- Media Studies, Social Media, Digital Media, Web 2.0, Media Sociology, Digital Divide, and 30 moreComputer Mediated Communication, Media Literacy, 21st Century Literacies, Research Ethics, Media and Democracy, Privacy, Audience and Reception Studies, Digital Journalism, Media Policy, Internet research, New Literacies, Media Ecology, Location-based media, Media effects, Symbolic Interaction, Technologies of the Self, Parasocial Interaction, Web Enabled/Inspired New Ways to Compose: Wiki, Blog Summaries, etc., Digital Litracy, E-literacy, Journalism and communication, Facebook, Digital Literacy, Audience Studies, Digital Media And New Literacies, Social Network Sites, The Internet, Urban Planning, Transportation Studies, and Immigrationedit
- I am an academic researcher and journalist now living in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada after 27 years in the UK. I... moreI am an academic researcher and journalist now living in St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada after 27 years in the UK. I have taught several communications courses part time as a sessional lecturer and was a full-time lecturer before then for six years in the UK and Canada. I also taught part time in various higher education institutions both public and private since 2000 while conducting my PhD research at the London School of Economics.My research interests include digital divides and digital media literacy, interpersonal privacy in online contexts, the political economy of the social web and other internet applications and the changing nature of authorship.I have also been a print and online journalist for over 30 years, covering technology, internet policy, immigration and transportation and urban planning.edit
Most of us know someone who has inadvertently revealed something shameful or embarrassing online about themselves or someone else. With the growth of social media like Facebook and Twitter, we are heading towards a radically open society.... more
Most of us know someone who has inadvertently revealed something shameful or embarrassing online about themselves or someone else. With the growth of social media like Facebook and Twitter, we are heading towards a radically open society. In exploring this phenomenon, David R. Brake first provides an overview of the harms that can be posed by unwary social media use - not just for children but for all of us, young or old. He then draws on in-depth interviews, a range of related theories of human behaviour and a wealth of other studies to analyse why this happens. He explains in detail the social, technological and commercial influences and pressures that keep us posting what we should not and stop us fully appreciating the risks when we do so. This is an invaluable book for students, parents, policy-makers and any social media user.
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If you have been at the same university for a number of years you may find it hard to remember how it felt when you started teaching there. If you were lucky, after being told where the expenses forms are, how many library books you could... more
If you have been at the same university for a number of years you may find it hard to remember how it felt when you started teaching there. If you were lucky, after being told where the expenses forms are, how many library books you could sign out and the like, a colleague who had taught the courses you were going to teach in the coming year would take you aside, sit you down with the existing teaching materials, explain how the lectures that have been prepared before relate to the syllabus and how the coming year was likely to unfold. Unfortunately, this kind of easing-in process does not always occur. If there is a core of experienced staff who have taught across a variety of units in a programme and have the leisure and motivation to pass their knowledge onwards to new staff, continuity can be assured informally but this can go awry where a single member of staff is responsible for teaching a particular set of units for a number of years and then leaves or retires, or if a number...
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English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction is a vital part of integrating refugees who do not speak the language into their new home in Newfoundland and Labrador. Given the importance of communicating in an official language in... more
English as a Second Language (ESL) instruction is a vital part of integrating refugees who do not speak the language into their new home in Newfoundland and Labrador. Given the importance of communicating in an official language in Canada, learning English is integral to finding a job, expanding social networks, and accessing social services. Yet, learning English can be a challenge for this diverse group which includes people from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences. The Canadian government supports refugees through the one-year Refugee Assistance Program and within this timeframe, refugees are expected to learn English and be able to support themselves financially.
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Research Interests:
Across the world both journalists and their audiences now depend on social media and search engines to deliver them news and information. Standing between the individual and the ever-growing volumes of digital data are a variety of... more
Across the world both journalists and their audiences now depend on social media and search engines to deliver them news and information. Standing between the individual and the ever-growing volumes of digital data are a variety of automated gatekeepers—algorithms—whose great and growing power to influence journalism is only starting to be recognised. This unaccountable software—generally under the control of large intermediaries like Facebook, Apple and Google—is already influencing the ways in which journalists prioritise potential stories, how they research them, and how these stories are published and consumed. This chapter draws on Feenberg’s critical theories of technology (Questioning Technology, Routledge, London, 1999) to explore this phenomenon and describe some possible consequences for the provision and consumption of knowledge to the public sphere.
