Search results for: online epistemic communities

Authors: Dayei Oh, Feeza Vasudeva, Narges Azizi Fard

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Drawing on the Foucauldian conception of episteme, epistemic communities refer to a community in which members share common frames of epistemic reference, delineating the proper construction of social realities for their members. One of the most cited definitions of epistemic communities is a group of professionals possessing acknowledged expertise and proficiency in a specific field, influencing policymaking and governance. More recently, the advancement of the Internet has changed the way society produces, disseminates, and consumes knowledge. Against this backdrop, this literature review explores the ways in which online epistemic communities are studied in communication scholarship between 2002 and 2022. Examining 92 peer-reviewed journal articles from the Web of Science database, three research objectives have been addressed: (1) geographical contexts, platforms, and methods that are studied in communication research, (2) different types of epistemic communities, and (3) prevailing themes and concepts that are related to the research of the chosen epistemic communities. This research demonstrates increasing scholarly attention towards the lay public as prominent online epistemic communities along with more conventional epistemic communities such as academia and journalists, hinting at how the Internet provides epistemic capacities for negotiating the boundaries of epistemic authority and competencies between experts and lay people. Through qualitative reading of these papers, the findings show that communication research tends to approach epistemic communities of the political left and right asymmetrically: The right-wing epistemic communities are studied in connection with mis/disinformation, conspiracy theories, populist rejection of authoritative epistemologies, whereas the left-wing communities are studied as emancipatory epistemic struggles and activism against Western, colonial, white, and male-centric knowledge systems. This points to a grave need for communication and multidisciplinary scholarship to investigate such uncharted characters of right- and left-wing epistemic communities.

Keywords: communication research, internet, knowledge, online epistemic communities

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Authors: Gabriel A. Orozco

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The purpose of this article is to make an approach to the Security Studies, exposing their theories and concepts to understand the role that have had in the interpretation of the changes and continuities of the world order and their impact on policies or decision-making facing the problems of the 21st century. The aim is to build a bridge between the security studies as a subfield and the meaning that has been given to the world order. The idea of epistemic communities serves as a methodological proposal about the different programs of research in security studies, showing their influence in the realities of States, intergovernmental organizations and transnational forces, moving to implement, perpetuate and project a vision of the world order.

Keywords: security studies, epistemic communities, international, relations

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Authors: Mahtab Talafian

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With the advent of technology over the last decades, participation in online communities and discussion forums has become increasingly popular. Many studies have been done on the negative role of the online world on human beings’ psychological well-being and mental health, while relatively less attention has been given to the potentially positive role of technology in promoting mental health. Miscarriage is a common and emotionally challenging experience for women, and online communities seem to be a potential source of support for them. This study aimed to firstly find the most common types of support communicated in online communities of women who have miscarried and, secondly, investigate if there is a relationship between participation in online communities and mental health outcomes after miscarriage. In this study, three research methodologies, including content analysis, survey and interview, were employed to answer the research questions. With the analysis of 158 messages, including postings and comments in the online community of Mumsnet, it can be concluded that informational support and emotional support are the most prevalent types of support women share in the online community. Analysis of data gathered from the survey of 19 women who had experienced a miscarriage during the last year showed that participation in online communities makes a significant improvement in their mental health. Interviews also highlighted the helpful role of the online community in relieving emotional disorders, such as trauma, hopelessness, loneliness, stress, depression and anxiety about miscarriage.

Keywords: mental health, miscarriage, online community, support

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Authors: Yan Yue

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Epistemic stance refers to the writer’s judgement about the certainty of the proposition, which demonstrates writer’s degree of commitment and confidence to the status of the information. Epistemic stance can exert great consequence to the validity or reliability of the values of a statement, however, to date, it receives little attention in translations studies, especially from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics (SFL) and with the relation to translator’s domain knowledge. This study is corpus-based research carried out in SFL perspective, which investigates translator’s epistemic stance pattern in Chinese medicine discourse translations by translators with and without medical domain knowledge. Overall, our findings show that all translators tend to be neither too assertive nor too doubted about Chinese medicine statements, and they all tend to express their epistemic stance in a subjective rather than objective way. Individually, there is a clear pattern of epistemic stance marked off by translators’ medical expertise, which further consolidates the previous finding that epistemic asymmetry is found most salient between lay people and professionals. However, contrary to our hypothesis, translators as clinicians who have more medical knowledge are found to be more tentative to TCM statements than translators as non-clinicians. This finding could serve to refine the statements about the relation between writer’s domain knowledge and epistemic stance-taking and the current debate whether Chinese medicine texts should only be translated by clinicians.

