This study examines issues of online identity and language use among male and female teenagers who created and maintained weblogs, personal journals made publicly accessible on the World Wide Web. Online identity and language use were examined in terms of the disclosure of personal information, sexual identity, emotive features, and semantic themes. Male and female teenagers presented themselves similarly in their blogs, often revealing personal information such as their real names, ages, and locations. Males more so than females used emoticons, employed an active and resolute style of language, and were more likely to present themselves as gay. The results suggest that teenagers stay closer to reality in their online expressions of self than has previously been suggested, and that these explorations involve issues, such as learning about their sexuality, that commonly occur during the adolescent years.

The purpose of this article is to examine the communication behaviors of online leaders, or those who influence other members of online communities in triggering message replies, sparking conversation, and diffusing language. It relies on 632,622 messages from 33,450 participants across 16 discussion groups from Google Groups that took place over a 2-year period. It utilizes automated text analysis, social network analysis, and hierarchical linear modeling to uncover the language and social behavior of online leaders. The findings show that online leaders influence others through high communication activity, credibility, network centrality, and the use of affective, assertive, and linguistic diversity in their online messages.

This article explores the role of weblogs in promoting literacy in classroom settings. Literacy remains paramount in learning, not only for language development, but also as the foundation of all academic disciplines including science and mathematics. Storytelling ignites literacy and remains an important part of life from childhood through adulthood. Weblogs resemble personal journals or diaries and provide an online venue where self-expression and creativity is encouraged and online communities are built. Therefore weblogs provide an excellent tool where storytelling and literacy advance for both individual expressions and collaborative learning. Furthermore, weblogs can be used across academic disciplines, making it a viable tool for educational technologists.

The purpose of this study is to examine how language affects coalition formation in multiparty negotiations. The authors relied on communication accommodation theory for theoretical framing and hypothesized that language can help coalition partners reach an agreement when it is used to increase a sense of unity. Findings of an experimental study support this hypothesis, demonstrating that greater linguistic convergence and assent increase agreements between potential coalition partners whereas the expression of negative emotion words decrease agreement. The implications for coalition formation and the study of language in negotiations are discussed.

This study examines the JUNIOR SUMMIT online community, which consisted of 3,062 adolescents representing 139 countries, varying SES, and a range of experience with computers. The online forum culminated in the election of 100 delegates. By analyzing the messages posted before results of the election were announced, we explore whether language use predicts who was elected as a leader, as well as gender differences in leadership style. Results indicate that the young online leaders do not adhere to adult leadership styles of contributing many ideas, sticking to task, and using powerful language. On the contrary, while the young people elected as delegates do contribute more, their linguistic style is likely to keep the goals and needs of the group as central--by referring to the group rather than to themselves, and by synthesizing the posts of others rather than solely contributing their own ideas. Furthermore, both boy and girl leaders follow this pattern of interpersonal language use. These results reassure us that young people can be civically engaged and community minded, while indicating that these concepts themselves may change through contact with the next generation.

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This article examines the key concepts of active learning, metacognition, and transfer of knowledge, as put forth by the National Research Council's approach to the new science of learning, in relation to ways that E-Learning applications might improve learning both inside and outside the classroom. Several initiatives are highlighted to illustrate innovative ways to improve E-Learning by linking these three concepts to four fundamental characteristics: 1) using engaging production features to motivate children to learn; 2) teaching children to construct their own learning paths with information; 3) encouraging collaborations that facilitate both cognitive and social aspects of learning; and 4) using story-telling and entertainment features to foster learning outside the classroom. Stealth education, in which children are actively engaged in a seamless entertaining learning application, is considered as a viable way for E-Learning to improve children's academic and social successes.

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