Making Online Bulletin Board Dialogues Work

Author(s):  
Gülsün Kurubacak

This chapter introduces Online Bulletin Board Dialogues (OBBDs). It focuses on how to making dialogues work. Besides, in this study, the strategies and principles of conversation design based on Media Richness Theory is discussed to generate a theoretical framework that conversation design. This framework shows that the new ways of adjusting democratic conversations to contemporaneous realities. OBBDs are influenced of several things, such as political pressures, personal aspirations, etc., the desire to exercise power, the overriding issues of global need and ambition. On the other hand, OBBDs build on shifting sands or unfirm earth of feelings and interests. The author hopes that making OBBDs work can help online communication workers find the diverse resources, multicultural experiences, and egalitarian opportunities that open their minds and broaden their perspectives. Furthermore, discussing the main characteristics of bulletin boards for building knowledge networks can construct very powerful paradigm shifts to build online communities with new communication technologies.

Author(s):  
Gulsun Kurubacak

New communication technologies have the great potential to construct very powerful paradigm shifts that enhance university-community partnerships (UCPs) in Turkey. Therefore, the purpose of this chapter is to focus on how to build online knowledge networks between university and community for lifelong learning. Further, in this study, the strategies and principles of UCPs based on media richness theory through a critical pedagogy approach is discussed to generate a theoretical framework that provides everyday examples and experiences for probing social justice issues. Online learners can find the diverse resources, multicultural experiences, and egalitarian opportunities that broaden their perspectives via new communication technologies. This chapter therefore concentrates on discussing the characteristics of the UCPs for lifelong learning to build online communities with new communication technologies.


Author(s):  
Peter J. Natale

Contemporary organizations are drastically changing, in large part due to the development and application of newer communication technologies and their respective media channel options. Within virtual organizations, business leaders are increasingly faced with issues associated with managing and communicating with their mobile workers. According to Richard L. Nolan and Hossam Galal of the Harvard Business School, global businesses are aggressively exploring and investing in the virtual organization paradigm. Furthermore, organizations of all sizes increasingly have become virtual in nature. In the case of organizations involved in information processing, newer communication technologies are being used by 71.9% of small firms and 81.3% of large firms, according to a Small Business Administration study. The same study also concluded that the number of U.S. companies that have virtual and telecommuting programs have more than doubled since 1990. The challenge for leaders within this rapidly changing environment is to determine the best ways to lead and communicate with increasing numbers of mobile staff members. These leaders have an astounding array of high technology communication tools to choose from when communicating with their employees. They also have concerns about the preferences and uses these workers have for various forms of communication. As organizations seek to optimize communication and share information with their mobile workers and scholars seek to understand the utility and influence of specific organizational communication technologies, such as PDAs and smartphones, which are rapidly emerging as a new and appealing communication tools. The core capability of these devices is a combination of software and hardware that transfers voice and e-mail wireless messages and performs other business related tasks. Current estimations indicate that mobile data will have a penetration rate among the U.S. population of nearly 60% in 2007. Scholars interested in how media channels are used within organizations have turned their attention to the nature, use, and effectiveness of communication tools such as these. They also have been interested in how the particular characteristics of employees relate to their preferences among traditional and newer communication channels. Media richness theory has been one theoretical framework which has been applied by researchers to this environment. Media richness in the organizational context involves the rational process of media selection in which the characteristics of each communication channel are matched with the content or information richness of a message in order to reduce uncertainty. One variable that may be at work when media types are selected in terms of their richness is “learning styles.” These individual learning styles and their relationship with media choices on the basis of richness has been studied previously (Rex, 2001), but not in the case of portable deices. Learning styles are different ways of learning; essentially scholars and practitioners concerned with learning styles have looked at the preferences of individuals and how they process information through their unique senses.


Author(s):  
Volkan T. Yuzer ◽  
Gulsun Kurubacak

Digital citizens have been using online synchronous communications (OSCs)-based milieus since the last decade. OSCs can provide these online communities with new and challenging opportunities via instant interactions, which are OSCs’ dominant nature, in lifelong learning. OSCs, therefore, help online learners, as lifelong learners, and communication workers (online communication designers, media coordinators, online managers, technology-support staff, multimedia designers, etc.) understand this milieu better to have more benefits. In this study, media richness theory and four cultural issues (biases, stereotypes, ethics and values) are discussed together to highlight the communicational characters of the OSCs. To utilize the communicational prospects of OSCs, this communication theory provides communication workers with useful guidelines related to cultural issues, which expand on future directions for OSCs. Finally, the researchers develop a framework according to the strategies of media richness theory, which declares that there must be a fit between technology and communication structures to reduce task-related ambiguity.


