Debbie Goh

Social media and citizen engagement: A meta-analytic review

This meta-analytic study reviews empirical research published from 2007 to 2013 with an aim of providing robust conclusions about the relationship between social media use and citizen engagement. It includes 22 studies that used self-reported measures of social media use and participation, with a total of 116 relationships/effects. The results suggest that social media use generally has a positive relationship with engagement and its three sub-categories, that is, social capital, civic engagement, and political participation. More specifically, we find small-to-medium size positive relationships between expressive, informational, and relational uses of social media and the above indicators of citizen engagement. For identity- and entertainment-oriented uses of social media, our analyses find little evidence supporting their relationship with citizen engagement.

Teaching style, ICT experience and teachers' attitudes toward teaching with Web 2.0

Emphasis on 21st Century Skills development has increased expectations on teachers to take advantages of emerging technologies to support student learning. Yet it is not clear whether teachers are well equipped with the necessary skills, support, and positive attitudes toward integrating them in their practices. Even though student-centered teachers are considered receptive to collaborative technologies and likely to use technology meaningfully in teaching, to what extent teaching style influences their Web 2.0 adaption requires further investigation. This study attempts to identify K12 teachers’ attitudes toward the use of Web 2.0 technologies in their teaching. 161 teachers from eight middle and high schools in both rural and urban locations of West Virginia participated in this cross sectional survey study. Overall, the findings indicate that while teachers are fairly proficient in their computer and internet skills and have fairly high computer self-efficacy, their workload and a structured and standardized curriculum were inhibitors of Web 2.0 adoption. Age, self-efficacy, workload, and views about Web 2.0 in teaching were observed to be significant factors predicting teachers’ likelihood to find Web 2.0 appealing for teaching. Teaching style was not a significant predictor. The findings suggest infrastructural improvements, workload adjustments, and increased professional development opportunities allowing teachers to observe, discuss, and practice Web 2.0 technologies in their particular disciplines.

Protesting the Singapore government

This study engages collective action framing theory to examine the strategies employed by Singaporeans, rarely seen on the front lines of politics, on social media to organize a protest against the governments immigration policy. It addresses critical and theoretical questions on the formation and dynamics of collective action frames on social media, and the implications for social movements. An analysis of 1805 posts and comments on blogs and Facebook leading up to the May 1, 2013 protest reveals that while organizers and protestors resonated in their development of diagnostic, prognostic and motivational frames, they placed different emphasis on the frames. This variable use of frames helps explain that while the protest was successful in mobilizing thousands to the outdoor site, it was not able to sustain the movement demanding immigration reform.

Narrowing the Knowledge Gap: The Role of Alternative Online Media in an Authoritarian Press System

Using a national survey of citizens during Singapore’s general election, this study finds that alternative online media filled information gaps and narrowed the knowledge gap between social status groups. Contrary to the original knowledge gap hypothesis, lower educated voters gained knowledge more rapidly from increased alternative media use than more highly educated voters. This indicates that the press system itself influences the knowledge gap. In authoritarian press systems, where mainstream news is regulated and framed to promote ruling party’s elite perspectives, alternative online information produced from the ground up embodies greater relevance and authenticity, facilitating greater knowledge gain among lower educated voters.

Are we all here for the same purpose? Social media and individualized collective action

Purpose – Building on studies examining the role of social media in contemporary forms of collective action and social movements, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between prior informational use of social media and individualized collective action. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 220 participants were surveyed in real-time during a protest against overpopulation in Singapore. Findings – Social media use was significant in disseminating information about the protest, and reflecting perceived personal relevance for specific issues. The authors found mixed motivations for attending the protest, significantly shaped by social proximity to organizers and personal relevance. Originality/value – The authors address research gaps in the link between social media use and individualized collective action, and real-time data collection during a protest. It is often difficult to study this link, given that social media may not be always the only platform used prior to a protest by particip...

Audiences’ acts of authentication in the age of fake news: A conceptual framework:

Through an analysis of relevant literature and open-ended survey responses from 2501 Singaporeans, this article proposes a conceptual framework to understand how individuals authenticate the information they encounter on social media. In broad strokes, we find that individuals rely on both their own judgment of the source and the message, and when this does not adequately provide a definitive answer, they turn to external resources to authenticate news items.

Can blogs function as rhetorical publics in Asian democracies? An analysis using the case of Singapore

764 blog posts posted during the 2011 Singapore General Election were analyzed.Blogs function as weak publics to surface otherwise excluded discourse.In developing norms as rhetorical publics, they facilitate discursive conversations.Through such exchanges, community norms are established amongst bloggers. Social media platforms such as blogs have been said to improve and expand the potential of the Internet in enabling open access to political discourse. Yet several factors may undermine such potential, even in a place like Singapore, where Internet penetration and usage of social media are high. Participation remains fragmented, with certain groups more active than others, raising questions on the viability of the Internet as a public sphere. The context and conditions under which online publics function provide important basis for understanding the use of social media, yet this has often been overlooked. We examine the use of blogs in Singapore as sites for discursive exchanges, civic engagement, and community construction, and discuss the sustainability of blogs as multiple publics in a functioning Asian democracy.

The urban–rural gap: project-based learning with Web 2.0 among West Virginian teachers

To overcome the digital divide in West Virginia, schools are urged to integrate emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as Web 2.0 and alternative pedagogies to develop students’ twenty-first-century skills. Yet, the potential effects of the digital divide on technology integration have not necessarily been part of planning for professional development programmes. As a first step to identify the potential digital divide between rural and urban school settings, this study examined West Virginian teachers’ Web 2.0 access levels – namely, motivation, physical, skills and usage accesses. Analysis of the survey responses from 161 teachers suggested that the divide persisted at physical and usage access levels, signifying teachers’ unique needs and conditions for the use of emerging technologies. While teachers’ usage access was observed to be a significant factor for their Web 2.0-associated project-based learning, attending professional development programmes seemed to minimally benefit such practices.

From Print to Digital Platforms: A PBL Framework for Fostering Multimedia Competencies and Consciousness in Traditional Journalism Education.

The project-based learning (PBL) approach closely reflects the tenets of journalism and provides a potential pedagogical guide for transforming traditional journalism education. This study operationalizes and applies a PBL framework in digitizing a print journalism course. The findings illustrate how the presence of seven key elements of PBL enhanced the quality and experience of student learning, and increased multimedia consciousness and competencies. Providing choices minimized cultural resistance and cultivated ownership and accountability to the student projects, fostering collaboration and critical thinking. Weaker students expressed greater need for a more structured pedagogy.

WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE WANT

Feminist standpoints are forms of knowledge that serve as critical insight about how a dominant society thinks and structures itself in relation to the oppression of marginalized groups. This research discusses the use of Third World feminist epistemology as theory and method in gender digital divide research to establish the consciousness of Appalachian women left behind in the information society and to enable them to define how information and communication technologies can be used effectively and meaningfully in their struggles to improve their situations. This paper draws from findings of an ethnographic study that examines how women in West Virginia negotiate the complexity of their identities as mothers, wives and workers, alongside the structural factors that create the conditions for them to engage in computer learning and use. It also discusses how non-economic concerns become central in discussions about their experiences and lives and identifies opportunities that will help them transcend their marginalized positions.