Informal Platforms Research Articles

Social infrastructures and older adults' webs of care: COVID‐19 as spatial breach

AbstractThis paper argues that the spatial restrictions and social distancing measures which older adults experienced during COVID‐19 can be interpreted as a spatial breach in their webs of care, impacting their ability to connect socially with others through formal and informal social infrastructures. Drawing on a qualitative study of 50 older adults in Singapore (which is part of a wider mixed‐methods project consisting of 1199 participants), the paper shows how spatial breaches manifest as tension points in the older adults' webs of care. The paper highlights the paradoxical and ageist impacts of vulnerability tropes that emphasise the alleged universal vulnerability of older adults to the coronavirus. It provides further insights on why some tension points in the older adults' webs of care become resolved through adjustments while others remain unresolved. This analysis furthers our understanding of how older adults cope with the social disconnection that may happen during spatial breaches, especially when it is due to the choices of others to withdraw socially. Conceptually, the paper demonstrates how care assemblages and social infrastructures work in tandem to modulate the older adults' webs of care dynamically. The paper situates social infrastructures as key resource components in the webs of care of older adults, functioning as formal or informal platforms through which they access material, financial or emotional resources. Importantly, the paper shows how particular social infrastructures may become prominent or recede in one's webs of care as the person's care assemblages dynamically adjust to personal circumstances and relationships. In doing so, the paper bridges hitherto distinct literatures on how social infrastructures and assemblages are used to understand social life.

Leveraging Technology for Autonomous English Language Learning: A Study on Formal and Informal Platforms in Higher Education

Leveraging Technology for Autonomous English Language Learning: A Study on Formal and Informal Platforms in Higher Education

Does gamification mediate the relationship between digital social capital and student Performance? A survey-based study in Spain

This article aims to investigate the potential mediating role of gamification in the relationship between students' digital social capital and their academic performance. Social networks are informal platforms where students can develop their own skills in order to adapt to the digital environment and where there is visibility in public rankings. Consequently, we argue that digital social capital developed through the use of social networks can promote student motivation and engagement in online gamification practices, which in turn might help to enhance their course performance. Our empirical study applies a survey-based approach on a sample of 133 undergraduate students enrolled in a hybrid course in corporate finance at a Spanish public university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Empirical evidence suggests that stronger digital social capital (i.e. a greater number of following contacts in social networks) increases a student's propensity to participate in Kahoot! gamification. Additionally, digital social capital has a positive indirect effect on a student's academic performance, with this relationship being mediated by Kahoot! participation. This educational research encourages links between different digital technologies to be exploited to a greater extent in order to strengthen student engagement and maximize their academic performance.

The role of local governments in the implementation of evidence-based nutrition interventions in Kerala.

To study the involvement and influence of local participatory governments consisting of Panchayat Raj institutions (PRIs) in implementing evidence-based interventions for eliminating maternal and child undernutrition in the state of Kerala, India. In-depth interviews were carried out among stakeholders in six selected local governments using a semi-structured questionnaire. Transcribed interviews were coded and thematically analysed. PRIs facilitated nutrition interventions through additional resource mobilisation, nutrition monitoring and surveillance, acting as a more approachable point of governance, utilising general acceptance to mobilise volunteers to tackle local challenges, enabling formal and informal platforms for community participation and spaces of co-creation. Changes in the attitude of different stakeholders, timely policy backing and support, and interconnections at the local level aided the process. Gaps exist in awareness creation, dietary diversification, feeding behaviours, maternal mental health, infrastructure development, monitoring of anthropometric indicators and planning for nutrition interventions during emergencies. Results illustrate complex linkages PRIs have within the health system and how these linkages help in the implementation of interventions. The study explored previously identified pathways from the literature and identified additional pathways through which local participatory governance contributes to the successful implementation of nutrition interventions.

