The role of bot squads in the political propaganda on Twitter

Social Media are nowadays the privileged channel for information spreading and news checking. Unexpectedly for most of the users, automated accounts, also known as social bots, contribute more and more to this process of news spreading. Using Twitter as a benchmark, we consider the traffic exchanged, over one month of observation, on a specific topic, namely the migration flux from Northern Africa to Italy. We measure the significant traffic of tweets only, by implementing an entropy-based null model that discounts the activity of users and the virality of tweets. Results show that social bots play a central role in the exchange of significant content. Indeed, not only the strongest hubs have a number of bots among their followers higher than expected, but furthermore a group of them, that can be assigned to the same political tendency, share a common set of bots as followers. The retwitting activity of such automated accounts amplifies the presence on the platform of the hubs' messages.Comment: Under Submissio

Extracting curve-skeletons from digital shapes using occluding contours

Curve-skeletons are compact and semantically relevant shape descriptors, able to summarize both topology and pose of a wide range of digital objects. Most of the state-of-the-art algorithms for their computation rely on the type of geometric primitives used and sampling frequency. In this paper we introduce a formally sound and intuitive definition of curve-skeleton, then we propose a novel method for skeleton extraction that rely on the visual appearance of the shapes. To achieve this result we inspect the properties of occluding contours, showing how information about the symmetry axes of a 3D shape can be inferred by a small set of its planar projections. The proposed method is fast, insensitive to noise, capable of working with different shape representations, resolution insensitive and easy to implement

Experimental archeology and serious games: challenges of inhabiting virtual heritage

Experimental archaeology has long yielded valuable insights into the tools and techniques that featured in past peoples’ relationship with the material world around them. However, experimental archaeology has, hitherto, confined itself to rigid, empirical and quantitative questions. This paper applies principles of experimental archaeology and serious gaming tools in the reconstructions of a British Iron Age Roundhouse. The paper explains a number of experiments conducted to look for quantitative differences in movement in virtual vs material environments using both “virtual” studio reconstruction as well as material reconstruction. The data from these experiments was then analysed to look for differences in movement which could be attributed to artefacts and/or environments. The paper explains the structure of the experiments, how the data was generated, what theories may make sense of the data, what conclusions have been drawn and how serious gaming tools can support the creation of new experimental heritage environments

No. 17: Writing Xenophobia: Immigration and the Press in Post-Apartheid South Africa

