Models of Social Groups in Blogosphere Based on Information about Comment Addressees and Sentiments

This work concerns the analysis of number, sizes and other characteristics of groups identified in the blogosphere using a set of models identifying social relations. These models differ regarding identification of social relations, influenced by methods of classifying the addressee of the comments (they are either the post author or the author of a comment on which this comment is directly addressing) and by a sentiment calculated for comments considering the statistics of words present and connotation. The state of a selected blog portal was analyzed in sequential, partly overlapping time intervals. Groups in each interval were identified using a version of the CPM algorithm, on the basis of them, stable groups, existing for at least a minimal assumed duration of time, were identified.Comment: Gliwa B., Ko\'zlak J., Zygmunt A., Models of Social Groups in Blogosphere Based on Information about Comment Addressees and Sentiments, in the K. Aberer et al. (Eds.): SocInfo 2012, LNCS 7710, pp. 475-488, Best Paper Awar

#Halal Culture on Instagram

Halal is a notion that applies to both objects and actions, and means permissible according to Islamic law. It may be most often associated with food and the rules of selecting, slaughtering, and cooking animals. In the globalized world, halal can be found in street corners of New York and beauty shops of Manila. In this study, we explore the cultural diversity of the concept, as revealed through social media, and specifically the way it is expressed by different populations around the world, and how it relates to their perception of (i) religious and (ii) governmental authority, and (iii) personal health. Here, we analyze two Instagram datasets, using Halal in Arabic (325,665 posts) and in English (1,004,445 posts), which provide a global view of major Muslim populations around the world. We find a great variety in the use of halal within Arabic, English, and Indonesian-speaking populations, with animal trade emphasized in first (making up 61% of the language's stream), food in second (80%), and cosmetics and supplements in third (70%). The commercialization of the term halal is a powerful signal of its detraction from its traditional roots. We find a complex social engagement around posts mentioning religious terms, such that when a food-related post is accompanied by a religious term, it on average gets more likes in English and Indonesian, but not in Arabic, indicating a potential shift out of its traditional moral framing

Formative interaction in online writing: making disciplinary expectations explicit

About the book: How to provide appropriate feedback to students on their writing has long been an area of central significance to teachers and educators. Feedback in Second Language Writing: Context and Issues provides scholarly articles on the topic by leading researchers, who explore topics such as the socio-cultural assumptions that participants bring to the writing class; feedback delivery and negotiation systems; and the role of student and teacher identity in negotiating feedback and expectations. This text provides empirical data and an up-to-date analysis of the complex issues involved in offering appropriate feedback during the writing process