Keywords: epistemic stance, domain knowledge, SFL, medical translation

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Authors: Katerina Nerantzaki, Panayiota Metallidou, Anastasia Efklides

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The aim of the study was to investigate: (a) changes in the intensity of various epistemic emotions during cognitive processing in a decision-making task and (b) their associations with metacognitive feelings of difficulty and confidence. One hundred and fifty-two undergraduate university students were asked individually to read in the e-prime environment decision-making scenarios about moral dilemmas concerning self-driving cars, which differed in the level of conflict they produced, and then to make a choice between two options. Further, the participants were asked to rate on a four-point scale four epistemic emotions (surprise, curiosity, confusion, and wonder) and two metacognitive feelings (feeling of difficulty and feeling of confidence) after making their choice in each scenario. Changes in cognitive processing due to the level of conflict affected differently the intensity of the specific epistemic emotions. Further, there were interrelations of epistemic emotions with metacognitive feelings.

Keywords: confusion, curiosity, epistemic emotions, metacognitive experiences, surprise

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Authors: Baya Takhedmit, Karim Abbas, Sofiane Ouazine

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The vacations queues are often employed to model many real situations such as computer systems, communication networks, manufacturing and production systems, transportation systems and so forth. These queueing models are solved at fixed parameters values. However, the parameter values themselves are determined from a finite number of observations and hence have uncertainty associated with them (epistemic uncertainty). In this paper, we consider the M/G/1/N queue with server vacation and exhaustive discipline where we assume that the vacation parameter values have uncertainty. We use the Taylor series expansions approach to estimate the expectation and variance of model output, due to epistemic uncertainties in the model input parameters.

Keywords: epistemic uncertainty, M/G/1/N queue with vacations, non-parametric sensitivity analysis, Taylor series expansion

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Authors: Omid Noroozi, Martin Mulder

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The motivational potential of educational games is undeniable especially for teaching topics and skills that are difficult to deal with in traditional educational situations such as argumentation competence. Willingness to argue has an association with student epistemic beliefs, which can influence whether, and the way in which students engage in argumentative discourse activities and critical discussion. The goal of this study was to explore how undergraduate students engage with argumentative discourse activities which have been designed to intensify debate, and whether epistemic beliefs are significant to the outcomes. A pre-test, post-test design was used with students who were assigned to groups of four. They were asked to argue a controversial topic with the aim of exploring various perspectives, and the 'pros and cons' on the topic of 'Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)'. The results show that the game facilitated argumentative discourse and a willingness to argue and challenged peers, regardless of students’ epistemic beliefs. Furthermore, the game was evaluated positively in terms of students’ motivation and satisfaction with the learning experience.

Keywords: argumentation, attitudinal change, epistemic beliefs, dialogue, digital game objectives and theoretical

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Authors: Panagiotis Kosmas

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The advent of new technologies in education inspires practitioners to approach teaching from a different angle with the aim to professionally develop and improve teaching practices. Online communities of practice among teachers seem to be a trend associated with the integration efforts for a modern and pioneering educational system and training program. This study attempted to explore the participation in online communities of practice and the sharing of knowledge between teachers with aims to explore teachers' incentives to participate in such a community of practice. The study aims to contribute to international research, bringing in global debate new concerns and issues related to the professional learning of current educators. One official online community was used as a case study for the purposes of research. The data collection was conducted from the content analysis of online portal, by questionnaire in 184 community members and interviews with ten active users of the portal. The findings revealed that sharing of knowledge is a key motivation of members of a community. Also, the active learning and community participation seem to be essential factors for the success of an online community of practice.

