What the Web Has Wrought

In 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee proposed the development of ‘a large hypertext database with typed links’, which eventually became The World Wide Web. It was rightly heralded at the time as a significant development and a boon for one-and-all as the digital age flourished both in terms of universal accessibility and affordability. The general anticipation was that this could herald an era of universal friendship and knowledge-sharing, ushering in global cooperation and mutual regard. In November 2019, marking 30 years of the Web, Berners-Lee lamented that its initial promise was being largely undermined, and that we were in danger of heading towards a ‘digital dystopia’: What happened

Technology-Mediated Communication in Familial Relationships: Moderated-Mediation Models of Isolation and Loneliness

Background and ObjectivesWe examined whether technology-mediated communication has functional or emotional equivalence to face-to-face (FtF) contact in familial relationships, by scrutinizing the effects of phone, text/e-mail, and video contact on isolation and loneliness.Research Design and MethodsWe tested whether FtF contact with a relative would mediate the pathway between proximity to family and (i) isolation and (ii) loneliness. We then tested hypotheses that telephone, text/e-mails, and video contact would moderate this mediated pathway. We compared models for younger (<75) and older (≥75) cohorts, expecting to observe moderation effects for text/e-mail and video contact in the younger cohort only. Data were drawn from Wave 2 of CFAS Wales (United Kingdom) study (N = 2,099).ResultsProximity to a relative had a significant indirect effect on isolation and loneliness through the mediating variable FtF contact. Phone and text/e-mail contact moderated the effect of FtF contact on isolation for all samples. None of the technologies moderated the impact of FtF contact on loneliness for the full sample. Telephone contact had a moderating influence on loneliness for the younger cohort only. Video calls had no significant moderation effect.Discussion and ImplicationsTelephone and text/e-mail contact have functional equivalence to FtF contact in familial relationships. None of the forms of technological communication have emotional equivalence to the “gold standard” of embodied presence. The study demonstrates the importance of theorizing about the pathways to isolation and loneliness to better understand the likelihood of implementing successful interventions using technology-mediated communication within families

PRESUPOSISI PADA PERCAKAPAN DI MEDIA SOSIALWHATSAPP DALAM KASUS DUGAAN PERNYATAAN PALSU

Penelitian berbasis pragmatik-forensik ini dilakukan untuk mengupas dan mendeskripsikan presuposisi baik jenis maupun pemicunya pada ujaran-ujaran seorang penutur yang diduga memberikan pernyataan palsu dalam percakapan di media sosial (WhatsApp).Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah metode deskriptif kualitatif. Dalam penelitian ini dilakukanidentifikasi terhadap jenis dan pemicu presuposisi serta menentukan kecenderungan adanya dugaan pemberian keterangan palsu secara linguistik forensik dalam percakapan untuk kemudian dianalisis dengan teknik analisis kualitatif. Data bahasa (linguistic evidence) yang diperoleh adalah hasil screenshot dan transkripsi data teks percakapan melalui media WhatsApp yang dilakukan oleh dua orang dalam konteks situasi non-formal.Hasil analisis dalam penelitian ini menunjukkan 1) ujaran-ujaran penutur yang diduga memberikan pernyataan palsu dalam percakapan tersebut mengandung jenis presuposisi faktif, non-faktif, leksikal, eksistensial, dan strukutural yang diklasifikan oleh Yule; 2) presuposisi tersebut dipicu oleh adanyadefinite descriptions,lexical item, wh-questions, temporal clauses, nonfactive predicates,danfactive predicates; 3) kalimat-kalimat yang diujarkan oleh penutur ada di antaranya yang memiliki makna ganda (ambiguitas); 4) analisis presuposisi pada ujaran-ujaran tersebut secara linguistik forensik cenderung menyalahi konsep projection questions serta tidak menunjukkan adanya sebuah truth relations yang mampu memberikan konvensi nilai kebenaran atas sebuah pernyataan.;--- Research based on these forensic-pragmatics is done to peel and describe the types of presuppositions and presuppositions triggers in the speech of a speaker who gives errors in the conversation on social media (WhatsApp). The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. In this study, trying to find the type and triggers of presupposition. The language data (linguistic evidence) obtained is the result of screenshots and text transcription of data via WhatsApp by two people in the context of non-formal spaces. The results of the analysis in this study show that 1) speech utterances which are suspected of giving false statements in the conversation contain the type of factive, non-factive, existential, lexical, and structural presuppositions classified by Yule; 2) the presuppositions are triggered by definite descriptions,lexical item, wh-questions, temporal clauses, nonfactive predicates, and factive predicates; 3) sentences uttered by speakers are among those that have a double meaning (ambiguity); 4) and the presupposition analysis of these sayings in a forensic linguistic tends to violate the concept of projection questions and does not indicate the existence of a truth relation of giving a convention of truth value to a statement

