Blog Entries Research Articles

In Blogospheres: Comprehending Sociopolitical Implications

This article will focus on the ‘blogosphere’ in India as an emerging forum for critical readings of social and political events and issues. By concentrating on the blogosphere, read as a morphology of horizontal societal communication enabled through a network of blogs and social media sites on the internet, we have tried to offer a glimpse into the kind of issues and interactions that various groups and communities are engaging with and the scope for such online activism to usher in social transformation. For this study, we have limited our discussion to a close reading of contents on blogs as one confronts the positions and critiques offered by individuals and groups and gets a sense of the local concerns articulated in the blog entries. Our concern in this article is to fathom the potential of blogs in transformative politics and mass mobilisation, namely civic engagement against the framework of an emerging public sphere on the Internet by analysing case studies of select blogs, primarily—Kafila, an academic-activist blog, Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA ), a students’ blog and Round Table India, a Dalit blog.

Cooking Curries for change: four desi food blogs in the UK, cyberactivism, & the transnational public sphere

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on four popular UK based, desi food blogs by Anjali Pathak, Hari Ghotra, Mallika Basu, and Chintal Kakaya, who are ambassadors of the global justice charity Find Your Feet's (FYF) ‘Curry for Change’ (CFC) campaign. Reconfiguring and challenging geographical parameters and national boundaries, the bloggers team up with FYF to help fight hunger in African and Asian rural communities. Using the Internet as a platform to create awareness about the charity, the blogs share recipes and meal plans for dinner parties hosted in honour of the charity and invite the public to fundraising events. Concerned with human rights, these bloggers affect social change by empowering individuals and communities to participate in civic engagement, and occasionally to even challenge unfair government policies/practices. The blogs’ efficacy can also be measured through the funds raised, the public attention they receive from channels such as Indian food network and London Live, local/regional newspapers such as the London Evening Standard, and magazines like India's Complete Wellbeing Magazine. Food blogs that actively contribute to global justice movements cannot be seen as domestic reflections or exercises in nostalgia anymore. Referring to Habermas's notion of the public sphere and Nancy Fraser's concept of the transnational public sphere, I examine these food blogs as transnational public spheres. Based on textual analysis of blog entries related specifically to the CFC campaign and an examination of FYF's annual reviews, this paper examines how these food blogs have expanded in form and function by engaging in cyberactivism.

When Success Fails You: On the Law and Economics of Discrimination of Excellence

Discrimination is unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things. Long-standing, ample evidence of discrimination and most important attempts exist to legally abolish, economically counter-weight and societally alleviate the negative impacts of discrimination around the world. Yet to this day, there is hardly any description of discrimination of excellence. Unfair treatment of outperformers occurs when focusing away from merit leads to economic inefficiency based on arbitrary decision making excellent outperformers face mostly put up by relative underperformers who fear not being able to keep up with outperformance. Theoretically, the paper introduces discrimination of excellence legally including the most recent case of standardized admission test outperformers suing a U.S. higher education institution over fair admission standards and admission fraud scandals coupled with an economic modeling of socio-economic losses implied by discriminating against strivers. The societal value of outperformers will be outlined in Veblen's trickling down of excellence, The American Dream ideals of striving being an economic driver as well as political science comparisons of different regimes’ conduct around excellency. The social psychology categorization of society into so-called 'ingroups' and 'outgroups' is spearheaded with integrating 'ubergroups' as natural strivers who face unprecedently captured discrimination. Socio-psychological motives – such as envy, jealousy, inferiority complex, reputation greed and suboptimal group norms – explain discrimination towards outperformance to provide coping and alleviation strategies. Intergenerational aspects and leadership features of discrimination of excellence are proposed. Empirically, qualitative case studies, diary technique collected data and an external review report in the higher education sector vividly outline discrimination based on excellence (Study 1). Qualitative analyses of PhD studies blog entries reveal a pattern of outperformers being forced out of higher educational institutions to successfully continuing in higher-ranked institutions (Study 2). Evidence of intangible admission criteria, unfair testing situations and delayed or unsuccessful academic promotion statistics serve as additional evidence on discrimination based on excellence. Resistance to share information on testing and promotion criteria transparently is detected to allow for discrimination (Study 3). Macro-economic analyses reveal industries that are prone to breed discrimination based on excellence (Study 4) to estimate the short- and long-term losses of discrimination of excellence based on economic trickling down and too-big-to-fail arguments but also Keynes' multiplier innovatively applied in endogenous growth theory alongside including health and societal risks in the wake of discrimination (Study 5). Macro-economic cross-sectional and time series analyses in the laboratory of modern world history outline socio-economic costs of slowing outperformers and abolishing intellectual advancement (Study 6). Artificial intelligence increasing the currently unprecendently wide divide between skilled and unskilled labor is predicted to even higher importance of attention to excellency in the future (Study 7). Legal codifications, economic action and public policy making as well as corporate workplace incentives can foster performance free from discrimination. Outperformers and underperforming segments should transfer coping in lieu of performance strategies and strategically align in the striving towards a discrimination-free economy and society. Awareness building, transparency and mandatory access to information on hiring, testing and promotion criteria appear as natural remedies besides legal action to combat excellency-discriminating individuals and institutional structures. The research provides a truly heterodox economics standpoint on reconsidering discrimination in a novel light with attention to those who are put down due to their stellar excellence outshining underperformers, whose inappropriate discriminatory conduct deserves to be left behind for the sake of upholding individual well-being derived from dignity, economic prosperity grounded in respect for striving and societal advancement founded on excellency.

