Access To Social Networks Research Articles

Global use and access of social networking web sites: a national culture perspective

Purpose– This study aims to investigate the role and effect of national culture on social networking web sites (SNWs) use and access across countries while controlling for socio-economic factors, specifically networked readiness, level of education and mobile penetration.Design/methodology/approach– Hofstede's multidimensional framework serves as the conceptual basis for the study. Hierarchical regressions are conducted to test the hypothesized effects of cultural dimensions beyond that of the control variables on the penetration of SNWs using a secondary dataset for 36 countries.Findings– The results provide supporting empirical evidence linking three of Hofstede's cultural dimensions to nations' SNWs use and access.Research limitations/implications– Limitations include the use of secondary data for a limited number of countries. Only three social-economic variables were included as controls on the relationship between culture and SNWs access and usage. Future research will benefit from examining other cultural frameworks (such as Hall's classifications) and potential factors such as a nation's demographic composition and their roles in adoption and diffusion of the SNWs. Further research is needed to validate the results by including more nations and employing time-series data of social media penetration and diffusion.Practical implications– Managerial implications are discussed with respect to formulating more effective online marketing strategies for brand engagement and promotional media choice by accommodating for cultural differences.Originality/value– The paper's original contribution stems from the fact that little can be found in the literature about the influence of national culture on the use of social media. It attempts to establish the importance of understanding cultural impact on consumers' SNWs adoption behavior across countries.

Hiding illegal content in the SWF format and spreading through social network services: a legal approach

Alexandros Zaharis, Adamantini I. Martini, Christos Ilioudis and Michael Rachavelias illustrate how it is possible to hide data in different file formats, in particular using flash technology that is now so prevalent on the internet. This article focuses on cases concerning abusive images of children that are exchanged through publicly accessible social networking web sites by hiding the images, and the legal issues and ramifications of this act.

Using Mobile Phone Technology to Provide Recovery Support for Women Offenders

Mobile technology holds promise as a recovery tool for people with substance use disorders. However, some populations who may benefit the most may not have access to or experience with mobile phones. Incarcerated women represent a group at high risk for recidivism and relapse to substance abuse. Cost-effective mechanisms must be in place to support their recovery upon release. This study explores using mobile technology as a recovery management tool for women offenders residing in the community following release from jail. This study surveyed 325 minority women offenders with substance use disorders to determine whether or not they use cell phones, their comfort with texting and search features, and the social networks that they access from mobile phones. We found that 83% of survey subjects had cell phones; 30% of those were smartphones. Seventy-seven percent of the women reported access to supportive friends, and 88% had close family members they contacted regularly using mobile technology. Results indicated that most of the women were comfortable using a mobile phone, although the majority of them had prepaid minutes rather than plans, and most did currently use smartphones or have the capability to download applications or access social networks via their phones. Most women reported that they would be comfortable using a mobile phone to text, e-mail, and answer surveys. The high rate of adoption of mobile technology by women offenders makes them a promising target for recovery support delivered via mobile phone.

Addressing universal access in social networks: an inclusive search mechanism

Social network services (SNSs) have brought new possibilities and challenges to the design of software environments that respect people’s cultural differences. These systems may represent an opportunity for social and digital inclusion. However, search mechanisms in these systems impose serious barriers for people in the process of acquiring digital literacy. One of the barriers is the difficulty of using the adequate terms/keywords to perform content searches. This paper presents an approach to allow ordinary, non-technology proficient people to access the content of a network through the use of search parameters that make sense to them. The proposal is grounded on Semantic Web technologies (Web ontology) combined with Organizational Semiotics concepts and methods to identify the users’ profile and language. A case study was conducted with the search mechanism integrated into a SNS, and a preliminary evaluation reveals the advantages and drawbacks of the approach.

An Approach for Protecting Users�� Relationships in the Process of Identifying Requestor��s Right of Access in Online Social Networks

An Approach for Protecting Users�� Relationships in the Process of Identifying Requestor��s Right of Access in Online Social Networks

Study of Social Networking usage in Higher Education Environment

Social networking, in specific term, access social network application through internet connection, is a new trend in almost organization today. This phenomenon also aroused some debate about impact of employee productivity by using social networking site during office hours. The phenomenon of social networking access also occurred in higher education environment. Despites of debate about negative assumption of social networking impact on productivities, some of campus elements such as students or lecturers using these sites to disseminate information and support the communication among them. Based on this phenomenon, we conducted the research to explore the usage of social networking in higher education environment, especially among lecturers and students, and analyse the impact into teaching-learning activity. Research was conducted in three private universities which have familiar with social networking activities. The research focused on the usage of four kinds of activities such as connecting through facebook, microblogging, instant messaging, and blogging, 300 respondents, responded to the online survey. The result show that most respondents agree for free access into social networking during office hours, and at about 60% respondents using these access not only for entertain but also for information distribution and communication to support teaching activity. The usages vary from task assignment, announcement, class rescheduling negotiation, examination, and so on, which uses some application such as Facebook, Twitter, instant messenger and blog site. This is a policy of social networking access which is most suitable with user behavior in each environment should be proposed.

