Young People and The Internet

Finding a Relationship between Internet Anxiety and Human Behavior

by Santosh Kalwar

This chapter introduces a relationship between Internet anxiety and human behavior. The Internet has become an avenue... more This chapter introduces a relationship between Internet anxiety and human behavior. The Internet has become an avenue for service provision, third-party applications, connectivity and social media. Thus, a clear understanding and comprehensive description of the relationship between Internet anxiety and human behavior becomes essential. The objective of this paper is to provide an assessment of the behavior and anxiety patterns of different age groups on the Internet. The study contributes to knowledge on human behavior and Internet anxiety. The preliminary investigation was realized with a small number of participants using qualitative research methodologies, including a structured themed interview. The result indicates that participants felt more anxiousness on Internet time delay anxiety, Experience anxiety, and Net Search anxiety.

Prime osservazioni sulla grammatica dei gruppi di discussione telematici di lingua italiana

by Vera Gheno

2003 [ma 2004], Prime osservazioni sulla grammatica dei gruppi di discussione telematici di lingua italiana, in “Studi di Grammatica Italiana”, XXII, Accademia della Crusca, Firenze, pp. 266-308.

I giovani e la comunicazione mediata dal computer: osservazioni linguistiche su nuove forme di alfabetizzazione

by Vera Gheno

2009, I giovani e la comunicazione mediata dal computer: osservazioni linguistiche su nuove forme di alfabetizzazione [Forum Nuovi Linguaggi Nuove Alfabetizzazioni, Distretto 209 dell’International Inner Wheel (27 marzo 2009, Siena)], «Verbum Analecta Neolatina» XI, 2009, 1, “Dialogue Monologue”, pp. 167-187.

Evaluating the impact of health promotional activities on Early Intervention outcomes.

by Sarah Amani

Psychosis affects 1–3% of the population. An estimated 6,900 young people aged 14–35 years old will deal with an emerging psychosis in the UK every year. Each person’s experience of psychosis will be different and therefore treatment needs to be tailored according to each individual’s experiences and needs. Early treatment has been shown to improve prognosis significantly. This report looks at efforts to improve access to timely and effective mental health services and the impact of these efforts.

The World Health Organisation defines health promotion as “the processof enabling people to increase control over, and... more The World Health Organisation defines health promotion as “the processof enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health”. EIIP undertook activities aimed at raising awareness of psychosis and the help available. The Early Intervention in Psychosis's health promotion strategy reduced admission by 75% between 2009-2010. The service's caseload is 69% male and the reason for this seems to be explored further. 

The Influence of Postmaterialist Orientations on Young British People's Offline and Online Political Participation

by Yannis Theocharis

published in 'Representation'

According to Inglehart’s postmaterialist theory, a process of value change is taking place in Western societies, where... more According to Inglehart’s postmaterialist theory, a process of value change is taking place in Western societies, where people place increasingly more emphasis on self-expression and postmaterialist values rather than economic and physical security. Evidence shows that postmaterialists are young,
affluent, well educated and strongly inclined to carry out extra-institutional political participation. Internet researchers have reported that internet users are mainly young, well educated and affluent, thus denoting a similarity to the demographic characteristics of postmaterialists. The profile of the average British internet user is strikingly similar to those of extra-institutional activists and postmaterialists. Using a non-random sample (N ¼ 500) of young people, this article tests the existence of postmaterialist values in the online realm of Britain and examines if postmaterialism influences online and offline political activity. The findings indicate that extra-institutional is a more popular type of participation among the British youths of this sample, in both offline and online realms. However, postmaterialism is not associated with internet use and is not a statistically significant predictor for offline or online extra-institutional participation.

