Online Communication

This entry reviews and discusses several issues regarding online friendship. After introducing two opposite perspectives: the cues-filtered-out perspective and the social information process theory, it examines empirical studies with particular focuses on online friendships development, comparisons between online friendship and its offline counterpart, and the impacts of online friendship on the offline life.

In recent years, many medical schools around the world have formally established professionalism education as part of their standard curriculum. While the call to prepare future doctors to behave ethically and professionally is not new, what is new is the emphasis on identity formation in the context of the expanding online universe. Nonetheless, role modelling the professional image is challenging in the digital age, especially when cultures and customs across disciplines and generations collide. Against the backdrop of hyper-vigilance about our professional image, this paper explores whether the hidden professionalism curriculum may inadvertently stifle creativity and humanity. It proposes the positive use of social media as relational or pedagogical tools in teaching learners about work-life balance and responsible online behaviours.

The reception of Benedict Anderson’s ideas was very fruitful in many disciplines, and his work provided key concepts that can now throw a clarifying light in some blurry matters. The expression “imagined community” has known a remarkable proliferation, a situation that led to both the formation of a research direction and to the perpetuation of a cliché. In this respect, my article pointed out some suggestive characteristics of virtual communities, explaining why the imagined community is a valuable subject for the theorists of new media. The impossibility to know in person all the members of a big community is just one factor that determines its imagined face. Moreover, the set of values and inner presuppositions that guide the members are important bricks in the construction of community. In my opinion, the virtual community is imagined as a multi-layered experience (technological, conversational, relational etc.). The dynamic of a virtual community contains the tension amongst th...

Modern zoological parks, as community enterprises housing exotic animals with hundreds, sometimes thousands of visitors every day, must prepare for the innate possibility of dangerous situations. When such controversy does arise, clashing viewpoints among media outlets, the zoo’s communications department, and the public’s mediated communication encourages examination with a theoretical eye. This paper utilizes the controversy of the Copenhagen Zoo’s public dissections to illustrate each of the parties’ influence on one another through Bitzer’s Rhetorical Situation. That analysis lays the groundwork justifying the public’s influence on the media’s agenda, also illustrated through the Cincinnati Zoo’s controversy regarding Harambe the gorilla. This reverse of the original notions of McCombs and Shaw’s Agenda-Setting Theory explains that as social media becomes more prevalent, media entities will continue to lose issue salience, ultimately resulting in the public agenda’s greater infl...

Renewable energy sources, environmental protection, environmental awareness and online communication are important topics separately, but it is even more effective to look at them as a whole. By processing the literature concerning to environmental sustainability, environmental awareness, environmental economy and online communication, as well as the information obtained from secondary research, three research target groups has been identified in case of the micro-region of Gyongyos: primary-, secondary- and university students; local governments; and the population living in the examined micro-region. The purpose of our original primary research was to assess the general knowledge about renewable energy, environmental protection and environmental awareness among students and population living in the micro-region; the needs and opportunities of the related investments and developments; and to examine first the role of online communication tools in their own right and then in relation to renewable energies, environmental awareness and environmental protection. As a result we got a comprehensive Fig. of the attitudes of young students, local governments and population of the area, towards renewable energy, environmental awareness and environmental protection, which has highlighted not only the problems, but also the opportunities that can be remedied with the help of online tools. In this paper, we concentrate on the results of the students’ survey made during our primary research.

This research explores the role of opinion-based groups in understanding responses to racist violence such as the 2005 Cronulla riots in Australia. Traditionally, explanations of collective action in social psychology and sociology focus on conflict between broad social categories. We propose that the responses to the riots can be understood not only as inter-group conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims, or an in-group argument amongst non-Muslims, but as a bona fide inter-group conflict between supporters and opponents of the riots. We argue that these groups use rhetoric in attempts to claim dominant status within society by aligning their identities with positively valued social categories such as ethnicities and national identities. The analysis of rhetoric from the groups supporting and opposing the riots demonstrates consistent, albeit contested, attempts to align support for the riot with the Australian national category in conflict with countervailing attempts to align opposition to the riot with the same national category.

