Source Criticism of Data Platform Logics on the Internet

Source criticism is an epistemological practice in social and cultural studies that is crucial for specifying the range and scope of the findings, or in other words their validity and reliability. In the context of big data, source criticism is not yet established in the fashion as it is known in other areas of social and cultural research. Currently emerging discussions in historical research emphasize the relevance of source criticism of digital objects or data. In the context of these discussions, this contribution suggests exploring the potentials of source criticism for platform logics. We focus on big data sourced from the internet. Nevertheless our results aim to be transferrable to other sources of big data. The inclusion of source criticism into big data analysis may in turn foster the integration of data-driven analyses into social and cultural studies research approaches. For an integration of source criticism, the paper proposes source critical analyses of information systems, in particular internet platforms, in big data analysis with regard to a) types of big data platforms, b) researchers as data makers, and c) mixed realities of platform usage practices. In analogy to source repertoires (Quellentypen) it suggests to classify internet platforms as providers of particular types of big data sources depending on their infrastructural materiality and ontologies for tracing the key issues of (external) source criticism: provenance, authenticity, and integrity

Northern and Arctic Security and Sovereignty: Challenges and Opportunities for a Northern Corridor

Key Messages Key issues related to Canada’s security and defence agenda, which involve critical and essential infrastructure development, must be considered in the development and implementation of a Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC). Canada’s northern and Arctic security and defence agenda is related to several key policy domains that are relevant from a CNC perspective. These include infrastructure development, climate change, Indigenous sovereignty and natural resource development. A CNC will gain international attention and be internationally recognized as a strategy for Canada to assert its sovereignty over its Arctic territory, including the internationally disputed Northwest Passage. The CNC advocates for the inclusion and participation of Indigenous communities. Thus, Indigenous Peoples will also carry a significant role in the monitoring and surveillance of accessibility within and to the North, improved through enhanced infrastructure development. Canada’s investments in Arctic defence infrastructure are modest comparedto those of its Russian and American neighbours. A CNC, potentially adding strategically important infrastructure in the Canadian North, will directly tie into the discourse of Arctic security and power relations. In addition to natural disasters, the Canadian North is at significant risk of human-made disasters that pose serious prospective challenges for northerners and for federal and territorial governments. The CNC will likely foster the development of surveillance and monitoring assets. The CNC rights-of-way could trigger security concerns regarding the impactof foreign investment as a security threat, especially if natural resource development is coupled with the development of strategic transportation hubs, such as ports along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. CNC transportation infrastructure would also become a part of Canada’s defence strategy as it forms a potential key asset in the defence and safeguarding of Canada’s northern and Arctic regions. Future research should identify the role of dual-use infrastructure (infrastructure that satisfies both military and civilian purposes) in the CNC context and also examine to what extent security and defence stakeholders should be involved in the CNC’s planning and implementation

Modeling local growth control decisions in a multi-city case: Do spatial interactions and lobbying efforts matter?

JEL Classification R52, C31, D7, H7International audienceOur article analyzes the determinants of local growth control decisions, which are modeled as the result of a political struggle between different groups of voters and organized lobbies. We show that under specific hypotheses, a higher homeownership rate can induce lower levels of controls. Considering residential choices as endogenous to growth control policies, the local decisions to control growth become strategically interdependent. Assuming imperfect mobility, we show that a spatial econometric specification can be directly derived from our theoretical model. Our empirical analysis concerning the determinants of the “taxe locale d’équipement”, a French local development tax, is thus naturally based on spatial econometrics. Its results confirm the major predictions of our model

Creating Spaces – Producing Meanings : Verhandlungen von Raum und Öffentlichkeiten durch Kunstprojekte in Rumänien