Parallel Researching with Online Collaboration (PROC), a new cost effective model for multicentre multinational research

The traditional model of multicentre multinational studies is a costly exercise that limits its feasibility for resource limited settings. We propose an alternate model for such studies named Parallel Researching with Online Collaboration (PROC). If implemented, this hypothetical model will make multicentre trials feasible in many resource limited settings. PROC can be summarized in five phases; phase I – academics using free access social networking sites to collaborate and develop research questions, phase II – further consolidation of an idea and expansion of it with online contributions from experts, identification of key persons to carry out the study in parallel at different centres, phase III – drawing up a common research protocol and study tools, phase IV – each satellite centre functioning independently to carry out the common protocol, Phase V – pooling of data in a common summarized format and writing up the findings.

Online Professional Networks for Physicians: Risk Management

The rapidly developing array of online physician-only communities represents a potential extraordinary advance in the availability of educational and informational resources to physicians. These online communities provide physicians with a new range of controls over the information they process, but use of this social media technology carries some risk. The purpose of this review was to help physicians manage the risks of online professional networking and discuss the potential benefits that may come with such networks. This article explores the risks and benefits of physicians engaging in online professional networking with peers and provides suggestions on risk management. Through an Internet search and literature review, we scrutinized available case law, federal regulatory code, and guidelines of conduct from professional organizations and consultants. We reviewed the OrthoMind.com site as a case example because it is currently the only online social network exclusively for orthopaedic surgeons. Existing case law suggests potential liability for orthopaedic surgeons who engage with patients on openly accessible social network platforms. Current society guidelines in both the United States and Britain provide sensible rules that may mitigate such risks. However, the overall lack of a strong body of legal opinions, government regulations as well as practical experience for most surgeons limit the suitability of such platforms. Closed platforms that are restricted to validated orthopaedic surgeons may limit these downside risks and hence allow surgeons to collaborate with one another both as clinicians and practice owners. Educating surgeons about the pros and cons of participating in these networking platforms is helping them more astutely manage risks and optimize benefits. This evolving online environment of professional interaction is one of few precedents, but the application of risk management strategies that physicians use in daily practice carries over into the online community. This participation should foster ongoing dialogue as new guidelines emerge. This will allow today's orthopaedic surgeon to feel more comfortable with online professional networks and better understand how to make an informed decision regarding their proper use.

Social networking for adolescents with severe haemophilia

Access to modern treatments allows adolescents with haemophilia to manage their haemophilia at home, with improved treatment outcomes and quality of life, but has reduced peer support and the potential for experiential learning from older peers. Social networking, aided by modern communication technologies, may offer health benefits through peer support. We sought to assess whether or not disease-specific social networking could benefit adolescents with severe haemophilia. A total of 150 adolescents (aged 10-18) with severe haemophilia A or B from 11 UK treatment centres or those who had attended focus groups to explore the potential for a social network designed specifically for their use were surveyed. Teenage boys with severe haemophilia in the UK who responded to an online and paper questionnaire (n = 47; 31% response rate) rarely knew of or socialized with others with haemophilia outside their families. Two-thirds of respondents said they would like to meet others. For 70% of boys, parents were the major source of information about haemophilia, yet more than half said they often had trouble finding answers to their questions. These boys frequently used online social networks to chat with friends. Adolescents with severe haemophilia frequently have limited contact with others and many wish to have greater contact. They may benefit from peer support and experiential learning gained through online social networking. The SixVibe restricted access social network is to be launched in 2011. It includes features designed to promote and facilitate the development of peer-to peer disease management skills for adolescents with severe haemophilia.

