Theme 4

Research paper:

Internet Technology and Social Capital:How the Internet Affects Seniors’ Social Capital and Wellbeing (Sum, S., Mathews, Mark. R., Pourghasem, M. and Hughes, I. (2008)

Published in: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (19 NOV 2009)

The research paper is about  the relationships between Internet use and older people’s social capital and wellbeing. According to the researchers internet can both help and harm seniors. Using the Internet can be helpful for older adults if they are aware how they use it.

The data was collected through an online survey. 222 Australian Internet users aged 55 years or older responded to the survey. Participants were recruited through search engines, through advertisements, and through online community interest groups. By using a quantitative method on the internet the researchers could reach the target group in their study by using the medium they wanted to investigate.

Benefits to this method are that handling of the data becomes easier, extending access to participants, anonymity, timesaving  and increased accuracy through the removal of researcher’s transcription and interference. Limitations are that the people answered the questionnaire are not representative of the general population. Its also inappropriate for studies where a large proportion of the target population may not have access to the Internet technology. In this case, just to find the survey you’ll had to have rather good understanding about using the internet. The target group were also quite large, spanning from 55 years or older. So their life and use of internet might be very different since some of the people in the survey probably still work and use computers and internet in their daily work. While others have been retired for a long time.

The survey used  data about general demographic, age, gender, marital status, education, and population density of the place of residence. Control variables were questions on personality and self-perception of health.

Physical activity, stress, and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection. Benefits, limitations of quantitative vs. qualitative methods.

This paper is about if there is any connection between upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and physical activity and perceived stress.  They conducted a survey on 1509 persons between the age of 20 and 60 during 4 month. The data was collected using a questionnaire that were sent out in emails each week.The results where that physical activity leads to a lower risk of respiratory tract infection and that highly stressed people would benefit more from physical activity than people with lower stress levels.

1. Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?

When using quantitative methods its possible to test a hypothesis with statistic data.

That way researchers have a tool to prove a theory. Quantitative methods can at the same show that the hypothesis don't really correspond with the data collected.  

The results from quantitative methods depends on how the researchers decides how to collect and use the data. If its not done correctly the results may not be representative for the group examined. Its also important to remember that everything cannot be quantified.

2. Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?

Qualitative methods can give researchers a deeper understanding of a issue thats not possible to obtain with quantitative methods. Limitations is for example that the analyse of the data is time consuming. Its also hard to generalize the results due to the few participants.

Theme 3: Reflection

This weeks seminars have given the chance to discuss the scientific papers and journals that we had chosen. Our selected papers covered a broad range of topics in the field of media technology which represented the journals in the field.  During the seminar we here divided in smaller groups and discussed our selected papers and then presented one paper for the rest of the class.

Our groups paper of choice was about how search engines might shape information by ranking large and popular websites higher than smaller sites and therefore making some trends about a specific topic more prominent [1]. Little work has previously been done about this topic.

The authors had problems with coming to any real conclusion about the issue and did not really give any clear answers. This was something that we discussed and even though it seems like the paper didn't add anything in terms of results, the method of the research could still be relevant to others who might want to do a similar study in the future. That way a study can still be a part of the scientific advancement of  even though there is any real conclusions.

When analyzing the papers it was quite hard to be able to know which type of Gregors different types of theory it really was. It was more the case on how we interpreted Gregor’s definitions and our subjective understanding of theory.We also discussed what theory really is, how we can define it and what science that can be accepted as something “true”. The conclusion of this was that for a theory to be established it need to pass through several researchers functioning as gatekeepers. When the majority of experts in the field accepts the the theory it can be accepted as true. Therefore its not about what the majority of the public feels about a theory.

1. Li, N., Anderson, A. A., Brossard, D. and Scheufele, D. A. (2013), Channeling Science Information Seekers' Attention? A Content Analysis of Top-Ranked vs. Lower-Ranked Sites in Google. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. doi: 10.1111/jcc4.12043

Theme 3

Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Impact Factor: 1.778

This journal is focused on social science research on computer-mediated communication on the Internet. It have been published continuously since 1995.

