Online Content Creation Research Articles

Localization, diversification and heterogeneity: Understanding the linguistic and cultural logics of Indian new media

In this article, I foreground the granular movements that determine the ubiquitous nature of India’s new media economy created by the advent of streaming media platforms and the emergence of regional online content creators in India. I argue that the increasing preference of Indian audiences to consume online content in their own language has led to a demand for ‘regional’ content, whereby streaming platforms and online creators are increasingly investing in ‘non-Hindi’ and ‘non-English’ language content to cater to the linguistically and culturally diverse Indian population. Through a primary focus on online content creation practices in Bengali and Marathi languages, the article explores their ‘local’, ‘regional’, ‘transnational’ and ‘global’ appeal, and subsequent blurring of boundaries between ‘regionalization’ and ‘localization’. The remainder of the article focuses on the emerging diaspora of regional online content creators who are adopting distinct content strategies to develop relationships with online communities based on commonalities of language and culture.

Pushing the Next Level: Investigating Digital Content Creation in India

Film, television, and music form a major domestic and export product in India. Whereas, in the past, content production has been restricted to professional producers, digital media platforms have drastically altered the landscape of content production in India. Through in-depth interviews of ten online content creators, the article describes motivations of online content creation in India. Discussion themes include professional activities, identity construction of creators, and quasi-corporate structures that are taking root in the democratized digital spaces in India. In doing so, the article challenges the notion of creators on social media as mere “amateurs” or “UGC” (user-generated content). Conclusions from this study suggest future research should take a more holistic approach to studying online content creators rather than classifying creators on the basis of platform affordances.

“But is it Journalism?” Reflections on Online Informational Roles and Content Creation Practices of a Sample of South African Lawyers

ABSTRACTIn the era of social media, journalism is no longer the preserve of journalists. In specialised fields, such as law, the public in general and lawyers and legal academics specifically are able to “push in” and report and comment publicly on legal matters including trials, commissions, acts of law passed in parliament and other legal processes. These contributions, as this paper explores, are reshaping the contours and content of public discussions of legal matters and of legal journalism in South Africa. This paper suggests that recent theorising of journalism role theory can help understand not just the motivations of these legal interlopers in the journalism space but also how they are shaping a new informational ecosystem in which legal issues, including human rights, administrative and criminal law, and other topics, are brought into the public domain. The paper explores what some South African lawyers understand about the roles they are playing in digital public spaces and how they perceive their contributions and their relationship to the journalism profession and to journalists within that profession. The paper suggests that these lawyers’ practices challenge our understanding about how digital media informational ecosystems work and explores how this is impacting journalism in South Africa.

How Digital Reading Differs from Traditional Reading: An Action Research

The purpose of this research is to examine the insights of preservice teachers' new literacies throughout online research and comprehension. The study is grounded in an online research and comprehension perspective. In the study, the action research design of qualitative approaches was selected as the method. The participants in the research were nine teacher candidates studying in the first year of the Classroom Teacher Education Programme at Erciyes University. The teacher candidates took part in two online research and comprehension tasks about children’s literature and teaching materials lasting 28 hours in total. Following, the preservice teachers’ perspectives regarding this process were elicited through semi-structured individual interviews. The findings reveal that the internet has resulted in certain changes in the nature of information and learning. During the online research and comprehension process, the preservice teachers employed strategies for information location, determining reliability, reading, and online information synthesising and content creation. Moreover, during this process the preservice teachers developed certain digital skills as well as their online research and technology competencies and awareness of reliable information. All these findings have contributed to the exploration of teacher candidates’ new literacy skills, strategies, and dispositions.

LO54: The CanadiEM Junior Editor program: a quantitative study and program evaluation

