Looking at Cities in Mexico with Crowds

Mobile and social technologies are providing new opportunities to document, characterize, and gather impressions of urban environments. In this paper, we present a study that examines urban perceptions of three cities in central Mexico (Guanajuato, Leon and Silao), which integrates a mobile crowdsourcing framework to collect geo-localized images of urban environments by a local youth community, and an online crowdsourcing platform (Amazon Mechanical Turk) to gather impressions of urban environments along twelve physical and psychological dimensions. Our study resulted in a collection of 7,000 geo-localized images containing outdoor scenes and views of each city's built environment, including touristic, historical, and residential neighbourhoods; and 156,000 individual judgments from MTurk. Statistical analyses show that outdoor environments can be reliably assessed with respect to most urban dimensions by the observers of crowdsourced images. Furthermore, a cross-city statistical analysis shows that outdoor urban places in Guanajuato (a touristic, cultural heritage site) are perceived as more quiet, picturesque and interesting compared to places in Leon and Silao, which are commercial and industrial hubs, respectively. In contrast Silao, is perceived to have lower accessibility than Leon. Finally, we investigate whether the perceptions of urban environments vary across different times of the day and found that places in the evening are perceived as less happy, pleasant and preserved, when compared to the same place in the morning. Through the use of collective action, participatory sensing and mobile crowdsourcing, our study engages citizens to understand socio-urban problems in their communities

Anthropology of the Crowd, Blog 8

Student blog posts from the Great VCU Bike Race Book

Goddess unbound: Chinese popular religion and the varieties of boundary

Mazu is an important deity who spread widely within and beyond China. The hardening of internal and external boundaries during the Cold War greatly limited the flow of the cult on the mainland, and completely cut the tie to temples in Taiwan and abroad. The end of the Cold War, however, brought many new possibilities, which are best understood by opening up the concept of "boundary." The Cold War had strengthened the idea that borders are meant to be unambiguous and well defended. This vision of the boundary as a brick wall, however, is incomplete. This essay explores two further aspects of boundaries: the oozing of people, goods and deities through pores in the boundaries (more cell wall than brick wall); and the boundaries that are crossed through the rhythms of ritual, fostering moves back and forth across both political and spiritual lines (a "tennis net" wall, crossed by the moving ball).Accepted manuscrip

“Smashing Into Crowds” -- An Analysis of Vehicle Ramming Attacks

Vehicle ramming attacks are not new. But since 2010 Jihadists have urged their use. Is this the wave of the future, or a terrorist fad? To answer this and other questions the authors expanded and updated the database used in their May 2018 MTI Security Perspective entitled An Analysis of Vehicle Ramming as a Terrorist Threat to include 184 attacks since January 1, 1970. They also reviewed literature and examined some cases in detail. This MTI Security perspective indicates that while not new, vehicle rammings are more frequent and lethal since 2014, although the number of attacks seems to be dropping in 2019. Still it is too early to know if this is because of government countermeasures or because it is a fad that has come and gone. They also found that: (a) the majority of attacks occur in developed countries like the US and Europe; (b) though not more lethal than some other tactics they can be easily carried out by those who cannot get bombs or guns in a target-rich environment that is difficult to protect; (c) while Jihadists (responsible for only 19% of the attacks) have exhorted their use since 2010, it isn’t clear these calls have been successful -- instead the pattern of attacks suggest a kind of wider contagion; (d) attackers plowing vehicles into public gatherings and pedestrianized streets are the most lethal, particularly the attacks are planned and the drivers rent or steal large trucks or vans driven at speed; and finally, (e) government authorities cannot prevent these attacks but can and are doing things to prevent them and mitigate fatalities when they occur

Exploring the effect of the Looking China Student Film Project on its participants

I wrote and presented a 22-page research paper at the annual symposium of the Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture, November 26, 2016. The paper, titled "Exploring the Effect of the Looking China Youth Film Project on its Participants" analyzed data I collected from past participants in the Looking China Program and drew conclusions concerning the formation of a cultural image, and how the process of making a documentary film enhances certain observational skills. The paper was subsequently published in the academic journal, "International Communication of Chinese Culture," Beijing Normal University Press, China

Bicultural and Bilingual Americans: A Need for Understanding

published or submitted for publicatio

The American press, public, and the reaction to the outbreak of the First World War

The American popular reaction to the outbreak of the First World War in Europe can be overlooked in the historical discussion with its rush to study more elite opinion. What is usually assumed is that in general the American population was shocked and horrified in 1914, and from this initial reaction it moved to embrace neutrality. It is interesting that this historical discussion usually ignores the modern political science debate on the same subject which argues that the American reaction to war in conflict is not usually negative, especially at the beginning. Using a detailed examination of American newspapers and magazines from twelve of the United States’ largest cities this article examines the reaction of the press and public from the moment shooting started in august 1914 through the fascinating Congressional elections that November. The picture that emerges is twofold. The immediate reaction to the war was one of economic satisfaction. There was a strong consensus in the press that the war was, first and foremost, a golden trading opportunity that would not only require Europeans to purchase large amounts of American goods, it would allow American companies to supplant European companies around the world, particularly in Latin America. Also, there was considerable discussion about American entry into the war, with significant sector believing such intervention was not only possible, it might be necessary. Finally, in the 1914 election, whilst the Democrats tried to nationalize the campaign by turning the vote into an endorsement of Wilson’s War policy, the American population reacted with indifference. There was little sign that the war made any material difference in how the American people voted and afterwards the press, no matter what its partisan affiliation, endorsed this view

A visible geography of invisible journeys: Central American migration and the politics of survival

Human rights groups have called undocumented Central American migrants the ‘invisible victims’ of criminal violence in Mexico. However, the geography of the unauthorised migration route through Mexico is highly visible; its location, protocols and violent practices constitute common knowledge in the communities through which it cuts its path. This paper examines the visual cues of the route. Images of places, such as the trailhead, the river at the borders, the migrant shelter and the train yard, provide focal points that orient migrants to the physical terrain. These images also orient activists, providing potent symbols for political contestation in favour of migrants’ rights. However, visibility attracts criminal gangs who rob, kidnap and rape migrants, and the gaze of state officials who detain and deport migrants. Thus, this paper traces how geographic icons become beacons to migrants, activists, criminal predators and state actors, and it examines the nature of information and representation under this strategic interaction. It examines how victims and perpetrators become visible to one another

Spartan Daily February 22, 2011

Volume 136, Issue 14https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/1121/thumbnail.jp