2011 ◽  
pp. 1562-1569
Author(s):  
Peter J. Natale

Contemporary organizations are drastically changing, in large part due to the development and application of newer communication technologies and their respective media channel options. Within virtual organizations, business leaders are increasingly faced with issues associated with managing and communicating with their mobile workers. According to Richard L. Nolan and Hossam Galal of the Harvard Business School, global businesses are aggressively exploring and investing in the virtual organization paradigm. Furthermore, organizations of all sizes increasingly have become virtual in nature. In the case of organizations involved in information processing, newer communication technologies are being used by 71.9% of small firms and 81.3% of large firms, according to a Small Business Administration study. The same study also concluded that the number of U.S. companies that have virtual and telecommuting programs have more than doubled since 1990. The challenge for leaders within this rapidly changing environment is to determine the best ways to lead and communicate with increasing numbers of mobile staff members. These leaders have an astounding array of high technology communication tools to choose from when communicating with their employees. They also have concerns about the preferences and uses these workers have for various forms of communication. As organizations seek to optimize communication and share information with their mobile workers and scholars seek to understand the utility and influence of specific organizational communication technologies, such as PDAs and smartphones, which are rapidly emerging as a new and appealing communication tools. The core capability of these devices is a combination of software and hardware that transfers voice and e-mail wireless messages and performs other business related tasks. Current estimations indicate that mobile data will have a penetration rate among the U.S. population of nearly 60% in 2007. Scholars interested in how media channels are used within organizations have turned their attention to the nature, use, and effectiveness of communication tools such as these. They also have been interested in how the particular characteristics of employees relate to their preferences among traditional and newer communication channels. Media richness theory has been one theoretical framework which has been applied by researchers to this environment. Media richness in the organizational context involves the rational process of media selection in which the characteristics of each communication channel are matched with the content or information richness of a message in order to reduce uncertainty. One variable that may be at work when media types are selected in terms of their richness is “learning styles.” These individual learning styles and their relationship with media choices on the basis of richness has been studied previously (Rex, 2001), but not in the case of portable deices. Learning styles are different ways of learning; essentially scholars and practitioners concerned with learning styles have looked at the preferences of individuals and how they process information through their unique senses.


2022 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack M. Gorman ◽  
Sara E. Gorman ◽  
William Sandy ◽  
Nellie Gregorian ◽  
David A. Scales

Reluctance to accept vaccination against COVID-19 poses a significant public health risk and is known to be a multi-determined phenomenon. We conducted online focus groups, or “bulletin boards,” in order to probe the nature of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and its implications. Participants were 94 individuals from three distinct U.S. geographical areas and represented a range of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. Six themes emerged from the 3 day-long bulletin boards: the most trusted source of health information sought is the personal physician; information about health is nevertheless obtained from a wide variety of sources; stories about adverse side effects are especially “sticky”; government health institutions like CDC and FDA are not trusted; most respondents engaged in individualistic reasoning; and there is a wide spectrum of attitudes toward vaccination.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1711
Author(s):  
Maja Batez

Background: (1) The COVID-19 pandemic has generated significant changes in teaching methods around the world, and the ideal of online education has become a reality. (2) Methods: A questionnaire was modified for this study in order to determine the following levels of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills: file creation, file management, the use of emails, the use of the internet, and online communication. In total, 360 students from the Faculty of Sports and Physical Education (FSPE), University of Novi Sad, participated in the study. (3) Results: The results show that there are differences between the estimated level of ICT skills and the ICT skills used in online education, such that students estimate their level of ICT skills as being higher than is necessary for online education (p < 0.05). There is also a correlation between the satisfaction with online education and ICT skills, showing that students with higher ICT knowledge are more satisfied with online education (p < 0.05). There is another correlation between the satisfaction with online education and the frequency of ICT use—the more ICTs are included, the more satisfied the students will be (p < 0.05). (4) Conclusions: The results of this study can serve as a recommendation for the implementation of FSPE students’ training in ICT skills, as well as an important basis for the systematic creation, improvement, and sustainability of online education in universities.


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