© 2025 SURF
De dissertatie "Probing Futures, Acting Today" van Caroline Maessen onderzoekt hoe organisaties alternatieve toekomsten kunnen verbeelden om dagelijkse toekomstvormende praktijken te veranderen teneinde complexe maatschappelijke uitdagingen aan te pakken. Organisaties hebben de neiging door lineair denken hun verbeeldingsvermogen te beperken tot conventionele toekomsten, wat effectieve reacties op problemen zoals klimaatverandering en sociale ongelijkheid belemmert. Het gevolg is dat na de zoveelste heisessie voor visieontwikkeling, er nog steeds niets fundamenteel verandert. Hoe de toekomst zich ontvouwt, tegen de achtergrond van maatschappelijke complexe problemen, gaat vaak voorbij onze collectieve verbeeldingskracht. Organisaties hebben moeite om zich te verbinden met onconventionele toekomsten en acties in het heden daarop af te stemmen. Voor betekenisvolle verandering moeten organisaties navigeren tussen de aantrekkingskracht van inspirerende onconventionele toekomsten en de behoefte aan stabiliteit en controle. Maessen heeft in twee (semi) publieke organisaties onderzocht waarom dit zo lastig is en hoe organisaties daarin ondersteund kunnen worden.
The initial trigger of this research about learning from video was the availability of log files from users of video material. Video modality is seen as attractive as it is associated with the relaxed mood of watching TV. The experiments in this research have the goal to gain more insight in viewing patterns of students when viewing video. Students received an awareness instruction about the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors to see whether this would enhance their learning effects. We found that:- the learning effects of students with a narrow viewing repertoire were less than the learning effects of students with a broad viewing repertoire or strategic viewers.- students with some basic knowledge of the topics covered in the videos benefited most from the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors and students with low prior knowledge benefited the least.- the knowledge gain of students with low prior knowledge disappeared after a few weeks; knowledge construction seems worse when doing two things at the same time.- media players could offer more options to help students with their search for the content they want to view again.- there was no correlation between pervasive personality traits and viewing behavior of students.The right use of video in higher education will lead to students and teachers that are more aware of their learning and teaching behavior, to better videos, to enhanced media players, and, finally, to higher learning effects that let users improve their learning from video.
The initial trigger of this research about learning from video was the availability of log files from users of video material. Video modality is seen as attractive as it is associated with the relaxed mood of watching TV. The experiments in this research have the goal to gain more insight in viewing patterns of students when viewing video. Students received an awareness instruction about the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors to see whether this would enhance their learning effects. We found that:- the learning effects of students with a narrow viewing repertoire were less than the learning effects of students with a broad viewing repertoire or strategic viewers.- students with some basic knowledge of the topics covered in the videos benefited most from the use of possible alternative viewing behaviors and students with low prior knowledge benefited the least.- the knowledge gain of students with low prior knowledge disappeared after a few weeks; knowledge construction seems worse when doing two things at the same time.- media players could offer more options to help students with their search for the content they want to view again.- there was no correlation between pervasive personality traits and viewing behavior of students.The right use of video in higher education will lead to students and teachers that are more aware of their learning and teaching behavior, to better videos, to enhanced media players, and, finally, to higher learning effects that let users improve their learning from video.
Background: Advanced media technologies have become an integral part of people's daily lives, providing them with new tools and environments for the formation and enactment of their identities. To date, the literature acknowledges that media technologies, such as social networking sites, are used to form and enact online identities, and that these platforms can simultaneously pose challenges to individuals' identity work. However, we know little about the precise online identity work strategies that individuals employ in response to the challenges they face over time. Objective: This paper examines the online identity work dynamics of Instagram micro-influencers, for whom social network sites enable and guide them in forming and enacting their online identities on a daily basis. The study was guided by the following research question: what are the challenges that Instagram micro-influencers perceive online and what are the online identity work strategies that they employ in response to these challenges over time? Methods: This study employs an extreme case approach to rigorously explore the lives of seven micro-influencers on Instagram. We combine in-depth data from narrative interviews, longitudinal data from online autobiographical narratives revealed through the participants' Instagram timelines, and follow-up interviews. Results: Our analysis revealed three main themes that highlight the challenges that Instagram micro-influencers face online: (1) amplified social expectations, (2) feelings of inauthenticity, and, as a result thereof, (3) psychological distress. We found that these challenges were viewed as catalysts for their online identity work processes. We identified three key online identity work strategies that the Instagram micro-influencers employed in response over time: (1) experimenting with their online identities, followed by either (2) segmenting between their online and offline identities, or (3) adding identities through online multiplicity. Conclusion: Our research provides new insights into how individuals may respond to the challenge of managing their online identities over time by engaging in different online identity work strategies. This study highlights the importance of designing online media technologies that enable individuals to cope with online challenges. We emphasize the need to design online spaces for (1) the expression of authentic identities, (2) community building, and (3) online multiplicity.
