Master of Science / Family Studies and Human Services / Joyce Baptist / The present study examined whether married individuals hold boundaries for online social networking and the relationship between these boundaries and relational trust and satisfaction. Participants included 205 married individuals who had been married for an average of 27 years. Five specific boundaries were identified and tested using group comparison (by sex) structural equation modeling. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed two latent constructs for internet boundaries: Openness (3 items: Know Friends, Share Passwords and Account Access) and Fidelity (2 items: No Flirting and No Former Partners). Findings suggest that couples in long-term committed relationships have boundaries or rules for social networking. Furthermore, trusting one’s partner, but not relationship satisfaction, contributes to behaviors that reflect sharing online social networking information, and curb online flirting and relationships with former romantic partners. Trust was more strongly associated with men’s than women’s motivation to avoid flirtatious online interaction and communicating with former romantic partners online. These findings that indicate that the use of internet boundaries is highly related to marital trust support the development theory of trust.

This thesis attempts to contribute to the study of punctuation marks (including emoji and emoticons) used in computer-mediated communication. It aims to describe their role in abusive comments on YouTube videos with LGBT content and the extent to which their use differs in respectful and hateful comments on such videos. The analysis concentrates also on how the distribution of punctuation marks differs in relation to the polarity, content and length of comments. The thesis also provides a comparison of the frequency of the occurrence of punctuation marks in both respectful and hateful comments. In addition to that, this paper attempts to classify emoji and emoticons according to their role in the text. Key words Computer-mediated communication, YouTube, emoji, emoticons, punctuation, Internet communication

A presente pesquisa destina-se a mostrar o funcionamento de um grupo de discussão via internet denominado \"Lista Provisória dos participantes da Lista de Discussão do programa \'Sua escola a 2000 por hora\'\", por meio do estudo das mensagens trocadas entre os seus componentes. O corpus vem de uma lista educacional ativa, fechada e moderada \"de leve\". Acredito que o ensino por meio de projetos de aprendizagem, onde o aluno atua como protagonista é fundamental para a melhoria da qualidade do ensino. Essa é a filosofia que norteia os projetos sociais do Instituto Ayrton Senna, e é denominada \"Educação para o desenvolvimento humano\". As investigações mostram que as conversações polilógicas (compostas por múltiplos participantes) são mais conflituosas. Assim, acompanhar uma discussão torna-se uma tarefa muito complexa, pois surgem diversos \"fios de conversa\" e é necessário que o usuário faça, mentalmente, as ligações coesivas entre os enunciados de um mesmo fio. Uma das questões fundamentais da pesquisa é a discussão sobre conversação eletrônica, em comparação com a conversação natural. Para entender melhor esse conceito, recorro à teoria da Análise da conversação e verifico quais elementos básicos para que a interação verbal se efetive, seja ela uma comunicação mediada ou não. Outra questão que se coloca, partindo-se da noção bakhtiniana de esfera comunicativa, é a questão dos gêneros textuais emergentes na tecnologia digital. Entendendo-se a web como esfera eletrônica, um espaço de práticas humanas de comunicação, acompanho alguns pensadores que acreditam que ela originará muitos gêneros para organizar as práticas linguajeiras ocorridas nesse espaço. Lista de discussão é um desses gêneros. Atenção especial é dada ao conceito de coesão semântica, como elemento indispensável para o entendimento do fluxo aparentemente caótico de mensagens enviadas ao grupo. Por meio desses elementos construo as teias (conjunto autônomo de fios discursivos dentro da atividade da lista), estabelecendo o subcorpus. / This research aims to show how does an internet discussion group named \"Lista provisória dos participantes da Lista de Discussão do programa \'Sua escola a 2000 por hora\'\" work, studying the messages exchanged by its components. The corpus comes from an active, private and loosely moderated scholar list. I believe that education by learning projects, whereby the student has the main role, is fundamental for the the improvement of the quality of learning. This is the philosophy that guides the social projects of the Instituto Ayrton Senna, and is named \"Education for human development\". The investigation showed that polylogical conversations (composed of multiple participants) are more conflictive. Thus, it is a very complex task to follow up a discussion, because diverse threads come out and it is necessary for the user to mentally make the cohesive links between the headers of a same thread. One of the fundamental issues of the research is the discussion concerning electronic conversation, in comparison to the natural one. In order to better understand this concept, I turned to the Conversation Analysis Theory and verify which are the basic elements for verbal interaction to occur, be it a mediated communication or not. Another issue that arises, departing from the bakhtinian notion of the communicative sphere, is the matter of the emergent textual genre in digital technology. Understanding the web as an electronic sphere, a space of human practices for communication, I follow some intellectuals that believe that it will bring about many genres to organize the language practices that took part in this space. The discussion list is one of those genres. Special attention is paid to the concept of semantic cohesion, as an essential element for the comprehension of the apparently chaotic flux of messages sent to the group. By those elements I assemble the web (autonomic cluster of discursive threads within the list activity), establishing the subcorpus.

