Correction: Spatial design insights for security studies: digital space for research procedures and strategic actions

Purpose – The paper investigates the role of information asymmetries and sensegiving processes of citizens claiming for social services. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the relevance of applicants’ agency, since it has been generally neglected in the analysis of social services provision. On the contrary, the paper proposes an alternative view, considering applicants as actors who are able to develop dialectic strategies for claiming specific forms of social assistance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a qualitative research, conducted following an inductive approach. The data have been collected in three different Italian municipalities, where the researcher has been the opportunity to perform a period of observation of the interviews between the social workers of the local social services department and the citizens applying for social assistance. Findings – The findings of the research point out that informational asymmetries play an ambivalent role in the definition of applicant’s strategies, since they represent an ambivalent and dynamic factor, rather than a mere source of disadvantage for the user. From this viewpoint, the citizens’ possibilities to access to social assistance are shaped by both institutional and dialectic factors: on the one hand, access to social assistance relies on specific criteria of eligibility (institutionally defined), but on the other hand the access is the outcome of situated sensegiving processes, performed by both the applicants and the gatekeepers of social services during their encounters. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on the analysis of a small number of cases, within a context that is characterized by a high level of organizational and professional discretion in the regulation of the provision of social assistance. Practical implications – The findings of the research urge policy maker to re-consider applicants as strategic actors and opens the space for the development of new options of regulation of the delivery of social services. Social implications – The paper suggests to consider the applicants for social services as people who, although in a condition of need, are capable to identify specific forms of assistance. From this point of view, informational asymmetries are not be considered as a stigmatic issue, but as a space which calls for further and less superficial investigation. Originality/value – The paper challenges some of the most taken-for-granted theoretical assumptions in the analysis of the regulation of the access to social assistance. First, it proposes a dynamic interpretation of the notion of informational asymmetries, considering them as a space for action, rather than a binding factor; second, it emphasizes the relevance of user’s agency in the access to welfare services, that is generally neglected since most analyses focus on professional discretion disregarding the hypothesis of the user as a strategic actor.

Moving from sustainable management to sustainable governance of natural resources: The role of social learning processes in rural India, Bolivia and Mali

Resident councils between lifeworld and system: Is there room for communicative action?

This article discusses the complicated relationship between strategic studies and international relations, and that part of the latter discipline known as security studies. It argues that strategic studies deserves to stand alongside international relations as a direct subfield of political science. First, strategy is not so much a subset of security as its interactive partner. Students of strategy focus on the responses of states and other actors to the international security environment: If security is the condition, strategy is the reaction. Strategic action in turn affects the security conditions faced by other actors; again security is the condition, but strategy can also be the cause. It can be the independent variable. The use of force often has a major bearing on the security conditions faced by other actors (and by the user of the force themselves). There is at the very least an interactive relationship between strategic studies and security studies.

This qualitative study explores how classroom teachers enact leader identities within virtual communities of practice (vCoPs), introducing the concept of virtual teacher leadership (VTL) as an emergent and affectively mediated identity process. Thirteen actively teaching participants from eight Arab countries were recruited from a global vCoP and engaged in in-depth semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis revealed five interrelated dimensions of VTL: psychological safety as the foundation for leadership emergence, relational affirmation as a mechanism of identity recognition, quiet authority enacted through invisible labor, emotional labor as a pathway to legitimacy, and marginal positioning as a source of agency. Contrary to dominant narratives of teacher leadership that emphasize visibility, strategic action, or alignment with institutional goals, VTL emerged as a decentralized, relational practice grounded in care, presence, and sustained contribution. Leadership was not self-assumed but conferred through peer acknowledgment and enacted through iterative acts of trust and support. These findings reframe leadership not as a static role but as a fluid process of becoming—situated within digital ecologies and shaped by peripheral professional identities. The study challenges conventional frameworks of teacher leadership and advances a more nuanced, context-responsive understanding of leadership in networked professional spaces.

Gender and Embodied Geographies in Latin American Borders is the first study of its kind to bring a gender perspective to studies on violence and "illegal markets" in the region. Analyzing the structural problems that create inequality and enable gendered violence in Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina, the authors offer a critique of the securitization of borders and the criminalization of human mobility, and propose alternatives to reduce violence. Newspaper reports on gender and the variables of violence, human trafficking, people smuggling, missing persons, victims and perpetrators uncover the production and reproduction of discourses and images related to violence. Interviews with strategic actors from nongovernmental organizations, academia, as well as public policy makers diversify the experiences from the different voices of authority. Gender and Embodied Geographies in Latin American Borders encourages us to continue to question silence, impunity, the restriction of mobility, the dehumanization of securitization policies and the institutionalization of gender violence. A welcomed must read for scholars, researchers, policy makers, and students of gender studies, security studies and migration.

