The Long-Term Value of Networking and Diverse Professional Experience in Online Communication Master’s Cohorts: Strategic Benefits of a Closed-Cohort Structure

2021 ◽  
pp. 107769582110552
Author(s):  
Shanetta M. Pendleton ◽  
Rhonda Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Professional Experience ◽  
Master's Program ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Industry Professionals

A survey of alumni from a 10-year-old cohort-based online master’s program in digital communication showed that respondents felt high levels of sense of community both during the program and after graduation. Respondents reported using Facebook and email to interact with members of their cohorts, and other cohorts, and highly valued the ability to network with industry professionals with a diversity of communication experience. However, respondents felt the need for more identity-based diversity among cohort members.

From Volunteering to Academic Programming: A Case Example

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (17) ◽  
pp. 7-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cindy Gill ◽  
Sneha Bharadwaj ◽  
Nancy Quick ◽  
Sarah Wainscott ◽  
Paula Chance
Keyword(s):  
Special Needs ◽  
Cultural Relevance ◽  
Master's Program ◽  
Speech Language Pathology ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Charitable Organization ◽  
Language Pathology ◽  
The University

A speech-language pathology master's program that grew out of a partnership between the University of Zambia and a U.S.-based charitable organization, Connective Link Among Special needs Programs (CLASP) International, has just been completed in Zambia. The review of this program is outlined according to the suggested principles for community-based partnerships, a framework which may help evaluate cultural relevance and sustainability in long-term volunteer efforts (Israel, Schulz, Parker, & Becker, 1998).

Social anxiety is associated with similar emotional impairments during digital and face-to-face communication in daily life

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Doorley ◽  
Kristina Volgenau ◽  
Kerry Kelso ◽  
Todd Barrett Kashdan ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Medium Study ◽  
Reconstruction Method ◽  
Communication Behaviors ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Emotional Impairments ◽  
Emotional Safety

Background:Retrospective studies have found that people with elevated social anxiety (SA) show a preference for digital/online communication, which may be due to perceptions of enhanced emotional safety. Whether these preferences for/benefits of digital compared to face-to-face communication manifest in the real world has yet to be explored. Methods: We recruited samples of college students (N = 125) and community adults (N = 303) with varying levels of SA, sampled their emotions during digital and face-to-face communication using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) (Study 1) and a day reconstruction method (DRM) (Study 2), and preregistered our hypotheses (https://osf.io/e4y7x/). Results: Results from both studies showed that SA did not predict the likelihood of engaging in digital compared to face-to-face communication, and SA was associated with less positive and more negative emotions regardless of communication medium. Study 2 also showed that whether digital communication was synchronous (e.g., in real time via phone/video chat) or asynchronous (e.g., texting/instant messaging) did not impact the association between SA and emotions. Limitations: EMA and DRM methods, despite their many advantages, may be suboptimal for assessing the occurrence of digital communication behaviors relative to more objective methods (e.g., passively collecting smartphone communication data). Using event-contingent responding may have also yielded more reports of digital communication, thus strengthening our power to detect small, cross-level interaction effects. Conclusions:These results challenge beliefs that digital/online communication provides a source of emotional safety for people with elevated SA and suggests a greater need to address SA-related emotional impairments across digital communication platforms.

scholarly journals Predictors of Parental Contentment with the Amount of Encouraging Digital Feedback from Teachers in Finnish Schools

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Anne-Mari Kuusimäki ◽  
Lotta Uusitalo ◽  
Kirsi Tirri
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Parental Attitudes ◽  
National Curriculum ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
School Communication ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

The Finnish National curriculum obligates teachers to give parents encouraging feedback about their children’s learning and development, the aim being to build a constructive relationship between homes and schools and to encourage close collaboration among all parties. Teachers in Finland nowadays use digital platforms that allow effective online communication. The frequency and quality of such communication vary a great deal. In particular, there seems to be a lack of clarity concerning the amount of encouraging feedback delivered in this way. The focus in this paper is on the extent to which Finnish parents (N = 1117) in both urban and rural areas are content with the amount of such feedback. We carried out a logistic regression analysis to predict parental contentment with the amount of encouraging messaging, with the pupil’s grade level, parental attitudes to digital communication, as well as parental educational level and gender as independent variables. In sum, parents who were less highly educated, with a neutral-to-positive attitude to digital communication and with a child in lower secondary school were most likely to be content with the amount of communication. These results have both research and practical implications in terms of enhancing the understanding of how best to deliver encouraging digital feedback between homes and schools. Furthermore, it seems that teacher education should focus on communicative competence early on. The current study completes our three-part series of studies on digital home–school communication in Finland.