O objetivo deste trabalho é identificar os recursos de TI e analisar de que forma as pequenas empresas podem utilizá-los para realizar a comunicação e a gestão da informação, privilegiando o uso de computadores para esta finalidade. A criação e o surgimento de recursos baseados na tecnologia da informação permitiram uma nova abordagem para estes aspectos. A realização da comunicação e a gestão da informação por meio de recursos baseados na tecnologia da informação impactaram de maneira significativa na forma com que o trabalho era realizado nas empresas. A importância do uso de recursos que possibilitem a realização do processo de comunicação mediada por computador, aliada à necessidade de se obter informações tempestivas e corretas, se tornaram variáveis associadas à melhoria da competitividade organizacional. A metodologia empregada nesta pesquisa foi o método qualitativo-exploratório, em que o estudo multicaso, proporcionou vivenciar a realidade com base no referencial teórico apresentado na pesquisa bibliografia. O trabalho de campo contou com a colaboração de três pequenas empresas do setor de informática da cidade de Ribeirão Preto-SP, nas quais foram possíveis a identificação dos recursos contemplados na pesquisa bibliográfica, e a análise de sua utilização em cada uma das empresas pesquisadas. / This essay was done in order to identify the IT (Information Technology) resources and analyse the way that it may be used by the small companies to perform communication and information management, thus making use of computers for this purpose. The creation and emerging of resources based on information technology permitted a new approach to these aspects. The achievement of communication and information management through means based on information technology caused a significant impact on the way that job was performed in the companies. The importance of using means that make possible the realization of the communication process, added to the need to obtain timely and correct information, have become associated variables to the improvement of the organization competitiveness. This research was done by the exploratory-qualified method, in which the multicase study, enabled the experiment of reality based on the theoretical reference presented in the research bibliography. The field work had the collaboration of three small companies of the computer field in the city of Ribeirão Preto-SP, where it was possible to identify the resources contemplated in the bibliography research, and the analyses of the usage in each one of the researched companies.

Amener les personnes à réaliser spontanément un comportement, tel est l’objectif des techniques de soumission sans pression. Depuis les années 60, elles ont prouvé leur efficacité. La popularisation des communications médiatisées par ordinateur (CMO) amène à nous demander si les processus d’influence restent efficaces et sous quelles conditions. Parmi les CMO existantes, nous souhaitons privilégier le terrain d’étude offert par les Massively Multiplayer Online Game parce que les interactions interindividuelles sont nombreuses et parce qu’il est nécessaire de créer un avatar pour y accéder. En accord avec certains travaux, nous pensons que l’apparence de l’avatar est un facteur qui influence significativement les comportements des individus. Nos objectifs sont de répliquer les effets de techniques de soumission sans pression et de spécifier les critères à prendre en compte pour obtenir le comportement souhaité. Une série de quatre études testant des techniques de soumission sans pression (pied-dans-la-porte, foot-in-the-face, porte-au-nez, mais vous êtes libre de…) est mise en place. Pris ensemble, les résultats de ces recherches ne sont pas seulement interprétables au regard des théories utilisées lors d’étude dans la vie réelle. Toutefois, nos résultats amènent de nouvelles perspectives théoriques et méthodologiques en matière d’induction de changements comportementaux lors de CMO. / The aim of compliance without pressure techniques is to get people to spontaneously adopt a behavior. Since the 1960s, they have shown their efficiency. The popularization of computer-mediated communications (CMC) raises the question of whether the influence processes remain effective and on what conditions. Among the existing CMCs, we wish to use the study field provided by the Massively Multiplayer Online Game because the interindividual interactions are numerous and it is necessary to create an avatar to access them. In agreement with some research, we think that the avatar appearance is a variable that significantly influences the individual’s behavior. Our objectives are to replicate the effects of compliance techniques and to specify the criteria to be considered in order to achieve the target behavior. A series of four studies, testing techniques of compliance without pressure (foot-in-the-door, foot-in-the-face, door-in-the-face, but you are free to…) are put in place. Results cannot be explained to the full extend by the common theories used in real life studies, however, they present new theoretical and methodological perspectives in terms of behavior changes induction in CMC.

