Altmetrics – a complement to conventional metrics

Emerging metrics based on article-level does not exclude traditional metrics based on citations to the journal, but complements them. Both can be employed in conjunction to offer a richer picture of an article use from immediate to long terms. Article-level metrics (ALM) is the result of the aggregation of different data sources and the collection of content from multiple social network services. Sources used for the aggregation can be broken down into five categories: usage, captures, mentions, social media and citations. Data sources depend on the tool, but they include classic metrics indicators based on citations, academic social networks (Mendeley, CiteULike, Delicious) and social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, or Youtube, among others). Altmetrics is not synonymous with alternative metrics. Altmetrics are normally early available and allow to assess the social impact of scholarly outputs, almost at the real time. This paper overviews briefly the meaning of altmetrics and describes some of the existing tools used to apply this new metrics: Public Library of Science - Article-Level Metrics, Altmetric, Impactstory and Plum

Assessing South African Government’s Use of Social Media for Citizen Participation

Social media are commended as e-participation reformation tools; consequently, governments around the world are adopting social media. South Africa is not exempt from this adoption trend; however, the extent to which social media is used for public participation is yet to be understood. This paper presents a qualitative study exploring social media as an e-participation tool through content analysis of social media pages of the South African government. The study found that while all provinces and municipalities have social media accounts, these platforms are used mainly for information broadcasting, viz., as an extension to their websites. There is limited engagement and participation; where these exist, it is due to the municipality posting information relevant to citizens’ lives and being intentional in responding to citizens’ comments. The study contributes to the social media discussion within the African government context and is a first step towards actualizing effective public participation through social media in South Africa

Generation Z and their perception towards the working environemnt - analyzed in times of Covid -19

Generation Z is going to dictate the job market in the future. However, research on it is still occasional, especially in times of Covid-19. Consequently, practices to approach the cohort are lacking. This work-project addresses the research gap by carrying out a cross-sectional study with the help of a questionnaire. The research revealed that Gen Z’ers are characterized by being digital-natives, who have diverse perceptions of the working environment. They are affected by events like Covid-19 which impaired their mental health, among other things. Based on these insights, practices on how to approach the cohort were designedfor companies

Social Component of Journalism and Information Technology in Kazakhstan

The relevance of the study is based on the fact that in sociology, the phenomenon of mass media is included in the object-subject field of several industries: sociology of mass media, sociology of the media means, sociology of journalism, sociology of the Internet, and sociology of online media. The novelty of the work is determined by the fact that the analysis of the media was carried out in the framework of various sociological theories, in particular - mass society theory, where the media are considered as one of the main tools for disseminating mass culture; theories of the information society, within which information and the means of its dissemination play a vital role in the development of society. The practical novelty of the study is determined by the fact that the possibility of forming a structure for understanding the social position of the media contributes to the implementation of new social communication protocols