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The study investigated how two distinct perspectives apply to the role of gender in parents' memorials on The Compassionate Friends (TCF) electronic bulletin board; cyberspace as merely a mirror of societal gendered patterns of bereavement, and cyberspace as a medium or context in which societal gendered patterns of bereavement are neutralized. Data were evaluated to determine to what extent gender differences exist concerning instrumental versus intuitive styles of bereavement. Analytic categories used in assessing gender differences in parental bereavement style included the following: invoking spirituality, directing messages to the deceased, artistic expressions, and special powers accorded to the deceased. With some exceptions, the findings supported the perspective emphasizing the gender neutralizing aspects of cyberspace parental bereavement for the population studied.

This article utilizes a combination of popular literature and scholarly sources to compare the mobile money transfer service experiences in Kenya and Uganda; two East African countries that are members of a revived regional common market ahead of a political federation by 2015. While different outcomes to the introduction of mobile money transfer services are highlighted about each country, similarities that are typical of developing countries with their populations struggling to cope with the various uses of New Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs) are also underlined. The article underscores the transformation of the social and economic lives of the people of East Africa by mobile money transfer services, especially in the rural areas where formal banking services have been largely absent. In the wake of the cut-throat competition among the telecom companies to fill the banking void in the rural areas of East Africa and to tap into the lucrative international business of foreign currency remittance by East Africans in the diaspora, the local populations have become the unintended beneficiaries of Information and Communication (ICT) innovations. In this essay, Kenya and Uganda’s mobile money transfer service experiences are juxtaposed along five dimensions: a brief history of the service, political, economic and socio-cultural contexts, as well as evaluation and user perceptions of the services. It is argued that one way to further consolidate analysis of the ongoing radical economic make-over of rural East Africa is to engage existing communication technology theories. An example of two complementary communication technology theories, diffusion of innovations and the dual capacity model, that can be used to inform and explain some of the outcomes is provided.

Communication is believed to hold a central role in recreating an individual's sense of meaning and well-being after a loss. Narrative theory in particular points to ways that people create meaning and connection with others. Literature on bereavement suggests that the formation of connections with others, or building community, comprises an important part of the healing process. For this study, the content of bulletin board postings commemorating deceased children was studied quantitatively and qualitatively. Data were examined to learn how contributors used the Web site to connect with others who shared experience of losing a child, engage in meaningful shared activities, and create community. Findings from the data analysis suggest that the Web site contributors are able to discuss topics that might be restricted in other communication scenes. The discussion of these topics allows them to serve as 'witnesses' to truths learned as a result of the loss of a child and enables the participants to keep the memory of the child alive. By participating in this scene of meaning negotiation, we argue that the participants actively construct a counterplot to societal narrative expectations for bereavement that facilitates the creation of some positive meanings.