The Strength of Internet Ties

Presents findings from a survey that examines how Americans use the Internet and email to support and expand their social networks and access resources for assistance in making major life decisions

Networked Families

Presents survey results on the use of the Internet and ownership of cell phones and computers, by household type. Examines how technology ownership affects the frequency, form, purpose, and quality of communications among family members and friends

El hogar en red

Proponemos que los individuos, en lugar de las solidaridades familiares, se han convertido en la principal unidad de conectividad en el hogar. Muchos hogares no funcionan como grupos tradicionales densamente conectados sino como redes sociales más dispersas donde los individuos tratan de hacer compatibles sus dispares horarios y agendas. En un momento en el que muchas personas ejercen múltiples roles individuales en casa, en la comunidad y en el trabajo nos preguntamos: ¿cómo se comunican entre sí los adultos miembros del hogar? ¿Cómo utilizan los adultos miembros del hogar las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TICs) para organizar, comunicar y coordinar su tiempo libre y su comportamiento social dentro y fuera de casa? Las entrevistas y encuestas realizadas en 2004-2005 en East York (Toronto, Canadá) muestran que los hogares siguen conectados -pero como redes más que como grupos solidarios. Describimos cómo los individuos en red construyen puentes entre sus relaciones y se conectan entre sí dentro y fuera de casa. Las TICs han permitido a los miembros del hogar la capacidad de seguir sus caminos separados mientras permanecen conectados -por teléfono móvil, correo electrónico e IM, así como con las líneas telefónicas tradicionales. De ese modo, en lugar de desmembrar las familias, las TICs con frecuencia facilitan la comunicación, las relaciones y la integración funcional.We argue that individuals, rather than family solidarities, have become the primary unit of household connectivity. Many households do not operate as traditional denselyknit groups but as more sparsely-knit social networks where individuals juggle their somewhat separate agendas and schedules. At a time when many people enact multiple, individual roles at home, in the community and at work, we ask: how do adult household members communicate with each other? How do adult household members use information and communication technologies (ICTs) to organize, communicate and coordinate their leisure and social behaviour both inside and outside the home? Interviews and surveys conducted in 2004-2005 in the Toronto, Canada area of East York show that households remain connected - but as networks rather than solidary groups. We describe how networked individuals bridge their relationships and connect with each other inside and outside the home. ICTs have afforded household members the ability to go about on their separate ways while staying more connected -by mobile phone, email and IM- as well as by traditional landlines. In such ways, rather than pulling families apart, ICTs often facilitate communication, kinship and functional integration

The Networked Question in the Digital Era: How Do Networked, Bounded, and Limited Individuals Connect at Different Stages in the Life Course?

We used in-depth interviews with 101 participants in the East York section of Toronto, Canada to understand how digital media affects social connectivity in general--and networked individualism in particular--for people at different stages of the life course. Although people of all ages intertwined their use of digital media with their face-to-face interactions, younger adults used more types of digital media and more diversified personal networks. People in different age-groups conserved media, tending to stick with the digital media they learned to use in earlier life stages. Approximately one-third of the participants were Networked Individuals: In each age-group, they were the most actively using digital media to maintain ties and to develop new ones. Another one-third were Socially Bounded, who often actively used digital media but kept their connectivity within a smaller set of social groups. The remaining one-third, who were Socially Limited, were the least likely to use digital media. Younger adults were the most likely to be Networked Individuals, leading us to wonder if the percentage of the population who are Bounded or Limited will decline over time

Növeli, csökkenti, vagy kiegészíti az Internet a társadalmi tőkét – Társadalmi hálózatok, részvétel és közösségi elkötelezettség

E tanulmány kutatás az egyik első, 1998-ban végzett nagyszabású web felmérés eredményeit használja fel, hogy a címében feltett kérdésre választ kapjon. Megállapításai, módszerei révén a szakirodalom egyik legidézettebb opuszává vált, s az eltelt röpke négy év elegendőnek bizonyult ahhoz, hogy igazi klasszikusnak tekinthessük. Eredményeik szerint pozitív összefüggés van a különböző önkéntes szervezetekben és a politikában való online és offline részvétel között, s az Internethasználók valamiféle online közösségi érzést alakítanak ki, általánosságban és rokonaikkal. Az első komoly érvrendszert produkálták amellett, hogy az Internet nem váltja valóra sem az utópisták álmát egy nagyobb közösségi eufóriáról, sem nem tükrözi az antiutópisták lidércnyomását a fokozott elidegenedésről

Trouble in Paradise - A disabled person's right to the satisfaction of a self-defined need:Some conceptual and practical problems

This paper questions the usefulness of the rights-based approach to ameliorating the social situation of disabled people in Britain and advances two criticisms. First, that rights and self-de? ned needs have been under-theorised by disability theorists to the extent that they have insuf? ciently appreciated the problems that these approaches pose. The paper suggests that rights to appropriate resources to satisfy self-de? ned needs will generate vast numbers of competing rights claims and that the resulting tendency of rights to con? ict has been under-appreciated. Secondly, that there has been little consideration of how these con? icts might be reconciled. The ? rst two sections of the paper look at the concepts of ascribed and self-de? ned needs, respectively, whilst the ? nal one looks at some of the problems of the rights approach and some of the dif? culties of making self-de? ned need the basis of rights claims

