June 28, 2015
The Priming Effects of Virtual Environments on Interpersonal Perceptions and Behaviors
Interesting idea that the imagery and items associated within a virtual world prime the user to specific behaviors both in the virtual and real worlds.
The idea that the virtual environment also shapes or primes our behavior within the settings is interesting. While this research was conducted on “real-world” virtual environments, I’m curious about the extension of this into fictitious virtual worlds within games like World of Warcraft and Minecraft.
Networked Gatekeeping and Networked Framing on #egypt
“Previous studies showed that Twitter also enabled marginalized voices to sustain alternative narratives of dissention alongside traditional media’s framing of the #egypt protests (Hamdy and Gomaa 2012; Lim 2012).”
“ Achieving prominence is a more competitive process in Web 2.0 networked contexts, permitting users who possess nonelite status offline to gain influential status.”
It’s interesting to see how the different accounts and users engaged with one another.
“Thus, the (fragile) premise of objectivity, foundational to Western dogmas of journalism, was abandoned in favor of more subjective, yet more contextually informed, thematic accounts.”
If Twitter opens up the opportunity for anyone and everyone to post, interact and disseminate, does it increase or decrease the gatekeeper concept? Do those with the most followers or highest profile actors serve to be the loudest voices drowning out the voices of the few, or do they become the amplification of those smaller voices through dissemination?
A major boost for gender equality or more of the same?
“Within this process, journalists decide which details are worthy of inclusion, emphasis and repetition. Therefore, mass media have the potential to frame or shape reality for media consumers, and ‘may actually define our understanding of any given situation’ (Kuypers 2002: 7).”
Interesting article given the Women’s FIFA World Cup is currently happening, but is clearly not getting the national attention as the Men’s FIFA World Cup games last year, even in the United States, even with the recent growth and popularity of major league soccer, that the games are being played in nearby Canada, and that the U.S. is a leading contender to win the cup, having Friday night secured a semifinal spot for the seventh consecutive World Cup.
The article resonates with me as detailed and affirming of what I thought I’d noticed and perceived of the last two summer games coverage by the networks of NBCUniversal. This was especially evident during the dossiers presented of the athletes from the United States and other countries.
“A study of television coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics found that male athletes were more likely to be portrayed as ‘courageous, strong, and independent’ compared to female athletes who were likely to be described based upon their ‘physical attractiveness and sexuality’ (Tang and Cooper 2012: 75).”
The Hyperlinked World: A Look at How the Interactions of News Frames and Hyperlinks Influence News Credibility and Willingness to Seek Information
“Individuals in the hyperlinked condition are willing to seek more information, possibly because they are more motivated in the processing of the story. Motivated processing can lead to increased willingness to seek information (Borah, 2011b).”
This seems to be fairly straightforward and reinforces what I’ve both championed and witnessed with user engagement in any content I’ve created for online user consumption.
Agenda Setting Theory
AT 1:25 it’s highly relevant to this week’s findings by the U.S. Supreme Court. This decision was highly relevant and timely. Not entirely sure this week’s events falls within the Agenda Setting.
If media outlets require some form of revenue to continue production of content, either through advertising or subscriptions, then it should come as no surprise that the content created will pander or be tailored to the narrative of the audience and therefore shape an outlet into Agenda Setting Theory. The video included a TMZ clip, which somewhat epitomizes the idea of Agenda Setting in that they seek to be groundbreaking on celebrity news and details with their paparazzi force.
——————–
In this week’s readings, we take a deeper dive into the effects, or lack thereof, of Gatekeeping and Agenda Setting theories in both traditional and social media.
The first article regarding the priming effect of an environment on the social interactions of two individuals showed how the simple location, in this case virtually constructed, can have an impact on the formality, “warmth” and self-disclosure of the individuals interacting for the first time. While this research was conducted on “real-world” virtual environments, I’m curious about the extension of this into fictitious virtual worlds within games like World of Warcraft and Minecraft. Does a make believe virtual land create a higher likelihood to “pretend” or provide falsities to others within the environment?
Our second article on the uprising of the Egyptian population during early 2011 and social media’s impact, specifically Twitter, show how the Gatekeeping effect can be diminished, or somewhat enhanced, depending on the user and the interactions. Throughout the article, I asked myself that if Twitter opens up the opportunity for anyone and everyone to post, interact and disseminate, does it increase or decrease the Gatekeeper concept? Do those with the most followers or the highest profile actors serve to be the loudest drowning out the voices of the few, or do they become the amplification of those smaller voices through dissemination?
Our third article looked at gender equality from the last two summer olympics and blended well the two topics of Gatekeeping and Agenda Setting media. It’s an interestingly timed article given the Women’s FIFA World Cup is taking place, but is clearly not getting the national attention as the Men’s FIFA World Cup games last year, even in the United States, and with the recent growth and popularity of major league soccer, and that the games are being played in nearby Canada, and that the U.S. is a leading contender to win the cup, having Friday night secured a semifinal spot for the seventh consecutive World Cup. This hasn’t entirely gone unnoticed and several factors have been attributed to the disparity.
The final article on the hyperlinked world wasn’t too surprising. The idea that additional context provided through hyperlinks would increase a reader’s engagement seems intuitive to the platform. “Individuals in the hyperlinked condition are willing to seek more information, possibly because they are more motivated in the processing of the story.” This appears to be fairly straightforward and reinforces what I’ve both championed and witnessed with user engagement in any content I’ve created for online consumption.
Finally, the video clip on Agenda Setting theory was equally timely, given Friday’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on same-sex marriages. If media outlets require some form of revenue to continue production of content, either through advertising or subscriptions, then it should come as no surprise that the content created will pander or be tailored to the narrative of the audience’s interest, and therefore potentially shape an outlet into Agenda Setting Theory. The video included a TMZ clip, which somewhat epitomizes the idea of Agenda Setting in that they specifically seek to be groundbreaking on celebrity news and details with their paparazzi force.
Agenda Setting, Gatekeeping, MMC6400, Web Theory,