Internet Discussion Boards Research Articles

A thematic review of scientific and family interests in Canavan Disease: where are the developmentalists?

Canavan Disease is a degenerative neurological condition resulting in a spongy deterioration of the brain. Much research has been conducted by the medical community regarding this condition, but little research can be found in the psychological literature. A review of the scientific literature related to Canavan Disease using the Psychinfo and PubMed databases was conducted covering a 5-year span from 2006 through 2011. Concurrently, a review of parent initiated topics found on the most popular Canavan Disease Internet discussion board was conducted for comparison purposes. When comparing the topics discussed and information sought among parents with the themes noted in the extant scientific literature, researchers found an exceedingly small overlap between the two communities of interest. In the scientific literature, published research on Canavan Disease focused on three areas: the biochemistry of Canavan Disease, diagnosis and genetic counselling, and clinical therapeutic approaches in Canavan Disease. Of the 42 unique topics raised on a popular Internet discussion board, however, only three (7%) fell into the category of diagnosis and genetic counselling, none (0%) fell into the category of the biochemistry of Canavan Disease, and four fell into the category of clinical therapeutic approaches in Canavan Disease (10%). Of the four posts addressing clinical therapeutic approaches to Canavan Disease, only one post truly overlapped with the topics addressed by the scientific community. Worded differently, while these three categories comprise 100% of the extant scientific literature regarding Canavan Disease, they comprise only 17% of the parent-raised topics. The remaining 83% of parent-raised topics addressed concerns not currently being focusing upon by the scientific community, namely, non-medical practical issues, information regarding specific characteristics of Canavan Disease, non-medical developmental and quality of life issues, and day-to-day developmental and medical concerns. By comparing the extant literature on Canavan Disease with the topics of interest raised by parents and caregivers, it seems clear that there is a significant 'underlap' of topics raised by these two communities of interest, one that may reflect a lack of sensitivity on the part of the scientific community to meet the needs of this population of knowledge seekers. It is the suggestion of these authors that developmental psychology may be the appropriate scientific field within which to address this need and fill this gap in the current literature.

Motivations and Emotional Consequences Related to Engaging in Extramarital Relationships

ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to allow adults who were actively engaged in extramarital relationships to explain their motivations and emotions in their own words. We recruited 77 participants (22 men and 55 women) from an Internet discussion board aimed at people who were actively pursuing or involved in extramarital affairs. Participants completed an online survey that allowed them to describe up to three extramarital relationships, including the reasons for beginning each affair and the emotional consequences of each affair. We found sexual needs, emotional needs, and falling in love to be major reasons for beginning affairs. Both men and women were equally likely to cite sexual or emotional motivations if their primary relationship was not satisfying in either of these elements. Most participants reported experiencing both negative and positive emotions in consequence of their affairs. The results of our study illustrate the complexity of these kinds of relationships.

The Electronic Water Cooler

The boundary between organizational insiders (e.g., employees) and outsiders (e.g., customers) has become increasingly permeable due to Internet discussion boards that enable members of both groups to share experiences of organizational fairness and unfairness. We studied discussion board threads on Vault.com , focusing on threads initiated by postings containing organizational justice content and authored by an organizational insider or outsider. Consistent with predictions of the social identity model of deindividuation effects, organizational insiders capitalized on anonymity to post messages that were significantly more negative in both cognitive content (describing organizations as less fair) and emotional tone (using more negative emotional language) than messages posted by organizational outsiders. As predicted by contagion theory, cognitive content influenced the emotional tone of reply messages, especially when initial postings were from organizational outsiders.

The Anabolic 500 Survey: Characteristics of Male Users versus Nonusers of Anabolic‐Androgenic Steroids for Strength Training

