Networked Press Freedom and Social Media: Tracing Historical and Contemporary Forces in Press‐Public Relations

This paper analyzes how mainstream, online news organizations understand press autonomy in their relationships to audiences. I situate the press in terms of neo‐institutional sociology, seeing its autonomy as a distributed, field‐level phenomenon involving “boundary work” among distributed actors. I then trace press‐audience relations through two historical examples (letters to the editor and ombudsmen), showing how the press has historically both separated itself from and relied upon audiences. Examining eight news organizations' social media policies, I analyze the “inside‐out” and “outside‐in” forces through which the press distinguishes itself from audiences, concluding with a discussion of how such guidelines structure the types of control that news organizations have, or might have, as they use social network sites in their news work.     

Incidental Exposure,Selective Exposure,and Political Information Sharing: Integrating Online Exposure Patterns and Expression on Social Media

Political information sharing in social media offers citizens opportunities to engage with news and express their political views, but how do different patterns of online political information exposure, including both incidental and selective exposure, affect sharing? Using two‐wave panel survey data collected in the United States, we examine the relationship between incidental and selective exposure and their consequent links to political information sharing, across different levels of strength of political party affiliation. Our results demonstrate that incidental exposure to counter‐attitudinal information drives stronger partisans to more actively seek out like‐minded political content, which subsequently encourages political information sharing on social media. The results highlight the need to consider both types of political information exposure when modeling citizens' political behavior online.     

The Double‐Edged Sword: The Effects of Journalists' Social Media Activities on Audience Perceptions of Journalists and Their News Products

As social media become popular news platforms, journalists and news organizations have been keen to capitalize on their potential to build and maintain audiences. However, little is known about the extent to which these efforts may have adverse implications. Based on normative theories, the present study investigates the influence of journalists' social media activities (specifically, self‐disclosure and interaction with other users) on audience perceptions of journalists. An experiment (N = 267) revealed that: Although both journalists' self‐disclosure and interaction positively influenced audience perceptions of the journalists in the personal dimension, interaction negatively influenced audience perceptions in the professional dimension; and the perceptions transferred to perceptions of news products, thereby mediating the relationship between journalists' social media activities and audience news perceptions.     

“StoryWeb”: A storytelling‐based knowledge‐sharing application among multiple stakeholders

The research objective of this paper is to develop a storytelling‐based knowledge‐sharing application that enables users to co‐create their own stories for both individuals and groups. To address this, a design science research methodology was applied for elucidating users' requirements. As empirical evidence, a case study was conducted on the children's book industry to synthesize a knowledge‐sharing design application named “StoryWeb”. Usability tests were conducted to reconfigure users' feedback and suggestions after two StoryWeb prototypes were developed. This study makes three main contributions. First, it empirically tests individual's or group's creativity and co‐creation by a view of knowledge sharing. Second, it methodologically applies a design thinking approach into a knowledge‐sharing study. Third, it also practically suggests feasible guidelines for the creativity and innovation research community on which features of storytelling‐based applications can be configured.     

What Interactivity Means to the User Essential Insights into and a Scale for Perceived Interactivity

The selection and use of media depend largely on how users perceive such media. A central aspect of the “new media” is their interactivity, but how users perceive this phenomenon has rarely been researched. This study provides an in‐depth investigation into the perception component of interactivity and develops a compact scale for its measurement. According to psychological approaches, practical uses (affordances) – not physical or technical characteristics – guide perception. While existing scales mostly measure whether the “interactive” technical features of devices or websites are noticed, our instrument is based on the affordances that interactivity provides. Consequently, a new research design, the use‐identified meaning, was implemented. This is the first study on interactivity that empirically examines a wide range of Internet‐based services, thus meeting the broad ambit of interactivity. Our results generally validate the existing constructs, which are largely based on technical characteristics, yet provide additional insights into the relevant contexts and the subjective significance of different aspects of interactivity.     

Size matters: Improved color‐difference estimation for small visual targets

Abstract— A long‐standing problem in color science is the accurate estimation of color differences for visual targets of small angular subtense. For instance, “What is the magnitude of a 0.5° color difference that will be as discriminable as a given 2° color difference?” Or, “What is the reduced angular subtense (or increased distance) at which two visual fields of given colors will become appreciably less discriminable than they were at larger subtense (or smaller distance)?” Past attempts at solving this problem have been specific to a particular color‐difference equation and, as such, the work lost relevance as improved color‐difference formulae were developed. This article proposes a structural model based upon the response of retinal cone cells to small‐subtense symbol images scattered by the ocular media. The method is demonstrated to be applicable without alteration to very different contemporary color‐difference equations, to be practical with a wide range of surround intensities, and to have high correlation with human search performance involving small color symbols on an electronic information display.     

