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The growth of online communities and social media has led to a growing need for methods, concepts, and tools for researching online cultures. Particular attention should be paid to polarizing online discussion cultures and dynamics that increase inequality in online environments. Social media has enormous potential to create good, but in order to unlock its full potential, we also need to examine the mechanisms keeping these spaces monotonous, homogenous, and even hostile toward some groups. With this need in mind, I have developed the concept and theory of othering online discourse (OOD).

This chapter introduces and defines the concept of OOD and explains the key characteristics and different attributes of OOD in relation to other concepts that deal with disruptive and discriminatory behavior in online spaces. The attributes of OOD are demonstrated drawing on examples gathered from the Finnish Suomi24 (Finland24) forum.

Purpose – The first purpose of this chapter is to better understand, and to propose a means to understand the ways selves are constructed in daily contingencies during consumption experiences. To do so, the second purpose, which aims to bring an additional contribution, is to investigate the materiality of consumer experiences in a technological context.

Methodology/approach – We have investigated materiality (as conceptualized by Miller) of experiences in online discussion forums in a community of video games enthusiasts. Grounded theory is elaborated from an ethnography mixing interviews and nonparticipative online observation. The focus is on consumers' perceptions of their constructions as subjects in relationship to the various objects and practices they face.

Findings – The process through which subjects are contingently constructed follows three intertwined logics. Each of these logics, namely (1) finding a position, (2) building “appropriation logics” and accomplishing practices, and (3) enacting meaning empowerments, is detailed in its specific contingencies and modalities.

Research limitations/implications – Contribution of this research relies mostly on findings from one online community.

Practical implications – This research opens new ways to understand technological consumption experiences as they are lived by consumers, and it allows for an understanding of structuration in experiences characterized beforehand by their indeterminacy.

Originality/value of chapter – This chapter belongs to the few ones that propose a methodological approach to tackle with the construction of the self in daily contingencies and with dynamic materiality. It also opens new ways to de-essentialize ordinary consumption activities.

Women's violence is periodically raised as a cause for concern both in the media as well as in discussions among the general public in other platforms, such as online forums. These concerns are linked with anti-feminist efforts to discredit the benefits of feminisms and to counter feminist knowledge on gendered patterns in violence. In this chapter, I discuss the ways these concerns and the associated discrediting of feminism have been manifested in various contexts, including academic research on intimate partner violence. My specific focus is on online forums, where women's use of violence is frequently highlighted for the purpose of creating an image of reversed gender discrimination experienced by men. I illustrate how such meaning-making is employed in online discussions derived from various online discussion forums in Finland. The empirical example is focussed on identifying discursive methods frequently employed in the online contexts and specifically illustrates how those methods are employed for the rhetorical effect of othering feminists, highlighting the severity of women's violence as a social problem and portraying men instead of women as victims of inequality. I conclude with a discussion on connections between this meaning-making and broader patterns in anti-feminist mobilisations of the issue of women's violence.

With digital spaces an increasing feature of our everyday lives, and the internet now a primary means of sourcing IPEDs and information regarding their use, this chapter seeks to understand how digital fitness forum communities shape the dissemination of culturally embedded harm reduction advice. Findings are drawn from two netnographic studies of fitness forums, which identify several key areas in which community norms and structures served to inform harm reduction behaviours. This included embedded forum reputation systems and the ways in which these shaped IPED access, including through elevating ‘expert’ users and encouraging informed discussion regarding product quality, to the emergence of steroid testing services from forums as a community harm reduction tool. Second, forums were observed to often encourage users to conduct research and inform themselves regarding safe use, though limitations to this norm were also documented in relation to poor-quality medical advice, highlighting the issues with IPED users' reliance on anecdotal advice in the contexts of prohibition. Finally, the role of digital fitness forums as ‘digital backstage’ is considered, examining both how this can be harmful to IPED users from excluded or ‘otherised’ groups, but simultaneously offers cultural participants the opportunity for airing vulnerabilities in a space where their masculine identity is not threatened in doing so, thus facilitating harm reduction among cultural ‘insiders’.

