Prototype of a Person

Cyberpsychology Digest Volume 1

I’m constantly coming across academic journal articles, news stories and blog articles that are directly related to Cyberpsychology that are incredibly interesting, controversial, questionable and are often a source of inner debate. Therefore, I’ve decided to start sharing them here in the hopes of highlighting the importance of applying psychological research and theory to various technology related fields. I’m planning on making this a monthly post and if anyone has anything they’d like to contribute, or even related articles, feel free to drop me a comment or an e-mail.

Cyberpsychology Digest Volume 1

Can Grand Theft Auto improve social skills?: Some media attention was given to this story and at first I was quite skeptical, that was of course until I read the original article on the University of Sunderland website. Chris Whitehead, the final year Psychology student, points out how previous research has focused on the adverse effects of violent video games on children, when such games are actually targeted towards adults and can have positive effects upon their intended audience. Related article: Link between online gaming and violence killed off

Early Sexual Experiences: The Role of Internet Access and Sexually Explicit Material: This study reports that participants who had access to the Internet during the ages of 12 and 17 reported engaging in sexual intercourse at a younger age than those that did not have Internet access.

Mobile Phones are more important than Wallets and Keys: Nortel have conducted some extensive survey based research into global uses of communications technologies. The most interesting information derived from this is how survey respondents indicated that the one item they would choose to bring with them when leaving the house for 24 hours or more would be their mobile phone, choosing their mobile phone over their wallet or keys.

Exploring the Role of the Reader in the Activity of Blogging: Most research on the topic of blogging has focused on sociability (i.e. the blogosphere). This study investigated the behaviour of blog readers, discovering that blog reading often becomes similar to e-mail checking – i.e. less content orientated and habitual. Also of note is the conclusion that readers put pressure on themselves to produce worthwhile comments. An interesting study, however, a small criticism - the majority of participants were also blog writers, would be far more interesting to see this study applied to non bloggers. Related article: Are You Educating Your Readers About Blogging?

Being Human: Human Computer Interaction in the Year 2020: Findings from a HCI conference hosted by Microsoft which gives recommendations for the future of HCI to ensure that human values inform future development. For example, educating young people on the impact of technological advances and recognising the importance of specialists from other disciplines (e.g. psychology, sociology, arts) whom can offer more insightful perspectives. The report also argues for the need of proper monitoring and assessment to ensure that we individually and collectively stay in control of ourselves and the world around us. Related article: In a User Centric Web I get to control my data

If anyone has anything they’d like to contribute to the next digest, or related articles for this volume, feel free to drop me a comment or an e-mail - Sinéad.

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3

Cyberpsychology Thesis on Irish Blogging

At the start of March I seemed pretty intent on beginning an ambitious post graduate research paper on trust formation online. Since then I have done extensive research into the topic and had to narrow down my research area, this is of course due to time/resource constraints (and the discovery of a very similar study published just recently).

Whilst researching trust online, I was quite drawn to all of the research on blogs and weblogs. The deeper I researched it on an international level (looking at American, Japanese and European literature) the more I realised how interesting it was that as a nation we have not embraced it. Especially considering the overwhelming statistics: In 2007 it was estimated that there were between 50 and 85 million blogs and at their current rate of growth, by 2010 there will be over 500 million blogs. Yet, it has been estimated that there are only about 3,000 or 4,000 Irish bloggers, in comparison to the 12 million bloggers in American or the 8 million bloggers in Japan. Even in the IT industry in Ireland, there is a severe lack of business blogging, despite the obvious benefits.

However, recent statistics published by Amárach claims that almost one in five Irish Internet users have started or contributed to a blog in the past year and if you look at the Alexa.com rankings, Blogger.com is the 10th most visited site by Irish Internet Users. Are there thousands more Irish bloggers out there? That are just unconnected to the blogosphere. Research has shown that some blogs are simply more connected to a blogosphere than others, with some not being connected at all. Or are Irish Internet Users bigger readers than writers? Research has shown that people are less likely to pay attention to a medium perceived as not being credible, and according to some reports trust in blogging in on the decrease (in Ireland) yet other reports show that the majority of Irish Internet users trust consumer opinions posted online.

There is a lot of conflicting data out there. So, naturally I’m fascinated.

I’ll be surveying Irish Internet Users (specifically bloggers and blog readers) to investigate their attitudes, perceptions and motivations, and comparing the results to existing international research. In order to interpret these results, I will also be applying existing social psychology, computer mediated communications and human computer interaction literature.

I’ll also be looking into issues of credibility, liability and the business implications (both positive and negative).

Any thoughts?

The Next “Big Thing” in Communications and Social Networking Tools

In a bold move (inspired by my wonderful foe - procrastination) I’ve begun using Twitter - it’s like mini-blogging. So, if anyone is interested in finding out what I’ve been up to between blog posts, you can find out here. Although, I will warn you - if you’re a certain lecturer expecting a certain topic for a certain research proposal on Friday - do NOT click that link. Recently I started using Linkedin too - for social networking in professional circles.

It’s really interesting how different the web is to the Internet I first started using as a teen. Today there are so many incredible communications and social networking tools available online, but it has always seemed like everyone in the States have been consistently 100’s of steps ahead of us (the Irish) with regard to embracing these as valid methods of communication and expression. Although, 10 years ago I could barely manage to find a synchronous online conversation with anyone - because everyone was asleep after that faithful 6pm-the-dial-up-charges-are-cheaper hour. At least times are starting to change and there are a few (definitely not comparable to the Americans) Irish people using the likes of LinkedIN and Twitter.

When I really got thinking about it though, I realised how many different communication and social networking tools I had embraced in the past. It goes a little something like below…

E-mail address @ hotmail > Newsgroups > Chat Rooms @ Yahoo! > mIRC chat > American Message Boards > Home Page with Guestbook @ Geocities > E-mail address @ Yahoo! > Yahoo! Messenger > Own Group with Message Boards and Chat @ Yahoo! > MSN Messenger > Irish Message Boards > Livejournal > MySpace > Blog @ own hosting site > Youtube > Bebo > E-mail address @ Gmail > Gtalk > Facebook > Second Life > Flickr > LinkedIN > Twitter

It’s a strange progression as you move from one online communications technology to the next, thriving on the newness of each new site. But like all things, boredom soon sets in or your motivation for interacting with it diminishes and you move on. Even the Irish Bebo explosion, at least in my own social circles, has become recently very subdued. Which is surprising as I had assumed the new features (facebook like applications) would bring everyone back into the fold.

What causes so many of these once “revolutionary” websites to fall to the wayside? How is it that something new can come along and steal all your users/customers? Why aren’t interfaces upgraded and features added and removed? Why weren’t they tracking trends online to keep up with change? When there are existing social networks in place, wouldn’t it just be easier for us all to stay in one place, rather than moving to the next “big thing”.