Hassrede und Verleumdung prägen zunehmend die Kommentarspalten von journalistischen Online-Angeboten. Diese unqualifizierten und oft emotionsgeladenen Debatten sind für Nachrichtenanbieter, ihre Redaktionen und die Nutzerinnen und Nutzer gleichermaßen unerwünscht und frustrierend. Mit der praxisorientierten Handreichung „Hasskommentare im Netz. Steuerungsstrategien für Redaktionen“ hat die Landesanstalt für Medien NRW einen 10-Punkte-Plan gegen Hassrede im Netz veröffentlicht. Er zeigt auf, wie Redaktionen entschieden gegen Hasskommentare in den Kommentarspalten auf ihren Online-Auftritten vorgehen und ausufernde Debatten zivilisieren können.

Computer-Mediated Communication across Cultures: International Interactions in Online Environments provides readers with the foundational knowledge needed to communicate safely and effectively with individuals from other countries and cultures via online media. Through a closer examination of the expanded global access to the Web, this book discusses the use and design of cross-cultural digital media and the future of the field for executives, marketers, researchers, educators, and the average user.

Der Artikel gibt einen Einstieg in das Gebiet der Online-PR. Ausgehend von einer Skizzierung von Öffentlichkeit in einer vernetzten Gesellschaft werden aktuelle Anforderungen an Online-PR, strategische Aufgaben und wichtige Arbeitsgebiete diskutiert.

Many advocates of deliberative democracy see in the Internet a new opportunity for the development of public spaces, public spheres, and places where deliberation can take place. An important element of the notion of the public sphere in general and of deliberation specifically, is the quality of the debate. In the past decade, many studies have been conducted to evaluate online discussions in light of the ideal notion of the public sphere. However, a wide gap exists between theoretical approaches and the actual operationalization of such theories for empirical research. In an attempt to bridge this gap we develop a method for examining the extent to which Internet forums meet the normative requirements of rational-critical debate, reciprocity, and reflexivity. The methodological approach consists of a textual analysis of the contributions made to an online forum. The coding scheme presented in this article is based on a case study (UK Online) and guided by the theoretical notions of deliberative democracy.

Talking politics online is not exclusively reserved for those spaces dedicated to politics, particularly the everyday political talk crucial to the public sphere. However, past net-based public sphere research has focused mostly on political spaces thereby neglecting an array of other genres. The aim of this article is to move beyond politically oriented communicative spaces by investigating political talk within the British reality TV discussion forum Wife Swap. The purpose is to see whether a forum dedicated to reality TV provides the communicative space, content, and style for politics that extends the public sphere. The central question is whether it fulfils the requirements of rationality and ‘decent’ deliberation. Moreover, the analysis moved beyond a formal notion by investigating how expressives influence the more traditional elements of deliberation. The findings revealed that Wife Swap participants engaged in political talk that was often deliberative. Moreover, it was a space where the use of expressives played a key role in enhancing such talk.

Running Head: GILLETTE, FRAGILE, & TOXIC MASCULINITY 1 On January 13, 2019, Gillette released a one minute and forty-eight seconds long advertisement titled "We Believe" on various social media platforms. The ad was immediately dubbed the "toxic masculinity" ad, however that phrase is only spoken once at the beginning of the ad. This article explores how the commercial revealed the connections between fragile and toxic masculinity. Using the negative comments to the advertisement on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter I show that there is a cyclical relationship between fragile and toxic masculinity. Masculinity becomes toxic because it is fragile, which then causes men to feel shame before they seek a way to release themselves from the grip of these unmasculine feelings. They release themselves by acting out in toxic ways. In this study I analyzed 313 comments on the three main platforms that Gillette used to disseminate the commercial.

La Era Digital se ha instalado definitivamente entre nosotros y, como cada revolución tecnológica, también ésta suscita miedos, alienta esperanzas, crea industrias y genera nuevas palabras. Examinar críticamente las promesas que nos traen las nuevas tecnologías -sin desaprovechar su potencial- parece un modo prudente de adentrarse en la Sociedad de la Información.

Anadolu Üniversitesi, İletişim Bilimleri Fakültesi, İletişim Tasarımı ve Yönetimi Bölümü öğrencisiyken hazırlamış olduğum tez.

