Examining Online Communications: A Method for the Quantitative Analysis of Qualitative Data
Byrne, C. L., Hughes, M. G., Nei, D. S., Griffith, J. A., Harkrider, L. N., Zeni, T. A., Shipman, A. S., Allen, M. T., Angie, A. D., Ruark, G. A., Davis, J.L., Connelly, S., Mumford, M. D., & O'Hair, H. D. Examining online communications: A Method for quantitative analysis of qualitative data. Unpublished manuscript.
Means of individual communication continue to expand through online media, such as message board forums, chat rooms,... more Means of individual communication continue to expand through online media, such as message board forums, chat rooms, blogs, and social networking sites. Given the dynamic nature of online communications, traditional methods for studying communications may not suffice. A hybridized content analytic approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods is suggested as a flexible alternative. The proposed method of content analysis offers a new methodological tool to researchers who seek to better understand computer mediated communications. The proposed content analytic approach is discussed along with methodological considerations associated with the content analysis of online communications. Implementation of the suggested method to online communities is described. Advantages and disadvantages associated with the hybridized approach of content analysis are also considered. Additionally, ethical considerations of sampling from online communications sources are examined.
Engaging Art and Design students using institutional online learning spaces
by Tony Reeves
Published in the proceedings of the 2011 Designs on e-Learning conference, Aalto University, Helsinki.
Although the range and rapid evolution of e-learning tools can often prove daunting to many tutors in Higher... more
Although the range and rapid evolution of e-learning tools can often prove daunting to many tutors in Higher Education, many educators have concluded that blogs have the potential to be a 'transformational technology for teaching and learning' (Williams and Jacobs, 2004). This paper presents an investigation into the ways in which blogs hosted on the institutional Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) might enable groups of undergraduate Film students to collaborate and share their research during self-directed study time.
The case study surveyed 96 second-year students studying on an undergraduate course in Film Production within one institution, collecting quantitative and qualitative data by asking participants to complete a questionnaire at the end of the activity. This article explores student perceptions of three aspects of the use of institutional blogs to support learner activity, namely their effectiveness as a tool for facilitating collaboration and group work, their effectiveness as a group communication tool and their usefulness in helping students meet the assessment requirement. A key implication is that the ability to see the contributions made by each member of the group may contribute to an increased transparency of the process of assessing group work.
This case study will be of interest to those involved in the use of the VLE to support student learning, and particularly to those interested in the use of institutional collaborative tools.
Download (.pdf) "Blogging in the Classroom: Using a Blog as a Supplemental Resource"
Co-authored with Sarah A. Curtis and Jason Lahman
Perspectives on History: The Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association (April 2012).
"There was a time when preparing for a new course (or revising an old one) involved assembling some of the best... more
"There was a time when preparing for a new course (or revising an old one) involved assembling some of the best books and articles on a particular subject and writing careful word-based lectures on a series of significant topics. That approach is still valid, of course, but for certain historical topics, particularly ones involving cultural history, the internet provides a multitude of new sources that are often auditory or visual in nature. Straying from one's wordprocessing program over to a Web browser can both exhilarate and frustrate—how much of this material can one really incorporate into a lecture after all? Having identified these sources, how can instructors share them with their students?
In spring 2011, we had precisely this problem in a course entitled "Paris: Biography of a City," offered through San Francisco State University's humanities department. This course was expressly designed to be interdisciplinary in nature, combining history, art history, literature, film, and music. Even cursory searches of the Web, however, yielded more visual images, film, and sound clips than could possibly be shown in class. In three different roles—instructor, teaching assistant, and technological adviser, respectively—we discovered the solution to this embarrassment of riches: a course blog."
Analyzing Conservative and Liberal Blogs Related to the Construction of the Ground Zero Mosque
Dehghani, Morteza, J. Gratch, S. Sachdeva, and K. Sagae (2011)
Building a Blog Cabin during a Financial Crisis: Circuits of Struggle in the Digital Enclosure
by Robert Gehl
Television and New Media, 2012
In their studies of online media, political economists of communication have examined how firms like Google enclose... more In their studies of online media, political economists of communication have examined how firms like Google enclose users in a web of commercial surveillance, thus facilitating the commodification of their online labor. However, this focus on enclosure tends to overlook the political possibilities highlighted by autonomist Marxist theory—namely, that users, under certain circumstances, can appropriate these applications to contest conditions of exploitation. This article offers an analysis of Blog Cabin 2008, a cable home improvement show, in order to explore this tension between autonomy and enclosure. Our findings suggest that producers indeed used the show’s blog to exploit fans’ free labor. However, fans also used the blog to form social bonds, to press demands on the show’s producers, and to make connections between the show’s class politics and the wider financial crisis. A concluding section explores the theoretical and political significance of such unanticipated uses of the show’s blog.
