Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective sees the world as a stage and social actors as the players (1959). Social actors partake in a series of dramatic performances to accomplish a certain stable social self. This idea has been built upon in recent years through the structural symbolic interactionist perspective, particularly with the work of Peter Burke's Identity Control Theory (2004). I hope here to continue to build upon the work of these theorists, as well as engage in a dialogue within the field of computer-mediated-communication (CMC). This work is at the nexus of social psychology and CMC studies. Contemporary technology has had great implications for many aspects of the social world and for interaction in particular. Since contemporary technologies impact interaction, and self construction is embedded in the interaction process, then it is important to look to at the theoretical implications of contemporary society's technological advances. I look ethnographically at MySpace, using participant observation and interview, to study how interaction and self presentation take place within the structure of the personal interactive homepage. My sample (N=97) is non-random and is drawn from my "Friends" list. I argue that the personal interactive homepage provides a unique forum for interaction. I analyze the structure of the personal interactive homepage, and examine the ways in which users construct an ideal and still authentic self within this structure. Through a synthesis of these analyses, I am able to build upon presentation of self theories, arguing that the dimension of power can (and should) be included in understanding the presentation of self process. The extent, to which an actor can present an ideal self in light of varying degrees of negotiation, represents the actors" "power to present".

Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective sees the world as a stage and social actors as the players (1959). Social actors partake in a series of dramatic performances to accomplish a certain stable social self. This idea has been built upon in recent years through the structural symbolic interactionist perspective, particularly with the work of Peter Burke's Identity Control Theory (2004). I hope here to continue to build upon the work of these theorists, as well as engage in a dialogue within the field of computer-mediated-communication (CMC). This work is at the nexus of social psychology and CMC studies. Contemporary technology has had great implications for many aspects of the social world and for interaction in particular. Since contemporary technologies impact interaction, and self construction is embedded in the interaction process, then it is important to look to at the theoretical implications of contemporary society's technological advances. I look ethnographically at MySpace, using participant observation and interview, to study how interaction and self presentation take place within the structure of the personal interactive homepage. My sample (N=97) is non-random and is drawn from my "Friends" list. I argue that the personal interactive homepage provides a unique forum for interaction. I analyze the structure of the personal interactive homepage, and examine the ways in which users construct an ideal and still authentic self within this structure. Through a synthesis of these analyses, I am able to build upon presentation of self theories, arguing that the dimension of power can (and should) be included in understanding the presentation of self process. The extent, to which an actor can present an ideal self in light of varying degrees of negotiation, represents the actors" "power to present".

<p>Internet and the digital channels for distribution have meant big changes for the musicindustry. The physical record that has been symbolising this market for a long time is slowlybeing replaced by digital based music. The technical progress during the last ten years has ledto a democratization of music production. The amateur musicians of today can produce highquality music on their laptops and later distribute it via free music sites. MySpace andYouTube are two of the biggest sites for this free distribution and is therefore my main choiseof study.</p><p>The purpose of this essay was to find out how and if these changes have made a difference formusicians without a record deal to reach an audience by themselves. In order to find this out Iconducted three qualitative personal interviews with both established and amateur musiciansworking in the music business.</p><p>To find out how many listeners a amateur musician can generate on their own within a shortamount of time I made a quantitative study during five weeks where I posed as an musicianstarting from scrach with an aim to become famous. During these five weeks I got my songplayed 164 times and got to collaborate with a podcast show from England.</p><p>My hypothesis has been that the future role of the record company will be reduced andpossibly disappear. The theories in this essay argues that this might indeed be the case whenmusicians have accsess to a world o free marketing.</p> / <p>Internet och de digitala distributionskanalerna har inneburit stora förändringar för musikindustrin. Den fysiska skivan som länge har symboliserat denna marknad försvinner bytssakta men säkert ut mot digitalt baserad musik. De tekniska framgångarna under de senastetio åren har lett till en demokratisering av musik produktion. Amatörmusiker kan idagproducera musik med hög kvalitet på en laptop och sprida den gratis med hjälp av sajter förgratis musik. MySpace och YouTube representerar två av de största kanalerna för dennaspridning av gratis musik och jag har därför valt att fokusera min undersökning till dessa tvåsajter.</p><p>Syftet med denna uppsats var att at reda på hur och om denna förändring inomdistributionsmöjligheterna har förändrat förutsättningarna för musiker utan skivkontrakt attsprida sin musik och hitta en publik på egen hand. För att studera detta utförde jag trekvalitativa intervjuer med etablerade musiker och amatörmusiker inom musikbranschen.</p><p>För att ta reda på hur många lyssnare en amatörmusiker kan generera på egen hand under enkortare tid utförde jag en kvantitativ studie under loppet av fem veckor. I denna undersökningsatte jag mig själv in i rollen som amatörmusiker med en målsättning att bli känd. Underdessa fem veckor fick jag min låt spelad 164 gånger och fick även medverka på en podcastfrån England.</p><p>Min hypotes var att skivbolagen kommer att spela en mindre roll i framtidens musikscen ochkanske rent utav att försvinna. Teorierna som behandlas i denna uppsats talar för detta. I envärld där musiker har tillång till gratis marknadsföring och spridning av musik, vem behöverdå skivbolagen?</p>

