Global citizenship in public discourse

The ideas presented in this essay come from my ongoing research into how the term ‘global citizenship’ has been interpreted and communicated beyond academic debates in political philosophy and the social sciences. During the past five years, I have built up two databases: a database of public statements regarding global citizenship, largely from a variety of news sources around the world, and transcripts from interviews that I have completed with more that 150 individuals associated with these public statements. By using public communication of the term ‘global citizenship’ as the starting point for analysis, my research strategy is different from many other contributions to the rapidly expanding literature regarding prospects for an international dimension of citizenship

Enriching Discourse on Public Domains

Studying microvascular responses to iontophoresis of vasoconstricting drugs contributes to a better understanding of the regulatory mechanisms of cutaneous vessels, but measuring these responses with laser-Doppler flowmetry at basal blood flow conditions is technically challenging. This study aimed to investigate whether the measurement of cutaneous vasoconstrictor responses to noradrenaline (NA) and phenylephrine (PE), delivered by iontophoresis, is facilitated by predilatation of the microvascular bed using local heating. We used different drug delivery rates (100 s x 0.12 mA, 200 s x 0.06 mA, 300 s x 0.04 mA) to investigate whether predilatation affects the local drug dynamics by an increased removal of drugs from the skin. In a predilatated vascular bed, iontophoresis of NA and PE resulted in a significant decrease in perfusion from the thermal plateau (p andlt; 0.001). The decrease was 25-33%, depending on drug delivery rate. In unheated skin, a significant vasoconstriction was observed (p andlt; 0.001), with 17% and 14% decrease from baseline for NA and PE, respectively. These results indicate that predilatating the cutaneous vascular bed by local heating facilitates measurement of vasoconstriction with laser-Doppler flowmetry and does not seem to significantly affect the result by an increased removal of drugs from the skin.Original Publication: Joakim Henricson, Yashma Baiat and Folke Sjöberg, Local Heating as a Predilatation Method for Measurement of Vasoconstrictor Responses with Laser-Doppler Flowmetry, 2011, MICROCIRCULATION, (18), 3, 214-220. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1549-8719.2010.00079.x Copyright: Wiley http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Brand/id-35.html</p

Shaping of the Public Discourse on Refugees in Social Media: "Refugees Welcome Lithuania"

Social media websites, such as Facebook and Twitter, are starting to become places, where people present and evaluate various events in the world: terrorist attacks in London, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels. What is more, these websites influence values of their users and readers. Technologies allow people to exchange views at the very moment of the event. The time zone, area, or other physical aspects of the platform participants do not matter. However, this ability might cause negative impact on the discussed social groups. The aim of this article – to analyse the discourse formation in media regarding refugees\u27 integration and humanitarian crisis in Europe. The goals of this study are: to figure out how the practices of public participation evidences in the context of communication through social media; to form a methodology according to up-to-date communicational concepts and analyse how the images of refugees are formed in social media; to reveal the main actors, involved in the formation of the discourse on refugees in Lithuania, by analysing the content in Facebook pages “Priimsiu pabėgėlį” (eng. “Refugees Welcome”) and “Visuomeninis komitetas prieš priverstinę imigraciją” (eng. “Public Committee against Forced Immigration”)

Homophobic slurs and public apologies: the discursive struggle over fag/maricón in public discourse

A handful of recent incidents hints at an ideological struggle over the use of the English word fag(got) and the Spanish word maricón in public discourse. This article examines the discursive and ideological struggle over the terms through the comparison of two cases in which Spanish/English bilingual Latinos in the U. S. use what might be considered homophobic slurs in public discourse in two distinct contexts — an informal, off-record sports-related press conference and a radio talk show political interview. The three main aims of the article are to examine and compare the content and context of the two public apologies, to examine the discursive and ideological struggle over the appropriateness of fag/maricón in public discourse through the evaluation of their use, and to contextualize the two case studies within the research on the construction of homophobia in discourse

On the public discourse of religion : an analysis of Christianity in the United Kingdom

Debates over the involvement of religion in the public sphere look set to be one of the defining themes of the 21st century. But while religious issues have attracted a large degree of scholarly attention, the public discourse of religion itself, in terms of the effort to assert and legitimize a role for faith in the public realm, has remained notably under-researched. This article marks an initial step to address this deficiency by deconstructing the public discourse of Christianity in the United Kingdom. It argues that, while appealing for representation on the grounds of liberal equality, the overall goal of this discourse is to establish a role for itself as a principal source of moral authority, and to exempt itself from the evidentially-based standards and criteria that govern public life