Evaluating the Virginia Agriculture Leaders Obtaining Results (VALOR) Program: Blogs as a Reflection Process

Leadership inquiry lacks robust studies designed to understand processes as opposed to outcomes. This qualitative case study explored the process of reflection through blogs to evaluate the Virginia Agriculture Leaders Obtaining Results (VALOR) program. We open-coded blog entries for reflection on capacity building and competency development through experiences within the program. Expanded thinking, competency development, and interconnectedness emerged as themes through a collaborative process. Additionally, we identified four subthemes within the themes: change, self-awareness, networking, and affiliations. The majority of intended VALOR program outcomes were readily discussed within emergent themes and the reflection process. The findings within this study support transformative learning and communities of practice as pathways for increasing knowledge and capacity to become change agents. Focus on increasing opportunities for participants to explore applications of newly created knowledge can benefit the program and overall development of participants and their communities.

Information Literacy As Fetishized Theoretical Category – An Example of Pro-ana Youth Blogs

Scientific reflections on information literacy have emphasized that young people must develop information competences related to using the Internet. Among various approaches, in the generic approach, catalogues of competences are constructed and treated as lists of desired behaviours and skills. The article aims to criticize this approach and its characteristic fetishization of theoretical categories; because of fetishization, these catalogues of competences fail to reflect social reality. The article presents the practices of female bloggers of the pro-ana movement: young girls who consider anorexia not a disease but a lifestyle. Using the method of content analysis, the author analysed 561 blog entries on 15 blogs and compared the collected data with a model catalogue of competencies created based on the literature. Perceived from the perspective of the generic approach, female pro-ana bloggers may be considered informationliterate. This implies that this approach is deficient as the pro-ana movement negatively impacts both healthy and ill girls. The analysis indicates that proponents of the generic standpoint should distinguish the so called competent negative uses.

Crowdfunding networks: Structure, dynamics and critical capabilities

Crowdfunding platforms – bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and customers – have grown rapidly over recent years. Crowdfunding networks are open, multisided markets that match founders and funders on crowdfunding platforms. The unique structure of these networks blends social and business networks and comprises a complex array of closer and more distant network relationships. Research investigating the characteristics of these open and highly dynamic network structures is in its infancy and capabilities critical to operating in them are under-explored. Thus, this study follows an abductive reasoning process to understand critical capabilities for influencing and orchestrating crowdfunding networks. It draws on a thematic content analysis of 1484 blog entries written by crowdfunding experts and a comprehensive review of (i) literature on crowdfunding networks and (ii) five literature streams dealing with dynamic capabilities in evolving network structures. As a substantial contribution, this research delineates a portfolio of four collaborative capabilities – visioning, dynamic business modelling, engaging, and attaining social continuity – essential for operating successfully in crowdfunding networks. These new collaborative capability sets assume a new understanding of agency as a continuum of managerial and collective agency, an understanding that is novel within the network management and the capabilities literature.

