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Showing papers in "International Journal of Communication in 2012"


Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper explored how individuals perform the self through the use of Twitter trending hashtags and found play as a dominant performative strategy and pointed to the reordering of grammar, syntax, and literary conventions as prevalent ways through which play is performed.
Abstract: Online social platforms collapse or converge public and private boundaries, creating both opportunities and challenges for pursuing publicity, privacy, and sociality. Presentations of the self thus become networked performances that must convey polysemic content to audiences, actual and imagined, without compromising one’s own sense of self. This study explored how individuals perform the self through the use of Twitter trending hashtags. Content and discourse analyses were used to examine performative strategies and the form of performance in 140 or fewer characters. Findings underscored play as a dominant performative strategy and pointed to the reordering of grammar, syntax, and literary conventions as prevalent ways through which play is performed. Affect, redaction, and deliberative improvisation frame performances that become part of the ongoing storytelling project of the self on Twitter.

182 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors found that media literacy education is associated with increased online political engagement and increased exposure to diverse perspectives among a diverse group of youths in high school and college settings, with controls for prior levels of online political activities, for political interest, and for a broad range of demographic variables.
Abstract: Can media literacy education promote and improve youth engagement in civic and political life? Unfortunately, to date, there have been almost no quantitative assessments of the frequency of media literacy education, nor of any possible subsequent impacts. This study draws on a unique panel data set of a diverse group of youths in high school and college settings. It finds that exposure to media literacy education is not strongly related to demographic variables. In addition, with controls for prior levels of online political activities, for political interest, and for a broad range of demographic variables, this study also finds that digital media literacy education is associated with increased online political engagement and increased exposure to diverse perspectives.

146 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In a technology-driven process of accelerated change, journalism is being transformed in the ways that it is produced, distributed, and used as discussed by the authors, and there is widespread fear about the damaging consequences of these trends for the quality of journalism and the professional survival of journalists.
Abstract: In a technology-driven process of accelerated change, journalism is being transformed in the ways that it is produced, distributed, and used. We are witnessing the emergence of new tools and practices, phenomena that are yielding both a flurry of new ways to produce information and a redefinition of the place of professional journalism in this new information system. While there is widespread fear about the damaging consequences of these trends for the quality of journalism and the professional survival of journalists, we believe that current developments may, in fact, be paving the path toward better journalism and more independent journalists. The what and why of this statement are the subjects of this article.

130 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors apply the information ecology framework to explore Aula C, the headquarters of an Italian student collective that is part of the Anomalous Wave movement, and highlight the interrelationships among actors, practices, and technologies that constitute a system characterized by diversity, in which members of radical tech groups act as keystone species.
Abstract: This article applies the information ecology framework to explore Aula C, the headquarters of an Italian student collective that is part of the Anomalous Wave movement. It draws on a multimodal ethnography that includes participant observation and 17 semistructured interviews. Findings highlight the interrelationships among actors, practices, and technologies that constitute a system characterized by diversity, in which members of radical tech groups act as keystone species. By pointing out the coexistence and coevolution of activists and their tools, this article tries to overcome theorizations that do not consider the whole media environment with which activists interact. The newest application, it is shown, may in fact not be the most used technology for activism.

73 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: This article examined the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing on writers' conceptions of their relationships with their audiences, finding that some bloggers appeared to frame their blogging practice as primarily self-directed, with their potential audiences playing a marginal role.
Abstract: This article examines the understandings and meanings of personal information sharing online using a predominantly symbolic interactionist analytic perspective and focusing on writers’ conceptions of their relationships with their audiences. It draws on an analysis of in-depth interviews with 23 personal bloggers. They were found to have limited interest in gathering information about their audiences, appearing to assume that readers are sympathetic. A comprehensive and grounded typology of imagined relationships with audiences was devised. Although their blogs were all public, some interviewees appeared to frame their blogging practice as primarily self-directed, with their potential audiences playing a marginal role. These factors provide one explanation for some forms of potentially risky self-exposure observed among social media users.