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Journalists are increasingly using social media as a source of contacts, quotes and multimedia material for stories - particularly in areas of the world where foreign bureaus may be - and are expected to respond to feedback from social... more
Journalists are increasingly using social media as a source of contacts, quotes and multimedia material for stories - particularly in areas of the world where foreign bureaus may be - and are expected to respond to feedback from social media as part of their work. This chapter reviews available survey data and suggests journalists should approach so-called…
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This paper analyses the social and technical context in which young people create and maintain social media profiles. The analysis was based primarily on ten semi-structured hour-long interviews conducted with MySpace users—all young... more
This paper analyses the social and technical context in which young people create and maintain social media profiles. The analysis was based primarily on ten semi-structured hour-long interviews conducted with MySpace users—all young people between 16 and 19 years of age from two UK schools, supplemented by a questionnaire and examination of the texts they produced. An overview is given of the nature of the profiles created by the interviewees. The process of profile creation and maintenance is then placed in the wider context of the uses of MySpace as described by those interviewed, and some of the influences which appear to have shapedwhat was produced are outlined. In the conclusion, the implications of the manner in which these practices are shaped for institutions involved in digital storytelling are explored.
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This thesis examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors. The theoretical framework draws on a symbolic interactionist perspective, focusing on how meaning is constructed through... more
This thesis examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors. The theoretical framework draws on a symbolic interactionist perspective, focusing on how meaning is constructed through blogging practices, supplemented by theories of mediation and critical technology studies. The principal evidence in this study is derived from an analysis of in-depth interviews with bloggers selected to maximise their diversity based on the results of an initial survey. This is supplemented by an analysis of personal blogging’s technical contexts and of various societal influences that appear to influence blogging practices.Bloggers were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their readers, appearing to rely instead on an assumption that readers are sympathetic. Although personal blogging practices have been framed as being a form of radically free expression, they were also shown to be subject to potential biases including socia...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A chapter discussing how personal weblog writers envision the readers of their weblogs and the relationships that they seek with those readers. For more on this subject, consult my thesis which is also available online.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors, using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing therefore on bloggers' conceptions of... more
This paper examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors, using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing therefore on bloggers' conceptions of their relationships with their audiences. The ...
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Research Interests: Sociology, Social Work, Social Networks, Risk, Media Literacy, and 11 moreFacebook, Social Networking Sites (SNS), Social Network Sites, Children, Young Adults, Public Policy and Administration, Children and Society, Public Administration and Policy, Independent Study, Social Networking Sites, and Public Policy
This report is a review of literature, policy and reported practice, exploring the potential of technology to mitigate disaffection and disadvantage in education and raise attainment of those young people who are under-achieving in school... more
This report is a review of literature, policy and reported practice, exploring the potential of technology to mitigate disaffection and disadvantage in education and raise attainment of those young people who are under-achieving in school or other educational settings.
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Despite considerable interest in online content creation there has been comparatively little academic analysis of the distribution of such practices, both globally and among social groups within countries. Drawing on theoretical... more
Despite considerable interest in online content creation there has been comparatively little academic analysis of the distribution of such practices, both globally and among social groups within countries. Drawing on theoretical frameworks used in digital divide studies, I outline differences in motivation, access, skills, and usage that appear to underlie and perpetuate differences in online content creation practices between social groups. This paper brings together existing studies and new analyses of existing survey datasets. Together they suggest online content creators tend to be from relatively privileged groups and the content of online services based on their contributions may be biased towards what is most interesting or relevant to them. Some implications of these findings for policymakers and researchers are considered.