Introduction: CanadiEM.org is a multi-author open access medical education website which aims to improve emergency care in Canada by building an online community of practice for healthcare practitioners and providing them with high quality, freely available educational resources. It is used by physicians, allied health professionals, and trainees globally. Junior (medical student and/or resident) Editors are key members of the community who are mentored to advance their academic skills and knowledge for their careers and the healthcare field. The program also aims to increase the sustainability of the CanadiEM project by supporting the creation and publishing of online content. We aimed to assess the impact and efficacy of this program while discovering ways to improve it. Methods: The experience of all current and previous Junior Editors were assessed through a survey developed by the authorship team for this purpose. The survey consisted of 48 questions, including 15 multiple choice questions rated using a Likert Scale, 10 open-ended questions, and 23 demographic or binary yes/no questions. The participants' perceptions of their experience, desire for future involvement, and opinions regarding implementation of the program at other medical education websites were assessed using open-ended qualitative questions. These responses were thematically analyzed. Results: A total of 28 Junior Editors responded (71.7% of those surveyed). They listed their responsibilities as uploading/copyediting posts, authorship of posts, infographic creation, social media promotion, authorship of podcast summaries, editing of podcasts, and logo design. Results revealed a positive experience across all domains, with participants citing a better experience when compared to previous similar roles. 85.7% (24/28) stated they achieved their expectations from the program, and 82.1% (23/28) would incorporate this program into another medical education website if given the opportunity. Conclusion: Junior Editors reported positive experiences across all responsibilities, with particular value placed on digital and authorship skills development, inspiration for future FOAMed, research engagement, and mentorship/networking. Through collaboration with current team members, we will implement improvement initiatives. Based upon these results, we believe that the Junior Editor model may also be viable within other medical education communities.

Bermuda Triangle – Licensing, Filtering and Privileging User-Generated Content Under the New Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market

The new EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market creates a peculiar triangle of obligations to license, filter and privilege user-generated content (UGC). As it abolishes the traditional safe harbour for hosting in the case of copyrighted content, it may lead to the disappearance of the open, participative internet which EU citizens currently enjoy. To avoid the loss of open, democratic avenues for online content creation, national lawmakers will have to find the right amalgam of licensing and filtering obligations on the one hand, and new use privileges that offer room for user-generated content without prior authorization on the other. Against this background, the analysis sheds light on these regulatory options and their impact on freedom of expression and information in the digital environment. It demonstrates that the two options which the Digital Single Market Directive offers to alleviate the burden of strict liability for user-generated content – the licensing approach and the filtering approach – are problematic. The licensing approach imposes the task of clearing rights for the wide variety of UGC in the highly fragmented collective licensing framework in EU Member States. The filtering approach raises the spectre of content censorship following the maxims of cost and efficiency considerations of the content and platform industry. In comparison with these scenarios, the development of a broader use privilege for UGC has the advantage of avoiding an encroachment upon fundamental rights and safeguarding breathing space for open, participative online communication. If it is combined with an obligation to pay equitable remuneration for content remixes and mash-ups that do not fulfil quotation or parody standards, it also has the advantage of generating a revenue stream that benefits not only the creative industry but also individual creators. Implementing the new Directive, national lawmakers should thus consider all options: licensing, filtering and privileging UGC. A broadened copyright limitation infrastructure that supports UGC also provides important impulses for the development of filtering technology that follows a reverse logic. Instead of seeking to find protected third party content that renders UGC impermissible, a limitation-based filtering system focuses on creative user input that may justify its online dissemination despite the inclusion of protected third party material.

Copywriting as an activity of online content creation

Copywriting is a relatively young text-making industry, which is becoming important with the development of the Global Network. Despite the great popularity and high economic efficiency, it has not acquired the systemic scientific coverage. Meanwhile, the scientific approach, the development of a proper conceptual apparatus, weighty methodological recommendations and generalizations are of necessity.Based on the existing scientific discourse, practical experience of copywriters, numerous texts presented in blogs of reputable content studios and advertising agencies, the authors come to a definite opinion and the concrete conclusions, stated in this paper.Modern media practice is inextricably linked with the content creation and SEO promotion. Journalists, PR-specialists, ordinary owners of online resources are daily faced with the problem of filling sites, their optimization for search engines and promotion. The Ukrainian and Russian segments of the Internet are filled with resources, the content of which duplicates each other, because it created using copy-paste technology. This situation contradicts the current legislation of Ukraine, violates ethical standards and reduces the effectiveness of online texts. The development of a comprehensive scientific and methodological framework will reduce the negative situation and will be useful for practicing copywriters. The activity should go beyond the limits of purely practical activities and acquire its scientific understanding.It uses the separation of the process of creating content for copywriting, rewriting, scanning, translation from other languages, copy-paste, synonymizing. According to the authors, such an approach is optimal for the current state of this activity. From the presented list, attention is focused on copywriting as the most promising technology for creating texts for websites. All types of copywriting available in UA and Runet (image, SEO, LSI-copywriting, SMM and writing texts that sell) are analyzed, and the main requirements for each of them are highlighted.

