Computer-mediated Discourse Analysis Research Articles

Moments of sharing, language style and resources for solidarity on social media: A comparative analysis

This research draws on Androutsopoulos (2014) to analyse the language, language mixing phenomena and participation in online exchanges among members of a transnational community: colleagues in a project team who have been working together for over four years. Informed by sociolinguistics and Computer-mediated Discourse Analysis theory (Herring, 2004), this contribution compares the colleagues’ usual moments of sharing on WhatsApp with their interactions using the same medium during three extraordinary online moments of sharing, which are also significant off-line moments for the group. These three special moments of sharing took place after the terrorist attacks in Manchester in May 2017 and in Turku in August 2017, and the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Europe in March 2020. An examination of the messages exchanged during these extraordinary moments provides considerable evidence that moment, style and audience engagement are closely intertwined. While graphical elements, such as emoji, as well as textese language, are pragmatically unmarked in the typical practices of the community, their absence is the marked choice during the three special moments of sharing analysed. Importantly, the study also shows that code-switching is a key strategy to demonstrate group solidarity during moments of sharing that are special and highly significant for the participants.

A Forensic Interpretation of Hateful Micro-Speech Acts and Performative Modality in Facebook and Twitter during 2017 Election-Kenya

The increasing shift of human activities to online spaces in Kenya has resulted in the new behaviours among internet consumers. One such behaviour is the growing online public journalism phenomenon amid legal and regulatory gaps permeating expression of online hate speech rhetoric disguised as ‘politically correct talk’ which often goes unquestioned despite its injurious force and the potential to precipitate physical violence in the long run. To judge content as hateful, Kenya’s judicial processes rely the establishment of speech intention to hurt a legally protected entity. However, hate speech law enforcers lack skill and capacity to accurately determine the pragmatic force of hateful language. This article, which is a part of broad study that examined the discursive construction of online hate rhetoric, examines the injurious potential of online micro-speech acts and performative modality of selected Facebook posts and tweets constituting the day-to-day communicative practices online during the 2017 general election in Kenya. Working within forensic-based Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) framework, we analyse a purposive sample of 160 posts; FB (120) and Twitter (40) collected through online observation of Facebook groups and hashtags trending in Kenya between July and November 2017. The findings show how micro-speech acts and performative modality worked in service of aggressive ideology in the form of overt and covert appeals for collective prejudice against marked ethno-political out-groups. These insights are relevant for policy makers such as NCIC, KHR and CAK as well as the hate speech law enforcers especially National Police Service and prosecutors in understanding how certain commonsensical day to day online communicative practices yield pragmatic potential to propagate ideologically rooted culture of hate and violence in multi-ethnic cultural contexts such as Kenya.

Communicative functions of emoji sequences in the context of self-presentation: A comparative study of Weibo and Twitter users

Focusing on Weibo (a Chinese Microblogging site) and Twitter, this study adopts computer-mediated discourse analysis to examine how influencers use emoji sequences when engaging in self-presentation. It identified a variety of text-based speech acts, emoji functions, and functional relations by conducting speech act and pragmatic function analysis. ‘Claim’ is the most common text-based speech act accompanying with emoji sequences in both data groups; however, the former had a higher percentage than the later. Moreover, emoji functioning as a combination of ‘stance and action’ in sequences comprise the most prominent category in the Twitter data, whereas the ‘concept’ function accounts for the largest percentage within the Weibo data. Finally, emoji sequences serving as ‘emphasis on text’ is most employed in connection with accompanying texts in both data. This study also observed how a lack of user-desired emoji may be compensated for through collocation of emoji sequences, a device which involves significant creativity and intricacy.

The Fine Line between Person and Persona in the Spanish Reality Television Show La isla de las tentaciones: Audience Engagement on Instagram

The hybridization of television genres has led to numerous non-fiction television shows that base much of their success on audience engagement through social networks. This study analyses a specific case, that of La isla de las tentaciones (Temptation Island), to identify interpretive frames in reality shows and their interrelationships with audience involvement on Instagram. Based on a corpus of 8409 comments posted on Instagram by the followers of the program’s actor profiles, the article analyzes the lines between reality and fiction in this non-fiction television show about relationships and infidelity, and, in particular, how online “haters” play a performative role. The show’s participants who were unfaithful are insulted and receive numerous negative value judgments. The “coding and counting” method, drawn from Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis, is used for the coding. Results show that viewers barely allude to this show as fiction, do not differentiate between the actors and their characters, and empathize strongly with the stories they view. The study shows the need for media education, both for those who make the media and those who view it. The goal is not to detract from entertainment value, but to improve critical skills and to recover the educational function of media.