Toxic Bodies

Abstract Tracing ticks in two different artworks and Leslie Feinberg’s activist writing, Wibke Straube takes their lead in this article from philosopher Donna Haraway and her suggestion to think about engagement with the environment through an “ethics of response-ability.” By deploying close readings, Straube discusses the affects represented in the video installation Act on Instinct (2013) by Elin Magnusson, a sequence of the film Something Must Break (2014) by Ester Martin Bergsmark, and blog entries from the “Lyme Series” by the late trans activist Leslie Feinberg. Through these works, Straube explores the meaning of this correlation between ticks and transing bodies for environmental ethics as well as for the forging of livable lives for trans people. Toxicity surfaces as a link in these works. The notion of feminist figuration, developed by philosopher Rosi Braidotti among others, allows Straube to discuss toxicity as a material-discursive figuration, which highlights how human societies in a Western context approach the body of the Other, in this case the transgender body as a human Other and the tick as animal Other. As a figuration, toxicity then becomes a shared meeting site that helps to problematize the Western pathologization of trans bodies and asks what ethics emerge in this proximity between ticks and trans bodies. Toxicity exists in the discussed works in particular as a complex material-discursive trajectory. Although some discourses on toxicity uphold social hierarchies and racist assumptions, as illustrated by Mel Y. Chen, for example, the works here seem to reappropriate the status of the toxic body as a strategy for adjustment and alliance and a site of ethical engagement with the world. The tick is Straube’s guide in weaving together stories of different bodies and of what Deborah Bird Rose and Thom van Dooren call the “unloved other.”

Making Time for Book Study

NCTM has underscored the critical role of professional collaboration for instructional improvement (Larson 2017). Furthermore, collaborating on instruction is part of the Professionalism Principle in Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical Success for All (NCTM 2014). One blog entry in Matt Larson's President's Message (2017) challenged teachers to work in collaborative teams and advised them to explore one of NCTM's newly released series, Taking Action: Implementing Effective Teaching Practices.

IMPLICIT LINGUISTIC MEANS IN THE GENRE OF BLOGS ON BREXIT

The article deals with implicitness and the linguistic means of its expression. The theme is considered urgent since there is no consensus on the nature of implicitness and on the types of the means of its realization. The study has been carried out on the material of British online blogs. The genre of blogs is becoming more and more popular as a means of communication and as an opinion sharing platform. The collected data comprise blog entries and commentaries to them. They deal with one of the most pressing political issues of today - Brexit. The study has revealed a number of linguistic means which have been classified as follows: lexical means (colloquial words, deliberately altered proper nouns, idioms, language game), grammatical means (syntax of a sentence, and specifically elliptical questions), figures of speech (metaphor, allegory, simile, irony, allusion, antonomasia) and specific features of text composition (intertextuality). The analysis of functioning of the given means allows making a conclusion about the nature of the implicit meanings which are constructed in the blogs on the issue of Brexit. Many blog users make a negative implicit assessment of the disintegration procedure and of the politicians who promote the withdrawal of the country from the EU.

Investigating the effectiveness of computer-produced summaries obtained from multiple travel blog entries

The evolution of information and communication technology now makes it possible to collect travel information in a variety of ways. Social media content that includes blogs is one such useful information source when planning a trip. This paper proposes a method for generating a summary of multiple travel blog entries that contain images. The proposed method identifies significant sentences in addition to the images by using a graph-based approach that considers travelers’ types of behavior. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conducted two experiments: (1) evaluation of the quality of summaries and (2) evaluation of the effectiveness of these summaries. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method, LexRank + Image, can outperform state-of-the-art baseline methods for both evaluations. It was also confirmed that the proposed method could produce summaries containing new information not included in travel guidebooks. A system was implemented for generating summaries based on the proposed method.

Teacher approaches to writing in science in bilingual elementary classrooms

ABSTRACT This investigation examined the approaches bilingual education elementary teachers implemented to develop student science and English language understanding. In this investigation, teachers used Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) to assess bilingual-ELs’ (BLs) English writing understanding. Teacher interviews, student writing samples, and the collection of artifacts, such as student blog entries were collected as data sources. The findings indicate that teachers have a strong commitment to develop bilingual and bi-literacy competence, build background knowledge, and make connections between home and school. In addition, teachers were found to perceive science and language learning as separate entities and failed to provide evidence of the implementation of the PLDs in science writing as an ongoing assessment.

