If Pandora had a Blog

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-32
Author(s):  
Otilia Pacea

In the context of internet genre migration and proliferation, conventional taxonomies are no longer valid. To classify blogs between thematic and personal blogs is to blissfully ignore the legions of successful content prosumers, from political blogs to travel blogs, from food blogs to MAD (mom and dad) blogs, from fashion blogs to milblogs. With the recent explosion of social media, the digital landscape shifted and today there are more voices online than ever before. For blogs, however, the original purpose for communication has always been twofold: to inform and to emote. Computer-mediated communication may be overpopulated with a myriad of mixed forms and blogs might be dead or simply, difficult to reach with so much overlapping. Yet high-impact blogs still remain and are widely read. This paper explores the language of high-impact blogs, testing a new methodology for genre analysis to solve genre hybridity in the case of computer-mediated discourse.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630512098447
Author(s):  
Daphna Yeshua-Katz ◽  
Ylva Hård af Segerstad

This study highlights the challenges of computer-mediated communication for vulnerable individuals and groups, by studying boundary work in stigmatized communities online. Five stigmatized online communities with different affordances were studied: (1) “pro-ana” blogs; (2) an infertility discussion board; (3) a Facebook group for bereaved parents; and (4) two WhatsApp groups for Israeli veterans of war with post-traumatic stress disorder. In-depth interviews with members and administrators ( n = 66) revealed that social media affordances such as low anonymity and high visibility may marginalize those living with stigma. While research literature applauds social media for allowing the formation and maintenance of social capital, our study highlights the paradox caused by these very same affordances. To offer safe and functioning environments of support, the communities must guard against impostors whose presence threatens their safe havens. Simultaneously, this may make these groups inaccessible to those who truly need support and remove such groups from the public eye.


Author(s):  
Linda Reneland-Forsman

AbstractThe interactive potential of computer-mediated communication has proved more difficult to realize than expected. This study tries to break away from the normative status of speech underlining computer-mediated communication by asking how social talk is manifested in Web-based learning environments. The asynchronous communication of 55 students during a study period of 18 weeks was examined using mediated discourse analysis. The students were training as pre-school teachers in a four-year program. Their ability to create a group culture seemed significant for how they developed group autonomy and were able to handle unexpected incidents or a loose framing. The communication between the students was in narrative format and was lengthy in character; trust and confidence were dropped off as part of a constant construction of group culture. These students did not adopt or develop known means of compensating for the loss of nonverbal clues. There were indications of sharing private concerns and information from other practices in life as a conditional aspect of participation. When having troubles to cope, it was the youngest students who failed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Iman Mohamed Mahfouz

The language of Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) is known to deviate from standard language in many ways dictated by the characteristics of the medium in order to achieve brevity, speed as well as innovation. Together with the intrinsic features of CMC in general, the character limitation imposed by the popular social media platform, Twitter has triggered the use of a number of linguistic devices including shortening strategies in addition to unconventional spelling and grammar. Using two parallel corpora of English tweets written by Egyptians and non-Egyptians on a similar hashtag, the study attempts to compare the shortening strategies used in both datasets. A taxonomy for orthographic and morphological shortening strategies was adapted from Thurlow and Brown (2003) and Denby (2010) with particular focus on message length, punctuation, clipping, abbreviations, contractions, alphanumeric homophones and accent stylization. Given the scarcity of linguistic studies conducted on Egyptian tweets despite the vast amount of data they offer, the study compares the findings about tweets written by Egyptians in English as a foreign language to previous studies. The findings suggest that Egyptians tend to omit punctuation more frequently, whereas non-Egyptians favor abbreviations, contractions and clipped forms. The results also indicate that Twitter may be shifting towards longer messages while at the same time increasingly employing more shortening strategies. The study also reveals that character limitation is not the only factor shaping language use on Twitter since not all linguistic choices are governed by brevity of communication.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily L Morrow ◽  
Fangyun Zhao ◽  
Lyn Turkstra ◽  
Catalina Toma ◽  
Bilge Mutlu ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Individuals with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) report fewer social contacts, less social participation, and more social isolation than noninjured peers. Cognitive-communication disabilities may prevent individuals with TBI from accessing the opportunities for social connection afforded by computer-mediated communication, as individuals with TBI report lower overall usage of social media than noninjured peers and substantial challenges with accessibility and usability. Although adaptations for individuals with motor and sensory impairments exist to support social media use, there have been no parallel advances to support individuals with cognitive disabilities, such as those exhibited by some people with TBI. In this study, we take a preliminary step in the development process by learning more about patterns of social media use in individuals with TBI as well as their input and priorities for developing social media adaptations. OBJECTIVE This study aims to characterize how and why adults with TBI use social media and computer-mediated communication platforms, to evaluate changes in computer-mediated communication after brain injury, and to elicit suggestions from individuals with TBI to improve access to social media after injury. METHODS We conducted a web-based survey of 53 individuals with a chronic history of moderate-to-severe TBI and a demographically matched group of 51 noninjured comparison peers. RESULTS More than 90% of participants in both groups had an account on at least one computer-mediated communication platform, with Facebook and Facebook Messenger being the most popular platforms in both groups. Participants with and without a history of TBI reported that they use Facebook more passively than actively and reported that they most frequently maintain web-based relationships with close friends and family members. However, participants with TBI reported less frequently than noninjured comparison participants that they use synchronous videoconferencing platforms, are connected with acquaintances on the web, or use social media as a gateway for offline social connection (eg, to find events). Of the participants with TBI, 23% (12/53) reported a change in their patterns of social media use caused by brain injury and listed concerns about accessibility, safety, and usability as major barriers. CONCLUSIONS Although individuals with TBI maintain social media accounts to the same extent as healthy comparisons, some may not use them in a way that promotes social connection. Thus, it is important to design social media adaptations that address the needs and priorities of individuals with TBI, so they can also reap the benefits of social connectedness offered by these platforms. By considering computer-mediated communication as part of individuals’ broader social health, we may be able to increase web-based participation in a way that is meaningful, positive, and beneficial to broader social life.