Internet and the digital channels for distribution have meant big changes for the musicindustry. The physical record that has been symbolising this market for a long time is slowlybeing replaced by digital based music. The technical progress during the last ten years has ledto a democratization of music production. The amateur musicians of today can produce highquality music on their laptops and later distribute it via free music sites. MySpace andYouTube are two of the biggest sites for this free distribution and is therefore my main choiseof study. The purpose of this essay was to find out how and if these changes have made a difference formusicians without a record deal to reach an audience by themselves. In order to find this out Iconducted three qualitative personal interviews with both established and amateur musiciansworking in the music business. To find out how many listeners a amateur musician can generate on their own within a shortamount of time I made a quantitative study during five weeks where I posed as an musicianstarting from scrach with an aim to become famous. During these five weeks I got my songplayed 164 times and got to collaborate with a podcast show from England. My hypothesis has been that the future role of the record company will be reduced andpossibly disappear. The theories in this essay argues that this might indeed be the case whenmusicians have accsess to a world o free marketing. / Internet och de digitala distributionskanalerna har inneburit stora förändringar för musikindustrin. Den fysiska skivan som länge har symboliserat denna marknad försvinner bytssakta men säkert ut mot digitalt baserad musik. De tekniska framgångarna under de senastetio åren har lett till en demokratisering av musik produktion. Amatörmusiker kan idagproducera musik med hög kvalitet på en laptop och sprida den gratis med hjälp av sajter förgratis musik. MySpace och YouTube representerar två av de största kanalerna för dennaspridning av gratis musik och jag har därför valt att fokusera min undersökning till dessa tvåsajter. Syftet med denna uppsats var att at reda på hur och om denna förändring inomdistributionsmöjligheterna har förändrat förutsättningarna för musiker utan skivkontrakt attsprida sin musik och hitta en publik på egen hand. För att studera detta utförde jag trekvalitativa intervjuer med etablerade musiker och amatörmusiker inom musikbranschen. För att ta reda på hur många lyssnare en amatörmusiker kan generera på egen hand under enkortare tid utförde jag en kvantitativ studie under loppet av fem veckor. I denna undersökningsatte jag mig själv in i rollen som amatörmusiker med en målsättning att bli känd. Underdessa fem veckor fick jag min låt spelad 164 gånger och fick även medverka på en podcastfrån England. Min hypotes var att skivbolagen kommer att spela en mindre roll i framtidens musikscen ochkanske rent utav att försvinna. Teorierna som behandlas i denna uppsats talar för detta. I envärld där musiker har tillång till gratis marknadsföring och spridning av musik, vem behöverdå skivbolagen?

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Depression has a high prevalence among college students. Because it is a highly private (i.e. experiential) and socially stigmatized mental illness, it often goes undetected in daily life. The basic research question behind this line of research is how students' postings on their social networking websites can be used for the early detection of depression. The current research investigates how well depression can be gauged from MySpace profiles (Study 1) and Facebook profiles (Study 2 & Study 3). Across studies, the results reveal that depression can be assessed with a moderate degree of accuracy. In addition, Study 3 presents evidence that viewing "mini-blogs" allows for similar levels of accuracy compared to viewing an entire profile and the degree to which a person is Extraverted or censors information about themselves (e.g. Impression Management, Public Self-Consciousness) influences the degree of accuracy. Overall, the results speak to the idea that social networking sites can be a cost effective and clinically relevant tool to detecting depression.

