Communications research -- Methodology, Big data, Theory of knowledge, Machine learning, Ethnology methodology, Watson (Computer), and Artificial intelligence

"Big Data" and "artificial intelligence" have captured the public imagination and are profoundly shaping social, economic, and political spheres. Through an interrogation of the histories, perceptions, and practices that shape these technologies, we problematize the myths that animate the supposed "magic" of these systems. In the face of an increasingly widespread blind faith in data-driven technologies, we argue for grounding machine learning-based practices and untethering them from hype and fear cycles. One path forward is to develop a rich methodological framework for addressing the strengths and weaknesses of doing data analysis. Through provocatively reimagining machine learning as computational ethnography, we invite practitioners to prioritize methodological reflection and recognize that all knowledge work is situated practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy, Journalists, Learning & scholarship, Surveillance detection, and Middle class -- United States

Although privacy and surveillance affect different populations in disparate ways, they are often treated as monolithic concepts by journalists, privacy advocates, and researchers. Achieving privacy is especially difficult for those who are marginalized in other areas of life. This special section interrogates what privacy looks like at the margins, investigating a broad spectrum of issues, methodologies, and contexts. Many make an intervention into mainstream theories of privacy and surveillance, showing how examining the experiences of individuals outside the normative White, American, middle-class subject often complicates assumptions about how privacy operates. Others examine the mundane and the banal to analyze how power relations play out in everyday life. By incorporating research outside the canon of privacy research, and by advocating for projects that discuss more diverse conceptualizations of "the user" or the subject, we can envision a future for privacy scholarship that incorporates a wider set of harms and needs and encompasses the concerns of a larger base of citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homme, Human, Hombre, Interaction sociale, Social interaction, Interacción social, Adolescent, Adolescente, Communication médiatisée ordinateur, Computer mediated communication, Communicación mediatizada computador, Comportement rendez vous, Dating behavior, Conducta cita, Messagerie instantanée, Instant messaging, Mensajería instantánea, Trouble du comportement social, Social behavior disorder, Trastorno comportamiento social, Violence, Violencia, Sciences exactes et technologie, Exact sciences and technology, Sciences appliquees, Applied sciences, Informatique, automatique theorique, systemes, Computer science, control theory, systems, Logiciel, Software, Systèmes informatiques et systèmes répartis. Interface utilisateur, Computer systems and distributed systems. User interface, Sciences biologiques et medicales, Biological and medical sciences, Sciences medicales, Medical sciences, Psychopathologie. Psychiatrie, Psychopathology. Psychiatry, Etude clinique de l'adulte et de l'adolescent, Adult and adolescent clinical studies, Troubles du comportement social. Comportement criminel. Délinquance, Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency, Psychologie. Psychanalyse. Psychiatrie, Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry, PSYCHOPATHOLOGIE. PSYCHIATRIE, Psychology, psychopathology, psychiatry, and Psychologie, psychopathologie, psychiatrie

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a serious form of youth violence that youth fairly commonly experience. Although youth extensively use computer-mediated communication (CMC), the epidemiology of CMC-based TDV is largely unknown. This study examined how perpetration of psychological TDV using CMC compares and relates to perpetration using longer-standing modes of communication (LSMC; e.g., face-to-face). Data from the national Growing up with Media study involving adolescents aged 14―19 collected from October 2010 to February 2011 and analyzed May 2012 are reported. Analyses focused on adolescents with a history of dating (n = 615). Forty-six percent of youth daters had perpetrated psychological TDV. Of those who perpetrated in the past 12 months, 58% used only LSMC, 17% used only CMC, and 24% used both. Use of both CMC and LSMC was more likely among perpetrators who used CMC than among perpetrators who used LSMC. In addition, communication mode and type of psychological TDV behavior were separately related to frequency of perpetration. Finally, history of sexual intercourse was the only characteristic that discriminated between youth who perpetrated using different communication modes. Results suggest that perpetration of psychological TDV using CMC is prevalent and is an extension of perpetration using LSMC. Prevention should focus on preventing perpetration of LSMC-based TDV as doing so would prevent LSMC as well as CMC-based TDV.

