Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 102-103).

This thesis investigates the effects that cultural ideals of height in the United States have upon how males react to and contend with their physical stature. Anthropological and psychological approaches are used to examine and interpret ways that height is culturally constructed, altered, and perceived by young adult males in the United States. Height has been demonstrated to have economic, political, reproductive, educational, and social consequences that are often overlooked in everyday life. In the United States, certain cultural ideals appear to grant advantages to taller individuals. Understanding how these cultural ideals are constructed and investigating cultural reactions to such ideals provides insight into culture in the United States. Cyberspace holds some of the answers for understanding how individuals construct and perceive height. Two studies were conducted employing MySpace, a social networking community, to investigate factors that may affect the self-reporting of male height. The self-reporting of height is a manifestation of how individuals chose to culturally represent themselves. MySpace provides a rich source of information and data for investigating the self-reporting of height. The first study determined that median household income had no association with how users choose to self-report their height. The second investigation found that there are significant differences in the way males self-report their height according to ethnicity and sexual orientation. The results underscore the tendency for males to positively distort their self-reported heights to approximate cultural ideals.

This project responds to a problem in scholarship describing the relationship between virtual avatars and their physical users. In Life on the Screen, Sherry Turkle identifies points of slippage wherein the persona of the avatar becomes conflated with the user‘s sense of self to create an authentic self predicated on both real and virtual experiences (Turkle 184-5). Although the conflation of the authentic self with the virtual has provided various affordances for serious games or other pedagogical projects such as classrooms hosted through the game Second Life, the processes enabling identification with an avatar have been largely overlooked. This project examines several layers of influence that affect how users play with identity to create successful social performances within an online community connected to a work of fiction. In doing so, the user must consider his or her own motivations for creating a persona, how these motivations will allow the avatar to achieve social acceptance, and how these social performances connect to the scene created by the work of fiction. Using an online role-playing forum based on a work of fiction as a site of analysis, this project will borrow from game studies, dramatism, and identity theory to create a framework for discussing processes through which users identify with their virtual avatars.

Notre société doit faire face à de nombreux changements dans les modes de communication.L’émergence simultanée des terminaux nomades et des réseaux sociaux numériques permet désormais de partager des informations depuis presque n’importe quel lieu et potentiellement avec toutes les entités connectées.Le développement de l’usage des smartphones dans un cadre professionnel ainsi que celui des réseaux sociaux numériques constitue une opportunité, mais également une source d’exposition à de nombreuses menaces telles que la fuites d’information sensible, le hameçonnage, l’accès non légitime à des données personnelles, etc.Alors que nous observons une augmentation significative de la malveillance sur les plateformes sociales, aucune solution ne permet d’assurer un usage totalement maîtrisé des réseaux sociaux numériques. L’apport principal de ce travail est la mise en place de la méthodologie (SPOTLIGHT) qui décrit un outil d’analyse comportementale d’un utilisateur de smartphone et de ses contacts sur les différents médias sociaux. La principale hypothèse est que les smartphones, qui sont étroitement liés à leurs propriétaires, mémorisent les activités de l’utilisateur (interactions) et peuvent être utiles pour mieux le protéger sur le numérique.Cette approche est implémentée dans un prototype d’application mobile appelé SPOTLIGHT 1.0 qui permet d’analyser les traces mémorisées dans le smartphone d’un utilisateur afin de l’aider à prendre les décisions adéquates dans le but de protéger ses données / Our society is facing many changes in the way it communicates. The emergence of mobile terminals alongside digital social networks allows information to be shared from almost anywhere with the option of all parties being connected simultaneously. The growing use of smartphones and digital social networks in a professional context presents an opportunity, but it also exposes businesses and users to many threats, such as leakage of sensitive information, spamming, illegal access to personal data, etc.Although a significant increase in malicious activities on social platforms can be observed, currently there is no solution that ensures a completely controlled usage of digital social networks. This work aims to make a major contribution in this area through the implementation of a methodology (SPOTLIGHT) that not only uses the behaviour of profiles for evaluation purposes, but also to protect the user. This methodology relies on the assumption that smartphones, which are closely related to their owners, store and memorise traces of activity (interactions) that can be used to better protect the user online.This approach is implemented in a mobile prototype called SPOTLIGHT 1.0, which analyses traces stored in users’ smartphone to help them make the right decisions to protect their data

