The Online Public Sphere in the Arab World: The War in Iraq on the Al Arabiya Website

Many aspects make online media attractive to news readers, including low cost, ease and speed of access, and the opportunity for readers to ask questions, provide feedback, participate in discussions, and interact with other readers in ways not previously possible. Given that traditional media in the Arab world generally are subject to strict government control, the participatory features that accompany the new online media should make these sources even more attractive to users. However, comments posted by readers of online media in the Arab world are still subject to some monitoring and content regulation. This study explores the potential of online media in the Arab world to foster civic engagement. The online source selected for study is www.alarabiya.net , the official website for the popular TV station Al Arabiya in Dubai. Ethnographic observation and analysis of the content of articles published during the Iraq War on Al Arabiya’s site and the responses they received show that Arabs not only challenged the views of the Al Arabiya site about the war, but they also offered their own versions of the truth.     

Web Technologies of the Self: The Arising of the “Blogger” Identity

Drawing on Michel Foucault's theories of subjectivity, this paper conceptualizes early blogging and online diary writing as “technologies of the self,” that is, procedures through which practitioners enacted certain identities as Internet users. This study combines archival research, close analysis of websites, and interviews with their creators. It analyzes how the most defining practices associated with the emergence of these websites in the second half of the 1990s enabled the performance of specific modes of identification for their users, expressed by concepts such as the “online diarist” and the “blogger.” The study broadens our understanding of technologies of the self by considering the role of websites as artifacts in processes of self‐formation on the Internet.     

The “Nasty Effect:” Online Incivility and Risk Perceptions of Emerging Technologies

Uncivil discourse is a growing concern in American rhetoric, and this trend has expanded beyond traditional media to online sources, such as audience comments. Using an experiment given to a sample representative of the U.S. population, we examine the effects online incivility on perceptions toward a particular issue—namely, an emerging technology, nanotechnology. We found that exposure to uncivil blog comments can polarize risk perceptions of nanotechnology along the lines of religiosity and issue support.     

Discursive Equality and Everyday Talk Online: The Impact of “Superparticipants”

Empirical studies of online debate almost universally observe a “dominant” minority of posters. Informed by theories of deliberative democracy, these are typically framed negatively—yet research into their impact on debate is scant. To address this, a typology of what we call super‐participation (super‐posters, agenda‐setters and facilitators) is developed and applied to the http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/ forum. Focusing on the first of these, we found 2,052 superposters (0.4%) contributing 47% of 25m+ posts. While superposters were quantitatively dominant, qualitative content analysis of the discursive practices of 25 superposters (n=40,044) found that most did not attempt to stop other users from posting (curbing) or attack them (flaming). In fact, in contradiction to the received wisdom, super‐posters discursively performed a range of positive roles.     

An interactional view of social presence: Making the virtual other “real”

In IS research, social presence is generally defined as the perceived capacity of a communication medium to convey contextual cues normally available in face‐to‐face settings. However, theorizing social presence as a property of the technology has been challenged for decades. The objective of this paper is to develop a more contemporary, interactional view of social presence. To this end, this paper develops a new conceptualization of how participants form the sense that each other is present. We characterize the development of this sense as a skilful accomplishment that entails interactants' joint construction of each other as “real.” Viewing social presence as contingent on social practice, we seek to answer the following research question: “How is social presence accomplished in virtual environments?” To explicate how virtual others are perceived as becoming socially present, that is, emotionally and psychologically “real” to someone interacting with them, we draw from Goffman's work, particularly his concepts of involvement and involvement obligation. Detailing two examples of social interaction in the virtual world Second Life, our analysis highlights the key role that this moral obligation, intrinsic to everyday social interaction, plays in virtual others becoming perceived as psychoemotionally “there.” By outlining a model of how the sense of a virtual other as “real” is produced in and through social interaction, our work contributes a sociological perspective to the construct of social presence and underscores some of the material and social conditions necessary for users to perceive virtual others as present.     

The Good,the Bad,and the Commons: A Critical Review of Popular Discourse on Piracy and Power During Anti‐ACTA Protests

The article analyses popular discourse on piracy and power that emerged as a result of people's online anti‐ACTA (Anti‐Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) engagement in Poland. Drawing upon a social semiotic visual analysis of 921 ACTA‐related images shared online in 2012, the author analyzes a collective reconstruction of the concept of “piracy” and the popular narrative of the conflict in terms of its sides and subject. The study reveals how anti‐ACTA images form a medium of national popular culture adaptation of global pop‐ and countercultural modalities. The protesters appropriated them to oppose another attempt at global copyright enforcement. New media became not only the tool and environment for these activities but were also collectively depicted as “the commons,” endangered by the agreement.     

