Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Mass Communication (Communication)

The aim of this research was to better understand virtual online communities (VOCs), that is, communities that are formed and maintained through the Internet. This research was guided by four research questions: What do participants in VOCs actually seek? How does a participant critically evaluate information produced in VOCs? What differences do VOC members perceive between their online community experiences compared to their experiences in real-life face-to-face communities? In what ways might a VOC shape its members' views toward political and social change? The methodology employed was participant observation of 20 informants within their online and offline realms plus in-depth interviews with each informant. Interviews and observations were conducted from 2005 - 2007. This research identified two different types of VOCs: dependent and self-contained VOCs. Dependent VOCs act as extensions to already existent face-to-face communities while self-sustained VOCs are communities where relationships between members are formed, developed, and nurtured purely through virtual encounters on the Internet based on shared interests. Four functions were identified in this study: information exchange, social support exchange, friendship, recreation. Information exchange is a function where the VOC main purpose was to provide information for members. Social support refers to the degree to which a person's basic social needs are gratified through interaction with others. Friendship are formed within the VOC not only for social support, but also provide deeper, more meaningful relationships. Recreation within a VOC occurs when the community's main purpose is purely entertainment. This study also identified six motivations: accessibility/convenience, escapism, alternate identities, social recognition, voyeurism, written communication as a medium. Three issues in VOCs also emerged in this study: trust, evaluation of online material, and marginalized communities. VOCs exist in a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Drew McDaniel Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Collins Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robert Stewart Ph.D. (Committee Member); Don Flournoy Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2021, Communication

This study used semi-structured interviews to examine how players chose to customize their avatars in social video games. Thematic coding of 28 interviews revealed the common threads with which players create and maintain or update their avatars over time in many different game worlds. The effects of different toolsets that players use to construct these avatars is examined, along with the special role that players assign to the gender of their avatars. The behavioral effects of avatars are briefly explored, along with the way players regard the relationship between themselves and their avatars.

Committee: Teresa Lynch Dr. (Committee Member); Jesse Fox Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Communication

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2015, Mass Communication (Communication)

This virtual ethnographic study was about online communication and the democratic behavior in the Sudan's diaspora. It investigated the possibility of expanding the diasporic political public sphere among Sudanese diaspora by using the six requirements formulated by Licoln Dahlberg (2001a) for a rational-critical discourse of online deliberation of political public issues. The Sudanese diasporic online communities was a product of migration of large number of Sudanese to the Gulf States, the United States, and other regions due to the repressive political environment and bad economic conditions in Sudan and their connection to the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in host societies. I used three methods of data gathering: online survey, online semi-structured in-depth interviews, and online participant observation. The findings of this study have shown that online communication provided diasporic communities with current political information. Sudanese online diasporic members used this political information in holding online political deliberations that enabled them to have freedom of expression and to establish civil society associations. The study found that although some scholars claimed that the provision of political information was not enough to realize political change, the political information that Sudanese diasporic online users got from the website `sudaneseonline.com' was crucial for depriving the current Sudanese Government from claiming democracy, for revealing corruption, for recognizing the manipulation of the Constitution and civil service. Undemocratic governments were keen to control the amount and the type of information their populations can get. The obtaining of political information was a significant factor in undermining undemocratic governments, which employ the resources of the state, including manipulated constitutions and judiciaries, to deprive their populations from acquiring political information, which is a huma (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Steve Howard (Committee Chair) Subjects: African History; Communication; Journalism; Mass Media; Multimedia Communications; Political Science

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2009, Sociology (Arts and Sciences)

This study involves a sociological analysis of complex group behavior within an emergent computer-mediated community. This examination focuses on interpersonal relations and interactions within the context of a message board forum devoted to the television program Lost. Implementing qualitative methods including an extended case approach, netnography, as well as a grounded-based coding scheme, the findings of this study indicate that interpersonal relationships in online communities are structured by several characteristics. More specifically, behavior within this community is shaped by the norms, barriers, and conflicts that are distinct to this environment. Outcomes of this study include the identification of a clear link between the process of knowledge construction and the development of social ties in relation to a popular culturally-shared text.

Committee: Michelle Brown Dr. (Committee Chair); Bruce Hoffman Dr. (Committee Member); Christine Mattley Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Sociology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2008, Communication Studies (Communication)

Traditionally, organizational scholars examining the socialization process new organizational members experience have done so from a post-hire viewpoint. Generally, these studies examined traditional, post-hire corporate contexts with full-time employees who have already gone through some level of organizational socialization. While technology in relation to socialization is also discussed, it is often done as part of posthire, organizationally-driven socialization tactics and many studies investigating the impact of technology rarely venture outside of this boundary.This study examined the pre-hire socialization process and the impact of the virtual world, specifically virtual communities, on the process. Qualitative interviews grounded in two research questions explored the use of virtual communities by teachers of English as a Foreign Language classes in Thailand. The resulting themes include developing a process, how to live abroad, how to work abroad, the (mis)match, left to their own devices, and individual-within-community. Taken together, these themes provided the foundation to build a better understanding of organizational anticipatory socialization processes of English as a Foreign Language teachers in Thailand and the ways in which virtual community interaction and participation relate to the socialization and training efforts by educational institutions in Thailand. The teachers descriptions of their organizational anticipatory socialization processes gave rise to three different implications regarding the use of virtual communities in the organizational anticipatory socialization process. First, is the need to re-conceptualize virtual communities as realistic job previews. Second, traditional definitions of socialization as a linear process are challenged by this study. Finally, the themes raised career development and vocational organizational socialization issues as a result of the teachers interactions with the virtual communities.

Committee: Daniel P. Modaff PhD (Committee Chair); Roger Aden PhD (Committee Member); Nagesh Rao PhD (Committee Member); John Schermerhorn PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2008, Mass Communication

This paper examines the online social networks, and the negative implications that have surfaced as a result of misunderstanding the purpose of the website. Using the concepts of identity, community, and disclosure, three real-life Facebook situations are described, discussed, and analyzed. The film, The Net is incorporated as a foundational template in discussing the similarities and warnings about the potential risks of online social networks. In addition, this paper examines how Facebook is redefining the areas of communication, identity and community.

Committee: Bruce Drushel PhD (Committee Chair); Kathy German PhD (Committee Member); Ron Scott PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Mass Media