Commenting in the Online Arab Public Sphere: Debating the Swiss Minaret Ban and the “Ground Zero Mosque” Online

This article focuses on the emerging online Arab public sphere that the web has enabled. It explores how the “local” interacts with the “global,” critically examining their implications on global politics. Specifically looking at online readers' comments about the Swiss minaret ban the so‐called “Ground Zero Mosque,” how does the Arab online public sphere respond to and frame these issues? What implications do these reader frames portend locally and globally? The study analyzes online comments and responses that readers of Al Arabiya.net and Al Jazeera.net posted on related news articles. The article concludes that the new online public sphere does make it possible for Arab citizens to circumvent and challenge traditional authoritarian controls.     

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 Mediatization of E‐Campaigning: Evidence From German Party Websites in State,National, and European Parliamentary Elections 2002–2009

The rise of e‐campaigning is often associated with its ability to circumvent journalistic principles of news selection and presentation. By this, parties and candidates are said to free themselves from the discretionary power of the mass media and to reach voters in an unfiltered way. This conventional wisdom is tested through a comparative content analysis of German party websites in state, national, and European parliamentary elections between 2002 and 2009. The results show that e‐campaigns in all elections adhere in their messages to the media logic. Specifically, they replicate those patterns of offline coverage that have been held accountable for rising political alienation and civic apathy. Moreover, the mediatization of German e‐campaigning grows over time.     

Perceptions of News Credibility about the War in Iraq: Why War Opponents Perceived the Internet as the Most Credible Medium

This study investigated cross‐media credibility perception with respect to news coverage about the Iraq War. In an environment of political partisanship, perceptions of media credibility were likely affected by the audience’s political position on the war. Based on hostile media effect theory, a set of hypotheses was proposed to investigate whether the minority opinion group, war opponents, evaluated the Internet as a more credible medium than did neutrals or supporters. An online survey was conducted to which 481 people responded (71% war supporters, 19% opponents, 10% neutrals). Results showed that opponents of the war perceived the Internet as less aligned with a pro‐government position and as more credible than did neutrals or supporters. The opponent group also showed a strong negative correlation between perceived pro‐government alignment and perceptions of Internet credibility. For the minority partisan group, the diversity of information and views on the war was the main reason for the perception of high credibility of the Internet as a news channel.     

News Recommendations from Social Media Opinion Leaders: Effects on Media Trust and Information Seeking

Polls show a strong decline in public trust of traditional news outlets; however, social media offers new avenues for receiving news content. This experiment used the Facebook API to manipulate whether a news story appeared to have been posted on Facebook by one of the respondent's real‐life Facebook friends. Results show that social media recommendations improve levels of media trust, and also make people want to follow more news from that particular media outlet in the future. Moreover, these effects are amplified when the real‐life friend sharing the story on social media is perceived as an opinion leader. Implications for democracy and the news business are discussed.     

The politics of “Unfriending”: User filtration in response to political disagreement on social media

This article examines exposure to political disagreement on social media and user filtration in response to it. Popular arguments suggest that social media sites prevent exposure to political disagreement either through algorithmic filtration or selective affiliation. Another popular argument says that when users are exposed to political disagreement on social media, they filter it from their feeds by “unfriending”/“unfollowing” or “hiding” the author. We put these narratives to the test by examining (a) the relationship between social media use and exposure to political disagreement and (b) the factors that predict user filtration in response to political disagreement. Results from analysis based on a nationally representative sample of Colombian adults in urban areas show that (a) engagement with news and public affairs content on social media is positively associated with exposure to political disagreement and (b) the amount of disagreement users are exposed to is not related to user filtration in response.     

Media multitasking during political news consumption: A relationship with factual and subjective political knowledge

Growth of digital, social, and mobile media has enabled engagement with multiple media activities during news consumption in a more efficient and synchronous fashion than before. This study investigates whether media multitasking activities while consuming political news affects individuals' levels of subjective and factual political knowledge. Results from a Web survey of online panel members show that on the whole, pairwise and bundled forms of media multitasking are negatively related to factual political knowledge. Also, those who engage in media multitasking are more likely to report that they are politically knowledgeable but they do not know about politics as much as they think they do. Implications are discussed for media multitasking and an informed citizenry.     

Driving a Wedge Between Evidence and Beliefs: How Online Ideological News Exposure Promotes Political Misperceptions

This article has 2 goals: to provide additional evidence that exposure to ideological online news media contributes to political misperceptions, and to test 3 forms this media‐effect might take. Analyses are based on representative survey data collected during the 2012 U.S. presidential election (N = 1,004). Panel data offer persuasive evidence that biased news site use promotes inaccurate beliefs, while cross‐sectional data provide insight into the nature of these effects. There is no evidence that exposure to ideological media reduces awareness of politically unfavorable evidence, though in some circumstances biased media do promote misunderstandings of it. The strongest and most consistent influence of ideological media exposure is to encourage inaccurate beliefs regardless of what consumers know of the evidence.     