Remediating participation and citizenship practices on social network sites

by giovanna mascheroni

published in the Medien Journal, 3 (2010)

Being mainstream places where a variety of online practices converge and are integrated, social network sites have... more Being mainstream places where a variety of online practices converge and are integrated, social network sites have also witnessed the emergence of grassroots and top-down political uses: from candidates’ and parties’ profiles, to single-issues campaigns’ discussion groups, to petitions and forms of ‘political fandom’, political content is now a constant presence in social media. Since social network sites are pervasive in young people’s everyday lives, questions of the effectives of the internet in engaging disaffected youth and expanding the opportunities for participation are under debate. This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative study aimed at investigating political uses of social network sites and emerging practices of online participation among Italian youth. Participatory uses of social network sites are unevenly distributed among young people: political content tends often to be incorporated as identity marker, while other young people actively engage in citizenship practices online. Therefore, it is argued, civic and political uses of social media have to be contextualised in young people’s everyday lives, especially in their ‘civic cultures’ and in the particular ‘convergent media ecology’ in which they are immersed. Depending on the civic cultures young people form and shape, and the digital literacy they develop, political uses are either a further outcome of networked individualism or the signal of new modes of participation which is mainly grassroots, non conventional and concerning identity and lifestyle choices.

Utilisation des réseaux socionumériques par les jeunes européens: Nouveaux résultats sur la vie privée, l'identité et les connexions sociales

by giovanna mascheroni

co-authored with Sonia Livingstone and Maria Francesca Murru

Social networking is arguably the fastest growing online activity among youth. This article presents new pan-European... more Social networking is arguably the fastest growing online activity among youth. This article presents new pan-European findings from the EU Kids Online project on how children and young people navigate the peer-to-peer networking possibilities afforded by SNSs, based on a survey of around 25,000 children (1000 children in each of 25 countries). In all, 59% of European 9-16 year olds who use the internet have their own social networking profile. Despite popular anxieties of lives lived indiscriminately in public, half have fewer than 50 contacts, most contacts are people already known to the child in person, and over two thirds have their profiles either private or partially private. The focus of the analysis, then, is to understand when and why some children seek wider circles of online contacts, and why some favour self-disclosure rather than privacy. Demographic differences among children, cultural factors across countries, and the specific affordances of social networking sites are all shown to make a difference in shaping the particularities of children’s online practices of privacy, identity and connection.

Das, R (2010). The task of interpretation: converging perspectives in audience research and digital literacies? In Nico Carpentier, et. Al. (Eds.) Media and Communication Studies Intersections and Interventions. Tartu: University of Tartu Press

by Ranjana Das

Audience reception studies have in past decades emphasised the active, interpretive, critical, creative and sometimes... more Audience reception studies have in past decades emphasised the active, interpretive, critical, creative and sometimes resistant nature of engaging with the media. This research has been theoretically underpinned by insights from mass communications research, literary aesthetics, (social) psychological approaches and cultural theory. Empirically, an array of material has accumulated from research into mass media audiences (primarily although not exclusively radio and television audiences). While the priorities of audience reception studies – discussion of the contexts within which media content is appropriated, of the nature of fandom and of the development of mediated identities within a mediated everyday life - have smoothly transferred from a mass mediated environment to a more convergent media environment, some of its conceptual ‘tools’ seem to beg clarification in the age of interactive, networked media. Generally, it seems that many highly used theoretical categories – interpretation, text, genre, mode – call for some rethinking and clarification in the context of Web 2.0. More specifically, it has recently been suggested that parallels of significance exist, conceptually as well as empirically, between audience reception studies and user studies (for instance Livingstone and Das, 2009). One such area ripe for convergence is in research with media and digital literacies, where both literacies and interpretation share a focus on the media itself (the question of text) and engagement with the media (interpretation, use) within contexts (see Livingstone, 2008). This all seems to be suitably framed within an ongoing conversation on transforming audiences, transforming media environments and transforming societies. It is in this context that the present chapter reports on a project which pays attention to the ‘journey’ in a sense, of concepts from one moment of mediated communication (text, genre, interpretation) as they are employed to interpret conversations with young users of an online genre.

