Using resources: conceptualizing the mediation and reflective use of tools and signs

The idea that culture comprises resources that are used has become a popular means to re-conceptualize the culture—agency antinomy. However, the theorization of using resources is fragmented. The present article reviews several attempts to theorize resources, arguing that there has been too much focus upon the resources themselves, while the notion of use has been neglected. Focusing upon mode of use, as opposed to the resources used, the article underscores the importance of distinguishing between tools, which are used to act upon the world, and signs, which are used to act upon the mind. The article also argues for a distinction between non-reflective use, or mediation, and reflective use of resources. Future research should focus upon the transformation of tools into signs and the transformation of mediation into reflective use. The article concludes by discussing problematic issues that remain in conceptualizing the use of resources

Infância, máquinas e violência

Partindo da famosa correspondência entre os dois grandes sábios do século XX, a autora, com base em dados de pesquisas de diferentes países, faz uma reflexão sobre as relações e correlações possíveis entre a violência cada vez mais presente nas mídias audiovisuais e uma certa concepção do papel da violência como meio naturalmente legítimo de interação social e resolução de conflitos interpessoais, encontrada entre crianças e adolescentes. A análise deste fenômeno social - a violência na sociedade e nas mídias - é realizada desde o ponto de vista da mídia-educação, ou seja, da formação de usuários críticos, tendo como perspectiva compreender o papel das novas técnicas de comunicação neste processo.<br>Based on the famous correspondence between two XXth century wise men and on data from research in different countries, the author explores the possible relations and correlations between the violence that is increasingly present in the audio-visual media and a certain conception of the role of violence as a naturally legitimate way of social action and conflict resolution, common among child and teen-agers. The analysis of this social phenomenon - violence in our society and in the media - is performed from the standpoint of media-education, that is, of forming critical users, in an attempt to understand the role of the new communication technologies in this process

A socio-cognitive approach to the communication of SME support. An exploratory qualitative study in Turkmenistan

International audienceCertain researchers call to reconsider Communication for development and social change as a problem of “Techniques and Society” (McArthur, Jouët, Bardini, Lohento, Kiyindou, Missé). Thus, the models of social integration of innovations are used here to study how the new development assistance modules are accepted and appropriated by their final users in developing countries. There is no need to prove anymore that users’ reception and appropriation of the proposed service is critical to the development programs’ effectiveness, be it in public health, environmental issues, small and medium enterprise (SME) development, or other. We synthesize the Anglo-Saxon and French models and distinguish the common determinant axes for the innovations or novelties reception: before their actual use (acceptance models) and after it (appropriation models). The common base appears to be the mental construction of the sense of use: the user mobilizes his representations “already there” (anchoring in existing representations, Moscovici, Jodelet, LeBlanc) and his imaginary (Flichy, Musso) to assess the associated use benefits–costs, the anticipated-perceived use experience. In the literature, this mental construction process is theorized as the formation of the Perceived Value of Use (PVU) (Jouet, Mallein and Toussaint, Mallein et coll., Toussaint, Boenisch, Assude et al, Nelson, Kim et al.). However, it is necessary to further explore this process. Eager to explore the PVU concept in detail, we conducted a two-phase field qualitative study within the SME support sector (UN Sustainable Development Goals 8.3 and 9.3), in Turkmenistan, Central Asia. Our results suggest that we can model the PVU formation mechanism, and its role in the cognitive appropriation and acceptance of the new support services by the final users. We propose to test the results of our research, within the context of other developing countries and of other sectors