"It All Ended in an Unsporting Way": Serbian Football and the Disintegration of Yugoslavia, 1989-2006

Part of a wider examination into football during the collapse of Eastern European Communism between 1989 and 1991, this article studies the interplay between Serbian football and politics during the period of Yugoslavia's demise. Research utilizing interviews with individuals directly involved in the Serbian game, in conjunction with contemporary Yugoslav media sources, indicates that football played an important proactive role in the revival of Serbian nationalism. At the same time the Yugoslav conflict, twinned with a complex transition to a market economy, had disastrous consequences for football throughout the territories of the former Yugoslavia. In the years following the hostilities the Serbian game has suffered decline, major financial hardship and continuing terrace violence, resulting in widespread nostalgia for the pre-conflict era

Long-distance attachments and implications for tourism development: the case of the Western Ukrainian diaspora

This study analyzes the perspectives of roots tourism through the experiences of Western Ukrainian diaspora members. Their sense of attachment to the ancestral homeland and their visits to the places of origin are investigated, together with the views by tour operators specialized in roots tourism and public authorities dealing with tourism in the region, evaluating the actual or potential impact in terms of tourism development opportunities. The peculiar history of this territory makes it a distinct research target, with dynamics that are different from the rest of the country. The desire to turn Western Ukraine into a solid tourist destination and the aim of stimulating economic development in a region that is still struggling to re-emerge from its marginality are widespread and form a fertile basis for the growth of diaspora tourism as a solid asset. Lights and shadows emerge from the diaspora tourists’ experiences and perceptions. Specialized tour operators clearly see the enhancement of this form of tourism as an important business opportunity, while public authorities are not currently focusing on this segment, preferring general tourism promotion

Recovering critique in an age of datafication

This article starts out from the need for critical work on processes of datafication and their consequences for the constitution of social knowledge and the social world. Current social science work on datafication has been greatly shaped by the theoretical approach of Bruno Latour, as reflected in the work of Actor Network Theory and Science and Technology Studies (ANT/STS). The article asks whether this approach, given its philosophical underpinnings, provides sufficient resources for the critical work that is required in relation to datafication. Drawing on Latour’s own reflections about the flatness of the social, it concludes that it does not, since key questions, in particular about the nature of social order cannot be asked or answered within ANT. In the article’s final section, three approaches from earlier social theory are considered as possible supplements to ANT/STS for a social science serious about addressing the challenges that datafication poses for society

Television device ecologies, prominence and datafication: the neglected importance of the set-top box

A key element of the infrastructure of television now consists of various Internet-connected devices, which play an increasingly important role in the distribution, selection and recommendation of content to users. The aim of this article is to locate the emergence of streaming devices within a longer timeframe of television hardware devices and infrastructures, by focusing on the evolution of one crucial category of such devices, television set-top boxes (STBs). STBs are a taken-for-granted part of many people’s homes across the world, and their global presence and importance are still growing. However, they (and television hardware devices more generally) have been very rarely analysed in television and media studies. To address this lacuna, we trace the development of STBs, delineate changing patterns of ownership and control in STB markets and outline the diverse forms and functions of STBs. We then show how analysis of STBs enriches understanding of two key recent developments in television: increasing battles over prominence and discoverability in a newly abundant video landscape and the collection, analysis and exchange of viewer data by businesses. In doing so, the article shows the importance of television hardware in shaping television as a social and cultural institution

Seven HCI Grand Challenges

This article aims to investigate the Grand Challenges which arise in the current and emerging landscape of rapid technological evolution towards more intelligent interactive technologies, coupled with increased and widened societal needs, as well as individual and collective expectations that HCI, as a discipline, is called upon to address. A perspective oriented to humane and social values is adopted, formulating the challenges in terms of the impact of emerging intelligent interactive technologies on human life both at the individual and societal levels. Seven Grand Challenges are identified and presented in this article: Human-Technology Symbiosis; Human-Environment Interactions; Ethics, Privacy and Security; Well-being, Health and Eudaimonia; Accessibility and Universal Access; Learning and Creativity; and Social Organization and Democracy. Although not exhaustive, they summarize the views and research priorities of an international interdisciplinary group of experts, reflecting different scientific perspectives, methodological approaches and application domains. Each identified Grand Challenge is analyzed in terms of: concept and problem definition; main research issues involved and state of the art; and associated emerging requirements

Prevalence of and factors associated with homebound status among adults in urban and rural Spanish populations

BACKGROUND: There is a marked growth in the number of homebound older adults, due mainly to increased life expectancy. Although this group has special characteristics and needs, it has not been properly studied. This study thus aimed to measure the prevalence of homebound status in a community-dwelling population, and its association with both socio-demographic, medical and functional characteristics and the use of health care and social services. METHODS: We used instruments coming under the WHO International Classification of Functioning (ICF) framework to carry out a cross-sectional study on populations aged 50 years and over in the province of Zaragoza (Spain), covering a total of 1622 participants. Persons who reported severe or extreme difficulty in getting out of the house in the last 30 days were deemed to be homebound. We studied associations between homebound status and several relevant variables in a group of 790 subjects who tested positive to the WHODAS-12 disability screening tool. RESULTS: Prevalence of homebound status was 9.8 % (95 % CI: 8.4 to 11.3 %). Homebound participants tended to be older, female and display a lower educational level, a higher number of diseases, poorer cognition and a higher degree of disability. In fully adjusted models including disability as measured with the ICF-Checklist, the associated variables (odds ratios and [95 % confidence intervals]) were: female gender (3.75 [2.10–6.68]); urban population (2.36 [1.30–4.29]); WHODAS-12 disability (6.27 [2.56–15.40]); depressive symptoms (2.95 [1.86–4.68]); moderate pain (2.37 [1.30–4.31] and severe pain (3.03 [1.31–7.01]), as compared to the group with no/mild pain; hospital admissions in the previous 3 months (2.98 [1.25–7.11]); and diabetes (1.87 [1.03–3.41]). Adjustment for ICF-Checklist disability had a notable impact on most associations. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that homebound status is a common problem in our setting, and that being disabled is its main determinant. Socio-demographic characteristics, barriers and chronic diseases can also be assumed to be playing a role in the onset of this condition, indicating the need for further research, including longitudinal studies on its incidence and associated factors