Activisme, Activism, Féminisme, Feminism, Internet, Mouvement, Movement, Notes de terrain, Fieldnotes, Prostitution, Réseau, Network, Trafic, Traffic, Tráfico, Feminist STS, Internet studies, Network studies, Sex trafficking, Ethnologie, Ethnology, Structure et relations sociales, Social structure and social relations, Relations sociales. Relation interculturelles et interethniques. Identité collective, Social relations. Intercultural and interethnic relations. Collective identity, Amérique, America, Cognition, Social anthropology and ethnology, and Anthropologie sociale et ethnologie

In this essay, we offer field notes from our ongoing ethnographic research on sex trafficking in the United States. Recent efforts to regulate websites such as Craigslist and Backpage have illuminated activist concerns regarding the role of networked technologies in the trafficking of persons and images for the purposes of sexual exploitation. We frame our understanding of trafficking and technology through a network studies approach, by describing anti-trafficking as a counter-network to the sex trafficking it seeks to address. Drawing from the work of Annelise Riles and other scholars of feminist science and technology studies, we read the anti-trafficking network through the production of expert knowledge and the crafting of anti-trafficking techniques. By exploring anti-trafficking activists' understandings of technology, we situate the activities of anti-trafficking experts and law enforcement as efforts toward network stabilization.

Sciences exactes et technologie, Exact sciences and technology, Sciences et techniques communes, Sciences and techniques of general use, Sciences de l'information. Documentation, Information science. Documentation, Sciences de l'information et des bibliothèques. Etude d'ensemble, Library and information science. General aspects, Bibliométrie. Scientométrie. Evaluation, Bibliometrics. Scientometrics. Evaluation, Sciences de l'information et de la communication, Information and communication sciences, Bibliométrie. Scientométrie, Bibliometrics. Scientometrics, Cognition, Documentation, Computer science, and Informatique

When information practices are understood to be shaped by social context, privilege and marginalization alternately affect not only access to, but also use of information resources. In the context of information, privilege, and community, politics of marginalization drive stigmatized groups to develop collective norms for locating, sharing, and hiding information. In this paper, we investigate the information practices of a subcultural community whose activities are both stigmatized and of uncertain legal status: the extreme body modification community. We use the construct of information poverty to analyze the experiences of 18 people who had obtained, were interested in obtaining, or had performed extreme body modification procedures. With a holistic understanding of how members of this community use information, we complicate information poverty by working through concepts of stigma and community norms. Our research contributes to human information behavior scholarship on marginalized groups and to Internet studies research on how communities negotiate collective norms of information sharing online.

Homme, Human, Hombre, Adolescent, Adolescente, Harcèlement moral, Psychological harassment, Acoso moral, Internet, Intimidation, Bullying, intimidación, Méthode mesure, Measurement method, Método medida, Méthodologie, Methodology, Metodología, Technologie information communication, Information communication technology, Nueva tecnología información comunicación, Victimisation, Victimization, Victimización, Cyberbullying, Measurement, Sciences biologiques et medicales, Biological and medical sciences, Sciences medicales, Medical sciences, Psychopathologie. Psychiatrie, Psychopathology. Psychiatry, Techniques et méthodes, Techniques and methods, Méthodologie. Expérimentation, Methodology. Experimentation, Psychologie. Psychanalyse. Psychiatrie, Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry, PSYCHOPATHOLOGIE. PSYCHIATRIE, Pediatrics, Pédiatrie, Psychology, psychopathology, psychiatry, and Psychologie, psychopathologie, psychiatrie

