Turning to the Internet for Help on Sensitive Medical Problems

The purpose of the present study was to examine how members of an online bulletin board group concerned with sleep paralysis (SP) use the Internet to establish what it means to experience the symptoms associated with a mysterious sleep disorder. Data from 646 posts to the bulletin board, and from ten in- depth interviews with select bulletin board users, revealed that board participants constructed their disorder in three different ways: while some considered it a purely physiological problem, others believed it to be a demonic attack or a paranormal phenomenon. Results indicated that people suffering from SP are driven to the Internet by their desire to make sense of their terrifying nocturnal experiences. Rather than dispelling the myths surrounding this sleep disorder, the Internet in this study was, however, found to reinforce them by offering a forum for the discussion of alternative explanatory frameworks.     

Health-Care Professionals' Participation in an Online Discussion Forum: The Impact on Structure,Content and Interaction

ABSTRACT

The study investigates the impact by health-care professionals on a Norwegian Internet discussion forum. A comparison of the same forum in time-periods with either high or low level of professional involvement was performed. The hypothesis was that professional involvement would have marked effects on the interaction in discussion forums; among other things encourage short and factual/practical interaction patterns at the expense of social climate. A range of different methods were utilized, quantitative analysis, (qualitative) content analysis, and visual mapping. The results show differences between high and low professional involvement in the forum in terms of activity level, distribution over week-days, social presence density, and structure. Some methodological reflections are offered, as well as recommendations for future research.     

Older audiences in the digital media environment

Relying on Jensen and Helles’ model for studying the Internet as a cultural forum, this study aimed to explore the extent to which traditional media are displaced by innovative communication practices within the older audience of new media. The study was based on a cross-European survey of 1039 Internet users aged 60 years and up. Results indicated that older Internet users are significantly more inclined to use traditional mass media than new social media and prefer synchronous to asynchronous mass media. This audience, however, is not homogeneous, as four subsegments were identified. These groups differed in their media repertoires, sociocultural background and leisure preferences. The findings suggest that despite the increasing percentage of older Internet users, this audience tends to adhere to familiar media practices, with only a minority making intense use of new practices. With very few cross-national differences, this tendency appears to be universal, suggesting overall media use traditionalism and a second-level digital divide among the older audience.     

Description and pre-post evaluation of a telephone and Internet based treatment programme for pathological gambling in Norway: a pilot study

Although the effectiveness of treatments for pathological gamblers is gaining support, only 10% of pathological gamblers seek treatment. Providing treatment via the Internet may lower the thresholds for treatment seeking. A new telephone and Internet based treatment programme for pathological gamblers is presented in this article, along with a pre-post evaluation of the programme. The participants (N = 112) were problem gamblers who were either self-referred or referred by their general practitioner. Data from post-treatment and 3-month follow-up are evaluated. The results suggest that using Internet and telephone-assisted treatment interventions can significantly reduce symptoms of pathological gambling (measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen – Revised). The intervention was also associated with improvement on cognitive distortions, measured by the Gamblers Belief Questionnaire, and general psychological distress and psychopathology as measured by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Although Internet-based treatment programmes have been suggested to have advantages compared to traditional face-to-face therapy, research in this area is scarce. This pilot study contributes to the growing literature in this area, and provides tentative support for the effectiveness of Internet based treatment interventions for pathological gamblers.     

Meaning and Identity in “Cyberspace”: The Performance of Gender,Class, and Race Online

This article explores issues of gendered, classed and raced identities using examples drawn from my research on a type of online forum known as a mud. I critique previous accounts of research regarding identity online which have suggested that online interactions encourage greater identity fluidity and multiplicity. Drawing on examples from face-to-face interviews and online interaction, I discuss several aspects of identity. I first examine participants' efforts to meet face-to-face and discuss their privileging of offline information regarding identity. Using two examples of “gender-switchers,” I then show how some participants distance themselves from experiences of gendered identities which might otherwise disrupt previously held beliefs about gender. Next I discuss classed and raced identities, which participants express in conversations about income and ethnicity. These discussions point to the interconnections between online and offline interpretations of class and race. Thus, in discussing these examples, I emphasize the need to examine not just online performances, but also the participants' interpretations of such performances. Despite the potentially disruptive effects of online ambiguity, many participants continue to believe in essence and continuity of identity.     