Novel Approach for Creation, Storage and Presentation of Online Information Content

The paper provides an overview of a methodology for creation, storage and presentation of online information content (in World Wide Web environment). It is primarily intended to be utilized by open source content management systems and applications for publication of articles, news, papers etc. Open source software and, in particular, content management systems are broadly used in areas such as agriculture, rural development, public and non-profit sector. The methodology covers processes of content creation and updating in general, storage structure and presentation with consideration for sharing and exchanging possibilities. Authors can benefit from easier content creation process as well as consistent output visibility in real time. Structured and standardized storage structure can simplify development of modules, extensions or application libraries. Moreover, the process of CMS (or application) upgrade or transition to a different one which utilizes the methodology and its standards can be simplified and accelerated as well. Finally, the methodology can bring economic benefits by acceleration of CMS development and publication process.

Political engagement and ICTs: Internet use in marginalized communities

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide a distinctive structure of opportunities with the potential to promote political engagement. However, concerns remain over unequal technological access in our society, as political resources available on the internet empower those with the resources and motivation to take advantage of them, leaving those who are disengaged farther behind. Hence, those who face digital inequalities are not only deprived of the benefits of the so‐called Information Society, they are also deprived of exercising their civic rights. To promote political engagement among the marginalized, we analyze different sociotechnical factors that may play a role in promoting their inclusion in future political activities. We employed a survey for marginalized communities to analyze a set of research questions relating to sociotechnical factors. We show that online content creation, digital freedom, and access to the mobile Internet may positively impact political engagement. The development of these factors may not only promote the inclusion of marginalized populations in future political events, but also help to build a more equal society where everyone's voice has a chance to be heard.

What’s trending now? An analysis of trends in internet searches for labor epidurals

BackgroundThe study aim was to investigate internet use for obtaining information about epidurals for labor and delivery. MethodsGoogle Trends for US data was queried from 2004 to 2015 to find the most common searches and determine temporal trends. The Google Trends query used the term [epidural] and evaluated changes in search trends over time. Search comparisons were made for each year from 2004 to 2015, and three equal time epochs during the study period (2004–07, 2008–11, 2012–15) were compared. We also compared searches for epidurals with commonly searched birth-related terms. ResultsInternet searches are increasing; there were 726000 searches for [epidural] in 2015. Search terms with the most significant growth in the past 4years (2012–15) were “birth with epidural,” “pain after epidural,” “labor without epidural,” “epidural birth video,” and “epidural vs natural”. Searches for epidural side effects, risks, and pain on insertion were among the most common and were increasing most rapidly. Searches related to epidurals were more common than searches related to “natural births”, “home births”, and “labor pain”, but were less common than searches for “midwives” or “doulas”. ConclusionThe findings provide an insight into internet use by those seeking information about labor analgesic options. Identifying the most common and rapidly increasing online search queries may guide physician-parturient interactions and online content creation, to address labor analgesic topics that most interest users.

Communicative Antecedents of Political Persuasion: Political Discussion, Citizen News Creation, and the Moderating Role of Strength of Partisanship

Although much attention has been paid to how media use and interpersonal discussion motivate people to engage in political persuasion, and despite recent efforts to study the role of digital media technologies, less is known about the creation of news and public affairs content online. This study sheds light on how online content creation works alongside other communicative behaviors, such as news use and political discussion, to affect attempted political persuasion. Using two-wave panel survey data, we find that political discussion and citizen news creation mediate the relationships between online and traditional news use, on one hand, and attempted persuasion, on the other. Furthermore, strength of partisanship moderates the relationship between content creation and attempted persuasion. Findings are discussed in light of their implications for the political communication and public sphere processes.

Closing the gap: gender parity in political engagement on social media

ABSTRACTHistorically, major gender differences exist in both political engagement and online content creation. Expanding on these literatures, this study considers the extent to which men and women engage in politics specifically in social media. Novel survey data are employed to test for any gendered differences in encountering and responding to political content via social media. Despite measuring a robust set of political behaviors within social media, few gender differences emerge. Where differences do emerge, they are most likely among the most visible political behaviors, suggesting that women may strategically engage in less visible or less-likely-to-offend political behaviors, as compared to men. This poses important questions regarding political participation, representation, and gender.