In an online executive education setting, online discussions are seen as a frequently used pedagogical tool that promotes higher level of learning and critical thinking. A teacher's role is seen more as a moderator or facilitator of learning than as a lecturer or preacher. This shift of roles enhances the online students’ opportunities to critically think and reflect; and encourages co-creation of knowledge by way of peer discussions. It is imperative that students apply their critical thinking as well as soft skills to effectively participate and contribute towards making the discussion forum as self-regulated. However, in reality it needs explicit planning and effort on the part of the teacher to motivate them towards this positional shift. This chapter presents the motivation and techniques for improving student engagement by way of assigning them the role of moderator in a predominantly asynchronous online course for management graduates. A qualitative analysis of the observations made based on the application of three techniques of student moderation on student cohorts is shared and implications are discussed.

Online, distance, and eLearning (ODeL) continue to gain recognition as a mandatory component of delivery of education in institutions of higher learning (IHL) around the world following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This paradigm shift is informed by the need to ensure uninterrupted, valuable, and safe learning experiences for learners during the pandemic. However, governments ordered the closure of schools and colleges following the declaration of COVID-19 as a world pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). A report by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization revealed that there was a significant loss of schooling time following the closure of educational facilities which affected over 1.5 billion learners in 194 nations globally. This study explored the use of online approaches to intensify online learning efficacy in IHL. Data collection was conducted using qualitative methods and data analysis done using themes and sub-themes. Findings from this study indicate that students’ engagements on discussion forums are consistent with collaborative learning. Results further support the view that regular, prompt, and meaningful feedback is critical in promoting constructive learning and reflection among students. Based on the findings of this study, practical implications are discussed for stakeholders interested in establishing and strengthening effective delivery of online learning content to enhance students’ learning experiences.

How does gender equity fare in the digital public sphere(s)? To understand the mechanism of the gender gap, this study analyzes the interaction of gender with class, age, and parenthood. With American national survey data, this research compares different types of online content production practices in this blurred digital public sphere(s). Findings show differences between men and women in five of six digital content creation activities. Women are more likely to consume online content; men are more likely to produce it. From more public blogging to more private chatting, inequality persists. Interactions with gender show (1) women from higher educational levels face more inequality compared to their male counterparts than do women from lower educational levels; (2) age is not a factor in the gender gap; and (3) generally, parental status fails to explain the production divide. Understanding the gender gap and its mechanisms can help ameliorate inequalities. Some argue that the Internet is a more egalitarian public platform for women while others find gender inequality. But neither body of research has attended to the blurring of the public and private spheres on the Internet.

This chapter presents a case study of the ways the Phoebe pedagogic planner assists faculty to design and select e-learning technology because “it's not the technology, but the [quality] of the educational experience that affects learning” (Seltz, 2010, p. 1). Faculty applied guidance from Phoebe to evaluate various interactive media options for undergraduate psychology courses to enhance student learning and engagement. The authors discuss the application of instructional technology in Introduction to Psychology, Cross-cultural Psychology, and Human Motivation and Emotion courses. These projects were prompted by earlier work (Hager & Clemmons, 2010) that explored collaboration to promote integration of technology in traditional courses. The new technologies include discussion forums; online simulations, cases and assessments; text-to-poll; and the Moodle learning management system (LMS). Current theories of e-learning are applied to analyze and critique these projects, concluding with recommendations for future research, practice, and faculty development to incorporate learning technologies. The authors demonstrate how learner-centered collaboration among faculty, researchers, and administrators can shape and improve student engagement and develop institutional cultures of e-learning.

Purpose – This chapter examines how sentiment analysis and web-crawling technology can be used to conduct large-scale data analyses of extremist content online.

Methods/approach – The authors describe a customized web-crawler that was developed for the purpose of collecting, classifying, and interpreting extremist content online and on a large scale, followed by an overview of a relatively novel machine learning tool, sentiment analysis, which has sparked the interest of some researchers in the field of terrorism and extremism studies. The authors conclude with a discussion of what they believe is the future applicability of sentiment analysis within the online political violence research domain.

Findings – In order to gain a broader understanding of online extremism, or to improve the means by which researchers and practitioners “search for a needle in a haystack,” the authors recommend that social scientists continue to collaborate with computer scientists, combining sentiment analysis software with other classification tools and research methods, as well as validate sentiment analysis programs and adapt sentiment analysis software to new and evolving radical online spaces.

Originality/value – This chapter provides researchers and practitioners who are faced with new challenges in detecting extremist content online with insights regarding the applicability of a specific set of machine learning techniques and research methods to conduct large-scale data analyses in the field of terrorism and extremism studies.