sinéad's lifestream

Only 35% of the overall sample was female, but in a 2006 survey on Irish blogs only 14% of respondents were female indicating an increase in women participating in the medium. Also, over 50% of the females surveyed for this research were bloggers and it was found that there was no relationship between gender, or age, and participation in writing a blog.

The majority of the sample had 10 years or more experience online, but both bloggers and non-bloggers had very similar levels of experience – indicating that online experience is not a key indicator for participation in writing a blog, but is more likely to be an indicator of awareness of the medium. Correspondingly, computer skill levels were found to be similar in both bloggers and non-bloggers.

However, it was also found that bloggers are no longer primarily based in the Information Technology sector (as was the case in 2006) with less than 30% of bloggers coming from IT, almost 17% coming from the Media sector, 9% from the Education sector, and the remaining 56% coming from a variety of different areas e.g. Retail, Government, and Arts/Design etc. Additionally only 20% of the non-bloggers were based in IT. This suggests that exposure to the medium is not reliant on an individual being in involved with IT.

As part of the M.Sc. in Cyberpsychology I conducted a research study focusing on Irish bloggers and Irish internet users that read blogs. A third of this research involved an extensive review of past psychological research on blogging, collating available statistical data with regard to Irish internet user behaviours and information regarding Irish blogging. Based on this detailed literature review and extensive consultation with both bloggers and non-bloggers a questionnaire was created and in January of this year the survey was published online, gathering 422 participants – 244 bloggers and 178 non-bloggers.

This research is the first to investigate the psychological areas of interest surrounding blogging applied to an Irish audience, and is the first in-depth study of Irish blog authors; additionally it is the first study of Irish blog readers. The results constitute an additional step toward understanding Irish bloggers, and suggests only slight differences between those who blog and those who read blogs but do not blog themselves. Based on the results gathered additional studies with regard to any cultural differences between Irish bloggers and international ones could be ascertained. The strengths of this study lie in its large sample size and the flexibility of the questionnaire itself, where participants had the option of inputting rich qualitative data.

The overall aim of this research was to explore the perceptions, attitudes and behaviours of Irish bloggers and non-blogging Irish internet users that read blogs. Attitudes to the issues surrounding blogging – trust, honesty, liability, privacy and permanence, were explored. Writer’s behaviours with regard to identity, motivations, and socialisation were investigated. Perceptions of the credibility and popularity of blogging in Ireland in comparison to other countries was investigated, and readership behaviours – frequency and origin of blogs read, were examined.

Over the next few days I will be publishing summaries of the most interesting findings, and the entire research document is now available via email request.

Though I had planned on publishing the document online I am currently writing a journal article for possible publication and therefore must wait until this process is complete before publishing the entire document online.  Participants that requested to be contacted when this research was available online will be contacted when all of the blog posts related to this research are published here.

An abstract (a very short summary) of the research is available here.

Online consumerism has become a prevalent part of modern life. With greater choice of availability and 24 hour access to a global market, many are now switching to shopping on the the Internet rather than walking around high streets or shopping centers for their desired purchases. Recent studies indicate that 96% of Irish Internet users have made an online purchase. But what are the perceived risks that online consumers feel?

Hello my name is Lee Kelly and I’m currently studying for a Msc Cyberpsychology. As part of the course I am conducting a research project regarding attitudes towards online shopping. More specifically this study aims to examine levels of trust placed, when using online commercial sites. The study will also try to ascertain if levels of trust online differ between Digital Natives (people who grew up surrounded by information technology) and Digital Immigrants (people who learn to use information technology in adulthood). I’m looking for participants that would fall under both groups; so if you are over 18 and enjoy shopping online then I need to recruit you (sorry I’ve been watching Milk) to take part in my Online survey.

Once again participants will be given the opportunity to win €50 Amazon voucher on completion of the survey. Thank You in advance to everyone who agrees to take part in this study and also many thank to Sinéad Cochrane for her help in allowing me to guest post.

Music Marketing on Social Networking Sites

Have you discovered one of your favourite music artists by chance on a social networking site? How do you feel about friend requests from bands you’ve never heard of? Can you recall a really outstanding marketing approach from a music artist on a social networking site? Lots of questions and one survey which is trying to find out the answer:  Fansights 2.0

Fansights 2.0 – The Survey

To introduce myself: My name is Kathrin and like Sinéad I am a master student at IADT and right now running a survey as part of my master thesis. My survey Fansights 2.0 is about music marketing on social networking sites (e.g. MySpace, Bebo, Facebook) and the perception of these marketing techniques among music fans. I am still looking for music fans and music promoters who would be willing to take part in my survey. If you could take a few minutes to fill out the survey or pass it on to interested friends I would really appreciate it. You can also drop me a message under www.myspace.com/fansights and you will receive a copy of the results once they are published.

Thanks a mill to Sinéad for posting this and to everybody interested in my research project!

World of Warcraft currently has 11.5 million monthly subscribers, there are 15 million registered-accounts on Second Life, and 38,000 active members in-world at any one time. These numbers show that millions of people are interacting, collaborating, and forming strong relationships online every day - with fascinating outcomes.

