Online Poster Room 4
Cultivation Theory and the Evolution of Justice in the Facebook Era
Virtual Poster Chelsea Slack
It is hard to deny social media and its omnipresence is affecting users. The question is no longer if social media affects us, but how. Are these effects superficial, or do they deal with users’ most foundational values? To answer these questions, this study applied cultivation theory to Facebook, and social media in general. With 467 respondents, the results of this survey indicated that as Facebook and general social media use increases, levels of cultivation increase marginally as well. Demographics also played a major role in levels of cultivation, with certain groups being more susceptible to cultivation than others. In terms of perceptions concerning users’ views on justice, equality, and fairness, overall higher levels of both Facebook and social media use were related to respondents more greatly reporting beliefs that the United States is a place of justice and equality. In summary, this project found that social media, Facebook specifically, cultivates ideas, feelings, and perceptions in the minds of its users – some positive, and some negative. Lastly, this study contends that application of cultivation theory should finally move beyond television and into the realm of social media.
The Educational Value of Internet Communication Space frpm the Perspective of Its Users
Virtual Poster Longina Strumska Cylwik
This study shows the positive and negative aspects of education in Internet communication spaces as perceived by users. The research question what educational values do respondents see in Internet communication spaces and what meanings do they ascribed to it. Particularly important is what and how users learn about themselves, other people, and the surrounding world. The main attention is directed to the specificity of the space in question which, as it turns out, is not one-dimensional, unambiguous, and neutral, but is rooted in the culture of immediacy, interactivity, and anonymity (which naturally entails certain consequences). It is not surprising, therefore, that thanks to it we observe significant changes in the social world regarding communication relations, people's attitude to knowledge and education (for they not only acquire and exchange knowledge, but also create it). Such a phenomenon results, inter alia, from the reverse, two-way and interactive nature of Internet communication spaces, which at the same time allows actors on the cyber-communication stage to play creative roles online, as well as offline. Thanks to that, they can become a kind of "spiritus movens" (inspirers, originators, creators of this space). Its representative example is the communication activity of respondents on Internet forums, social networking websites, and blogs, resulting not only in the usual exchange of information, views, discussions and comments, but very often going beyond the conventional communication and education practices.
(Re)Constructing Collective Memories for Strengthening National Pride Through the Narrative of New Year’s Galas (2008-2018)
Virtual Poster Jingyi Zhu, Mindi Rhoades
Since 1983, the Chinese New Year’s Gala, or “Chunwan,” has been an annual live variety-show broadcast by China Central Television on Lunar New Year’s Eve. Even though it has a large audience and attracts nation and world-wide attention, there is little research critically reflecting on this significant phenomenological and cultural event. Employing a social constructionist perspective and the concept of collective memory (Halbwachs, 1992), this study examines how Chunwan (2008-2018) functions as a text to mediate national beliefs through (re)constructing collective memories of diverse Chinese audience groups.This qualitative study relies primarily on fifty-five hours of video for a decade of Chunwan broadcasts (approximately fifty-five hours). The video data was (re)coded multiple times using collective memory and social constructivist concepts then analyzed for patterns and discrepancies. The study analyzes ways Chunwan (re)constructs collective intergenerational Chinese memories that reinforce nationalism and a shared past. With shared memory, the boundary of private memory and collective memory is blurred and the two are fused as one. Additionally, the study uncovers that through narrative of individual and national success, group “venting,” and traumatic experiences, national pride is strengthened. The findings draw attention to the political and cultural functions of media texts.
Using Sentiment Analysis to Understand Readers’ Preferences
Virtual Poster Yick Kan Kwok
Sentiment is a combination of word choice, tone of voice and writing style, which allows the same news to be described as either positive or negative. With the assistance of modern machine learning technology, Natural Language Processing (NLP) is the most effective method for sentiment analysis from natural language. Using NLP, positiveness of a news can be analyzed and provide an overview of tone and manner used. Using Sentiment Intensity Analyzer (SIA) of Python’s Natural Language Toolkit to evaluate newspaper headlines and contents, the positiveness of the news can be uncovered. While the initial accuracy of the analyzer with default language database is approximately 80%, the accuracy of the sentiment analysis can be enhanced by supplying more training data, which are the news. By cross-referencing the view count of the news, it greatly facilitates journalists to learn about the likes and dislikes of readers. It is also particularly useful for webmasters of news portal to arrange personalized news feed for each reader by rearranging the news layout and display order according to their sentiment analysis results. While the initial work is limited to English news due to limitations of SIA, it is hoped that the system can be extended to other languages in future and offer opportunities for further work on reader preference analysis.