Relational cultivation strategies and community building on Fortune 500 company corporate blogs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tugce Ertem-Eray ◽  
Eyun-Jung Ki
Keyword(s):  
Public Relations ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Communication Channel ◽  
Community Building ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fortune 500 Companies ◽  
Corporate Blogs

PurposeAs the number of corporate blogs has continued to increase over the years, this study examines the use of relationship cultivation strategies of Fortune 500 companies on their corporate blogs. Moreover, it focuses on how companies use corporate blogs as interactive online communication channels to create a sense of community among their publics.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis of Fortune 500 company corporate blogs was conducted to examine the use of relational cultivation strategies and their methods of promoting a sense of community.FindingsFindings indicate that networking and sharing tasks are used most frequently among all relational cultivation strategies on corporate blogs, and that there are statistically significant differences among industries for using relationship cultivation strategies on corporate blogs. The most frequently used dimension of sense of community on corporate blogs is shared emotional connection.Originality/valueStudies analyzing social media as public relations tools have not yet focused on community building. In fact, few studies have examined the community building aspect of corporate blogs in the public relations field. To fill this gap, this study focuses on community building and analyzes how companies use corporate blogs as an interactive online communication channel to create a sense of community among their publics.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Structure and Use of Digital Resources on the Websites of the Main Football Clubs in Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Santiago Tejedor ◽  
Laura Cervi ◽  
Gerard Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Full Advantage ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Web Pages ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Digital Resources ◽  
Global Brands ◽  
Football Clubs

Football clubs can be considered global brands, and exactly as any other brand, they need to face the challenge of adapting to digital communications. Nevertheless, communication sciences research in this field is scarce, so the main purpose of this work is to analyze digital communication of the main football clubs in Europe to identify and describe what strategies they follow to make themselves known on the internet and to interact with their users. Specifically, the article studies the characteristics of web pages—considered as the main showcase of a brand/team in the digital environment—of the fifteen best teams in the UEFA ranking to establish what type of structure and what online communication resources they use. Through a descriptive and comparative analysis, the study concludes, among other aspects, that the management of communication is effective, but also warns that none of the analyzed team takes full advantage of the possibilities of interaction with the user offered by the digital scenario.

scholarly journals The effects of text, audio, video, and in-person communication on bonding between friends

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren E. Sherman ◽  
Minas Michikyan ◽  
Patricia M. Greenfield
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adults ◽  
Digital Communication ◽  
Instant Messaging ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Video Chat ◽  
Digital Environments

Considerable research on computer-mediated communication has examined online communication between strangers, but little is known about the emotional experience of connectedness between friends in digital environments. However, adolescents and emerging adults use digital communication primarily to communicate with existing friends rather than to make new connections. We compared feelings of emotional connectedness as they occurred in person and through digital communication among pairs of close friends in emerging adulthood. Fifty-eight young women, recruited in pairs of close friends, engaged in four conversations each: in-person, video chat, audio chat, and instant messaging (IM). Bonding in each condition was measured through both self-report and affiliation cues (i.e., nonverbal behaviors associated with the emotional experience of bonding). Participants reported feeling connected in all conditions. However, bonding, as measured by both self-report and affiliation cues, differed significantly across conditions, with the greatest bonding during in-person interaction, followed by video chat, audio chat, and IM in that order. Compared with other participants, those who used video chat more frequently reported greater bonding with friends through video chat in our study. Compared with other participants, those who spoke on the phone more frequently with their participating friend reported greater bonding during audio chat. Use of textual affiliation cues like emoticons, typed laughter, and excessive letter capitalization during IM related to increased bonding experience during IM. Nonetheless, a significantly lower level of bonding was experienced in IM compared with in-person communication. Because adolescent and emerging adults’ digital communication is primarily text-based, this finding has significant real-world implications.

Wars for Ethnic or Nationalist Supremacy

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin P. Johnson ◽  
Ashlea Rundlett
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Religious Wars ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Identity Based

Conflicts that occur along ethnic or nationalist lines are often the most protracted, violent, and difficult to resolve in the long term. Civil wars are often divided into two distinct types: ethnic/religious wars (identity), and revolutionary wars (nonidentity). The distinction between these conflict types is based on whether cleavages within a society occur along ethnic lines or along lines that cut across ethnic divisions and are focused on issues including class, ideology, or seeking significant policy orientation of change. The most significant theoretical and empirical contributions to the understanding of ethnic conflicts in recent years come from the disaggregation of civil wars focusing on micro- and group-level dynamics. This disaggregation supports theoretical advancement and a departure from using macro-level data with micro-level mechanisms supports transition from a monadic to dyadic study of ethnic conflict, and supports examination of potential causal mechanisms of ethnic violence. Scholarly traditions and theoretical approaches explaining identity mobilization along ethnic or nationalist lines, the contributing factors that explain the transition from mobilization to the exercise of political violence, the duration of identity-based conflicts, and the long-term prospects for settlement of the conflict have enjoyed a proliferation of studies using newly available data featuring subnational units. These include explanations of conflicts based in sociological foundations focused on the formation and maintenance of identity, structural explanations for internal conflict focus on the capacity of the state and the distribution of political authority within a political system, and the opportunity for rebellion.