Introduction Maulana Karenga, Guest Editor

This special issue on Ethnicity and Public Policy explores critical issues in public policy from various vantage points. Its scope is wide-ranging and aims at delineating and analyzing discourse and practices which both inform and constitute public policy on ethnic questions. It includes theoretical, historical and practical studies and represents a variety of approaches to both the definition and discourse of ethnicity and public policy on the national and international level

The Problem of Fake News

Looking at the recent spate of claims about “fake news” which appear to be a new feature of political discourse, I argue that fake news presents an interesting problem in epistemology. Te phenomena of fake news trades upon tolerating a certain indiference towards truth, which is sometimes expressed insincerely by political actors. Tis indiference and insincerity, I argue, has been allowed to fourish due to the way in which we have set the terms of the “public” epistemology that maintains what is considered “rational” public discourse. I argue one potential salve to the problem of fake news is to challenge this public epistemology by injecting a certain ethical consideration back into the discourse

Enriching Discourse on Public Domains

Is there one public domain, or are there many public domains? The scholarly literature predominantly assumes there is only one, for references abound to “the public domain” in the singular. Yet, even a cursory review of this literature reveals that scholars sometimes define this term differently. So if there is only one public domain, but many definitions, perhaps one objective of scholarly discourse about the public domain should be to seek consensus on the one “true” definition.Professor James Boyle has provocatively suggested that there are many public domains, and has urged scholars to develop a rich vocabulary for distinguishing among them. He points out that the word “property” has multiple meanings, and discourse about property proceeds without confusion because legal professionals have learned to discern which meaning is intended from the textual context. Boyle urges intellectual property scholars to develop a similarly nuanced public domain vocabulary so that it will be possible to distinguish among its several meanings as well.This essay considers the potential benefits of accepting the existence of multiple public domains and ways in which discourse about public domains might be enriched thereby. Part II provides a synopsis of thirteen conceptions of the public domain found in the law review literature, explaining each, generally by reviewing the explication of it offered by its principal proponent or discoverer. Part III organizes the definitions by recognizing that they cluster around three main foci: 1) the legal status of information resources, 2) freedoms to use information resources, even if protected by IP rights, and 3) accessibility of information resources. Although it is common to think of information resources as either IP-protected or public domain, and as either publicly accessible or not, Part III shows that the public domain literature views these concepts not as binary opposites, but rather as points along a continuum. Part IV discusses the advantages and disadvantages of recognizing multiple public domains and recommends the use of adjectives to clarify discourse about the many public domains. The constitutional public domain, for instance, is distinct from the privatizable (although not yet, privatized) public domain. This Part differentiates among conceptions of public domains that should be accepted and those that perhaps should not. The principal advantage of recognizing multiple public domains is that it illuminates a range of important social values served by these domains and a plethora of strategies for preserving them and the values they serve

The making of a state-centered "public sphere" in Turkey : a discourse analysis

Why is it that state-centered recognition of the public sphere has prevailed in Turkey during the last decade? The frame analysis of the “public sphere†discourse during the 2002-2009 period revealed that the contingency of the discourse on the Islamic headscarf issue discouraged an essential understanding of the authentic public sphere. Secularists framed the public sphere as a politically neutral arena that must be protected by the state. By contrast, pro-Islamists initially counter-framed the public sphere positively, in line with the Habermasian definition. Yet, in the face of stiff opposition from the secularists, the pro-Islamists came to adopt a negative counter-frame implying that the public sphere impinged on the freedom of wearing a headscarf. As a result, both the secularists’ and pro-Islamists’ frames entrenched the general recognition of the state-centered public sphere in Turkish society.Turkey, Social problems, Social conditions, Public administration, Urban societies, Community, Public sphere, Discourse analysis

The challenges of "upstream" communication and public engagement for Irish nanotechnology

This paper sets out some challenges for Ireland’s contribution to nanotechnology public engagement in the context of current STS and science communication theoretical practice approaches. I report on a pilot set of public engagement activities and accompanying‘multi-sited ethnographic’ and frame analysis methodologies. I reflect on how the theoretical context of these methods and findings present a challenge for nanoscience communicators in the first instance, but also for the social scientists and academics that are themselves contributing to the discourse of nanotechnology and, intentionally or not, communicating nanotechnology to diverse publics. I identify six discourse sites of nanotechnology which have the potential for public engagement