Online content creation: looking at students’ social media practices through a Connected Learning lens

As the boundaries between technology and social media have decreased, the potential for creative production or participatory practices have increased. However, the affordances of online content creation (OCC) are still taken up by a minority of internet users despite the opportunities offered for engagement and creativity. While previous studies have addressed creative production by university students for specific purposes, there is a research gap concerning OCC in the everyday lives of African university students. This paper describes the stories of three students who are online creators of content, the social media they utilised; their trajectories; their linkages with career interests; the types of online presences they created, maintained or discontinued into their university lives. As the case studies spanned digital practices that were informal and extracurricular yet peer-supported as well as interest-driven and academically oriented, the pedagogical framework of Connected Learning proved an appropriate heuristic. The study shows that being a digital creator gives students a competitive edge in our globally competitive society.

Playing Pregnancy: The Ludification and Gamification of Expectant Motherhood in Smartphone Apps

Like other forms of embodiment, pregnancy has increasingly become subject to representation and interpretation via digital technologies. Pregnancy and the unborn entity were largely private, and few people beyond the pregnant women herself had access to the foetus growing within her (Duden). Now pregnant and foetal bodies have become open to public portrayal and display (Lupton The Social Worlds of the Unborn). A plethora of online materials – websites depicting the unborn entity from the moment of conception, amateur YouTube videos of births, social media postings of ultrasounds and self-taken photos (‘selfies’) showing changes in pregnant bellies, and so on – now ensure the documentation of pregnant and unborn bodies in extensive detail, rendering them open to other people’s scrutiny. Other recent digital technologies directed at pregnancy include mobile software applications, or ‘apps’. In this article, we draw on our study involving a critical discourse analysis of a corpus of pregnancy-related apps offered in the two major app stores. In so doing, we discuss the ways in which pregnancy-related apps portray pregnant and unborn bodies. We place a particular focus on the ludification and gamification strategies employed to position pregnancy as a playful, creative and fulfilling experience that is frequently focused on consumption. As we will demonstrate, these strategies have wider implications for concepts of pregnant and foetal embodiment and subjectivity. It is important here to make a distinction between ludification and gamification. Ludification is a broader term than gamification. It is used in the academic literature on gaming (sometimes referred to as ‘ludology’) to refer to elements of games reaching into other aspects of life beyond leisure pursuits (Frissen et al. Playful Identities: The Ludification of Digital Media Cultures; Raessens). Frissen et al. (Frissen et al. "Homo Ludens 2.0: Play, Media and Identity") for example, claim that even serious pursuits such as work, politics, education and warfare have been subjected to ludification. They note that digital technologies in general tend to incorporate ludic dimensions. Gamification has been described as ‘the use of game design elements in non-game contexts’ (Deterding et al. 9). The term originated in the digital media industry to describe the incorporation of features into digital technologies that not explicitly designed as games, such as competition, badges, rewards and fun that engaged and motivated users to make them more enjoyable to use. Gamification is now often used in literatures on marketing strategies, persuasive computing or behaviour modification. It is an important element of ‘nudge’, an approach to behaviour change that involves persuasion over coercion (Jones, Pykett and Whitehead). Gamification thus differs from ludification in that the former involves applying ludic principles for reasons other than the pleasures of enjoying the game for their own sake, often to achieve objectives set by actors and agencies other than the gamer. Indeed, this is why gamification software has been described by Bogost (Bogost) as ‘exploitationware’.

Digital media production and identity: Insights from a psychological perspective

The unprecedented opportunities for production and collaborative working supported by Web 2.0 technology offer immense potential for active knowledge creation. Research to date has mostly explored the demographic factors that influence production but we argue here that a more detailed understanding of the psychological determinants of online content creation is required if the potential of Web 2.0 is to be maximised. This paper outlines a psychologically driven discussion of the similarities and differences between online and offline contexts and factors that influence online content creation and identity. It demonstrates why a nuanced understanding of the factors that determine not only who produces online content, but what, how and why it is produced is essential to fully appreciate the complexity of the relationship between production and identity. We discuss how situational aspects of the online context and dispositional characteristics of users interact to determine production behaviour and highlight the importance of curation as a key skill for effective content creation and identity management. A number of challenges concerning the lack of co-presence, immediacy and durability and the importance of considering the intended audience and individual differences in practices and preferences concerning privacy are identified and we demonstrate how consideration of the psychological factors that influence online content production and identity creation can inform policy and practice concerning digital inclusion and web safety.