疫情下数据结构课程线上教学模式探索与实践

为了在新冠肺炎疫情的影响下充分保障正常的教学秩序,全力做到“停课不停教、停课不停学”,落实“教师真在教、学生真在学”,数据结构教学团队利用超星“一平三端”智慧教学系统和钉钉直播相结合的方式,在教学准备、教学实施、学习评价和教学改进等四个方面开展线上教学模式探索和实践,实现了将线上线下混合式教学转变为纯线上教学模式,体现了“以学生为中心”的教学理念,达到线上与线下同质同效。     

“Highly Recommended!” The Content Characteristics and Perceived Usefulness of Online Consumer Reviews

The aim of the present study was to gain a better understanding of the content characteristics that make online consumer reviews a useful source of consumer information. To this end, we content analyzed reviews of experience and search products posted on Amazon.com (N = 400). The insights derived from this content analysis were linked with the proportion of ‘useful’ votes that reviews received from fellow consumers. The results show that content characteristics are paramount to understanding the perceived usefulness of reviews. Specifically, argumentation (density and diversity) served as a significant predictor of perceived usefulness, as did review valence although this latter effect was contingent on the type of product (search or experience) being evaluated in reviews. The presence of expertise claims appeared to be weakly related to the perceived usefulness of reviews. The broader theoretical, methodological and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Internet,News, and Political Trust: The Difference Between Social Media and Online Media Outlets

What is the relationship between Internet usage and political trust? To answer this question, we performed a cross‐sectional analysis of Eurobarometer survey data related to 27 countries and a supervised sentiment analysis of online political information broadcast during the Italian debate on the reform of public funding of parties. The results disclose the differences between Web 1.0 websites and Web 2.0 social media, showing that consumption of news from information/news websites is positively associated with higher trust, while access to information available on social media is linked with lower trust. This has implications for the debate on social media as a public sphere and for the tension between professional and citizen journalism.     

Retraction of “The effect of LED lighting on color discrimination and preference of the elderly”

The following article from Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, “The Effect of LED Lighting on Color Discrimination and Preference of the Elderly,” by Wenting Cheng, Jiaqi Ju, Yaojie Sun and Yandan Lin, published online on December 12, 2011 in Wiley Online Library ( www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com ), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editors‐in‐Chief, Waldemar Karwowski and Gavriel Salvendy, and Publisher Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The retraction has been agreed as these articles were mistakenly published after being rejected.     

The Faces of Facebookers: Investigating Social Enhancement and Social Compensation Hypotheses; Predicting Facebook™ and Offline Popularity from Sociability and Self‐Esteem,and Mapping the Meanings of Popularity with Semantic Networks

This research investigates two competing hypotheses from the literature: 1) the Social Enhancement (“Rich Get Richer”) hypothesis that those more popular offline augment their popularity by increasing it on Facebook?, and 2) the “Social Compensation” (“Poor Get Richer”) hypothesis that users attempt to increase their Facebook? popularity to compensate for inadequate offline popularity. Participants (n= 614) at a large, urban university in the Midwestern United States completed an online survey. Results are that a subset of users, those more extroverted and with higher self‐esteem, support the Social Enhancement hypothesis, being more popular both offline and on Facebook?. Another subset of users, those less popular offline, support the Social Compensation hypotheses because they are more introverted, have lower self‐esteem and strive more to look popular on Facebook?. Semantic network analysis of open‐ended responses reveals that these two user subsets also have different meanings for offline and online popularity. Furthermore, regression explains nearly twice the variance in offline popularity as in Facebook? popularity, indicating the latter is not as socially grounded or defined as offline popularity.     

Retraction of “Developing an integrated display of health data for aging in place”

The following article from Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, “Developing an Integrated Display of Health Data for Aging in Place,” by Yang Gong and Arpita Chandra, published online on October 20, 2011 in Wiley Online Library ( www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com ), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editors‐in‐Chief, Waldemar Karwowski and Gavriel Salvendy, and Publisher Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The retraction has been agreed as these articles were mistakenly published after being rejected.     

Retraction of “The influence of elderly vision degradation on subjective rating of floor slipperiness”

The following article from Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries, “The Influence of Elderly Vision Degradation on Subjective Rating of Floor Slipperiness,” by Yao‐Wen Hsu, published online on December 12, 2011 in Wiley Online Library ( www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com ), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editors‐in‐Chief, Waldemar Karwowski and Gavriel Salvendy, and Publisher Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The retraction has been agreed as these articles were mistakenly published after being rejected.     

Of flags: Online queer identities, writing classrooms, and action horizons

In this article I argue that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and queer pedagogies have been too exclusively focused on identity. The problem with these identity-based pedagogies is that they cannot fully account for actual LGBT identities, due in part to a continued multiplication of these identities online. I use LGBT pride flags to illustrate the ways in which these identities have proliferated, presenting a theoretical limit for current understandings of queer and LGBT pedagogy. As an alternative, I introduce the notion of the action horizon, which forms a pedagogy that encourages students to imagine themselves as actors in the public sphere, shaping policies and confronting complex real-world problems. The various LGBT pride flags then serve as material in three examples—an online asynchronous discussion, writing in a computer classroom, and paper assignments—all of which prompt students to enact the action horizon. Despite the possibilities for real-world engagement offered by the action horizon, success with this pedagogy can be limited in terms of LGBT issues, and so I end with some consideration of the implications and limitations of this kind of teaching.     

