Digital Commons Network^™

Print Is Dead: The Promise And Peril Of Online Media For Subcultural Resistance, Jeffrey S. Debies-Carl

Sociology Faculty Publications

Researchers have maintained a consistent interest in subcultural resistance: marginalized groups challenging their subordinate positions in society through words or deeds. Resisting groups increasingly use online media for resistance, but we know little about the web’s consequences for subcultural challengers. In this article, I explore the promise and peril of digital media for resistance relative to traditional, printed media, from an ethnographic exploration of punk subculture. Rather than finding support for either supporters or critics of online resistance, I find evidence for an alternative, dialectical perspective in which the Internet simultaneously invigorates and problematizes punk resistance. It provides the oppositional …

Red Cups And Orphans, Liz Moss

Staff Work

"If Christians are truly called to welcome in the orphaned and parentless, then I believe the church - all of us, as a whole - must also answer the call along with these brave parents."

Posting about the needs of adoptive families 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/red-cups-and-orphans/

Tongues Untied Truth Revealed: Body Image, Social Media, Identity Development, And Meaning-Making In Overweight And Obese Black Gay Msm, Amari Ja-Lynn Enam

Dissertations

This phenomenological study explored the meanings attributed to internalized messages about body image within the context of identity development from the perspectives of overweight/obese men of African descent (OMAD) among a group of 6 men who have sex with men (MSM). I was interested in those messages that have been incorporated, adopted, or integrated into OMAD-MSM’s sense of self. Informants shared body image-related experiences from interactions with family, friends, dating/sex partners, and the media/social media.

Academic literature has explained identity development processes among African Americans through various lenses but research has not adequately explored the convergence of multiply oppressed social …

The Digital Distribution Of Public Health News Surrounding The Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: A Longitudinal Infodemiology Study, L. Meghan Mahoney, Tang Tang, Kai Ji, Jessica Ulrich-Schad

Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Background: New media changes the dissemination of public health information and misinformation. During a guest appearance on the Today Show, US Representative Michele Bachmann claimed that human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines could cause “mental retardation”. Objective: The purpose of this study is to explore how new media influences the type of public health information users access, as well as the impact to these platforms after a major controversy. Specifically, this study aims to examine the similarities and differences in the dissemination of news articles related to the HPV vaccination between Google News and Twitter, as well as how the content of …

Solidarity Is For White Women, Aramide Odutayo

2015 Undergraduate Awards

Can a simple hashtag constitute a social movement? The answer is a resounding yes. Using the definition of a social movement proposed in the Blackwell Companion to Social Movements as a framework, this paper illustrates that #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen is a perfect example of how social media and social movements have intersected to inspire profound change. Created by blogger and black feminist scholar Mikki Kendall, #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen highlighted the justified resentment that many black feminists have against the white liberal feminist movement. This paper contends that Kendall’s hashtag activism satisfies the fundamental characteristics of a social movement, because it was a coordinated, collective, …

#Advocatingforchange: The Strategic Use Of Hashtags In Social Media Advocacy, Gregory D. Saxton, Jerome N. Niyirora, Chao Guo, Richard D. Waters

Public and Nonprofit Administration

Social media continues to change how advocacy organizations mobilize, educate, and connect with their constituents. One of the most unique yet understudied tools available on social media platforms is the hashtag. Little research exists on how social work and advocacy organizations use hashtags, much less on how such use can be effective. This study examines the hashtag use by 105 constituent members of the National Health Council, a national US-based patient/health advocacy coalition. The study presents an inductive coding scheme of the types of hashtags employed, analyzes inter-sectoral differences in hashtag usage, and examines the relationship between hashtag use and …

The 21st Century Activist's Dilemma: Social Media's Impact On The Occupy And Tea Party Movements, Alexander Elliott Carter-Parks

Senior Projects Spring 2015

This paper examines the influence of social media on political participation in American social movements, focusing on the cases of the Occupy and Tea Party movements during their heyday in the period from 2009 to 2012 as a framework for analysis. Users of these social networks have access to instantaneous information dissemination, broad new political networks, and a wealth of radical thought; but also can be diverted from real-world participation by the appeal of low-cost online activism. Using a foundation of strong-tie/weak-tie activism theory, demographics surveys, and media coverage this paper argues that social media has reshaped the process by …

Can You Please Put Your Phone Away? Examining How The Fomo Phenomenon And Mobile Phone Addiction Affect Human Relationships, Laila A. Chaudhry

Undergraduate Research Posters

This study attempts to identify how attachment to social media as well as attachment to other forms of communication technology can lead to addiction to mobile devices and affect non-virtual interpersonal communication. I examined the phenomenon known as the fear of missing out, or FOMO, which can be defined as apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. Experiencing FOMO can lead to overuse of and even addiction to social media, another category I examined, because addicted individuals want to stay more up-to-date with social networks and social media is the most efficient way to …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Facebook And Its Perceived Impact On Social Connectivity, Janet Staker Woerner

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While the number of students using web-based social networks has increased, the effects of such networks on education have been unclear. Therefore, this research used a case study approach to study the relationship between social connectivity and the use of Facebook in a higher education classroom as well as the relationship between age and the use of Facebook. The intent was to understand the perceived impact of the use of a social media tool on bonding, bridging, and linking. The conceptual framework was built around the theories of social capital of Lin, Portes, Putnam, and Woolcock. The research questions addressed …

The Right To A Fair Trial In The Age Of Facebook, Lori Andrews

Lori B. Andrews

No abstract provided.