Literature Review Of Case Study Web And Society And Introduction To Research

Broad Scan

As part of the broad scan I selected the topic that I want to carry out my research on and searched for this topic on the internet using several different keywords. I searched on a number of different platforms such as the IEE, Google Scholar and the VU Library and came across quite a few papers, after which I selected around twenty of these for the next level.

Date	Task	Action	Comment Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper
25.8.2018	Searched on the topic	Chose a few topics	Selected one particular topic
26.8.2018	Locating papers on different sources such as Google Scholar and VU library	Skimmed through the papers and saved a few of them	Created a folder to save the related work for the purpose of collection
27.8.2018	Reading literature	Read two of the papers from the collection of papers	Discovered a good topic for carrying out follow up work
28.8.2018	Reading Literature	Read another two papers	Did not find any connection between the papers I read and the research I am doing, so I decided to discard these papers altogether.
29.8.2018	Selection of four final papers	Read all the papers one after the other	Selected two papers for final review and analysis
30.8.2018	Begin assignment	Started with citing sources and by creating a bibliography	Inserted citations related to the specific work that I am doing
31.8.2018	Start up to review and analysis of the first paper	Read the entire paper three times	Inserted certain comments in the literature review section of my assignment
1.9. 2018	Paper reading	Noted down important points, especially pertinent theories and discoveries	Reviewed, analyzed and wrote down these theories and perspectives in my own words
2.9.2018	Reading the second paper	Read the entire paper	Noted down important points and reviewed these in my document
3.9.2018	Writing	Wrote down my analysis of both the papers	Filled in all the required fields and prepared the assignment for completion

Source

Keyword Use

Number of Returned Literature

Number of Collected Literature

Google Scholar

Social media and the web

Web and society

Society and the web

824

5000

11, 300

IEEE

Social media use

Web based social interactions

Communication through the web

12,000

10,000

8000

VU library

Interacting socially using the web

700

Researched some more papers that are related to the topic that I am working on. Thereafter I filtered a few papers and selected these for my analysis and writing. Out of these 10 papers, I selected the final two papers for my assignment.

Source	Keyword Use	Number of returned literature	Number of collected literature
Google Scholar	Social media and the internet Websites and social interactions	900 1000	2 3
VU Library	Interacting socially on the web Societies online Online social networks	10,0000 5000 4000	2 1 1
IEEE	Social engagements on the web	600	1

Technology is rapidly transforming the manner in which public institutions are making their decisions. Big data is something that is increasingly being used by governments in different parts of the world to indicate or determine crime incidence, food borne illnesses and diseases like heart attack, among others (Lu and Zhou 2016). A number of expert platforms, such as online directories comprised of people and the skills that they offer are being used to match all the civil servants who possess relevant expertise with institutions who are in need of their know-how (Kiang and Lee 2015). In order to bring about an improvement in civil service and to progress beyond traditional democratic models of referendum or representation, it is necessary to build on such pockets of evolve and promise. For this purpose, knowledge is required of exactly what it is that works and when this works. The researcher identifies five different areas that are in need of immediate research if digital democracy is to survive and thrive, namely, open government data, decision making that is carried out on the basis of data, both big and small, the responsible use of data, citizenship engagement and incentives (Noveck 2017)

The researcher has reviewed four pieces of secondary literature, namely works on political engagement tools and tools for political communication and management to identify five different areas of digital democracy that need to be researched upon in order for these to be understood better by the academic world as well as the public in general. Through her discussion, the researcher specifically encourages scholars and scientists to undertake an investigation into how technology is used for the purpose of improving public institutions (Noveck 2017).

The first and foremost area that is in need of immediate investigation to facilitate the better functioning and understanding of digital democracy is decision making that is driven by big and small data (Zuckerberg and Sittig 2015). Computational information is something that can most definitely bring about an improvement in governance, and systematic research must be carried out for the purpose of guiding investment in the area of new data rich policies and platforms (Tiago and Verissimo 2014). By analyzing data, policy makers will be in a position to understand all the past performances of different policies as well as services, particularly the efficiency of such policies and services as also the disparate impact that these have had on different populations (Ortigosa et al. 2014).

