1.
Frances VC Ryan
Supervisors: Professor Hazel Hall, Alistair Lawson, and Peter Cruickshank
f.ryan@napier.ac.uk | @cleverfrances | www.JustAPhD.com
Centre for Social Informatics
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“The role of online
information in the building,
maintenance, and evaluation
of personal reputation”

2.
What’s the research about?
How online information contributes to the building, maintenance,
and evaluation of personal reputations
― Personal reputation: Private individuals, rather than corporate identity and brand
Two broad research themes:
(1) The means by which people evaluate or assess the personal
reputations of others from the online evidence available to them
(2) How people manage their own personal reputations through their use
of online information, and to what extent those behaviours are intentional
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3.
OK, but what does that mean?
© Frances Ryan
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4.
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5.
Where’s the literature found?
(Almost) Everywhere!
 Information science
 Everyday life information seeking (ELIS)
 Citation analysis
 Computing
 Employment research
 Human-computer interaction
 Human resources management
 Information systems
 Management and organisational studies
 Marketing
 Media and communication studies
 Physical and mental health
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6.
How can I investigate both research themes?
 The challenge? Establishing a way to examine both research themes
simultaneously
 Qualitative methods deemed most appropriate
 Semi-structured, in-depth interviews to discuss participants’ own
practices
 Answering questions on evaluation of others proved more difficult
 Several solutions were considered
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7.
 Tradition in everyday life information seeking (ELIS) research
 Rich data are reliable sources of information and eliminate the
potential for inaccurate reporting
(Narayan, Case, & Edwards, 2011, p. 3)
 Several studies use a combination of diary-keeping and interviews
(Agosto & Hughes-Hassell, 2005; Dervin, 1983; McKenzie, 2003; Rieh, 2004)
 Although studies vary, they share a common theme: combining the
robustness of two forms of data
The solution? Diaries and interviews
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8.
How did the diary work?
 Participants kept diary for one
week
 Simple instructions; no
formatting guidelines
 Got participants thinking about
their information behaviours
 Diaries helped form interview
guides
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9.
Collecting the data
 Sample of 45 UK-based participants
 Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby boomers
 Short background survey
 Diary for one week (electronic or hand-written)
 One-hour semi-structured interviews (face-to-face or Skype)
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10.
 Social media an extension of
everyday lives
 Varying levels self-censorship
behaviours
 Deleting posts
 Intentional practices based on
platform use
 Managing “the blur”
Generation X: Early findings
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11.
 Difficult to convey evaluations of others
 Negative views when opinions are
in stark contrast to their own
 Conflicting views on anonymous
accounts and pseudonyms used by
others
 More forgiving or lenient when known
in an offline environment
Generation X: Early findings
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12.
Next steps
 Complete data analysis
 Determine thesis structure
 Thesis write-up
 Viva
 The Doctor
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13.
Indicative bibliography
Ausloos, J. (2012). The “Right to be forgotten”: Worth remembering? Computer Law & Security Review, 28(2), 143–152.
doi:10.1016/j.clsr.2012.01.006
Bates, M. J. (1999). The invisible substrate of information science. Journal of the American Society for Information
Science, 50(12), 1043–1050. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(1999)50:12<1043::AID-ASI1>3.3.CO;2-O
Cronin, B. & Askins, H.B. (2000). The web of knowledge: a festschrift in honor of Eugene Garfield. Medford, NJ:
Information Today
Duguay, S. (2014). “He has a way gayer Facebook than I do”: Investigating sexual identity disclosure and context collapse
on a social networking site. New Media & Society, 1–17. doi:10.1177/1461444814549930
Fieseler, C., Meckel, M., & Ranzini, G. (2014). Professional personae: How organizational identification shapes online
identity in the workplace. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 1–18. doi:10.1111/jcc4.12103
Finocchiaro, G. & Ricci, A. (2013). Quality of information, the right to oblivion, and digital reputation. In B. Custers, T.
Calders, B. Schermer, & T. Zarsky (Eds.), Discrimination and Privacy in the Information Society (Vol. 3, pp. 289–299).
Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-30487-3
Greidanus, E. & Everall, R. D. (2010). Helper therapy in an online suicide prevention community. British Journal of
Guidance & Counselling, 38(2), 191–204. doi:10.1080/03069881003600991
Howkins, J. (2009). Creative ecologies: Where thinking is a proper job. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland
Press.
Kluemper, D. H. & Rosen, P. A. (2009). Future employment selection methods: Evaluating social networking web sites.
Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(6), 567–580. doi:10.1108/02683940910974134
Lingel, J. & boyd, d. (2013). “Keep it secret, keep it safe”: Information poverty, information norms, and stigma. Journal of
the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 64(5), 981–991. doi:10.1002/asi.22800
Madera, J. M. (2012). Using social networking websites as a selection tool: The role of selection process fairness and job
pursuit intentions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1276–1282. doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.03.008
Mesch, G. S. & Beker, G. (2010). Are norms of disclosure of online and offline personal information associated with the
disclosure of personal information online? Human Communication Research, 36(4), 570–592. doi:10.1111/j.1468-
2958.2010.01389.x
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14.
Ollier-Malaterre, A., Rothbard, N. P., & Berg, J. M. (2013). When worlds collide in cyberspace: How boundary work in
online social networks impacts professional relationships. Academy of Management Review, 38(4), 645–669.
doi:10.5465/amr.2011.0235
Savolainen, R. (2008). Everyday information practices: a social phenomenological perspective. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow
Press.
Uski, S. & Lampinen, A. (2014). Social norms and self-presentation on social network sites: Profile work in action. New
Media & Society, 1–18. doi:10.1177/1461444814543164
Vaast, E. (2007). Playing with masks: Fragmentation and continuity in the presentation of self in an occupational online
forum. Information Technology & People, 20(4), 334–351. doi:10.1108/09593840710839789
Van Dijck, J. (2013). “You have one identity”: Performing the self on Facebook and LinkedIn. Media, Culture & Society,
35(2), 199–215. doi:10.1177/0163443712468605
Copyright attributions
Slide 10: Creative commons copyright Horatio3K (www.flickr.com/horatio3k)
Slide 11: Creative commons copyright (1) Martin Tews (www.flickr.com/airpark); (2) Sarah
Reid (www.flickr.com/sarahreido)
Slide 12: Copyright British Broadcasting Corporation
All other images copyright Frances VC Ryan
Indicative bibliography (cont.)
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15.
Slides available at: www.slideshare.net/justfrances
Thank you!
f.ryan@napier.ac.uk
@cleverfrances
www.JustAPhD.com