ICT-enabled informal learning in EFL writing

With the advancement and popularity of information and communication technologies (ICT), English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students do have now access and opportunities to interact with a wide range of learning sources and resources in online informal spaces to develop their writing beyond the classroom. Yet, research addressing the potential of ICT-enabled informal learning has attracted insufficient attention in EFL writing. This study explores undergraduate students’ online informal writing practices and the extent to which they are adopted for formal writing purposes. A survey with both closed-ended and open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from English-major students (N = 118) at an Omani university. The results indicate that students resorted to various digital technologies not only to help them communicate effectively on online informal platforms but also to navigate the requirements of classroom-based writing. Furthermore, translation and proofreading applications were rated as the most frequently used and useful tools in both contexts, suggesting EFL students’ concern with linguistic aspects of their writing. However, while students relied mostly on synchronous platforms to engage in informal writing activities, they consulted asynchronous tools to resolve formal writing problems. The paper ends with a discussion of pedagogical implications and directions for future research.

Graffiti, Ban or Boon? A Bakhtinian Appreciation of Selected Latrinalia from Bulawayo in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT This article explores the messages that are created and expressed in alternative and generally informal platforms in response to the cultural practice of tabooing certain themes and language usage in the presentation and sharing of feelings and ideas about such themes. Graffiti and the carnivalesque converge on the fact that their setup is informal in terms of language, themes and manipulated identity of participants. Their content is mainly on tabooed themes and the language that is used is not only crude but also generally “vulgar”, “dirty” or “offensive”. Graffiti has, therefore, been dismissed as mundane and serving the interests of people whose mental state is compromised. It is safe to argue that there are two schools of thought that view graffiti and the carnivalesque differently. These schools of thought can be separated into those in and with authority and those not in and without authority. Those in authority view graffiti and the carnivalesque as practices that go against official expectations and are therefore negative practices. Latrinalia from selected public toilets from the city of Bulawayo was photographed and subjected to Critical Discourse Analysis with attention being paid to carnivality, Bakhtinian dialogism and humour and its impact on the interaction process.

Facebook as Complementary Teaching Material: Reconceptualizing the Context Boundaries of Formal and Informal Learning in EFL Higher Education

This article is a case study that aims to understand and explore a teacher's perspective about integrating Facebook as an informal social platform into the EFL classroom in a higher education context in Oman. The study further aims to identify the attitudes and perspectives of a group of students belonging to the same context. Research data came from semi-structured interviews with a teacher participant and a survey questionnaire with student participants. The study provides a set of findings based on interview data analysis and questionnaire survey analysis. The study's findings revealed the teacher and students' positive attitudes and perspectives towards the role of Facebook in boosting pedagogical practices and increasing English language skills learning. This study contributes to knowledge by providing insights on the integration of Facebook as an informal platform into the formal curriculum-based learning in TESOL. The insights and findings are of value to the teachers and instructors in EFL higher education contexts. Pedagogical implications for ESL (English as a second language) and EFL (English as a foreign language) and researchers are offered in the light of these results.

Operationalising the \u201cOne Health\u201d approach in India: facilitators of and barriers to effective cross-sector convergence for zoonoses prevention and control