Die Ethnographie basiert auf der Annahme, dass Kunstakteur_innen in Umbruchszeiten wesentliches Potenzial freisetzen können, um gesellschaftliche Prozesse mitzugestalten. Indem sie künstlerische und soziale Entwürfe formulieren, sind sie am Entwickeln von Strukturen und Debatten beteiligt. An Hand zweier Initiativen in Rumänien, der Künstlerinnengruppe h.arta und dem Kunstprojekt The KNOT, untersucht die Arbeit, wie diese Räume und Öffentlichkeiten herstellen. Dazu wird nach den Verständnissen der Akteur_innen von Öffentlichkeiten-Schaffen als politischem Handeln gefragt und nach ihren künstlerischen Praktiken und Strategien. Des Weiteren wird erörtert, inwiefern ihre Erfahrungen mit Transformation und prekären Bedingungen dabei von Bedeutung sind und welche Narrative hinsichtlich symbolischer Zuschreibungen ehemals sozialistischer Kontexte sichtbar werden. Die Arbeit verortet sich in der politischen Anthropologie. Sie verknüpft die Forschungsfelder „Kunst als soziales/politisches Handlungsfeld“ und „Transformation/Europäisierung“ und untersucht sie als eine „Formation des Politischen“ (Adam/Vonderau 2014). Dazu macht sie ein plurales Öffentlichkeitskonzept sowie feministische Perspektiven auf das Kunstfeld stark. Mit einem post-Kalter-Krieg-Ansatz erörtert sie zudem die Verflechtungen postsozialistischer und postkolonialer Prozesse. Abschließend werden die Praxen der Kunstakteur_innen aus einer dezentrierenden Perspektive auf Europäisierung analysiert. Dazu folgt die Arbeit Ansätzen, Europa von seinen „Rändern“ her zu denken und es somit zu dezentrieren und bezieht diese auf das lokale Kunstproduzieren im europäischen Kontext. Es wird gezeigt, wie die rumänischen Kunstakteur_innen, exemplarisch für die „Ränder“ (EU)Europas, aus ihrer oft prekären Situation heraus Räume der Selbstermächtigung schaffen. Diese sind in sich brüchig tragen jedoch zur Imagination und Dezentrierung eines europäischen Kunstfeldes bei und zeigen Alternativen zum neoliberalen EU-Europa auf.The ethnography is based on the assumption that artists can unleash a substantial potential to contribute to social processes in times of upheaval. By formulating artistic and social conceptions, they participate in the development of structures and debates. This dissertation investigates how two Romanian initiatives, the artist group h.arta and the art project The KNOT, create publics and spaces respectively public space. It portrays the artists’ understandings of “creation of public as a political act” and analyzes their practices and strategies. Further, it examines the significance of the artists’ personal experiences with transformation and precarious conditions, and analyzes the narratives governing the ascription of symbolism to formerly socialist contexts. The dissertation is located in the field of political anthropology. It combines the research areas “Art as a Social/Political Field of Action” and “Transformation/Europeanization”, and investigates them as a “Formation of the Political” (Adam/Vonderau 2014). It thereby advocates a concept of plural publicities and feminist perspectives on art. Moreover, it explores the entanglement of post-socialist and postcolonial processes by adapting a post-Cold War approach. Finally, the dissertation examines the artists’ practices from a decentering perspective on Europeanization. It thus applies approaches, which understand Europe from its “margins”, to the local production of art in the European context. As a result, the dissertation illustrates how these Romanian artists, generic for the “margins” of (EU-)Europe, create spaces of self-empowerment out of their frequently precarious situations. Although fragile, these spaces contribute to the imagination and decentering of the European field of art and offer alternatives to neoliberal EU-Europe

