ICTs and ethical consumption: the political and market futures of fair trade

This paper addresses the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and ethical consumption as part of a cause for the insurance of a sustainable future. It homes in on fair trade as an ethical market, politically progressive cause and, crucially, form of participation where citizens can engage in the formation of an alternative future and the broader issue of food security. An three-dimensional analysis of agencies and uses of digital structures and content is informed by a case study approach, as well as interviews with fair trade activists, and ethically consuming citizens in the British metropolis. Through this, the argument which primarily rises distinguishes between the dimensions of durability (in terms of time and duration) and sustainability (in terms of time, duration and environmental concerns) of engagement in fair trade as a form of participation. Ethical consumption, then, is part of a durable market which has developed despite general market fluctuation, but is still very much bound in traditional physical economic spaces; in other words, ethical consumption has been integrated in the business as usual paradigm. Additionally, ICTs have not challenged the way in which information about ethical consumption is communicated or the spaces in which it is conducted. ICTs have been employed by fair trade activists, but they have not contributed to the development of fair trade as a political or economic project. Over a period of over five decades since the inception of the cause, their use has not significantly altered the way in which citizens engage with fair trade in the alternative or mainstream marketplace

Digital equity: Diversity, inclusion and access for incarcerated students in a digital age

ELearning has been touted as the way in which universities can enable participation by large numbers of students from non-traditional cohorts. There is no doubt that the flexibility of access that eLearning allows makes study accessible for a number of cohorts, including those engaged in full-time work or caring duties. However, cohorts such as incarcerated students and other students without Internet access, are sitting on the wrong side of the digital divide and are increasingly marginalised by the very technology anticipated to overcome their exclusion from study. This paper examines the fundamental issues of equity involved with eLearning, and particularly for incarcerated students. The very issue of access to the Internet is fraught with rates of access varying widely between different sectors of society. This discussion prompts higher education providers to think beyond business-as-usual when speaking of increasing participation in higher education

Digital equity: Diversity, inclusion and access for incarcerated students in a digital age

ELearning has been touted as the way in which universities can enable participation by large numbers of students from non-traditional cohorts. There is no doubt that the flexibility of access that eLearning allows makes study accessible for a number of cohorts, including those engaged in full-time work or caring duties. However, cohorts such as incarcerated students and other students without Internet access, are sitting on the wrong side of the digital divide and are increasingly marginalised by the very technology anticipated to overcome their exclusion from study. This paper examines the fundamental issues of equity involved with eLearning, and particularly for incarcerated students. The very issue of access to the Internet is fraught with rates of access varying widely between different sectors of society. This discussion prompts higher education providers to think beyond business-as-usual when speaking of increasing participation in higher education

Broadcasting to the masses or building communities: Polish political parties’ online performance during 2011 elections in international perspective

This paper analyses within the context of election contests the extent to which parties use the range of Web 2.0 tools, in particular social networking sites, weblogs and microblogs, in order to build communities online; we contrast this with the more traditional political use of the online environment for broadcasting. Using the 2011 Polish general election as a case study, we analyse the use of the online environment by all political parties, categorising features as offering a range of functions to serve visitors, from informing to allowing interaction. We also assess how different groups of visitors are targeted through different features or platforms. The data from the content analysis thus provides a rich picture of the online strategy of each party and the extent to which the Internet was used in the campaign. These data are supplemented by web cartography analysis which identifies the interlinkages between the websites of political parties, official information sources and the media. The cartography allows us to analyse the direction of traffic flow within the electoral websphere, the extent to which parties create open platforms with high levels of linkage to one another or if they maintain enclosed communities linking only to supportive sites. Overall our paper will provide an understanding of party election strategies during elections allowing discussion regarding the impact this might have on parties, media actors and voters. In particular we demonstrate how parties can use the range of web features to build communities of specific groups of visitors, in particular those with issue specific interests, those leaning towards supporting a party, and existing partisan campaigners. The use of these tools, we argue, can increase loyalty and lead to the conversion of supporters to activists. The paper leads into a discussion of how social networking tools have the potential to enhance the link between parties, members and supporters but that this depends on how the party utilises the online environment. Finally we aim to fit the Polish case study within a larger picture of political parties’ online performance during elections. Here we will compare our data on Poland with similar data which analysed the performance of parties in German 2009 general elections, parliamentary elections in Great Britain 2010 and French parliamentary election in 2012

