Community Of Citizens Research Articles

Book Review: Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives, edited by Einar Thorsen and Stuart Allan

Citizen Journalism: Global Perspectives. Vol. 2. Einar Thorsen and Stuart Allan, eds. New York, New York: Peter Lang, 2014. 406 pp. $44.60 pbk.In this edition of the series Global Crises and the Media, Einar Thorsen and Stuart Allan allow the reader more than ever to travel around the world to explore different forms of what is mostly, conveniently, and superficially called in the coverage of all types of crises. In doing this, the contributors highlight the limits and the controversial use of the term citizen journalism to represent the different forms of citizen communication. Furthermore, they contextualize the impact of global crises reporting on both new and old media, clarifying the relationship between online and offline communication. Finally, they analyze the disruptive capability of citizen journalism on the flow of communication power.The major strength of this book resides in the different perspectives taken from many different countries, political systems, and levels of freedom of expression. Indeed, this diversity of case studies allows examining both the positive and negative repercussions that citizen participation in news coverage may have.In their introduction, Thorsen, senior lecturer at the Media School, Bournemouth University, UK, and Allan, professor in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, UK, state that online and mobile technologies enable people affected by conflicts and repressive regimes to speak their truths. The dynamism that these channels allow opens possibilities for fast news disseminations, pluralized voices in reportage, and extended audience reach.Through her case study on the Mumbai terrorist attack of 2008, Yasmin Ibrahim demonstrates that social media becomes places for both bearing witness and engaging with events (Chapter 1). In particular, during natural disasters such as the Christchurch earthquakes (Chapter 7), Hurricane Sandy (Chapter 8), or acts of terrorism such as in Norway (Chapter 9), citizen communication becomes vital for delivering practical information and documenting events as they unfold. This close view on events from direct witnesses has the potential to increase solidarity between distant others. To prove this point, Lilie Chouliaraki takes the examples of the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the Arab Spring (Chapter 4). And through case study on the Russians' use of social media, Chapter 18 shows that these channels engender novel sense of civic society, responsibility, and consciousness.Similarly, Clemencia Rodriguez's analysis of armed conflicts in Colombia (Chapter 14) illustrates how citizen journalism is a practice of resistance that emerges as social movements; activists and other social justice collectives do not accept that only professional news organizations can practice journalism and provide information to support democratic processes. …

Postcolonial migrations and diasporic linkages between Latin America and Japan and Spain

In the late 1980s, both Japan and Spain revised their legislation to confer preferential immigration rights to citizens from former colonies or their own diasporic descendants based on historical, cultural or ethnic belonging to the ancestral homeland. During the economic crisis, Spain, in 2008, and Japan, in 2009, reversed their policies through a government-sponsored voluntary return program for these preferred migrants. When the economy recovered, Japan in 2013 revisited its return migration program, resulting in pendular migrations driven by politics and macro-economic trends. This suggests that historical or cultural ties that favor the citizens of former colonies and diasporic communities have reinforced two-way transoceanic migratory processes, thereby contributing to strengthening ‘old migration geographies.’

Citizen science in risk communication in the era of ICT

SummaryRisk communication is the exchange of information among stakeholders about an impending disaster and its risks to help individuals take appropriate actions to mitigate hazard impacts. While traditional risk communication follows a command and control structure such that information from hierarchical and vertically integrated organizations is disseminated to broader community, social media uses a decentralized, collaborative, and network based communication approach. The growth of information and communication technologies has made social media a popular channel for disseminating alert and warning messages both by citizens and agencies. However, social media suffers from spreading rumors and hoaxes. To minimize rumors and increase citizen communication, a science gateway (Cyber‐Infrastructure for GeoInformatics and Community Resilience) has been deployed. This gateway, resulted from a research conducted along the Mississippi Gulf Coast communities, incorporates citizen science to evaluate warning message sources, message contents and dissemination channels to increase public response to warnings. This gateway built on the social construct of risk communication provides opportunities to citizens to share data and information about a hazard, and participate in building community resilience. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Building Community Citizenship Behaviors: The Relative Role of Attachment and Satisfaction