Differentiating the Canadian North for Coherent Infrastructure Development

Canada’s northern and Arctic environment poses significant challenges for infrastructure development. The region is characterized by unique ecosystems, extreme climatic conditions and a sparse population, which are factors that have inhibited infrastructure development in the past. Nevertheless, various practitioners, academics and northerners have emphasized the need for reliable and safe connections between north and south and within the North. The lack of infrastructure is a major impediment to the well-being of northerners who lack access to essential services, such as clean drinking water (Patrick 2011) or safe and reliable roadways. Infrastructure Canada (2018) noted that the current southern-based “one-size fits all” northern infrastructure approach is inefficient because northern conditions and challenges often do not respond to policies that are conceived in the south. Currently, infrastructure projects are often conducted on a one-off basis without establishing broader connections in the northern region. Thus, this paper draws on the Canadian Northern Corridor (CNC) concept (Fellows et al. 2020) as a solution to deliver much- needed infrastructure to northern communities. At the same time, this paper cautions that it is critical to recognize the diversity of the Canadian North and it is vital to consider northern Indigenous practices that can inform infrastructure development for a CNC. This paper offers a discussion of Canada’s northern diversity by exploring the relevance of Hamelin’s nordicity index (1979) as a policy tool to better understand and respond to the distinct challenges and opportunities across the Canadian North and Arctic. Although the CNC concept reflects a pan-Canadian approach, it strongly advocates for the recognition, participation and inclusion of all northern stake- and rights-holders to inform future infrastructure development and to avoid past mistakes. The CNC could thus offer a coherent northern infrastructure framework that addresses the shortcomings of made-in-Ottawa policies for the Canadian North and Arctic

Embodiment und die Prinzipien des Lernens

Diese Arbeit analysiert die Prinzipien des Lernens aus der Perspektive der Embodiment Theorie und stellt diese in Verbindung zur Montessori Methode. Hierbei wird gezeigt, dass auf Grundlage des „Symbol Grounding Problems“ „Wissen“ oder „Verstehen“ nur durch die Interaktion des Individuums mit seiner Umwelt entstehen kann. Der Prozess des Verstehens und das daraus resultierende Wissen sind die Kernprozesse, die beim Lernen erfasst werden müssen. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass die Montessori Methode als eine praktische Anwendung der Embodiment Theorie gesehen werden kann. Ziel der Montessori Methode ist die Förderung kindlicher Unabhängigkeit und Selbstständigkeit durch Selbsttätigkeit. Bei der Einbettung der Montessori Methode in die Embodiment Theorie wird untersucht, wie das Wissen im Schüler gegroundet wird. Durch die vorbereitete Umgebung, der Schulung der Sinne und der gezielten Förderung beim Spracherwerb erlangt das Kind Kompetenzen und Werkzeuge mit deren Hilfe es abstrakte Inhalte erfassen und verstehen kann. Montessori arbeitet dabei mit den Prinzipien des selbstregulierten Lernens, welches heute als Grundlage für Lebenslanges Lernen gilt. Im dritten Teil wird genauer auf die Bedeutung des Lebenslangen Lernens eingegangen und gezeigt, welche Bedeutung die Montessori Methode in der aktuellen Diskussion um Motivation und Schulreformen hat. Am Ende wird auf die Problematik der sogenannten “Neurodidaktik” eingegangen, wobei die Grenzen “gehirnbasierten” Lernens aufgezeigt werden. Hierbei zeigt das Supervenienz Modell nach Ralph Schumacher die Problematik verschiedener Erklärungsebenen. Anhand dessen wird aufgezeigt, wie das erstellte Lern- bzw. didaktische Modell die Problematik der Supervenienz durch ein „Top-down-Verfahren“ gelöst hat.The goal of this master thesis is to analyze the “embodiment theory” and its mean-ing for learning and education and to create a learning model based on these prin-ciples. From the background of the symbol grounding problem I will show that learning, knowing and understanding is not separable from the environment and the interaction within this environment. The Montessori Method is a well known reform pedagogical approach which is based on independent and self regulated learning. From the background of em-bodiment and symbol grounding knowledge transfer within the Montessori Method is analyzed. I will show, that based on the principles of a prepared envi-ronment, sensory and motor activities and a well established and concrete lan-guage, abstract concepts and knowledge are grounded and motivation emerge from this. The principles of self regulated learning are hold for Lifelong Learning. Thus I will bring forward the argument that the Montessori Method has a big impact within the discussion of Lifelong Learning and school reforms. In the conclusion I will discuss the problem of neurodidactics and the limits of brain based learning ideas. Based on the supervenience model by Ralph Schumacher I will discuss the problem of different levels of explanation. I will show that the learning model, developed in this work, is based on a top-down process thus it is consistent with the problem of supervenience

