Muslims and the media in the blogosphere

Daniel Martin Varisco, Muslims and the media in the blogosphere, Contemporary Islam (2010) 4:157-177. DOI 10.1007/s11562-009-0106-y

Abstract

In the past two decades a virtual Ummah has evolved in cyberspace. While some of these websites are targeted specifically at Muslims, others attempt to provide outreach on Islam or counter Islamophobic bias. As noted by Jon Anderson, in his pioneering work on Islam in cyberspace, Muslims were among the first engineering students to create websites at the dawn of the Internet, before mainstream Islamic organizations posted official websites. There is a wealth of material by Muslims in English and Western languages, some of it archived for research. This article explores the methodological problems posed in studying the range of Islam-content blogs, from private individuals to religious scholars, as well as Muslim websites that feature comments from readers. The focus of the paper is an analysis of blogs about Islam or by Muslims that either act as watchdogs on the media or try to provide alternative views to the mainstream media of competing Muslim groups. Researching these blogs as a form of e-ethnography calls for a rethinking and refining of anthropological methodology as e-ethnography.

Keywords : Internet, Muslim blogs, Islamophobia, Ethnography

The Influence of Media Violence on Youth

Craig A. Anderson, Leonard Berkowitz, Edward Donnerstein, L. Rowell Huesmann, James D. Johnson, Daniel Linz, Neil M. Malamuth, Ellen Wartella, The Influence of Media Violence on Youth, Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Vol. 4, No. 3, December 2003. pp. 81-110.

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Summary—Research on violent television and films, video games, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts. The effects appear larger for milder than for more severe forms of aggression, but the effects on severe forms of violence are also substantial (r.13 to .32) when compared with effects of other violence risk factors or medical effects deemed important by the medical community (e.g., effect of aspirin on heart attacks). The research base is large; diverse in methods, samples, and media genres; and consistent in overall findings. The evidence is clearest within the most extensively researched domain, television and film violence. The growing body of video-game research yields essentially the same conclusions.

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Short-term exposure increases the likelihood of physically and verbally aggressive behavior, aggressive thoughts, and aggressive emotions. Recent large-scale longitudinal studies provide converging evidence linking frequent exposure to violent media in childhood with aggression later in life, including physical assaults and spouse abuse. Because extremely violent criminal behaviors (e.g., forcible rape, aggravated assault, homicide) are rare, new longitudinal studies with larger samples are needed to estimate accurately how much habitual childhood exposure to media violence increases the risk for extreme violence.

Well-supported theory delineates why and when exposure to media violence increases aggression and violence. Media violence produces short-term increases by priming existing aggressive scripts and cognitions, increasing physiological arousal, and triggering an automatic tendency to imitate observed behaviors. Media violence produces long-term effects via several types of learning processes leading to the acquisition of lasting (and automatically accessible) aggressive scripts, interpretational schemas, and aggression-supporting beliefs about social behavior, and by reducing individuals’ normal negative emotional responses to violence (i.e., desensitization).

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Certain characteristics of viewers (e.g., identification with aggressive characters), social environments (e.g., parental influences), and media content (e.g., attractiveness of the perpetrator) can influence the degree to which media violence affects aggression, but there are some inconsistencies in research results. This research also suggests some avenues for preventive intervention (e.g., parental supervision, interpretation, and control of children’s media use). However, extant research on moderators suggests that no one is wholly immune to the effects of media violence.

Recent surveys reveal an extensive presence of violence in modern media. Furthermore, many children and youth spend an inordinate amount of time consuming violent media. Although it is clear that reducing exposure to media violence will reduce aggression and violence, it is less clear what sorts of interventions will produce a reduction in exposure. The sparse research literature suggests that counter attitudinal and parental-mediation interventions are likely to yield beneficial effects, but that media literacy interventions by themselves are unsuccessful.

Though the scientific debate over whether media violence increases aggression and violence is essentially over, several critical tasks remain. Additional laboratory and field studies are needed for a better understanding of underlying psychological processes, which eventually should lead to more effective interventions. Large-scale longitudinal studies would help specify the magnitude of media-violence effects on the most severe types of violence. Meeting the larger societal challenge of providing children and youth with a much healthier media diet may prove to be more difficult and costly, especially if the scientific, news, public policy, and entertainment communities fail to educate the general public about the real risks of media-violence exposure to children and youth.

