This anthology addresses ethical challenges that arise within the field of Internet research. Among the issues discussed in the book are the following: When is voluntary informed consent from research subjects required in using the Internet as a data source? How may researchers secure the privacy of research subjects in a landscape where the traditional public/private distinction is blurred an…
The pervasiveness of social media in young people’s lives is widely acknowledged, yet there is little evidence-based understanding of the impacts of social media on young people’s health and wellbeing. Young People, Social Media and Health draws on novel research to understand, explain, and illustrate young people’s experiences of engagement with health-related social media; as well as…
Over the last five years, widespread concern about the effects of social media on democracy has led to an explosion in research from different disciplines and corners of academia. This book is the first of its kind to take stock of this emerging multi-disciplinary field by synthesizing what we know, identifying what we do not know and obstacles to future research, and charting a course for the …
his book presents an ethnographic study of social media in Mardin, a medium-sized town located in the Kurdish region of Turkey. The town is inhabited mainly by Sunni Muslim Arabs and Kurds, and has been transformed in recent years by urbanisation, neoliberalism and political events. Elisabetta Costa uses her 15 months of ethnographic research to explain why public-facing social media is more co…
One of the first ethnographic studies to explore use of social media in the everyday lives of people in Tamil Nadu, Social Media in South India provides an understanding of this subject in a region experiencing rapid transformation. The influx of IT companies over the past decade into what was once a space dominated by agriculture has resulted in a complex juxtaposition between an evolving know…
'Trolls for Trump', virtual rape, fake news - social media discourse, including forms of virtual and real violence, has become a formidable, yet elusive, political force. What characterizes online vitriol? How do we understand the narratives generated, and also address their real-world - even life-and-death - impact? How can hatred, bullying, and dehumanization on social media platforms be addr…