The Emerging Reality of Social Media: Erosion of Individual Privacy Through Cyber-vetting and Law’s Inability to Catch Up, 12 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 551 (2013)

The rise of social media means that data about a large number of people is available in public and quasi-public digital locations. Employers, keen on taking advantage of this additional data to decrease the risk associated with an offer of employment, are engaging in “cyber-vetting”—non-consenting social media searches conducted by third parties or the employers themselves. To the extent that current law applies to this practice, the regulation it provides is weak and attacks only part of the problem. Left unchecked, cyber-vetting has the potential to fundamentally alter the scope of prospective employees’ rights. This article surveys the legal and practical implications of cyber-vetting and suggests broad reforms focused on intelligently balancing individual rights and legitimate employer interests

COVID, Creativity, and Connecting Through Change: Reviewing the Literature on How Art Therapy Can Help Children and Adolescents Cope with Pandemic-Related Grief

The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most significant global events in the past century, both resulting in massive casualties and significant mental health outcomes across the world. Some of the most impacted populations are children and adolescents whose lives have been interrupted during their formative years. The purpose of this literature review is to explore how art therapy has been used during the COVID-19 pandemic to address the grief experienced by children and adolescents through their losses of stability and peer support surrounded by uncertainty. This literature review seeks to understand exactly how the pandemic has affected the mental health of young people, the definition of grief beyond death, and what art therapy can do to begin healing from these losses. Findings of this review reveal that there is more research to be done on this specific subject, but the work of grief art therapy so far has laid a foundation for further exploration. Meaning construction theory paired with developmentally appropriate directives may be most effective with this population

2011 Libyan uprising and NATO intervention: A critical analysis

The study critically evaluated the impact of NATO’s military intervention in the 2011 Libyan uprising.Specifically, it was intended to protect innocent civilians by imposing a no-fly zone over Libya ordered by a United Nations Security Council Resolution: 1973 or it was carried out to further the global hegemonic interests of the US through NATO’s military might.The work utilised a theoretical framework of Collective Security, developed by A.F.K. Organski in 1958, and relied on documentary method of data collection and thematic analysis as its tool or yardstick for data analysis.It was found out that the enforcement of a no-fly zone over the Libyan airspace did not protect innocent civilians, but resulted in toppling of Muammar Gaddafi and his 42 year old regime (1st September, 1969-20th October, 2011), worsening insecurity, fragile and unstable government, proliferation of weapons in Libya and its neighbours, such as Mali and Egypt, Diplomatic failure, Loss of Libya’s internal and external sovereignty, aiding the rebels to victory over Gaddafi, decimation of the hitherto stable Libyan society and plunging it into utter anarchy, shattering of the Libyan economy and its endowed oil wealth.Therefore, this brings to the fore, the apparent need for a truly autonomous, robust and impartial Global Authority to check the excesses of the super-ordinate states, such as US, France, Britain and their allies so as to protect weaker states in the global system from the catastrophic drawbacks of an unnecessary military intervention, which has an ulterior imperialist motive.Libya is today a shadow of its former prosperous and stable self under Gaddafi and the hope of stability, peace and sustainable human development continues to fade

The Absurd beyond Modernism

While the absurd is usually associated with the modern subject, it is the purpose of this project to show how it is still relevant today. The concepts of end times, ecological disaster, and post-democracy are pressing concerns of the new millennium that emphasise the futility of being and a lack of political agency. Absurdity describes a similar condition, the feeling of purposelessness that results from the observation that life has no inherent meaning. A fundamentally modern condition of religious dispossession, this feeling is predominantly frustration, since it is impossible to determine the meaning of life through reason. In these cases, crisis seems unavoidable, insurmountable, and permanent, and these attitudes can be observed in works of art since modernism. The thesis aims to define the absurd by the special examination of works closely associated with the concept, which will allow the identification of a specific literary and artistic tradition originating in the nineteenth century and continuing to the present. This is achieved through the rigorous examination of works by Søren Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, Michel Houellebecq, and Bruce Nauman. Despite the fact that works reflecting the absurd respond to distinct historical conditions, they all express frustration at the limitations of human agency, and the incomprehensibility of life

A Sociocultural Analysis of Book-Length Works Mentioned in the English Journal, 2010-2020

Between 2010 and 2020, the book-length works mentioned in the English Journal were recorded in order to assess societal and professional trends reflected in the uptake of these books in pedagogical articles. The data shows a continued heavy presence of canonical literature, particularly Shakespearean plays, as well as an increase in diverse perspectives, a higher respect for new genres such as Young Adult Literature and the Graphic Novel in the classroom, and a pushback on two popular novels, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn