The Technological Expansion of Sociability: Virtual Communities as Imagined Communities

The reception of Benedict Anderson’s ideas was very fruitful in many disciplines, and his work provided key concepts that can now throw a clarifying light in some blurry matters. The expression “imagined community” has known a remarkable proliferation, a situation that led to both the formation of a research direction and to the perpetuation of a cliché. In this respect, my article pointed out some suggestive characteristics of virtual communities, explaining why the imagined community is a valuable subject for the theorists of new media. The impossibility to know in person all the members of a big community is just one factor that determines its imagined face. Moreover, the set of values and inner presuppositions that guide the members are important bricks in the construction of community. In my opinion, the virtual community is imagined as a multi-layered experience (technological, conversational, relational etc.). The dynamic of a virtual community contains the tension amongst these layers and the degree of its imagined side depends on multiple factors. In order to illustrate these aspects, I gave a brief example by analysing a Romanian virtual community, using the triad common language – temporality – high centers. In spite of its limitations, the perspectives offered by this concept are still useful for understanding the nature of online communities. Thus, the imagined community is a valuable set of beliefs and practices that underlie and bolster the effective meaning and functioning of the virtual communities

Academic Obsolescence – between Metaphor and Reality

Review to: Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy, New York and London: New York University Press, 201

The Technological Expansion of Sociability: Virtual Communities as Imagined Communities

Abstract The reception of Benedict Anderson's ideas was very fruitful in many disciplines, and his work provided key concepts that can now throw a clarifying light in some blurry matters. The expression "imagined community" has known a remarkable proliferation, a situation that led to both the formation of a research direction and to the perpetuation of a cliché. In this respect, my article pointed out some suggestive characteristics of virtual communities, explaining why the imagined community is a valuable subject for the theorists of new media. The impossibility to know in person all the members of a big community is just one factor that determines its imagined face. Moreover, the set of values and inner presuppositions that guide the members are important bricks in the construction of community. In my opinion, the virtual community is imagined as a multi-layered experience (technological, conversational, relational etc.). The dynamic of a virtual community contains the tension amongst these layers and the degree of its imagined side depends on multiple factors. In order to illustrate these aspects, I gave a brief example by analysing a Romanian virtual community, using the triad common language -temporality -high centers. In spite of its limitations, the perspectives offered by this concept are still useful for understanding the nature of online communities. Thus, the imagined community is a valuable set of beliefs and practices that underlie and bolster the effective meaning and functioning of the virtual communities

Numerical Experiment to Analyse the Reliability of Coarse Grid Based Numerical Methods for Modelling Groundwater Flow by Drainage Objects Like Wells in Confined Aquifer

AbstractAt the neighbourhood of several drainage objects types in shallow aquifer like fully penetrated wells, partially penetrated wells, well with laterals, horizontal drainages etc. groundwater flow forms contain frequently 2D/3D singular behaviours (e.g. logarithmical or polar singularities), which require special attention by coarse grid simulations Groundwater reservoir modelling. The first objective of the paper is to test the accuracy of Finite Volume Methods with specific reference to one of the most used standard reservoir modelling software in groundwater modelling PMWIN/MODFLOW (i.e. Processing MODFLOW for Window), Chiang (2001). The numerical experiment will be accomplished mainly for fully penetrating well (W) and partially penetrating well (ppW) using various discretization size.It will be shown that the standard Well Index method (Peaceman 1983), currently used by coarse grid simulations, allows the local correction in well blocks only for hydraulic head (or pressure) in the wellbore obtained by coarse grid simulation for imposed global discharge/recharge rate of the well. In the paper an extension of the WI based method will be proposed which allows also the well discharge rate correction by coarse grid modelling for imposed hydraulic head (imposed pressure) in the well. The proposed method is proved with several numerical simulation examples for fully wells and ppWells

THE METAPHOR OF “VOICE” IN COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION

This paper stresses some significant ways in which the voice appears in the new media studies. Whether as a dominant metaphor in the early stages of computer-mediated communication, whether in opposition with silence or listening, whether as an important component of the participatory culture, the voice remains a key concept and a helpful lens trough which the communicative, social, and cultural parts of the digital era are illuminated. In these processes, the “digital” voice is conceived as a powerful tool that can be easily heard and disseminated, in spite of the obvious limitation of its strengths or of its access. Thus, the rethinking of voice in contemporary frame brings at surface the issues of politics of voice and also ethical challenges

Social presence in online courses. Presuppositions, perspectives and interpretations of humor

This paper focuses on the ways in which social presence is realized in online learning, with a special attention on humor. The technological development brought with it many improvements and facilities in almost every area of human activities, but also produced many other losses. In the educational domain, computer-mediated communication came with the challenge to substitute or at least to complement face-to-face interaction with the online interactivity. In this context, the amplitude and the forms of classical teaching tools were constantly re-evaluated or redesigned. The place of spontaneity in the new educational context was discussed in deep and polarized ways. From the assessments such as the online is not the proper medium for humor to the opposite ideas, the entire area of theoretical positioning has been elaborated in the literature. The paper emphasises on some of the most important presuppositions, limitations, and benefits of these concepts applied to the online environment

Enhancing Sustainable Cosmetics Brand Purchase: A Comprehensive Approach Based on the SOR Model and the Triple Bottom Line

Profitable and dynamic, the cosmetics industry strives to conform to the environmental ideals and practices of the 21st century. For years, NGOs, the media, and consumers have accused cosmetics brands of pollution, environmental disasters, and safety concerns. These allegations can spread faster in the online environment and cause genuine brand crises. Many cosmetic company managers continue to assess the necessity of accelerating their business toward sustainability initiatives and being more consumer centric. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the impact of economic, social, and environmental sustainability on brand attachment and brand attractiveness, which may result in a positive WOM, enhance purchase intention, and finally lead to the intention to join online brand communities. To implement the research scope, the authors developed a conceptual model based on the triple bottom line (TBL) and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) approach. To assess the conceptual model, the authors have conducted quantitative research, through an online questionnaire, with data being collected from consumers via an online survey platform. The snowball sample comprised 1632 valid responses from consumers of sustainable cosmetics brands. Further on, the conceptual model was assessed employing structural equations modelling via SmartPLS. The results confirm the impact of the three pillars of TBL (i.e., economic, social, and environmental sustainability) (stimuli) on brand attachment and brand attractiveness (organism), which finally generates positive WOM, triggers purchase intention, and enhances consumers’ intention to join an online brand community (response). From a theoretical perspective, our research contributes to extending knowledge based on the SOR approach and TBL applied to sustainable cosmetics brands. Considering the significant effects of economic, social, and environmental sustainability on consumer perception and intention, the study also pinpoints some major management implications for the cosmetic industry

Enhancing Sustainable Cosmetics Brand Purchase: A Comprehensive Approach Based on the SOR Model and the Triple Bottom Line

Profitable and dynamic, the cosmetics industry strives to conform to the environmental ideals and practices of the 21st century. For years, NGOs, the media, and consumers have accused cosmetics brands of pollution, environmental disasters, and safety concerns. These allegations can spread faster in the online environment and cause genuine brand crises. Many cosmetic company managers continue to assess the necessity of accelerating their business toward sustainability initiatives and being more consumer centric. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the impact of economic, social, and environmental sustainability on brand attachment and brand attractiveness, which may result in a positive WOM, enhance purchase intention, and finally lead to the intention to join online brand communities. To implement the research scope, the authors developed a conceptual model based on the triple bottom line (TBL) and the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) approach. To assess the conceptual model, the authors have conducted quantitative research, through an online questionnaire, with data being collected from consumers via an online survey platform. The snowball sample comprised 1632 valid responses from consumers of sustainable cosmetics brands. Further on, the conceptual model was assessed employing structural equations modelling via SmartPLS. The results confirm the impact of the three pillars of TBL (i.e., economic, social, and environmental sustainability) (stimuli) on brand attachment and brand attractiveness (organism), which finally generates positive WOM, triggers purchase intention, and enhances consumers’ intention to join an online brand community (response). From a theoretical perspective, our research contributes to extending knowledge based on the SOR approach and TBL applied to sustainable cosmetics brands. Considering the significant effects of economic, social, and environmental sustainability on consumer perception and intention, the study also pinpoints some major management implications for the cosmetic industry

À la recherche des haïdouks. Annoter les entités spatiales dans des romans roumains du xixe siècle

This paper presents the annotation of spatial entities in a corpus of Romanian novels written mainly in the 19th century and featuring as their main character a figure very well-known in the Balkans, the Hajduk outlaw. Because of their nomadic lifestyle, Hajduks were experiencing a unique relation to space, which was very different from that of the majority of Romanians, who lived in villages at the time. To verify if this different vision reverberates in novels, the aim was to collect all nominal and adverbial phrases referring to space, thus going largely beyond toponyms, that are usually marked-up and examined in digital humanities and natural language processing projects. After a presentation of the main differences between our approach and those prevailing in older or more recent studies in spatial literary analyses, we focus on the elaboration of the annotation scheme and comment upon the results of the inter-annotator agreement, as measured on a set of ten fully-annotated samples, of a thousand words each, from our novels

Milk Protein Polymorphism Characterization: a Modern Tool for Sustainable Conservation of Endangered Romanian Cattle Breeds in the Context of Traditional Breeding

The paper aims to review literature data with respect to Romanian native cattle breeds which are considered at risk of extinction. In the last decades, the number of individuals of Romanian indigenous cows decreased significantly, as a consequence of the intensification and specialization of animal productions and agriculture modernization. Some of the native cattle breeds are already lost, due to their crossing with improved breeds. However, after the accession of Romania to the European Union, various preservation programs were initiated, and most of them included biochemical research and studies of molecular or quantitative genetics. All these, associated with the application of reproduction biotechnologies, give a chance to these animals, which are extremely valuable in terms of their genetic resistance to diseases and environmental factors. The reviewed literature on Romanian indigenous endangered cattle breeds confirms that these animals are carriers of a valuable gene pool, which can be kept and bred while applying different reproductive biotechnologies. Consequently, this paper raises awareness on two issues: the decrease of genetic diversity in two Romanian native cow breeds threatened with extinction (Grey Steppe and Romanian Pinzgauer); and the benefits of genetic diversity of the two breeds