The Use of Internet and Social Networks During covid-19 in Greece

Human civilization has been transformed dramatically due to the increase of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The new digital era, and more particularly the digitization of information has contributed to many changes in all areas of life. More specifically the social relations among people developed new social and cultural structures. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic forced humanity to adopt digital technologies in most aspects of economic and social life. Internet, telework, remote work, and distance learning are now part of everyday life in society, and users of online social networks have increased dramatically in comparison with those of recent decades around the world. On the other hand, the situation that human experience due to the pandemic produced by COVID-19 disease may have increased the negative effects of excessive use of social networks. This study aims to explore the attitudes of Greek citizens toward the use of the Internet and social media before and during the pandemic. A primary survey on random 525 Greek citizens was conducted from September–November 2021. Principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to identify the main attitudes of Greek citizens toward the use of social media during COVID-19 era. Therefore, two main attitudes were derived from PCA: (a) use of social media to be informed, and (b) use of social media for entertainment. Cluster analysis was performed to classify those citizens into groups according to their attitudes toward the use of social networks during COVID-19 period. It identified three groups of citizens: (a) those who are indifferent to the use of social networks (b) those who use social networks mainly to be informed, and (c) those who use social networks only for entertainment. Following that, a Friedman nonparametric test was performed to determine the primary reasons why Greek citizens use the Internet and social networks prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonparametric tests, including the Chi-square and Friedman nonparametric tests were performed to develop the profile of each of the identified groups of citizens toward the main reasons they use the Internet and social networks, for what purposes, and their demographic characteristics. Keywords: social networks, Internet, COVID-1

Exploring Individuals’ Loyalty To Online Support Groups From the Perspective Of Social Support

Prior research indicates that social support allows individuals to have additional skills to handle stresses, enhance self-esteem, and increase psychological well-being. Online social networks have become an emerging and important source of social support. However, little research has been done to explore how IT usage may improve the well-being and life quality of individuals, especially patients. Little research has been done to empirically examine individuals’ loyalty toward online social groups from the perspective of social support. This study aims to develop an integrated research model to the impact of online social support on psychological well-being and group identification, and individuals’ subsequent loyalty toward online social groups. Online social support group was operationalized as a second-order construct with four components: informational, emotional, esteem, and network supports. Data collected from 537 users of online support groups for mothers in Taiwan provide strong support for the research model. The results indicate that online social support is positively associated with psychological well-being and group identification, which in turn have a positive effect on moms’ loyalty toward online social groups. Implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are provided

From life cycle talking to taking action

Introduction - The biannual Life Cycle Management conference series aims to create a platform for users and developers of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and related tools to share their experiences. A key concern of the LCM community has been to move beyond the production of LCA reports toward using the developed knowledge. This paper reports and evaluates some of the main outcomes of the 4th International Life Cycle Management Conference (LCM 2009). Results - Conference focus: While the focus of the conference was LCM, LCA remains a main analytical tool for supporting LCM. This is clearly shown by the overall program in which roughly half of the contributions focused on or used LCA. Some products and resources and environmental themes were markedly represented in the presentation subjects. Conference participation: The 180 delegates included 40 South Africans, 20 from other African countries, and 140 from as far afield as Brazil, Sweden, Japan, and Australia. The surveyable number of delegates and conference rooms, in combination with the well-balanced scientific and social program, facilitated optimal professional exchange and discussion. Conference structure: LCM 2009 featured some 140 contributions from 47 leading environmental practitioners, consultants, and academic researchers. The interactive conference format included three plenary sessions and training workshops. Conclusions - LCM 2009 successfully engaged with the critical questions of what it means to manage (not merely shift) the environmental and social impacts of global economic activity, what this entails for industry and public services in emerging economies, and how supply chains, networks, and partnerships can be stimulated and managed to deliver truly sustainable practic

