COM1101

Changes in the media landscape

⁃ Technological revolutions: Broadband, Social networking, Mobile
⁃ “One to many” to “many to many” - Anyone can create their own content
establish their information
⁃ Explosion of information availability
⁃ Increased user control of communication process (Greater interactivity
and selectivity)

Convergence
⁃ Merging of previously distinct types of technologies
(telecommunications, computing, media)
⁃ Technological convergence: integration of different technologies into a
single device or platform. Consequence of digitisation (smart phone)
⁃ Economic: consolidation of business sectors / With digitisation,
companies from different industries can offer overlapping services and compete in
new markets.
⁃ Cultural: participation

Packet vs. Circuit switching

⁃ Circuit switching : Entire message is passed / All packets use the same
path
⁃ Packet switching : Message are broken down into small packets / Every
packet follows a different role, travel independently / the receiving computer
reassembles the data into its original form (more efficient in data transmission)

Digital media and relationship

⁃ Use media build and maintain relationship
⁃ More common to meet strangers and initiate relationships

Media characteristics
⁃ Anonymity: anonymous or pseudonymous communication (anonymous
environments)
⁃ Synchronicity: synchronous (FaceTime with no time gap) / asynchronous
(IG)
⁃ Modality: Text, video, audio

Social media affordances

⁃ Visibility : private, public, semi-private
⁃ Editability : make change both before and after the content is
published.
⁃ Persistence : archiving / user-generated content is stored and
accessible over time
⁃ Association : facilitate visible connections between user

Relationship formation
⁃ Attraction : mutual attraction facilitate initial interaction
1. Physical attractiveness : more attracted to more beautiful people
2. Proximity : Physical proximity increases the likelihood of relationship
3. Attitude similarity : we like people who similar to us / Homophily
(culture, language, demographics)
• 1 is less important in anonymous communities
• 2 is less important but language and region still matter
• 3 is most important : Social identity and deindividuation (SIDE) theory
 • Greater salience of social identities
• Overestimating similarities between group members
• Works in low visibility
⁃ Self-disclosure : disclosing information develop relationship
⁃ Depth (level of intimacy) / Breadth (range of areas discussed)
⁃ CMC increases private self-awareness / reduces public self-awareness

Impression formation in CMC

⁃ Cues-filtered-out perspective
⁃ a lack of non-verbal cues (action, gesture, facial expression) in CMC
⁃ CMC described as more task-oriented and rather impersonal
⁃ Social Information Processing Theory
⁃ Individuals in CMC can compensate for the absence of nonverbal cues by
utilising other forms of information processing to develop relationships
⁃ Extended interaction : Engage in prolonged and continuous communication
through text-based platforms
⁃ Hyperpersonal perspective
⁃ Selective self-presentation : Greater control / Positive impression
management / Selfie posting (selected + edited)
⁃ Idealisation of sender : if initial cues about another person is
favourable
⁃ Communicating on one’s own time : Take time to construct messages
mindfully (asynchronous) without interfering the conversational flow
⁃ Self fulfilling prophecy : Individual’s expectation tends to evoke a
response -> confirms the original anticipation / reinforce the online personae
⁃ 3 Types of social cues
⁃ Self-generated info (info&photos)
⁃ Friends-generated info (comments, tag photos)
⁃ System-generated info (# friends, # posts)
⁃ Warranting Principle
⁃ Info more difficult to manipulate are more reliable and will have a
larger impact on impression formation

Relationship maintenance
⁃ Multiplicity : use multiple media channels to maintain
⁃ Closer relationship, more media used
⁃ Synchronous media use for intimate relationship : maintaining longD
relationship
⁃ Long-distance relationships with technologies
⁃ Fulfilment of psychological needs
⁃ Importance of mediated communication
⁃ Design applications focused on information transmission (emotional cues
are often neglected / Not designed for achieving relatedness)

Mediating intimacy - strategies

⁃ Awareness - Being aware of what others are doing
⁃ Expressivity - emotional and feeling expression
⁃ Physicalness - physical intimacy, meaningful gesture
⁃ Gift giving - Caring and valuing the other person
⁃ Joint action - allow for carrying out an action together
⁃ Memories - keep records of past activities and special moments of
relationship

History of Social Media

⁃ Stated in the mind-1990s
⁃ SixDegree.com as the first online social media site
Defining social media
⁃ The internet-based applications
⁃ User-generated content
⁃ User-specific profile for a site
⁃ Social networks formed by connecting profiles to those of other
individuals