Influence of social networking site and user access method on social media evaluation

ABSTRACTThe Internet has expanded rapidly and shifted from being solely an information access tool to being an interaction tool used by individuals to discover and share content, opinions, and information. To develop information connections, individuals are using a variety of technologies to access content and join virtual communities on various social networking sites. Of interest to researchers and organizations is the individuals’ perception of social networking sites using the identified dimensions of ease‐of‐use, usefulness, information quality, feeling, and usage intention.In this Web‐based study, 226 participants from a professional discussion group provided information regarding their perceptions of social networking sites and access tool usage. The differences in these perceptions based upon the various access methods and various social networking tools are analyzed and reported. The results from simple main effect tests showed that differences exist in both access methods and social networking tool usage.The usage patterns based upon the access methods can have an impact on the usage behavior of social network sites. High‐usage groups have the highest mean values for the perception dimension of ease‐of‐use for both access method and social networking sites. This suggests that organizations should accommodate and energize mobile users and design changes to their social networking sites to facilitate interaction and information sharing. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Semantic web-based social network access control

The existence of online social networks that include person specific information creates interesting opportunities for various applications ranging from marketing to community organization. On the other hand, security and privacy concerns need to be addressed for creating such applications. Improving social network access control systems appears as the first step toward addressing the existing security and privacy concerns related to online social networks. To address some of the current limitations, we have created an experimental social network using synthetic data which we then use to test the efficacy of the semantic reasoning based approaches we have previously suggested.

The Impact of Network Relationships, Prison Experiences, and Internal Transformation on Women's Success After Prison Release

Using data obtained from retrospective, in-depth interviews with 20 successful female parolees, the present study examines the effects of women offenders' relationships with people in their social networks (i.e., their network relationships) before, during, and after incarceration on their postrelease desistence from crime. Because women's social networks facilitate women's criminal activity in the past, shifts are necessary to promote successful parole outcomes. A combination of negative relationships dissolving due to incarceration, women's conscious efforts to improve their social networks, and the availability of prison programming and some prosocial family members work together to enable women to access social networks that help them avoid crime after release. The study suggests the value of prison and parole programming that systematically identifies networks that can meet women's needs and that ensures access and availability of social networks for women with varying needs.

Pathological Gambling College Students' Perceived Social Support

Attending college is a developmental period that represents a transition from adolescence to full-fledged adulthood. During this period of emerging adulthood, independence and recreational opportunities increase dramatically and problem behaviors may emerge. Gambling is one recreational activity that may develop into a problem behavior, especially given that the availability of gambling has increased dramatically in the past two decades. Currently, gambling is legal in every U.S. state except two—Utah and Hawaii. Legal forms of gambling include bingo, lotteries, horse racing, and casino games (if the individual is of age—18 or 21 years old depending upon the jurisdiction and game). Moreover, Internet gambling, although mostly illegal, is easily accessible with over 2,500 online gambling websites (Stewart, 2006). Approximately 40% to 80% of college students have gambled within the last year (LaBrie, Shaffer, LaPlante, & Wechsler, 2003; Weinstock, Whelan, Meyers, & Watson, 2007; Winters, Bengston, Dorr, & Stinchfield, 1998). College students frequently report gambling for social and recreational reasons such as “to have a good time,” “to be with friends,” and “to compete with friends” (Neighbors, Lostutter, Cronce, & Larimer, 2002). However, a significant portion of college students gamble to such an extent that they meet diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling, a psychiatric disorder. Lifetime prevalence of this disorder is estimated at 5% in college students (Shaffer, Hall, & Vander Bilt, 1999). Pathological gambling is characterized as “persistent and maladaptive gambling behavior” (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994, p. 615), and the disorder in college students is associated with poor academic performance, impulsivity, and engagement in other risky behaviors such as illicit drug use (Engwall, Hunter, & Steinberg, 2004; Skitch & Hodgins, 2004; Winters et al., 1998). Longitudinal studies suggest college students transition in and out of gambling problems over time as they move into full-fledged adulthood and that a history of problem gambling is highly predictive of future gambling problems (Slutske, Jackson, & Sher, 2003; Winters, Stinchfield, Slutske, & Bozet, 2005). Thus, pathological gambling is a problem behavior with potential for far reaching consequences well beyond the college years. Social support has received much attention as both a risk factor for, and a protective factor against, problem behaviors. It is conceptualized as an accessible social network that provides psychological and material assistance (Cohen, 2004). Social support can act as a buffer during periods of stress and negative life events. For example, Hussong, Hicks, Levy, and Curran (2001) found college students with lower social support were more likely to engage in drinking after a negative event than were peers with elevated social support. In addition, social support offers a set of connections to others that can exert positive peer pressure and social controls over behavior. For instance, Jessor, Costa, Krueger, and Turbin (2006) found social controls against problem behaviors, such as friends’ disproval, to be a significant protective factor against engaging in binge drinking in college students. Together these studies demonstrate the importance of social support and its influence on the development and maintenance of problem behaviors. Thus far, the relationship between social support and pathological gambling has received little attention. In a sample of Canadian adolescents (grades 7–13), Hardoon and colleagues (2004) found lower perceived social support was associated with pathological gambling. As of yet, no published studies have investigated the relationship between social support and pathological gambling specifically in college students. Therefore, this study seeks to rectify the lack of information regarding the relationship between social support and pathological gambling in college students. Consistent with previous literature on social support and problem behaviors, we hypothesize that social support will be lower in pathological gamblers than nonpathological gamblers.