Artists and Their Social Networks, Metropolitan Philadelphia, 2004

This paper reports the rationale, methodology, and findings of SIAP\u27s Philadelphia Area Artists Survey 2004. SIAP undertook the survey as a first step toward the documentation and understanding of the region’s artists and their social networks. The study had four objectives: to address a gap in the literature by doing an empirical study of the social networks of artists; to document the informal dimensions of artists’ networking in metropolitan Philadelphia; to test methodologies to identify the universe of artists in the region and analyze their network strategies; and, finally, to advance SIAP’s understanding of the role of the artist in the contemporary city. The report documents two types of networking activity: networks that are part of everyday professional life, including nuts and bolts as well as inspiration for the creative process; and networks to get work, that is, projects or positions (over a 12-month period) that tap their capacity as an artist. The picture of social networks presented in this paper differs from the image based on the organization-centered perspective that has dominated policy research. An artist-centered view redraws boundaries of the cultural sector and recasts definitions of informal vs. formal and internal vs. external networks. The findings begin to address the empirical shortfall in research and offer new perspectives on the nature and function of artists’ social networks

Social Studies Teachers Who Teach Toward Social Justice: An Examination of Life Histories

This dissertation reports on a qualitative investigation of two research questions: What experiences lead secondary social studies teachers to become passionate and committed to teaching toward social justice? How do these teachers conceptualize and practice teaching toward social justice in the social studies? The study, which employed a life history design informed by a sociocultural approach, examined data from interviews with thirteen secondary social studies teachers whose practice emphasized social justice concepts. Data were interpreted using both narrative analysis and inductive content analysis. A variety of life experiences such as family, schooling, oppression, spirituality, friendships, teaching experience, work experience, community, and media influenced the development of a social justice identity. These experiences shaped the participants’ trajectories of identification, particularly in their childhood and adolescence, by either aligning them along a path that valued social justice and/or by promoting resistance to unjust practices that deepened their commitment to social justice. Participants also discussed how they addressed issues of social justice in their practice using techniques that reflected the ideas of critical pedagogy, multicultural education, and democratic citizenship education. The study implies that a greater commitment to social justice practice in the social studies may be facilitated by 1) increasing programming and curriculum in teacher training institutions that address both social justice theory and practice, and 2) developing networks of secondary social studies teachers that support critical reflection and exchange of ideas that promote social justice within both classrooms and schools

The Use of Social Media and Digital Devices Among Italian Neurologists

Background: Digital devices and online social networks are changing clinical practice. In this study, we explored attitudes, awareness, opinions, and experiences of neurologists toward social media and digital devices. Methods: Each member of the Italian Society of Neurology (SIN) participated in an online survey (January to May 2018) to collect information on their attitude toward digital health. Results: Four hundred and five neurologists participated in the study. At work, 95% of responders use the personal computer, 87% the smartphone, and 43.5% the tablet. These devices are used to obtain health information (91%), maintain contact with colleagues (71%), provide clinical information (59%), and receive updates (67%). Most participants (56%) use social media to communicate with patients, although 65% are against a friendship with them on social media. Most participants interact with patients on social media outside working hours (65.2%) and think that social media have improved (38.0%) or greatly improved (25.4%) the relationship with patients. Most responders (66.7%) have no wearable devices available in clinical practice. Conclusion: Italian neurologists have different practices and views regarding the doctor–patient relationship in social media. The availability of digital devices in daily practice is limited. The use of social networks and digital devices will increasingly permeate into everyday life, bringing a new dimension to health care. The danger is that advancement will not go hand in hand with a legal and cultural adaptation, thus creating ambiguity and risks for clinicians and patients. Neurologists will need to be able to face the opportunities and challenges of this new scenario

Estimating time-varying networks

Stochastic networks are a plausible representation of the relational information among entities in dynamic systems such as living cells or social communities. While there is a rich literature in estimating a static or temporally invariant network from observation data, little has been done toward estimating time-varying networks from time series of entity attributes. In this paper we present two new machine learning methods for estimating time-varying networks, which both build on a temporally smoothed $l_1$-regularized logistic regression formalism that can be cast as a standard convex-optimization problem and solved efficiently using generic solvers scalable to large networks. We report promising results on recovering simulated time-varying networks. For real data sets, we reverse engineer the latent sequence of temporally rewiring political networks between Senators from the US Senate voting records and the latent evolving regulatory networks underlying 588 genes across the life cycle of Drosophila melanogaster from the microarray time course.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-AOAS308 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Social Tie Strength and Online Victimization : An Analysis of Young People Aged 15-30 Years in Four Nations