Einflussfaktoren auf den postoperativen Schmerz nach Sectio caesarea

Die Rate der Sectio caesarea steigt stetig an. Postoperative Schmerzen zählen zu den häufigsten Beschwerden im Wochenbett. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Identifikation und Evaluation von Einflussfaktoren auf den postoperativen Schmerz nach Sectio caesarea. Dabei wurde nach demografischen, klinischen und therapeutischen Merkmalen gesucht. Die prospektive, monozentrische Beobachtungsstudie wurde im Rahmen des QUIPS-Projektes durchgeführt. Die Datenerhebung erfolgte anhand eines validierten Fragebogens. 172 Patienten wurden eingeschlossen. Eine problemorientierte Patientenaufklärung über die Möglichkeiten der Schmerztherapie konnte das Risiko für starke postoperative Schmerzen um 78 % reduzieren (OR=0,22, 95%-CI: [0,10 - 0,48], p<0,001). Patienten, die sich gut aufgeklärt fühlten, forderten sich über eine PCA oder das Pflegepersonal mehr Schmerzmittel ab (43,1 % vs. 27,3 %), gaben postoperativ weniger Schmerzen an (Maximalschmerz p=0,015 und Belastungsschmerz p=0,046), waren zufriedener mit dem Ergebnis ihrer Schmerztherapie (8 vs. 5 im Rating von 0-10, p<0,001) und hätten sich seltener mehr Schmerzmittel gewünscht als sie erhalten haben (19,8 % vs. 51,9 %, p<0,001). Die Applikationsart der Schmerzmedikation ist insbesondere für die frühe postoperative Phase von Bedeutung. Patienten mit einer PCA-Pumpe berichteten 12 h nach der OP über signifikant weniger Schmerzen (p=0,049). Eine kontinuierliche Wundinfiltration mit Ropivacain konnte trotz geringer Fallzahl den Minimalschmerz (p=0,006) und den Belastungsschmerz (p=0,010) signifikant reduzieren. Therapeutisch ist das Konzept einer routinemäßigen Möglichkeit der Patientenkontrollierten Analgesie für alle Patienten anzubieten. Eine kontinuierliche Wundinfiltration mit Ropivacain sollte künftig als Bestandteil eines multimodalen Behandlungskonzeptes erneut anhand einer größeren Studiengruppe untersucht werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie führten in direkter Konsequenz zur Einführung einer regelmäßigen Schmerzdokumentation

What's the harm in moonlighting? A qualitative survey on the role conflicts of freelance journalists with secondary employment in the field of PR

There seems to be an internationally shared consensus on the ethical norm that journalists may not moonlight' for PR since this might conflict with their commitment to autonomy, truth, neutrality and objectivity. However, there is a gap between the normative demands on freelance journalists and the reality of their occupation: The changing world of professional working conditions is challenging journalists and has led to growing numbers of freelance journalists who also work for PR. Whether or not, and if so how freelance journalists with secondary employment in the field of PR perceive and come to terms with conflicts has not yet been thoroughly examined. This contribution is dedicated to this gap in research and asks how freelance journalists who simultaneously work in the field of PR deal with their fundamentally conflicting roles (journalists' perception of inter-role conflicts; how they cope with inter-role conflicts). We conducted semi-structured guided interviews with 18 freelance journalists simultaneously working for PR clients. Our results show that they are aware of the potential for conflict involved in fulfilling the two roles. All participants are inclined to preserve their professional self-concept as journalists, with regard to which the coping strategies of marginalization and merging roles are particularly indicative