Das, R. (2011). Converging perspectives in audience studies and digital literacies. European Journal of Communication, 26 (4) 343-360

by Ranjana Das

Engaging with a set of ideas proposed in an essay carried in this journal in 2004, this paper begins to carry concepts... more Engaging with a set of ideas proposed in an essay carried in this journal in 2004, this paper begins to carry concepts from one mediated condition to another, as it converges selected concepts from audience reception studies with media and digital literacies research. In approaching multi-method qualitative data from a project that researched youthful digital literacies on social networking sites, the paper presents a discussion in terms of anticipations of genre and modes of interpretative engagement. It is concluded that the text-reader framework of audience reception studies pushes the digital literacies discussion away from treating literacies as practical skills, encouraging a critical examination of people‟s interpretative engagement with media texts. By doing this, the paper also explores how concepts lying at the core of the reception studies repertoire need to be retained and revised in the age of the internet.

Das, R., 2010. Digital youth, heterogeneity and diversity. Journal of Media Practice 11/3

by Ranjana Das

In a rapidly diversifying media environment, where children and young people commute rapidly between multiple... more In a rapidly diversifying media environment, where children and young people commute rapidly between multiple platforms, genres and devices, critical attention is increasingly paid to youthful digital literacies, the nature and quality of young people’s engagement with the media and the problems and prospects offered by media environments. While children and young people do often lead the take-up of and experimentation with a range of new technologies and genres, within academia, there seems to be some amount of scepticism about phrases such as digital natives, digital generations and so forth – all terms that speak of perhaps homogenous youthful expertise with new technologies.
The attempt in rethinking these phrases is not to paint a bleak picture that deletes youthful agency in navigating digital everyday lives, but to balance a conversation focused on celebrating expertise, with reminders of inexpertise, confusion, occasional stumbling and importantly the affordances and design of the media itself.This paper emphasizes that it is through recognizing – the importance of the conditions of legibility, the huge difference between technical natives and critical participants, and the diversity and difference that characterizes this deceptively monolithic category called ‘youth’ – that the assumption of homogenous youthful expertise can be constructively questioned.

Animal 2.0

by Natalie Gilbert

The Internet has provided people with a new way to view animals, but how does our online activity compare to our... more The Internet has provided people with a new way to view animals, but how does our online activity compare to our offline viewing and do we witness a greater abundance of animal videos now than we have ever done historically? Is online content more or less factual than what has gone before? Experts have questioned whether the ethics of some traditional wildlife filmmakers are any better than the producers of animal videos shared online by amateurs, but the key consideration is how do we – if we can at all, censor and control animal footage? How does a digital audience react to animal footage and what draws the largest number of viewers? Evidence from YouTube suggests that the number of viewers does not equate to popularity and approval. Insight from cyborg anthropology and results from digital ethnography are presented to maximise our understanding of the phenomenal impact of the Internet on a global community before introducing some animal video case studies and the reaction to them.

DE LA ESQUINA AL CIBER: USOS DE INTERNET Y SOCIALIZACIÓN EN CIBERCAFÉS DE JÓVENES DE SECTORES POPULARES

by Joaquín Linne

Facebook Friend or Facebook foe?

by Simon Hammond

This paper reports on an aspect of a recent PhD project which represents a movement towards raising awareness of... more This paper reports on an aspect of a recent PhD project which represents a movement towards raising awareness of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) as tool for promoting improvements in the mental and physical well-being of Britain’s most vulnerable young people. The paper reports on research undertaken exploring how young people living in residential care settings view their use of a particular Social Networking Site (SNS), Facebook.

‘Young People Playing with Risk: Social networking and the normalisation of gambling behaviours’

by Carolyn Downs

Citation
Downs, C (2010) ‘Young People Playing with Risk: Social networking and the normalisation of gambling behaviours’ in Leisure Experiences: Space, Place and Performance ed: Marion Stuart-Hoyle and Jane Lovell LSA 109 ISBN 978 1 905369 20 1 pp25-47
This is a PROOF Copy and has some typos and also a small part with referencing back-to-front (about 40 words) please check with me if quoting from this version to make sure it is the same as the final published version. I answer emails within 24 hours

This paper will explore the ways in which young people use SNS, the benefits and possible uses of SNS and the... more This paper will explore the ways in which young people use SNS, the benefits and possible uses of SNS and the potential for social harm to be generated by content available on SNS hosts. Many of the concerns that have been expressed about increased time spent in virtual worlds are declines in oracy and literacy, loss of social skills and risky contact. This paper will show how young people are adapting SNS for a range of purposes and using it in a wide variety of situations. Content-generated risks from this new leisure activity have not been investigated in the UK. One such risk may be access to a wide range of gambling-related activities via SNS. This paper will show how this may normalise gambling behaviours as part of the consumption patterns of a non-gambling leisure activity and will consider whether this may change the prevalent, and long-standing, social attitude in the UK that gambling is a risky activity to one that views gambling as a tool for the acquisition of consumer goods.

