68 research outputs found
Trans Identity Management Across Social Media Platforms
No full textTrans people use social media for identity work, including for education on trans terms and resources, connecting with trans networks, and sharing and presenting their identities. This identity work takes place over time and across platforms. In this study, interviews were conducted with 13 trans and non-binary social media users to explore how they use different social media platforms in relation to their gender identity. Reinforcing prior research, I found that social media, and the trans networks found there, had a large impact on how participants understood and expressed their identities. Beyond that, I found social media users strategically and actively manage their social media use in relation to their trans identity by taking advantage of different platforms and accounts as well as curating their networks and content.Master of Science in Information (MSI)School of InformationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162556/1/Buss_Justin_Final_MTOP_Thesis_20200430.pd
"I like to see the ups and downs of my own journey": Returning to Past Content about Weight Related Journeys on Social Media
No full textIn a society where diet culture sells a singular idea equating thinness with beauty and worth and social media content stigmatizing weight is widespread, some social media users share content documenting their journeys with weight online and, as a result, develop personal digital archives filled with personal, potentially stigmatized and emotionally-sensitive content. Through 17 semi-structured interviews with individuals, between the ages of 18 and 24, who share(d) about a weight-related journey (including weight acceptance, weight maintenance, weight loss, weight gain and more) on social media, this thesis explores the ways users engage with the past and a "personal archive" that documents their personal weight-related journeys. This work details the motivations behind their returns to the past and the impacts this had on their perceived well-being. I argue these returns to the past forced an engagement between users' past and current selves in ways that resulted in dynamic interpretations of the self and led to positive and negative impacts on well-being. I proposed ways social media may start to reconcile and support its users engaging with a past that is sensitive or impacted by stigma. Lastly, I identified weight-related journeys as a case where researchers can explore the implications of social media as a personal archive when its digital artifacts create a repository of data that holds sway over one's self-concept and well-being, such as an archive prompting comparisons of the self that attribute one version, past or present, as more worthy.Master of Science in Information (MSI)School of Informationhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/168557/1/20210521_Karizat,Nadia_Final_MTOP_Thesis.pd
Social Media for Sensitive Disclosures and Social Support
No full textI study self-disclosure and investigate ways in which social computing systems can be designed to allow people to disclose negatively-perceived or stigmatized experiences and find support in their social networks. My prior work has given me insight about online disclosures of depression and sexual abuse, the role of anonymity in support seeking, and the ways that people respond to such disclosures. In my dissertation I will use miscarriage as a context to investigate online disclosure and response practices around stigmatized and traumatizing topics with the goal of improving both theory and social media design practices
“I like to see the ups and downs of my own journey”: Returning to Past Content about Weight Related Journeys on Social Media
No full textIn a society where diet culture sells a singular idea equating thinness with beauty and worth and social media content stigmatizing weight is widespread, some social media users share content documenting their journeys with weight online and, as a result, develop personal digital archives filled with personal, potentially stigmatized and emotionally-sensitive content. Through 17 semi-structured interviews with individuals, between the ages of 18 and 24, who share(d) about a weight-related journey (including weight acceptance, weight maintenance, weight loss, weight gain and more) on social media, this thesis explores the ways users engage with the past and a ‘personal archive’ that documents their personal weight-related journeys. This work details the motivations behind their returns to the past and the impacts this had on their perceived well-being. I argue these returns to the past forced an engagement between users’ past and current selves in ways that resulted in dynamic interpretations of the self and led to positive and negative impacts on well-being. I proposed ways social media may start to reconcile and support its users engaging with a past that is sensitive or impacted by stigma. Lastly, I identified weight-related journeys as a case where researchers can explore the implications of social media as a personal archive when its digital artifacts create a repository of data that holds sway over one’s self-concept and well-being, such as an archive prompting comparisons of the self that attribute one version, past or present, as more worthy.Master of Health Informatics (MHI)School of InformationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/177175/1/Karizat_IliketoseetheupsanddownsofmyownjourneyReturningtoPastContentaboutWeightRelatedJourneysonSocialMedia_2021.pdfDescription of Karizat_IliketoseetheupsanddownsofmyownjourneyReturningtoPastContentaboutWeightRelatedJourneysonSocialMedia_2021.pdf : Karizat - Main File for Final Master's Thesi
Where is a safe online home? Challenges Faced by Chinese Queer Communities in Speaking Out on Douyin
No full textThe study conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 China-based Douyin queer users, during which the users shared their observations, feelings, and thoughts both during their content creation or viewing, and after its moderation. The participants believed that the moderation of queer content is not solely the result of Douyin's individual behavior but is instead a reflection of state-led homophobia. Queer creators face challenges in finding a safe and stable environment for content creation, given that most online platforms impose restrictions on queer content to varying degrees. Our study suggests that the online living situation for queer people in China may not improve until the government becomes more inclusive and the heteronormative condition in the whole society is alleviated.Master of Science in Information (MSI)School of InformationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/177312/1/Shen_WhereisaSafeOnlineHomeChallengesFacedbyChineseQueerCommunitiesinSpeakingOutonDouyin_2023.pdfDescription of Shen_WhereisaSafeOnlineHomeChallengesFacedbyChineseQueerCommunitiesinSpeakingOutonDouyin_2023.pdf : Shen - Main File for Final Master’s Thesi
Personal Narratives: A Tactic for Micromobilization of Social Movement Supporters
No full textSocial movements serve as catalysts to significant turning points in history. In this study, I explore nuances in micromobilization in social movements through storytelling to extend the prior rich literature on persuasive factors. Micromobilization refers to tactics in social movements to influence people or groups of people towards the goal of the movement (D. A. Snow et al., 1986). I conduct research in the context of social media within United States social movements that center on an affected group of people with a collectively defined and distinguishable identity with the intent to sustain supporters as opposed to change opinion.