70 citations



Journal Article
TL;DR: The "information wants to be free" meme was born some 20 years ago from the free and open source software development community as mentioned in this paper, and has become a common resource, scholars, activists, technologists, and local source communities have generated critiques about the extent of information freedom.
Abstract: The “information wants to be free” meme was born some 20 years ago from the free and open source software development community. In the ensuing decades, information freedom has merged with debates over open access, digital rights management, and intellectual property rights. More recently, as digital heritage has become a common resource, scholars, activists, technologists, and local source communities have generated critiques about the extent of information freedom. This article injects both the histories of collecting and the politics of information circulation in relation to indigenous knowledge into this debate by looking closely at the history of the meme and its cultural and legal underpinnings. This approach allows us to unpack the meme’s normalized assumptions and gauge whether it is applicable across a broad range of materials and cultural variances.

65 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors investigated how media salience, public opinion, and policy agendas influence the perceptions of foreign countries in the United States and found that salience promotes awareness of inflated significance for foreign countries named in U.S. media.
Abstract: This study employs first- and second-level agenda-setting to investigate how media salience, public opinion, and policy agendas influence the perceptions of foreign countries in the United States. Triangulation of research methods allowed examination of media coverage, public opinion and presidential public papers. Results indicate that salience promotes awareness of inflated significance for foreign countries named in U.S. media. The study identified a strong relationship between the foreign country salience in media coverage and in presidential public papers. The hypothesis for agenda-setting effects of policy agenda on public agenda was not supported. Regarding second-level agenda-setting effects, a correlation was found to exist among a negative tone in news coverage, presidential public papers, and public opinion. In contrast, no correlation was identified pertinent to the positive valence in the three agendas.

62 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: Online crowdsourced art as discussed by the authors is the practice of using the Internet as a participatory platform to directly engage the public in the creation of visual, musical, literary, or dramatic artwork, with the goal of showcasing the relationship between the collective imagination and the individual artistic sensibilities of its participants.
Abstract: Online crowdsourced art is the practice of using the Internet as a participatory platform to directly engage the public in the creation of visual, musical, literary, or dramatic artwork, with the goal of showcasing the relationship between the collective imagination and the individual artistic sensibilities of its participants. Discussing key examples and analyzing this artistic practice within multiple theoretical frameworks, this article fills a critical gap in the study of contemporary art and participatory culture by developing a typology of online crowdsourced art and exploring the levels of artistic participation. In view of its reliance on the artistic contribution of a large pool of geographically disperse participants, this type of art raises important questions about notions of collective creativity, authorship, and the aesthetic significance of digital participation.

61 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the impact of ICTs on development as freedom differs with both the specific conceptualization of freedom used, and the institutional arrangement of the technology in question, and suggest institutional and technological arrangements that are most likely to maximize the development potential of mobile money.
Abstract: The role of ICTs in development is contested between those who believe they will facilitate human development and those who believe they are, at most, impotent, and at worst, counterproductive. This article uses an examination of M-PESA, a large-scale mobile financial service in Kenya, to argue that the impact of ICTs on development as freedom differs with both the specific conceptualization of freedom used, and the institutional arrangement of the technology in question. The article’s novel conceptual model links the adoption of mobile money to its impact, suggesting that the dominant individualistic and instrumental approaches to ICT4D overlook the ways in which power and domination function alongside freedom when these factors are considered relationally and substantively. I demonstrate that the internal plurality of the concept of freedom leads to both new forms of empowerment, but also to limitations on choice and new forms of dominance. In closing, I suggest institutional and technological arrangements that are most likely to maximize the development potential of mobile money.

