<p>   </p> <p>Health-related misinformation presents a significant threat to public health and wellbeing. Misinformation exposure is associated with decreased compliance with public health initiatives, decreased trust in science, and greater levels of disease transmission. Unfortunately, fact-checking is not a panacea for mitigating the negative effects associated with misinformation exposure. The present dissertation, guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, investigated across two studies whether providing participants with different levels of media literacy education could enable them to successfully determine news articles, on a variety of different health topics, contained either legitimate or illegitimate information. Both studies utilized a three-group, pretest-posttest, between-subjects experimental design in which participants were randomly assigned to either a brief or detailed media literacy skill promotion message, or a no-message control. The messages took the form of Facebook posts from a fictitious organization dedicated to promoting media literacy. The first study recruited 305 undergraduate students. Results from the first study indicated that participants assigned to the detailed message condition were more successful compared to the other conditions in identifying health-related misinformation. A content analysis of participants’ open-ended responses revealed that participants in the detailed message group were the most likely to utilize skills related to media literacy and were the least likely to utilize heuristics or to guess when determining whether news articles contained legitimate or illegitimate information. The second study sought to replicate and extend the results of the first study in a sample of adults recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. The results of the second study found that the detailed message condition promoted a greater ability to identify misinformation compared to either the brief message or control condition. Similarly, participants in the second study were most likely to use skills related to media literacy when completing the misinformation identification task. The results suggest that brief media literacy messages may be insufficient in enabling participants to successfully identify health-related misinformation online. However, more detailed media literacy education messages show promise for potentially limiting the spread of misinformation online. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. </p> <p>  </p>

Detta är ett examensarbete vid fakulteten Teknik och Samhälle på Malmö högskola. Syftet med uppsatsen är att skapa en ögonblicksbild över hur användandet av sociala medier ser ut i den utvalda respondentgruppen samt att undersöka hur de resonerar när de väljer att lägga tid på sociala medier.Uppsatsens resultat utgörs av intervjuer utförda tillsammans med 10 personer i åldrarna 20 – 30 år. Materialet som samlats in från intervjuerna har sammanställts för att skapa gemensamma svar. Svaren har analyserats och därefter jämförts med statistik från databasen Orvesto, som utgörs av TNS SIFOs undersökningar. Detta har skapat en övergripande bild över hur respondentgruppen använder sociala medier samt resonerar kring ämnet, och resultatet från intervjuerna har satts i jämförelse med vad statistiken säger.Sociala medier används flitigt hos respondentgruppen och det är inte alla som tycker att de använder sociala medier i en lagom mängd. Att använda sociala medier med måtta är bäst, det håller intervjupersonerna med varandra om. Att bryta mönster och göra annorlunda är även en upplevelse deltagarna varit med om. Det var enligt intervjupersonerna en nyttig upplevelse eftersom det ofta krävs att de blir tvingade till att göra annorlunda och ändra på sig för att det faktiskt ska ske. Upplevelsen bekräftade mångas tankar om att sociala medier egentligen inte tar upp en viktig plats i deras liv, och att det egentligen inte behövs i den mängd det används idag. Många insåg även att de använde sociala medier för mycket, men hade ändå svårt att sluta använda det i samma omfattning efter avslutad intervention.I slutet av uppsatsen finns en diskussion där författaren diskuterat och jämfört teori med resultat. Författaren har även diskuterat hur olika delar i arbetet stärker varandra. / This is an essay written at the Faculty of Technology and Society at Malmö University. The purpose of this paper is to create a picture of how the use of social media looks like in the chosen respondent-group and to explore how we think we choose to spend time on social media.This essay consists of the interviews conducted with 10 people aged 20 - 30 years. The material collected from the interviews has been compiled to create common responses. The responses have been analyzed and then compared with data from the database Orvesto constituted by TNS SIFOs surveys. This has created an overall picture of how the respondent-group is using social media and how they think about it. I’ve put the results from the interviews in comparison to what the statistics say. This has strengthened my result.Social medias are used very much in the group of respondents and it’s not everybody that thinks that they use the social medias in a correct amount. To use social medias in just the right amount is the best, that’s a thing the respondents agree with each other about. To break a pattern and do different is an experience the participants have gone through. It was according to the interviewed people a very healthy experience since it often takes a forced action for them to do differently and break their patterns. The experience confirmed a lot of peoples’ thoughts about social media, that it doesn’t take that big of a place in their lives and that they actually don’t need it that much. A lot of people realized that they use social medias too much, but they still had a hard time to stop using it after the intervention.In the end of the essay there is a discussion that compares the theory with the result. I have also discussed how different parts of the work are strengthening each other.