Keywords: communities of practice, teachers, sharing knowledge, professional development

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Authors: Jamid Ul Islam, Zillur Rahman

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The impulse for customer engagement research in online brand communities (OBCs) is largely acknowledged in the literature. Applying congruity theory, this study proposes a model of customer engagement by examining how two congruities viz. self-brand image congruity and value congruity influence customers’ engagement in online brand communities. The consequent effect of customer engagement on brand loyalty is also studied. This study collected data through a questionnaire survey of 395 students of a higher educational institute in India, who were active on Facebook and followed a brand community (at least one). The data were analyzed using structure equation modelling. The results revealed that both the types of congruity i.e., self-brand image congruity and value congruity significantly affect customer engagement. A positive effect of customer engagement on brand loyalty was also affirmed by the results. This study integrates and broadens extant explanations of different congruity effects on consumer behavior-an area that has received little attention. This study is expected to add new trends to engage customers in online brand communities and offer realistic insights to the domain of social media marketing.

Keywords: congruity theory, customer engagement, Facebook, online brand communities

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Authors: Anagha Pavithran Vattamparambil, Niranjana Regimon

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Dalit and tribal communities in India have the largest suicide rate; however, the current literature does not reflect this reality. While existing research acknowledges socio-cultural risk factors, it fails to discuss structural issues pertaining to marginalized communities in India. Furthermore, the language is framed in an individualistic manner which denies room for recognizing systemic violence and injustice among causative agents of suicide. We aim to examine the representation of Dalit and tribal identities and their experiences of marginalisation as a contributive factor of suicide, as well as discuss the epistemic injustice involved in its exclusion. Electronic searches of PubMed, PsychInfo, and Web of Science databases will be carried out from inception till January 2023 to conduct a systematic scoping review of peer-reviewed articles; it will include all studies involving psychological autopsy in India. A narrative synthesis will be performed to gain insight into the inclusion of the experiences of Dalits and Tribals, the absence of which indicates a lacking understanding of suicide in India. It is also expected to highlight the alienation of lived experiences and narratives of marginalisation from mainstream discourse on suicide that constitutes epistemic injustice. There is a complex interplay of psychological, socio-cultural, economic, and political factors for suicide in the Indian setting. But, political and systemic issues are often downplayed in suicide etiology, including casteist assault, rape, violence, public humiliation, and discrimination which deserves more research attention.

Keywords: dalits, marginalisation, psychological autopsy, suicide, tribals

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Authors: Firmansyah David

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This paper aims to investigate factors that drive individuals to transfer their knowledge in the context of online communities. By revisiting tacit-to-explicit knowledge creation, this research attempts to contribute empirically using three online forums (1) Software Engineering; (2) Aerospace Simulator; (3) Health Insurance System. A qualitative approach was deployed to map and recognize the pattern of users ‘Knowledge Transfer (KT), particularly from expert to novice. The findings suggest a common form on how experts give their effort to formulate ‘explicit’ knowledge and how novices ‘understand’ such knowledge. This research underlines that skill; intuition, judgment; value and belief are the prominent factors, both for experts and novice. Further, this research has recognized the groups of expert and novice by their ability to transfer and to ‘adopt’ new knowledge. Future research infers to triangulate the method in which the quantitative study is needed to measure the level of adoption of (new) knowledge by individuals.

Keywords: explicit, expert, knowledge, online community

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Authors: Magdalena Madany-Saá

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This paper compares the language management of two language policies in plurinational Ecuador: (1) mandatory English language teaching that uses Western standards of quality, and (2) indigenous educación intercultural bilingüe, which promotes ancestral knowledge and the indigenous languages of Ecuador. The data are from a comparative institutional ethnography conducted between 2018 and 2022 in English and Kichwa teacher preparation programs in an Ecuadorian teachers’ college. Specifically, the paper explores frameworks of knowledge promoted by different educational actors in both teacher education programs and the ways in which the Ecuadorian transformation towards a knowledge-based economy is intertwined with the country’s linguistic policies. Focusing on the specific role of language advocates and their discursive role in knowledge production, the paper elaborates on the notion of agency in Language Policy and Planning (LPP), referred to as epistemic agency. Specifically, the epistemic agency is conceptualized through the analysis of English language epistemic advocates who participate in empowering English language policies and endorse knowledge production in that language. By proposing an epistemic agency, this paper argues that in the context of knowledge-based societies, advocates are key in transferring the policies from the political to the epistemic realm – where decisions about what counts as legitimate knowledge are made. The study uses the decolonial option as its analytical framework for critiquing the hegemonic perpetuation of modernity and its knowledge-based models in Latin America derived from the colonial matrix of power. Through this theoretical approach, it is argued that if indigenous stakeholders are only viewed as political actors and not as knowledge producers, the hegemony of Global English will reinforce a knowledge-based society constructed upon Global North modernity. In the absence of strong epistemic advocates for indigenous language policies, powerful Global English advocates occupy such vacancies at the language management level, thus dominating the ecology of knowledge in a plurinational and plurilingual Ecuador.

