This is my 20x20 presentation for the 6th annual iDocQ PhD colloquium in Glasgow, Scotland. It runs through a quick explanation of my research before sharing some early findings from my Generation X data set.
Web & Social Media Analytics Previous Year Question Paper.pdf
Online information: Building reputation one status update at a time
1. Frances VC Ryan
Edinburgh Napier University
Centre for Social Informatics
Online information:
Building reputation one
status update at a time
Presented at iDocQ
23 June 2016, Glasgow
f.ryan@napier.ac.uk | @cleverfrances | www.JustAPhD.com
2. What’s the research about?
How online information contributes to the building, maintenance,
and evaluation of personal reputations
― Personal reputation: Private individuals, rather than corporate identity and brand
Two broad research themes:
(1) How do people manage their reputations with online information?
(2) How do people evaluate the personal reputations of others based on
online information?
Hello! I am Frances Ryan, a third-year PhD student in the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University.
My supervisors are:
Professor Hazel Hall
Alistair Lawson
Peter Cruickshank
What’s the research about?
It’s about how online information contributes the building, maintenance, and evaluation of personal reputations.
How do people manage their reputations with online information?
How do people evaluate the personal reputations of others based on online information?
Here, I’m talking about personal reputation of individuals ... This is created with the online information, but it also blurs with the offline world. These essentially blur together to create one “real world”
What I’m really looking at is how all of the bits of information we share about ourselves – or others share about us – and impacts our reputation … good, bad, or a little bit of both!
But it’s not just about people who are actively “online!” Even if you don’t maintain a social networking account, you may still have an online presence because others might share information about you. Just ask my Uncle George who’s never touched a computer… but is all over my social media accounts!
Where’s the literature?
Information science and citation analysis … and everything else…
Blurring together to create a lose theoretical framework
More blur!
Data collection was done using participant diaries and interviews. (OK, a stretch of the blur theme. Sorry.)
Gen X: Online is the same as offline. The blur is evident and it’s almost the same world. It’s just a different communication tool… like the telephone.
We share! But we share different kinds of information on different platforms.
But we’re careful about who we share with! (Platforms, people, words…)
Mind the blur in the professional and private arenas!
Self-censor! We may share, but we don’t share everything!
And delete what we got wrong! Either because we’ve offended someone. Or worse – we had a spelling error!
How do we evaluate others? How do we decide what we like … or don’t like?
Negatives: Differs from our own thoughts and opinions. Politics are a big one! Yes! No! In! Out! Trump… anyone? Religion and climate change are up there, too.
Positive: Pretty pictures, inspirational achievements, and life events. And occasionally, cats!
But not too much! Too many posts about even “positive” things can be viewed more negatively than occasional “negative” posts.
If we know them offline … we’re more forgiving! And that’s a nice thing to know!