The mass media have become one of the most important institutions in modern society, playing a role not only in our learning and education, but also in how we see opportunities for change and improvements in our lives. For these reasons, the media are seen as a powerful vehicle for social transformation and development, and have drawn increasing attention towards themselves in contemporary society. The print media (ie newspapers) are particularly important in this respect, given that the press has traditionally been a provider of information on daily events and, for many people, are the only source of information about events that are not experienced directly. This report discusses the South African print media’s coverage of cross-border migration in the post-apartheid period and how it may affect public opinion on the topic as well as immigration legislation. It is based on a survey that was the first, and most comprehensive, of its kind ever undertaken in the country, drawing on more than 1 200 newspaper clippings about migration from all English-language newspapers between 1994 and 1998. The report presents both a quantitative and qualitative analysis of this media coverage and offers a set of recommendations on how the press could improve its reportage in the future. In sum, the report argues that coverage of international migration by the South African press has been largely anti-immigrant and unanalytical. Not all reportage is negative, and newspaper coverage would appear to be improving over time, but the overwhelming majority of the newspaper articles, editorials and letters to the editor surveyed for this research are negative about immigrants and immigration. They are extremely unanalytical, uncritically reproducing problematic statistics and assumptions about cross-border migration. A large proportion of the articles also reproduce racial and national stereotypes about migrants from other African countries, depicting — for example — Mozambicans as car thieves and Nigerians as drug smugglers. This “criminalisation” of migrants from other parts of Africa is made worse by the more subtle use of terms like “illegal” and “alien”, despite their being roundly criticised by institutions like the United Nations for contributing to misconceptions of an otherwise law-abiding group of people. The aim of this report is not to convince the reader one way or the other about the merits or demerits of migration into South Africa. There is a vast and rapidly growing literature on the subject and the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) continues to make contributions to this debate. Rather, our intention here is to remind the reader just how complex the migration debate is and how poor a job, in light of this complexity, the media have been doing in providing a more balanced, critical and reflective coverage of the issues. At best, the press have been presenting a very limited perspective on cross-border migration dynamics and, in the process, are leaving the South African public in the dark about the real complexities at play. At worst, the press has been contributing to public xenophobia generally through weaving myths and fabrications around foreigners and immigration. In terms of recommendations, the report makes four general points: Newspapers and wire services should assign one or two journalists to cover migration issues on a regular basis, with the time and resources necessary for covering the issues in an in-depth and critical manner. But resource constraints affecting newspapers militate against this idea; not every newspaper has the luxury of assigning a single person to a particular “beat”. However, given the importance of the migration issue at national and regional level (a point borne out by the sensational coverage already given it by the press), and the fact that it is destined to grow in importance over the coming years, there is justification in giving it the resources required for meaningful coverage. The fact that most of the daily newspapers are owned by only a handful of syndicates makes the resource issue less of a constraint if some of the research and writing were done in a more centralised manner. Journalists and editors should pay particular attention to how they report the immigration statistics they receive from “official sources”. An almost universal acceptance by the press of the misleading “fact” that there are somewhere between 2.5 to 4.1 million undocumented migrants in South Africa is a good example of the need for a more critical assessment of where these numbers come from, how they are obtained, how realistic they are, and what their implications are for thinking around cross-border migration. There is a growing body of literature on both the quantitative and qualitative impacts of migration in Southern Africa and journalists/editors should know what the debates are and who their sources are. Editors should attempt to strike a better balance in the coverage of migration issues. We recognise the need for free expression of ideas and it would be a serious mistake to ignore, or to try and cover-up, the widespread opposition to migrants and immigration that exists in South Africa. But newspapers also have a responsibility to recognise the need for more balanced coverage and should be willing to address the racist and nationalist immigration biases of the past actively. Journalists and editors should address the sensational and “criminalising” language used in articles on migration. The terms “illegal” and “alien” should either be dropped completely and replaced with more neutral terms like “undocumented” or “irregular” migrants and a clear distinction made between the different types of non-citizens in the country. Permanent residents, contract miners, tourists, refugees and undocumented migrants are very different categories of migrants and should be recognised as such

Comunicación publicitaria: construcción de potencial de significado a través de la gramática disyuntiva

