Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI

As society grapples with the emerging significance and implications of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or Google’s Gemini, as well as other advancements in modern generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial to recognize the existing role that data, algorithms, and...

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Main Authors: Scott Leo Renshaw, Kathleen M. Carley
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667118224000138
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author Scott Leo Renshaw
Kathleen M. Carley
author_facet Scott Leo Renshaw
Kathleen M. Carley
author_sort Scott Leo Renshaw
collection DOAJ
description As society grapples with the emerging significance and implications of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or Google’s Gemini, as well as other advancements in modern generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial to recognize the existing role that data, algorithms, and online social networks have already played in shaping our contemporary society. This review article provides the first comprehensive examination of the current state of knowledge, across disciplinary divides, on how online influences impact offline behaviors, laying the necessary groundwork for investigating and researching the potential impact that these new technologies will have on our “offline” lives. Through a deep-dive collection of articles (n=149), we review and analyze research with measurable Online-to-Offline impacts (n=88). Within this Online-to-Offline criteria, we identify five emergent cross-cutting themes, namely: Social Diffusion, Social Reinforcement, Social Boundary & Identity Maintenance, Cognitive and Attitudinal Research, and Research on Vulnerable & Marginalized Impacts. Through a second wave snowball collection process, we construct a citation network from the broader Online and Offline research literature, allowing us to locate the Online-to-Offline subset as part of a larger intellectual discussion. Finally, we conduct a Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) analysis of terms used in the titles of these online/offline research papers, from 1990 to 2023, to identify the evolution of researchers’ conceptualization and framing of Online and Offline research across the past 30 years. The meta-review, presentation of high-level cross-cutting interdisciplinary themes, co-citation network analysis, and TF-IDF analysis collectively provide a cohesive and deeper understanding of the research space of online/offline influences. By taking stock of the ways in which online factors have already shaped individual, group, or organizational behaviors and social dynamics broadly in “offline” contexts, this work aims to provide a cohesive theoretical and empirical foundation for future researchers to better anticipate, address, and frame the future consequences of the rapidly evolving digitally influenced landscape we find ourselves in today.
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spelling doaj-art-c4c0dd65e1b049c2837adaf231e5d7dd2024-12-14T06:33:50ZengElsevierEmerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health2667-11822024-12-014100154Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AIScott Leo Renshaw0Kathleen M. Carley1Carnegie Mellon University, Software & Societal Systems Department (S3D), Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Center for Informed Democracy & Social-cybersecurity (IDeaS), Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Corresponding author.Carnegie Mellon University, Software & Societal Systems Department (S3D), Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Center for Informed Democracy & Social-cybersecurity (IDeaS), Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USAAs society grapples with the emerging significance and implications of Large Language Models (LLMs), such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, or Google’s Gemini, as well as other advancements in modern generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is crucial to recognize the existing role that data, algorithms, and online social networks have already played in shaping our contemporary society. This review article provides the first comprehensive examination of the current state of knowledge, across disciplinary divides, on how online influences impact offline behaviors, laying the necessary groundwork for investigating and researching the potential impact that these new technologies will have on our “offline” lives. Through a deep-dive collection of articles (n=149), we review and analyze research with measurable Online-to-Offline impacts (n=88). Within this Online-to-Offline criteria, we identify five emergent cross-cutting themes, namely: Social Diffusion, Social Reinforcement, Social Boundary & Identity Maintenance, Cognitive and Attitudinal Research, and Research on Vulnerable & Marginalized Impacts. Through a second wave snowball collection process, we construct a citation network from the broader Online and Offline research literature, allowing us to locate the Online-to-Offline subset as part of a larger intellectual discussion. Finally, we conduct a Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) analysis of terms used in the titles of these online/offline research papers, from 1990 to 2023, to identify the evolution of researchers’ conceptualization and framing of Online and Offline research across the past 30 years. The meta-review, presentation of high-level cross-cutting interdisciplinary themes, co-citation network analysis, and TF-IDF analysis collectively provide a cohesive and deeper understanding of the research space of online/offline influences. By taking stock of the ways in which online factors have already shaped individual, group, or organizational behaviors and social dynamics broadly in “offline” contexts, this work aims to provide a cohesive theoretical and empirical foundation for future researchers to better anticipate, address, and frame the future consequences of the rapidly evolving digitally influenced landscape we find ourselves in today.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667118224000138Network analysisSocial reinforcementMeta-reviewOnline influencesOffline behavior
spellingShingle Scott Leo Renshaw
Kathleen M. Carley
Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI
Emerging Trends in Drugs, Addictions, and Health
Network analysis
Social reinforcement
Meta-review
Online influences
Offline behavior
title Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI
title_full Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI
title_fullStr Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI
title_full_unstemmed Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI
title_short Linking online activity to offline behavior: A meta-review of three decades of online-to-offline scholarship with future implications for AI
title_sort linking online activity to offline behavior a meta review of three decades of online to offline scholarship with future implications for ai
topic Network analysis
Social reinforcement
Meta-review
Online influences
Offline behavior
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667118224000138
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