This study investigated the presence and content of school policies used by Virginia school divisions to address issues arising from educators' use of social media. The study also explored Virginia school divisions' policy implementation practices and resolutions for educators' social media use issues. Survey response analysis and policy review are combined to define: 1) Virginia school divisions' experiences with educators' inappropriate use of social media, 2) how Virginia school divisions are addressing educators' social media dilemmas and 3) the characteristics of school policies used to address social media issues in Virginia. The findings indicate that while 90% of respondents are concerned about the dilemmas created by educator social media use, 89% report having effective policies in place to address these issues. Responding Virginia school divisions are using Acceptable Use Policies (98%), Code of Conduct policies (54%) and Social Media policies (32%) to address educators' social media issues. The most common reported infractions are unprofessional comments. Most teachers sanctioned for online conduct are disciplined through reprimand (written and verbal) by school system administrators. / EDD

本研究意圖了解台灣選民媒介使用與政治知識間長期的關聯與其變遷，以及嘗試將政治知識區分為政治結構知識與非政治結構知識兩類個別檢視，以期能深入瞭解媒介使用與政治知識類別的關係。本研究採用二手資料分析，將國立政治大學選舉研究中心在1995年與1998年所作之立委選舉面訪案，及台灣選舉與民主化調查研究（TEDS）在2001年與2004年所作之立委選舉大型面訪案，總共四次的資料加以整合，以時間的縱貫角度切入，觀察民眾長期政治知識與媒介使用情況的趨勢變化，針對影響政治知識的各項因素作檢驗，並提出可能的解釋。 　　關於變化趨勢的部分，研究發現在1995-2004年期間，總體政治知識及非政治結構知識程度有逐年減少的趨勢，但在政治結構知識程度上則變動不大，沒有逐年提升的趨勢；報紙注意程度上沒有顯著變化，而電視注意程度則有逐漸減少的情形。 　　研究結果顯示，無論時序如何變遷、政治知識如何分類，性別、教育程度及報紙注意程度，對政治知識均具顯著且穩定的影響力。男性、教育程度愈高者及報紙注意程度愈高者，其政治知識程度愈高。 　　年齡對於各類政治知識程度也是一個相當顯著的解釋變項，唯獨在政治結構知識上，老年人口的解釋力則不顯著。本研究也發現政黨認同能夠顯著解釋總體政治知識與非政治結構知識；但在政治結構知識上的影響與解釋力較弱。在總體政治知識與非政治結構知識的影響上，電視注意程度均呈現正向顯著的關聯，電視注意程度愈高，其政治知識程度愈高；但在政治結構知識上，電視注意程度的解釋力則不如預期。值得注意的是，電視媒介注意程度在2004年的資料中，對於各類政治知識均呈現無顯著差異，且影響方向改變。 　　綜觀研究結果發現，不同類型之政治知識，在本質上、變遷趨勢上、獨立變項的解釋力上的確有所差異。最能解釋總體政治知識的變項為媒介注意程度；最能解釋政治結構知識的變項為教育程度；對非政治結構知識最能解釋的變項為媒介注意程度。然而，報紙注意程度比起電視注意程度來說，對於政治知識程度的解釋力要來得正向且穩定。 / The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships of news media use and political knowledge and their changes over time among voters in Taiwan. Political knowledge, by definition, is categorized into structural and non-structural ones. Data were from four national surveys in 1995 and 1998’s National Chengchi University Election Study Center’s surveys, and the 2001 and 2004’s Taiwan’s Election and Democratization Study during legislative elections, respectively. Data analysis shows that since 1995 till 2004, political knowledge and non-structural political knowledge are both slightly decreasing, but the variation of structural political knowledge is relatively stable. Attention to newspaper news is steady but attention to television news is decreasing. Gender, level of education, and attention to newspaper news all positively predict structural and non-structural political knowledge in the four data sets. Male, highly educated people, and those with higher attention to newspaper news have more political knowledge. Party identification significantly predicts non-structural political knowledge but not structural political knowledge. Attention to television news positively predicts non-structural political knowledge. What is noteworthy is that in 2004, attention to news media first time shows no significant relationship with political knowledge. Take a closer look at relationships between various predictor variables and different types of political knowledge. Our results show that attention to news media strongly predicts political knowledge; level of education highly predicts structural political knowledge; attention to news media effectively predicts non-structural political knowledge. However, attention to newspaper is a better predictor variable in predicting political knowledge.

