Challenges, Katina Michael, Keith Miller

Associate Professor Katina Michael

We can live with many of the uncertainties of big data for now, with the hope that its benefits will outweigh its harms, but we shouldn't blind ourselves to the possible irreversibility of changes—whether good or bad—to society.

It's no secret that both private enterprise and government seek greater insights into people's behaviors and sentiments. Organizations use various analytical techniques—from crowdsourcing to genetic algorithms to neural networks to sentiment analysis—to study both structured and unstructured forms of data that can aid product and process discovery, productivity, and policy-making. This data is collected from numerous sources including sensor networks, government data …

Social Media And Citation Metrics, Linda M. Galloway, Anne E. Rauh

Anne Rauh

No abstract provided.

Crisis Response Coordination In Online Communities, Hemant Purohit

Kno.e.sis Publications

During recent crises, citizens (sensors) are increasingly using social media to share variety of information- situation on the ground, emerging needs, donation offers, damage, etc. In such an evolving ad-hoc community, how can we extract actionable nuggets from the social media streams to aid relief efforts? This doctoral consortium presentation summarizes a framework to analyze social data and manage information to assist coordination by focusing on three important questions to answer: Whom to coordinate with, Why to coordinate and How to coordinate, with exemplary insights for needs and availability from the recent disaster events.

A Quantitative Survey: Are Twitter Advertisements Effective For College Students?, Christia J. Brockman

Communication Studies

Social Media websites are rapidly being overrun by advertisements, but is this blitz of advertising destroying the social media experience? Twitter, one of today’s most popular social media sites, increased its revenues from $45,000,000 in 2010 to $259 million in 2013. This exponential growth is surprising given the large portion of Twitter users who are between the ages of 18 to 25 with lower annual incomes. In analyzing whether advertising on Twitter is effective on college students, statistical results from a survey conducted among college students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, reveal that Tweeters in this sample …

The Virtual Bulletin Board: A Feminist Critique Of Pinterest, Alexandra B. Davila

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Trends And Implications: The Use Of Facebook In The Professional World, Elisa E. Minamide

Graphic Communication

The recent trend of connectivity through the Internet has served as a spark for the social media era, resulting in a number of social websites such as Xanga (social blogging site),MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and many others. Facebook specifically has become an everyday norm in the lives of most young adults. With the societal shift towards a digitally orientated lifestyle, there is an increased interaction between friends, family, and non-acquaintances via social networking sites like Facebook. As a result, the manner in which users portray themselves online becomes influential for new friends viewing their pages. Similarly, professional companies are now …

Cyber-Activism: Engendering Political Subjects Within New Logics Of Resistance In Contemporary Egypt And Yemen, Fatma Abdulmalik Mansour

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to study cyber-activism as a new social phenomenon in the context of the Arab revolutions particularly in Egypt and Yemen from two different perspectives. The first one is a global perspective in which I intend to situate this new social phenomenon called “cyberactivism” in its spatial-temporal context in order to explore the following questions: What are the possibilities and the limitations of cyberactivism as a new site of resistance particularly in the context of Egypt and Yemen? To what extent can cyberactivism challenge the dominant logics which enabled the emergence to these possibilities within …

Concerted Activity And Social Media: Why Facebook Is Nothing Like The Proverbial Water Cooler, Natalie J. Ferrall

Pepperdine Law Review

Social media is an increasingly powerful platform for expression. In late 2009, the National Labor Relations Board began to address the extent to which unionized employees could make disparaging comments about their employers on social media websites. To date, the Board has persisted in treating Internet communications the same as traditional, face-to-face interactions between employees. Additionally, the Board continues to apply dated precedent to current social media cases. This Comment argues that the Board's present approach is inadequate to address the distinct qualities of social media and sets forth recommendations for alternate ways to evaluate employee speech.

Securities Violations In 140 Characters Or Less: Social Media And Its Growing Impact On The Securities Industry, Kevin Etzel

Touro Law Review

As social media continues its rapid ascent, the law must be able to keep pace. The securities industry is where one area that must keep pace. This Comment demonstrates the drastic effects, both positive and negative, that social media has on securities regulation.

The Expression Of Alternative Nationalism In China’S Weibo, Cerisa Obern

Asian Languages and Cultures Honors Projects

This thesis discusses the enabling functions of Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, and its role as a platform to build community, form identities, and share views of alternative nationalism. Due to China’s strict censorship, it is necessary that such a space exist to allow individuals the opportunity to discuss communal concerns across China’s vast expanse. Unfortunately, this virtual sphere cannot be used by all because of the economic inequality and the essential use of technology to gain access to this sphere. During the most recent period of protests concerning the Diaoyu Islands Dispute, this gap became increasingly large; both dialogues …

Social Media And Medical Students: What Are They Thinking?, Alexandra Gomes, Gisela Butera, Terry Kind, Katherine C. Chretien

Himmelfarb Library Faculty Posters and Presentations

This poster provides a review of interim results from a qualitative study on first year medical students' attitudes and perceptions of their definition of medical professionalism in social media. Included in the study is an evaluation of changes in perspective since becoming a medical student and after participating in an E-Professionalism and Social Media instructional session.

Social Media Use Among Employees: Influences Of Organizational Climate, Job Involvement, And Organizational Commitment, Hannah Murphy

All Theses

How are social networking sites, such as Facebook, affecting employees and their organizations? Social media provide a way of creating communities where employees can share their workplace experiences and insights. The literature suggests that the manner in which these communications occur is dependent on the organizational climate, specifically the organization's values of knowledge sharing and social communications. Based on findings in the preliminary study, the main study of this thesis investigates how an employee's level of organizational commitment and job involvement influence their use of social media. Correlational analyses showed that an employee's level of organizational commitment and job involvement …