The importance and art of articulating thanks: Lessons from non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

Thanking helps organisations to build relationships. In particular, charities need to thank as they build up coalitions of interest around issues, and as, in many cases, they raise income. So what can be learned from some professional thankers, and scholars, in the NGO sector? You’ll learn: • The importance of thanks in interpersonal communications and NGO communications • What we can learn from NGO sector best practice and guidance • A framework for thanking built on NGO researc

Data Mining for Learning Analytics: does lack of engagement always mean what we think it does?

Context and Objectives Learning Analytics (LA) has the potential to utilise student data to further the advancement of a personalized, supportive system of HE (Johnson et al., 2013). A number of LA systems are now being developed but there have been few studies that have analysed the usage of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) in order to identify which analytics techniques and sources of data accurately reflect student engagement and achievement. Methods The interactions of 66 students with a Level 4 programming module on a VLE have been analysed via the simple K-means clustering algorithm to identify classes of behaviour and their characteristics. Results Two prominent classes were found with students achieving higher marks attending the lectures and tutorials more regularly and accessing all types of material on the VLE more frequently than students in the lower achieving cluster. However, there were a number of exceptions that had low levels of engagement that gained high marks and vice versa. Discussion A student’s prior experience and characteristics of their degree programme need to be taken into account to avoid incorrectly interpreting high and low levels of engagement. Conclusions The number of times students view online module materials will be an important factor for inclusion in any predictive LA models but must be able to take into account the differences in student backgrounds, delivery styles and subject

Tactical interventions in online hate speech: The case of #stopIslam

This article sets out findings from a project focused on #stopIslam, a hashtag that gained prominence following the Brussels terror attack of 2016. We initially outline a big data analysis which shows how counter-narratives – criticizing #stopIslam – momentarily subverted negative news reporting of Muslims. The rest of the article details qualitative findings that complicate this initial positive picture. We set out key tactics engaged in by right-wing actors, self-identified Muslim users, would-be allies and celebrities and elucidate how these tactics were instrumental in the direction, dynamics and legacies of the hashtag. We argue that the tactical interventions of tightly bound networks of right-wing actors, as well as the structural constraints of the platform, not only undermined the longevity and coherence of the counter-narratives but subtly modulated the affordances of Twitter in ways that enabled these users to extend their voice outwards, reinforcing long-standing representational inequalities in the process

Contesting #stopIslam: Tensions around hate speech on social media

Elizabeth Poole, Ed de Quincey and Eva Giraud explore the dynamics of a racist hashtag following the Brussels terrorist attac

TRACING MEDIA SOLIDARITIES WITH MUSLIMS: CONTESTING ISLAMOPHOBIA ON TWITTER

Solidarity has been cited as a necessary prerequisite for transformational structural change and therefore contains revolutionary potential (Featherstone, 2012). This paper examines the role and evolution of mediated solidarities, which have become increasingly central to an analysis of social movements with the advent of participatory technologies, by drawing on data from a project on anti-Islamophobic counter-narratives. Online platforms have the affordances to contest Islamophobic hate speech as demonstrated by the dynamics of #stopIslam following the Brussels terror attack, 2016. In this instance, the hashtag gained its prominence through the contestations of users who sought to question, critique and undermine its original message (reference redacted). However, research has also shown the limitations of social media for online activism, in particular for creating meaningful debates or change (Schradie, 2019). This paper examines data from a large-scale study that used methods of computational, quantitative, and qualitative analysis to examine the dynamics of discourse about Muslims on Twitter in the case of Brexit, the Christchurch terror attack and Covid. We will examine whether the high incidence of solidarity discourses in this dataset are limited to acts of counter-speech (and other acts of weak solidarity) or if they contribute to sustainable counter-narratives that have implications for wider discursive formations related to Islam. Rather than reinforce existing binary arguments regarding the potentials and limitations of Twitter as a platform for solidarity, we wish to demonstrate the contradictory dynamics of the solidarities that arise from the logics of Twitter which relies on and produces these entanglements.</jats:p

Transnational In-Group Solidarity Networks in the Case of #Hellobrother

This paper examines the dynamics of one hashtag, #hellobrother, shared on Twitter following the Christchurch terror attack on 15th March 2019. It was analysed as part of a larger study #Contesting Islamophobia: Representation and Appropriation in Mediated Activism which explores the potentials and limitations of counternarratives against Islamophobia on Twitter. Using three ‘trigger events’ (Awan, 2014), Brexit, the Christchurch terror attack, and the Covid pandemic as its starting point, the study analysed six weeks of tweets at different points in time. The data on #hellobrother demonstrates an affective response which, through the affordances of Twitter, gave rise to strong networks of transnational solidarity. It illustrates both the limitations of its potentially transient solidarities but also the capacity of social media to offer visibility to counternarratives, which at specific moments, following specific events can become normative.</jats:p

Semantic Web Applications and Tools for Life Sciences, 2008 – Introduction

BACKGROUND: Semantically-enriched browsing has enhanced the browsing experience by providing contextualized dynamically generated Web content, and quicker access to searched-for information. However, adoption of Semantic Web technologies is limited and user perception from the non-IT domain sceptical. Furthermore, little attention has been given to evaluating semantic browsers with real users to demonstrate the enhancements and obtain valuable feedback. The Sealife project investigates semantic browsing and its application to the life science domain. Sealife's main objective is to develop the notion of context-based information integration by extending three existing Semantic Web browsers (SWBs) to link the existing Web to the eScience infrastructure. METHODS: This paper describes a user-centred evaluation framework that was developed to evaluate the Sealife SWBs that elicited feedback on users' perceptions on ease of use and information findability. Three sources of data: i) web server logs; ii) user questionnaires; and iii) semi-structured interviews were analysed and comparisons made between each browser and a control system. RESULTS: It was found that the evaluation framework used successfully elicited users' perceptions of the three distinct SWBs. The results indicate that the browser with the most mature and polished interface was rated higher for usability, and semantic links were used by the users of all three browsers. CONCLUSION: Confirmation or contradiction of our original hypotheses with relation to SWBs is detailed along with observations of implementation issues

A user-centred evaluation framework for the Sealife semantic web browsers

BACKGROUND: Semantically-enriched browsing has enhanced the browsing experience by providing contextualized dynamically generated Web content, and quicker access to searched-for information. However, adoption of Semantic Web technologies is limited and user perception from the non-IT domain sceptical. Furthermore, little attention has been given to evaluating semantic browsers with real users to demonstrate the enhancements and obtain valuable feedback. The Sealife project investigates semantic browsing and its application to the life science domain. Sealife's main objective is to develop the notion of context-based information integration by extending three existing Semantic Web browsers (SWBs) to link the existing Web to the eScience infrastructure. METHODS: This paper describes a user-centred evaluation framework that was developed to evaluate the Sealife SWBs that elicited feedback on users' perceptions on ease of use and information findability. Three sources of data: i) web server logs; ii) user questionnaires; and iii) semi-structured interviews were analysed and comparisons made between each browser and a control system. RESULTS: It was found that the evaluation framework used successfully elicited users' perceptions of the three distinct SWBs. The results indicate that the browser with the most mature and polished interface was rated higher for usability, and semantic links were used by the users of all three browsers. CONCLUSION: Confirmation or contradiction of our original hypotheses with relation to SWBs is detailed along with observations of implementation issues

Software support for comparison of media across domains

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