Digitalization, a major transformation process, has affected universities worldwide. In this study, we investigate how Swiss universities address digitalization as a matter of strategic management and positioning and the constellations of actors, interests, and institutional arrangements that produce specific organizational responses. A qualitative case study design was employed to focus on the role of educational entrepreneurship within universities by examining four public research universities in Switzerland. Our research shows empirically how actor constellations, strategic action, and institutional resource allocation have led to the establishment of new research centers, faculty positions, and degree programs as part of these universities’ digital strategies. The analysis reveals that digital strategies open spaces of opportunities where strategically minded educational entrepreneurs can pursue their interests by building alliances across disciplines, university management, and professional groups. However, the outcome of their efforts varies significantly depending on the situational resources and institutional power relations that constrain the maneuvering space of those who can sense and seize the arising opportunities. Universities primarily use digital strategies to strengthen their identities and refine existing position-taking within nested organizational fields. The widespread diffusion of digital strategies among Swiss universities reflects the internalization of digital transformation in universities’ governance mechanisms and the role of educational entrepreneurs therein. These findings enhance the understanding of educational entrepreneurship, strategic alliances, and institutional resources in the construction of universities’ organizational actorhood.

With the expansion of the Internet in the early twenty-first century, public historical disputes between South Korea and China have become more pronounced. While existing research has focused on domestic Korean or Chinese digital spaces, the convergence or clash of these national narratives on global platforms remains underexplored. Our research bridges this gap by investigating the role of online platforms in shaping public historical debates. We compare the portrayals of Balhae, an ancient kingdom with contested contexts between the two nations. By comparing Chinese, Korean, and English Wikipedia entries on Balhae, we identify differences in narrative construction and framing. Employing Habermas’s typology of human action, we scrutinize related talk pages on English Wikipedia to examine the strategic actions multinational contributors employ to shape historical representation. This exploration reveals the dual role of online platforms in both amplifying and mediating historical disputes. While Wikipedia’s policies promote rational discourse, our findings indicate that contributors often vacillate between strategic and communicative actions. Nonetheless, the resulting article approximates Habermasian ideals of communicative rationality. This interaction accentuates the challenges and potential of fostering rational online discourse, the complexities of digital collaboration, and the quest for neutrality in open, decentralized platforms.

Die interdisziplinäre, 2008 in Belgien stattgefundene Konferenz "Analogous spaces - architecture and the space of information, intellect and action" präsentierte einerseits Forschungsaktivitäten zur Geschichte wissenschaftlicher Information und Kommunikation und war damit auch eine Reise zu den Anfängen der frühen Informationsgesellschaft. Andererseits vermittelt sie Informationsgeschichte mit Kultur-, Architektur- und Kunstgeschichte, indem auf diverse Analogien zwischen analogen und digitalen Räumen Bezug genommen wurde. Thematischer Ausgangspunkt war der Belgier Paul Otlet als Begründer der Dokumentation um die Wende zum 20. Jahrhundert, von dessen intellektuellem Netzwerk hier in einem Exkurs auch der Chemiker und Pionier des deutschen Informationswesens Wilhelm Ostwald besonders erwähnt wird.

This article reflects on the possibilities for political action emerging out of quotidian engagements. Following controversies on the patenting of seeds in Canada and globally within the Committee for Food Security I explore what gave the impulse for political resistance in these different arenas. How did collective action emerge and how did it sustain itself? Three political concepts are important for understanding the political actions that I observed: Eigen-Sinn, empathy and strategy. These allowed me to follow and theorize political engagements. I first reflect on the potential to resist as a capacity of all human beings, because they have Eigen-Sinn: the capacity to attribute their own meanings to things, and act in their own self-interested way according to the meaning given. Self-interested action can only become political, however, when humans go beyond their strictly individual interests and empathize with others (humans and nonhumans), what Adorno described as getting into ‘live contact with the warmth of things’. Finally, I discuss how collective action can become not only possible, but also effective, by building and defending a space for strategic action.