To contrast the characteristics of two groups of men who participated in strength-training exercise-those who reported anabolicandrogenic steroid (AAS) use versus those who reported no AAS use. Analysis of data from the Anabolic 500, a cross-sectional survey. Five hundred six male self-reported AAS users (mean age 29.3 yrs) and 771 male self-reported nonusers of AAS (mean age 25.2 yrs) who completed an online survey between February 19 and June 30, 2009. Respondents were recruited from Internet discussion boards of 38 fitness, bodybuilding, weightlifting, and steroid Web sites. The respondents provided online informed consent and completed the Anabolic 500, a 99-item Web-based survey. Data were collected on demographics, use of AAS and other performance-enhancing agents, alcohol and illicit drug use, substance dependence disorder, other Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision diagnoses, and history of sexual and/or physical abuse. Most (70.4%) of the AAS users were recreational exercisers who reported using an average of 11.1 performance-enhancing agents in their routine. Compared with nonusers, the AAS users were more likely to meet criteria for substance dependence disorder (23.4% vs 11.2%, p<0.001), report a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder (10.1% vs 6.1%, p=0.010), use cocaine within the past 12 months (11.3% vs 4.7%, p<0.001), and report a history of sexual abuse (6.1% vs 2.7%, p=0.005). Most of the AAS users in this study were recreational exercisers who practiced polypharmacy. The AAS users were more likely than nonusers to meet criteria for substance dependence disorder, report a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder, report recent cocaine use, and have a history of sexual abuse. The information uncovered in this study may help clinicians and researchers develop appropriate intervention strategies for AAS abuse.

Bullying in Context: Stories of Bullying on an Internet Discussion Board

The paper examines how young people describe experiences of bullying when participating in an Internet community dedicated to young people experiencing mental health problems. The micro‐analytic focus demonstrates how young people construct their identities in relation to their telling about their experiences of being victims of bullying, reporting on two distinct ways that they framed their postings. The posters either disclosed their experiences about bullying in relation to a wider self‐presentation of experiences of bullying (bullying being part of their past and a partial reason for their problems), or more straightforwardly asked for help and advice from other participants to find ways of dealing with ongoing bullying. Finally, the paper demonstrates how contributors orient to the Internet community, and calls for more research based on unsolicited naturalistic data for such issues as bullying.

Mass Communication and Journalism

Copyright: © 2012 El Tarabishi M. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The changing media landscape was the result of the transformation of media technology led to the so called” media morphosis”. Media morphosis is the normal transformation of communication media from the traditional media, such as the print media and electronic media to the nontraditional media, such as the computer, the direct to home satellite, cable TV, WWW web, and the social media, which sometimes identified with Web 2.0 such as wikis, podcasts, blogs, and the Internet forums or discussion boards. The social media do not actually arise spontaneously and independently, but they have emerged gradually from the metamorphosis of older media. The new electronic communication media will offer possibilities for greater change in society.

Tell me a story — a conceptual exploration of storytelling in healthcare education

The importance of storytelling as the foundation of human experiences cannot be overestimated. The oral traditions focus upon educating and transmitting knowledge and skills and also evolved into one of the earliest methods of communicating scientific discoveries and developments. A wide ranging search of the storytelling, education and health-related literature encompassing the years 1975-2007 was performed. Evidence from disparate elements of education and healthcare were used to inform an exploration of storytelling. This conceptual paper explores the principles of storytelling, evaluates the use of storytelling techniques in education in general, acknowledges the role of storytelling in healthcare delivery, identifies some of the skills learned and benefits derived from storytelling, and speculates upon the use of storytelling strategies in nurse education. Such stories have, until recently been harvested from the experiences of students and of educators, however, there is a growing realization that patients and service users are a rich source of healthcare-related stories that can affect, change and benefit clinical practice. The use of technology such as the Internet discussion boards or digitally-facilitated storytelling has an evolving role in ensuring that patient-generated and experiential stories have a future within nurse education.

스킵리스트를 이용한 인터넷 토론 게시판 댓글 관리

최근 웹 블로그나 인터넷 게시판과 같은 가상 커뮤니티가 활발히 사용됨에 따라 댓글을 통해 자신의 의견을 적극적으로 나타내고자 하는 이용자들이 점점 증가하고 있는 추세다. 실제로 댓글 활동이 활발한 인터넷 토론 게시판에서 수천 개의 댓글이 달린 게시물도 어렵지 않게 찾아볼 수 있다. 대부분의 웹 블로그나 인터넷 게시판에서는 댓글이 작성된 시간에 따라 목록 형태로만 제공되고 있을 뿐 기본적인 검색 기능조차도 지원되지 않고 있다. 본 논문에서는 인터넷 토론 게시판의 댓글 분석을 통해 댓글 작성자의 분포가 거듭제곱 법칙을 따르는 것을 밝혔다. 그리고 이러한 댓글의 통계적 특성을 반영하는 스킵리스트 기반의 댓글 검색 구조를 제안한다. 제안 방법의 주안점 댓글 작성자들의 확률적 특성을 데이터 구조에 반영하는 것이다. 실험을 통해 제안 방법이 B-트리나 일반적인 스킵리스트의 이론적인 계산 복잡도인 logN에 비해 더 빠른 검색을 수행할 수 있음을 보인다. In recent years, the number of users who are actively express their opinions about Internet articles is more and more growing up, as the use of cyber community such as weblog or Internet discussion board increases. In fact, it is not difficult to find an article with hundreds of comments in famous Internet discussion boards. Most of the weblogs or Internet discussion boards present comments in the form of list and do not yet support even the basic operation such as searching comments. In this paper, we analysed large sets of comments in Internet discussion board named AGORA. It was found that from the result that the distribution of comment writers follows power-law. So we suppose a new search structure of comments using skip lists. The main idea of our approach is to reflect the probabilistic distribution properties of the commenters following the power-law to the data structure. Our empirical results show that the proposed method performs more efficient in searching the nodes with fewer number of comparison operations than logN, which is the theoretical time complexity of general indexed structure such as B-trees or typical skip lists.

