Christine Ogan

Evolution of online user behavior during a social upheaval

Social media represent powerful tools of mass communication and information diffusion. They played a pivotal role during recent social uprisings and political mobilizations across the world. Here we present a study of the Gezi Park movement in Turkey through the lens of Twitter. We analyze over 2.3 million tweets produced during the 25 days of protest occurred between May and June 2013. We first characterize the spatio-temporal nature of the conversation about the Gezi Park demonstrations, showing that similarity in trends of discussion mirrors geographic cues. We then describe the characteristics of the users involved in this conversation and what roles they played. We study how roles and individual influence evolved during the period of the upheaval. This analysis reveals that the conversation becomes more democratic as events unfold, with a redistribution of influence over time in the user population. We conclude by observing how the online and offline worlds are tightly intertwined, showing that exogenous events, such as political speeches or police actions, affect social media conversations and trigger changes in individual behavior.

Internet-using children and digital inequality: A comparison between majority and minority Europeans

Abstract In this research we focus on ethnic minorities, one of the underserved groups in Europe. In particular, we address the internet use of Turkish ethnic children, aged 9 to 16, in several EU countries. We examine the extent to which they can be considered digitally disadvantaged when compared to the majority population in those countries. We also compare Turkish children living in Turkey to those in the diaspora as well as to the majority children living in those same European countries. The data used for this analysis is part of the EU Kids Online research (www.eukidsonline.net). Of the three groups of teenagers examined, those in the Turkish diaspora take a position in between their native European peers, who are the most fervent surfers on the internet, and the Turkish children living in Turkey, who use the internet least often. Generally speaking that is also true for online competencies and online activities. As far as exposure to online risks is concerned, European majority children are more familiar than the two other groups with receiving sex-related images and messages and with face-to-face meetings with online contacts. By contrast, children in the Turkish diaspora are relatively more familiar with cyberbullying.

Communications policy options in an era of rapid technological change

Abstract Policy makers usually take one of three paths in creating policy to address technological change in communications. They develop policy that reacts to technological developments, try to create policy in anticipation of a direction technology might take or make continuous changes in policy as the technology evolves. This study analyses the policy-making process related to developments in satellite and cable communications in two countries, the Netherlands and Turkey, and illustrates the need for continual monitoring of various parts of the communication system as technological changes are introduced.

What is gained and what is left to be done when content analysis is added to network analysis in the study of a social movement: Twitter use during Gezi Park

ABSTRACT As social movements relying on the weak ties found in social networks have spread around the world, researchers have taken several approaches to understanding how networks function in such instances as the Arab Spring. While social scientists have primarily relied on survey or content analysis methodology, network scientists have used social network analysis. This research combines content analysis with the automated techniques of network analysis to determine the roles played by those using Twitter to communicate during the Turkish Gezi Park uprising. Based on a network analysis of nearly 2.4 million tweets and a content analysis of a subset of 5126 of those tweets, we found that information sharing was by far the most common use of the tweets and retweets, while tweets that indicated leadership of the movement constituted a small percentage of the overall number of tweets. Using automated techniques, we experimented with coded variables from content analysis to compute the most discriminative tokens and to predict values for each variable using only textual information. We achieved 0.61 precision on identifying types of shared information. Our results on detecting the position of user in the protest and purpose of the tweets achieved 0.42 and 0.33 precision, respectively, illustrating the necessity of user cooperation and the shortcomings of automated techniques. Based on annotated values of user tweets, we computed similarities between users considering their information production and consumption. User similarities are used to compute clusters of individuals with similar behaviors, and we interpreted average activities for those groups.

Do Turkish women in the diaspora build social capital? Evidence from the Low countries

Abstract Ever since Putnam (2000) made social capital a concept that should be mourned for its decline in the USA, researchers and policy makers in some western countries have adopted it as a solution to what they believe to be the failed practices of multiculturalism. Instead of preserving their individual cultures and traditions, critics would have them build social capital by bridging to people and institutions in their new countries and adopt the ‘shared values’ of the host countries and become ‘integrated’. This study, based on a study conducted in the Netherlands in 2006, and supplemented with survey findings from Flanders at the same time, examines whether this perspective is accurate, focusing on women migrants who live in the Low Countries (Netherlands and Flanders in Belgium), of the networks they have built or not and the reasons for that, and of the role of media and the internet in that process.

“The Only Person Who Cares”: Misperceptions of Mentoring Among Faculty and Students in IT Programs

Christine Ogan Jean C. Robinson Summary of Study Despite the studies of women that presume a strong positive correlation between mentoring and the recruitment and retention of women in non-traditional fields such as computer science, it is not clear that the mere provision of mentors to students will lead to greater numbers of women graduating in information technology fields. We examined this issue through comparison of students’ and professors’ perspectives on mentoring in five research universities where information technology is taught in several units. We analyzed undergraduate and graduate student experiences in being mentored and faculty’s experiences in networking and mentoring. Students do not perceive that faculty provide the mentoring services faculty say they are providing. Even though mentoring was a significant predictor of undergraduate student satisfaction in the major, the impact was minimal when compared with their sense of belonging in the unit, which was largely dependent on the number of friends they had made in the program. Students in applied IT disciplines reported a higher sense of belonging leading us to believe that such units are somewhat more women friendly. Gender & IT Education

Introduction to the Special Issue: Media and ethnic minorities in Europe

Abstract Across the countries of Europe and within the European Union, there seems to be no end to discussions of policies related to migrants – from the labor migrants who came to Europe more than 40 years ago to the continued requests from prospective migrants who want to immigrate for asylum and family formation. The discussions on what those policies should be, range from multiculturalism to integration and assimilation. Shifts in policies have occurred because of the slow economic and educational progress made by some migrants; by the post-9/11 changes in attitudes and behavior among some Muslim migrants, and by concerns over the increased size of the migrant population.

Media diversity and communications policy: Impact of VCRs and satellite TV

Videocassettes and satellite-delivered television programmes are having a profound effect on existing communication policies in the world. Set up to protect local media industries and preserve native cultures, communication policies are being threatened by both legal and illegal uses of the VCR and communication satellite. Because the VCR has not been considered a mass medium and the piracy of broadcast signals is illegal, most nations have not accounted for the impact of foreign films and television programmes flooding their borders. A desire for more media diversity is cited as the prime reason for the popularity of the content carried by these new technologies.

Methodological approaches to studying immigrant communities : Why flexibility is important

Abstract Since 9/11 it has become increasingly difficult to conduct primary research with Muslim migrant communities in Europe. In addition to the usual problems such as locating Muslim respondents that cross major demographic categories and preparing questions that are culturally and linguistically appropriate, the tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims that have followed violent incidents in Europe and North America have increased the likelihood of misunderstanding in the interview environment. This article addresses the management of methodological issues through examples taken from field work that took place among Turkish migrants in the Netherlands in 2006.

Challenges of conducting survey research related to a social protest movement: Lessons learned from a study of Gezi protests involving the Turkish diaspora in three European countries

ABSTRACT Research on social protest movements raises many complicated methodological issues. This article systematically explains the methodological quandaries the authors confronted when studying demonstrations and online and offline activism by ethnic Turks in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands in support of the Gezi Park protesters in Turkey. It explains how participants were recruited and surveyed in this complex and extremely sensitive environment. It offers lessons learned that can be applied to other studies involving surveys of ethnic minorities engaged in social protest movements. More generally, they may also apply to surveys of any vulnerable population about sensitive issues.