Online support-provision in the self-disclosure of eating disorders

This paper highlights the importance of appropriate communication with individuals who suffer from eating disorders (ED). The negative perception that society has towards ED often leads its patients to conceal their problems and avoid seeking help (Perveen et al., 2017). Understanding the manners in which support-providers approach ED patients in order to eliminate the fear is therefore important. Data was collected from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) website from January to March 2018, where support-providers’ responses to posts of self-disclosure were qualitatively analyzed through computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) using McCormack’s (2010) Categories of Social Support and Blum-Kulka and Olshtain’s (1984) Cross-Cultural Study of Speech Act Realization Patterns (CCSARP). Drawing on the categories of social support proposed by McCormack, it was found that most of the strategies that the support-providers opted for were highly positive and indirect in nature. The findings also showed that the indirect support given was often complemented with words of encouragement and a number of suggestions that were offered as part of the support itself. This allowed the support-providers to appear unimposing on the ED patients while being able to ensure that they were guided on the possible means of recovery.

Talking Visuals in Social Media: Linguistic Study of Facebook among a Selected Group of Kenyan Internet Users.

This paper investigates how Facebook users in Kenya lean on pictures to amply meaning in their online posts. This argument on visuals, and their utility on social media is important to the current study as visuals form part of the analysis and it will be important to examine what realities they represent apart from the written texts. The article located itself within the frameworks of Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) and used questionnaires to obtain data. Pictorial presentation of information has been a common practice in the 21st century Kenya. A text on the Internet may be multimodal; having written speech and visual texts. These visual texts are used with various motives like entertainment, passing information, advocacy, and advertisement. It becomes extremely important to recognize that visuals and other forms of semiosis (making meaning) are as important as words in the construction of reality. A pictorial will often offer a different version of reality from that of verbal text. This study concluded that the number of photos by females was almost double the ones for males, meaning as far as this study is concerned, this motivation factor of photo uploads is more in females than in males.

Problematising Hateful Ethno-Political Rhetoric in Facebook and Twitter during 2017 General Elections in Kenya

The purpose of this study is to examine online hate discourse; with a focus on the construction of online ethno-political rhetoric as a form of hate speech during Kenya's 2017 general election. The study employed a qualitative case study design which entailed an empirical investigation of a particular phenomenon using multiple evidence. Purposive sampling allowed the researcher to observe, collect and analyse only the specific materials that had the characteristics relevant to the objective of this study. Working within Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) framework, we analyse a purposively selected sample of sixteen posts from FB (ten) and Twitter (six) derived from the initial sample of 360 posts collected through online observation of Facebook groups and hashtags trending in Kenya between July and November 2017. ‘The findings point at the shifting hate speech battle fields where ethno-political extremism in form of ‘Us against Them’ discourse finds easy expression online through dehumanizing epithets and metaphors that de-personalize and de-characterize the target, bringing to salience their perceived negative attributes in order to justify prejudice against them as a tool of political mobilization. These insights are relevant in understanding hate speech in multi-ethnic cultural contexts in society generally and specifically in Kenya. The study recommends that the government of Kenya and other key stakeholders should develop a media literacy policy on the moral responsibility in embracing netiquette and responsible netizenship in online interactions.

FEMINISMO E DISCURSO DE GÊNERO EM REDES SOCIAIS: EMPODERAMENTO FEMININO?