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This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing on writers’ conceptions of their relationships with their... more
This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing on writers’ conceptions of their relationships with their audiences. It draws on an analysis of in-depth interviews with 23 personal bloggers. They were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their audiences, appearing to assume that readers are sympathetic. A comprehensive and grounded typology of imagined relationships with audiences was devised. Although their blogs were all public, some interviewees appeared to frame their blogging practice as primarily self-directed, with their potential audiences playing a marginal role. These factors provide one explanation for some forms of potentially risky self-exposure observed among social media users.
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If you have been at the same university for a number of years you may find it hard to remember how it felt when you started teaching there. If you were lucky, after being told where the expenses forms are, how many library books you could... more
If you have been at the same university for a number of years you may find it hard to remember how it felt when you started teaching there. If you were lucky, after being told where the expenses forms are, how many library books you could sign out and the like, a colleague who had taught the courses you were going to teach in the coming year would take you aside, sit you down with the existing teaching materials, explain how the lectures that have been prepared before relate to the syllabus and how the coming year was likely to unfold. Unfortunately, this kind of easing-in process does not always occur. If there is a core of experienced staff who have taught across a variety of units in a programme and have the leisure and motivation to pass their knowledge onwards to new staff, continuity can be assured informally but this can go awry where a single member of staff is responsible for teaching a particular set of units for a number of years and then leaves or retires, or if a number of staff leave from a small team. The purpose of this piece is to outline (based in part on my own experience) some scenarios where as a result newly-arrived lecturers' experiences can be more difficult than they need to be, the student experience can be compromised by confusing inconsistencies in how they are taught, and a great deal of accumulated knowledge from lecturers who were long-serving in a department can fall between the cracks and be lost. Having identified some of these problem areas, I have some suggestions for how they can be addressed
Research Interests:
Social networking sites have been rapidly adopted by children and, especially, teenagers and young people worldwide, enabling new opportunities for the presentation of the self, learning, construction of a wide circle of relationships,... more
Social networking sites have been rapidly adopted by children and, especially, teenagers and young people worldwide, enabling new opportunities for the presentation of the self, learning, construction of a wide circle of relationships, and the management of privacy and intimacy. On the other hand, there are also concerns that social networking increases the likelihood of new risks to the self, these centring on loss of privacy, bullying, harmful contacts and more. This article reviews recent findings regarding children and teenagers' social networking practices in order to identify implications for future research and public policy. These focus on the interdependencies between opportunities and risks, the need for digital or media literacy education, the importance of building safety considerations into the design and management of social networking sites, the imperative for greater attention to 'at risk' children in particular, and the importance of a children's rights framework in developing evidence-based policy in this area.
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Across the world both journalists and their audiences now depend on social media and search engines to deliver them news and information. Standing between the individual and the ever-growing volumes of digital data are a variety of... more
Across the world both journalists and their audiences now depend on social media and search engines to deliver them news and information. Standing between the individual and the ever-growing volumes of digital data are a variety of automated gatekeepers—algorithms—whose great and growing power to influence journalism is only starting to be recognised. This unaccountable software—generally under the control of large intermediaries like Facebook, Apple and Google—is already influencing the ways in which journalists prioritise potential stories, how they research them, and how these stories are published and consumed. This chapter draws on Feenberg’s critical theories of technology (Questioning Technology technology, Routledge, London, 1999) to explore this phenomenon and describe some possible consequences for the provision and consumption of knowledge to the public sphere.
Research Interests:
Journalists are increasingly using social media as a source of contacts, quotes and multimedia material for stories-particularly in areas of the world where foreign bureaus may be-and are expected to respond to feedback from social media... more
Journalists are increasingly using social media as a source of contacts, quotes and multimedia material for stories-particularly in areas of the world where foreign bureaus may be-and are expected to respond to feedback from social media as part of their work. This chapter reviews available survey data and suggests journalists should approach so-called" user generated content" with caution, as those able and willing to share UGC may be disproportionately drawn from elite populations. Note: This text is the author's accepted manuscript of a chapter from J. Gordon, G. Stewart & P. Rowinski (Eds.), Br (e) aking The News: Journalism, Politics and New Media (pp. 253-270). Oxford, UK: Peter Lang-https://www. peterlang. com/view/product/45098
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Based on interviews with young UK users of MySpace this analysed the social and technical context in which they created and maintained their profiles.
