International Conference on Information Systems, 2018
This research offers a typology of human and bot co-production processes and conceptualizes co-pr... more This research offers a typology of human and bot co-production processes and conceptualizes co-production as having three iterative phases (i.e., content generation, content positioning, and content protection), each comprised of unique processes. We theorize that specific information quality threats (i.e., content bias, influence disparities, and selection bias and source bias) are enabled or constrained during distinct phases of digital co-production. Specifically, content bias is shaped during the content generation and protection phases, influence disparities are shaped during the content positioning phase, and selection and source bias are shaped during the content protection phase. Notably, increases in source and selection bias during the content protection phase are associated with decreases in content bias. Bots–as active contributors in each process–are an important influence on information quality. Bots have a paradoxical effect on information quality, i.e., bots reduce source, selection and content bias, but bots increase influence disparities in digitally co-produced information.
Our research on the social movement opposing proposed piracy legislation reveals novel societal o... more Our research on the social movement opposing proposed piracy legislation reveals novel societal opportunities and challenges caused by digitization. We summarize literature on the Katz and Lazarsfeld Two-Step Model of Communication and propose a new model of mass communication for the digital age. We develop a digital discourse bias framework comprised of three structural constraints (on authorship, citation, and influence) and three content restrictions (on frames, signatures, and emotion). Our findings paradoxically reveal social media affords emancipation with regard to structural constraints, but is hegemonic with regard to an important content restriction (i.e., frames). Lean social media mitigated structural advantages and exacerbated content problems. These findings suggest that, as with traditional media, some inevitable evils accompany the societal benefits of social media and that mass media is having a detrimental effect on public discourse. Compared to traditional mass media, digital mass media are in some ways emancipatory (i.e., permitting widespread participation in public discourse and surfacing of diverse perspectives) and in other ways hegemonic (i.e., contributing to ideological control by a few).
This research examines how an oppressed group, the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, used an ICT for the ... more This research examines how an oppressed group, the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, used an ICT for the human development objective of cultural identity restoration, one component of emancipation. Within this manuscript is depicted a process model of how ICT tools can be used for human development through emancipatory pedagogy, i.e., the communication of knowledge in a way that promotes critical reflection and collective action. Combining interpretive and critical methods, I describe how the Klamath's ICT reflected the emancipatory journey of those creating it and empowered the Klamath to lead ICT users toward emancipation. An interpretive approach revealed that ICT framing tools promoted awareness of the Klamath, awareness of the problem the Klamath sought to address, and awareness of societal systems of power that enforced the Klamath's problem, while ICT tactic tools enabled "the aware" to engage in solutions. Notably, the Klamath shirked prevailing practices in ICT4D. Consistent with my critical approach, I use the Klamath case to suggest normative recommendations for use of ICT for social good.
International Conference on Information Systems, 2018
This research offers a typology of human and bot co-production processes and conceptualizes co-pr... more This research offers a typology of human and bot co-production processes and conceptualizes co-production as having three iterative phases (i.e., content generation, content positioning, and content protection), each comprised of unique processes. We theorize that specific information quality threats (i.e., content bias, influence disparities, and selection bias and source bias) are enabled or constrained during distinct phases of digital co-production. Specifically, content bias is shaped during the content generation and protection phases, influence disparities are shaped during the content positioning phase, and selection and source bias are shaped during the content protection phase. Notably, increases in source and selection bias during the content protection phase are associated with decreases in content bias. Bots–as active contributors in each process–are an important influence on information quality. Bots have a paradoxical effect on information quality, i.e., bots reduce source, selection and content bias, but bots increase influence disparities in digitally co-produced information.
Our research on the social movement opposing proposed piracy legislation reveals novel societal o... more Our research on the social movement opposing proposed piracy legislation reveals novel societal opportunities and challenges caused by digitization. We summarize literature on the Katz and Lazarsfeld Two-Step Model of Communication and propose a new model of mass communication for the digital age. We develop a digital discourse bias framework comprised of three structural constraints (on authorship, citation, and influence) and three content restrictions (on frames, signatures, and emotion). Our findings paradoxically reveal social media affords emancipation with regard to structural constraints, but is hegemonic with regard to an important content restriction (i.e., frames). Lean social media mitigated structural advantages and exacerbated content problems. These findings suggest that, as with traditional media, some inevitable evils accompany the societal benefits of social media and that mass media is having a detrimental effect on public discourse. Compared to traditional mass media, digital mass media are in some ways emancipatory (i.e., permitting widespread participation in public discourse and surfacing of diverse perspectives) and in other ways hegemonic (i.e., contributing to ideological control by a few).
This research examines how an oppressed group, the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, used an ICT for the ... more This research examines how an oppressed group, the Klamath Tribes of Oregon, used an ICT for the human development objective of cultural identity restoration, one component of emancipation. Within this manuscript is depicted a process model of how ICT tools can be used for human development through emancipatory pedagogy, i.e., the communication of knowledge in a way that promotes critical reflection and collective action. Combining interpretive and critical methods, I describe how the Klamath's ICT reflected the emancipatory journey of those creating it and empowered the Klamath to lead ICT users toward emancipation. An interpretive approach revealed that ICT framing tools promoted awareness of the Klamath, awareness of the problem the Klamath sought to address, and awareness of societal systems of power that enforced the Klamath's problem, while ICT tactic tools enabled "the aware" to engage in solutions. Notably, the Klamath shirked prevailing practices in ICT4D. Consistent with my critical approach, I use the Klamath case to suggest normative recommendations for use of ICT for social good.
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Papers by Amber Young