Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten: Dissertationen international

In diesem Beitrag findet Ihr Links zu den Dissertationen von Danah Boyd, Mu Hu und Michael DiNicola. Es geht in den Arbeiten um die Social-Network-Nutzung von Teenagern, Einsamkeit und pathologische Internetnutzung. Genaueres könnt Ihr im jeweiligen Abstract nachlesen.

Entschuldigung – es folgt eine Linkschlacht.

Danah Boyd arbeitet für Microsoft Research New England und ist Fellow am Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard und an der Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Sie hat an der School of Information (iSchool) in Berkeley promoviert.

Die Chinesin Mu Hu ist Assistant Professor am Department of Communication des West Virginia Wesleyan College; sie hat an der Ohio State University an der School of Communication promoviert, wo sie gegenwärtig am Forschungsprojekt “Loss oder Merging of Self” mitarbeitet.

Michael Di Nicola ist ebenfalls Absolvent der Ohio State, hat aber am College of Education and Human Ecology im Rahmen des Programms “Counselor Education” promoviert.

Danah Boyd: Taken Out of Context. American Teen Sociality in Networked Publics. Dissertation von 2008.

“As social network sites like MySpace and Facebook emerged, American teenagers began adopting them as spaces to mark identity and socialize with peers. Teens leveraged these sites for a wide array of everyday social practices — gossiping, flirting, joking around, sharing information, and simply hanging out. While social network sites were predominantly used by teens as a peer-based social outlet, the unchartered nature of these sites generated fear among adults. This dissertation documents my 2.5-year ethnographic study of American teens’ engagement with social network sites and the ways in which their participation supported and complicated three practices — self-presentation, peer sociality, and negotiating adult society. My analysis centers on how social network sites can be understood as networked publics which are simultaneously (1) the space constructed through networked technologies and (2) the imagined community that emerges as a result of the intersection of people, technology, and practice. [...] As teenagers learned to navigate social network sites, they developed potent strategies for managing the complexities of and social awkwardness incurred by these sites. Their strategies reveal how new forms of social media are incorporated into everyday life, complicating some practices and reinforcing others. New technologies reshape public life, but teens’ engagement also reconfigures the technology itself.”

Mu Hu: Social Use of the Internet and Loneliness. Dissertation von 2007.

“Previous literature on internet use and psychological well-being mainly adopts correlational analysis, and treats “psychological well-being” as a “package” composed of such constructs as loneliness, depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and so forth. These constructs are not carefully examined in terms of their nature, mechanism, causes, consequences, and furthermore, how they are related to communication. The present study focuses on loneliness and social use of the internet, and reviews the studies relevant to this topic from both social psychology and computer-mediated communication literature, as a response to the call for interdisciplinary research from scholars in these two areas. A pilot study was conducted revealing that recalling and writing stories of loneliness experience was a valid way to arouse mood loneliness. Two hundred and thirty four subjects participated in the formal study, composed of a survey testing trait loneliness and a 5-condition (face-to-face chatting, instant messenger chatting, watching video, writing assignments, and “do nothing”). Mood loneliness increased after people chatted online. People reported higher level of mood loneliness after chatted online than those conversed face to face. For people with high trait loneliness, the mood loneliness increase in computer-mediated communication condition was significantly higher than that in face-to-face communication condition. People gave more positive evaluation to face-to-face communication than computer-mediated communication. There was negative relationship between evaluation and posttest mood loneliness in social activity conditions, which are face-to-face and computer-mediated communication. Also in these two groups, evaluation to the communication was positively related to how long the communication lasted. Future communication researchers need to further investigate the psychosocial well-being constructs relevant to their studies. More experimental studies are needed for examination about the influence of Internet use on psychological well-being. Researchers should realize the difference of culture and diffusion of the Internet when trying to apply research models in computer-mediated communication to other countries.”

Michael DiNicola: PIU – Pathological Internet Use among College Students. The Prevalence of Pathological Internet Use and its Correlates. Dissertation von 2004.

“Seven hundred thirty-one traditional age (18-24) college students from a large Midwestern university were assessed with an online survey for an impulse control disorder related to their Internet use. Students reporting four or more symptoms of an impulse control disorder related to their Internet use were categorized as Pathological Internet Users. Seven percent of students in the present study met criteria for Pathological Internet Use. The results of the present study suggest that male students may be significantly more likely to engage in Pathological Internet Use than female students. The present study predicted that freshmen (first-year) students would report significantly more symptoms of Pathological Internet Use than upperclassmen. However, this study did not find significant differences in terms of pathological behaviors orognitions based class standing. The students were also asked to report on how their Internet use impacted various areas of functioning including: current relationships, academic success, getting adequate sleep, and being late for or missing classes. Only 1.2% of students reported their Internet use had negatively impacted their current relationships while 7.9% reported negative impacts on their academic success, 14% reported negative impacts on being late for or missing classes, and 20.7% reported negative impacts on their ability to get enough sleep. Suggestions and considerations are offered for conducting further research online. Finally, the present study offers suggestions for future research of Pathological Internet Use in the college student population and general population.”