Online interaction through the use of social networking sites (SNS) continues to be a significant component of the socialization of young people today, yet little research exists toward linking various relational forms to prevalent and much-studied online risks cross-nationally. This article provides a link between relational dynamics and online risks identified in previous research toward a new perspective on how social tie strength is related to experiences of hate victimization and harassment online. The analysis is based on survey data of Finnish (n = 555), American (n = 1033), German (n = 978), and British (n = 999) young people aged 15-30 years. Variables, including age, gender, main activity, SNS use, quantity, and extent of online and offline social networks including social tie strength and online community identification, were analyzed toward finding their associations with online hate victimization and harassment. Results showed that experiences of hate victimization and harassment were similar cross-nationally and that those who were personally harassed online also reported high SNS activity. Furthermore, no association was found between social network size and negative experiences. Notable cross-national differences were also detected in the results. Findings emphasize the importance of understanding variables fostering online risks for young people while providing a new perspective on what aspects of social life may help negate negative effects online.Peer reviewe

Online Safety Nets: How Perceived Isolation Motivates Network Closure.

The feeling of being alone – and drive to vanquish that feeling – represents a common interest among theorists in communication, psychology, and sociology. Despite extensive literatures on isolation, exclusion, rejection, and loneliness, less is known about how these feelings reverberate through personal networks. Concurrently, the ascent of mobile and social technologies has generated a range of communicative possibilities that complicate our understanding of how people respond to moments of social isolation. Indeed, evolving network theories suggest that these media affordances have the potential to steer communication toward certain people and away from others. In this dissertation, I attempt to interlace this dual theoretical backdrop, integrating classic theories on the experience of social isolation with recent theories on the social implications of online affordances. I argue that perceived isolation is likely to drive people toward network closure, or what Kadushin (2012) refers to as “network safety”. I also argue that this thrust is more likely to occur in online networks that are defined by availability and awareness, such as Facebook. In order to substantiate these claims, this dissertation encompasses studies measuring online network outcomes in combination with three different versions of perceived isolation: induced exclusion (Study 1), exclusion reactivity (Study 2), and rejection sensitivity (Study 3). Altogether, the combined results indicate that feelings of isolation can shift social attention and preference toward trusted ties and core circles. Over time, these patterns suggest that people who experience more frequent and intense feelings of isolation may choose to fortify close relationships and closed communities, rather than embrace weak ties and open networks. To conclude, I contextualize the findings within other models of perceived isolation, and propose an extra component for the observed network dynamics. Expanding on this phenomenon, I theorize how certain cognitive states may operate as network switches, changing personal network motivations in a dynamic manner. With the emergence of increased availability and awareness, individuals have increased capacity to choose, and thus shift, their personal network patterns during daily life. Consequently, I call for new research on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie social network motivations, perceptions, and choices.PhDCommunication StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/133276/1/joebayer_1.pd

"The global telecommunications infrastructure: European Community (Union) telecommunications developments"

[From the Introduction]. Information, electronics, and telecommunication technologies promise to create communications networks of greatly expanded capacity capable of moving messages across interconnected wired and wireless systems almost anywhere in the world. Such global systems will profoundly affect the economic and social life of all countries. For those countries and economic sectors with a history of significant involvement in electronics, computers, multimedia, and telecommunications, early and timely deployment of state-of-the-art infrastructure may be a matter of prime importance. Many individual countries have made or are making changes intended to accelerate movement toward an information society, in large part because they recognize that a strategic competitive edge in the world economy will likely depend increasingly upon the availability, use, and exploitation of information. A major participant in the information race is the European Union (EU), formerly the European Community. The Commission of the European Union (Commission) has launched a strong push to adopt a common strategy for the creation of a European information society driven by a European information infrastructure. This strategy is aimed at bridging individual initiatives being pursued by EU Member States. [1. Member States now in the Union include the following: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom, Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the Union on January 1, 1995.1