BackgroundThere is a strong policy impetus for the One Health cross-sectoral approach to address the complex challenge of zoonotic diseases, particularly in low/lower middle income countries (LMICs). Yet the implementation of this approach in LMIC contexts such as India has proven challenging, due partly to the relatively limited practical guidance and understanding on how to foster and sustain cross-sector collaborations. This study addresses this gap by exploring the facilitators of and barriers to successful convergence between the human, animal and environmental health sectors in India.MethodsA mixed methods study was conducted using a detailed content review of national policy documents and in-depth semi-structured interview data on zoonotic disease management in India. In total, 29 policy documents were reviewed and 15 key informant interviews were undertaken with national and state level policymakers, disease managers and experts operating within the human-animal-environment interface of zoonotic disease control.ResultsOur findings suggest that there is limited policy visibility of zoonotic diseases, although global zoonoses, especially those identified to be of pandemic potential by international organisations (e.g. CDC, WHO and OIE) rather than local, high burden endemic diseases, have high recognition in the existing policy agenda setting. Despite the widespread acknowledgement of the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration, a myriad of factors operated to either constrain or facilitate the success of cross-sectoral convergence at different stages (i.e. information-sharing, undertaking common activities and merging resources and infrastructure) of cross-sectoral action. Importantly, participants identified the lack of supportive policies, conflicting departmental priorities and limited institutional capacities as major barriers that hamper effective cross-sectoral collaboration on zoonotic disease control. Building on existing informal inter-personal relationships and collaboration platforms were suggested by participants as the way forward.ConclusionOur findings point to the importance of strengthening existing national policy frameworks as a first step for leveraging cross-sectoral capacity for improved disease surveillance and interventions. This requires the contextual adaptation of the One Health approach in a manner that is sensitive to the underlying socio-political, institutional and cultural context that determines and shapes outcomes of cross-sector collaborative arrangements.

Remembering Durban’s “Grey Street Casbah and surrounding”: Creating Urban History through Digital Spaces

AbstractThe “Grey Street Casbah and surrounding” is a closed Facebook group about the historically “Indian” neighborhood in downtown Durban, South Africa. It creates an informal archival repository and provides a new space to reify contemporary understandings of historical places within the Durban Central Business District. The informal nature of this space allows the layperson the ability to participate in historical inquiry and exhibits the diverse ways places in Durban are remembered and memorialized. In this paper, I argue the wealth of knowledge generated on informal online platforms, such as this Facebook group, should influence and inform historical interpretations of our urban pasts.

Characterizing Disagreement in Online Political Talk: Examining Incivility and Opinion Expression on News Websites and Facebook in Brazil

This paper examines the ways people engage in political conversation triggered by exposure to political news in two different informal platforms in Brazil: Facebook and news websites. We analyze the extent to which disagreement is associated to discursive traits that are commonly associated with deliberative behavior, such as directly engaging with others, and trying to justify one’s views, and negative traits, such as incivility. The contributions of this paper can be summarized as follows. First, this paper emphasizes the importance of looking beyond a single platform and a single topic to understand political discussion online. Second, we demonstrate that online disagreement is positively associated with both deliberative traits, such as justified opinion expression, and non-deliberative traits, such as incivility, and argue that the latter is not enough to dismiss the value of political talk. We also demonstrate that the topic of a news story is relevant both to drive political conversation and to spark political disagreement: controversies involving celebrities and stories covering international affairs are more likely to drive heterogeneous conversations than more conventional political topics (e.g. government, policy), even though these are the topics that tend to attract more political talk. Finally, this study contributes to fill an important gap in the literature, looking beyond the US and Western European contexts by examining political talk in Brazil, the fourth largest digital market in the world.

Students’ perceptions on the use of LMS at a Lesotho university amidst the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The world was drastically changed by the 2019 outbreak of the novel Coronavirus pandemic. Teaching and learning practices had to be revised and reconceptualised in order to salvage the education process. As many countries, Lesotho included, were forced into lockdown to curb the rampant spread of the virus, educational institutions, most of which originally operated uniquely on face-to-face mode of delivery, were faced with a glaring need to swiftly adopt pure online teaching and learning, including the use of Learning Management Systems (LMS), in order to save the academic year. However, this proved to be a challenging move for all stakeholders involved, hence the purpose of this article is to explore students’ perceptions regarding the use of an LMS at one Lesotho university amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an interpretive case study, ten participants who are at third year of their university studies were conveniently selected from a larger sample of 21 students. Email conducted reflective activities and LMS focus group discussions were used for purposes of data generation. Thematic analysis was used to interpret and analyse data, which was framed by Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) theory. The findings of the study indicated that students’ factual perceptions (content knowledge) and social perceptions (technological knowledge) are influenced by their habitual perceptions (pedagogical knowledge). Students’ unique experiences with the LMS proved to have a bearing on the content acquired and on the efficiency of technological knowledge in the attainment of goals. The study recommends that institutions of higher learning adopt a flexible approach towards online learning by formally integrating students’ preferred informal and personal digital platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook. Students’ lived experiences and personal identities may be taken into consideration in navigating the new ‘norm’ while producing new and relevant knowledge.