Neste estudo analisamos parte da discussão nos sites de redes sociais sobre as questões de gênero em torno do lançamento do filme Mulher-Maravilha, em quatro publicações na página de Facebook oficial da obra. Investigamos, nos comentários sobre o lançamento do filme, a presença de debate sobre as questões feministas, a fim de identificar os temas discutidos e sua perspectiva. A hipótese do trabalho original, a dissertação de mestrado de Maria Cecilia Baini, foi de que o filme iria mobilizar discursos sobre empoderamento feminino. Partindo das discussões sobre questões de gênero a partir dos anos 1930, apresentamos estudos de gênero tal como entendidos hoje e discorremos sobre a presença do feminismo na Internet. Questões sobre poder e discurso são trazidas à tona ancoradas nos preceitos de Bourdieu (1996) e Foucault (2013), a fim de pensar a produção do discurso como resultado de relações de poder na sociedade. A linguagem é entendida, recorrendo-se ao conceito de habitus (BOURDIEU 1989), como passível de naturalizar o poder e como um instrumento que pode estar a serviço da perpetuação da desigualdade dos gêneros. Recorremos a Recuero (2012, 2014) para descrever a comunicação mediada por computador, em seus aspectos relevantes para nossa análise, compreendendo-a como um produto social capaz de simular elementos da conversação oral. Seguindo Herring, (2001, 2004), vemos a comunicação textual como parte dos discursos que vêm a construir comportamentos, recorrendo aos aportes teóricos e metodológicos da Análise do Discurso Mediada por Computador, desenvolvidos por Hering, a fim de tentar identificar padrões recorrentes do discurso examinado, com ênfase nos vinculados à discussão sobre o empoderamento feminino.

Self-directed learners’ perceptions and experiences of learning computer science through MIT open courseware

ABSTRACT Given the rapid rise of open educational resources (OER) for informal learning pursuits impacting countless millions of people each day around the world, this study investigated the impact of the initiative that spearheaded this movement; namely, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) open courseware (OCW). More specifically, it explored self-directed learners’ perceptions of the impact of the MIT OCW, their social presences and cognitive presences while learning through MIT OCW online instructional videos. The data source of this study was learner comments regarding 23 instructional videos found in YouTube. Thematic analysis and computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) were used for data analysis. The results indicated that the impact of the MIT OCW served as the first step for career development and important educational decisions of myriad learners that served to benefit MIT programmes with future applicants. In addition, YouTube comments of the self-directed learners reflected a relatively lower social presence and higher cognitive presence compared to general social media. Meanwhile, self-directed learners encountered challenges such as technology issues, non-engaging teaching methods, and social learning needs. Perhaps the future OER and OCW development will, in fact, be designed for a more interactive and engaging experience for the self-directed learners of this world.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION: A CASE STUDY ON MALAYSIAN MILLENNIALS

Purpose of the study: This study aims to analyse which gender language features are used by both genders in computer-mediated communication (CMC) and also investigates if online gender communication reflects normal face-to-face communication.
 Methodology: A qualitative research design was employed in addressing the objectives of the study. A total of 260 Facebook comments were collected and analysed using more than one methodological approach in accordance with CMDA (Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis).
 Main Findings: The findings show that male language features occurred more frequently compared to female language features. However, commenters of both genders do not always follow their respective gender language features. This shows that commenters from both genders do not necessarily follow their own gender stereotypes according to the different contextual situations they face.
 Applications of this study: The findings from this study can contribute to gender language studies and also benefit those who are interested in millennial research and the usage of CMC in recent times.
 Novelty/Originality of this study: In this research, common framework in analysing gender differences is improved to fit the needs of current CMC trends.

Text-based Computer-mediated Discourse Analysis: What Causes an Online Group to Become a Virtual Community?

The present study seeks to explore how computer-mediated discourse analysis can be useful for the study of online interaction, in particular, text-based multiparty interaction. The data are from the text-based chat group of high school English language teachers in China, which consists of more than one thousand members. Because of the fluid membership, reduced social accountability, and lack of shared geographical space, it seems that not every online group automatically becomes a “community”. Addressing this concern, and informed by the computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) proposed by Herring, the researcher seeks to investigate the properties of virtual communities and to assess the extent to which they are realized by specific online groups.

Mediated Identity of Catholic Internet Forum Users in Poland

The paper analyses the emic conceptualisations of “religious identity” among the users of two online Catholic forums in Poland, dyskusje.katolik.pl and forum.wiara.pl, with the use of computer-mediated discourse analysis (cmda). This study aims to contribute to the debates on online religious identity construction, in particular within heteronomous and/or contentious communities (Abdel-Fadil, 2017; Davidson & Farquhar, 2014; Kimmons et al., 2017). The paper argues that religious identity on the forums has an individual and collective dimension, and that the fillings of the term “religious identity” often involve non-verbatim, covert references to religion and faith, which makes them similar to a division into “us” vs. “them.” It will be argued that the mediatised religious identities of forum users, while flexible and transformable, are also grounded in non-media contexts, for instance a church or a religious community, or a certain understanding of religion and religiosity.

