Level Of Online Activity Research Articles

English

This article aims to explore the relationship between patient empowerment and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Indeed, ICTs are considered important for increasing access to medical information and for patients’ other experiences, thereby nourishing the empowering rhetoric. The paper presents a research study conducted in Italy that focuses on the self-assessments made by online health communities (OHCs) users, subdivided in three categories, according to their level of online activity: Lurkers, occasionally active users and frequently active users. The concept of empowerment was operationalised in five issues: autonomy from doctors, involvement in medical decision-making, competence, self-management and acceptance. The results support the relationship between perceptions of empowerment and the higher level of activity played on OHCs, contributing instead to reject the idea of a generalised benefit. Moreover, the paper aims to enrich the theory of patient empowerment by adding a socio-material perspective. This helps broaden the understanding of the relationship between empowerment and ICTs by highlighting its underlying complex skein. Key words: Empowerment, self-management, information and communication technologies, online health communities, socio-material perspective, chronic disease.

Revisiting the digital divide in Canada: the impact of demographic factors on access to the internet, level of online activity, and social networking site usage

The present study relies on the 2010 Canadian Internet Use Survey to investigate differences in people's access to the internet and level of online activity. The study not only revisits the digital divide in the Canadian context, but also expands current investigations by including an analysis of how demographic factors affect social networking site (SNS) adoption. The findings demonstrate that access to the internet reflects existing inequalities in society with income, education, rural/urban, immigration status, and age all affecting adoption patterns. Furthermore, the results show that inequality in access to the internet is now being mimicked in the level of online activity of internet users. More recent immigrants to Canada have lower rates of internet access; however, recent immigrants who are online have significantly higher levels of online activity than Canadian born residents and earlier immigrants. Additionally, women perform fewer activities online than men. People's use of SNSs differs in terms of education, gender, and age. Women were significantly more likely to use SNSs than men. Interestingly, high school graduates had the lowest percentage of adoption compared to all other education categories. Current students were by far the group that utilized SNSs the most. Canadian born, recent, and early immigrants all showed similar adoption rates of SNSs. Age is a strong predictor of SNS usage, with young people relying heavily on SNSs in comparison to those aged 55+. The findings demonstrate that the digital divide not only persists, but has expanded to include inequality in the level of online activity and SNS usage.

Do broadband adoption rates impact a community's health?

As broadband Internet access becomes more common, researchers have focused on the ways that it might improve society. As part of this effort, we seek to determine whether increasing levels of broadband adoption have impacted actual health outcomes by assessing changes in aggregate health measures over time. We use data from 92 metropolitan/micropolitan statistical areas in the USA over the time period 2002–2009 and incorporate a first-differenced approach to uncover the relationship between levels of broadband adoption and various self-reported health outcomes. The results show that higher rates of broadband adoption play a statistically significant role in explaining changes in 9 of the 24 health measures considered. In some cases, higher levels of online activity are related to improved health outcomes. This suggests that policies to increase broadband adoption rates may have significant externalities related to health.

Reflections on the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election in the Turkish Blogosphere

The current study presents the results of a research investigation into the role of political blogs in the international political communication process by focusing on the 2008 U.S. presidential election and its reflection in the Turkish blogosphere. Four types of analysis were carried out in order to (a) evaluate the overall blogosphere’s reaction in Turkey towards the U.S. presidential candidates; (b) measure the awareness of Internet audience in Turkey about the candidates; (c) identify the main themes of discourse in the Turkish blogosphere; and (d) determine the level of interactivity in blogs in the discussion of the candidates. A total of 205 political blogs were examined. The findings indicate that a direct relationship between the level of online activity of the candidates and the number of blog entries and comments.

The Impact of State-Level Social Capital on the Emergence of Virtual Communities

The paper analyzes the 48 contiguous states of the Union and their ability to create and maintain online communities (Yahoo! groups). Multiple regression analysis indicates that the number of online groups and overall amount of online activity increase with amount of social capital. Also, ethnic homogeneity positively influences the number of online groups, while population density and number of IT workers are positively associated with level of online activity. in broad terms, the analyses support the idea that the Internet strengthens offline interaction, sociability online building on sociability offline.