Research Journal

Open government data is a second important area that requires immediate research. There are many nations of the world that collect as well as publish government related information or data in forms that are freely reusable (Perrin 2015). The impact that such data or information can have on public problem solving is something that requires study. Data from US universities as well as US transport authorities for instance, have been converted into apps, in order to enable the American public to make decisions that are well informed when it comes to their university education as well as the routes that they take to work every day (Chen and Hung 2015).

Responsible use of data is a third area that requires investigation for a better understanding and working of digital democracy (Noveck 2017). In order to facilitate decision making that is based on evidence, it is necessary for citizens to probe how administrative data that is collected about them on the part of the government can be best made use of. Research is especially required on the impact that algorithms can have on public life to understand how societal problems can be solved through their use and how their misuse can also be successfully prevented.

Citizenship engagement is the fourth important area that needs to be researched upon if digital democracy is to be well understood. Open innovation and crowd sourcing have both been quite extensively utilized in public sectors. However, such practices have not been institutionalized very well. Significant gaps exist in research on how civil servants and the public can engage with one another and a lack of insight also exists as to how online engagement institutions and processes maybe successfully designed (Carr and Hayes 2015).

Incentives constitute the fifth and final area that needs investigation for the proper functioning and understanding of digital democracy. If participatory government processes are to be designed in this digital day and age, it is necessary for researchers to look into the question of what motivates human beings. There is little or no research on what it is that drives individuals to participate in an online policy consultation for instance, neither is there sufficient information on what drives a government to run such a consultation (Noveck 2017).

Owing to rapid social changes, technological innovations and various other complex challenges, governments need to hit upon new ways by which to do far more that they can, with less. Experimenting with new policies is not enough. Changes need to be brought about in the manner in which policies are thought of, designed and implemented. Carrying out extensive empirical research can be one way of understanding how to bring about such changes.

The world today is one that is digitally connected. Such connectivity offers a wide range of benefits that includes enhanced social connections, new relationships and e-commerce (Yang et al. 2014). The internet also facilitates new methods for the collection of data as well as big data research. Social psychologists however have also managed to detect certain costs of using the internet such as de-individuation or the enabling of bullying behavior self segregation leading to social polarization and time diversion from actual human relationships that take place face to face. Many teenagers these days even avoid talking on the phone and prefer finger messaging their friends and associates instead (Myers 2016).

Filing System

The researcher makes use of statistical data analysis as well as extensive secondary literature review to determine the social costs of using the internet in today’s day and age. The information derived as a result of doing quantitative research have been well displayed in the form of tables and graphs, especially the data that displays the time spent on social media platforms by today’s youth and the impact that this has on their social lives. The graphs used in the research are those that are quite easy to comprehend and have been quite well illustrated too for the benefit of the readers.

The researcher argues that the internet in general and social media platforms on the internet like Facebook and Twitter in particular offer people opportunities for social interaction. They can engage with one another and connect with each other even when they are not in each other’s physical presence (Urry 2016). The internet in particular is widely used for carrying out research and millions of people logging into the search engines online every day to conduct investigations on topics and subjects that they would like to know more about (Sharma and Kaur 2017). Yet the researcher through his study on the internet is able to locate a number of issues as well, the first and foremost among these being de-individuation. People become easy victims of harassment and bullying when they interact online as it is difficult to hold the oppressor accountable due to his virtual presence or existence (Rao 2016). Online activities also lead to what the researcher terms as slacktivism. People are content to take part in one click campaigns in order to raise money or spread awareness about social issues and causes rather than helping out in a far more proactive way. Finally, internet life definitely leads to self segregation. Although it gives people the opportunity to engage and interact with one another as and when they please, they are not actually sitting in front of people and talking or communicating in a healthy way. They are thus being self polarized, becoming completely isolated from actual mainstream life and are content with a virtual and to some extent, an unreal existence (Van den Heuvel 2017). The author raises the question that in addition to isolating people from one another, social media platforms can even perhaps be promoting self love or narcissism especially with the trend of taking selfies and posting photos of one’s self on Twitter and Facebook being one that is so widely popular and acceptable (Myers 2016).