Keywords: educación intercultural bilingüe, English language teaching, epistemic agency, language advocates, plurinationality

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Authors: Zwelenkani Mdlalose

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From the moment Covid 19 was declared a pandemic it became clear that conspiracy theories would significantly impact our response to the crisis that the virus was to become. Central to the interest in conspiracy theories evoked by a pandemic is a more general concern for the impact they have on society and social harmony. The specific brand of Conspiracy Theory that is in question is not any and all theories about conspiracies but rather those conspiracy theories which contradict official accounts. For example, where the official account on the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001 is of a conspiracy involving 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda against targets in the United States, the nature of conspiracy theory under study is the one contradicting this official account to the extent that its attributes the attacks not to al-Qaeda militants but to actors in the United States government itself. The study is not an investigation into the truth value of conspiracy theories but rather an attempt at observing the essential qualities of the type of belief that is belief in conspiracy theories compared to belief in official accounts provided by authoritative sources such as governments, experts and mainstream media. These qualities include the psychological, epistemic and socio-political foundations on which belief in conspiracy theories are established. Based on a foundational understanding of the sort of belief that are beliefs in conspiracy theories, we may then extrapolate implied ethical demands on both authoritative bodies and actors as well as believers in conspiracy theories. For example: in their unofficial ‘non-factual’ status, is there not some violation of epistemic right in the same way we observe in cases where people are prejudiced because of their religious beliefs? In other words, is there an epistemic injustice suffered by believers in conspiracy theories in the way their beliefs are rejected as illegitimate? Conversely, to what extent do believers bear an epistemic responsibility in their adoption of their beliefs in conspiracy theories. From this position, perhaps we can then develop responses to the problem that foster greater social harmony even in the midst of suspicion and distrust.

Keywords: conspiracy theories, subjugated knowledge, epistemic injustice, epistemic responsibility

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Authors: Norlizam Md Sukiban, Muhammad Faisal Ashaari, Hidayah bt Rahmalan

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The role that a mosque or masjid have applied during the life of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was magnificent. Masjid managed to gather the community in lots of ways. It was the center of the first Islamic community and nation, with greatest triumphs and tragedies. It was a place to accommodate for the community center, homeless refuge, university and mosque all rolled into one. However, the role of masjid applied today was less than the time of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was alive. The advanced technology such as the internet has a major impact to the community nowadays. For example, community online has been chosen for lots of people to maintain their relationship and suggest various events among the communities members. This study is to investigate the possibility of the role of e-Masjid in adapting the concept of community online in order to remain the role played as such as role of masjid during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W). Definition and the characteristic of the online community were listed, along with the benefits of the online community. Later, discussion on the possibility of the online community to be adapted in e-Masjid.

Keywords: e-masjid, online community, virtual community, e-community

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Authors: Sarah Hebbouch

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Two decades ago, research on diasporic women’s participation within Sufi circles would have been inconceivable, not only because of a general lack of recognition of their contribution to Sufism but due to the intimacy of the rituals, often taking place in confined spaces, like zawiyas (Sufi lodges). Recent scholarly attention to female spiritual experience owes to a digital awareness and interest in exploring diasporic community reproduction of those experiences. Within a context where female disciples of a Sufi convent undergo a physical separation from the saint’s sanctuary -because of immigration from the homeland to the host country- technology becomes a social hub accounting for Sufis’ ritual commitment and preservation of cultural capital in the diaspora. This paper elucidates how female Sufi immigrants affiliating with the Boudchichi brotherhood (Morocco-based) maintain ‘a relational network’ and strong social online relationships with their female compatriots in Morocco through the use of online platforms. Sufi communities living in the diaspora find the internet an open interactive space that serves to kindle their distance of spiritual participation and corroborate their transnational belonging. The current paper explores the implications of the use of a digital baseline named “Tariqa Info,” the convent’s digital online platform, and how it mediates everyday ritual performance, the promotion of digital connection, and the communication of ideas and discourses. Such a platform serves the bolstering emotional bonds for transnational female disciples and inclusion within online communities in the homeland. Assisted by an ethnographic lens, this paper discusses the research findings of participatory field observation of Sufi women’s online communities, informed by the need to trace the many ostensible aspects of interconnectedness and divergences.