Example of articles in the journal:

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

An Analysis of Language in University Students' Text Messages

I’ve picked a article from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication about

Channeling Science Information Seekers' Attention? A Content Analysis of Top-Ranked vs. Lower-Ranked Sites in Google (published online 14 Nov 2013).

The authors to the article have conducted a content analysis regarding the search results on Google about nanotechnology. According to them are there are not enough empirical research if search engines shapes information by making big popular websites even more popular while discriminating others. And this is also causing a risk of possible skew information sources. According to the authors Googles most high ranked results where the technical, environmental, and risk related aspects of nanotechnology. The more low ranked search results hade instead significantly different themes.

1. Briefly explain to a first year student what theory is, and what theory is not.

Theory is for example a set of hypotheses that are logically linked together into a coherent explanation of some aspect of reality. Which individually or interconnected provide any empirical support for the theory. References, data, variables, diagrams and hypotheses etc on they own are not theory but they can be a part of a theory.

2. Describe the major theory or theories that are used in your selected paper. Which theory type (see Table 2 in Gregor) can the theory or theories be characterized as?

In my selected paper they are using using “Analysis” as the theory type.  Since their results came from computer-assisted sampling of the Google search results over one and a half year, a lot of their results is dependent on how this sampling was done. They don't really go beyond analysis and description therefore they spend the majority of the discussion on just “analysis theory”.

3. Which are the benefits and limitations of using the selected theory or theories?

The benefits of using “analysis theory” is that it tries to avoid any speculation and instead rely on the actual facts that are present and available to the reader.  This makes it more easy to follow the author's arguments since everything is more based on facts than speculation, but it can also make the paper feel a bit too simplistic.

Theme 2: Reflection

This week we’ve had a lecture and a seminar based on Adorno and Horkheimer’s

book Dialectic of Enlightenment.Even though that the book is written in the 1940’s, its still applicable on our society today. Adorno and Horkheimer are analyzing the start of the mass media which we today are constant surrounded with. The lecture gave a bigger understanding about the members of the Frankfurt School and their beliefs in neo-marxism.

On the seminar we discussed the context how the book was written.

Adorno and Horkheimer fled from the nazi regime in Germany and ended up in Los Angeles.

The culture shock probably affected their writing and can explain why they are very pessimistic about mass media. The authors which probably identified themselves as a part of the cultural elite would not accept this new culture as art, instead they wanted to save people from this degradation the new media was causing. During the seminar we discussed the definition of “art” and how hard it is to define it.  According to Leif the most simple but also the used definition is that “art is what you can find in art galleries”. We also tried to define “individualism” and how’s it almost impossible to not be part of a group.

I found this theme interesting and the lecture and seminar was a nice complement to Adorno and Horkheimer’s book.

Theme 2

What is Enlightenment?

According to Adorno and Horkheimer in “Dialectic of Enlightenment “(1944) enlightenment can be seen as the advance of thought liberating human from the fear of the unknown. Knowledge also existed before enlightenment, but in forms of magic and mythology. Enlightenment is the liberation from the blind belief and that way man could use reason and rationality to become the masters of nature.

What is the meaning and function of “myth” in Adorno and Horkheimer’s argument?

The knowledge before the enlightenment is what Adorno and Horkheimer defines as “myth”.

It tries to understand the nature and the world just like enlightenment but is superstitious, contains magical elements and accepts the unknown with individual experiences as facts.

What are the “old” and “new” media that are discussed in the Dialectic of Enlightenment?

“Old”  (at the time current?) media for Adorno and Horkheimer is the film, radio, newspapers, magazines etc. Im not sure about what the authors would define as “new” media. I guess television could be seen as a “new” media because it was seen as a synthesis between radio and film. Television were just getting started when the book was written in the 1940s.

What is meant by “culture industry”?

Adorno and Horkheimer use the term “culture industry” as the industrial production of culture.

When the capitalist society mass product culture everything becomes homogenized.

Since the media industry, like any other industry, is economic driven there is no need to come up with new creative concepts when they can just mass-produce standardised items over and over again to a mass public.