Patient perspectives on health advice posted on Internet discussion boards: a qualitative study

Use of the Internet for health information by patients is growing, and there have been diverse responses to this both within the research community and the medical and health-related professions. The use of Internet discussion boards are one way that people living with long-term conditions can interact with their peers and offer and seek advice, support and information. We report patient perspectives on using a discussion board within a wider pilot study of an Internet-based self-management system for diabetes. Qualitative data was gathered during three stages of developing and piloting the wider self-management system. These are: (1) patient focus groups as part of a stakeholder consultation; (2) a pre-test session and focus group; and 3. a 6-month pilot study including follow-up individual interviews. Three main themes were identified within participants' perspectives on Internet discussion boards. First, a focus on the importance and value of peer support to these patients. Secondly, participants' awareness of the need to evaluate the information posted by others in light of their own circumstances. Thirdly, the value placed upon the experiential knowledge of others living with the same condition. Many people living with long-term conditions would like to be in contact with their peers, and Internet discussion boards represent a cost-effective and interactive way of achieving this. Within the context of diabetes, the knowledge and expertise accumulated over many years of self-management is central to participants' self-reported ability to evaluate information posted and make decisions on its possible use.

Can People with Raynaud's Phenomenon Travel to High Altitude?

To determine whether high altitude travel adversely affects mountain enthusiasts with Raynaud's phenomenon. Volunteers with Raynaud's phenomenon were recruited using announcements disseminated by organizations dedicated to climbing or wilderness travel and Internet discussion boards dedicated to mountain activities to complete an online, anonymous survey. Survey questions addressed demographic variables, aspects of their Raynaud's phenomenon, and features of their mountain activities. Respondents compared experiences with Raynaud's phenomenon between high (>2440 m; 8000 feet) and low elevations and rated agreement with statements concerning their disease and the effects of high altitude. One hundred forty-two people, 98% of whom had primary Raynaud's phenomenon, completed the questionnaire. Respondents spent 5 to 7 days per month at elevations above 2440 m and engaged in 5.4 +/- 2.0 different activities. Eighty-nine percent of respondents engaged in winter sports and only 22% reported changing their mountain activities because of Raynaud's phenomenon. Respondents reported a variety of tactics to prevent and treat Raynaud's attacks, but only 12% used prophylactic medications. Fifteen percent of respondents reported an episode of frostbite following a Raynaud's phenomenon attack at high altitude. There was considerable heterogeneity in participants' perceptions of the frequency, duration, and severity of attacks at high altitude compared to their home elevation. Motivated individuals with primary Raynaud's phenomenon, employing various prevention and treatment strategies, can engage in different activities, including winter sports, at altitudes above 2440 m. Frostbite may be common in this population at high altitude, and care must be taken to prevent its occurrence.

Essentialism and attribution of monstrosity in racist discourse: Right‐wing internet postings about Africans and Jews

AbstractWe investigated a total of 4997 postings on an extreme right‐wing Internet discussion board with regard to the groups and themes mentioned. The most frequently mentioned target groups were Africans, Jews, Muslims, Poles, and Turks; the most prominent themes and contexts were conspiracy, criminality, exploitation, threats to German identity, infiltration, mind control and harassment, procreation, rape, and sex. We analysed in detail postings about Africans/Blacks and Jews, that is target groups that were the most clearly connected to particular themes. The analysis reveals that extreme right‐wing discourse essentializes the target groups of Jews and Africans/Blacks and ascribes them immutable group‐specific attributes that effectively make them ‘natural kinds’. The group of Jews appears as a kind of their own with super‐human powers and influence. Africans and Blacks are despised, firstly because their essential characteristics prohibit them to be categorically mixed with Germans (i.e. to become German by nationality) due to their incompatible essence, and secondly when they procreate with Whites. Such procreation produces ‘bastards’ that are met with disgust. We argue that essentialist thinking about social and ethnic groups explains a good part of their rejection by right‐wing followers. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Let Our Voices Be Heard: Qualitative Analysis of an Internet Discussion Board

