Using up trees -- and bits

In the short time since the last update, several new research articles that current and former students and I worked on together have been published.

Our recent work has been premised on the notion that as the Internet has developed, users have less direct control over the information others use to form impressions about them. When the 'net was email, chats, and webpages, an individual could selectively select what to transmit. With newer systems, including social networking sites, one's associates can impact an interpersonal perceptions, through their comments and even what they look like. We did an experiment to see whether the things that friends post on Facebook wall messages, and friends' attractiveness, affect perceptions of profile owners:

Walther, Van Der Heide, Kim, Westerman, & Tong, "The role of friends’ behavior on evaluations of individuals’ Facebook profiles: Are we known by the company we keep?" Human Communication Research, 34, 28-49.

Hey -- the PDF of this article is a "free sample" on the publisher's site! Free samples of research! What's not to like about that?

Elevated

A research article I wrote with Natalie Bazarova appeared in Human Communication Research (v. 33, no.1) which arrived this month. It's a kick when something comes out in print.

Natalie and I have a nice relationship; I think she’s smarter than I am and she thinks I’m smarter than she is. Our article is about the attributions people make for their own behavior in virtual groups.

One of the other articles in the same issue is by colleagues here at MSU, who are among the hardest working people I have ever seen. I’m proud to be associated with people like Hee Sun, Tim, Cat, Tierney, and Sarah. It’s fun.

Another article's lead author is by yet another old colleague, Tim Stephen.

Cool issue. It's like a virtual reunion. Altogether elevating.

The W.A.A.S., from Antiquity to the Present

Several ideas led to the development of the Walther Affect Advisory System and this, its accompanying blog.

First, there are many caring and genuinely supportive people in my college. Among them there is a particular leader of whom I'm very fond, but do not see very often. I hear, though, that when he sees my wife or a hall-mate somewhere, he asks, “is Joe happy?” (Isn't that great?)

Second, a former colleague used to talk about developing emotionally-reflective buildings, which would somehow sense the affective state of people in the offices, then reflect the aggregate emotion level by changing the colors of the outside walls. You’d be able to tell by looking at the building how the people inside it felt. I used to suggest a prototype of that system: I’d tape a piece of paper to the door of the building that would say, “Walther is in, and he’s pissed.”

Third, my son and his friends in college did a content-analysis of blogs and a correlation with their respective popularity, the conclusion of which generated the title of their paper, “Blogs are for Whiney Losers”; people use them to rant and complain, in boring detail.

Put this all together: For anyone keeping track of my happiness level, there are electronic artifacts that might be able to reflect affective states (without having to paint the building), and blogs can provide the details on just what’s causing that state. Thus, the Walther Affect Advisory System and blog.

Currently: High.