Content creation on the Internet: a social cognitive perspective on the participation divide

Sociodemographic variables are held to impact Internet users’ willingness and ability to productively use online media. This effect can create a ‘participation divide’ between distinct user groups. Recently, studies have enhanced our understanding of the participation divide by differentiating types of online content creation. They found that sociodemographics may only affect specific forms of online participation. We suggest that social cognitive theory (SCT) helps explain why and how sociodemographic variables influence different forms of online participation. Based on SCT, we analyze the mediating effect of two cognitive constructs, self-efficacy and privacy concerns, on different types of online content creation. We conduct a survey among German Internet users and apply structural equation modeling to compare three distinct theoretical models. We find that considering the mediating effects of cognitive constructs, based on SCT, improves our understanding of which sociodemographic variables affect which type of online content creation – and why.

Towards a Broader Understanding of the Participation Divide(s)

Online participation is a thriving topic in communication and Internet research. One prominent area within research on online participation focuses on participation divides. Participation divides are frequently understood as social inequalities in online content creation. To create a broader understanding of participation domains, and thereby participation divides, we conduct a systematic literature review. Analyzing 192 journal articles and conference proceedings, we identify central definitions, antecedents, and outcomes of online participation. Most notably, we detect five distinct domains of online participation: political & civic, economic/business, cultural, health-related, and educational participation. Surveying all five domains, we find some noteworthy differences in the respective participation divides. This position paper interprets the participation divides in each domain, derives propositions for future research and connects the findings to the overall topic of "Communication and the Good Life".

When PIM goes public: A case study of organizedlikejen

Typically, information scientists research videos and blogs, two types of online content, with the aim to understand the information behaviors and activities of those who seek and use such sources. Yet, beginning to understand the set of information-intensive behaviors and activities that accompany online content creation is equally important. This poster presents an early case study of one self-designated “Original Content Creator,” OrganizedLikeJen, a social media personality found on YouTube—as well as on sites like Tumblr, WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest—whose uploads often have an information-related focus. The objective of this poster is to understand how OrganizedLikeJen might proffer a gateway to the investigation of several topics little taken up in current literature. What are possible information producing and sharing behaviors in these forums? What are possible information-centric work practices in these forums? How might informal information providing careers be characterized? Could OrganizedLikeJen specifically indicate information popularization among broad audiences?

Are We All Online Content Creators Now? Web 2.0 and Digital Divides

Despite considerable interest in online content creation there has been comparatively little academic analysis of the distribution of such practices, both globally and among social groups within countries. Drawing on theoretical frameworks used in digital divide studies, I outline differences in motivation, access, skills, and usage that appear to underlie and perpetuate differences in online content creation practices between social groups. This paper brings together existing studies and new analyses of existing survey datasets. Together they suggest online content creators tend to be from relatively privileged groups and the content of online services based on their contributions may be biased towards what is most interesting or relevant to them. Some implications of these findings for policymakers and researchers are considered.

Aggregate-then-Curate: how digital learning champions help communities nurture online content

Informational resources are essential for communities, rooting them in their own history, helping them learn and solve problems, giving them a voice in decisionmaking and so on. For digital inclusion and inclusion in the informational and democratic processes of society more generally it is essential that communities retain the skills, awareness and motivation to create and manage their own informational resources. This article explores a model for the creation of online content that incorporates the different ways in which the quality and relevance of information can be assured. This model, ‘‘Aggregate-then-Curate’’ (A/C), was developed from earlier work concerning digital inclusion in UK online centres, models of informal e-learning and ecologies of resources. A/C shows how creating online content can be viewed as a 7-step process, initiated by individuals but bringing in ‘‘digital learning champions’’, other community members and formal educational institutions at different stages. A/C can be used to design training to help build the capacity to manage community informational resources in an inclusive way. The article then discusses and evaluates MOSI-ALONG, a Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) funded project founded on these ideas, which illustrates how A/C can be used to design training to help build the capacity to manage community informational resources in an inclusive way. This conclusion is supported by evaluations of the work done so far in MOSI-ALONG.Keywords: curation; digital inclusion; object-centred sociality; ecology of resources; inclusion; online content; social media; digital learning champions; communities(Published: 19 December 2012)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2012, 20: 18677 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v20i0.18677