My name is Eily Coghlan, and I’m currently studying Msc Cyberpsychology along with Sinéad. My research is specifically interested in investigating gender bending online. This is when an individual chooses to play an avatar who has a different gender online then they have in real life. It’s a common occurrence in online gaming, and a simple Google search returns hundreds of thousands of results. I’m trying to discover what inspires people to gender bend and what reasons they have for doing so. As part of my reseach I have created an online survey which I need people who gender-bend in these games AND people who don’t gender-bend to fill out.

Like Sinéad has already done, you also have the chance to win a €50 Amazon voucher at the end of the survey! You can now double your chances! I appreciate anyone who responds, I am extremely grateful! If you don’t happen to play either of these games, please pass it on to anyone that you know who does. It’s quite quick, only takes 10 minutes to complete!

Thanks to Sinéad for letting me sneak in on her blog!

Irish Blog Research 2009, Survey Goes Live

As part of the M.Sc Cyberpsychology at IADT each postgraduate student is currently in the process of conducting a major research project. My own is focused on blogging, but from an Irish perspective, looking at the attitudes and behaviour of Irish bloggers and Irish blog readers. (Related Article)

Online Survey

At the very heart of this research study is an online survey which you can find here. I’m hoping to recruit a large sample of both bloggers and non-blogging readers. If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you fit into one of these categories and would very much appreciate it if you could spare 10-15 minutes to fill out the survey. Most of the questions are multiple choice, a small number are essay based but you can write as much, or as little as you like. This questionnaire is 100% anonymous, confidential and for research purposes only.  Even your IP address won’t be stored.

Prize Draws!

At the end of the survey you will have the opportunity to enter a prize draw for either a €50 Amazon voucher or a €50 Ticketmaster voucher – if you win, you can choose either prize.

I’m also going to run a separate prize draw for another €50 voucher for anyone that posts a link to this survey on their blog, or on a messageboard – anywhere really! To enter this separate draw just leave a comment on this blog post, this can be in the form of a trackback or a comment telling me where you have posted the link.

Thank You!

Thank you in advance for your help, without the Irish blogging community on my side this research won’t be complete. The hard part will be finding non-blogging readers to complete the survey, so if you know anyone that would fit that category please pass the link for the survey onto them.

As a way of giving something back to the blogging community I will be publishing summaries of the most interesting findings here on this blog. If you would like to be notified when the entire research document is available for download  – this will be a masters thesis of approximately 15,000 words, with an introduction to the psychogical aspects of blogging – you can enter your details on this form.

My current assignment for the Applied Cyberpsychology module is to develop a wiki. Which I finished working on last night. The criteria was that it had to in some way incorporate a topic in organisational or educational psychology. So I decided to create a wiki for students, that taught them about group work and also how to best use the Internet as a tool for collaborating online. I called it Project Spaces and you can find it here.

At first I was against the idea of creating a wiki by myself, and argued with the lecturer with regard to this. Part of this project involves asking the target audience (i.e. students) to view the wiki, and ask them about it’s usefulness. It was suggested that the individuals that were invited to view the wiki would naturally add content to it, and thus the wiki would mature. What I’ve actually found is that I might have done too much work and have been told that it reads like a complete wiki. I hadn’t expected that, but I guess I’ll just have to write that into my reflective essay.

Niall Kitson from PC Live! does a “Blogger in Profile” feature every month, Alexia Golez and Anthony McGuinness have gone before me and the December issue was my turn. So, here is an unedited (thus far longer, because I can’t shut my mouth) version of the Q&A.

You decided to study bloggers and their readerships for your post grad. What have you learned so far?

At the moment I’m still in the preparatory stage of my research. What this basically means is that I’m reading almost every single piece of literature already written about blogging, knowledge sharing and the social psychology on the internet. That last one is probably the one that stands out the most because blogging can be extremely social. Blogs have this amazing potential to offer social support, friendship and positive interactions through feedback from readers. Blogging has genuinely had a  positive impact on many bloggers lives, because feedback can serve as an acknowledgement of your thoughts, emotions and sense of self. Then of course there are the bloggers that blog to share their knowledge, instead of their lives. Sometimes this is done because of the positive effects upon reputation and sometimes it is a purely altruistic act. It’s fascinating.

Right now I’m looking at the possible cultural differences in blogging practices. The reason I’m looking at this is because I’m curious as to why blogging is huge in other countries and yet seemingly low profile here in Ireland. Though, I do believe in quality over quantity, that is to say that  the majority of Irish blogs are either very well written or incredibly entertaining. It has been suggested that poor broadband penetration is a key aspect as to why the adoption of blogging has been slow, but today over a million  Irish Internet users have access to a broadband connection, and we have become a nation of social networkers, photo-sharers and you-tube watchers It’s simply not a valid argument any more. I’m hoping my research can shed some light on the matter.

As a community what do you think of the Irish Blogosphere?