Predicting Online and Offline Civic Participation among Young Czech Roma: The Roles of Resources, Community Perceptions and Social Norms

Roma in the Czech Republic represent a large ethnic minority that faces intolerance and social exclusion. This study aims to describe factors that boost civic participation among Roma adolescents and emerging adults. Specifically, it asks whether different factors apply to Roma and members of the majority, and whether different factors boost offline and online participation. Survey data were analysed from Roma (n = 157) and majority (n = 573) participants between the ages of 15 and 28. Hierarchical regression models suggested that certain factors (a sense of collective influence and peer participatory norm) predict all forms of civic participation, regardless of ethnicity. For Roma youth, in contrast with the majority, offline participation was associated with a perceived lack of opportunities and unmet needs in their communities, which suggests that their offline civic participation might be a reaction to perceived communal problems. Finally, a lack of education was identified as a major explanation for lower rates of online participation among Roma

UV-B absorbing pigments in spores: biochemical responses to shade in a high-latitude birch forest and implications for sporopollenin-based proxies of past environmental change

Current attempts to develop a proxy for Earth’s surface ultraviolet-B (UV-B) flux focus on the organic chemistry of pollen and spores because their constituent biopolymer, sporopollenin, contains UV-B absorbing pigments whose relative abundance may respond to the ambient UV-B flux. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy provides a useful tool for rapidly determining the pigment content of spores. In this paper, we use FTIR to detect a chemical response of spore wall UV-B absorbing pigments that correspond with levels of shade beneath the canopy of a high-latitude Swedish birch forest. A 27% reduction in UV-B flux beneath the canopy leads to a significant (p<0.05) 7.3% reduction in concentration of UV-B absorbing compounds in sporopollenin. The field data from this natural flux gradient in UV-B further support our earlier work on sporopollenin-based proxies derived from sedimentary records and herbaria collections

Tracing the migration of mantle CO2 in gas fields and mineral water springs in south-east Australia using noble gas and stable isotopes

Geochemical monitoring of CO2 storage requires understanding of both innate and introduced fluids in the crust as well as the subsurface processes that can change the geochemical fingerprint of CO2 during injection, storage and any subsequent migration. Here, we analyse a natural analogue of CO2 storage, migration and leakage to the atmosphere, using noble gas and stable isotopes to constrain the effect of these processes on the geochemical fingerprint of the CO2. We present the most comprehensive evidence to date for mantle-sourced CO2 in south-east Australia, including well gas and CO2-rich mineral spring samples from the Otway Basin and Central Victorian Highlands (CVH). 3He/4He ratios in well gases and CO2 springs range from 1.21 to 3.07 RA and 1.23 – 3.65 RC/RA, respectively. We present chemical fractionation models to explain the observed range of 3He/4He ratios, He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe concentrations and δ13C(CO2) values in the springs and the well gases. The variability of 3He/4He in the well gases is controlled by the gas residence time in the reservoir and associated radiogenic 4He accumulation. 3He/4He in CO2 springs decrease 29 away from the main mantle fluid supply conduit. We identify one main pathway for CO2 supply to the surface in the CVH, located near a major fault zone. Solubility fractionation during phase separation is proposed to explain the range in noble gas concentrations and δ13C(CO2) values measured in the mineral spring samples. This process is also responsible for low 3He concentrations and associated high CO2/3He, which are commonly interpreted as evidence for mixing with crustal CO2. The elevated CO2/3He can be explained solely by solubility fractionation without the need to invoke other CO2 sources. The noble gases in the springs and well gases can be traced back to a single end-member which has suffered varying degrees of radiogenic helium accumulation and late stage degassing. This work shows that combined stable and noble gas isotopes in natural gases provide a robust tool for identifying the migration of injected CO2 to the shallow subsurface

Putting ostracism into perspective: young children tell more mentalistic stories after exclusion, but not when anxious

Much is known about when children acquire an understanding of mental states, but few, if any, experiments identify social contexts in which children tend to use this capacity and dispositions that influence its usage. Social exclusion is a common situation that compels us to reconnect with new parties, which may crucially involve attending to those parties’ mental states. Across two studies, this line of inquiry was extended to typically developing preschoolers (Study 1) and young children with and without anxiety disorder (AD) (Study 2). Children played the virtual game of toss “Cyberball” ostensibly over the Internet with two peers who first played fair (inclusion), but eventually threw very few balls to the child (exclusion). Before and after Cyberball, children in both studies completed stories about peer-scenarios. For Study 1, 36 typically developing 5-year-olds were randomly assigned to regular exclusion (for no apparent reason) or accidental exclusion (due to an alleged computer malfunction). Compared to accidental exclusion, regular exclusion led children to portray story-characters more strongly as intentional agents (intentionality), with use of more mental state language (MSL), and more between-character affiliation in post-Cyberball stories. For Study 2, 20 clinically referred 4 to 8-year-olds with AD and 15 age- and gender-matched non-anxious controls completed stories before and after regular exclusion. While we replicated the post regular-exclusion increase of intentional and MSL portrayals of story-characters among non-anxious controls, anxious children exhibited a decline on both dimensions after regular exclusion. We conclude that exclusion typically induces young children to mentalize, enabling more effective reconnection with others. However, excessive anxiety may impair controlled mentalizing, which may, in turn, hamper effective reconnection with others after exclusion