The promulgation of urban legends in Hong Kong: Li\u27s field as a case study

In the midst of rapid social changes and modernization, urban legends survive as a stable but evolving structure which exist in many distinct and universal societies. To satisfy one’s psychological and social urges, people could actively engage in and swap between the roles of creators, co-creators and listeners of urban legends. Undeniably, the existence of urban legends have been taken for granted, as manifested by their recurring appearances in social interactions with social members like family members and acquaintances. Unlike fairy tales or historical stories, urban legends do trigger larger public attention and intrigue, even if the narrative elements of a typical urban legend are ambiguous and difficult to validate. Despite Weber’s (1958) articulation of the rationalized modern society, the mania for urban legends may follow a contradiction with evidence-based modern science. While these urban stories successfully acquire mass public attention for pure entertainment, little do we know why these stories are being told. Despite being taken for granted, it is of interest to unveil the facade of urban legends and understand why they are created and how they are sustained, as well as the implicit meanings conveyed

Insta-Tweet Appeal among Saudi Women: A Uses-and-gratifications Perspective

The emergence of social media has changed many aspects of people’s lives as it directly impacts communication and social conscience. Social media has created new ways of providing information about social issues through peer communication, which plays an important role in user behavior. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have the highest numbers of interactions with events, which may be performances or social functions focusing on civic or political activism (D\u27Onfro, 2016). Twitter is offering a new way to communicate with others about social events in the society, and it opens new windows for individuals to analyze and to become involved with these events (Chaudhry, 2014). The uses and gratifications of specific social media have been studied in several works such as understanding the appeal of user-generated media: a uses and gratifications perspective (Shao, 2008), and media use and life satisfaction: The moderating role of social events (Wilczek, 2018). However, no study had yet analyzed the uses and gratifications of these social media among Saudi women. This study will examine the impact of both Twitter and Instagram on Saudi women, and attempt to understand the factors driving women to use Instagram and Twitter and to be involved in social events. As we become aware of the uses and gratifications contributing to the role of Instagram and Twitter for Saudi women, we can apply this knowledge to enhancing the use of social media for these users to advance social justice and gender equality. This will further our understanding of how these media impact behavior and the ability to communicate

Government 2.5: The Impact of Social Media on Public Sector Accessibility

Innovative approaches to communicating with the masses continue to evolve in the private sector, while accessibility of goods, services, and public information within federal, state, and local government organizations has been declining for decades. This situation has resulted in a lack of trust and sense of isolation from communities. At the same time, the implementation and use of social media have increased exponentially. Despite the simultaneous occurrence of these events, limited research has explored the connection between them. Specifically, the purpose of this case study was to address the central research question of whether the adoption of social media platforms results in increased accessibility of goods and services within the public sector. Rogers\u27s diffusion of innovations theory founded the framework for this study. Data were collected within a local government organization through semistructured interviews with 15 employees and 15 clients, observations of daily operations, and analyses of postings made on selected social media platforms. Inductive coding and a comparative method of analysis generated emerging themes and patterns. Key findings of this study indicated significant increases in public accessibility of goods and services as the result of the implementation and use of social media. Relative to diffusion of innovations theory, findings illustrated the spread of new technology through certain channels among employees and clients. Recommendations focus on establishing strategies to ensure widespread diffusion of social media and to address socioeconomic disparities. Government agencies can use this research as a means to advance social change through open communication, an engaged workforce, and increased transparency

Sars

SARS (Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first presented itself to the global medical community as a case of atypical pneumonia in one small Chinese village in November 2002. Three months later the mysterious illness rapidly spread and appeared in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Toronto and then Singapore. The high fatality rate and sheer speed at which this disease spread prompted the World Health Organization to initiate a medieval practice of quarantine in the absence of any scientific knowledge of the disease. Now three years on from the initital outbreak, SARS poses no major threat and has vanished from the global media. Written by a team of contributors from a wide variety of disciplines, this book investigates the rise and subsequent decline of SARS in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. Multidisciplinary in its approach, SARS explores the epidemic from the perspectives of cultural geography, media studies and popular culture, and raises a number of important issues such as the political fate of the new democracy, spatial governance and spatial security, public health policy making, public culture formation, the role the media play in social crisis, and above all the special relations between the three countries in the context of globalization and crisis. It provides new and profound insights into what is still a highly topical issue in today’s world