Keywords: digital connection, Sufi convent, social online relationship, transnational female disciples

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Authors: Jerome V. Cleofas

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Cyberspace has become a more viable arena for budding artists to share musical acts through digital forms. The increasing relevance of online communities has attracted scholars from various fields demonstrating its influence on social capital. This paper extends this understanding of social capital among Filipino music artists belonging to the SoundCloud Philippines Facebook Group. The study makes use of various qualitative data obtained from key-informant interviews and participant observation of online and physical encounters, analyzed using the case study approach. Soundcloud Philippines has over seven-hundred members and is composed of Filipino singers, instrumentalists, composers, arrangers, producers, multimedia artists, and event managers. Group interactions are a mix of online encounters based on Facebook and SoundCloud and physical encounters through meet-ups and events. Benefits reaped from the community are informational, technical, instrumental, promotional, motivational, and social support. Under the guidance of online group administrators, collaborative activities such as music productions, concerts and events transpire. Most conflicts and problems arising are resolved peacefully. Social capital in SoundCloud Philippines is mobilized through recognition, respect and reciprocity.

Keywords: Facebook, music artists, online communities, social capital

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Authors: Victor Chomel, Maziyar Panahi, David Chavalarias

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Misinformation has taken an increasingly worrying place in social media. Propagation patterns are closely linked to the structure of communities. This study proposes a method of community analysis based on a combination of centrality indicators for the network and its main communities. The objective is to establish a link between the stability of the communities over time, the social ascension of its members internally, and the propagation of information in the community. To this end, data from the debates about global warming and political communities on Twitter have been collected, and several tens of millions of tweets and retweets have helped us better understand the structure of these communities. The quantification of this stability allows for the study of the propagation of information of any kind, including disinformation. Our results indicate that the most stable communities over time are the ones that enable the establishment of nodes capturing a large part of the information and broadcasting its opinions. Conversely, communities with a high turnover and social ascendancy only stabilize themselves strongly in the face of adversity and external events but seem to offer a greater diversity of opinions most of the time.

Keywords: community analysis, disinformation, misinformation, Twitter

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Authors: Zoya Khan, Amina Muzaffar

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Social media based brand communities are communities that are developed around a brand. In the highly globalized world of today, Facebook is undoubtedly being regarded and has been widely recognized as a trendy and well-accepted medium of marketing. By means of a Facebook fan page, organizations can effectually create, enhance, and sustain customer-brand relationship. In this article, we explore whether brand communities based on social media (a special type of online brand communities) have positive effects on the main community elements and value creation practices in the communities as well as on brand trust and brand loyalty. A survey was conducted and 201 valid responses were used for analysis. The results of structural equation modeling show that brand communities established on social media have positive effects on value creation practices. Brand use, impression management practices and brand identification has an impact on brand trust and this brand trust then further leads to brand loyalty.

Keywords: relationship quality, impression management practices, brand identification, brand trust, brand loyalty

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Authors: Melissa C. LaDuke

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The purpose of this literature review was to identify the use of online communities of practice (CoPs) within e-learning environments as a method to build social interaction and student-centered educational experiences. A literature review was conducted to survey and collect scholarly thoughts concerning CoPs from a variety of sources. Data collected included best practices, ties to educational theories, and examples of online CoPs. Social interaction has been identified as a critical piece of the learning infrastructure, specifically for adult learners. CoPs are an effective way to help students connect to each other and the material of interest. The use of CoPs falls in line with many educational theories, including situated learning theory, social constructivism, connectivism, adult learning theory, and motivation. New literacies such as social media and gamification can help increase social interaction in online environments and provide methods to host CoPs. Steps to build and sustain a CoP were discussed in addition to CoP considerations and best practices.

