Prototype of a Person

Cyberpsychology Digest Volume 2

Feminised gadgets - An eye for the ladylike: This article from the Telegraph Online opens with an interesting statistic, that women now spend more money on gadgets than on shoes. This is followed up with some fascinating insights into the “feminisation” of technology design and closes with an even more remarkable statistic, that two-thirds of Nintendo DS users are female. Related Link: Shiny Shiny

Vivity Labs launches online brain fitness platform: This recently launched website will draw comparisons to the Brain Training game on the Nintendo DS. Basing the platform online, however, allows for a much broader appeal. For example, by providing the ability to play against other users, a higher level of motivation to return to play is likely to be achieved, especially for the highly competitive amongst us. Related Article: Video games can make us creative if spark is right.

iReport: Online Terror & Hate: The First Decade (pdf): This report by a Jewish Human Rights group indicates that since 2007 there has been a 30% increase in the number of problmeatic hate (racist, anti-gay, anti-religious etc.) and terrorist websites. The historic roots of online hate-sites is outlined and numerous examples are highlighted. Related Article: A rallying cry against cyberbullying.

Mac users don’t like people touching their technology: A survey was conducted by Cognitive Daily to investigate how willing people were to let others try out their new gadgets. They found that there was a dramatic difference between how much PC and Mac users let friends try out their new devices. Related Article: Bad BlackBerry Manners On the Rise.

Your Blog Can Be Group Therapy: This CNN.com article highlights some examples of the positive aspects of personal blogging, with some interesting commentary from both bloggers and psychologists. Related Article: The Internet and Suicide ; Related Link: The Lives of Others.

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 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