Building Community Citizenship Behaviors: The Relative Role of Attachment and Satisfaction

Fairness and devotion go far: Integrating online justice and value co-creation in virtual communities

Although building long-term, successful virtual communities is important, rare studies have examined both in- and extra-role value co-creation behaviors from the perspective of social exchange theory and equity theory. Specially, we incorporate five different online justice perceptions into our model and examine the mediating role of “sense of virtual community” between these perceived online justice antecedents and both in- and extra-role online value co-creation behavior (reflected by knowledge contribution and online community citizenship behaviors, respectively). We empirically examine the model using data from 278 members of virtual communities. The results reveal that perceived online justice leads to value co-creation behavior through sense of virtual community. The findings elicit several implications for theory and practice.

Understanding community citizenship behavior in social networking sites

Purpose – Social media platforms established social relationship between the consumer and the brand community. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to understand how dual-identification impact on the community citizenship behavior (CCB). Specifically, the authors propose perceived community-brand similarity (PCBS) influence CCB via dual-identification and brand passion (BP). Design/methodology/approach – The research sample consists of 323 members who have used Apple product and used Apple fan page for more than one year, and structural equation modeling was used to test the research hypotheses. Findings – The results indicated that PCBS directly influenced brand identification (BI) and community identification (CI), respectively. BI directly influenced CI. CI directly influenced BP, but BI not directly influenced BP. In the mediation effects, both the dual-identification factors and BP play important mediating roles. Practical implications – From a managerial standpoint, this research provides implications for social network sites management. Originality/value – This research fills a void in the BI and CI are coexisting but distinct aspects of virtual communities. In addition, the mediating role of dual-identification factors and BP in the online community consumer-brand relationship has not been fully investigated.

The effect of political trust and trust in European citizens on European identity

In the literature, two approaches toward the development of a European identity can be distinguished. Society-based approaches assume that the most important foundation for the development of a European identity is trust toward other European citizens as this allows Europeans to identify with the European Union as a community of citizens and values. The institutional approach, on the other hand, assumes that a shared European identity is predominantly based on trust in political institutions. In this paper, we use the results of the IntUne Mass Survey 2009 (n=16,613 in 16 EU member states) to test the relationship between social and political trust on the one hand, and European identity on the other. The results suggest that trust in other European citizens is positively associated with European identity, but trust in the European political institutions has a stronger relation with European identity. This could imply that efforts to strengthen European identity cannot just rely on a bottom-up approach, but should also pay attention to the effectiveness and the visibility of the EU institutions and the way they are being perceived by European citizens.

Závěrečný účet - latentní údaje o hospodaření obce

Final account is a particularity of local government. All municipalities are obliged to compile it. The purpose of a final account is to summarize the yearly economic activity of a municipality. The aim of the article is to analyse the accessibility of final accounts to citizens based on a performed research. A municipality is the primary community of citizens. The law defines a municipality as an accounting entity obliged to keep books. Unlike companies, which compile annual report, a municipality compiles a final account. According to applicable legislation, a municipality is not obliged to make its final account public. The analysis of accessibility of final accounts has been performed within a selected district of the Moravian-Silesian Region comprising of seventy-two municipalities. The result is a finding that a vast majority of municipalities take advantage of the loophole in the law and forbid citizens from accesing the information on the economic activity of the municipality. The solution seems to be to amend the relevant legislation with the obligation to make the final account public, analogically to the obligation for companies to make their annual report public.