Purpose: To inform the scientific debate about bullying, including cyberbullying, measurement. Methods: Two split-form surveys were conducted online among 6―17-year-olds (n = 1,200 each) to inform recommendations for cyberbullying measurement. Results: Measures that use the word bully result in prevalence rates similar to each other, irrespective of whether a definition is included, whereas measures not using the word bully are similar to each other, irrespective of whether a definition is included. A behavioral list of bullying experiences without either a definition or the word bully results in higher prevalence rates and likely measures experiences that are beyond the definition of bullying. Follow-up questions querying differential power, repetition, and bullying over time were used to examine misclassification. The measure using a definition but not the word bully appeared to have the highest rate of false positives and, therefore, the highest rate of misclassification. Across two studies, an average of 25% reported being bullied at least monthly in person compared with an average of 10% bullied online, 7% via telephone (cell or landline), and 8% via text messaging. Conclusions: Measures of bullying among English-speaking individuals in the United States should include the word bully when possible. The definition may be a useful tool for researchers, but results suggest that it does not necessarily yield a more rigorous measure of bullying victimization. Directly measuring aspects of bullying (i.e., differential power, repetition, over time) reduces misclassification. To prevent double counting across domains, we suggest the following distinctions: mode (e.g., online, in-person), type (e.g., verbal, relational), and environment (e.g., school, home). We conceptualize cyberbullying as bullying communicated through the online mode.

Réseau social, Social network, Red social, Vie privée, Private life, Vida privada, Vie publique, Sciences exactes et technologie, Exact sciences and technology, Sciences et techniques communes, Sciences and techniques of general use, Sciences de l'information. Documentation, Information science. Documentation, Technologie de la communication et de l'information, Information and communication technologies, Technologies de l'information: supports, équipements, Information technologies: storage media, equipment, Applications (par exemple: numérisation,...), Applications (e.g. Digitizing,...), Ressources internet (portails, blogs, wikis,...), Internet resources (portals, blogs, wikis,...), Sciences de l'information et de la communication, Information and communication sciences, Applications, Ressources internet (portails, blogs, wikis,…), Internet resources (portals, blogs, wikis,…), Sciences de l'information communication, and Documentation

[ point de vue ] Les nouveaux médias numériques ontsensiblementmodifiél'acceptiontraditionnelledes concepts de vie privée et de vie publique. Née du développement des réseaux sociaux, cette rupture a généré de nouvelles « sphères publiques médiatées » au sein desquelles se déploie désormais une part de notre vie quotidienne. Une évolution de l'espace public qui appelle un accompagnement des jeunes, particulièrement présents et investis dans ces réseaux numériques.

Audiences, Social media & society, Public sphere, Social space, Identity (Psychology), and Technology & society

Social media complicate the very nature of public life. In this article, we consider how technology reconfigures publicness, blurs 'audiences' and publics, and alters what it means to engage in public life. The nature of publicness online is shaped by the architecture and affordances of social media, but also by people's social contexts, identities, and practices. Navigating socially mediated publicness requires new mechanisms of control and new skills. Understanding socially-mediated publicness is an ever-shifting process throughout which people juggle blurred boundaries, multi-layered audiences, individual attributes, the specifics of the systems they use, and the contexts of their use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online social networks, Political participation, Cyberspace -- Social aspects, Political movements, Editorials, and Social participation

The article presents the author's views regarding the issue whether social network sites (SNS) enable political action. The author believes that SNS would not make people politically activated. She believes that a typical SNS user lacks interest related to political issues. The author said that SNS are a type of networked public wherein most active SNS users substitute networked publics for physical publics because physical publics are inaccessible, heavily regulated or downright oppressive.

Social media, Online social networks, Internet privacy, and Teenagers

While much attention is given to young people’s online privacy practices on sites like Facebook, current theories of privacy fail to account for the ways in which social media alter practices of information-sharing and visibility. Traditional models of privacy are individualistic, but the realities of privacy reflect the location of individuals in contexts and networks. The affordances of social technologies, which enable people to share information about others, further preclude individual control over privacy. Despite this, social media technologies primarily follow technical models of privacy that presume individual information control. We argue that the dynamics of sites like Facebook have forced teens to alter their conceptions of privacy to account for the networked nature of social media. Drawing on their practices and experiences, we offer a model of networked privacy to explain how privacy is achieved in networked publics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital communications, Behavioral scientists, Social scientists, Digital technology, and Economists