Cette thèse de doctorat porte sur l'influence de l'anonymat sur la participation dans les communautés en ligne. Le point de départ de ce travail est une observation au cours de la conception d'une plate-forme en ligne pour le soutien social entre aidants informels. J'avais noté que nous ne savions pas décider si les aidants devaient pouvoir être anonymes sur la plate-forme ou non, et quel en serait l’effet. Ma thèse comporte une revue de la littérature qui est synthétisée dans un modèle qui décrit quel sont les facteurs qui de participation en ligne qui pourraient être influencés par l’anonymat. Nous avons conduit trois études : Une sur Youtube, dont le système d'identification a changé pour ne plus permettre de poster des commentaires de façon anonyme, une sur Quora, où les utilisateurs peuvent choisir de répondre aux questions de manière anonyme ou non, et une sur Hacker News, où les utilisateurs peuvent choisir de dévoiler plus ou moins leur identité. Ces études nous permettent de montrer que, contrairement à ce que dit la littérature, 1) l'anonymat ne conduit pas nécessairement à des discussions impolies, 2) qu'il y a d'autres facteurs que l'anonymat qui ont une influence plus importante sur la participation, et que 3) l'anonymat peut révéler d’autres facteurs qui ont un effet sur la participation, comme la longueur du texte, qui a un effet sur l’appréciation sociale. Ces résultats permettent de confirmer le modèle "Social Identity of Deindividuation Effects", et le fait que l'anonymat peut avoir une influence positive sur l'esprit de groupe / This work presents my PhD thesis over the influence of anonymity on participation in online environments. The starting point was the observation made during the design of an online platform for informal caregivers, where I realized that it was unknown to us which practical effects an anonymous identity would have on the participation. This work contains the subsequent literature review, which was synthesized into a model showing which participation factors might be influenced by anonymity. We conducted three studies on existing online environments: One on Youtube, where there was a change in the comment system forbidding anonymous comments, one on Quora, where users can opt to answer questions anonymously, and one on Hacker News, where users choose how many identity factors they present and which name they use. The result of these studies are that, contrary to what the literature would suggest, 1) anonymity did not result to impolite and uncivil discussion, and 2) other factors than anonymity have a stronger influence on participation, and that 3) anonymity can make the effect of social signals visible, e.g. text properties like length which influences social appreciation. Additionally, we observed that participation is linked to profile completeness, and that an established web presence elsewhere limits participation. The implications of these results are a confirmation of the Social Identity Model of Deindividuation Effects, in its interpretation that anonymity can have positive effects on group identity

This study is based on a semester-long qualitative study that investigates student perceptions of and interactions with social software and mobile technologies, particularly as they move between digital and physical spaces. As digital technologies become more ubiquitous, both within the classroom and without, it becomes increasingly important to investigate the ways these technologies are influencing lived writing practices, particularly if instructors are incorporating these technologies into their teaching. In particular, this dissertation investigates constructions of student identities in technology-rich environments, and the ways that digital, mobile, social, and spatial factors both afford and constrain student identities. This dissertation focuses on movement—of students and information—between academic and non-academic spaces. The research focuses on the lived practices of students as they use mobile technologies and social software as a part of their writing practices and habitus, and this study explores in depth both their physical contexts and their habits and attitudes towards the ways the digital meets the physical. This study is based on 10 semester-long qualitative case studies which followed students as they engaged in writing activities, both within class and without. The findings from this study point to the ways that contemporary students are rapidly embracing an existence which incorporates machines into their self constructions: their identities and their physical bodies. These students have adapted their writing styles to incorporate multiple kinds of physical technologies, and almost all interactions in their social sphere are mediated through social software and digital technology. This dissertation presents the findings from this study, arguing for a conceptualization of student as cyborg. / Methods and methodologies -- Findings : cyborg bodies -- Findings : cyborg identities. / Department of English

The purpose of this study was twofold. First, it aimed to present and understand the experiences of online gamers from the paradigm of positive psychology. To achieve this, the phenomenon of flow was investigated to see whether or not, it is experienced whilst gaming online and if present, how it is revealed in this context. The second purpose was to contribute to theory building and to respond to extant research recommendations. Aligned with a qualitative orientation, the method selected to achieve the objectives of the study was interpretative phenomenological analysis. A sample of four participants who met the criteria for inclusion in the research were selected and interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed and interpreted inductively and categorised into superordinate themes. These were presented as two sections: Section A explored the experience and meaning of online gaming through the following three superordinate themes; intention, pre-gaming rituals and gaming process. Section B discussed the social experience and meaning of gaming online through the superordinate theme, a gamers way. This study both challenged and supported theory and research in the field and introduced novel areas, such as pregaming rituals and the subthemes; marijuana and gaming space. This is a notable and promising "side effect" of a research design that is exploratory. Findings called for future multi-disciplinary research into flow, gaming and online relationships considering Csikszentimaihalyi‟s concept of autotelic relationships and Heideggers‟ philosophical framework.

