4,268 research outputs found
When algorithms shape collective action: Social media and the dynamics of cloud protesting
How does the algorithmically mediated environment of social media restructure social action? This article combines social movement studies and science and technology studies to explore the role of social media in the organization, unfolding, and diffusion of contemporary protests. In particular, it examines how activists leverage the technical properties of social media to develop a joint narrative and a collective identity. To this end, it offers the notion of cloud protesting as a theoretical approach and framework for empirical analysis. Cloud protesting indicates a specific type of mobilization that is grounded on, modeled around, and enabled by social media platforms and mobile devices and the virtual universes they identify. The notion emphasizes both the productive mediation of social and mobile media and the importance of activistsâ sense-making activities. It also acknowledges that social media set in motion a process that is sociotechnical in nature rather than merely sociological or communicative, and thus can be understood only by intersecting the material and the symbolic dimensions of contemporary digitally mediated collective action. The article shows how the specific materiality of social media intervenes in the actorsâ meaning work by fostering four mechanismsânamely performance, interpellation, temporality, and reproducibilityâwhich concur to create a "politics of visibility" that alters traditional identity dynamics. In addition, it exposes the connection between organizational patterns and the role of individuals, explaining how the politics of visibility is the result of a process that originates and ends within the individualâwhich ultimately creates individuals-in-the-group rather than groups
On a diffuse interface model for tumour growth with non-local interactions and degenerate mobilities
We study a non-local variant of a diffuse interface model proposed by
Hawkins--Darrud et al. (2012) for tumour growth in the presence of a chemical
species acting as nutrient. The system consists of a Cahn--Hilliard equation
coupled to a reaction-diffusion equation. For non-degenerate mobilities and
smooth potentials, we derive well-posedness results, which are the non-local
analogue of those obtained in Frigeri et al. (European J. Appl. Math. 2015).
Furthermore, we establish existence of weak solutions for the case of
degenerate mobilities and singular potentials, which serves to confine the
order parameter to its physically relevant interval. Due to the non-local
nature of the equations, under additional assumptions continuous dependence on
initial data can also be shown.Comment: 28 page
Counter-hegemonic networks and the transformation of global climate politics: rethinking movement-state relations
Generation of 10-m-lengthscale plasma columns by resonant and off-resonant laser pulses
Creating extended, highly homogeneous plasma columns like that required by
plasma wakefield accelerators can be a challenge. We study the propagation of
ultra-short, TW power ionizing laser pulses in a 10-meter-long rubidium vapor
and the plasma columns they create. We perform experiments and numerical
simulations for pulses with 780 nm central wavelength, which is resonant with
the D transition from the ground state of rubidium atoms, as well as for
pulses with 810 nm central wavelength, some distance from resonances. We
measure transmitted energy and transverse width of the pulse and use schlieren
imaging to probe the plasma column in the vapor close to the end of the vapor
source. We find, that resonant pulses are more confined in a transverse
direction by the interaction than off-resonant pulses are and that the plasma
channels they create are more sharply bounded. Off-resonant pulses leave a
wider layer of partially ionized atoms and thus lose more energy per unit
propagation distance. Using experimental data, we estimate the energy required
to generate a 20-meter-long plasma column and conclude that resonant pulses are
much more suitable for creating a long, homogeneous plasma.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure
Genome-wide analysis of copy number changes and loss of heterozygosity in myelodysplastic syndrome with del(5q) using high-density single nucleotide polymorphism arrays
It's a Long Way to Auchterarder! âNegotiated Managementâ and Mismanagement in the Policing of G8 Protests
Trouble at the top: The construction of a tenant identity in the governance of social housing organizations
The project of citizen governance has transformed the social housing sector in England where 20,000 tenants now sit as directors on the boards of housing associations, but the entrance of social housing tenants to the boardroom has aroused opposition from the chief executives of housing companies and triggered regulatory intervention from government inspectors. This paper investigates the cause of these tensions through a theoretical framework drawn from the work of feminist philosopher Judith Butler. It interprets housing governance as an identificatory project with the power to constitute tenant directors as regulated subjects, and presents evidence to suggest that this project of identity fails to completely enclose its subject, allowing tenant directors to engage in âidentity workâ that threatens the supposed unity of the board. The paper charts the development of antagonism and political tension in the board rooms of housing companies to present an innovative account of the construction and contestation of identities in housing governance
The democratic interface: technology, political organization, and diverging patterns of electoral representation
Democracies are experiencing historic disruptions affecting how people engage with core institutions such as the press, civil society organizations, parties, and elections. These processes of citizen interaction with institutions operate as a democratic interface shaping self-government and the quality of public life. The electoral dimension of the interface is important, as its operation can affect all others. This analysis explores a growing left-right imbalance in the electoral connection between citizens, parties, elections, and government. This imbalance is due, in part, to divergent left-right preferences for political engagement, organization, and communication. Support on the right for clearer social rules and simpler moral, racial and nationalist agendas are compatible with hierarchical, leader-centered party organizations that compete more effectively in elections. Parties on the left currently face greater challenges engaging citizens due to the popular meta-ideology of diversity and inclusiveness and demands for direct or deliberative democracy. What we term connective parties are developing technologies to perform core organizational functions, and some have achieved electoral success. However, when connective parties on the left try to develop shared authority processes, online and offline, they face significant challenges competing with more conventionally organized parties on the right
Transnational social capital: the socioâspatialities of civil society
Civil society remains a contested concept, but one that is widely embedded in global development processes. Transnationalism within civil society scholarship is often described dichotomously, either through hierarchical dependency relations or as a more amorphous networked global civil society. These two contrasting spatial imaginaries produce very particular ideas about how transnational relations contribute to civil society. Drawing on empirical material from research with civil society organizations in Barbados and Grenada, in this article I contend that civil society groups use forms of transnational social capital in their work. This does not, however, resonate with the horizontal relations associated with grassroots globalization or vertical chains of dependence. These social relations are imbued with power and agency and are entangled in situated historical, geographical and personal contexts. I conclude that the diverse transnational social relations that are part of civil society activity offer hope and possibilities for continued civil society action in these unexpected spatial arrangements
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