Keywords: community of practice, knowledge sharing, social interaction, online course design, new literacies

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Authors: Sujith Gunawardhana

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The circular economy is a system in which resources and energy are derived from renewable sources, utilized efficiently, recycled, and reused to reduce waste, reduce nonrenewable resource consumption, and mitigate negative environmental impacts. However, it poses moral questions about sustainability, the environment, and societal issues. Many societies face challenges when implementing the circular economy, as the concept is still young. The equitable distribution of the advantages and costs of circularity should be ensured during implementation, as some communities, particularly disadvantaged or marginalized ones, may suffer unfairly disproportionately from the harmful effects of production and recycling facilities. Prioritizing the health and safety of workers, communities, and the environment is essential, and strict rules must be implemented to guard against harm. However, most underdeveloped countries need a legal safeguard for this situation. The ultimate objective of the circular economy is to improve social, environmental, and economic performance, but its implementation also requires consideration of the ethics of care and non-epistemic values. Those are often hindered in underdeveloped countries, as the availability of infrastructure and technology, affordability, and legislative framework are poor. To achieve long-term success in the circular economy, evaluating implementation steps and considering health, safety, environmental, and social risks is crucial. To implement the circular economy, respect ethics of care and non-epistemic values. Adopt Kantian Ethics and control technology design to ensure equal benefits for all involved. Ethical gaps may lead underdeveloped countries to generate social pressure against the circular economy.

Keywords: circular economy, ethics, values, sustainability

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Authors: Madhushi Bandara, Dharshana Kasthurirathna, Danaja Maldeniya, Mahendra Piraveenan

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Community detection is an extremely useful technique in understanding the structure and function of a social network. Louvain algorithm, which is based on Newman-Girman modularity optimization technique, is extensively used as a computationally efficient method extract the communities in social networks. It has been suggested that the nodes that are in close geographical proximity have a higher tendency of forming communities. Variants of the Newman-Girman modularity measure such as dist-modularity try to normalize the effect of geographical proximity to extract geographically dispersed communities, at the expense of losing the information about the geographically proximate communities. In this work, we propose a method to extract geographically dispersed communities while preserving the information about the geographically proximate communities, by analyzing the ‘community network’, where the centroids of communities would be considered as network nodes. We suggest that the inter-community link strengths, which are normalized over the community sizes, may be used to identify and extract the ‘overlay communities’. The overlay communities would have relatively higher link strengths, despite being relatively apart in their spatial distribution. We apply this method to the Gowalla online social network, which contains the geographical signatures of its users, and identify the overlay communities within it.

Keywords: social networks, community detection, modularity optimization, geographically dispersed communities

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Authors: Nadia Syed

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The digital age has inevitably changed the way in which hate crime is committed. The cyber world has become a highly effective means for individuals and groups to be targeted, harmed, and marginalized , largely through online medium. Facebook has become one of the fastest growing social media platforms. At the end of 2013, Facebook had 1,23bn monthly active users and 757 million daily users who log onto Facebook. Within this online space, there are also an increasing number of online virtual communities, and hate groups who are using this freedom to share a violent, Islamophobic and racist description which attempts to create a aggressive virtual environment. This paper is a research on the rise of Islamophobia and the role of media in spreading it. This paper focusing on how the media especially Facebook is portraying Islam as the religion which promotes violence and ultimately playing a significant role in the global rise of Islamophobia against Muslims. It is important to analyse these ‘new’ communities by monitoring the activities they conduct, because the material they post, potentially can have a harmful impact on community cohesion within society. Additionally, as a result of recent figures that shows an increase in online anti-Muslim abuse, there is a pertinent need to address the issue about Islamophobia on social media. On the whole, this study found Muslims being demonized and vilified online which had manifested through negative attitudes, discrimination, stereotypes, physical threats and online harassment which all had the potential to incite violence or prejudicial action because it disparages and intimidates a protected individual or group.

Keywords: Islamophobia, online, social media, facebook, internet, extremism

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Authors: Glenn A. Palmer, Lorenzo Bowman, Juanita Johnson-Bailey

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The ubiquitous economic upheaval that has gripped the global environment in the past few years displaced many workers through unemployment or underemployment. Globally, this disruption has caused many adult workers to seek additional education or skills to remain competitive, and acquire the ability and options to find gainful employment. While many learners have availed themselves of some opportunities to be retrained and retooled at locations within their communities, others have explored those options through the online learning environment. This paper examines the empirical research that explores the various strategies that are used in the adult online learning community that could also foster transformative learning.