Talking to the Empowered Consumer Dealing with the Shift of Power

The concept of the empowered consumer cannot be considered as a field of exact scientific research yet. Nevertheless, it has become part of scholars’ interest and gains more and more importance in the research of organisational relationships with customers. It is suggested that two influencing criteria are especially at the forefront: The emergence of the Internet, which effected that barriers to collect and to disseminate information across boundaries were decisively reduced. As a consequence consumers could organise globally and collect and exchange information and experiences about organisations and their products. Furthermore, flexible interactivity between companies and consumers, but particularly from consumers to consumers enable direct interaction changing many previously established rules of doing business. Due to these new opportunities new business models developed and the proposition is that intangible values such as reputation gained even more importance and influence tangible outcomes. Suggestions are that 1.), this concept links communication, corporate behaviour and legitimacy of activities influencing reputation as a driver of value. 2.), reputation as a corporate asset can be managed but it is beyond the pure control of an organisation. 3.), reputation is part of public perception, which an organisation has to build, maintain and expand depending on communicative abilities and willingness to accept consumers as a centre of power. The following discussion will present Grunig et al.’s communication model explaining changed organisational challenges. It is put forward as a framework for marketing for times in which online opportunities added to the earlier b2b and b2c models c2c and P2P considerations and architectures. The annual studies of the market research institute puls undertaking regular representative research among German consumers since November 2005 will present evidence for the relationship of improved prices, which may be achieved, and the perception a firm possesses. This paper deals mostly with German examples and data, but the hypothesis is that a) the general situation in other Western countries is alike, but needs b) specific additional research, since cultural differences are expected to have a considerable influence, especially when criteria such as individualist and collectivist organisation of society and high and low context communication styles are involved. Hence, the results of the same study in different countries are therefore expected to present some variation. Additionally, the Cluetrain Manifesto challenges corporate behaviour of those companies still believing to have the ability to control information disseminated by and written about it. Examples provided will support the hypothesis that powerful consumers may have significant impact on organisational behaviour, decision-making and outcomes. Keywords: Empowered Consumer Concept, Symmetric Two-way communication, Reputation, c2c, P2

From Linearity to Circulation. How TV Flow Is Changing in Networked Media Space

This article discusses the evolution of the concept of flow from the producer-controlled phase to the user-controlled phase, thus proposing the concept of circulation as a new framework for understanding the new TV ecosystem. The multiplication of screens (from the traditional TV set to handheld mobile devices) has made TV content accessible anytime and anywhere and, furthermore, has provided an interactive space where the digital life of content is managed by the audiences on social media. Such multiplication of screens has created forms of TV consumption that lead to the deconstruction and subsequent reformulation of the concepts of space, time and medium. This article examines this ongoing process, beginning with observations of audience consumption practices that are analysed using Osservatorio Social TV 2015, an Italian research project

Two Relationships to a Cultural Public Domain

It\u27s been well over ten years since Negativland was sued by Island Records for supposed copyright infringement, trademark infringement, defamation of character and consumer fraud contained in our 1991 U2 single. In the big wide world of the ownership of ideas, a lot has changed since then-the advent of the Internet and its worldwide empowerment of individuals through personalized interconnection, the effects of economic globalization and how it bypasses both the ideologies of local governments and the rule of their national laws, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act with which intellectual property owners are attempting to survive as all these rugs are being pulled out from under them. There is a contemporary realization that, on one hand, the fate of all content is now in the hands of its receiving audience more than ever before, and, on the other hand, that worldwide commerce is scrambling to forge all kinds of new laws and regulations to maintain their traditional control over the fate of their content

Inclusion a company to responsible index in Poland – market reaction

Published in: CSR Trends. Beyond Business as Usual, Reichel J. (ed.), 2014, CSR Impact, Łódź, PolandCurrent development of corporate social responsibility concept and practice caused that investors pay more and more attention to social and environmental aspects while building their investment portfolio. This triggered a growth of socially responsible investment market and socially responsible stock indexes where companies that meet certain criteria related to CSR are listed. The Respect Index is the example of such indexes from Poland. The main goal of the presented paper is to check how the market reacts on an announcement about an inclusion of a company to the Respect Index. The Respect Index and the relatively young socially responsible investment market in Poland delivers a unique chance to explore described processes in a country with economy just two decades after the transition. We can observe whether few years only since the launch of the responsible index on Warsaw Stock Exchange have allowed Polish investors to learn this new market and react on new opportunities it creates

IP Law Book Review: \u3cem\u3eConfiguring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Every Day Practice\u3c/em\u3e

Julie Cohen\u27s Configuring the Networked Self is an extraordinarily insightful book. Cohen not only applies extant theory to law; she also distills it into her own distinctive social theory of the information age. Thus, even relatively short sections of chapters of her book often merit article-length close readings. I here offer a brief for the practical importance of Cohen’s theory, and ways it should influence intellectual property policy and scholarship