News sharing in social media: The effect of gratifications and prior experience

Recent events indicate that sharing news in social media has become a phenomenon of increasing social, economic and political importance because individuals can now participate in news production and diffusion in large global virtual communities. Yet, knowledge about factors influencing news sharing in social media remains limited. Drawing from the uses and gratifications (U&G) and social cognitive theories (SCT), this study explored the influences of information seeking, socializing, entertainment, status seeking and prior social media sharing experience on news sharing intention. A survey was designed and administered to 203 students in a large local university. Results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis revealed that respondents who were driven by gratifications of information seeking, socializing, and status seeking were more likely to share news in social media platforms. Prior experience with social media was also a significant determinant of news sharing intention. Implications and directions for future work are discussed.     

Asymmetric dual‐band linear‐to‐circular converter by bi‐layered chiral metamaterial

In this article, we present a dual‐band linear‐to‐circular transparent converter by bi‐layered chiral metamaterial (CMM) with an inverted “G” array in microwave region. The proposed metasurface consists of three layers which are the upper layer of the metasurface with a periodic regular metallic inverted “G” and wire array, the dielectric layer, and the bottom layer operating as chiral symmetric structure of the upper. The simulation results show that the transmitted right‐circular polarized wave with the axial ratio of 3 dB or less is in the range of 8.6‐10.9 GHz and the left‐circular polarized wave is within 18.1‐22.5 GHz when y‐polarized forward wave is normally incident. Specifically, the polarization conversion transmission can be maintained at over 85% at angle of incidence up to 40°. Therefore, the proposed CMM device is useful for the development of the integrated polarization manipulation devices.     

Facebook,the Third‐Person Effect,and the Differential Impact Hypothesis

This study examined the effects of embedding and framing online news stories in social media contexts on perceived message influence and third‐person effects (3PE). 88 undergraduates at a Northeastern U.S. university participated in an online experiment in which they evaluated news stories posted on Facebook. A 4 x 2 mixed experimental design was used with the between‐subject variables of viewing condition (no Facebook frame, neutral Facebook, positive Facebook evaluation, and negative Facebook evaluation) and the within‐subjects factor of story relevance (Low, High). Results indicate that perceptions of personal influence increase in social media contexts for more personally relevant stories. These results are consistent with the Differential Impact Hypothesis.     

Developing a web‐based multimedia assessment system for facilitating science laboratory instruction

This study developed a web‐based multimedia assessment system (WMA system) and applied it to science laboratory instruction. The goal was to improve students' knowledge acquisition under science laboratory instruction. The developed system enabled learners to perform self‐assessments by responding to multimedia technology test items online. The system recorded each learner's complete answer history and provided the students with personalized learning resources. This study adopted a quasi‐experimental research design. The learning content was an “experiment on separating mixtures.” Students participating in the research were divided into a typical science laboratory instruction group (TI group; n = 25) and a group that received instruction through the WMA system (WMA group; n = 26). Before instruction, all the students completed the conceptual knowledge and experimental knowledge pretests. During instruction, the TI group watched the teacher's demonstration experiment, and the students then performed the experiment in a real laboratory. In the WMA group, after learning through the WMA system, the students also performed the experiment in a real laboratory. After instruction, all the students completed the conceptual knowledge and experimental knowledge posttests. The findings indicated that the students in the WMA group showed significantly higher improvements in their scientific conceptual knowledge and experimental knowledge.     

Ferguson on Facebook: Political persuasion in a new era of media effects

In 2014, media outlets deemed political satirist John Oliver's show the best of the year. Described as “the online water-cooler,” his show has become a talking point for many on social media. In this study, we tested the effects of such political comedy and the influence of social pressure in a simulated Facebook environment (N = 189). Participants in this experiment were asked to view a video clip from Oliver's show (high or low salience topic) and in two of the four conditions, a series of Facebook comments contradicting Oliver's views (as a form of social pressure) were provided. Results support a message-consistent persuasive effect of political comedy for both high and low salience issues but finds that message-incongruent commentary reduces this persuasive effect. Thus, the current study provides further insight regarding persuasive effects of sharing political information on social media and new opportunities for exposing entertainment seekers to politics.     

Differential Use,Differential Effects: Investigating the Roles of Different Modes of News Use in Promoting Political Participation

The present study clarifies the role of the informational use of media in facilitating citizens' political participation by focusing on three distinctive modes of news experience (i.e., news reading, posting, and endorsing) within the context of online social networking sites (SNSs). The findings show that news posting contributes to greater participation in politics by positively mediating the relationship between the use of SNSs and participatory activities. In contrast, news reading and endorsing were not significantly associated with political participation. In addition, the study found that the indirect effects of SNS use on participation via news posting are highest among those with a high degree of network political expertise and lower among those with an average level of such expertise.