2020 ◽  
pp. 009365022095822
Author(s):  
Adrian Meier ◽  
Leonard Reinecke

Computer-mediated communication (CMC), and specifically social media, may affect the mental health (MH) and well-being of its users, for better or worse. Research on this topic has accumulated rapidly, accompanied by controversial public debate and numerous systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Yet, a higher-level integration of the multiple disparate conceptual and operational approaches to CMC and MH and individual review findings is desperately needed. To this end, we first develop two organizing frameworks that systematize conceptual and operational approaches to CMC and MH. Based on these frameworks, we integrate the literature through a meta-review of 34 reviews and a content analysis of 594 publications. Meta-analytic evidence, overall, suggests a small negative association between social media use and MH. However, effects are complex and depend on the CMC and MH indicators investigated. Based on our conceptual review and the evidence synthesis, we devise an agenda for future research in this interdisciplinary field.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-162
Author(s):  
Reinhild Vandekerckhove ◽  
Lisa Hilte ◽  
Darja Fišer ◽  
Walter Daelemans

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig D. Howard ◽  
Andrew F. Barrett ◽  
Theodore W. Frick

In this quasi-experimental case study, we compared five sections of a basic undergraduate technology course. Within an asynchronous web forum, pre-service teachers wrote short critiques of websites designed by their classmates. This peer feedback was provided anonymously by students in two classes ( n = 35) whereas providers and recipients of peer feedback were identified by their real names in three other classes ( n = 37). Computer-Mediated discourse analysis methods (Herring, 2004) were used to code student written comments according to substance and tone of feedback. Next, we estimated likelihoods of specific feedback patterns through Analysis of Patterns in Time (Frick, 1990). Results indicated that students who were anonymous were approximately five times more likely to provide substantively critical feedback than were those whose identities were known to their recipients. When feedback was given anonymously, students were approximately four times more likely to provide reasons for needed improvement to a website, and then to suggest design alternatives. In light of advantages afforded by this form of pseudonymity, we conclude with a discussion of pedagogical prescriptions for supporting learners' production of feedback.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-350
Author(s):  
Marianthi Georgalidou ◽  
Katerina T. Frantzi ◽  
Giorgos Giakoumakis

Abstract In the context of the Greek economic crisis during the years 2009–2019, the aim of the present study is to discuss language aggression and derogatory forms of speech attested in user polylogues commenting on instances of parliamentary discourse uploaded to computer mediated communication networks. Within the framework of (im)politeness research (Culpeper 2005, 2011; Garcés-Conejos Blitvich 2010a; Haugh 2013; Lorenzo-Dus, et al. 2011; Mitchell and Haugh 2015), we investigate the correlation between impoliteness and abusive verbal discourse in both domains, i.e. parliamentary sittings and social media commentary. We explore their potential to establish a common ground in viewing political issues and determining ideological polarizations. We also attempt a preliminary analysis of swear words and derogatory references to Greek political personnel and their instrumentalisation for the division of the readership into those who support and those who oppose different political agendas.


First Monday ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacky Au Duong ◽  
Frauke Zeller

Social media platforms have become the new centre of attention in business-to-consumer (B2C) communication. These interactions provide a rich source of information for businesses in terms of their customers’ preferences, backgrounds and behaviour. We introduce a multi-disciplinary theoretical and methodological framework based on studies in marketing, communication and computer-mediated communication, which aims to inform marketing professionals and academic researchers on how social media can facilitate B2C engagement.


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