This study proposes a social and emotional disclosure model for understanding the mechanism that explains sharing intimate information on social media (Twitter). Previous research has indicated that some aspects of social, emotional, and attitudinal information processing are involved in disclosure of intimate information. However, these factors have been considered in isolation. This study proposes and tests a theoretically grounded model that brings all of these factors together by combining individual and group social media behaviors and online information processing in the realm of online social movements. The core explanatory model considers the impact of peer response, emotional evaluation, personal relevance, issue orientation, and motivation to post online on intimate information disclosure online. A path analysis building on four Poisson multiple regressions conducted on 28,629 #MeToo tweets evaluates the relationships proposed in the explanatory model. Results indicate that emotional evaluation and motivation to post online have direct, positive impacts on online disclosure. Other factors such as peer response, issue orientation, and personal relevance have negative direct relationships with online disclosure. Motivation to post online mediates the effects of emotional evaluation, issue orientation, and personal relevance on online disclosure while issue orientation mediates the effect of personal relevance on motivation to post online. This study offers findings that have use for practitioners interested in hashtag virality and to social media users interested in social influence and online information sharing.

Abstract   Authors:                           Emmy Davidsson and Fredrik Doohan Pehrman Title:                                  What’s on TV tonight? Swedish title:                  Vad är det på tv ikväll? Level:                                BA Thesis in Media and Communication Studies Language:                                             Swedish Number of pages:          53   Aim: The purpose of this study is to chart and explain Swedish high school students’ TV viewing and their attitude towards the TV medium. The aim is also to discuss the students’ views on news and citizenship. The purpose is also to, through the term habitus, explore how the background of a person reflects on their choice of TV content, in what way they watch television and on their purpose of TV viewing. What similarities and differences can we discover in different groups’ TV viewing and attitude towards the TV medium and how can these similarities and differences be explained? Method: The used method is a qualitative method of investigation, divided in three parts. The first part is a TV diary, in which the respondents document different aspects of their TV viewing during a week. The second part of the method is focus groups and the last part is a survey concerning the background environment of the respondents.   Main result: In our study we have determined that Swedish high school students still, in some aspects, watch television in a traditional manner. They mainly watch entertaining content, but the varieties of entertainment vary depending on habitus, especially gender. We have also discovered that TV viewing is fragmented, but also formalized depending on which level; general, group or individual level, we choose to study. The main aspect of habitus that influence the behavior concerning TV viewing is gender, but also other aspects of habitus, for example education and place to live. We have studied a rather homogenous group of students, which result in differences in attitude towards the TV medium, mostly based on gender. However, we have also discovered subtleties in attitude between the different groups of respondents depending on lifestyle and taste. The results concerning TV use and attitude towards television can not alone determine if Swedish high school students are enlightened members of society or not. However, through habitus and the influence of parenthood and schooling, the students gain opportunities to create habits and a behavior surrounding news consumption that will make them take their social responsibility later in life. Program:                          The Program for Information and Communication Studies Location:                          Linnaeus University, Växjö Period:                              March – May 2012 Assessor:                        Magnus Eriksson Examinor:                        Malin Hjorth   Keywords:                       media use · TV · TV viewing · habitus · capital · identity · taste ·                           lifestyle · social responsibility · individualization · fragmentation

Problem statement and purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze in what way first-time voters chose to take part of political information. The questions we aimed to answer was how first-time voters use media and other information channels for political purposes, what importance and trust the first-time voters give the different information channels and finally which indicators there is for that structural or individual factors affect the media consumption and political interest. Method and material: We did interviews with twelve 18 years old first-time voters from six different high school programs in Sundsvall, Sweden. Results: The study showed that the premier source of political information were traditional news media, in particular the debates on TV. It’s also in the debates the first-time voter’s trust the most. Even though the social medias are constantly present in their everyday life and even though the first-time voters believe the social medias have potential for engaging young people politically, the possibilities are only taken in advantage by people who are already politically interested. The first-time voters are being affected by both structural and individualized factors. The structural, the social standing in particular, matters for the individual’s political interest and use of traditional media, while the individualized factors primarily matters for the use of social medias.

