Information Diffusion Power of Political Party Twitter Accounts During Japan's 2017 Election

In modern election campaigns, political parties utilize social media to advertise their policies and candidates and to communicate to electorates. In Japan's latest general election in 2017, the 48th general election for the Lower House, social media, especially Twitter, was actively used. In this paper, we perform a detailed analysis of social graphs and users who retweeted tweets of political parties during the election. Our aim is to obtain accurate information regarding the diffusion power for each party rather than just the number of followers. The results indicate that a user following a user who follows a political party account tended to also follow the account. This means that it does not increase diversity because users who follow each other tend to share similar values. We also find that followers of a specific party frequently retweeted the tweets. However, since users following the user who follow a political party account are not diverse, political parties delivered the information only to a few political detachment users.Comment: The 10th International Conference on Social Informatics (SocInfo 2018

When “conservation” leads to land degradation: lessons from Ban Lak Sip, Laos

Land degradation / Soil erosion / Farming systems / Environmental policy / Political ecology / Households / Population growth / Laos / Ban Lak Sip

The Posthuman Reality of Feed-Based Social Media Systems

The conceptual boundary between the subject and user parallels the boundary between humanist and posthumanist definitions of human being, and the challenges of new media communications technology today impel this evolution. My dissertation discusses subjectivity as the self-differentiation of a particular set of processes, and the influence of communications media upon this process. Here, it includes the basis of differentiation for an I, including: the question of identity, potential agency, and knowledge. The collage of attributes that constitute a portrait of what I call the user, the subject of online social media, is demonstrably emergent, dispersed, and discursive; in terms of agency and sovereignty, the useras with other instances of posthuman subjectivityis contingent upon its media ecology and is decidedly less free than other definitions of subjectivity (such the self-sovereign individual of the social contract, which comes to be as a negation of contingency). The concept of self-sovereignty excludes the influences of history, and other influences upon the emergence of the subject, emphasizing an exclusively internal causation. The users existence, conversely, is processual and dispersed throughout networks; its being and agency are dividual, not individual. The subjectivity of the user must thus be thought in terms of its mediated contingency, as the self-sovereign agency that is characteristic of humanist traditions is less applicable to todays media ecologies. I argue that the traits of the subject in humanist traditions can be interpreted as the epiphenomena of societies whose information ecology was dominated by logocentric, typographic literacy. Today, with the advent of social media and its users, we can understand from a new vantage how subjectivities are modulated, amplified, and attenuated by technical distributions, particularly the unseen (and unseeable) non-human agents in the computation systems that constitute online social networks

The Santa Clara, 2019-04-04

https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/tsc/1089/thumbnail.jp

Transnational identities and digital media: the digitalisation of Italian Diaspora in London

Digital media and mobile technologies have allowed migrants to keep in touch with family and friends across the world. On the one hand, the fact that communication is no longer limited to the individual’s offline networks means that moving to another country is no longer associated with isolation. On the other hand, new developments in information and communication technologies are transforming the experience of migration with implications for sociality, identity, and political and cultural involvement. In this article I will explore how new transnational cultures are being initiated through the consumption of digital media, and how media consumption is specifically shaping Italian diaspora in London. Based on ethnographic data and participant observation, I intend to address two key points: first, to what extent media improve immigrants’ transnational experience by affecting their quality of life; second, and more widely, whether or not media can affect the process of integration between diasporic communities and host countries. An investigation of the concept of Transnational Virtual Communities of Immigrants (VTCI) will also help to define new directions for future research

Sport and exercise medicine in NHS England: the pathways of sport-related injury patients and social costs

This thesis explores the general public s experiences of sport related injury (SRI) as they utilise Sport and Exercise Medicine services in NHS England. It focuses specifically on: the treatment pathways to, and utilisation of, one Sport and Exercise Medicine (SEM) clinic in NHS England; the social and economic costs incurred as a consequence of SRI; and the extent healthcare utilisation and costs coalesce to structure SRI experience. The study employs a qualitative methodology based on a two phase research design that retrospectively maps the pathways of patients (n=19) up until their treatment at the SEM clinic (focusing on social and economic costs ), and prospectively, as a number of patients (n=4) continue their treatment at the SEM clinic, thus illustrating how pathways and costs feed each other in problematic ways. Findings demonstrate that patient pathways to SEM are relatively lengthy and inefficient due to a lack of knowledge of SEM initiatives for SRI treatment amongst both GPs and patients. This leads to indirect referrals, increased workload in primary care and the utilisation of general orthopaedic secondary care services. It further highlights a number of social and economic costs incurred through SRI, such as diminished social wellbeing, increased emotional labour, poor health behaviours and workplace absenteeism, which are exacerbated through inefficient patient pathways and patient dissatisfaction with general orthopaedic treatment. The thesis is the first study to shed light on the pathways of SRI patients in the NHS and the treatment experience of SEM clinics in NHS England. It demonstrates the extent SEM initiatives justified on the basis of improving the efficiency of pathways and satisfaction of treatment for SRI patients could be more effectively implemented and identifies a number of important implications for the future sustainability of physical activity health promotion policy and the wider social and economic productivity of exercising public populations

International Conference on Media

UBT Annual International Conference is the 11th international interdisciplinary peer reviewed conference which publishes works of the scientists as well as practitioners in the area where UBT is active in Education, Research and Development. The UBT aims to implement an integrated strategy to establish itself as an internationally competitive, research-intensive university, committed to the transfer of knowledge and the provision of a world-class education to the most talented students from all background. The main perspective of the conference is to connect the scientists and practitioners from different disciplines in the same place and make them be aware of the recent advancements in different research fields, and provide them with a unique forum to share their experiences. It is also the place to support the new academic staff for doing research and publish their work in international standard level. This conference consists of sub conferences in different fields like: Art and Digital Media Agriculture, Food Science and Technology Architecture and Spatial Planning Civil Engineering, Infrastructure and Environment Computer Science and Communication Engineering Dental Sciences Education and Development Energy Efficiency Engineering Integrated Design Information Systems and Security Journalism, Media and Communication Law Language and Culture Management, Business and Economics Modern Music, Digital Production and Management Medicine and Nursing Mechatronics, System Engineering and Robotics Pharmaceutical and Natural Sciences Political Science Psychology Sport, Health and Society Security Studies This conference is the major scientific event of the UBT. It is organizing annually and always in cooperation with the partner universities from the region and Europe. We have to thank all Authors, partners, sponsors and also the conference organizing team making this event a real international scientific event. Edmond Hajrizi, President of UBT UBT – Higher Education Institutio

Change Narrative in Fictionalizing the Nuclear Disaster: Trauma as a Starting Point for Hope

Peer reviewe