The political use of the internet: Some insights from two surveys of Italian students

Interest in the Internet's impact on political participation has grown over the last five years. The main claim of most social scientists is to consider the Internet as a new resource for political engagement. However, this claim has not always been backed up by empirical analysis. The aim of this article is to provide empirical evidence on a subject that previous surveys on the Internet have generally ignored: the influence of individual political characteristics on Internet use. The authors compare data from two distinct surveys, carried out in two different periods but which contain some common batteries of questions referring to political participation and Internet use for political purposes. One survey was carried out in 2001 and focused on students at the University of Florence. The second was carried out in 2002 and focused on the participants in the European Social Forum in Florence. The empirical results and interpretations offered are based on a sample of 397 students, extracted from the two databases. The focus of the research is on exploring whether and how the political use of the Internet is shaped by the political characteristics of users, in this case students. The findings of the two studies suggest that, firstly, the more students are engaged in different social and political organizations, the more they use the Internet to achieve political purposes; and, secondly, that different styles of Internet use (to retrieve alternative information, to discuss and to perform political actions) are associated with the political characteristics of users. In particular, the characteristics of offline participation are reproduced online: the Internet is appropriated and shaped by political practices of users.     

Toward an Open-Source Methodology: What We Can Learn from the Blogosphere

During the 2004 election campaign, millions of political enthusiastsdownloaded poll data on the Internet, while "Weblogs" provideda new forum for commentary on survey methodology. At the sametime, traditional public opinion surveys came under pressurefrom declining cooperation, contact, and coverage rates, andmany automated and Internet surveys began to proliferate. Thisarticle provides some examples of "blog" commentary on automatedand Internet polls and then explores the lessons to be learnedfrom the spirit of innovation and openness of the Internet inevaluating new survey methods such as automated polls and thoseconducted over the Internet.     

Networks of Contention: The Shape of Online Transnationalism in Early Twenty-First Century Social Movement Coalitions

The study of new media use by transnational social movements is central to contemporary investigations of social contention. In order to shed light on the terrain in which the most recent examples of online mobilization have grown and developed, this paper combines the interest in the transnational dynamics of social contention and the exploration of the use of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) for protest action. In specific terms, the study investigates how early twenty-first century social movement coalitions used Internet tools to build symbolically transnational collective identities. By applying a hyperlink network analysis approach, the study focuses on a website network generated by local chapters of the World Social Forum (WSF), one of the earliest social movement coalitions for global justice. The sample network, selected through snowball sampling, is composed of 222 social forum websites from around the world. The study specifically looks at hyperlinks among social forum websites as signs of belonging and potential means of alliance. The analysis uses network measures, namely of cohesion, centrality, structural equivalence and homophily, to test dynamics of symbolic collective identification underlying the WSF coalition. The findings show that in early twenty-first century transnational contention, culture and place still played a central role in the emergence of transnational movement networks.     

E-releases: A view from linguistic pragmatics

In this contribution we present the results of preliminary linguistic pragmatic research on the impact of the Internet on press releases. Focusing on the preformulated nature of press releases, we propose a pilot study of two selected websites: the American Internet News Bureau (INB) and Belga direct, an on-line press release service of the Belgian news agency Belga. It is shown how a mix of virtual enthographic and discourse-analytic research methods can help shed new light on recent developments in the field of PR.     