55 citations


Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors look at the dynamics of a momentarily articulated transnational journalistic field and identify two broad positions shared by many journalists and newspapers on the issue of climate change, and argue that despite its cosmopolitan moments and reflexivity, journalism was part of a potential change of tone in climate-change coverage in which the plausibility of a multilateral agreement and the legitimacy of transnational organizations (such as the UN) may have been seriously undermined.
Abstract: Taking the global climate-change summits (the COP process and particularly the Copenhagen 2009 COP15 summit) as a point of departure, this article looks at the dynamics of a momentarily articulated transnational journalistic field. Based on a comparative study of summit coverage across the world, the article identifies two broad positions shared by many journalists and newspapers. On one hand, journalists took an active part in constructing and mediating a normatively based, cosmopolitan discourse that demanded a conclusive, multilateral agreement. On the other hand, journalism produced a detached and partly nationally grounded discourse of power realism. This article also looks at how these shared and rival positions opened space and opportunities for journalists to criticize and scrutinize their domestic political actors on the issue of climate change. Finally, the study argues that despite its cosmopolitan moments and reflexivity, journalism was part of a potential change of tone in climate-change coverage in which the plausibility of a multilateral agreement and the legitimacy of transnational organizations (such as the UN) may have been seriously undermined, at least in the short run.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, a cross-cultural framework was used to examine how activists in China, Latin America, and the United States use social networking sites for their mobilizing efforts, finding that participants in China assigned greater importance to social media to promote debate.
Abstract: Using a cross-cultural framework, this study relies on survey data to examine how activists in China, Latin America, and the United States use social networking sites for their mobilizing efforts. Activists in China assigned greater importance to social media to promote debate. Those in Latin America expressed more apprehensions about the ease of using social networking sites. Respondents from the United States had greater confidence in their own ability to solve community problems. New technological advances have created rapid changes in global communication systems, altering how people send and receive information. The transformation, however, has not only affected how people communicate but who has access to communication tools and, in turn, who can reach a broader public sphere of debate and discussion. For those working along the margins of government and corporate spaces, communication tools such as the Internet and social networking sites (SNS) are among a new set of devices that might be used to do activist work. In fact, Kahn and Kellner (2004) argued that the Internet offers alternative forces and progressive groups a chance to reconfigure the political sphere, and Aouragh (2008) posited that the Internet strengthens social and political agency. Likewise, authors such as Ayers (1999), Diani (2000), and Marmura (2008) have addressed the instrumental and symbolic contributions of digital tools to social movements and activists groups.

Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper examined what perspectives newspapers have created that influence citizens' understanding of the Hindraf movement and found that three mainstream newspapers were found to focus on the conflict frame, and their representation of Hindraf articulated a hegemonic discourse that was prejudicial to the interests of the group and contrary to a spirit of democratic inquiry.
Abstract: Despite repeated warnings from the Malaysian government, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally drew thousands of Indians protesting on the streets of Kuala Lumpur on November 25, 2007. Mistreatment of Indians and lack of press coverage of their plight had been commonplace for years. By employing framing as the theoretical framework and content analysis as the research method, this study examines what perspectives newspapers have created that influence citizens’ understanding of the Hindraf movement. Three mainstream newspapers were found to focus on the conflict frame, and their representation of Hindraf articulated a hegemonic discourse that was prejudicial to the interests of the group and contrary to a spirit of democratic inquiry. The dissimilar coverage of the same issue by the alternative newspaper denoted that publication’s varied points of view, which were rooted in different political beliefs, cultural assumptions and institutional practices.

Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors investigated the effects of video game role-play on change of students' explicit and implicit attitudes toward Palestinians and Israelis and found that participants who played the role of a Palestinian president or an Israeli prime minister reported positive and negative attitudes toward both groups after playing the game.
Abstract: An experiment investigated the effects of video game role-play on change of students’ explicit and implicit attitudes toward Palestinians and Israelis Sixty-eight participants played PeaceMaker, a video game in which people play the role of the Palestinian president or the Israeli prime minister and respond to various scenarios through diplomatic, economic, and military decision-making Results showed that participants, before playing PeaceMaker, expressed higher favorability toward Israelis than Palestinians Participants who played the role of Palestinian president reported positive changes in explicit attitudes toward Palestinians and negative changes toward Israelis, while those who played the role of Israeli prime minister reported no meaningful attitude changes toward either national group after playing the game Implicit attitudes were more positive toward Palestinians at the baseline, yet did not change significantly as a function of the treatment for both national groups Results are discussed in relation to self-persuasion, persuasive games, and attitude change

Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors explored the limits of multiculturalism as a concept and logic for addressing cultural inequalities and argued that multiculturalism remains inadequate to map and address relations of cultural otherness that are produced by the complexities of transnationalism that exceed the nation.
Abstract: This article explores the limits of multiculturalism as a concept and logic for addressing cultural inequalities. It argues that engagements with multiculturalism in Anglo-American national cultures in the West tend to be nation-bound. Thus, multiculturalism remains inadequate to map and address relations of cultural otherness that are produced by the complexities of transnationalism that exceed the nation. As well, in its grounding in Westphalian liberal assumptions of democracy, the concept and practice of multiculturalism remain insufficient as a lens through which to comprehend logics of cultural inequalities in non-Western modernities. The goal of the paper is to map the limits of our engagement with multiculturalism in the face of both globalization and the logics of non-Western modernities.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors measure online activities and indicators of skill to understand opportunities for digital citizenship, or participation in society online, and find more mobile phone adoption among Blacks than among non-Hispanic Whites, and greater likelihood of Internet use for job searches among residents who rely primarily on smartphones to go online than among home broadband adopters.
Abstract: How should we measure broadband adoption by individuals and communities, given different modes of access, including home broadband, smartphone use, and public access? We measure online activities and indicators of skill to understand opportunities for digital citizenship, or participation in society online. Based on a 2011 survey in Chicago, we find more mobile phone adoption among Blacks than among non-Hispanic Whites, and greater likelihood of Internet use for job searches among residents who rely primarily on smartphones to go online than among home broadband adopters. Yet our analysis also shows that broadband at home remains critically important for digital citizenship, and that the growth in mobile phone use has not erased inequalities in participation online and seems unlikely to do so. Moreover, smartphones are not bridging the gap in disadvantaged communities. Multilevel statistical models show inequality in both Internet access and economic and political activities across geographic areas, or communities. Technology disparities that are patterned by place have implications for opportunity and equity at the neighborhood level.

Journal Article
TL;DR: The relationship between new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the study of global political communication has been explored in this article, where several prominent empirical opportunities and challenges created by a globally interconnected digital communication network are discussed.
Abstract: What is the relationship between new information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the study of global political communication? This article reflects briefly on four important aspects of this complex question We begin at the most concrete level, outlining several prominent empirical opportunities and challenges created by a globally interconnected digital communication network Next, we examine how new ICTs matter, exploring the mechanisms through which diverse contemporary technologies alter the dynamics of political communication Third, we consider what the changing landscape of mediated communication means for political communication theory There is tension between the opportunity to advance existing theory and the need for radical new theorizing, and we argue that both approaches are relevant We conclude by mapping out important research opportunities located at the intersection of new ICTs and political communication

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), and the model accounted for 36% of the variance in intention to adopt broadband technology and services, primarily from the SCT variables of expected outcomes and self-efficacy.
Abstract: Efforts to promote sustainable broadband Internet adoption urge new attention to the classic diffusion of innovations paradigm. For this study, innovation attributes were reconceptualized following Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). In a sample of inner-city residents, the model accounted for 36% of the variance in intentions to adopt broadband technology and services, primarily from the SCT variables of expected outcomes and self-efficacy. Prior habitual use of the Internet was also a predictor. Price sensitivity was unrelated to adoption. Among demographic variables, only age had a significant (negative) relationship to broadband adoption after accounting for the SCT variables. Recommendations for the design and monitoring of sustainable broadband adoption interventions are made based on these findings.

Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper examined the use and conceptions of hyperlinks among news websites, independent bloggers, and blogging journalists, particularly the way that they contribute to episodic, thematic, and conflict news frames.
Abstract: This study uses content analysis and in-depth interviews to examine the use and conceptions of hyperlinks among news websites, independent bloggers, and blogging journalists, particularly the way that they contribute to episodic, thematic, and conflict news frames. The news sites’ links function thematically to provide context through background information produced by a limited body of traditional, non-opinionated sources, placing news events in a thematic frame. Bloggers’ links, however, serve as a more social connection, while also pointing toward immediate, specific news issues, placing events in an episodic frame. Blogging journalists are found to be situated between the two groups, appropriating some practices from each.


Journal Article
TL;DR: This article argues that considerations of the volume of information should not be divorced from those of the value of information, and offers a partial explanation for slow uptake of ultra-high speed broadband and related phenomena.
Abstract: The measurement of the volume of information is fraught with difficulties. However, trends in availability and usage can be very revealing, as is shown by some examples. This article argues that considerations of the volume of information should not be divorced from those of the value of information. In communications, informative comparisons appear to be possible by classifying technologies in just a few dimensions, associated with the features of cost, speed, availability, and usability. An argument also is made that as a rough approximation, the value of information in terms of its volume is best thought of on a logarithmic scale. This approach provides a rough quantitative guide to the diminishing marginal utility delivered by the rapid progress in computing, storage, and communication technologies. It offers a partial explanation for slow uptake of ultra-high speed broadband and related phenomena.

Journal Article
Seong-Hun Yun1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors consider relational elements of three groups of global migrants, examining how their differing nexuses influence public diplomacy and discuss temporary laborers' potential role in democratizing the Western monopoly over public diplomacy.
Abstract: This article attempts to go beyond “citizen diplomacy,” or private sector–driven public diplomacy, by setting its sights on global people-mobility—a perpetual, systemic dynamic for creating relationship linkages—and understanding its consequences for relational public diplomacy. To this end, the article considers relational elements of three groups of global migrants, examining how their differing nexuses influence public diplomacy. It begins with diasporas, expands to international students, and then focuses on a survey of global temporary laborers, a long overlooked yet powerfully emergent group that presents both risks and beneficial opportunities. The conclusion discusses temporary laborers’ potential role in democratizing the Western monopoly over public diplomacy and calls for a departure from soft power toward relationship-centered theory and practices.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the increasing dominance of electronic media in the American media diet and a growing discrepancy between supply and demand in the digital cornucopia, drawing on the communication flow methodology pioneered by Ithiel Pool in the 1980s.
Abstract: This study analyzes the increasing dominance of electronic media in the American media diet and a growing discrepancy between supply and demand in the digital cornucopia. Drawing on the communication flow methodology pioneered by Ithiel Pool in the 1980s, the study tracks U.S. industry data on technology penetration and household behavior from 1960 to 2005 to reveal a transition from “push” to “pull” media dynamics.

Journal Article
TL;DR: This paper proposed a transnational comparative framing model that provides a framing pool for collecting generic, domestic, and issue-specific frames and proposes a three-dimensional framing matrix as a systematic framing codebook.
Abstract: In light of continuing trends of globalization, media scholars are increasingly examining and comparing transnational issues. This study argues that although such research is timely and necessary, it requires a more structured approach. By analyzing existing cross-national framing studies, this study exposes gaps in the literature that a new model of approach proposed here could help fill. This transnational comparative framing model provides a framing pool for collecting generic, domestic, and issue-specific frames and proposes a three-dimensional framing matrix as a systematic framing codebook. Discussion of the model centers on its possible application to the analyzed cross-national framing studies to illustrate its ability to provide a more unified approach in this emerging area of research.