Keywords: online learning, transformational learning, adult education, economic crisis, unemployment

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Authors: Andrew Laghos

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The Internet is a big part of our everyday lives. People can now access the internet from a variety of places including home, college, and work. Many airports, hotels, restaurants and cafeterias, provide free wireless internet to their visitors. Using technologies like computers, tablets, and mobile phones, we spend a lot of our time online getting entertained, getting informed, and communicating with each other. This study deals with the latter part, namely, human communication through the Internet. People can communicate with each other using social media, social network sites (SNS), e-mail, messengers, chatrooms, and so on. By connecting with each other they form virtual communities. Regarding SNS, types of connections that can be studied include friendships and cliques. Analyzing these connections is important to help us understand online user behavior. The method of Social Network Analysis (SNA) was used on a case study, and results revealed the existence of some useful patterns of interactivity between the participants. The study ends with implications of the results and ideas for future research.

Keywords: human communication, internet communities, online user behavior, psychology

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Authors: Majid Mohammadi, Mohammad Yosef Zadeh, Vahid Naderi Darshori

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The main purpose of this research is concreting of satisfaction literature for obtain index with online content in carmaker industry. The study measures customer satisfaction of online and collect from similar studies with reference to a model of online satisfaction, they are attempting to complete. Statistical communities of research are online customers' carmaker Iran Khodro has been buying the company's products in the last six months. One of the innovative measures in this study is that, customer reviews are obtained through an Internet site. Reliability of the data collected in this study, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was approved. The coefficient of 0.828 was calculated for the questionnaire. To test the hypothesis, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used. To ensure the correctness of initial theoretical model, we used regression analyzes and structural equation weight and finally, the results obtained with little change to the basic model of research, are improved and completed. At last obtain the perceived value has most direct effect on online car customers satisfaction.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, online satisfaction, online customer, car

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Authors: JooYoung Lee, Rasheed Hussain

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Understanding the relationships among communities of users is the key to blueprint the evolution of human society. Majority of people are equipped with GPS devices, such as smart phones and smart cars, which can trace their whereabouts. In this paper, we discover communities of device users based on real locations in a given time frame. We, then, study the associations of discovered communities, referred to as temporal communities, and generate temporal and probabilistic association rules. The rules describe how strong communities are associated. By studying the generated rules, we can automatically extract underlying hierarchies of communities and permanent communities such as work places.

Keywords: association rules, community detection, evolution of communities, spatiotemporal

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Authors: Júlia Massadas

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The objective of this paper is to analyze the role played by the institute of the public hearings in the Brazilian Supreme Court. The public hearings are regulated since 1999 by the Brazilian Laws nº 9.868, nº 9.882 and by the Intern Regiment of the Brazilian Supreme Court. According to this legislation, the public hearings are supposed to be called when a matter of circumstance of fact must be clarified, what can be done through the hearing of the testimonies of persons with expertise and authority in the theme related to the cause. This work aims to investigate what is the role played by the public hearings and by the experts in the Brazilian Supreme Court. The hypothesis of this research is that: (I) The public hearings in the Brazilian Supreme Court are used to uphold a rhetoric of a democratic legitimacy of the Court`s decisions; (II) The Legislative intentions have been distorted. To test this hypothesis, the adopted methodology involves an empirical study of the Brazilian jurisprudence. As a conclusion, it follows that the public hearings convened by the Brazilian Supreme Court do not correspond, in practice, to the role assigned to them by the Congress since they do not serve properly to epistemic interests. The public hearings not only do not legitimate democratically the decisions, but also, do not properly clarify technical issues.

Keywords: Brazilian Supreme Court, constitutional law, public hearings, epistemic competence, legal authority

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Authors: Irsanti Hasyim, Christian Wibisono, Angela Teressia

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Social enterprises, as one of the way of doing business are on the rise and emerging from the innovations of decades of social initiatives. In simple way, social enterprises use the business platform to achieve social and/or environmental objectives whilst simultaneously seeking a financial return. In Indonesia, the number of social enterprises rapidly grows and most of them were using social media as their business platform. Social Media are perceived as tools for creating online communities of users who share interests, activities, and objectives. Many companies view the use of online communities in social media as a profitable marketing tool from which they can derive several benefits. Through social media, consumers share experiences with and suggest ideas to others while developing new relationships within their communities. Therefore, this study intends to identify the benefits that participants in online communities seek and examine the relationships between members’ levels of participation, brand trust, and brand commitment. Using convenience sampling method, 236 fully answered questioner was collected and used as a sample of this research. The sample of this research consisted of member or follower in several social media from selected social enterprise in Indonesia. Data collected in this research were process by using Partial Least Square and came up with the result that functional benefit and monetary benefit, are only two from five benefits that proposed were the only variable that has significant result even though from APC, ARS and AARS outcomes show that the model can be claimed to be significant.