What is the relationship between mass media and “mass deception”, according to Adorno and Horkheimer?

According to Horkheimer and Adorno the culture industry produces products that are all designed so they prevent any active thinking on the part of the spectators. Consumers only become statistics where the individuality is long gone and they are just under the control of the capital, being analysed and put into different social and economic groups.

Please identify one or two concepts/terms that you find particularly interesting. Motivate your choice.

I found the pseudo-individuality interesting. That the audience is lead to believe they are making free, individual choices and that the products and media they consume are all different to each other. But most products in the same category are basically the same. This pseudo-individuality hides this truth by trying to make the audience link their product to different meanings and images to make it seem different from the others. So even though the product is created to be as accessible to the most people possible they are still trying to make that the consumer feel its standing out of the crowd.

Theme 1: Reflection

I found this theme interesting and Russels book with the philosophical angle was a great start of this course. My previous knowledge about philosophy is a bit limited but I think its good to have another this other angle since many of the courses at KTH is more about “absolute true”, like for example math.

Some topics where a bit harder to understand and I had to read some parts a few times to make sure I did not miss any of Russels points. It would have been interesting with a seminar and a lecture about this topic. Even though the answers on the blogs to the questions given last week where similar there were still some different interpretations but also different focus on what was important.

Russels book is over one hundred years the questions still feel relevant today when we for example put it in relation to the scientific progress that have been going on under the same period. How we try to understand the world around us through the processes in our own mind is something that is still the same, even if the world have changed.

Theme 1

1. What does Russell mean by "sense data" and why does he introduce this notion?

Russell uses the term “sense-data” to describe things that are immediately known to us, such as colours, sounds, smells, and so on. But a sensation of a color is not the same as the color itself. When we for example think we know something about an object we are using sense-data as properties to describe and associate to the object. But our senses can’t perfectly describe an object but only describe the relation between us and the object.

The sense-data is something personal and the sense-data for the same object might different from one person to another because it depends on the persons point of reference to an object.  

2. What is the meaning of the terms "proposition" and "statement of fact"? How does propositions and statement of facts differ from other kinds of verbal expressions?

Propositions is descriptive knowledge that lets us pass beyond the limits of our personal experiences. We know that something exists but we have not personally had the chance to get knowledge of the same object by acquaintance. These propositions are things we have not personally had the chance to know by “sense-data” . A statement of fact is something experienced and acquainted with, which has led to a belief. If the belief corresponds to some fact, that believe is true.

3. In chapter 5 ("Knowledge by Acquaintance and Knowledge by Description") Russell introduces the notion "definite description". What does this notion mean?

Russel defines a “definite descriptions” as words or sentences describing something in singular. He uses the phrases on on the form “the so-and-so” to define an object with “definite description”. Objects that are described on the form “a so-and-so” are examples of “ambiguous description”. Definite descriptions are things that you generally not have knowledge of the object by direct acquaintance. The knowledge comes from acquaintance with things regarding the object, which could be acquaintance for example by sense-data.

4. In chapter 13 ("Knowledge, Error and Probable Opinion") and in chapter 14 ("The Limits of Philosophical Knowledge") Russell attacks traditional problems in theory of knowledge (epistemology). What are the main points in Russell's presentation?

Russel thinks that scientific and philosophical knowledge are quite similar.

The essential characteristic for philosophy that makes it scientific knowledge is the

is criticisms. It examines critically the principles employed in science and in daily life and only accept them when no reason for rejecting them has appeared. But some things should be seen as true beliefs, rather than true knowledge.  Sometimes we are sure that something will happen, but since we haven’t experienced it yet we can't know for sure that it will actually happen. True beliefs can’t be knowledge when they are reasoned from false beliefs. Most of our knowledge know today could also just be seen just as probable opinions. To have complete knowledge of anything we need to know all the universal relations between all the objects or facts and also been acquainted with these personally.  Russells also mentions how opinions that are viewed individually are more likely to become probable if they are viewed  together with coherent opinions.