Spotlight on Scholarship:
Recent Work by HCTD members
Hargittai, E. (2007). Whose space? Differences among users and non-users of social network sites. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13(1), article 14.
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/hargittai.html
Are there systematic differences between people who use social network sites and those who stay away, despite a familiarity with them? Based on data from a survey administered to a diverse group of young adults, this article looks at the predictors of SNS usage, with particular focus on Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, and Friendster. Findings suggest that use of such sites is not randomly distributed across a group of highly wired users. A person's gender, race and ethnicity, and parental educational background are all associated with use, but in most cases only when the aggregate concept of social network sites is disaggregated by service. Additionally, people with more experience and autonomy of use are more likely to be users of such sites. Unequal participation based on user background suggests that differentialadoption of such services may be contributing to digital inequality.
Hargittai, E., Gallo, J. & Kane, M.Y. (2008). Cross-ideological discussions among conservative and liberal bloggers. Public Choice, 134(1-2), 67-86.
With the increasing spread of information technologies and their potential to filter content, some have argued that people will abandon the reading of dissenting political opinions in favor of material that is closely aligned with their own ideological position. We test this theory empirically by analyzing – both quantitatively and qualitatively – Web links among the writings of top conservative and liberal bloggers. Given our use of novel methods, we discuss in detail our sampling and data collection methodologies. We find that widely read political bloggers are much more likely to link to others who share their political views. However, we find no increase in this pattern over time. We also analyze the content of the links and find that while many of the links are based on straw-man arguments, bloggers across the political spectrum also address each others' writing substantively, both in agreement and disagreement.
Leonardi, P. M. (2007). Activating the informational capabilities of information technology for organizational change. Organization Science, 18(5), 813-831.
This paper considers how the information enabled by information technology is implicated in organizational action. I begin by proposing that the relationship between technology appropriations and an organization’s informal advice networks is one useful way to understand how the information that is created, modified, transmitted and stored through the use of an information technology can lead to organizational change. I then present the findings of an ethnographic study of the implementation and use of a new Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) tool in a large IT organization. The findings show that a number of discrepant events led technicians to appropriate the material features of the technology in certain ways, thus providing them with new and different kinds of information than was available to them previously. Armed with such information, technicians began to seek advice differently than they had before, which led to an overall transformation in the organization’s social structure. I characterize appropriations of a technology’s features as a set of practices that activate the informational capabilities of a new technology through advice networks. In activating its informational capabilities, technicians transformed the potential that the technology had to create, modify, transmit, and store information in new ways into resources they used to organize their work. I conclude by discussing the implications of the findings for theorizing about and management of technologically-induced organizational change.
O’Toole, G. (2007). The machined word: The medium as message-concept transportation entity. The International Journal of the Arts in Society, 2(3)
In this essay, the foundation is laid out for the basis of a media theory declaration that is an alternative view of Marshall McLuhan's mantra that the medium is the message. In the first part of this essay the alternative theory is stated, and holds that the medium is not necessarily the message, but that the medium is a message-concept transportation entity. The second part of the essay contains the application of the theory, focusing on the process and the invention of the typewriter viewed through the critical lens of Freidrich Kittler, and the literary work of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs to project the applications of the theory stated in part one. The essay utilizes Freidrich Kittler's three-part model of media in perception, including Gramophone, Film, and Typewriter, resulting in a series of more complete and comprehensive musings on the axis of association that can be drawn between medium, message, and author in this respect.
Parker, R. E. & Bianchi, A. (forthcoming). Perceptions of instructional technology: Factors of influence and anticipated consequences. Education Technology & Society.
The use of instructional technologies such as PowerPoint ™ and WebCT ™ are nearly ubiquitous in contemporary college classrooms. The literature is rich with ideas about the transformative powers of technology. What is less understood is how users perceive technology and its effects on classroom dynamics such as student attendance and participation as well as student learning. The literature offers neither an empirical nor rhetorical consensus about the efficacy of classroom technology. This study explores perceptions about the effects of two commonly used technologies through surveys of faculty (n= 485) and students (n= 3145) at a large, public university. Results indicate that individual factors such as gender, grade point average, class/faculty rank, and length of tenure influence orientation toward technology. Results indicate student and faculty differ in their perceptions of the impact of technology on student attendance, class discussion, and connections between students. We explore potential reasons for these differences and how they provide clues for improving the usefulness of technology in meeting learning objectives for all students.
Reinsch, N.L. Jr., Turner, J.W., & Tinsley, C.H (2008, April). MultiCommunicating: A practice whose time has come? Academy of Management Review, 33(2).
We offer the concept of multicommunicating to describe overlapping conversations, an increasingly common occurrence in the technology-enriched workplace. We define multicommunicating, distinguish it from other behaviors, and develop propositions for future research. Our work extends the literature on technology-stimulated restructuring and reveals one of the opportunities provided by lean media—specifically, an opportunity to multicommunicate. We conclude that the concept of multicommunicating has value both to the scholar and to the practicing manager.
RESEARCH/GRANT INVOLVEMENT
Currently, Susan B. Barnes is working on a National Science Foundation Grant called: Theoretical and Applied Approaches to Teaching Social Computing in STEM Education. The first primary goal is to improve technology education by introducing the new discipline of social computing into the STEM curriculum. A secondary objective of this
project is the tracking of the formation of social network building within three different online learning environments. The grant is being done in collaboration with Steve Jacobs, Chris Egert, and Nick DiFonzo, we hope to share our initial findings at NCA.
The Provost’s Learning Innovations Grant for Faculty being conducted by Susan B. Barnes and Neil Hair is to develop pedagogy in the virtual world of SecondLife. We are teaching a course on Online Advertising and how branding is important in the digital age. This new environment provides an opportunity to explore both the individual and advertising brand. In addition to teaching the course, we will be conducting research on student’s reactions to this new environment.
You can contact Susan B. Barnes at sbbgpt@rit.edu for further information or to share your research.