More to read:-

• Negative Influences of Media


• Increasing influence of media on children

Citizen participation in online news media. An overview of current developments in four European countries and the United States

• Steve Paulussen, David Domingo, Ari Heinonen, Jane Singer, Thorsten Quandt and Marina Vujnovic, Citizen participation in online news media. An overview of current developments in four European countries and the United States, Journalismus online - Partizipation oder Profession?, 2008, Kapitel 6, 263-283, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-531-91094-9_18, https://springerlink3.metapress.com/content/v755017372082408/resource-secured/?target=fulltext.pdf&sid=fzq3l055tsr1sqar3e00x355&sh=www.springerlink.com

Abstract
With the continuing diffusion of the Internet, with the changing media-consumption patterns and with the impact of the Web 2.0 phenomenon, there seems to be widespread optimism regarding democratic participation and active citizenship through online media. Authors such as Bowman and Willis (2003) and Dan Gillmor (2004) describe how, on the Internet, the people themselves have become the media. In contrast to traditional media, blogs and other community-driven media are characterised by a fundamental convergence of the roles of content producers and consumers because every user has the opportunity to both consume and create content. Axel Bruns (2005) has coined the term ‘produsage’ to refer to this blurring line, while Gillmor (2004: 136) and Rosen (2006) speak of the “former audience” to stress that the public should no longer be regarded as a passive group of receivers. Some authors regard this as being part of a larger societal development toward a participatory culture, something that Hartley also has called a “redactional society” (Hartley, 2000). There are some doubts about the foundations of such a development though. Some authors question the idea of a “hyperactive audience” (Schönbach, 1997; see also Hanitzsch, 2006). They claim that only institutionalized forms of journalism guarantee quality through organizational structures and professional work routines and that they offer society a shared meaning in the form of content that reaches mass audiences.

Fifteen Minutes of Fame: The Power of Blogs in the Lifecycle of Viral Political Information

• Nahon, Karine; Hemsley, Jeff; Walker, Shawn; and Hussain, Muzammil (2011) "Fifteen Minutes of Fame: The Power of Blogs in the Lifecycle of Viral Political Information," Policy & Internet: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 2. DOI: 10.2202/1944-2866.1108, Available at: http://www.psocommons.org/policyandinternet/vol3/iss1/art2

Abstract
This empirical study addresses dynamics of viral information in the blogosphere, presenting a new methodology which enables the capture of dynamism and the time-factor of information diffusion in networks. Data was gathered on nearly 10,000 blogs and 13,000 blog posts, linking to 65 of the top U.S. presidential election videos that became viral on the Internet between March 2007 and June 2009. The article argues that the blogosphere is not monolithic and illuminates the role of four important blog types: elite, top-political, top-general and tail blogs. It creates a map of the ‘life cycle’ of blogs posting links to viral information. It shows that elite and top-general blogs ignite the virality process, which means that they get the chance to frame messages and influence agenda setting while top-political and tail blogs act as followers in the process.

Mediated Politics and Citizenship in the Twenty-First Century

• Doris Graber, Mediated Politics and Citizenship in the Twenty-First Century, Annual Review of Psychology, Vol. 55: 545-571 (Volume publication date February 2004), DOI: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141550

ABSTRACT
Since the birth of the nation, concepts about the political duties of citizens have changed drastically to keep pace with growth and development. The information needs have changed as well, as have the institutions that supply this information. In this essay I analyze the interrelation between citizenship in the twenty-first century and the information supply that nourishes it. I focus on studies that explore how political news is shaped to attract public attention and how citizens select it and make sense of it. Evidence from content analyses, focus group data, and intensive interviews supports the conclusion that the news supply is adequate for citizens' civic needs and that they use it judiciously. To accept that conclusion requires abandoning outdated paradigms of citizenship that ignore information-processing capabilities of human beings, the basic motivations that drive the search for political information, and the impact of the ever-increasing complexity of politics.

Playing with risk? Social networking and the normalisation of gambling behaviours

Carolyn Downs, Dr (2010) Playing With Risk? Social Networking and The Normalisation of Gambling Behaviours a chapter in: M.Stuart-Hoyle and J.Lovell (eds) Leisure Experiences: Space, Place and Performance. LSA 109. pp.25-47, isbn: 978-1-905369-20-1. Salford Business School, University of Salford.

This paper grew out of an exploratory study into the ways young people are using Social Networking Sites (SNS) and whether accessing potentially risky activities such as virtual gambling might encourage actual gambling or increase the likelihood of risky behaviour amongst younger users (aged 8–18). This work led to a wider examination of SNS as a form of leisure and the ways it has been adopted by young people and adapted for use in ways that are often dissimilar to those predicted by academics and social commentators.

Youth gambling problems: a public health perspective

Carmen Messerlian, Jeffrey Derevensky and Rina Gupta (2005) Youth gambling problems: a public health perspective. International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High Risk Behaviours, McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Health Promotion International, Vol. 20 No.1. Oxford University Press.

Problem gambling has recently emerged as a significant public health issue. While most efforts target adult pathological gamblers, there is growing concern that adolescents and young adults represent the highest risk group for gambling problems. Prevailing public health initiatives addressing youth problem gambling are only beginning to be examined. Drawing upon the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion as a guiding framework, a prevention model and framework for action are presented to better understand and address problem gambling from a population-based perspective. This framework applies denormalization, protection, prevention, and harmreduction principles to youth gambling problems and describes primary, secondary and tertiary prevention objectives. A foundation for the development, implementation and evaluation of comprehensive, multi-level health promotion and prevention strategies for youth problem gambling is provided.

Key words: youth gambling; public health; prevention