This study addressed user perceptions of social network websites and music content based on uses and gratification. This method helped to analyze social network websites as a mass media channel and determine how websites were used by participants. Interviews for this research were conducted via online instant messenger tools including 23 participants from the Republic of Korea and the U.S. who were currently using MySpace and Cyworld via MySpace IM with Skype and NateOn messenger. All semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted in English. The results centered on three main themes: (1) Benefits of using social network websites, (2) benefits of using music content on social network websites, and (3) motivations to purchase music content on social network websites. General implications of utilizing personal websites were discussed based on these results.

The Internet has been a mystifying and nebulous concept since its birth in the early 90s (Kelly). Just two years ago in an infamous public address, former Senator Ted Stevens attempted to explain the internet to the masses, calling it a series of tubes (Doctorow). This statement was followed by a flurry of blog postings, YouTube videos and general mockery from the computer savvy communities, thus confirming the fact that most people, besides the geeks, still don't fully comprehend what the Internet is. At its inception, PHDs, scientists and professors of anthropology alike hailed the Internet as a potential "gaia of cultures," and an opportunity for global communication and the exchange of ideas (Harcourt 22). Currently, it would be hard to say that the Internet is only being used for such lofty pedagogical purposes, but true to those scholarly dreams, people around the globe are exchanging ideas, more specifically videos, on YouTube, the world's third most visited website ("Global Top"). After a number of search engines, the fifth and seventh most visited sites in the world are Facebook and MySpace ("Global Top"). These top sites require no qualifications, impressive resumes, or background checks. A working email address, username and password are all anyone needs to be published on the Internet. YouTube, Facebook and MySpace all exist solely for the same purpose - to host content posted by users for others to peruse. If one were to judge our current historical moment based on our websites of choice, it would be fair to say we are self-obsessed. We exist in a culture defined by its desire and ability to look at itself online.

Members of 26 MySpace social groups for self-injury (SI) provided data for this study investigating knowledge of SI, friends’ perceptions of SI, and the impact of online activity on SI. This study proposes that people who have belonged to these online SI groups for longer periods have higher levels of SI knowledge than those group members who have recently joined. In addition, the study proposes that individuals who self-injure have higher levels of SI knowledge than professionals who work with individuals who self-injure. An additional purpose of this study is to explore information regarding the reasons why people belong to online SI groups, the outcomes of participating in them, and their perceptions of their online peers’ and face-to-face peers’ attitudes regarding SI. A convenience sample of 101 members solicited from SI social groups on MySpace completed the survey, which consisted of five sections including the following: demographics, experiences with SI, knowledge of SI, activities related to SI in MySpace groups, and perceptions of online and face-to-face peers’ attitudes regarding SI. The knowledge section of the survey contains a 20 item measure previously used by Jeffrey and Warm (2002). A knowledge score was created based on participants responses to these 20 items. This score was used in the analysis of both hypotheses one and two. Results indicate that participants have a good understanding of SI, based on their mean knowledge score. In addition, results reveal that the current sample’s mean SI knowledge level is higher than are four of the seven groups' mean knowledge scores. Length of membership on online SI groups is not significantly greater for individuals who score higher on the knowledge of SI measure as assessed through independent t tests. Descriptive information indicates that participants perceive their online friends to react more positively to their self-injurious behaviors than they do their face-to-face friends. In addition, the sample does not indicate that participation in online SI groups has an impact on the frequency of their self-injurious behaviors, which is consistent with prior research (Murray & Fox, 2006). Limitations discussed include sample size and solicitation, survey length, and the lack of a thorough assessment of online activity.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2010. Thesis (M.LS.)--University of Alberta, 2010. / Title from pdf file main screen (viewed on January 12, 2010). "Spring 2010." A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Library and Information Studies, Master of Arts, School of Library and Information Studies, Humanities Computing, University of Alberta. Includes bibliographical references.