Prisons and Persecution: The New Casualties
In: Mary Joyce, Digital Activism Decoded: The New Mechanics of Change. iDebate Press 2010.
Oppositional Politics and the Internet: A Critical/Reconstructive Approach
by Richard Kahn
Co-authored with Doug Kellner, Cultural Politics, Vol. 1., No. 1, 2005
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WINE -BLOGS INFLUENCE AND BLOGS’ COMMUNITY CONNECTIVITY: A social network analysis
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TOURISM, HOSPITALITY AND RECREATION
VOLUME 3 - ISSUE 1
March, 2012
Wine-blogs are important for the information provision and promotion of wine industry and tourism activities related... more Wine-blogs are important for the information provision and promotion of wine industry and tourism activities related to wine. The paper records 1305 wine-blogs and their inter-linkages through their blogrolls. It uses Social Network Analysis to study blogs’ networking characteristics and connectivity. By proposing five graph-theoretic indexes, and by summarizing them to one overall index, the study explores which blogs are most active and connected. The property of skewnness is discussed. According to the overall index, the top-10 wine-blogs are described. Highly connected wine-blogs can be regarded as influential within the bloggers’ community. Locating them may be significant since it allows for the study of information flow to readers.
Bloggers’ Community Characteristics and Influence within Greek Political Blogosphere
Future Internet 2012, 4(2), 396-412; doi:10.3390/fi4020396
Article
Bloggers’ Community Characteristics and Influence within Greek Political Blogosphere
Kostas Zafiropoulos, Vasiliki Vrana and Dimitrios Vagianos
This paper investigates the properties of central or core political blogs. They can be located as clusters of blogs... more This paper investigates the properties of central or core political blogs. They can be located as clusters of blogs whose members have many incoming links. Other blogs form clouds around them in the sense that they link the core blogs. A case study records Greek political blogs and their incoming links reported through their blogrolls. The adjacency matrix from the blogs’ social network is analyzed and clusters are located. Three of them, those with the larger numbers of incoming links, may be considered to be central. Next, four measures of influence are used to test the influence of the central blogs. The findings suggest that there are many kinds of central blogs, influential and non-influential, and high influence does not always involve high hyperlinking.
How I became a historian of psychiatry
by Hans Pols
Blog post
Why ask why? Just do it! Why ask why? Just do it!
The Blogging BBC: Journalism blogs at “the world's most trusted news organisation”
Blogging has shifted from an activity largely taking place outside established media to a practice appropriated by... more Blogging has shifted from an activity largely taking place outside established media to a practice appropriated by professional journalists. This study explores how BBC News has incorporated blogging in its journalism, looking at the internal debates that led to the adoption of blogs and charting how they became a core part of the corporation's news output. Using a case study approach, it examines the impact of blogging on BBC editorial values and considers how journalists have sought to maintain their authority in a digital media environment by integrating a new form of journalism within existing norms and practices. The BBC offers a unique case study as its long-standing editorial values of accuracy, impartiality and fairness appear at odds with the notion of blogs as immediate, uncensored and unmediated. The research reveals that blogs emerged initially as an activity peripheral to the main newsgathering functions of the organisation and were rapidly transformed into key mechanisms for communicating analysis and commentary to the public. It contends that, for now, blogging has had a greater impact on the style, rather than substance, of BBC journalism. While the systems whereby journalists deliver information have evolved, the attitudes and approaches have, so far, remained relatively static.
Network and Content Analysis in a Blog Training Course.
M., Maheridou, P., Antoniou, E., Tsitskari & Th., Kourtessis. Published in International J. Soc. Sci. & Education, 2 (2), 238-251 (2012).
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate interaction patterns among twenty (n=20) physical educators... more
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to evaluate interaction patterns among twenty (n=20) physical educators (PE) who voluntarily attended an eight week training course using blog, in order to enhance their professional development and their skills in effective teaching; the way they shared and constructed
knowledge together was also a focus of our interest. The asynchronous online discussion between the learners formed the basis for the study. Social network analysis and content analysis were applied to analyze the data. The results showed that interaction patterns between the participants were rather
centralized and network was relatively dense. Moreover, person to person communication was rather high. Content analysis revealed that the discussion was mainly focused on sharing and comparing information, as far as in negotiation and knowledge construction. A significant degree of social presence was established, which indicated that socio-emotional interaction between learners was essential in realizing meaningful and worthwhile educational outcomes.
Blogs in Distance Education: An analysis of physical educators’ perceptions of learning.
M., Maheridou, P., Antoniou, Th., Kourtessis & A., Avgerinos. Published in T.O.J. of Distance Education, 12 (1), 95-107 (2011).