Araştırmanın Önemi:
Bu araştırmayla internetin hayatımıza girmesiyle değişen pazar anlayışı sonrası, sosyal medyada marka yönetiminin ortaya çıkışı, gelişimi ve sonrasında markaların tüketici algısını yönetmek için geliştirdikleri stratejiler gözlemlenecektir.
Araştırmada elde edilen veriler değerlendirilerek sosyal medyadaki markaların “marka yönetim düzeyleri, iletişim çalışmaları, reklam ve pazarlama çalışmaları yorumlanacaktır.

In recent years, research on Instant Messaging has been growing with a shift from English-based CMC to multilingual CMC. As a result, two main features of multilingual CMC have been widely investigated: language choice and code switching. However, the investigations remain at the linguistic level, placing their attention on describing linguistic features and analyzing them statistically. Taking a different perspective, this study is grounded in new literacy studies, viewing reading and writing as human activities rather than just decoding letters and words. The study investigates the language choice and code switching practices in LINE application of 16 Thai postgraduate students at Lancaster University. The study incorporates both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The data were collected from a group of Thai postgraduate students at Lancaster University (16 participants) via three instruments: (i) questionnaires, (ii) semi-structured interviews and (iii) chat logs. The findings reveal that the topic of conversation and language proficiency are important factors contributing to language choice and code switching practices in LINE among Thai postgraduate students at Lancaster University. However, a non-linguistic factor such as technological constraint especially with the phone keyboard is also found to be influential

Many citizens and decision‐makers get information about science mainly, or even exclusively, from news and online media. Accordingly, social science has devoted considerable attention to the analysis of science news coverage. A review of this literature reveals a number of ongoing, substantial transformations: In line with the crisis of legacy media, the rise of online communication and the extension of PR by many societal stakeholders, science communication is changing. Science journalism has come under pressure in publishing houses, and science journalists' working conditions have worsened. The amount of science news coverage is stagnating, albeit after a rise that lasted several decades, and seems to navigate towards either a more polarized, controversial reporting about politicized issues such as gene editing, or towards a less critical " churnalism " which is stronger influenced by PR efforts than before. The implications of these changes for science communication and societal decisions regarding science communication are considered.

U radu se istražžuju sekundarne promene u adaptaciji anglicizama na morfološškom i semantičkom nivou na korpusu sakupljenom na drušštvenoj mrežži Fejsbuk u komunikaciji o rijaliti-programima. U okviru morfološške adaptacije razmatraju se razlčiti oblici reči dobijeni dodavanjem domaćih afiksa na imenice, glagole i prideve poreklom iz engleskog jezika. Cilj je da se utvrde vrsta i broj afiksa te najčešši motivi za derivaciju. Na planu semantike analiziraju se anglicizmi koji su dužžom upotrebom u srpskom jeziku proširili obim značenja ili stekli dodatno značenje. Razmatraju se i značenjske promene nastale kao rezultat delovanja metafore, pejorizacije i elipse u srpskom jeziku. Analizom ovog zasad nedovoljno istražženog aspekta adaptacije anglicizama otkriće se obrasci i tendencije u sekundarnoj adaptaciji.

This article reports the findings of an online survey (N = 707) that assessed the predictive power of media use on sexual excitation and inhibition, as conceived by the dual control model (Janssen, Vorst, Finn, & Bancroft, 2002).
Media use explained more variance in sexual excitation than inhibition. Moreover, excitation was statistically associated with several media variables (music, network programming, films, Web sites) while inhibition had a statistically robust relationship with music consumption only. In fact, exposure to religious/devotional music was positively and rap/hip-hop was negatively related
to sexual inhibition. Advantages of employing the dual control model to media sex research are discussed.

In this chapter, I discuss how social media, especially microblogging platforms such as Twitter, have expanded in urban India, to provide the means of expression and tools of ideological influence for a growing number of e-savvy 'right-wingers'.
Keywords: Twitter, India, social media politics, net busyness

The omnipresence of student-owned information and communication technologies (ICTs) in today’s college classrooms presents educational opportunities but can also create learning problems. Specifically, multitasking with these technologies can interfere with the learning process. Indeed, research in cognitive science shows that there are clear performance decrements when trying to attend to two tasks at the same time. This study examines the frequency with which students multitask during class using a large sample (N = 1,839) and examines the relationship between multitasking and academic performance as measured by actual overall semester grade point average (GPA). Students reported frequently text messaging during class but reported multitasking with other ICTs to a lesser extent. Furthermore, only social technologies (Facebook and text messaging) were negatively related to GPA.