From learner to teacher assistant: Community‐based service‐learning in a dual‐language classroom

The growth of Latinx populations in the United States has resulted in an increasing number of community‐based service‐learning (CBSL) opportunities. In particular, the steady growth in Spanish‐English dual‐language schools and the accompanying staff shortages position elementary classrooms as meaningful settings in which to develop relationships between postsecondary L2 Spanish learners and Spanish–speaking children and adults. This qualitative study investigated a CBSL program in which L2 Spanish learners at an urban university served as weekly teaching assistants at a local dual‐language elementary school. Data were collected from 55 reflective blog entries, two focus group sessions, and interviews with four teaching assistants. The L2 Spanish learners reported that the experience supported their language acquisition by (1) providing oral language practice outside of class, (2) facilitating linguistic self‐confidence, (3) fostering metacognitive reflection, and (4) transforming motivation and attitudes. Implications are provided regarding ways that the dual‐language classroom setting holds promise for engaging L2 Spanish learners at various levels in CBSL.

The First Law & Technology International Writing Competition

AbstractIn this two-part feature, Dr Matthew Terrell provides a brief introduction to a new initiative that was launched by Justis in 2017: the inaugural Law and Technology International Writing Competition. This was a competition aimed at attracting students to write a 1,000 word piece in the style of a blog entry. The winner was Róisín Costello from Trinity College Dublin and her article, entitled ‘The Tortoise and the Hare? Due Process and Unconstitutionally Obtained Evidence in the Digital Age’, follows this introduction.

“Mirror, Mirror in the Net”: A Sentiment Analysis of the Trailing Spouses’ Online Blogs

In this study, we aim at contributing to the literature on adjustment of trailing spouses to new cultural environments. We do so by using an innovative research design where we employ sentiment analysis to examine trailing spouses’ blog entries over time as our source of data. Based on our analysis of blogs maintained by 12 trailing spouses relocated from Western countries to China, we identify four distinct trajectories of emotions, interpreted as a proxy for = psychological adjustment, during the expatriation process. We also illustrate the contingency of the adjustment on the spouses’ individual and contextual factors and discuss the differences and similarities between the four configurations of adjustment. We propose four profiles of trailing spouses: the observers, the optimists, the carers, and the mourners.

Twitter Sentiment Analysis and Visualization Using Apache Spark and Elasticsearch

Sentiment analysis on Twitter data has paying more attention recently. The system’s key feature, is the immediate communication with other users in an easy, fast way and user-friendly too. Sentiment analysis is the process of identifying and classifying opinions or sentiments expressed in source text. There is a huge volume of data present in the web for internet users and a lot of data is generated per second due to the growth and advancement of web technology. Nowadays, Internet has become best platform to share everyone's opinion, to exchange ideas and to learn online. People are using social network sites like facebook, twitter and it has gained more popularity among them to share their views and pass messages about some topics around the world. As tweets, notices and blog entries, the online networking is producing a tremendous measure of conclusion rich information. This client produced assumption examination information is extremely helpful in knowing the supposition of the general population swarm. At the point when contrasted with general supposition investigation the twitter assumption examination is much troublesome because of its slang words and incorrect spellings. Twitter permits 140 as the most extreme cutoff of characters per message. The two procedures that are mostly utilized for content examination is information base approach and machine learning approach. In this paper, we investigated the twitter created posts utilizing Machine Learning approach. Performing assumption examination in a particular area, is to distinguish the impact of space data in notion grouping. we ordered the tweets as constructive, pessimistic and separate diverse people groups' data about that specific space. In this paper, we developed a novel method for sentiment learning using the Spark coreNLP framework. Our method exploits the hashtags and emoticons inside a tweet, as sentiment labels, and proceeds to a classification procedure of diverse sentiment types in a parallel and distributed manner.