ABSTRACT This article addresses an online discussion board referencing a domestic violence related murder trial. Findings from qualitative analyses based on narrative and grounded theory suggest that online discussion boards can help survivors of domestic violence to tell their stories and support each other. The perceived anonymity of Internet discussion boards appears to offer a safe place for survivors to co-construct narratives of their experiences with abusive relationships. The following themes were delineated and discussed: “It is difficult to leave,” “nobody helps battered women,” and “thoughts of killing the abuser.” Implications for therapeutic settings are discussed.

All Together Now, Click: MLS Soccer Fans in Cyberspace

This paper examines Internet discussion boards devoted to Major League Soccer, the leading United States professional soccer league, on BigSoccer.com, a U.S.‐based website. MLS fans use discussion boards to build virtual communities around a league and teams lacking strong identities and traditions. MLS exists in sports landscape characterized by a fragmented soccer culture, domination by more established sports and limited coverage by traditional English‐language media. The tenuous nature of MLS as a business enterprise strongly influences the discussions on BigSoccer. While most BigSoccer threads deal with field‐of‐play topics, business and cultural issues permeate much of the discourse. These include 1) the soccer consumer's experience, 2) soccer's place in American sport, 3) the status of the U.S. in world soccer and 4) the role of Latinos in U.S. soccer. It remains to be seen whether soccer boards will promote or discourage the development a more unified soccer culture in the U.S.

Inside advice on educating managers for preventing employee theft

PurposeEmployee theft is a large problem for firms of all sizes, particularly small businesses where profit margins are often slim. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceptions of current and previous employees regarding their advice for detecting and preventing employee theft.Design/methodology/approachThe study presents and analyzes the responses and ensuing discussion to questions posed to 79 individuals in three college‐level entrepreneurship courses. Using a controlled internet discussion board, an interactive dialogue developed among the study participants. The relationship of these findings to the existing literature on employee theft and how these findings support and expand the scholarship base is examined.FindingsAccording to the qualitative research findings, a majority of participants in the study recommend implementation or increase usage of video surveillance, and better control systems and record keeping. Other recommendations include better hiring, using a “ringer” on staff, raising salaries, offering free products for employees, and other advice. Some of these findings correspond to previous research on employee theft, while some results offer new and expanded advice for managers.Research limitations/implicationsLimitations of the study are stated, and recommendations are made for further qualitative and empirical research of employee theft in follow‐up to these findings.Practical implicationsThe employees surveyed in this study recommend that greater surveillance and managerial diligence in control of the operations is needed to decrease employee theft. This advice is from the “inside” by current and former employees who have inside knowledge and first‐hand experience as witnesses to employee theft in businesses today.Originality/valueThe methodology used for the research in this study is innovative and fairly recent, because it involves the use of controlled discussion groups on the internet which allow for thorough scrutiny by the research and greater freedom by participants to compose their perceptions. In addition, study participants also may have perceived a higher level of anonymity and confidentiality using this medium, which may result in more accurate findings that traditional surveys or in‐person research methods.

The Dangers and Draw of Online Communication: Pro-Anorexia Websites and their Implications for Users, Practitioners, and Researchers

Recent advances in communication have enabled an underground interest group, unrestricted by geographic boarders, to evolve. The so-called pro-anorexia movement has a particular presence in the form of Internet discussion boards. This paper examines the potential impact of such online activity for those visiting these resources, for practitioners working with individuals who have anorexia, and for those conducting research into the condition. It contributes to the debate about this controversial development in the world of eating disorders.

Career Pathfinders: A Qualitative Study of Career Development

This paper examined the perceptions of career path and issues of MBA students in response to Lore's The Pathfinder, a comprehensive career-planning model. Using internet discussion boards, an interactive dialogue was mentioned by participants in response to the components of Lore's model. The sample consisted of 50 fully employed MBA students enrolled in a course on self-assessment and career planning. A total of 1,781 separate postings were made and analyzed, using inductive analysis derived from discussion threads based on Lore's categories: comments on Lore's Pathfinder model, living a life you love (what's the holdup, career fantasies, work and family issues, and career selection), how to get there from here (commitment and future from the present), and designing your future career. Findings indicated several interesting trends in the career planning of current MBA students, particularly the importance of self or self-reflective observations in real time as students who are also fully employed formulate career plans. Implications for psychologists and career counselors, career development models, and suggestions for research are presented.