[Truncated abstract] This descriptive study identified correlates of electronic media use among pre-adolescent children (10-12 year olds). It specifically focused on the potential influence of individual factors and the social and physical environment within the family home setting. The prevalence of overweight/obesity in children is escalating. Sedentary behaviour in the form of electronic media use (comprised of television (TV) and video/DVD viewing, video and computer gaming, and computer use) is a contributing and a modifiable risk factor for overweight/obesity. To date, research focused on sedentary behaviour has been largely derived from physical (in)activity data where the absence or observed low levels of physical activity participation or TV viewing only has been used as a proxy for sedentariness. Little is known about the specificities of children's electronic media use; its impact on children's overall leisure and screen-time; and, the potential influencing factors that may operate at the home level. The family home is a context-specific setting where electronic media use is a daily practice for most children. To better understand electronic-based sedentary behaviour among children the following specific aims were addressed; 1) To describe children's leisure time, particularly time spent with electronic media. 2) To explore children and parents' perceptions about electronic-based sedentary behaviour. 3) To determine the prevalence of children's electronic-media use at home. 4) To examine the influence of individual, family social and home physical factors associated with different levels of electronic media use by children. ... The availability and accessibility of a variety of electronic equipment at home, especially in the child's bedroom (particularly among boys), was also associated with children's screen behaviour. Physical aspects of the family home (i.e., lay-out and yard size) had a mixed effect on children's electronic media use. Overall, the nature of electronic media use among children is complex and is influenced by dimensions that present at children's individual, family social and physical home level. The knowledge generated from this study about specific correlates of electronic media use has extended the understanding about its impact on children's discretionary time. Future prospective longitudinal research is warranted given that most studies investigating electronic media and sedentary behaviour are of cross-sectional design. Including other forms of sedentary behaviour such as sitting and talking with friends and family, reading and/or using telephones may provide a more comprehensive measure of sedentariness in the future. Further studies should use multivariate statistical analyses (i.e., modelling) to improve clarity of relationships between multiple variables and gauge mediating factors. This study also calls for future intervention research. Findings on gender-specific correlates of electronic media use provide superior information for the development of tailored behaviour modification strategies aimed at girls and boys respectively. Active involvement of household members in the intervention is also warranted. Utilising this study's findings may strengthen intervention outcomes towards a more directed and sustained behaviour change

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate young people's approach to media consumption. The presumed objective of the thesis is to ascertain the method that young users apply to evaluate the credibility of news sources in the media. In the first theoretical part the thesis explains the status of the media in the information age and changes related to the field. It also discusses the need for media literacy and its possible development via media education. The chapter finishes with an overview of the most important data from recent studies concerning young people and the media. Second part consist of a qualitative research that is inspired by the research design of the theory by Strauss and Corbin (1999). Data for this research were obtained from 21 in depth interviews among 18 and 19 years old Czech citizens. The open coding was used for the analysis. The outcome of the analysis was interpreted through the method of constant comparation. The result of the research is a creation of four typological user groups according to the type of use of the news resources in the media.

Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht das alltägliche Mediennutzungsverhalten von Flüchtlingen in Deutschland. Beispielhaft wurden dazu 140 Flüchtlinge in Teilen Sachsens schriftlich anhand standardisierter Fragebogen befragt. Ziel der explorativen Studie war es, ein differenziertes Abbild über die Mediennutzung von Flüchtlingen zu erhalten. Genauer gesagt ging sie der Frage nach, welche Medien Flüchtlinge im Alltag, in welchem Umfang und zu welchem Zweck nutzen. Neben einem an den tagesaktuellen Medien ausgerichteten Medienrepertoire waren im Rahmen der Erhebung Neue Medien von besonderem Interesse. Den Ausgangspunkt zur Formulierung des Forschungsgegenstandes bilden medien- und flüchtlingswissenschaftliche Theorien und Studien, sowie eine situative Betrachtung der in Sachsen lebenden Flüchtlinge. Im Ergebnis zeichneten sich ausgeprägte Mediennutzungspräferenzen hinsichtlich des Smartphones und damit verbunden dem Internet, sowie internetbasierter Anwendungen ab. Darüber hinaus schließt die allgemeine Mediennutzung von Flüchtlingen ein breit aufgestelltes Medienrepertoire aus klassischen und Neuen Medien ein. Die gewonnenen Erkenntnisse stellen eine Erweiterung der Wissensbasis zur bekannten Thematik dar und eröffnen dadurch Möglichkeiten, anhand derer beispielsweise auf die Entwicklung neuer Medieninhalte für die Zielgruppe Einfluss genommen werden kann. / The current study examines the everyday media usage behavior of refugees in Germany. As an example, 140 refugees in Saxony were surveyed by using standardized paper and pencil questionnaires. Objective of the project was to obtain a differentiated picture of the media usage behavior of refugees. More specifically, the study wants to investigate the question which media refugees use in their daily lives, to what extent and for what purpose. In addition to a media repertoire that was aimed at the daily media, the New Media were of special interest. The study is based on specific theories and reports on media research and refugee studies, as well as a situational view on refugees living in Saxony. As a result, there were noticeable media usage preferences with regard to smartphones and the Internet as well as internet-based applications. In addition, the general media usage of refugees includes a wide-ranging media repertoire of classical and New Media. The findings provide an extension to the knowledge base of the known subject and thus open up possibilities by which, for example, the development of new media content for the target group can be influenced.