市民への電子行政サービスのプロモーション -中国地方電子政府の事例から

早大学位記番号:新7939早稲田大

Sars

SARS (Acute Respiratory Syndrome) first presented itself to the global medical community as a case of atypical pneumonia in one small Chinese village in November 2002. Three months later the mysterious illness rapidly spread and appeared in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Toronto and then Singapore. The high fatality rate and sheer speed at which this disease spread prompted the World Health Organization to initiate a medieval practice of quarantine in the absence of any scientific knowledge of the disease. Now three years on from the initital outbreak, SARS poses no major threat and has vanished from the global media. Written by a team of contributors from a wide variety of disciplines, this book investigates the rise and subsequent decline of SARS in Hong Kong, mainland China and Taiwan. Multidisciplinary in its approach, SARS explores the epidemic from the perspectives of cultural geography, media studies and popular culture, and raises a number of important issues such as the political fate of the new democracy, spatial governance and spatial security, public health policy making, public culture formation, the role the media play in social crisis, and above all the special relations between the three countries in the context of globalization and crisis. It provides new and profound insights into what is still a highly topical issue in today’s world

Philanthropy in China

Philanthropy in China is fast growing. A new important charity law of China came into effect in 2016. This book is a comprehensive report about these developments: Philanthropy is considered the third form of wealth distribution (private means to public ends and communities) after market competition and taxation scheme. In individualistic and market-oriented societies, philanthropy is more established and relevant than in societies, where the state controls distribution. This book compares Chinese and Western concepts of philanthropy and analyzes the history, drivers, institutional environment, latest legal frame, donation patterns, the role of civil society, corporate giving and the media in Chinese philanthropy. The report serves as comprehensive overview for all actors in society in China and internationally who are dealing with philanthropy in China. (Globethics.net Publications

Delegated Dictatorship: Examining the State and Market Forces behind Information Control in China

A large body of literature devoted to analyzing information control in China concludes that we find imperfect censorship because the state has adopted a minimalist strategy for information control. In other words, the state is deliberately selective about the content that it censors. While some claim that the government limits its attention to the most categorically harmful content—content that may lead to mobilization—others suggest that the state limits the scope of censorship to allow space for criticism which enables the state to gather information about popular grievances or badly performing local cadres. In contrast, I argue that imperfect censorship in China results from a precise and covert implementation of the government's maximalist strategy for information control. The state is intolerant of government criticisms, discussions of collective action, non-official coverage of crime, and a host of other types of information that may challenge state authority and legitimacy. This strategy produces imperfect censorship because the state prefers to implement it covertly, and thus, delegates to private companies, targets repression, and engages in astroturfing to reduce the visibility and disruptiveness of information control tactics. This both insulates the state from popular backlash and increases the effectiveness of its informational interventions. I test the hypotheses generated from this theory by analyzing a custom dataset of censorship logs from a popular social media company, Sina Weibo. These logs measure the government's intent about what content should and should not be censored. A systematic analysis of content targeted for censorship demonstrates the broadness of the government's censorship agenda. These data also show that delegation to private companies softens and refines the state's informational interventions so that the government's broad agenda is maximally implemented while minimizing popular backlash that would otherwise threaten the effectiveness of its informational interventions.PHDPolitical ScienceUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/147514/1/blakeapm_1.pd

Internationalization of UniPlaces to the Spanish market: Internationalization plan to Madrid, Spain

Field Lab in Entrepreneurial Innovative VenturesThe rise in global students mobility is a long-term trend which is set to continue, and has created excellent investment opportunities in key European cities. Currently, 46% of international students study in Europe, and it’s expected that this number will increase in coming years. After becoming a competitive player as a two-sided platform offering quality and verified accommodation to students, UniPlaces decided that internationalization to Madrid was a viable option to increase its sales, revenues, and to improve its awareness in the European market. Although it was recently launched the company has since gain support from several investors, and practical knowledge in this market. This Work Project will study the implementation process of UniPlaces in Madrid. After doing an internal and external analysis it was defined the marketing mix, the mode of entry (creation of a branch in Madrid) and also people, investment, deadlines, and objectives. Finally, a risk assessment was also made, together with some final recommendations aiming to achieve a successful implementation and adaptation of UniPlaces to the Spanish market.NSBE - UN

Qualitative Research in Gambling

Gambling is both a multi-billion-dollar international industry and a ubiquitous social and cultural phenomenon. It is also undergoing significant change, with new products and technologies, regulatory models, changing public attitudes and the sheer scale of the gambling enterprise necessitating innovative and mixed methodologies that are flexible, responsive and ‘agile’. This book seeks to demonstrate that researchers should look beyond the existing disciplinary territory and the dominant paradigm of ‘problem gambling’ in order to follow those changes across territorial, political, technical, regulatory and conceptual boundaries. The book draws on cutting-edge qualitative work in disciplines including geography, organisational studies, sociology, East Asian studies and anthropology to explore the production and consumption of risk, risky places, risk technologies, the gambling industry and connections between gambling and other kinds of speculation such as financial derivatives. In doing so it addresses some of the most important issues in contemporary social science, including: the challenges of studying deterritorialised social phenomena; globalising technologies and local markets; regulation as it operates across local, regional and international scales; and the rise of games, virtual worlds and social media