Research Seminar – Social Influence in Not-so-social Media: the Case of Linguistic Style in Online Reviews

The next EDA Research Seminar entitled ‘Social Influence in Not-so-social Media: the Case of LInguistic Style in Online Reviews’ will take place on Wednesday 21st May 2014 from 11 am to 12 pm in KBSX2 in Kent Business School Extension, and will be given by Dr Jahna Otterbacher, Lecturer in Communication Studies and Social Information Systems at the Open University of Cyprus.

Dr Jahna Otterbacher (Ph.D., University of Michigan – Ann Arbor, USA) is currently Lecturer in Communication Studies and Social Information Systems at the Open University of Cyprus, where she coordinates the MSc program in Social Information Systems. Her research focuses on interactions between people in technology-mediated environments where the primary mode of communication is written text. She views writing as a social interaction, in that what and how one writes creates an impression as to one’s personality and credibility as a source of information. She uses mixed methodologies in her research, including quantitative and textual analyses. Her endeavour is to discover patterns in the use of language and other communicative devices in order to better facilitate interactions between people, enhancing their access to information. The seminar will focus on our behaviors in social media which often converge with those of others.

All members of academic, technical and administrative staff are welcome to the seminar. RAs and postgraduates (PhD candidates and MSc students) are particularly encouraged to attend the event. For any further enquiries, please contact Dr Jim Ang (C.S.Ang@kent.ac.uk).