Pundits, Ideologues, and Ranters: The British Columbia Election Online

This article examines the potential for Internet discussion boards to be a vehicle for political deliberation through a case study of the BC Votes discussion board during British Columbia’s 2001 provincial election. Research reveals that the board was dominated by a relatively small number of users and that the favourite discussion topics were not issues but how parties and leaders were performing. The authors conclude that the perception of ideological homogeneity in online discussion may be overstated and that the first post in a discussion thread has an important agenda-setting function. They also find that the relative newness of discussion boards may play a role in shaping the nature of discussion there.

Tradition and technology: teaching rural medicine using an internet discussion board

The aim of the Rural Medicine Rotation (RMR) at the University of Queensland is to give all third year medical students exposure to, and an understanding of, clinical practice in Australian rural or remote locations. Because the primary role of the Rural Clinical School is to improve medical recruitment and retention in rural areas, the provision of positive student learning experiences and subsequent ability to make adequately informed rural career choices is of fundamental importance. A difficulty in achieving this is the relatively short period of student clinical placements, in only one or two rural or remote locations. A web-based Clinical Discussion Board (CDB) has been introduced to address this problem by allowing students at all clinical sites to discuss their rural experiences and clinical issues with each other. The rationale behind the CDB is to encourage an enhanced understanding of the breadth and depth of rural medicine through peer-based learning. All third year students undertaking the RMR are required to submit a minimum of two original contributions, on any clinically related topic, and two replies to other submissions on the CDB. At the end of their 8 week rotation, the students evaluate the CDB by answering a short survey that focuses on the ease of use and access and the educational value of the CDB. A question regarding the influence of the RMR on their interest in pursuing a rural medicine career is also asked. The CDB transcripts are further analysed for type of article posted, category of medicine that was discussed and the specific topic under discussion. This article reports on the results from the first two RMR of 2005. A total of 83 third year medical students undergoing an 8 week rural rotation posted a total of 819 responses on the CDB. This resulted in 217 individual articles or topics discussed within 12 broad medical categories. The student ratings of the ease of use and access of the CDB were high, as were their ratings of its educational value and its potential to increase knowledge of rural medicine. Likewise, the majority of students felt the RMR increased their interest in rural medicine. The CDB offers a unique way to understand the concerns and interests of third year medical students immersed in their RMR. It highlights the issues they need to discuss with their peers, and offers the potential to guide future curriculum changes in response to identified needs. A major advantage of the CDB is its ability to enable all students to access a wide variety of rural practice experiences by sharing ideas and strategies they encounter. Likewise, the CBD encourages the development of deep reflective patterns of learning through a peer-based process. Equally important is the potential for building professional networks, interpersonal relationships, teamwork, collaboration and collegial support systems. These networks and relationships are essential for rural medicine to help alleviate the possible isolation recognised in rural life.

An Internet Discussion Board for Parents of Mentally Ill Young Children

This paper reports parents' use of electronic bulletin board for social support during a pilot study of an Internet intervention. Parents participated for a mean of 13.83 weeks. The convenience sample consisted of six parents. Data were from site access information and parents' postings. Excluding one mother who checked frequently for messages, mothers have an average of 5.2 postings. Excluding this one mother, the postings/ accesses ratio was greater than 60%. Parents made postings in four categories of "child's illness" having 37 comments and 36 comments for "group maintenance". While the study findings cannot be generalized, these results suggest that parents will use electronic discussion boards.

Ethical dilemmas in research on Internet communities.

There has been a rapid growth in the number of articles using Internet data sources to illuminate health behavior. However, little has been written about the ethical considerations of online research, especially studies involving data from Internet discussion boards. Guidelines are needed to ensure ethical conduct. In this article, the authors examine how a youth-focused research program negotiated ethical practices in the creation of its comprehensive health site and online message board. They address three situations in which ethical predicaments arose: (a) enrolling research participants, (b) protecting participants from risk or harm, and (c) linking public and private data. Drawing on the ethical principles of autonomy, nonmaleficence, justice, and beneficence, the authors present practical guidelines for resolving ethical dilemmas in research on Internet communities.