Understanding destination image from the perspective of Western travel bloggers: the case of Istanbul

PurposeTravelers’ narratives disseminated online about destination experiences are an important source of information for measuring the performance of tourist destinations and understanding travelers’ perceptions, behaviors and expectations. Drawing on data from travel narratives, the purpose of this study is to examine the destination image of Istanbul as revealed in Western travel blogs. In addition, this study aims to identify the demographic characteristics of travelers who are more likely to engage in destination blogging activities.Design methodology/approachA deductive content analysis approach was used on a sample of travel blog entries retrieved from TravelPod.com. Based on the dimensions and attributes of destination image identified by Beerli and Martín (2004), a coding scheme was established to guide the coding process.FindingsThe findings suggest that the online destination image of Istanbul is generally positive. Specifically, the destination is mainly appreciated for its cultural and historical heritage, as well as for its tourist infrastructure. However, the findings also highlight some issues that concern Western travelers, such as safety and traffic congestion.Originality/valueThis study is timely as it explores the online destination image of a key destination in a period of instability. The findings are expected to offer insights for destination management organizations in Turkey on how Western travelers view Istanbul as a tourist destination. These insights are also important to help policymakers and tourism destination marketers design effective strategies.

Opening the Door of the Haunted House: An Inquiry of the Nostalgic Experience

The article explores nostalgia as a cognitive and affective mechanism of memory aimed at the restoration and healing of one’s Self and developing knowledge of one’s Self by means of involving oneself in the individual or collective past. Employing method of narrative inquiry with the elements of autobiographical inquiry and fiction writing, the article focuses primarily on the individual nostalgic experience unlike nostalgia as a collective phenomenon. The article relies on interpretative analysis of the author’s short stories, selected diary entries, interviews with female immigrants in Colombia and travel blog entries in the broader context of the sociological, psychological and philosophical studies of memory and nostalgia and literary and cinematic works that explore the relevant topics.

An Exploratory Study of Incorporating Blogfolios Into a College Writing Course

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the effectiveness of the customized blog and eportfolio (“blogfolio”) platform, a hybrid tool for teaching advanced undergraduate writing courses at a large research universities in the southwestern U.S. By combining a blogfolio platform and academic writing, this article promotes the development of students' academic community identity and generates a better sense of identity and commitment among them towards their future career in their professional disciplines. The authors reviewed and synthesized articles and theories relevant to educational blogging and digital portfolios. In addition, the authors examined the impacts of the blogfolio on student learning and professional development based on data collected from surveys, blog entries, and server activity logs.

"Hopefully This Will All Make Sense at Some Point": Meaning and Performance in Illness Blogs.

To analyze the narratives of illness blogs created by parents of children with cancer. The profound effects of the childhood cancer experience on family members and the turn to the Internet by parents for help in the process are gaining research attention. The qualitative study design involved secondary narrative analysis of 14 illness blogs: 9 by the parents of children with neuroblastoma and 5 by the parents of children with leukemia. Daily blog entries were analyzed as individual units of illness experience expression and in relation to one another to identify thematic and linguistic similarities. The initial analysis of these illness blogs resulted in identification of the quest for balance as a primary theme. Narratives in parents' childhood cancer illness blogs illustrated themes of performance. During this initial analysis, however, the author repeatedly asked, "Why are they writing this? And why publish this?" A second analysis of the data answered these questions of why parents blog about the experience. Narrative analysis resulted in the discovery of 6 main reasons that parents wrote and published the childhood cancer experience online: to report, explain, express, reflect, archive, and advocate. The analysis suggests that incorporation of parent writing may improve family--provider communication, enhance the family-health care professional relationship, enhance safety by preventing medical errors, improve reporting of clinical trial data such as adverse events, and improve satisfaction.

Is It the Message or the Medium? Relational Management during Crisis through Blogs, Facebook and Corporate Websites

This is a quasi-experimental study comparing three modes of communication during crisis to examine whether they lead to differences in perception of relational maintenance. Crisis communication by an airline company was marginally modified to mask the organization’s identity, following which participants were exposed to crisis communication through a Facebook page ( n = 47), corporate blog entry ( n = 58) or corporate media release ( n = 50). Contrary to the existing literature, the study did not find any significant differences based on participants’ exposure to different mediums. However, participants relying on Facebook for information about the crisis reported a better understanding of the crisis. The study underscores the importance of perceived user control and familiarity with the medium in determining stakeholder perceptions. It also calls for additional empirical studies to investigate the effectiveness of social media vis-à-vis conventional communication routes, especially when the same information is presented through different mediums.