The web design of the second decade of the 21st century is predominantly two-dimensional, concise, clear, easy to use, it is rich in contrasts, but poor on details and content-centric. Experiments with colors, textures, fonts, illustrations, with menus lead to extremely simple designs with guaranteed functionality and favoritism of content aims to delight customers with a simple, captivating design, clean lines and direct it to the information as leads the attention and favors usability through more structured content, providing good read rates and quick understanding. Therefore, the well arranged organization, balanced compositions with optimal font sizes, clear visual hierarchy, functional accents and found adequate proportions between text, images, structure and design guarantee the success of communication news sites.

Bu çalışmanın amacı, öğretmen adaylarının internet için eleştirel okuryazarlık durumlarının belirlenmesine yönelik olarak geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçek geliştirmektir. Araştırma 2013-2014 öğretim yılında yürütülmüştür. Araştırmanın çalışma gurubunu Giresun Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi’nde öğrenim gören 449 öğretmen adayı oluşturmaktadır. Ölçeğin geçerlik ve güvenirliğini belirlemek için açımlayıcı ve doğrulayıcı faktör analizleri yapılmıştır. Açımlayıcı faktör analizi sonucunda, ölçeğin 27 madde ve tek faktörden oluşan bir yapıya sahip olduğu belirlenmiştir. Ölçeğin Cronbach Alfa iç tutarlılık katsayısı0,95 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Doğrulayıcı faktör analizi sonucu uyum iyiliği indekslerinin kabul edilebilir ve iyi uyum sınırları içerisinde oldukları görülmüştür. Yapılan geçerlik ve güvenirlik analizleri sonucunda “İnternet İçin Eleştirel Okuryazarlık Ölçeği”nin geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçek olduğu bulunmuştur.

We examined the search for partners by participants in two teen chat services having different ecologies. Over 12,000 utterances from monitored and unmonitored chat rooms were analyzed to assess online partner selection attempts and to see how such attempts may be influenced by the presence of an adult monitor. We found that the search for partners is ubiquitous in adolescents' online haunts, just as it is in their offline lives, and approximately two requests for a partner occur each minute. Although partner selection appears to be an important activity in online teen chat rooms, there are differences in frequency and format (e.g., the use of numerals, sexualized requests) as a function of participants' age and gender, and chat room ecology (monitored vs. unmonitored).

This study aimed to investigate the impact of chatting communication on Iranian EFL learners' oral performance. To this end, the author randomly selected fifty 17-to-18-year-old male Iranian EFL learners attending Top Notch communicative classes in language institutes in Shiraz. First, they applied the Oxford Placement Test as a proficiency test to homogenize learners, and then the learners were divided into experimental and control groups (n = 25 in each group). Both groups had a pretest to estimate their oral performance before applying treatment. The experimental group received instruction and materials via online context as treatment. However, the participants in the control group just received instruction via traditional teaching methods in the class. Finally, both groups had a post-test to measure the effect of treatment on their oral performance. The mean and standard deviation were calculated for two groups In the data collection and analysis, a paired samples t-test was conducted. Based on the results, between the two groups, there was a substantial disparity in terms of oral presentation skills., and the experimental group learners outperformed the control group's learners. The findings can be helpful for teachers to find practical ways to develop students' skills and their incentives.

Статья посвящена изучению жанровой организации интернет-дискурса. Подчеркивается гипержанровый характер интернет-дискурса. Рассматриваются различные критерии выделения его жанров. Предлагается собственная классификация жанров интернет-дискурса в соответствии с функциональным критерием.
Подчеркивается особая роль коммуникативных жанров в жанровой системе интернет-дискурса.

The paper is devoted to the study of the genre organization of the Internet discourse. The hypergenre nature of the Internet discourse is emphasized. Various criteria for distinguishing its genres are considered. The author proposes her own classification of Internet discourse genres in accordance with the functional criterion. A special role of communicative genres in the system of the Internet discourse genres is emphasized.