Grassroots humanitarianism on YouTube: Ordinary fundraisers, unlikely donors, and global solidarity

Social media have become important channels for directing humanitarian communication. Aid organizations increasingly use social networks and simultaneously we have seen the emergence of self-organizing volunteers who take on a variety of humanitarian tasks that previously belonged to institutional agents. The focus of this study is on user-created disaster appeal videos on YouTube, which are a type of citizen communication that occurs in the aftermath of a disaster. Appeal videos aim to raise funds for the disaster victims by acting as intermediaries between humanitarian organizations and the public. The study explores how these appeals try to create solidarity with the plight of disaster victims, and how viewers respond to these appeals from ordinary humanitarians. The article argues that this peer-to-peer moral education may help to get round the distrust of humanitarian organizations and may also be able to cultivate the idea of global solidarity within the everyday lives of YouTube viewers.

노인주거 대안으로서의 친환경 공동주택 디자인 가이드라인 제시

This study aims to suggest `an eco-friendly residential housing design guideline as an elderly housing alternative` by mixing the concept of a `sensor citizen community` housing environment with the concept of an `eco-friendly` housing environment, based on the directivity of an elderly housing alternative for surviving in a super-aged society and the directivity of a sustainable housing environment of providing against global warming. Basically, this study considered the directivity of `an eco-friendly residential building as an elderly housing alternative` by analyzing housing environment elements and elements to be considered in an elderly housing environment and setting the directivity of an elderly housing environment, which reflects the change in the design paradigm. In relation to the concept of universal design, for considering the perspective of elderly users, existing elements were compared and major planning elements were applied to the scope of complex planning, communal space and housing unit space. In relation to the concept of eco-friendly design, also, a guideline was re-organized and planning elements were applied to each category by comparing domestic and foreign green building certification system. Based on domestic and foreign authorized guidelines of universal design and green building certification system, this study was focused on suggesting an eco-friendly residential housing design guideline as an elderly housing alternative to make users perceive the need for a specific indoor environment design guideline and system.

Networks, citizenship behaviours and destination effectiveness: a comparative study of two Chinese rural tourism destinations

While community-based rural tourism has experienced rapid growth in China in recent years, little is known about the social mechanisms underlying the behaviours of tourism operators regarding common destination interests. Comparing two Chinese rural tourism cases, this study investigates four types of networks among local tourism operators and explores how the network structures in destinations are related to the community citizenship behaviours of tourism operators and other tourism-involved residents. The study also examines the effects of community citizenship behaviours on destination effectiveness in rural tourism development and management. The findings highlight the possibility that network structures among tourism operators could critically influence their community citizenship behaviours, which contribute to destination effectiveness. This study contributes both empirically and methodologically to the field of social network analysis in tourism, within the specific context of rural communities in China.

(New Formats of Communication Platforms In Cities)

Russian Abstract: Городская среда порождает коммуникации, которые могут как выполнять функцию “плавильного котла”, так и работать на поддержание социальной дистанции в условиях ограниченного физического пространства. Данная работа посвящена теоретическому и эмпирическому осмыслению тенденций последних лет. Теоретическая часть обобщает основные подходы к роли коммуникации в формировании городской среды через призму городских сообществ, а также городских пространств различного типа, которые могут становиться как источниками преодоления инаковости, так и способом установления социальных границ. Эмпирическая часть основана на анализе актуальных тенденцией развития коммуникационных форматов в Ярославе, городе, известном новаторскими проектами в этой сфере. В работе содержится детальный анализ существующих в городе площадок, генерирующих коммуникацию горожан, приведена их типологизация, выявлены и описаны лучшие практики, а также существующие ограничения развития таких проектов. English Abstract: Urban environment creates communications that can either serve as a melting pot and to work for the maintenance of social distance in a limited physical space. This work is devoted to theoretical and empirical understanding of trends in recent years. The theoretical part summarizes the main approaches to the role of communication in shaping the urban environment through the prism of urban communities, as well as various types of urban spaces that can become as a source of overcoming alterity and manner of establishing social boundaries. The empirical part is based on an analysis of current trends and communication formats in Yaroslav, a city known for innovative projects in this area. The paper provides a detailed analysis of the existing sites in the city, generating communication of citizens, their typology shows, identified and described the best practices, as well as the constraints of such projects.