Intérêt et limites d'Internet pour les budgets participatifs. Le cas du budget participatif des lycées en Poitou-Charentes (2010)

by Stephanie Wojcik

Séminaire du réseau Démocratie électronique, 8 mars 2010

Deliberating Environmental Policy Issues: Comparing the Learning Potential of Online and Face-To-Face Discussions on Climate Change (2010)

by Stephanie Wojcik

With Julien Talpin, published in Policy & Internet

To what extent is political participation deepened and enriched by the Internet? Is the Internet more... more To what extent is political participation deepened and enriched by the Internet? Is the Internet more inclusive—especially towards the young—than traditional forms of participation requiring physical contact? Do people learn more by discussing on the Internet—and especially in online political forums—than by deliberating face-to-face? We aim to answer these questions by presenting the results of research based on the observation of a deliberative experience that allowed both online and face-to-face participation, namely the IDEAL-EU project, carried out by the Tuscany (Italy), Catalonia (Spain), and Poitou-Charentes (France) regions. IDEALEU was aimed at involving young people—between ages 14 and 30—to discuss the issue of climate change in order to produce a report to be handed to the President of the European Parliament Commission on Climate Change.
It first consisted in online discussion forums, and then in an electronic town meeting organized in the three regions' capitals in November 2008. This town meeting involved both keypad voting and face-to-face discussions in small groups. The comparison of these two stages of the experience allows evaluation of the respective effects of online and face-to-face
political discussions on young participants’ political knowledge.
Using content analysis of websites, direct observation of the assembly, and interviews and questionnaires completed by both online and assembly participants, we evaluate the respective effects of these different forms of civic engagement for actors' perceived level of knowledge on climate change and on their political competence more generally.

Comparing Media Coverage of Online Risks for Children In Southern European Countries: Italy, Portugal and Spain

by giovanna mascheroni

co-authored with Cristina Ponte, Maialen Garmendia, Carmelo garitaonandia, Maria Francesca Murru

Children's risks associated with the Internet and online technologies have been given great emphasis in media... more Children's risks associated with the Internet and online technologies have been given great emphasis in media discourses across Europe. Perceptions and representations of online risks seem to be socially and culturally shaped, being rather different from one country to another. This article provides a comparative analysis of the press coverage of online risks in three European countries: Italy, Portugal and Spain. Being southern and Latin countries, they share some patterns and trends that may have a bearing on social attitudes towards the issue of children and new media. Through a focus on contextual factors, on one hand, and on the news media, on the other, the comparative analysis concludes that the three countries share relevant similarities but also present differences in the ways their national media systems represent childhood online.

News and Children's Communication Rights: A Comparative Analysis of 13 European Quality Newspapers

by giovanna mascheroni

co-authored with Joke Bauwens and Cristina Ponte

Young Italians' Cross-Media Cultures

by giovanna mascheroni

Theories and Models of Media Literacy

by Marcus Leaning

Published in Marcus Leaning (2009) Issues in Information and Media Literacy: Criticism, History and Policy, Santa Rosa: Informoing Science Press.

This chapter providses an overview of the main theories of media literacy. It seeks to contextualise these theories... more This chapter providses an overview of the main theories of media literacy. It seeks to contextualise these theories and the models that underpin them internationally, historically and sociologically.

The chapter is available on google books.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vXDnJpKYjq0C&lpg=PA11&ots=AgSQ4hy8wL&dq=marcus%20leaning%20theories&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=marcus%20leaning%20theories&f=false