To catalyze the discussion and implementation of state policies for an integrated continuum of long-term care (LTC), it is imperative to assemble strategic actions involving the public and private sectors, civil society, international agencies, professionals, academia, and the media, considering clear objectives for improving the lives of older adults, their families, and the communities where they live. Care may be provided at home, in the community, or at LTC facilities (LTCFs) for older adults. In this essay, we focused on institutional care. Tensions between advocates of different models of care for older people should include space for dialogue, convergence, and intersectoral actions, regardless of where LTC is provided. Conditions for LTCFs not to be perceived as the “last and undesirable alternative” should exist or be created so that these institutions are seen instead as welcoming, productive, and inclusive environments that are integrated to the community and its social, recreational, and health systems. The aim of this essay was to reflect on the urgency of developing an integrated continuum of LTC for older adults in Brazil that considers care as a right along with its modalities of delivery, flow, services, and activities, as well as sustainable financing alternatives and legal and governance directives. This work was divided into four sections: (1) aging as a social achievement and care as a right; (2) models of LTC and panorama of the sector in Brazil; (3) change in paradigms for conceiving LTCFs and LTC; and (4) framework for achieving an integrated continuum of LTC.

With rapid developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector prevailing over the present age of Industry 4.0, the nature of traditional marketing has undergone a paradigm shift. The recent pandemic has reflected the need of more emphasis on technology-enabled marketing. It is said the battle is now on digital space. Digital Marketing (DM) has become a key strategic advantage for the organizations. The age of Industry 4.0 has enabled generation of a massive volume of data at lightning speed with extremely high variety and capturing with improved hardware technology. However, it is important to derive actionable insight out of the data for formulating appropriate decision on time. Here comes the importance of marketing automation tools that help in proper organization of captured data from various sources including social media on a real-time basis for aiding the strategic decision-making process and action planning. Likewise, all sectors, education industry, particularly higher educational institutes (HEI) have witnessed a transformational change in recent years in the admission process. With more reliance on digital media, the HEIs have felt the need to acquire, nurture, engage and optimize the potential inquiries or “leads” for enhancing the enrollment. In this context, the present paper aims to compare a set of recently developed marketing automation tools such as chat BOT, Whatsapp Business API, Google Tracking, etc. from the perspective of effective lead management and optimization for improving the return on investment (ROI). For this purpose, in the present paper we propose a novel extension of a very recently developed multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) algorithm such as Preference Ranking on the Basis of Ideal-Average Distance (PROBID) with q-Rung Orthopair Fuzzy (qROF) information wherein the criteria weights are determined by using qROF-based entropy method. We carry out the sensitivity analysis and validation test that reflect the stability and validity of the result.

Digital transformations have significant consequences for organizational attempts to shape their environments. Our focus is on how corporate political activity evolves in ways that require us to pay more attention to how information gets structured in digital spaces, and on how information ecosystems operate and shape strategic communication activities in organizational settings. We outline these digital transformations, offer a focus on corporate political activity as informational and develop a typology of datafied corporate political activity techniques to illustrate how the workings of digital spaces shape political issues more concretely. This serves to highlight the necessity of extending the focus of informational corporate political activity beyond the contents of overt and direct messages to include the more covert and subtle forms of influence made possible through the strategic structuring of information itself. This also contributes to our understanding of the political significance of corporate political activity, which is less about influencing political issues by composing appealing messages and distributing them to relevant audiences, and more about influencing political issues by organizing digital information and feeding algorithms. We suggest that such datastructures and algorithmic forms of sorting will become as important as message contents, and that datafied advocacy will become a central component of corporate political activity and other organizational activities.

This critical essay aims to assess the linguistic ideologies regarding the Chinese writing system by locating them in historical and diasporic contexts and the new digital communication space. Drawing data from a long‐term and ongoing digital ethnography of online communication and creative Sinographs in the global Chinese diaspora, it analyses how multilingual Chinese language users manipulate the affordances of the writing system in combination with the affordances of new, digital communication platforms to challenge the dominant language ideologies and policies, to articulate a new sense of transnationalism, and to participate in social activism. It argues that the diasporic perspective is not simply a context for the study of language variation and change but a crucial space for radical new thinking and actions that challenge orthodoxies of various kinds and enables cultural flow as well as social participation at a global scale.

Dystopian/Utopian Theatre in Britain after 2000 and Its Political Spaces, Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung / Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF), University of Bielefeld, March 11–13, 2021