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A chapter discussing how personal weblog writers envision the readers of their weblogs and the relationships that they seek with those readers. For more on this subject, consult my thesis which is also available online.
Research Interests:
Given the physical activity rates are low in NL and lack of physical activity is associated a number of health outcomes that are highly prevalent in Newfoundland and Labrador, including diabetes, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary... more
Given the physical activity rates are low in NL and lack of physical activity is associated a number of health outcomes that are highly prevalent in Newfoundland and Labrador, including diabetes, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, anxiety, and depression, there is good reason to invest in public transit as a means to increase physical activity at the population level. Food poverty and transport poverty can also be linked, loneliness and isolation when people without easy access to vehicles are unable to easily move around the province can have a detrimental effect on mental health
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A review of literature, policy and practice.
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This thesis examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors. The theoretical framework draws on a symbolic interactionist perspective, focusing on how meaning is constructed through... more
This thesis examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors. The theoretical framework draws on a symbolic interactionist perspective, focusing on how meaning is constructed through blogging practices, supplemented by theories of mediation and critical technology studies. The principal evidence in this study is derived from an analysis of in-depth interviews with bloggers selected to maximise their diversity based on the results of an initial survey. This is supplemented by an analysis of personal blogging’s technical contexts and of various societal influences that appear to influence blogging practices.
Bloggers were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their readers, appearing to rely instead on an assumption that readers are sympathetic. Although personal blogging practices have been framed as being a form of radically free expression, they were also shown to be subject to potential biases including social norms and the technical characteristics of blogging services. Blogs provide a persistent record of a blogger’s practice, but the bloggers in this study did not generally read their archives or expect others to do so, nor did they retrospectively edit their archives to maintain a consistent self-presentation.
The empirical results provide a basis for developing a theoretical perspective to account for blogging practices. This emphasises firstly that a blogger’s construction of the meaning of their practice can be based as much on an imagined and desired social context as it is on an informed and reflexive understanding of the communicative situation. Secondly, blogging practices include a variety of envisaged audience relationships, and some blogging practices are essentially self-directed with potential audiences playing a marginal role. Blogging’s technical characteristics and the social norms surrounding blogging practices appear to enable and reinforce this unanticipated lack of engagement with audiences. This perspective contrasts with studies of computer mediated communication that suggest bloggers would monitor their audiences and present themselves strategically to ensure interactions are successful in their terms. The study also points the way towards several avenues for further research including a more in-depth consideration of the neglected structural factors (both social and technical) which potentially influence blogging practices, and an examination of social network site use practices using a similar analytical approach.
Bloggers were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their readers, appearing to rely instead on an assumption that readers are sympathetic. Although personal blogging practices have been framed as being a form of radically free expression, they were also shown to be subject to potential biases including social norms and the technical characteristics of blogging services. Blogs provide a persistent record of a blogger’s practice, but the bloggers in this study did not generally read their archives or expect others to do so, nor did they retrospectively edit their archives to maintain a consistent self-presentation.
The empirical results provide a basis for developing a theoretical perspective to account for blogging practices. This emphasises firstly that a blogger’s construction of the meaning of their practice can be based as much on an imagined and desired social context as it is on an informed and reflexive understanding of the communicative situation. Secondly, blogging practices include a variety of envisaged audience relationships, and some blogging practices are essentially self-directed with potential audiences playing a marginal role. Blogging’s technical characteristics and the social norms surrounding blogging practices appear to enable and reinforce this unanticipated lack of engagement with audiences. This perspective contrasts with studies of computer mediated communication that suggest bloggers would monitor their audiences and present themselves strategically to ensure interactions are successful in their terms. The study also points the way towards several avenues for further research including a more in-depth consideration of the neglected structural factors (both social and technical) which potentially influence blogging practices, and an examination of social network site use practices using a similar analytical approach.