О зарождении театральной традиции в усадьбе Д. И. Менделеева «Боблово»

The present paper is the result of years of hard work of the author on the study traditions of family life of the great Russian scientist D. I. Mendeleev, his close and distant relatives. It is dedicated to the 150"1 anniversary of the purchase by D. I. Mendeleev in June 1865 of Boblovo, which is a resurgent Northern Moscow Region estate.
 
 In the circle of the descendants of the great scientist often talk about the «Clan ofD. I. Mendeleev». It included members of the first and second families of D. Mendeleev: Theosebia Nikitichna first wife, his second wife, Anna Ivanovna, and their children, six in two marriages of Mendeleev. Readers iare offered to learn about Mendeleev who led a unique family, which included brothers and sisters, nephews, great-nephews of the scientist, his friends.
 
 One of the traditions of Mendeleev>s clan was known as barn-theater productions with active participation of the poet Alexander Blok. Of course, the poet can be safely attributed to the «Clan of Mendeleev». This rather large community of citizens of modern Russia includes the author of the article, who belongs to the generation of great-great nephews ofD. I. Mendeleev.
 
 Author´s research methodology is original, it is dominated by information received from the mouth of the descendants of the great scientist. The article mentions a totally unique document that sheds light on the many pages of the history of Boblovo. This document adds new content road tour «Bol´shoe Shakhmatovo» linking Shakhmatovo (A. A. Blok estate) with the estate ofD. I. Mendeleev and villages Pokrovskoe, Rogachevo, Ivanovo, St. Nicholas-Peshnoshsky monastery, estate «Tarakanovo».

Community-based research: enabling civil society’s self-organisation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the contribution of community-based research to the self-organisation of Civil Society and in particular to community engagement, policy processes and social change. Design/methodology/approach – Starting from communities own issues and organisational structures, this paper presents a methodology to create spaces for social transformation. Its approach was designing engagement programmes of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) with communities’ partnerships, supported by constructed conversations, workshops and fieldwork, coproducing knowledge within community structures. Findings – The research offers evidence that supporting community empowerment and engagement with community-based research needs a deep understanding of participatory social processes. It makes visible that researchers should have more opportunities to focus their research on communities rather than on collecting data to respond to funders. Research limitations/implications – Though community self-organisation happens one way or the other effective self-organisation processes cannot be taken for granted and need further studies and elaboration. Despite current efforts it requires more studies to understand social systems and develop stronger links to active citizenship policies. Practical implications – This research contributes to communities’ engagement in policy processes and highlights the enabling role of HEIs. Originality/value – It rearticulates participatory approaches to active citizenship and learning in communities.

La transformación de los servicios hacia la calidad de vida. Una iniciativa de innovación social de FEAPS

This paper presents the conceptual and strategic basis of the project that is being developed by FEAPS, the social movement of Spanish associations for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families, to advance on the transformation of their centres and services towards person-centred services, oriented to the quality of life and full citizenship in more inclusive communities. Transformation is a process of international scope in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities and has a strong knowledge base, but it is also a process derived from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and therefore it impacts in public policy. Currently, FEAPS is developing transformative experiences in the field of early intervention (38 centres in 10 different regions), education (38 schools in 10 different regions), work-sheltered centres (an initial experience in Madrid with nine work-sheltered centres), and services of support for older people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (with 19 entities in 4 regions). After describing these experiences the overall process that is being followed and some key learning derived from this project are shown

Participation of Teachers and MA Students in the Study of Various Aspects of the Activity Level of Riga’s Residents in Solving Problems in Their Neighbourhoods

The article is devoted to the research work in the ERDF INTERREG IVA project CB5 "Creating attractive and dynamic society together with inhabitants" (CADDIES). The aim of the research work is to generalize the survey results of citizens in Latvia (Riga) for defining of social and economical factors, influencing social identity, place attachment and sense of community and for marking out the distinguishing features of mentioned above phenomenon for citizens from Latvia. The objects of investigation are practical aspects of social identity, place attachment and sense of community for citizens in Latvia. Sociological survey had been used. In general, there are mentioned all local actors to be important for being involved in neighbourhood development. Some aspects of citizens’ life were studied and the most effective involving methods were suggested for their participation in life improvement.