ABSTRACT
The flexibility of open and on line learning in meeting different kinds of needs in a variety of ways... more
ABSTRACT
The flexibility of open and on line learning in meeting different kinds of needs in a variety of ways and the need for planners to make appropriate choices, taking a number of factors into account indicates the need to find out more about the evaluation of teacher training through on line distance education. In recent years web 2.0 technologies such as blogs enable sharing and collaboration between geographically remote users and offer the opportunity for new forms of student-centered pedagogic practices. The purpose of this study was to examine the physical educators‘ perception of learning toward three blog courses, carrying on during an eight week period, in order to enhance their professional development and their skills in effective teaching. In each blog a different cooperative teaching method was applied (STAND, COOP and ICL). Participants were fifty four (n=54) physical educators who teach in elementary and secondary schools of different Greek regions, with an experience of 1.67 to 21.75 years. Data was collected using an online questionnaire after the education programme was completed. Overall, participants‘ responses in the perceived learning questions supported the benefits of use asynchronous web 2 tools in distance education programmes. Their perception of learning using blogs appears to be positively increased regarding the regulation of the applied cooperative procedure.
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Η ποιότητα της αλληλεπίδρασης καθηγητών Φυσικής Αγωγής σε ένα ασύγχρονο εξ αποστάσεως πρόγραμμα επιμόρφωσης μέσω ιστολογίου.
Μαχαιρίδου, Μ., Αντωνίου, Π., Αυγερινός, Α. & Κουρτέσης, Θ. Published in i-teacher (2011).
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ
Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας ήταν η ποιοτική αξιολόγηση της αλληλεπίδρασης, που αναπτύχθηκε κατά τη... more
ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ
Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας ήταν η ποιοτική αξιολόγηση της αλληλεπίδρασης, που αναπτύχθηκε κατά τη συνεργασία 19 εν ενεργεία καθηγητών Φυσικής Αγωγής (ΚΦΑ), οι οποίοι παρακολούθησαν ένα ασύγχρονο εξ Αποστάσεως (εξΑπ) επιμορφωτικό πρόγραμμα, με θέμα την αποτελεσματική διδασκαλία της Φυσικής Αγωγής. Μετά την ολοκλήρωση της επιμόρφωσης, διενεργήθηκε ανάλυση περιεχομένου στα γραπτά μηνύματα που αναρτούσαν οι ΚΦΑ στο ιστολόγιο, το οποίο αποτέλεσε το ηλεκτρονικό μαθησιακό τους περιβάλλον. Εφαρμόσθηκε το «Μοντέλο Ανάλυσης Αλληλεπίδρασης» (Gunawardena, Lowe & Anderson, 1997) και βρέθηκε, ότι το μεγαλύτερο ποσοστό των μηνυμάτων (46.23%) αφορούσε το διαμοιρασμό και σύγκριση πληροφοριών (φάση Ι), ενώ μικρότερο ποσοστό (16.08%) κωδικοποιήθηκε στη φάση ανακάλυψης και εξερεύνησης ασυνεπειών σε ιδέες, έννοιες, ισχυρισμούς (φάση ΙΙ). Ένα σημαντικό ποσοστό μηνυμάτων (22.11%) κωδικοποιήθηκε στη φάση διαπραγμάτευσης του νοήματος και συν-οικοδόμησης της γνώσης (φάση ΙΙΙ), ενώ τα ποσοστά που κωδικοποιήθηκαν στις δύο τελευταίες μεταγνωστικές φάσεις του μοντέλου (φάση ΙV και φάση V) ήταν σημαντικά χαμηλότερα (10.05% και 5.52%, αντίστοιχα).
La modifica dell'Art. 18 porterà a un "livellamento verso il basso"?
by Michele Loi
Posted in the Blog www.moraliaontheweb.com
Argomenta che la modifica dell'articolo 18 non porterà a un livellamento verso il basso dei diritti (anche se ridurrà... more Argomenta che la modifica dell'articolo 18 non porterà a un livellamento verso il basso dei diritti (anche se ridurrà i diritti dei lavoratori che ne hanno di più)
Why Blog?(Then and Now): Exploring the Motivations for Blogging by Popular American Political Bloggers
by Brian Ekdale
Ekdale, B., Namkoong, K., Fung, T. K., & Perlmutter, D. D. (2010). Why blog? (then and now): Exploring the motivations for blogging by popular American political bloggers. New Media & Society, 12(2), 217-234.
Despite the impact that influential American political bloggers have had on public policies and the mainstream media... more Despite the impact that influential American political bloggers have had on public policies and the mainstream media agenda in recent years, very little research is currently available on the most widely read political bloggers. Through a survey of 66 top American political bloggers, the present study examines this elite group by analyzing their initial and current motivations for blogging as well as their online and offline behaviors. The findings demonstrate that nearly all motivations for blogging have increased over time, with the most substantial increases occurring in extrinsic motivations. The results also reveal a significant association between extrinsic motivations and blogger online and offline political participation. This study demonstrates that future research on political blogs needs to look beyond blog readers and blog content and investigate the influential political bloggers themselves.