Questions of process in participant-generated visual methodologies

There is an increasing literature on visual methodologies in which images are generated by participants as part of the research, as distinct from the analysis of existing images or images taken by the researcher. Although there are growing numbers of publications that present frameworks for analysing images and their meaning, this is an area requiring further deliberation and consolidation. Our contribution is to give serious attention to the processes of image production in participant-generated visual methodologies. We examine methodological and ethical considerations that arise before, during and after image production. Our work is in health research and we focus specifically on two methods: first, a combination of photovoice and photo-elicitation, in particular with young people; and second, drawings as research method. Based on examples using these two methods, we pose questions of process for image production and submit this for interrogation for reasons of methodological, analytical and ethical rigour.     

“It is just SICKENING”: Emotions and discourse in an anti-immigrant discussion forum

ABSTRACT

Following 9/11, organizations advocating for stricter immigration policy grew across the United States. This study examines the Web site and online discussion forum of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee (ALIPAC), a group identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as nativist extremist. While forum participants are geographically dispersed, social media provide them a space to interact with like-minded people. Results show that ALIPAC members provide shared accounts that construct positive moral identities. Forum participants promise positive emotions of pride and power for joining the group, despite the perception that outsiders perceive them as racists. Drawing from tenets of patriotism, participants construct virtual identities and reject the racist stigma by turning them on immigrants, civil rights organizations, and politicians. Participants claim their emotional responses are rational and morally superior to those of the perceived opposition. Failing to share their anger, sense of injustice, and disgust is framed as irrational.     

User satisfaction and user experiences with Access Grid as a medium for social science research: a research note

Access Grid (AG) is a state-of-the-art video conferencing system that operates over computer networks such as the Internet. In the research sphere it has principally been used to conduct meetings of natural scientists in large international collaborations, such as physicists collaborating over the Large Hadron Collider. Social scientists have recently begun exploring the use of AG to conduct ‘virtual fieldwork' where researchers carry out interviews or moderate group discussions involving participants at remote sites. There have also been experiments in using AG to deliver social research methods training and to facilitate meetings between social researchers and government researchers who are collaborating on research projects. This article provides a quantitative analysis of the experiences of a sample of participants in such AG sessions. It finds a high degree of satisfaction with the technical affordances of the medium, and identifies differences in perspective according to whether a session is research-oriented or has a ‘real world' purpose.     

The Use of Online Social Support by Foster Families

ABSTRACT

The extent to which foster families utilize social support on the Internet is examined in a sample of 34 foster families in a digital divide intervention program and a comparison sample of 30 foster families who were not part of the program. In spite of increased Internet access, the frequency of using online social support is low. A minority of parents and children increased their use of the Internet to give and receive help, communicate with other foster families and e-mail with their foster care worker. More than half of foster youth have used the Internet to stay in touch with friends and relatives and have “made a new friend” over the Internet. Implications for child welfare practice and for further research are discussed.     

The bad and the ugly: ethical concerns in participatory photographic methods with children living and working on the streets of Lima,Peru

Visual methods are particularly well suited for getting at the ways in which children living and working on the street understand their socio-spatial environment, and can bridge gaps between researcher and researched. In this study, adolescents who live and work on the streets of Lima are asked to take photographs, documenting their lives and their socio-spatial environments. While participatory methods such as photovoice can bring children and adolescents into the research process and can provide significant benefits to research and its participants, the introduction of photographic methods with marginalised populations carries with it important ethical concerns. This article explores the various critiques of documentary photography, and ethical concerns that arise when using visual methods, including issues of exploitation and intrusion in research with adolescents living on the streets. It also examines the ways in which researchers must continuously reassess their methodological practices in order to protect the best interests of the participants involved.     