Resumo: Com o desenvolvimento da Comunicação Mediada por Computadores (CMC), tornaram-se possíveis outras formas de interação social e, apesar de essas possibilitarem a formação de grupos sociais no ciberespaço, também podemos encontrar algumas formas de exclusão. O fenômeno do estrangeiro se apresenta na CMC em língua italiana como uma relação ao mesmo tempo de proximidade e distância, além de algumas barreiras para o desenvolvimento de uma sociabilidade entre italianos e estrangeiros. Na aproximação feita ao fenômeno do estrangeiro, em um dos sistemas mais usados na CMC, o webchat, verificou-se que apesar da possibilidade técnica de se construírem e de se utilizarem diversas identidades nos sistemas de CMC analisados, a identidade nacional se destaca na interação entre italianos e estrangeiros, acompanhada muitas vezes de hostilidades ou de um discurso retórico em relação aos imigrantes na Itália. / Abstract: With the development of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), new forms of social interaction became possible and, despite of the fact that they are responsible for the creation of social groups in the cyberspace, we can also find some forms of exclusion. The "stranger phenomenon" presents itself, in the CMC that uses Italian language, as a relation, at the same time, of proximity and of distance, and also as barriers against the development of a sociability between strangers and Italians. By approaching the "stranger phenomenon", through one of the most used CMC, the webchat, we could verify that, despite of technical possibility of constructing and of using multiple identities, national identity stands out in interrelation between Italians and strangers, bringing with it hostility or rethorical speeches related to immigrants in Italy. / Orientador: Ethel Volfzon Kosminsky / Coorientador: Odair da Cruz Paiva / Banca: Thomas Patrick Dwyer / Banca: Tullo Vigevani / Mestre

A presente pesquisa destina-se a mostrar o funcionamento de um grupo de discussão via internet denominado \"Lista Provisória dos participantes da Lista de Discussão do programa \'Sua escola a 2000 por hora\'\", por meio do estudo das mensagens trocadas entre os seus componentes. O corpus vem de uma lista educacional ativa, fechada e moderada \"de leve\". Acredito que o ensino por meio de projetos de aprendizagem, onde o aluno atua como protagonista é fundamental para a melhoria da qualidade do ensino. Essa é a filosofia que norteia os projetos sociais do Instituto Ayrton Senna, e é denominada \"Educação para o desenvolvimento humano\". As investigações mostram que as conversações polilógicas (compostas por múltiplos participantes) são mais conflituosas. Assim, acompanhar uma discussão torna-se uma tarefa muito complexa, pois surgem diversos \"fios de conversa\" e é necessário que o usuário faça, mentalmente, as ligações coesivas entre os enunciados de um mesmo fio. Uma das questões fundamentais da pesquisa é a discussão sobre conversação eletrônica, em comparação com a conversação natural. Para entender melhor esse conceito, recorro à teoria da Análise da conversação e verifico quais elementos básicos para que a interação verbal se efetive, seja ela uma comunicação mediada ou não. Outra questão que se coloca, partindo-se da noção bakhtiniana de esfera comunicativa, é a questão dos gêneros textuais emergentes na tecnologia digital. Entendendo-se a web como esfera eletrônica, um espaço de práticas humanas de comunicação, acompanho alguns pensadores que acreditam que ela originará muitos gêneros para organizar as práticas linguajeiras ocorridas nesse espaço. Lista de discussão é um desses gêneros. Atenção especial é dada ao conceito de coesão semântica, como elemento indispensável para o entendimento do fluxo aparentemente caótico de mensagens enviadas ao grupo. Por meio desses elementos construo as teias (conjunto autônomo de fios discursivos dentro da atividade da lista), estabelecendo o subcorpus. / This research aims to show how does an internet discussion group named \"Lista provisória dos participantes da Lista de Discussão do programa \'Sua escola a 2000 por hora\'\" work, studying the messages exchanged by its components. The corpus comes from an active, private and loosely moderated scholar list. I believe that education by learning projects, whereby the student has the main role, is fundamental for the the improvement of the quality of learning. This is the philosophy that guides the social projects of the Instituto Ayrton Senna, and is named \"Education for human development\". The investigation showed that polylogical conversations (composed of multiple participants) are more conflictive. Thus, it is a very complex task to follow up a discussion, because diverse threads come out and it is necessary for the user to mentally make the cohesive links between the headers of a same thread. One of the fundamental issues of the research is the discussion concerning electronic conversation, in comparison to the natural one. In order to better understand this concept, I turned to the Conversation Analysis Theory and verify which are the basic elements for verbal interaction to occur, be it a mediated communication or not. Another issue that arises, departing from the bakhtinian notion of the communicative sphere, is the matter of the emergent textual genre in digital technology. Understanding the web as an electronic sphere, a space of human practices for communication, I follow some intellectuals that believe that it will bring about many genres to organize the language practices that took part in this space. The discussion list is one of those genres. Special attention is paid to the concept of semantic cohesion, as an essential element for the comprehension of the apparently chaotic flux of messages sent to the group. By those elements I assemble the web (autonomic cluster of discursive threads within the list activity), establishing the subcorpus.