Social media elements

⁃ Profile
⁃ Key affordances
• Visibility : the extent to which social media enable people to see
information about someone else
• Persistence : the extent to which content is viewable after posting
• Audience transparency : the extent to which the actual audience of a
particular piece of social media content is apparent
⁃ Asynchronous nature + high editability enable selective Self-
presentation
⁃ Key challenge : Authenticity 可信度 / balance between selective and
authentic self-presentation
⁃ Network
⁃ Key affordances
• Pervasiveness 普遍性 : the ability to quickly and constantly communicate
with a variety of ties 關係
• Searchability : the ability to search for information and people
• Association : the ability to create, view and traverse ties between
individuals or individual and content
⁃ Ability to broadcast to personal networks affect social capital accrual
• Social capital : the resources individuals access through their
personal relationship
• Tangible or emotional support
• Exposure to novel information
⁃ Key challenge : loneliness / unwilling to respond publicly to posts
expressing negativity on social media / support signal may be limited to provide
lasting social values
⁃ Stream
⁃ A link between social media use and social comparison process
⁃ Social Comparison Theory : People tend to compare their own abilities,
opinions, and accomplishments with those of others
⁃ Key challenge : Envy
• Passive social media use may negatively impact emotional well-being
• Surveillance behaviors (e.g., keeping track of others’ posts on news
feeds) evoke envy and lead people to experience depressive symptoms
⁃ Message
⁃ Social connectedness : the centrality of messaging in shaping daily
perceptions of connectedness /. Lack of message response -> felling be neglected
⁃ Key challenge : Distraction / experience connection overload, making it
difficult for individuals to focus on face-to-face conversations

The independence of cyberspace

⁃ No state sovereignty 統治 / self-organising, self-governing / The world
of transactions, relationships and thought, but no physical boundaries

Virtual communities
⁃ Promises
• Based on common interest, not location
• Knowledge, social capital and social support
 • Source of innovation and creativity
⁃ Past example
• Virtual bulletin boards : Newsgroups of the usenet, topic-centred
• Chat room : Internet Relay Chat, Multi-user chat system
• Virtual worlds : Role-playing games
⁃ Current trends
• Mobile communities : GPS system
• Social networking site : create profiles and add people with similar
interests
⁃ Social identification
• Social identity : a sense of “who I am” based on group membership
• Conformity to group norms
• SIDE : anonymity foster group identities. Overestimation of
similarities
⁃ Consequences of participation
• Coordination of collective action
• Civic engagement and activism / Negative : extremist group online
(Muslims)

Designing online communities

⁃ Starting a new community
• With rich inventory of content (posts, messages)
• Problems : Not enough content to attract users / Too few users creating
the content
⁃ Attracting and socialising new members
• Identifying and encouraging potential members to join in and contribute
(specific characteristics and skillsets)
• Newcomers might have insufficient information and less commitment to a
community -> be potentially disruptive. Need to learn the rules of conduct
⁃ Encouraging commitment
• Commitment : willingness to stay in the community and contribute to it
• Keeping member is difficult as fewer constraints on members’ ability to
leave
• Easy entry and exit / No geographical constraints in finding
alternatives / Voluntary participation: no contract or social obligation
⁃ Encouraging contribution
• Power-law distribution : Small minority contributing most of the
content -> Problem of under contribution and freeriding
⁃ Regulating behaviour
• Having different competing interests
• More controversial attract trolls / Inflammatory and provocative
posting
• Commercial spammers that drive traffic to external websites 傳送垃圾商業廣告

Levers of change: Sociotechnical system design

⁃ Levers of change = design alternative or options
1. Community structure
• Size of community - network effect
• Degree of homogeneity of member interest
• Subgroup structure
2. Content, task, activities
• Opportunities for self-disclosure / Professional generated? / Welcoming
activities for newcomers / Tasks can be embedded in immersive or social experiences
3. Selection, Sorting and highlighting
• Highlighting good or popular content / Removing inappropriate content /
Recommender system
4. External communication
• Can content be imported from or exported to other community
• Are identities and profile shared or hidden
 5. Feedback and rewards
• Feedback: react to a member’s participation in community
• Rewards: Giving something members valueIntangible (approval or
disapproval) or tangible (points, money, prizes)
6. Roles, rules, policies, and procedures
• Articulating 清晰 different roles (dispute handlers 處理糾紛, welcomers for
newcomers)
• Rules and guidelines about how people should behave
• Establishing the procedures for decision-making and conflict resolution
7. Access control
• Credential checked and completion of CAPTCHA 證書檢查和正確驗證碼
• Moderation privilege 限制特權 may be extended to only members in designated
roles
• Payment to perform certain action
8. Presentation and framing
• Framing 建構 what the community is and what happens there can have a big
impact on how the community functions
• Presenting similarities or differences with other communities
• Choosing a tagline that emphasizes different aspects of the community
• Emphasizing the norms of reciprocity 互惠規範