Journal Article
TL;DR: The authors argued that businesses comply with the party-state's control policies only conditionally and analyzes a specific principal-agent dilemma embedded into state regulation and the policy implementation chain of social control.
Abstract: Since the late 1990s, the Chinese party-state has increasingly delegated responsibility from the bureaucracy to new media companies across the spectrum of the ICT business sector to monitor deviant user behavior. This article argues that businesses comply with the party-state’s control policies only conditionally and analyzes a specific principal-agent dilemma embedded into state regulation and the policy implementation chain of social control. It contends that the party-state has only temporarily solved this dilemma by maintaining the risk of sanctions for the industry while rewarding compliant businesses with policy rewards. The analysis finds that emerging cracks in cadre-capitalist cooperation are contingent on the state’s continued negotiations on policy.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that we need critics more, not less, in the interactive technology, Web 2.0 world, and propose an end-relational theory of critique.
Abstract: Scholars claim that the mass-media story is being replaced by the interactive-media story. Much discussion has focused on the changing roles of artists, gatekeepers, producers, and consumers, but what role does the critic play in this story? After providing an historical analysis of the concept of the critic in critical-cultural studies, I argue for a way out of the subjugation-emancipation paradox of normative judgment using an end-relational theory of critique. Without such an approach, criticism is easily conflated with consumerism, forcing two consequences: the relegation of judgment to mere personal preference, and the potential loss of an avant-garde. Thus, I argue that we need critics more, not less, in the interactive technology, Web 2.0 world.

Journal Article
TL;DR: This study analyzes linguistic versions of the Web pages of 1,140 universities in 57 countries via a content analysis of language use at three points in time over a five-year period, suggesting that even in the domain of higher education, the Web is becoming increasingly multilingual.
Abstract: This study analyzes linguistic versions of the Web pages of 1,140 universities in 57 countries via a content analysis of language use at three points in time over a five-year period. The results are partially inconsistent with previous theories of Internet multilingualism. As an alternative, we propose a tri-level multiglossia model in which the national language is the core language used to communicate with the native population of the country; English is the first additional language, aimed at an international audience; and other secondary languages target specific groups. Over the five-year period, the first level remained stable, the second increased, and the third increased the most. This suggests that even in the domain of higher education, the Web is becoming increasingly multilingual.

Journal Article
TL;DR: A case study of The Christian Science Monitor's move to a Web-first publication after the close of its print daily is presented in this paper. But the authors focus on three key points in the change process, which they observed through field visits to the newsroom.
Abstract: This article is a case study of The Christian Science Monitor’s move to a Web-first publication after the close of its print daily. We focus on three key points in the change process, which we observed through field visits to the newsroom: the first visit occurred before the switch to Web-first, the second visit just a few months afterward, and the third and final visit a few months after the introduction of a new content management system. Our goal was twofold: first, to understand what it meant to these journalists to go through such a change, and second, to understand the impact of the change on journalistic and organizational values.

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, a system of thought that sees content and its distribution channels as the product of relationships between media companies, organizations, and individuals is presented. But it is based on a commercial relationship of a contractual kind, with accordant rights and obligations.
Abstract: What are “Piracy Cultures”? Usually, we look at media consumption starting from a media industry definition We look at TV, radio, newspapers, games, Internet, and media content in general, all departing from the idea that the access to such content is made available through the payment of a license fee or subscription, or simply because it’s either paid or available for free (being supported by advertisements or under a “freemium” business model) That is, we look at content and the way people interact with it within a given system of thought that sees content and its distribution channels as the product of relationships between media companies, organizations, and individuals—effectively, a commercial relationship of a contractual kind, with accordant rights and obligations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative study of the policies and practices of community television in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada is presented, where the authors argue that the policies governing community television do not correspond to what has been experienced by practitioners.
Abstract: This comparative study addresses the policies and practices of community television in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada. In particular, I examine how community media organizations are transforming themselves to meet the demands of a digital world, and how these experiences are reflected in policy and regulation. Findings suggest that the policies governing community television do not correspond to what has been experienced by practitioners. Drawing from theories of the public sphere, the argument is made that policy does a disservice to community television by failing to acknowledge the importance of place, bodies, and practice. This is problematic, as it fails to distinguish community media from user-generated digital content.