Background: Advanced media technologies have become an integral part of people's daily lives, providing them with new tools and environments for the formation and enactment of their identities. To date, the literature acknowledges that media technologies, such as social networking sites, are used to form and enact online identities, and that these platforms can simultaneously pose challenges to individuals' identity work. However, we know little about the precise online identity work strategies that individuals employ in response to the challenges they face over time. Objective: This paper examines the online identity work dynamics of Instagram micro-influencers, for whom social network sites enable and guide them in forming and enacting their online identities on a daily basis. The study was guided by the following research question: what are the challenges that Instagram micro-influencers perceive online and what are the online identity work strategies that they employ in response to these challenges over time? Methods: This study employs an extreme case approach to rigorously explore the lives of seven micro-influencers on Instagram. We combine in-depth data from narrative interviews, longitudinal data from online autobiographical narratives revealed through the participants' Instagram timelines, and follow-up interviews. Results: Our analysis revealed three main themes that highlight the challenges that Instagram micro-influencers face online: (1) amplified social expectations, (2) feelings of inauthenticity, and, as a result thereof, (3) psychological distress. We found that these challenges were viewed as catalysts for their online identity work processes. We identified three key online identity work strategies that the Instagram micro-influencers employed in response over time: (1) experimenting with their online identities, followed by either (2) segmenting between their online and offline identities, or (3) adding identities through online multiplicity. Conclusion: Our research provides new insights into how individuals may respond to the challenge of managing their online identities over time by engaging in different online identity work strategies. This study highlights the importance of designing online media technologies that enable individuals to cope with online challenges. We emphasize the need to design online spaces for (1) the expression of authentic identities, (2) community building, and (3) online multiplicity.
In Amsterdam and Beirut, Abdallah has ethnographically researched interactional dynamics between disadvantaged young people, regarding experiences of success, in settings of education, work, sports, and music. He analyzed how focus, mood, and bodily deployment produced shared symbols, emotional contagions, and situated solidarities and moralities.He came to characterize constructive interactions as a main context for young people to experience three components of success: boosts, elevation, and grounding. Combinations of these experiences have important restorative effects for young people who suffer from an abundance of adversity and discouragement. Tensions arise for young people between, on the one hand, their loyalties toward old settings of belonging with their short-term, at times destructive, tendencies and, on the other hand, their success in new settings which demanded of them new types of discipline and commitments. Continued success depends partly on young people’s abilities, but more so on the availability of constructive interaction rituals helping them manage such tensions, without necessarily committing to one loyalty over the other. Next to young people’ s dynamics and processes, Abdallah has focused on the input of NGO professionals and volunteers in such constructive interactions to learn how their involvement can help young people in their struggles for success.The analysis employs concepts of sociological studies of emotions, such as interaction rituals, emotion management, and embodied dispositions to clarify how emotion, experience and energy act as driving forces in young people’s activities and development.
MULTIFILE
In Amsterdam and Beirut, Abdallah has ethnographically researched interactional dynamics between disadvantaged young people, regarding experiences of success, in settings of education, work, sports, and music. He analyzed how focus, mood, and bodily deployment produced shared symbols, emotional contagions, and situated solidarities and moralities.He came to characterize constructive interactions as a main context for young people to experience three components of success: boosts, elevation, and grounding. Combinations of these experiences have important restorative effects for young people who suffer from an abundance of adversity and discouragement. Tensions arise for young people between, on the one hand, their loyalties toward old settings of belonging with their short-term, at times destructive, tendencies and, on the other hand, their success in new settings which demanded of them new types of discipline and commitments. Continued success depends partly on young people’s abilities, but more so on the availability of constructive interaction rituals helping them manage such tensions, without necessarily committing to one loyalty over the other. Next to young people’ s dynamics and processes, Abdallah has focused on the input of NGO professionals and volunteers in such constructive interactions to learn how their involvement can help young people in their struggles for success.The analysis employs concepts of sociological studies of emotions, such as interaction rituals, emotion management, and embodied dispositions to clarify how emotion, experience and energy act as driving forces in young people’s activities and development.
MULTIFILE