Autour d'une question fondamentale comme celle de la présence, nous mobilisons une littérature interdisciplinaire grâce à laquelle les contributions de l'anthropologie et de la géographie sociale, de la théorie du théâtre et du cinéma, des performance studies, de la psychanalyse et de la sociologie, sont articulées dans la perspective de la phénoménologie et des sciences de l'information et de la communication. Notre façon d'habiter le monde a changé : l'être-en-ligne se révèle alors comme étant la nouvelle condition existentielle. La connexion au réseau, le web, les applications, dans leur ensemble, disposent les choses et les personnes selon des relations opérationnelles de proximité spatio-temporelle. Notre espace est un espace performatif, car il se produit à partir de nos actions, nos postures et nos gestes, gestes photo-graphiques, éminemment réflexifs, qui créent la mise en scène numérique. En allant au-delà du modèle de « l'interface », cette mise en scène est devenue la spatialité de raccordement de tous nos espaces d'action. Nous identifions alors la performativité du direct et de l’enregistrement, la performativité de l’être en train de…, de l’attention présentielle et du « suspens gestuel », la performativité des algorithmes et des notifications, la performativité des emoji et de tout ce qui «fait visage»; et encore, la performativité des questions et des messages automatiques derrière lesquels parfois il y quelqu’un et d’autres fois il n’y a personne (comme lorsqu’on sonne à la porte dans une scène de La cantatrice chauve). A la lumière d'une analyse socio-sémiotique de la gestuelle numérique, des écrans, du graphisme propre aux réseaux sociaux et aux applications de messagerie instantanée tout comme des « protocoles de la vie quotidienne », nous décrivons la présence comme étant toujours l'effet d'une médiation. Cette médiation est, à la fois, disjonction et fiction, car elle se manifeste dans l'écart et dans la différence aussi bien que dans la fiction de l'hypermédiatété. Il y a de la présence, en somme, s'il y a du jeu, au sens spatiale de l'expression « il y a du jeu » mais aussi au sens fictionnel et ludique du jouer à.…. Comme le garçon du café décrit par Sartre, nous jouons, fictionnons et de-fictionnons le réel, en faisant « comme si » était vrai ce qui, par ailleurs, l'est vraiment. / Around the fundamental question of presence, I draw on interdisciplinary literature whose contributions from the fields of anthropology and social geography, theatre and cinema theory, performance studies, psychoanalysis and sociology are articulated from the perspective of phenomenology and information and communication sciences. Our way of inhabiting the world has changed: online-being is the new fundamental existential condition. Our space is a performative space, because it is produced through our actions, our gestures, eminently reflexive photographic gestures, which create our digital mise en scène. This space has become the space which links together all of our active and social spaces. Here, I single out live and recorded performativity, the performativity of do-ing, the performativity of algorithms and of questions, of emojis and of all that which “fait visage”. After a socio-semiotic analysis of digital gestures, screens, the graphics of social networks and presence protocols, I describe presence as always being a mediation effect. This mediation is at once disjunction and fiction, beacause it works as a difference and as the fiction of hypermediality. Presence exists where there is play (jeu) as in the french expression “il y a du jeu”, refering to space, and in its fictional sense of play-acting. As with Sartre's café waiter, we play act in order to create reality and consciousness through fiction.

The primary objective of this analysis is to uncover the tools of Facebook identity construction. Because Facebook users have the ability to control the images and information associated with their profiles, reactionary scholars typically classify Facebook identity as a symptom of cultural narcissism. However, I seek to displace the fixation on the newness of the medium in order to interrogate the possibility of a society that has internalized surveillance. Using Michel Foucault’s theories on panopticism and heterotopia, I examine the role photographs play in the construction of an individual on Facebook, and the ways in which user photographs are positioned into social memory construction.

This thesis explored MySpace and Facebook, two popular social networking sites (SNS), from the perspectives of the uses and gratification model and impression management theory. As a qualitative exploratory study, this thesis had three objectives. First, it investigated why young people use SNS. Second, it sought to discover how members use SNS for self-presentation. Finally, it aimed to contribute to the current body of literature and serve as a basis for future qualitative and quantitative studies on SNS. The focus groups that were conducted for this thesis elicited ten themes that provided insights on the motivations and behaviors of individuals who use SNS for needs fulfillment and impression management. These themes included: 1) efficient communication, 2) convenient communication, 3) curiosity of others, 4) popularity, 5) relationship formation and reinforcement, 6) self-enhancement, 7) otherenhancement, 8) self-disclosure, 9) conformity and 1 0) identity-management. Based on the first five themes, the study suggested that an emerging theory of instant gratification is being developed. The theory helps researchers explain why young people use SNS and predict what factors motivate young people to get ,_ involved heavily in SNS. Based on the second five themes, this study confirmed the relevance of Goffi:nan's theories of the presentation of the self in explaining how young people manage their impressions through SNS. As a powerful socialization agent, SNS provide new opportunities and diverse ways of presenting one's self online. Though there are some evident differences between online and face-to-face social interaction, it is clear that Goffman's theories will continue to help researchers explain self-presentation within the context of SNS.