Through 21 semi-structured exploratory interviews with supporters of the Black Lives Matter, Stop Asian Hate, Me Too, and Love Wins/Love is Love movements, I found that some personal narratives can help to facilitate micromobilization towards a social movement when they reaffirm the reader’s support in the movement or change a reader’s perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors towards a movement.
I find that storytelling can be an effective tactic for micromobilization of supporters. However, not all personal narratives do so. To effectively sustain support, stories must provide a new perspective of the movement to the reader. Additionally, I find other factors that, though not required for sustaining support, enhance a personal narrative’s ability to micromobilize supporters. Finally, I find that there are factors that can render the narrative ineffective or even reductive towards the movement. Overall, I contribute suggestions on how activists and advocates who share stories on social media with the purpose of contributing towards the movement can craft their story to effectively sustain supporters.
This work may be particularly relevant during the stage of a social movement life cycle where the movement is not visible to public consciousness and is in a state of suspension called abeyance (Taylor, 1989). When movements are in the abeyance state, they need to sustain support while gathering resources (Sawyers & Meyer, 1999). As activists and advocates continue to turn towards social media as a platform for social movement discourse and mobilization of new participants, this research indicates that personal narratives in social media can be effective in sustaining support in these movements.Master of Science in Information (MSI)School of InformationUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/177349/1/Bhagwagar_PersonalNarrativesATacticforMicromobilizationofSocialMovementSupporters_2022.pdfDescription of Bhagwagar_PersonalNarrativesATacticforMicromobilizationofSocialMovementSupporters_2022.pdf : Bhagwagar - Main File for Final Master's Thesi
Self-Disclosure and Response Behaviors in Socially Stigmatized Contexts on Social Media
No full textSocial computing platforms are often celebrated for their capacity to connect; yet expressing one's identity, and seeking as well as providing support on these platforms can be difficult when people experience distress and stigma. In this dissertation, I theorize social media behaviors such as sensitive disclosures and interactions around them. I address how we can design social computing systems that facilitate disclosures of difficult and stigmatized human experiences and enable supportive interactions to form around them. I focus on pregnancy loss, as a common reproductive health experience that is often traumatizing and not disclosed in spite of potential disclosure benefits such as access to social support. First, I contribute a framework to explain direct pregnancy loss disclosures and non-disclosures on social media. I conducted in-depth phenomenological interviews with women in the U.S. who are social media users and had experienced pregnancy loss within the past two years. This framework includes six types of decision factors related to the self, audience, network, society, affordances and platform, and time. I also introduce the novel concept of network-level reciprocal disclosure to describe broadcast disclosures that happen in response to and in anticipation of others' disclosures and a perceived reduction in stigma. Second, I contribute a typology of indirect disclosure strategies and an understanding of decision factors informing indirect disclosures of sensitive experiences across social media platforms. Indirect disclosure strategies include hinting about an experience or an identity facet in such a way that the audience must infer the full message, or explicitly sharing information through another person. Factors related to the self, audience and affordances, and time motivate individuals to disclose pregnancy loss in an indirect manner, although in distinct ways compared to direct disclosures. Finally, responses to sensitive disclosures are important to understand if we aim to design social computing systems that encourage supportive interactions. I used interviews and designed vignette instruments to provide a response decision making framework (RDM) that explains factors informing whether and how individuals respond to sensitive disclosures from their social media connections. This framework includes factors related to the self, poster, and disclosure context. I identify empirically grounded design and research implications to support potential disclosers and responders in sensitive or stigmatized contexts on social media.Ph.D., Information Studies -- Drexel University, 201
Emotion AI Will Not Fix the Workplace
No full textPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/198700/1/3714419.pd
- …