The era of Big Data has begun. Computer scientists, physicists, economists, mathematicians, political scientists, bio-informaticists, sociologists, and other scholars are clamoring for access to the massive quantities of information produced by and about people, things, and their interactions. Diverse groups argue about the potential benefits and costs of analyzing genetic sequences, social media interactions, health records, phone logs, government records, and other digital traces left by people. Significant questions emerge. Will large-scale search data help us create better tools, services, and public goods? Or will it usher in a new wave of privacy incursions and invasive marketing? Will data analytics help us understand online communities and political movements? Or will it be used to track protesters and suppress speech? Will it transform how we study human communication and culture, or narrow the palette of research options and alter what ‘research’ means? Given the rise of Big Data as a socio-technical phenomenon, we argue that it is necessary to critically interrogate its assumptions and biases. In this article, we offer six provocations to spark conversations about the issues of Big Data: a cultural, technological, and scholarly phenomenon that rests on the interplay of technology, analysis, and mythology that provokes extensive utopian and dystopian rhetoric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microblogs, Online social networks, Intimacy (Psychology), Celebrities, and Online information services

Social media technologies let people connect by creating and sharing content. We examine the use of Twitter by famous people to conceptualize celebrity as a practice. On Twitter, celebrity is practiced through the appearance and performance of ‘backstage’ access. Celebrity practitioners reveal what appears to be personal information to create a sense of intimacy between participant and follower, publicly acknowledge fans, and use language and cultural references to create affiliations with followers. Interactions with other celebrity practitioners and personalities give the impression of candid, uncensored looks at the people behind the personas. But the indeterminate ‘authenticity’ of these performances appeals to some audiences, who enjoy the game playing intrinsic to gossip consumption. While celebrity practice is theoretically open to all, it is not an equalizer or democratizing discourse. Indeed, in order to successfully practice celebrity, fans must recognize the power differentials intrinsic to the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Microblogs, Internet users, Social media, Self-presentation, and Social interaction

Social media technologies collapse multiple audiences into single contexts, making it difficult for people to use the same techniques online that they do to handle multiplicity in face-to-face conversation. This article investigates how content producers navigate ‘imagined audiences’ on Twitter. We talked with participants who have different types of followings to understand their techniques, including targeting different audiences, concealing subjects, and maintaining authenticity. Some techniques of audience management resemble the practices of ‘micro-celebrity’ and personal branding, both strategic self-commodification. Our model of the networked audience assumes a many-to-many communication through which individuals conceptualize an imagined audience evoked through their tweets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Polarization (Social sciences), Social groups, Homophily theory (Communication), Electronic discussion groups, and Virtual communities

The principle of homophily says that people associate with other groups of people who are mostly like themselves. Many online communities are structured around groups of socially similar individuals. On Twitter, however, people are exposed to multiple, diverse points of view through the public timeline. The authors captured 30,000 tweets about the shooting of George Tiller, a late-term abortion doctor, and the subsequent conversations among pro-life and pro-choice advocates. They found that replies between like-minded individuals strengthen group identity, whereas replies between different-minded individuals reinforce in-group and out-group affiliation. Their results show that people are exposed to broader viewpoints than they were before but are limited in their ability to engage in meaningful discussion. They conclude with implications for different kinds of social participation on Twitter more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet & children, Internet, Youth -- Crimes against, Child sexual abuse, and Online information services

A commentary is presented which addresses the issue of Internet safety among the youth. The authors cites the issues that dominate contemporary conversations concerning online safety. They mention the findings of the Crimes Against Children Research Center concerning sexual solicitation. They consider the problem with youth-generated Internet content.

Self-presentation, Social status, Social media, Common decency, Social classes, African American women, Stereotypes, and Upward mobility (Social sciences)

"Respectability politics" describes a self-presentation strategy historically adopted by African-American women to reject White stereotypes by promoting morality while de-emphasizing sexuality. While civil rights activists and feminists criticize respectability politics as reactionary, subordinated groups frequently use these tactics to gain upward mobility. This paper analyzes how upwardly mobile young people of low socio-economic status in New York City manage impressions online by adhering to normative notions of respectability. Our participants described how they present themselves on social media by self-censoring, curating a neutral image, segmenting content by platform, and avoiding content and contacts coded as lower class. Peers who post sexual images, primarily women, were considered unrespectable and subject to sexual shaming. These strategies reinforce racist and sexist notions of appropriate behavior, simultaneously enabling and limiting participants' ability to succeed. We extend the impression management literature to examine how digital media mediates the intersection of class, gender, and race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online social networks, Internet users, Privacy, Convergence (Telecommunication), Social networks, Computer users, and Websites