Conclusion

The world today is a digitally networked world which is in a rapid state of evolution (Park and Stevenson 2015). Online interactions provide people with a number of benefits in the form of new relationships, e-commerce and enhanced connections (Owen et al. 2016). However there are many costs associated with an online life or an online existence that includes time diversion, de-individuation as well as self segregation or social polarization. While the internet enables big data research and new methods for the collection of data, the costs of virtual life is something that cannot be ignored and needs to be addressed immediately.

Focused Review

The topic that I have chosen for my research is the intrinsic relationship that is seen to exist between society and the internet. I have searched for many different papers on this subject on the internet and after locating more than thirty five papers using search engines and scholarly sites like Google Scholar, VU Library and IEEE I was able to narrow down on two papers for my literature review. The first focuses on five different areas that require immediate research in order to facilitate a better understanding and functioning of digital democracy. The second focuses on the social psychology of the internet and highlights in particular the social costs that arise as a result of using the internet a bit too much.

List of References

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Baldwin, R.M., Chai, D.S., Lynde, E.M., Bosworth, A.G., Cuervo, O.S. and Deng, P., Facebook Inc, 2015. Web-based user interface tool for social network group collaboration. U.S. Patent 9,047,584.

Carrera, C., Marchetti, M.A., Dusza, S.W., Argenziano, G., Braun, R.P., Halpern, A.C., Jaimes, N., Kittler, H.J., Malvehy, J., Menzies, S.W. and Pellacani, G., 2016. Validity and reliability of dermoscopic criteria used to differentiate nevi from melanoma: a web-based international dermoscopy society study. JAMA dermatology, 152(7), pp.798-806.

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Garimella, K., De Francisci Morales, G., Gionis, A. and Mathioudakis, M., 2018, April. Political Discourse on Social Media. In Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference WWW’18. International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee.

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Kumar, S., Hamilton, W.L., Leskovec, J. and Jurafsky, D., 2018, April. Community interaction and conflict on the web. In Proceedings of the 2018 World Wide Web Conference on World Wide Web (pp. 933-943). International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee.

Carr, C.T. and Hayes, R.A., 2015. Social media: Defining, developing, and divining. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 23(1), pp.46-65.

Chen, W., Paik, I. and Hung, P.C., 2015. Constructing a global social service network for better quality of web service discovery. IEEE transactions on services computing, 8(2), pp.284-298.

Kiang, A. and Lee, D.T., Box Inc, 2015. Central management and control of user-contributed content in a web-based collaboration environment and management console thereof. U.S. Patent 9,197,718.

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Noveck, B.S., 2017. Five hacks for digital democracy. Nature, 544(7650), pp.287-289.

Ortigosa, A., Carro, R.M. and Quiroga, J.I., 2014. Predicting user personality by mining social interactions in Facebook. Journal of computer and System Sciences, 80(1), pp.57-71.

Five Different Hacks for Digital Democracy

Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.

Zuckerberg, M. and Sittig, A., Facebook Inc, 2015. Mapping relationships between members in a social network. U.S. Patent 9,183,599.

Perrin, A., 2015. Social media usage. Pew research center, pp.52-68

Lupton, D., Pedersen, S. and Thomas, G.M., 2016. Parenting and digital media: from the early web to contemporary digital society. Sociology Compass, 10(8), pp.730-743.

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Owen, J.E., Curran, M., Bantum, E.O.C. and Hanneman, R., 2016. Characterizing social networks and communication channels in a web-based peer support intervention. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 19(6), pp.388-396

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Rao, B.R., 2016. Social networking website system with automatic registration based on location information. U.S. Patent 9,246,708.

Sharma, P. and Kaur, P.D., 2017. Effectiveness of web-based social sensing in health information dissemination—A review. Telematics and Informatics, 34(1), pp.194-219

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Urry, J., 2016. Mobilities: new perspectives on transport and society. Routledge

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