Designating “hot” items in multiple‐choice questions—A strategy for reviewing course materials

Suppose learners use their free time to go online to review course materials, and they do so by taking optional tests that consist of multiple‐choice questions (MCQs). What will happen if, for every practice question, there is always a choice (out of four possible choices) that is marked as “the (current) hot choice?” Will this make any difference in learning effects? To answer this question, an educational experiment was conducted. It was found that “hot designations” helped the experimental group perform significantly better in both the immediate post‐test exam and a delayed post‐test exam and that learners with higher levels of initial knowledge benefited more from this review strategy. From the results of a follow‐up questionnaire and one‐on‐one interviews, it was found that the proposed review strategy promoted a more thorough thinking style in subjects of the experimental group.     

Australia's cultural network: Why and how?

As the Internet rapidly changes the way we communicate and carry out our business, what are the challenges and opportunities for the cultural sector? Will national cultural identities be subsumed in an emerging global mono‐culture? What is the role of government in this situation? This paper discusses these questions and describes why and how the Australian Government responded with a new cultural online service ‐ Australia's Cultural Network <http://www.acn.net.au/> ‐ to provide a single access point for the general public and a resource exchange for those in the Australian cultural community wanting to make the transition to the growing online economy.     

Strategic self-presentation on Facebook: Personal motives and audience response to online behavior

People have always been concerned with their social image and engaged in strategic self-presentation (Goffman, 1959), but the growth of social networking sites (SNS) has had a major influence on such social endeavors. When people choose how to present themselves online, they use strategies and make choices that influence the liking and respect they receive from others. We examine a model that links: (a) motives for self-presentation, (b) actual online behavior on Facebook, and (c) feedback: social network members' responses (“likes,” comments). One hundred and fifty-six undergraduates (37 males, 119 females, mean age = 24.5) reported on their last three Facebook status updates (468 status updates overall). Based on structural equation modeling, we found that performance goals predict increased levels of self-enhancement on Facebook and increased levels of social feedback – “likes” and comments by others. Mastery goals do not predict increased levels of self-derogation (posting negative contents about self), but those who do choose to derogate also receive increased numbers of “likes” and comments from their network friends.     

Reading others’ comments and public opinion poll results on social media: Social judgment and spiral of empowerment

Applying Social Judgment Theory and the Spiral of Silence, we tested the effects of online comments and public opinion polls on the public's’ latitude of acceptance of others' online comments, attitude toward a company, and willingness to speak out on Social Media. We conducted two experiments and found that the effects of online comments and public opinion polls interact with individuals' prior attitudes toward a corporation. The latitude of acceptance toward online comments and participants' willingness to speak out online increased as the comments themselves became negative only among people with negative prior attitudes. However, the change was not detected among people with positive prior attitudes. Practical and theoretical implications were further discussed.     

Speed, International Security, and "New War" Coverage in Cyberspace

Mass media representations foster a view that the “War on Terror” is taking place both everywhere and nowhere, presenting Western governments with an opportunity to mobilize public support in new and ubiquitous ways. Starting with Virilio’s critique of technology, speed, and de‐territorialization, this article discusses the ways in which mass support is mobilized by the state in conventional pursuit of geopolitical objectives. Drawing on contemporary international relations theory, the authors introduce the concept of “securitization” and discuss how war coverage in cyberspace has been used to securitize international threats, such as “global terrorism,” to justify state intervention, including war. It is concluded that one of the paradoxes of war coverage in cyberspace is that whereas cyber‐technologies should democratize the politics of war by liberating access to information about war, the state has coopted information and communication technologies to facilitate new forms of mass mobilization for war itself.     

Some Information Age Techno‐Fallacies

In research on computer data bases, work and electronic location monitoring, telephone identification systems and drug testing ¹ 1. These and related articles can be found at www.garymarx.net I encountered comments such as: “turn the technology loose and let the benefits flow”; “do away with the human interface”; “only the computer sees it”; “that has never happened”; “there is no law against this”; “the technology is neutral”. These are all examples of what can be termed information age techno‐fallacies. They are part of the cultural undergirding of routine data collection practices and an optimistic, techno‐surveillance worldview that is strongest in, but is hardly restricted to, the United States. They reflect a broader celebratory ethos of technology and commerce. To understand technologies for collecting personal information, we must understand the ideational environment in which they are nourished and in which they flourish. Before a surveillance technology is adopted, it is important to examine the broader cultural climate, the rationales for action and the accompanying empirical and value assumptions.