The contemporary US digital divide: from initial access to technology maintenance

As US Internet penetration rates have climbed, digital divide researchers have largely shifted attention to differences in Internet skills. Interviews with 72 low-income US residents from both a large metropolitan city and a medium-sized Midwestern town, however, reveal that many people still struggle to maintain physical access, supporting technology maintenance theory. Technology maintenance theory argues that although most of the US poor now use digital technology, access is unstable and characterized by frequent periods of disconnection. As a result, low-income users must work to maintain access, often experiencing cycles of dependable instability. In these interviews, nearly all used the Internet, but technology maintenance practices were widespread, including negotiation of temporarily disconnected service, broken hardware, and logistic limitations on public access. As a result, participants had limited access to health information and employment, and biased attitudes toward technology. That is, in some cases, negative attitudes toward Internet adoption reflected a rational response to disconnection rather than cultural norms or fears of the Internet, as suggested by previous research. Findings support and extend the theory of technology maintenance by emphasizing a shift in the US digital divide from issues of ownership to issues of sustainability; they also provide insight into the interrelated nature of access and attitudes toward technology. This new theoretical approach complements other theoretical approaches to the digital divide that foreground a contextualized understanding of digital disparities as embedded within a history of broad social disparities.     

Internet gambling in relation to Internet addiction,substance use,online sexual engagement and suicidality in a Greek sample

Research has found gambling to be related to a variety of other addictive behaviours. The study objective was to evaluate the association of Internet gambling with Internet addiction, online sexual engagement, suicidality and substance use, in a sample of Greek adults. The study sample consisted of 789 military personnel. During their annual medical examination the study participants anonymously completed a series of self-reported questionnaires in relation to socio-demographic data, Internet gambling practices, online sexual engagement, Internet addiction, suicidality and psychoactive substance use. We found that Internet addiction significantly predicted engagement with online gambling, followed by substance use in general, and, in particular, the use of cocaine or heroin. Finally, two other predictive indicators were self-reported suicide attempts and engagement with online sex. Online gambling is associated with various behaviours related to impulsivity such as Internet addiction, online sexual engagement, suicidality and substance use. Future research will increase our knowledge on the contribution of new technologies and the Internet in Internet gambling dimensions, as well as on the associations with other high-risk behaviours such as substance use, pornography and suicidality.     

‘I was bored so…’: motivational accounts of participation in an online emo group

We examine members' spontaneous accounts for joining and participating in an online emo forum. The Internet and social networking sites are central features of contemporary youth cultures; the analysis of interaction on emo forums can thus provide a way of appreciating emo as a ‘Community in Practice’. We analyse popular discussion threads collected from a key emo website, using membership categorisation and conversation analysis. In these threads, members introduce themselves and account for joining and posting pictures in response to a prior request to do so. Analysis shows that newbies establish their emo attributes and hence entitlement to participate while dismissing emo-related motivation for joining the forum, claiming instead a desire to relieve boredom. Participants similarly accounted for posting photos of themselves and for producing fan pics as due to boredom. We show how claiming to be bored allows members to engage with the group while negotiating potentially problematic inferences that attend subcultural membership. We conclude that our approach provides a useful methodology for furthering our understanding of an important aspect of contemporary youth subcultures.     

Staying inside: social withdrawal of the young,Finnish ‘Hikikomori’

This article explores socially withdrawn young Finnish people on an Internet forum who identify with the Japanese hikikomori phenomenon. We aim to overcome the dualism between sociology and psychology found in earlier research by referring to Pierre Bourdieu, who provides insights into how individual choices are constructed in accordance with wider social settings. We focus on the individual level and everyday choices, but we suggest that psychological factors (anxiety, depression) can be seen as properties of social relations rather than as individual states of mind, as young adults have unequal access to valued resources. We scrutinise young people’s specific reasoning related to the social and psychological factors and contingent life events that influence their choice to withdraw. An experience of inadequacy, a feeling of failure and a lack of self-efficacy are common experiences in the data. This indicates that young adults who identify with the hikikomori phenomenon find external society demanding and consider themselves lacking resources such as education, social networks or the personality type that they see as valued in society and as essential to ‘survival’. They also feel that they cannot control their life events, which may mean that they receive little help in their everyday lives.