Using Online Social Networks, Podcasting, and a Blog to Enhance Access to Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library Resources and Services

ABSTRACT Recent studies show that few online users begin their information searching on library Web sites and that an overwhelming percentage of users access social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. This article describes methods used by Stony Brook University Health Sciences Library (SBUHSL) staff to build user communities and share library resources in online destinations widely visited by college students. Approaches include tagging and sharing selected links on del.icio.us, developing a WordPress blog to share online tutorials and podcasts, and establishing a Facebook presence.

Elderly suicide and the 2003 SARS epidemic in Hong Kong

Hong Kong was struck by the community outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003. In the same year, the elderly suicide rate in Hong Kong showed a sharp upturn from a previous downward trend. Secondary analyses using Poisson Regression Models on the suicide statistics from the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Government were performed. In a Poisson Regression Model on the annual suicide rates in elders aged 65 and over in years 1986-2003, 2002 served as the reference year. Suicide rates in 1986-1997 were significantly higher than the reference year, with an Incident Rate Ratio (IRR) of 1.34 to 1.61. However, rates in 1998-2001 did not differ from the reference year significantly, representing stabilization of suicide rates for 4 years after 1997. The elderly suicide rate increased to 37.46/100,000 in 2003, with an IRR of 1.32 (p=0.0019) relative to 2002. Such trend is preserved when female elderly suicide rates in 1993-2003 were analyzed, while suicide rates in elderly men and younger age groups did not follow this pattern. Mechanistic factors such as breakdown of social network and limited access to health care might account for the findings. These factors could have potentiated biopsychosocial risk factors for suicide at individual levels, particularly in elderly. Female elders, by way of their previous readiness to utilize social and health services instituted in the past decade, are thus more susceptible to the effects of temporary suspension of these services during the SARS epidemic. The SARS epidemic was associated with increased risk of completed suicide in female elders, but not in male elders or the population under 65 years of age.

The Coevolution of AI and AAAI

AI and AAAI are coevolving. As AI matures, its focus is shifting from inward-looking to outwardlooking. Some of the new concerns of the field are social awareness, networking, cross-disciplinarity, globalization, and open access. AAAI must reflect and support those concerns.

Social Network Conference Set for February 1984

Anthropology NewsVolume 24, Issue 8 p. 13-13 Free Access Social Network Conference Set for February 1984 First published: November 1983 https://doi.org/10.1111/an.1983.24.8.13.2AboutPDF ToolsExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume24, Issue8November 1983Pages 13-13 RelatedInformation

Social Networks and Social Support. Edited by Benjamin H. Gottlieb. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1981. 300 pp. $20.00 cloth, $9.95 paper. Mental Patients and Networks. By Robert Perrucci and Dena B. Targ. Boston: Auburn House Publishing Co., 1982. 176 pp. $19.95

Social Networks and Social Support. Edited by Benjamin H. Gottlieb. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1981. 300 pp. $20.00 cloth, $9.95 paper. Mental Patients and Networks. By Robert Perrucci and Dena B. Targ. Boston: Auburn House Publishing Co., 1982. 176 pp. $19.95 Get access Social Networks and Social Support. Edited by Gottlieb Benjamin H.. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1981. 300 pp. $20.00 cloth, $9.95 paper.Mental Patients and Networks. By Perrucci Robert and Targ Dena B.. Boston: Auburn House Publishing Co., 1982. 176 pp. $19.95. Alice H. Collins Alice H. Collins Portland, Oregon Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Social Work, Volume 28, Issue 4, July-August 1983, Pages 328–329, https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/28.4.328-a Published: 01 July 1983