Keywords: brand trust, brand commitment, social enterprise, social media

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Authors: David Tennison

Abstract:

Epistemic injustice, an injustice done to a person specifically in their capacity as a “knower”, is a subtle form of discrimination, yet its effects can be as dehumanizing and damaging as more overt forms of discrimination. The lens of epistemic injustice has, in recent years, been fruitfully applied to the field of healthcare, examining questions of agency, power, credibility and belief in doctor-patient interactions. Contested illness patients (e.g., those with illnesses lacking scientific consensuses such as fibromyalgia (FM), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long Covid) face higher levels of scrutiny than other patient groups and are often disbelieved or dismissed when their ailments cannot be easily imaged or tested for- often encapsulated by the expression “it’s all in your head”. Using the case study of FM, the trials of contested illness patients in healthcare can be conceptualized in terms of epistemic injustice, and what is going wrong in these doctor-patient relationships can be effectively diagnosed. This case study also helps reveal epistemic dysfunction (structural epistemic issues embedded in the healthcare system), how this relates to stigma identity-based prejudice, and how the healthcare system upholds existing societal hierarchies and disenfranchises the most vulnerable. In the modern landscape, where cases of these chronic illnesses are not only on the rise but future pandemics threaten to add to their number, this conversation is crucial for the well-being of patients and providers. This presentation will cover what epistemic injustice is and how it can be applied to the politics of the doctor-patient interaction on a micro level and the politics of the healthcare system more broadly. Contested illnesses will be explored in terms of how the “contested” label causes the patient to experience disease stigma and lowers their credibility in healthcare and across other aspects of life. This will be explored in tandem with a discussion of existing identity-based prejudice in the healthcare system and how social identities (such as those of gender, race, and socioeconomic status) intersect with the contested illness label. The effects of epistemic injustice, which include worsening patients’ symptoms of mental health and potentially disenfranchising them from the healthcare system altogether, will be presented alongside the potential ethical quandaries this poses for providers. Finally, issues with the way healthcare appointments and the modern NHS function will be explored in terms of epistemic injustice and solutions to improve doctor-patient communication and patient care will be discussed. The relationship between contested illness patients and healthcare providers is notoriously poor, and while this can mean frustration or feelings of unfulfillment in providers, the negative effects for patients are much more severe. The purpose of this research, then, is to highlight these issues and suggest ways in which to improve the healthcare experience for these patients, along with improving doctor-patient communication and mending the doctor-patient relationship in a tangible and realistic way. This research also aims to provoke important conversations about belief and hierarchy in medical settings and how these aspects intersect with identity prejudices.

Keywords: epistemic injustice, fibromyalgia, contested illnesses, chronic illnesses, doctor-patient relationships, philosophy of medicine

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Larry Lai, Evans Leung

Abstract:

Falun gong is a self-proclaimed religious group that has been under crackdown by Beijing for more than two decades. Diaosi, on the other hand, is an emerging community with members loosely connected on the internet through different online social platforms, centering around the sharing of different hobbies and interests. Diaosi community has been transformed from a potential threat to the Chinese authority for different causes to a pro-government force. This paper seeks to explain the different strategies adopted by the People's Republic of China (PRC) regime in handling these two potential threatening communities. Both communities share some obvious similarities: (1) both have massive nation-wide participation; (2) both have attempted to challenge the PRC's authority through contentious means; (3) both have high level of mobility, online or offline; and (4) both have at first been unnoticed until the threat against the PRC have taken form. But the strategies the PRC endorsed against the communities were, in many ways, different. The question is: if the strategy against Falun Gong has been an effective one, why used other strategies against Diaosi? The authors argue that the main reason for using different strategies lies in the differences between the two communities in terms of (i) the nature of the groups, and (ii) the group dynamics. Lastly, based on this analysis, the authors attempt to explore the possible strategies that the PRC would adopt against the Hong Kong cyber-world political community in light of the latest national security law in Hong Kong.

Keywords: contentious politics, Diaosi, Falun Gong, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China

Procedia PDF Downloads 145