Not all Facebook users appreciated the September 2006 launch of the News Feeds' feature. Concerned about privacy implications, thousands of users vocalized their discontent through the site itself, forcing the company to implement privacy tools. This essay examines the privacy concerns voiced following these events. Because the data made easily visible were already accessible with effort, what disturbed people was primarily the sense of exposure and invasion. In essence, the 'privacy trainwreck' that people experienced was the cost of social convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online social networks, Social networks, Websites, Web 2.0, and Scholarships

Social network sites (SNSs) are increasingly attracting the attention of academic and industry researchers intrigued by their affordances and reach. This special theme section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together scholarship on these emergent phenomena. In this introductory article, we describe features of SNSs and propose a comprehensive definition. We then present one perspective on the history of such sites, discussing key changes and developments. After briefly summarizing existing scholarship concerning SNSs, we discuss the articles in this special section and conclude with considerations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Privacy, Young adults, Gender differences (Psychology), and Online social networks research

With over 500 million users, the decisions that Facebook makes about its privacy settings have the potential to influence many people. While its changes in this domain have often prompted privacy advocates and news media to critique the company, Facebook has continued to attract more users to its service. This raises a question about whether or not Facebook’s changes in privacy approaches matter and, if so, to whom. This paper examines the attitudes and practices of a cohort of 18- and 19-year-olds surveyed in 2009 and again in 2010 about Facebook’s privacy settings. Our results challenge widespread assumptions that youth do not care about and are not engaged with navigating privacy. We find that, while not universal, modifications to privacy settings have increased during a year in which Facebook’s approach to privacy was hotly contested. We also find that both frequency and type of Facebook use as well as Internet skill are correlated with making modifications to privacy settings. In contrast, we observe few gender differences in how young adults approach their Facebook privacy settings, which is notable given that gender differences exist in so many other domains online. We discuss the possible reasons for our findings and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social groups, Social networks, Social conflict, Social control, and Friendship

‘Are you my friend? Yes or no?’ This question, while fundamentally odd, is a key component of social network sites. Participants must select who on the system they deem to be ‘Friends.’ Their choice is publicly displayed for all to see and becomes the backbone for networked participation. By examining what different participants groups do on social network sites, this paper investigates what Friendship means and how Friendship affects the culture of the sites. I will argue that Friendship helps people write community into being in social network sites. Through these imagined egocentric communities, participants are able to express who they are and locate themselves culturally. In turn, this provides individuals with a contextual frame through which they can properly socialize with other participants. Friending is deeply affected by both social processes and technological affordances. I will argue that the established Friending norms evolved out of a need to resolve the social tensions that emerged due to technological limitations. At the same time, I will argue that Friending supports pre-existing social norms yet because the architecture of social network sites is fundamentally different than the architecture of unmediated social spaces, these sites introduce an environment that is quite unlike that with which we are accustomed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Journalists, Egyptian revolution, Egypt, 2011-, Tunisian Revolution, 2010-2011, and Transborder data flow

This article details the networked production and dissemination of news on Twitter during snapshots of the 2011 Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions as seen through information flows-sets of near-duplicate tweets-across activists, bloggers, journalists, mainstream media outlets, and other engaged participants. We differentiate between these user types and analyze patterns of sourcing and routing information among them. We describe the symbiotic relationship between media outlets and individuals and the distinct roles particular user types appear to play. Using this analysis, we discuss how Twitter plays a key role in amplifying and spreading timely information across the globe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spam email, Microblogs, Online social networks, and Internet

Spam becomes a problem as soon as an online communication medium becomes popular. Twitter’s behavioral and structural properties make it a fertile breeding ground for spammers to proliferate. In this article we examine spam around a one-time Twitter meme — "robotpickuplines". We show the existence of structural network differences between spam accounts and legitimate users. We conclude by highlighting challenges in disambiguating spammers from legitimate users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]