Василенко, Е.Н. Интернет-дискурс как гипержанровое пространство / Е.Н. Василенко // Лингвистика гипертекста и компьютерно-опосредованной коммуникации : материалы Междунар. науч.-практ. конф., Самара, 30 авг. 2019 / Самар. гос. соц. пед. ун т ; редкол.: С.А. Стройков (отв. ред.) [и др.]. – Самара, 2019. – С. 17–24.

A marca distintiva do LabCom, Laboratório de Comunicação Online, foi sempre o fazer. Quando o iniciámos, há 10 anos, já tínhamos a experiência da criação de uma biblioteca, de um jornal e de uma revista, todos online, correndo sobre bases de dados. Com efeito, a Biblioteca Online de Ciências da Comunicação, a BOCC, criada em maio de 1999, o lançamento do jornal Urbi et Orbi em janeiro de 2000, e da revista Recensio, em 2001, e, em particular, a investigação e experimentação feitas no âmbito do projeto “Akademia – Tecnologia da Informação e Novas Formas de Jornalismo
Online” (2000-2004), financiado pela FCT, possibilitaram um saber fazerúnico em Portugal no âmbito da comunicação digital. O LabCom tornou-se conhecido em Portugal e, sobretudo, no Brasil pelas bibliotecas (BOCC,
Lusosofia), revistas (Doc-Online, Estudos em Comunicação), e a editora online (Livros LabCom).
Com o saber fazer veio a investigação muito específica em áreas que a digitalização e a Internet revolucionaram, nomeadamente a informação, em geral, e o jornalismo, em particular, a comunicação e a deliberação políticas, o design, a comunicação multimédia e o cinema. Hoje, o LabCom
conta com três grupos de investigação que estruturam a divisão do presente volume: Informação e Persuasão; Media, Identidade e Cidadania; Cinema e Multimédia.
Os textos, aqui incluídos, oferecem uma amostra do estado da arte do que se faz no LabCom. Não são um resumo de investigações passadas, mas sim investigações presentes que, na grande maioria, vêm na senda dessas investigações. Não seria difícil, mediante a arqueologia dos textos presentes,
encontrar muitas das publicações que fazem o património do LabCom, em particular os Livros LabCom. Os três volumes Informação e Comunicação Online – i) Jornalismo Online, ii) Internet e Comunicação Promocional, iii) Mundo Online da Vida e Cidadania, publicados em 2003, e que consubstanciaram o projeto Akademia – contêm o gérmen de muito do trabalho que agora se apresenta aqui. Há, no LabCom, uma continuidade de investigação que manifesta a identidade de uma unidade de investigação muito própria no espaço lusófono.

"Despite the vast amount of information regarding project communications management, the Project Management Body of Knowledge does not include a method of tracking conversations between project stakeholders by the project manager. In order to improve communications, communication tools should be implemented by organizations (Loo, 1995). A method such as a communications log should be included as a communication tool in the Project Management Body of Knowledge. (PMBOK® Guide).

This article explores the use of a communications log (CL) as a communication tool for tracking project- related conversations for improved project communications management as well as instructions of how to set-up an online communications log, some guidelines for use, and some suggestions as to where the communications log would most appropriately be incorporated into the PMBOK® Guide. The contribution of this article is to further the field of project communications management by considering the use of a communications log as a tool for increased communicational effectiveness.


"The Communications Log: A Communication Tool for Improved Project Communications Management by Christopher M. Bell, CAPM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.""

This chapter focuses on the application of visitor studies methodologies to museums as cultural institutions that incorporate digital media into their cultural programming and social activities. It provides a comprehensive guide to three types of research methods employed by contemporary museums to study online visitors: quantitative, behavioral and qualitative. Illuminating how traditional museum visitor research tools informed emerging digital methods, the chapter describes important procedures of online museum audience studies. Step by step, three sections introduce more sophisticated online methods, which add new dimensions to the understanding of virtual visitors.