Understanding online community citizenship behaviors through social support and social identity

As with other types of online communities, the success of an online support community depends on members’ behaviors that benefit the community as a whole. Such discretionary conduct is called online community citizenship behavior (OCCB). This study integrates social support and social identity theory to examine factors affecting citizenship behaviors in online support communities. In the research model, we theorize that online community citizenship behavior is driven mainly by two social mechanisms: (1) the social support mechanism, which transfers the effect of online social support first to self-efficacy, self-esteem, and subjective well-being, and then to citizenship behavior; and (2) the social identity mechanism, which relates the perceived external prestige and distinctiveness of online support communities to community identification and, in turn, to citizenship behavior. Data collected from 159 valid users of online support communities provides partial support for the research model. The findings indicate that perceived external prestige and community distinctiveness positively affect an individual's identification with an online support community, which in turn has a positive effect on OCCB. Social support has a positive effect on self-efficacy, self-esteem and subjective well-being. Subjective well-being has a stronger effect on OCCB than does community identification. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Availability of Municipal Services as a Means of Communication of Municipal Authorities and Citizens

The article presents the issues of an increasing degree of municipal services availability for the population of the Russian Federation. The team of authors analyses in detail such categories as “municipal service”, “administrative provision”, “civil society”. This article attempts to provide the recommended practices for the improvement of degree of transparency, openness, and publicity of the mechanisms for the exercise of civil rights in the sphere of municipal services provision, which increases the number and availability of services for the population as a result. On the basis of the analysis of different theories in Russian and foreign legal science the authors demonstrate nonseparability of the local self-government bodies and civic institutions in the process of provision of services and public monitoring of their provision.

Why cops kill: The psychology of police deadly force encounters

The use of any kind of physical force is by far the exception in most police–citizen interactions, and deadly force encounters are rarer still. Police officers use deadly force when they believe they have no choice in order to protect human life—their own or that of other citizens. Any force, however mild or severe, that goes beyond the level necessary to preserve life, prevent injury, or safely control the scene constitutes excessive force. Police officers characteristically restrain their use of force with citizens, sometimes at the cost of their own safety. However, certain types of attitudes, personalities, and job experiences may render some officers more prone to use force in police–citizen encounters, and certain emotional and behavioral features of police–citizen confrontations may eventuate in a tipping point, where force is then deployed. Special circumstances may attend suicide by cop incidents, where disturbed citizens manipulate officers into killing them. Altered patterns of thought and perception often occur in the minds of officers during a deadly force encounter, and the aftermath of such an incident may include both administrative and psychological consequences. Certain racial and ethnic groups—of both police and citizens—may be disproportionately represented in use of force incidents. However, these are mainly related to the demographics of criminal behavior and officer assignment in various communities, and there is no evidence that police systematically target members of certain ethnic groups for more forceful confrontations, unless the situation itself requires it. Certain features of selection, education, training, discipline, and supervision of police officers can help weed out bad cops, improve police–citizen communication, and further reduce the incidence of use of force, including deadly force, encounters.

Active Life of the Senior Citizens through Education

The paper presents reasons for including the senior citizens into educational process, as well as active age model. Education, communication and leisure system for the senior citizens, implemented by Yelabuga municipal district, is presented as a requirement for model realization. A core of the paper is the Active Age Institute. Its program consists of organization of courses based on the senior citizens’ requests and their involvement into educational work with the children and the youth. In its turn, work of future teachers with the senior citizens results in advance receiving by future specialists of integral system of knowledge concerning ageing social mechanisms and ways of increasing social mobility of the senior citizens.