The public loneliness of endurance athletes: Creating ambient affiliation through involvement strategies on Twitter

The accessibility and interactivity of Twitter both facilitate athlete-fan interaction and contribute to the time/space compression between sporting events and communication about them. While numerous studies investigate real-time participatory engagement of fans on Twitter, athletes’ use of Twitter during competition remains underexplored. Using a case study approach, this study brings together computer-mediated discourse analysis and prior work on involvement in discourse to examine tweets posted during competitive events by two endurance athletes (an experienced amateur marathon runner and an elite rock climber). Specifically, it explores how athletes mobilize various linguistic strategies to create relations of connectedness, or ambient affiliation (Zappavigna, 2011), with their respective audiences who are distanced spatially and often temporally. It also demonstrates how the affordances and limitations of technology, and the constraints of the athletic events themselves, shape ambient involvement. In this way, this work adds to our understanding of how ambient affiliation is constructed in a particular context – a competitive athletic event of an endurance athlete practicing a solitary sport – while also shedding light on how involvement is created and maintained with a largely unknown online audience.

A Linguistic Analysis of Translation Errors on Selected Public Notices in Kenya

This paper purposes to analyse translation errors in selected Kenyan public notices. Specifically, it examines how translation faults possess unique linguistic resources. There is an extensive existence of this genre countrywide albeit without proper academic scrutiny to further interrogate fundamental linguistic concepts therein. It involves the application of the Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis (CMDA) which is unique to the analysis of this genre. Specifically, this research involves collecting data from the social media of the relevant public notices in Kenya. Generally, twelve signage were analysed. The sampling procedure was done purposively to include the diversity of Kenya. To qualify, the data collected had to reflect translation blunders. Then, the data was analysed for linguistic resources. The data was presented using a table showing the relationship between the components sought. Consequently, the study enriched translational linguistics, evaluated textual analysis and critiqued the linguistic concepts of performance and competence. Additionally, it provided useful insights into the cognitive mechanisms used during humour production and understanding.

SOLICITATION OF ONLINE SOCIAL SUPPORT: SELF-DISCLOSURE OF EATING DISORDER PATIENTS

This paper focuses on the online construction of self-disclosure of individuals suffering from eating disorders and demonstrates how strategies of soliciting online social support are mediated within the public sphere. McCormack (2010) indicates that participation of individuals suffering from eating disorders in online support groups, where they anonymously share their feelings and issues via the Internet, is more accessible and non-costly compared to offline settings. This serves as motivation for data to be collected from the discussion forums on the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) website. Relevant posts of self-disclosure containing instances of online solicitation of support dated from January 2018 to March 2018 were analysed using the computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) method and North’s (1997) Strategies of Soliciting Social Support. The findings reveal that the sharing of experience is regarded as the most frequent strategy of soliciting support opted by ED patients. This result in a lengthier posts where detailed explanation of their problems were disclosed. It appears that the strategy utilized in online support-solicitation is merely a channel used in portraying the actual state of the support-seekers in handling their illness. In addition, as ED is perceived to be uncommon and unprioritized in Asia (Miller & Pumariega, 2001), the possibility of getting help from various channels may be scarce. Thus, this study’s outcome provides a vivid image on how online social support discussions can be considered as one of the potential effective platforms to help individuals in the Southeast Asia who suffer from ED in their recovery process. Keywords: Computer-mediated discourse, eating disorders, online social support, self-disclosure, soliciting. Cite as: Zulkarnain, N. A. & Mohd Jan, J. (2019). Solicitation of online social support: Self-disclosure of eating disorder patients. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(1), 344-364. http://dx.doi.org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss1pp344-364

Blogs brasileiros sobre suicídio

Introduction: Suicidal behavior is an internet wide spread complex topic. Some websites support it; others are against it. Objective: To analyze the content of Brazilian blogs about suicide. Method: This is a descriptive-exploratory study. Blogs against and in favor of suicide were collected through Google. The criteria for the search included Brazilian blogs with more than one post about suicide, those with frequent posts about suicide in a year and blogs with posts until December 2014. Computer-mediated discourse analysis was used to analyze the sample. Results: Five blogs supporting suicide and five against were identified with features related to the levels of computer-mediated discourse analysis. Blogs against suicide present higher time of activity, higher number of messages, higher diversity regarding social networks connectivity, higher visits. They also include profile descriptions and use of real names in comparison with blogs supporting suicide. Conclusion: Internet holds relevant content that allows investigating risk factors and protection against suicide as well as the development of online prevention strategies.

