Papers by Irene I van Driel
Journal of Communication, 2015
ABSTRACT
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Sports fanship is a multidimensional concept. Fans are fans for a variety of reasons and show the... more Sports fanship is a multidimensional concept. Fans are fans for a variety of reasons and show their fanship in an assortment of ways. In many studies, sports fanship is based on predetermined categories and closed-ended questions set by researchers. Such categories and questions may include certain types of fans while omitting others. This study assessed the extent to which closed-ended categorizations align with fans’ views of their own fanship. It also captured what it means to be—or not be—a sports fan from the respondent’s perspective. A total of 1,093 adults completed questionnaires using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. In response to a dichotomous choice question, roughly half self-reported as fans. A majority of self-identified fans described strong emotional and personal ties with sports. Most nonfans found little connection with sports: Sports were boring and inconsistent with how they defined themselves. Open-ended responses from a small proportion of fans and a larger subset of nonfans call into question the validity of a single, dichotomous choice measure of fanship. The results of this study document the importance of explicit conceptualizations and operationalizations of sports fanship.
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The purpose of this exploratory phenomenological study was to understand how college students eng... more The purpose of this exploratory phenomenological study was to understand how college students engage in media-based social solitude in an informal social space of a coffeehouse. Media-based social solitude is the act of being alone together, physically or virtually, with others through the use of media devices. Multiple data collection methods such as field observation and interviews were used to identify two main themes of engagement in media-based social solitude. The interpretation of data from observations of fifteen students and interviews with ten students provided emergent themes that included the need for reinforcement of others to focus on and accept media in a social space. Understanding media-based social solitude in the context of leisure is important, as media inserts itself into all aspects of a life, and may alter the leisure dynamics within a public space. Additional research in the area of media-based social solitude is necessary to gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon within leisure and media studies.
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We analyzed in-game content from titles released between 1983 and 2014 (n = 571) featuring playab... more We analyzed in-game content from titles released between 1983 and 2014 (n = 571) featuring playable female characters. Results indicate that sexualization has diminished since an observed height in the 1990s. Traditionally male-oriented genres (e.g. fighting) have more sexualized characters than role-playing games. Games rated Teen or Mature did not differ in sexualization and featured more sexualization than Everyone games. Despite an increase in games featuring playable female characters, games still depict female characters more often in secondary roles and sexualized them more than primary characters. A positive relationship emerged between the sexualization of female characters and their physical capability. Critical success of games was unrelated to sexualization. We discuss these findings in light of social identity and objectification theories.
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The Information Society, 2014
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Papers by Irene I van Driel