The validation of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) in different cultural contexts is contributory in adding to the extant research body on psychometric qualities of the scale. The main purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the BSMAS, based on classical test theory and advanced psychometric testing, namely item response theory (IRT) and network analysis in a Romanian sample of 705 participants (39% males, aged 18-54 years, M = 30.24, SD ± 9.15). Composite reliability and McDonald's omega proved the very good internal consistency of the BSMAS-RO. The CFA highlighted the unifactorial model fitted well and measurement invariance across gender was revealed. Females obtained significantly higher scores on

Communication scholars are in disagreement over the presence of online public speaking courses in higher education. Despite limited research on the Online Public Speaking model, it is quickly replacing the traditional public speaking model in American...

The internet offers tremendous opportunities for violent extremists across the ideological spectrum and at a global level. In addition to propaganda, digital technologies have transformed the dynamics of radical mobilisation, recruitment and participation.
Even though the jihadist threat has seemingly declined in the West, the danger exists of the internet being an environment where radical messages can survive and even prosper. Against this background, this ISPI report investigates the current landscape of jihadist online communication, including original empirical analysis. Specific attention is also placed on potential measures and initiatives to address the threat of online violent extremism.
The volume aims to present important points for reflection on the phenomenon in the West (including Italy) and beyond.

Mohammed Abdel Hakim Farrah      mfarrah2006@yahoo.com
Abstract
This paper investigates the effectiveness of an online communication program in three domains: enhancing language skills, increasing motivation, and promoting
cultural understanding among non-native university students from 22 countrieswho were attending the Soliya Connect Program. An 18-item Likert scale questionnaire addressing these three domains was used to assess these students’ responses. Results indicate that using online communication in EFL teaching enhances listening and speaking skills, promotes motivation and encourages cultural understanding.

Desde que en 1990 surgieran los primeros cibermedios, el diseño de los mismos ha ido adaptándose a los contenidos que ofrece y a la evolución tecnológica del soporte; si bien, los citados avances se han producido mayoritariamente fuera del entorno periodístico donde las empresas, en general, aún no han encontrado su modelo de negocio. Hemos asistido en su evolución a la emancipación de cierto contenido de su versión impresa mediante el género de la infografía, principalmente, así como la incorporación de ciertos recursos multimedia y de participación del usuario; agente activo en la producción de contenido, modificando la estructura hasta ahora conocida de emisor-receptor en un entorno que ofrece aún más posibilidades para la creación y difusión de la información. Mediante la elaboración de una ficha en la que recogemos las teorías y directrices académicas respecto al empleo del color, la tipografía, los recursos gráficos, la arquitectura, diseño y visualización de la información, hemos analizado los nodos iniciales de Elpais.com, Elmundo.es, Elcorreo.com, Lavanguardia.es y Elperiodico.com; realizando un estudio comparativo con otros cibermedios mundiales que nos ayudaron a ampliar horizontes y perspectivas como Lemonde.fr, Guardian.co.uk, Bild.de, Nytimes.com, Clarin.com, Oglobo.oglobo.com, Reforma.com, Emol.com, Asahi.com y Asahi.com/english. A fecha de publicación de esta tesis, concluimos que, si bien los cibermedios se adecúan correctamente a los patrones de legibilidad e interfaz gráfica de usuario acorde a los contenidos que ofertan; no explotan las potencialidades que el soporte puede ofrecer. La aparición de nuevas vías de acceso y distribución de la información -redes móviles- replantean la necesidad de la difusión multiplataforma mediante la convergencia empresarial.

Media is everywhere and we live immerse “in” it (Deuze, 2012). Interface design is working on diluting boundaries between human and machines (HCI), incorporating the devices in our daily life by ful lling our motivations and, at the same time, generating interactions to arise them.
Wonder, love, hate, desire, joy, and sadness; the six primary passions of the soul described by Descartes (1649) are increasingly incorporated in the mobile interface design and construction of messages, altering the way our brain, and speci cally our memory, deals with general content and personal data.
It has already been proven the connection between emotions and health, being our brain the technology that links both (MIT). Also it has been recently demonstrated the relation between memories and place – process of episodic memory formation - (Meyer, 2014). Then, we have wearable technologies and media life, o ering constant motivations to our desires and feelings. Therefore, as much as they could ful ll them, we would incorporate them too in our routine. Thus, emotion and motivation seem to be key elements and technologies should work as our brain to stablish the proper connection between users and interfaces.

