Athens, OH – The SMART Lab lives up to its vision in promoting interdisciplinary research. We celebrate our most recent accomplishments in having published two articles in quality peer reviewed journals. These articles have been published in the Journal of Information, Communication & Society (ICS), and Behavior and Information Technology (BIT).
The first study is titled, “Digital Remediation: Social Support and Online Learning Communities can Help Offset Rural Digital Inequality” by Dr. Howard Welser (Associate Professor of Sociology, Ohio University), our lab director Dr. M. Laeeq Khan, (Assistant Professor of Social Media Analytics, Ohio University), and Michael Dickard (College of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University).
The study published in ICS examines digital inequality of college students from rural areas and the impact it has on education. As part of this study, an online learning community was developed and online collaborative tools were integrated into students’ weekly activities to test the effects of the community intervention on students’ perceived socio-technical skills. Among other findings, results showed that social networks and support are important factors that are predictive of engagement and self-efficacy in participatory activities online. Information, Communication and Society is a peer-reviewed academic journal that covers digital media’s role in the age of information.
The second article “Recognize Misinformation and Verify before Sharing: A Reasoned Action and Information Literacy Perspective” was published on February 11 in Behavior and Information Technology journal. This study was conceptualized and led by Dr. Laeeq Khan with his colleague who recently graduated from Ohio University, Dr. Ika Idris. Through this research they analyzed the role of individual responsibility in the spreading of misinformation online. The study discusses factors such as income, education level, Internet skills, and attitude toward information verification as predictors of information seeking and sharing.
Behavior and Information Technology is a peer-reviewed journal that published research in the realm of usability and user experience (UX), human computer interaction (HCI), and the social, business and human aspects of the digital world.
APA citations for both articles are as follows:
Khan, M. L., & Idris, I. K. (2019). Recognize Misinformation and Verify Before Sharing: A Reasoned Action and Information Literacy Perspective, Behavior & Information Technology, https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2019.1578828.
Welser, T., Khan, M. L., & Dickard, M., (2019). Digital remediation: social support and online learning communities can help offset rural digital inequality, Information, Communication & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2019.1566485.
By Alayna Hutchinson
SMART Lab 