This work explores the effect of social media on expectations held by nonprofit publics as they seek to build and maintain relationships with nonprofit organizations (NPOs) in the context of expectancy violation theory, social capital, and the situational theory of publics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 individuals who follow a nonprofit on social media to understand the public perspective on nonprofit organizations' relationship building and maintaining behaviors on social media. The study found that nonprofit publics do have specific expectations for how NPOs should build and maintain relationships on social media (i.e., high-quality posts, level of interaction being limited to likes on social media and interpersonal interactions, high visibility to prove legitimacy, high transparency, and posts that are positive in tone). The study also found that nonprofit publics immediately end relationships when these expectations are violated, but tolerate relationships if these expectations are met. Finally, nonprofit publics expect to build relationships by interacting in a face-to-face or interpersonal setting, but also expect to maintain these relationships on social media, shedding light onto the importance of combining the use of interpersonal and computer-mediated communication.

Using both quantitative and qualitative methods of inquiry, this dissertation study undertakes an exploration of the dynamics of the social interaction in discourse co-constructed by pairs of college students in telecollaborative tandem exchanges. Two groups of participants, Mexican learners of English as a foreign language and American learners of Spanish as a foreign language, participated in video-based telecollaborative tandem exchanges where they worked in pairs to discuss topics assigned by their instructors, communicating half the time in Spanish and half in English. According to the principle of reciprocity in tandem learning, the participants switch between the roles of native speaker (NS) expert and non-native speaker (NNS) learner as they invest equal time, effort, and interest in each language part of the chats. Grounded in sociocultural theory (SCT) for second language acquisition (SLA), this study addresses research questions pertaining to (1) the distribution of talk between the members of each pair and between the language parts of the exchange, (2) the distribution of interactional resources deployed by the members of each pair to establish and maintain intersubjectivity and build a relationship, and (3) the individual experiences of participants regarding their positioning in and perspectives of the exchange. Addressing the three research questions allowed the researcher to look at the telecollaborative tandem exchanges from the perspectives of language production, social aspects of interaction, and individual experiences and perspectives to gather a deeper understanding of the tandem context. The analysis of three data sources—survey responses, chat transcripts from one chat of the semester-long telecollaborative tandem project, and post-project participant interviews—shows that the principle of reciprocity posited by tandem theorists as equal time, effort, and interest in each language part underestimates the complexity of the construct as it was created by the participants in the telecollaborative tandem interactions examined in this dissertation study. A mixed methods approach allowed the researcher to deconstruct and reconsider the construct of reciprocity in telecollaborative tandem learning. The telecollaborative tandem exchanges examined in this study were not reciprocal between language parts of the exchange in terms of language production, use of interactional resources, or tandem participant positioning. Instead, they presented complex pair relationships that used language differently in each language part to establish and maintain intersubjectivity, as well as the strong desire of the participants to position themselves and their partners as peers rather than take on the roles assumed to characterize the tandem context; that is, NS as expert and NNS as learner. In accordance with these findings, telecollaborative tandem learning should be approached with an open understanding of the concept of reciprocity in which the participants co-construct their relationship through meaningful social dialogue as peers, rather than through the roles of NS expert and NNS learner. Based on the findings of this study, the expert–learner model of reciprocity may be too rigid and too static for the dynamic context of telecollaborative tandem learning.

<p>The growing role of communication using computers in people’s everyday lives is reflected by the debates about massive multiplayer online role playing games (MMOs) like World of Warcraft and the Internet as a whole. While people may be driven by the same psychological drives that have spurred interaction between people in the past, this interaction is increasingly facilitated with the use of computer mediated communication (CMC). Can strong relations form between people that are separated by great distances in space using CMC? The presence of strong relations in MMOs could open the possibility for MMO communities to thrive.</p><p>A social network analysis of a MMO guild with 50 members was conducted using an online survey, which produced a non-response rate of 50 percent. Participants were asked about their age, the time they had spent in the guild and their gender in order to explain the social structure of the networks. They were then asked to state the strength of their relations with each of the other members of the guild on a scale from ―one, neutral‖ to ―five, strong friendship‖. The social network analysis program Pajek was used to investigate the characteristics of the social network using so called sociograms.</p><p>The essay concludes that numerous strong relations exist within the guild and that a long time spent in the guild increases the number of strong relations a guild member has. The results show that guilds may form the cohesive backbone of MMO communities and proposes that future research be conducted on the brokerage between guilds in MMO communities in order to produce a comprehensive view of the social structure of MMO communities.</p>