The Irish Blogosphere isn’t the first online community that I’ve interacted with. Over the years I’ve been a member of numerous web forums and long ago even usenet groups. The biggest difference, for me, was how quickly I began feeling like a member of the Irish blogging community. With other online groups it took months of interactions online before I started feeling like a member of the in-group. No heckling of the newbie occurs and there are no obvious exclusive cliques, though there are members that would be thought of more highly that others. Flaming is very rare. There are debates and discussions, but it rarely gets personal, which is something that can turn many people away from web forums – that fear of being ostracised. The thing that stands out for me about the Irish blogging community is their ability to offer support to one another without hesitation. Be it technical, informational, or even emotional.

Your writing demonstrates a real creative streak but you keep your content factual. Have you been tempted to post some fiction?

Any student of a Psychology will tell you that the biggest lesson you learn in college is to write objectively, and to always be able to back up any argument with valid and reliable facts. It can be difficult to separate my academic self from my writing, and if I post an article that in essence is my actual opinion on something, I will always back it up with solid facts. Maintaining a high level of quality and keeping with the theme of my blog is important to me, this is one of the reasons I don’t post articles on a daily basis. I have, however, tried to incorporate a few personally orientated posts, and I find this quite rewarding in itself. More recently I’ve been channelling my own creativeness into a separate blog project, related to poetry and photography. It’s not unnatural for bloggers to have more than one blog and I have done this to provide myself with a separate, non-serious vehicle online.

Are blogs really breaking the web?

Blogs might not be breaking the web, but I certainly don’t think they could be considered a replacement to websites or even wikis, as a source of information. The software behind blogging is temporal in nature, articles are displayed in reverse chronological order, so the first blog post an reader sees is the most recent one and navigation usually relies on moving backwards through these time-stamped entries. Blogs are great when used as a companion to a website, but relying on a blog to post articles that should or could be re-read, and would have context no matter what year or month they are written in, can mean that they don’t get re-read and instead get lost inside archives. However there are exceptions to this rule, and having a very well designed blog can counteract this. Relying on standard blog templates or free blogging websites such as Blogger.com is not the way to go, unless of course you’re planning on writing a diary style blog.

In the field of cyberpsychology whose work would you recommend to a friend?

The two subjects that are most interesting to me, that relate to the combined field of Psychology and Technology e.g. what is now referred to as Cyberpsychology, are the social Psychology of the Internet and Human Computer Interaction. The researcher who has had the most influence on me in both of these subjects is a Dr. Jennifer Preece from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Much of her work highlights the importance of good usability and design to facilitate the creation of successful online communities. She has also co-authored numerous books related to Human Computer Interaction, a subject that is concerned with making technology more usable and accessible to everyone – something I feel very passionate about.

For anyone interested in the field of Cyberpsychology I can also recommend the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, published online four times a year, many of the research pieces published can be freely accessed and offer many interesting insights into online behaviour.

IADT offers both a certificate in Cyberpsychology and an intensive Masters program. These courses are open to individuals with no background in Psychology, and cover areas ranging from e-learning, to online addictions and therapy. I can’t recommend the course enough, and think it would be great for anyone working in all aspects of the technology sector. It would also perfect for graduates of Psychology or Psychiatry that wish to learn how to apply these fields to our modern technologically bound world.

There’s a big emphasis on the importance of public speaking when you’re studying in college, despite the fact that you don’t often get the opportunity to speak in front of anyone else but your classmates. Which is something I had to do on Saturday morning to a mixed crowd of 1st and 2nd year M.Sc Cyberpsychology students, and lecturers who were there to grill and grade.

I don’t suffer from anxiety or panic when it comes to public speaking. Admittedly, I get nervous, palms do sweat and cue cards get shuffled compulsively. But after the point of introducing myself I often feel like I’m having an out of body experience, like I’ve no control over what’s happening, my mouth is a tap and words are dripping out, fast. On Saturday I felt this more acutely than ever before, despite the fact that I’ve presented at a conference to twice as many people and just recently presented a report to the managing director of a company (and his posse of suits) I was hoping to work with.

The experience I had on Saturday consisted of my mind tricking myself into believing I had completely fucked up the presentation, that I’d skipped slides and mumbled incoherently. But on the outside, according to those who watched, I was cool, calm and collected. Ordinarily I wouldn’t have believed them but then I was reminded of the presentation we did last year. As with all our college presentations they are filmed for the external examiners. The video of last years presentation was shown in the Psychology lab a few weeks ago, watching it I felt like it was a different person on the screen. The girl on that video was an alternative universe me, knowledgeable, confident, calm and capable of handling the most difficult of questions.

I’m my biggest critic. I feel like I have to be, because I know that the people who love me could never point out my flaws for me. So despite my supposed calm exterior whilst presenting, afterwards I always feel like I could have done better, and that I should have been more in control. I think that’s an important thing to share, because I know so many people freak out over public speaking, especially when their time slot is straight after someone that seemed so confident and together.

No one is immune to the pressure that comes with public speaking, some people are just better at hiding it.