This thesis aims to identify and to characterize the modes of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) used in Online Communities (OC), that are relevant to the visual creation practice, contextualizing them in the production of Type Design (TD). And to conceptualize a model of a community of practice, developed under a participatory design methodology, evaluating strategies for its dynamization and development in the national context.
Currently, with the widespread of information and communication technologies, the practice of TD, an isolated and individual activity, is subjected to a paradigm shift—to become an activity of increased sharing.
The methodology was divided into three phases. Initially we seek to understand the relevant modes of CMC to the practice of TD. In order to do so, we observe the motivations and behaviors of the users on these platforms, backed by the collection of data on the use of these platforms in academic context. Along with the development and evaluation of a preliminary experiment in an existing online platform. In a second phase, we present the conceptual model of an OC to the production of TD supported in the identification and characterization of the existing Virtual Communities of Practice. And on the development and implementation of a functional prototype. This prototype was evaluated in a third phase, using the participation of a sample of professional Portuguese Type Designers in the development of community strategies, according to a participatory Community-Centered Development approach.
The use of a small sized Focus Group, and the time limitations of the empirical research does not allow to generalize the results. However, the results reveal that the more specific the shared activity of the practice in the OC, the more specialized and the more restricted the CMC modes that should be implemented for the communication and interaction of the online members. The integration of modes of CMC on asynchronous communication through visual artifacts has the potential for a more effective and satisfying communication for these users. And related to the barriers to participation, although they can be minimized through the implementation of innovative modes, they are a challenge that must be managed, balancing explicit communication, uses, perceptions and expectations of the different roles of the community members.

Over the last two decades, various management theorists have shifted their research attention from top-down authority organizations to self-managed organizations that run in the absence of hierarchies. At the same time, the importance of conflict management is increasingly acknowledged in literature, with research direction moving towards the analysis of conflict management strategies at group/team level. Combining these research interests and directions, the author executed a research on Conflict management in Self-managed team, by studying the case of Wikipedia - a phenomenal online success for a self-managed collaborative organization. This study takes into account, besides the self-management structure, the attributes of Wikipedia as a virtual team with cultural diversity. The purpose of this research is twofold. First, it identifies the components that make up Wikipedia‟s conflict resolution process and observes how these components interact to form an effective conflict resolution system. Second, this research analyses the norms and regulations with regards to managing conflicts on Wikipedia and identifies the conflict management style at the group level. Two findings of the research: (1) Wikipedia conflict resolution system meets the criteria for a complementary system, in which components interact and address the limitations of one another, (2) The principal conflict management style of Wikipedia is an integrative style built on individual‟s collaborating and compromising conflict-handling behaviour, exhibited by a wide range of functional conflict resolution strategies. This research reveals the impact of organizational culture, reflected in community norms, on knowledge management in Wikipedia and highlights the effectiveness of its conflict management approach, reinforcing Wikipedia‟s role as an exemplary model of an extreme self-managed team.

From the concept of technology intimacy which describes four levels / dimensions of interaction between Human Being and technology (internal perspective, external extension, interpersonal interactions and societal reflection), proposed by Boyce and Hancock; the state of the art concerning mobile phones and its interface design is analyzed. To propose a beta methodology, issues increasingly pressing concerning the delimitation of public and private spheres and the interaction in the common space as well as the alteration of space and time dimensions and changes in the perception and the way Human Being relate with the ecosystem due to the incorporation of mobile phones in the daily life have been considered. Our personal information has become the new Internet content value while European Union Commission is working on the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ and the common user is dealing with a different case law and legal framework between the U.S. and Europe. Therefore, to try to clarify the techniques and strategies developed by different applications, devices and platforms, we propose a thorough review of the state of art in these four dimensions mentioned at the beginning of the abstract. We assume that breaking down the information and results of previous studies based on these four levels or dimensions stages, we would be able to uncover and conclude better both intentions and objectives achieved in the design of an interface. This methodology will include also a comparative analysis between the terms of privacy of each application, device or platform and its physical embodiment in the design. First conclusions show a search for personal information that users not always realizes about, reason why to develop this research.