scholarly journals Science for Social Licence to Arrest an Ecosystem-Transforming Invasion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Norman W.H. Mason ◽  
Nicholas A. Kirk ◽  
Robbie J. Price ◽  
Richard Law ◽  
Richard Bowman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
Biological Invasions ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Professional Experience ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Management Decisions ◽  
Management Interventions ◽  
Invasive Species Control ◽  
Control Programmes

Abstract The primary role for science in addressing complex environmental problems, such as biological invasions, is generally assumed to be as a guide for management decisions. However, science often plays a minor role in decision-making, with practitioners instead relying on professional experience and local knowledge. We explore alternative pathways by which science could help reduce the spread and impacts of invasive species. Our study centred on attempts to understand the science needs of three local governance bodies responsible for the management of invasive (wilding) conifer species in the southern South Island of New Zealand. We used a combination of workshop discussions, questionnaire responses and visits to field sites to elicit feedback from study participants. We applied a mixed inductive-deductive thematic analysis approach to derive themes from the feedback received. The three main themes identified were: 1) Impacts of wilding conifers and goals for wilding conifer control; 2) barriers to achieving medium- and long-term goals; and 3) science needed to support wilding conifer control.Participants identified both instrumental (e.g. reduced water availability for agriculture) and intrinsic (e.g. loss of biodiversity and landscape values) impacts of wilding conifer invasions, with long-term goals focussed on avoiding or reversing these impacts. Barriers to achieving goals were overwhelmingly social, relating either to unwillingness of landowners to participate or poorly designed regulatory frameworks. Consequently, science needs related primarily to gaining social licence to remove wilding conifers from private land and for more appropriate regulations. Participants did not perceive any need for additional scientific information to guide management decisions, relying instead on professional experience and local knowledge. International experience suggests that invasive species control programmes often face significant external social barriers. Thus, for many biological invasions the primary role for science might be to achieve social licence and regulatory support for the long-term goals of invasive species control programmes and the management interventions required to achieve those goals.

scholarly journals Constructing social identity? Potential non-nutritional functions of chimpanzee insectivory

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Umaru Buba ◽  
Volker Sommer ◽  
Goncalo Jesus ◽  
Alejandra Pascual-Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Army Ants ◽  
Army Ant ◽  
Dietary Choices ◽  
Faecal Samples ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Ant Eating ◽  
Principal Method ◽  
Term Data

Many animals, including humans and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), eat insects, although frequencies vary greatly between populations. Insects are traditionally either seen as desired nourishment or a fallback fare compensating a shortage of preferred foods. We test these explanations against long-term data on chimpanzees at Gashaka, Nigeria. Here, chimpanzees harvest army ants much more frequently than elsewhere, while termite eating is completely absent. We report a pattern of strict seasonality in terms of rainfall and pronounced peaks in the abundance of fruit, the chimpanzees’ preferred staple food. Even so, evidence based on recovered ant-dipping wands and chimpanzee faecal samples indicates that myrmecophagy does not decrease when fruit becomes more abundant. Instead, ant-eating is virtually constant year round and chimpanzees eat them every other day or so. This contradicts the fallback hypothesis and supports the hypothesis of ants as preferred food. Army ants may thus serve as a supplement or complement in terms of macro - or micronutrients to the chimpanzees. Nevertheless, it remains puzzling why termites are not eaten at Gashaka, despite apparent availability and technological skills to extract insects. We therefore propose that dietary choices are also likely to contain a social element. The non-consumption of a perfectly edible food-item may reflect a "taboo" that comes at some cost. Similarly, army ant gathering is associated with painful bites, and self-experiments suggest that the highly chitinous insects do not taste well, compared to smaller arboreal ants and termites. We speculate that, in this way, mental concepts of identity versus otherness may develop that strengthen group cohesion. We do not have sufficient data for Nigeria, but speculations about social identity based on community-dependent behavioural uniformity are open to empirical testing. The principal method would be to document natural instances of “acculturation”, when female chimpanzees transfer from their natal into a neighbouring community.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document