Helen Gregory

Gender, Internet Experience, Internet Identification, and Internet Anxiety: A Ten-Year Followup

In 2002, we found gender differences in the use of the Internet. Since then, however, the Internet has changed considerably. We therefore conducted a follow-up study in 2012. The study involved 501 students (389 females and 100 males, 12 participants unspecified gender) and we measured Internet use, Internet anxiety, and Internet identification. We found that males had a greater breadth of Internet use; they used the Internet more for games and entertainment than females. The differentiation between males and females in terms of Internet use is evident, and in some ways is even more distinct than 10 years ago. In our previous research we had found no gender differences in the use of the Internet for communication, whereas in the current study we have found that females use the Internet for communication than males and were using social network sites more than males. We also found, consistent with our previous study, that Internet identification and Internet anxiety were related to Internet use.

The quiet revolution of poetry slam: the sustainability of cultural capital in the light of changing artistic conventions

This paper considers the educational and theoretical implications of an analysis into the artistic movement of poetry slam. Slam is a successful and growing global phenomenon, which both directly and indirectly sets itself against the dominant literary world. As such, it could be viewed as presenting a challenge to dominant literary conventions and thus to the cultural capital of those who rely upon such conventions. Using data drawn from an ongoing ethnographic study, employing semi-structured interviews with 44 poets, promoters and educators active in the slam community, and participant observation of 21 slams in four cities, this paper explores what poetry slam can tell us about the ways in which members of dominant art worlds and new artistic movements interact and the implications which this has for the sustainability of cultural capital in the light of newly emerging artistic conventions and discourses.

Using poetry to improve the quality of life and care for people with dementia: A qualitative analysis of the Try to Remember programme

Aims: This study explores the impact of a poetry intervention at one care home and one day centre in England. It seeks to bolster the growing body of literature assessing the extent to which the arts and reminiscence can improve the quality of life and care for people with dementia (PWD). Method: Six care staff were interviewed about their experiences of the project. The data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: Six themes were elicited: exploring and preserving memories, communicating with service users, humanizing dementia sufferers, co-authorship of poems, continuity and the broader care context. These tell of an intervention which was valued by staff as having a positive impact on clients and their families. Conclusions: The research suggests that reminiscence-based poetry activities can improve the quality of life and care for PWD, helping to restore their “personhood” in the eyes of those who care for them.