Communication through language, irrespective of the model of its structure and deployment, entails the making of meanings. The ways that advertisers produce meaning through disjunctive grammar is the concern of this study. Thus, the analysis considered twelve advertisements for examination for meaning deductions. The Hallidayan ‘below the clause’ was the conceptual facilitator of meanings in texts. With the application of technological tools of the table and graph, the study drew a conclusion that nominal group (NG) is the most employed device to fascinate readers to consumption. Having observed that advertisers utilize health matters, beliefs and values, monetary gifts, contents of commodities, etc. to persuade consumers, the study suggests that advertisements could assist in revealing the true contents of the advertised products for proper decision making on the products to patronize. Such behavior could also sensitize the public from being recalcitrant to reading advertising artifacts which is a gain to advertisers themselves. Qualquer que seja o modelo que guie sua estrutura e desenvolvimento, a comunicação por meio da linguagem implica a criação de significados. Os publicistas parecem entender que a criação de significado na comunicação com o público-alvo não precisa depender da cláusula ou da oração. As produções de significado podem ser mordazes e com estruturas fragmentadas; com isso, o estudo que deu origem ao presente artigo interessou-se pela forma como os especialistas em publicidade produzem significado por meio da gramática disjuntiva. Analisaram-se doze anúncios de bebidas e telecomunicações, a fim de explicar os significados. O conceito de “cláusula dependente”, estabelecido por Halliday, foi o facilitador conceitual dos significados nos textos. O uso de ferramentas tecnológicas como tabelas e gráficos ajudou a calcular as frequências das instalações disjuntivas dos textos. Chegou-se à conclusão de que a frase nominal é o dispositivo mais empregado para interessar os leitores no consumo. Tendo-se observado que os anunciantes utilizavam assuntos de saúde, crenças e valores, presentes monetários, conteúdos de produtos básicos, globalização etc. para persuadir os consumidores, o estudo sugeriu que os anúncios poderiam seguir empregando construções com signos de pontuação para revelar os verdadeiros conteúdos dos produtos anunciados, de tal forma que tomassem as decisões adequadas ao favorecê-los. Tal comportamento de implantação disjuntiva também poderia levar o público a ler materiais publicitários no lugar de recusá-los, portanto, de uma maneira ou de outra, convencer o público é o objetivo real da persuasão na publicidade.Cualquiera que sea el modelo que guíe su estructura y desarrollo, la comunicación a través del lenguaje implica la creación de significados. Los publicistas parecen entender que la creación de significado en la comunicación con el público objetivo no necesita depender de la cláusula o dea la oración. Las producciones de significado pueden ser mordaces y con estructuras fragmentadas; con esto, el estudio que dio origen al presente artículo se interesó por la forma en que los expertos en publicidad producen significado a través de la gramática disyuntiva. Se analizaron doce anuncios de bebidas y telecomunicaciones, en aras de explicar los significados. El concepto de “debajo de la cláusula”, acuñado por Halliday, fue el facilitador conceptual de los significados en los textos. El uso de herramientas tecnológicas como tablas y gráficos ayudó a calcular las frecuencias de las instalaciones disyuntivas de los textos. Se llegó a la conclusión de que la frase nominal es el dispositivo más empleado para interesar a los lectores en el consumo. Habiéndose observado que los anunciantes utilizaban asuntos de salud, creencias y valores, regalos monetarios, contenidos de productos básicos, globalización, etc. para persuadir a los consumidores, el estudio sugirió que los anuncios podrían seguir empleando construcciones con signos de puntuación para revelar los verdaderos contenidos de los productos anunciados, de tal forma que se tomaran las decisiones adecuadas al favorecerlos. Tal comportamiento de despliegue disyuntivo también podría llevar al público a leer materiales publicitarios en lugar de rechazarlos, en tanto que, de una manera u otra, convencer al público es el objetivo real de la persuasión en la publicidad.https://revistas.udem.edu.co/index.php/anagramas/article/view/215

Preliminary discussions on the urbanization of rural areas in modern Iran

In this translation draft of the first part of the author's recently-published book in Japanese, entitled as "Rural-cities in Contemporary Iran: Revolution, War and the Structural Changes in the Rural Society," we are presenting the preliminary discussions on Iranian middle-sized cities and towns which emerged in these 30 years or so. We start from the explanations of the contents of the above-mentioned book and do the reviewing of the preceding studies, followed by the critical review of the studies on the Iranian revolution in 1979, and the studies on Iran's recent political trends and the tendencies towards the local governance, which was tempered and collapsed with the appearance of President AhmadÄ«nejÄd. This consists of the Introduction and the first parts of Chapter 1 of our book, and we are expecting to finish translating the whole contents and to publish it in the near future. We apologize for the shortcomings of this paper, for example some partial lack of correspondence of its bibliography with the main contents, mainly because of the technical reasons.Iran, Rural societies, Urbanization, Social change, Social structure

Developing serious games for cultural heritage: a state-of-the-art review

Although the widespread use of gaming for leisure purposes has been well documented, the use of games to support cultural heritage purposes, such as historical teaching and learning, or for enhancing museum visits, has been less well considered. The state-of-the-art in serious game technology is identical to that of the state-of-the-art in entertainment games technology. As a result, the field of serious heritage games concerns itself with recent advances in computer games, real-time computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality and artificial intelligence. On the other hand, the main strengths of serious gaming applications may be generalised as being in the areas of communication, visual expression of information, collaboration mechanisms, interactivity and entertainment. In this report, we will focus on the state-of-the-art with respect to the theories, methods and technologies used in serious heritage games. We provide an overview of existing literature of relevance to the domain, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the described methods and point out unsolved problems and challenges. In addition, several case studies illustrating the application of methods and technologies used in cultural heritage are presented