Research Interests:
Deliberative democratic theory gives campaigning organizations an important role in the public sphere. The new communicative capabilities offered to such organizations by the Internet must be evaluated in the light of a persistent digital... more
Deliberative democratic theory gives campaigning organizations an important role in the public sphere. The new communicative capabilities offered to such organizations by the Internet must be evaluated in the light of a persistent digital divide. This study measures and attempts to explain patterns of Internet usage among activists, and examines the possible implications of these patterns for the public sphere and political participation.
A postal survey of 109 London-based activists and open-ended interviews with four of those surveyed found respondents had predominantly high levels of education, higher than average incomes and high levels of access to the Internet. However, high levels of access did not translate into high levels of use in all contexts.
While email was extensively employed, other uses like participation in open online discussion or web-based publishing were much less prevalent than traditional campaigning activity, which suggests many of the Internet’s alternative media capabilities identified by scholars may be under-utilised in practice. Some access and skill barriers were noted but the principal barriers to greater use of the web in campaigning appeared to be attitudinal – resistance to learning a new medium due to age and a perception that its use was not relevant or important to campaigning. The fact that much Internet use by activists is via email and therefore largely “invisible” except to recipients might contribute to that perception.
The study also suggests that the existing socio-economic divide between the “core” activists surveyed and the broader public could be worsened if, for reasons of efficiency, those activists move their attention away from traditional activities like meetings and newsletters towards email-mediated dialogue or if the Internet does make it easier for the relatively privileged who are already online to become more involved at the expense of those who continue to fall on the wrong side of the digital divide.
A postal survey of 109 London-based activists and open-ended interviews with four of those surveyed found respondents had predominantly high levels of education, higher than average incomes and high levels of access to the Internet. However, high levels of access did not translate into high levels of use in all contexts.
While email was extensively employed, other uses like participation in open online discussion or web-based publishing were much less prevalent than traditional campaigning activity, which suggests many of the Internet’s alternative media capabilities identified by scholars may be under-utilised in practice. Some access and skill barriers were noted but the principal barriers to greater use of the web in campaigning appeared to be attitudinal – resistance to learning a new medium due to age and a perception that its use was not relevant or important to campaigning. The fact that much Internet use by activists is via email and therefore largely “invisible” except to recipients might contribute to that perception.
The study also suggests that the existing socio-economic divide between the “core” activists surveyed and the broader public could be worsened if, for reasons of efficiency, those activists move their attention away from traditional activities like meetings and newsletters towards email-mediated dialogue or if the Internet does make it easier for the relatively privileged who are already online to become more involved at the expense of those who continue to fall on the wrong side of the digital divide.
Research Interests:
An exploration of when virtual-only ethnography is appropriate and when offline ethnographic data collection is appropriate and practical
Research Interests:
This paper examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors, using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing therefore on bloggers’ conceptions of their... more
This paper examines the understandings and meanings of personal blogging from the perspective of blog authors, using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing therefore on bloggers’ conceptions of their relationships with their audiences. The principal evidence in this study is derived from an analysis of in-depth interviews with bloggers selected to maximise their diversity based on the results of an initial survey. Bloggers were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their readers, appearing to assume that readers are sympathetic. Personal blogging practices include a variety of envisaged audience relationships, and some appear to be primarily self-directed with potential audiences playing a marginal role. Blogs provide a persistent record of a blogger’s practice, but the bloggers in this study did not generally read their archives or expect others to do so, nor did they retrospectively edit their archives to maintain a consistent self-presentation.
Research Interests:
As access to the internet has increased across much of the developed world, there has been a shift in studies of the digital divide in developed nations toward divides in use (DiMaggio et al. 2004). Underlying all digital divide... more
As access to the internet has increased across much of the developed world, there has been a shift in studies of the digital divide in developed nations toward divides in use (DiMaggio et al. 2004). Underlying all digital divide scholarship is the assumption that access to the internet is beneficial and (more recently) that certain kinds of internet use are beneficial and that different groups use the internet differently and therefore benefit differently. Surveys and studies have tended to concentrate on an overly-narrow set of such beneficial uses – typically including accessing news, health information, government services (Hargittai and Hinnant 2008). This paper will argue they have ignored others of equal importance.
Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights is frequently invoked to assert the necessity of closing the digital divide but generally in terms of the right to “seek, receive and impart information” (United Nations 1948) – the right to expression (including creative as well as political speech) is much less often cited. What little discussion there has been about creative expression in a digital divide context has been linked to digital versions of existing artistic forms – poetry, fiction, photography, music and video performance (Hargittai and Walejko 2008). This paper will argue that the more narration of everyday lives that takes place frequently through Web 2.0 services like weblogs and Facebook is also sometimes experienced as an important vehicle for creative self-expression.
Some preliminary research has also highlighted the potential importance of the online articulation and exploration of social ties which social network sites enable as a means to both increase users’ social capital and maintain it through time (Ellison et al. 2007) – the implications of these findings from a digital divide perspective will be explored.
Lastly, this paper will also argue that - particularly in the context of increasing self-disclosure using social network sites – proponents of provision of internet access have failed to balance its benefits with corresponding risks.
A critical review of the disparate and so-far-unconnected literatures bearing on this area will be provided and some initial evidence for differential beneficial uses and harms associated with use of web 2.0 applications by different social groups will be presented, relying on qualitative data derived from 22 interviews with UK webloggers and on a re-analysis of survey data from the US and UK (Dutton and Helsper 2007 , Lenhart and Fox 2006).
Article 19 of the UN declaration of human rights is frequently invoked to assert the necessity of closing the digital divide but generally in terms of the right to “seek, receive and impart information” (United Nations 1948) – the right to expression (including creative as well as political speech) is much less often cited. What little discussion there has been about creative expression in a digital divide context has been linked to digital versions of existing artistic forms – poetry, fiction, photography, music and video performance (Hargittai and Walejko 2008). This paper will argue that the more narration of everyday lives that takes place frequently through Web 2.0 services like weblogs and Facebook is also sometimes experienced as an important vehicle for creative self-expression.
Some preliminary research has also highlighted the potential importance of the online articulation and exploration of social ties which social network sites enable as a means to both increase users’ social capital and maintain it through time (Ellison et al. 2007) – the implications of these findings from a digital divide perspective will be explored.
Lastly, this paper will also argue that - particularly in the context of increasing self-disclosure using social network sites – proponents of provision of internet access have failed to balance its benefits with corresponding risks.
A critical review of the disparate and so-far-unconnected literatures bearing on this area will be provided and some initial evidence for differential beneficial uses and harms associated with use of web 2.0 applications by different social groups will be presented, relying on qualitative data derived from 22 interviews with UK webloggers and on a re-analysis of survey data from the US and UK (Dutton and Helsper 2007 , Lenhart and Fox 2006).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
... celebratory, nonethe-less drew some evocative analogies between pre-modern and contemporarystory-telling. ... sto-rytelling, but it does provide a useful and varied introduction to the ... Lundby, K. (2008) Digital Storytelling,... more
... celebratory, nonethe-less drew some evocative analogies between pre-modern and contemporarystory-telling. ... sto-rytelling, but it does provide a useful and varied introduction to the ... Lundby, K. (2008) Digital Storytelling, Mediatized Stories: Self-representations in New Media. ...
Research Interests:
Wim van de Donk, Brian D. Loader, Paul Nixon and Dieter Rucht (eds), Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social Movements. Didcot: Routledge, 2004. xix + 316 pp. ISBN 0 4152 9785 0, US$32.95 (pbk)... more
Wim van de Donk, Brian D. Loader, Paul Nixon and Dieter Rucht (eds), Cyberprotest: New Media, Citizens and Social Movements. Didcot: Routledge, 2004. xix + 316 pp. ISBN 0 4152 9785 0, US$32.95 (pbk) ...................................................................................................................... ...