Exploring presence in online learning through three forms of computer-mediated discourse analysis

ABSTRACTThis case study examined patterns in online communication using computer-mediated discourse analysis to better understand how teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence are manifested in an online learning environment. The findings indicate that study participants actively participated in the discussion. The instructor and facilitators displayed high teaching presence through posting encouraging social words and maintaining a positive emotional tone, which created an open communication environment for student discussion. To promote students’ cognitive development, the acts that their words described included to “inform” and “elaborate” to help students construct knowledge by providing factual information and extending or embellishing upon points made. Students displayed social presence by using more social and positive emotion words, and tone, which signaled that they were satisfied with the discussion. Students’ cognitive presence was manifested through making claims, providing information and elaboration on posted comments.

Bipolar patients and creative online practices: Sharing experiences of controversial treatments.

Bipolar disorder is among the top 10 causes of disability worldwide. It is managed through a combination of medical and psychotherapeutic interventions, but finding an effective treatment is often a long process of trial-and-error, that medical professionals and people diagnosed with this condition engage upon. This article investigates how people diagnosed with bipolar disorder enact lay expertise about the treatment of this condition online. Using De Certeau’s (1988) theory of everyday practices, three tactics are identified—complexity, uncertainty, and individualization—through which people diagnosed creatively adapt medical knowledge on bipolar disorder, to render their personal experiences and views on treatment more authoritative. It is suggested that through their technological features, which allow for the accumulation and refinement of the insights contributors share, blogs may function as digital repositories of patient experiences and may thus help facilitate collective processes of knowledge production. Online data were collected from two blogs, which were selected using the Google index as relevance indicator, and were analyzed through computer-mediated discourse analysis.

Communicative functions of emoji sequences on Sina Weibo

The popular press is currently rife with speculation that emoji are becoming a global, digitally-mediated language. Sequences of emoji that function like verbal utterances potentially lend strong support to this claim. We employ computer-mediated discourse analysis to analyze the pragmatic meanings conveyed through emoji sequences and their rhetorical relations with accompanying text, focusing on posts by social media influencers and their followers on a popular Chinese social media platform. The findings show that the emoji sequences can function pragmatically like verbal utterances and form relations with textual propositions, although their usage differs from textual utterances in several respects. We also observed user innovations that make the sequences more language like, although there is not as yet a fixed grammar of emoji sequences. We characterize this emoji use as an emergent graphical language, with the caveats that it is not yet a fully-formed language and that the Chinese emoji language that is emerging is different from the English variety, and therefore emoji are not a universal language. In order to promote the further development of emoji language(s), we advance recommendations for emoji design grounded in linguistic principles.

Sharing Knowledge on LinkedIn Groups: Focus on Legal Practitioners

This paper focuses on LinkedIn (LI), and in particular, on LI professional discussion Groups, i.e. dedicated spaces used by professionals to keep in touch with their peers, share information and updates, and debate topical issues. The analysis is based on a corpus comprising 557 interactions on four Groups of legal practitioners, Leadership for Lawyers, Legal IT & Innovation Network, Mediation Discussion Group (MDG), and International Arbitration.This study is set in the framework of Computer Mediated Discourse Analysis. The research questions are as follows: what motives guide LI Group members in their online activity and how can the social practices they engage in be defined? What rhetorical strategies are deployed in negotiating/communicating professional knowledge in Group conversations?. how do participants discursively construct for themselves an image of authoritativeness in the knowledge dissemination process? What is the impact, if any, of the architecture of the SNS and the affordances it makes available on the actual dynamics of Group interaction?Findings indicate that although members’ activities within LIN Groups are conventionally called “conversations”, the actual interaction is limited, as in most cases members simply share information and updates and bring issues or developments to the attention of other professionals. Results also show that very often professionals are active on LI Groups for reasons of self-promotion (personal branding) and, more interestingly, for the promotion of goods and services, thus giving rise to a clear case of genre bending (Bhatia 2004). A regards the organisation of posts, in many cases they are not self-standing, but rather symbiotic with other genres (e.g. articles, blog posts) or resources published on other websites.Further research is needed to verify if these findings are peculiar to legal practitioners’ Groups or apply to LI Groups in general.