SENTIMENT ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES TO ANALYZE HSE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AT OIL AND GAS PLATFORMS USING MACHINE LEARNING

Health Safety & Environment (HSE) situational awareness is a very important aspect of any risky workplace. Negligence in complying with HSE policies and practices might lead to unwanted incidents, critical injuries, death, spread of diseases and environmental pollution. In most corporations, information on HSE related incidents is disseminated through formal channels such as reports. Employees on the other hand frequently use social media to share, complain and discuss HSE-related issues. The issues are discussed through an informal platform, it is difficult to analyze opinions for further action. Therefore, this study will investigate existing sentiment analysis models and formulate a suitable sentiment analysis model using machine learning technique. Through literature review, NaA¯ve Bayes model was found to be the most efficient text classification in sentiment analysis. This technique still needs further enhancement as the accuracy is not within requirement. Upon enhancing the NaA¯ve Bayes model, a better outcome can be attained. © 2020, Engg Journals Publications. All rights reserved.

Reorienting Nurturing Care for Early Childhood Development during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Kenya: A Review.

In Kenya, millions of children have limited access to nurturing care. With the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it is anticipated that vulnerable children will bear the biggest brunt of the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic. This review aimed to deepen understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on nurturing care from conception to four years of age, a period where the care of children is often delivered through caregivers or other informal platforms. The review has drawn upon the empirical evidence from previous pandemics and epidemics, and anecdotal and emerging evidence from the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Multifactorial impacts fall into five key domains: direct health; health and nutrition systems; economic protection; social and child protection; and child development and early learning. The review proposes program and policy strategies to guide the reorientation of nurturing care, prevent the detrimental effects associated with deteriorating nurturing care environments, and support the optimal development of the youngest and most vulnerable children. These include the provision of cash transfers and essential supplies for vulnerable households and strengthening of community-based platforms for nurturing care. Further research on COVID-19 and the ability of children’s ecology to provide nurturing care is needed, as is further testing of new ideas.

Could the connectedness of primary health care workers involved in social networks affect their job burnout? A cross-sectional study in six counties, Central China

BackgroundThis study aimed to reveal the effects of the connectedness of primary health care (PHC) workers in social networks on their job burnout.MethodsCross-sectional survey data of rural PHC workers in China were analyzed. A total of 663 respondents were enrolled. Chi-square and cumulative logistic regression were used to determine the effects of the connectedness of PHC workers in social networks on their job burnout.ResultsPHC workers in rural China had high levels of emotional exhaustion (24.1%), depersonalization (15.7%), and lack of personal accomplishment (34.7%). More than half of the participants were in the middle connectedness level in terms of their advisory (70.4%) and friendship (70.3%) networks. The degree of emotional exhaustion seemed to increase when participants had a low connectedness in their friendship networks (β = 0.769, 95% CI = 0.080–1.458, P = 0.029). Respondents with the middle level of connectedness in advisory networks had higher levels of depersonalization (β = 0.739, 95% CI = 0.130–1.348, P = 0.017) and lack of personal accomplishment (β = 0.583, 95% CI = 0.111–1.055, P = 0.015) than those with the high degree of connectedness in advisory networks.ConclusionsThe connectedness of PHC workers in social networks influenced their job burnout. Thus, organizations should establish an informal communication platform and information feedback mechanism, promote and manage friendship networks, and help PHC workers overcome emotional exhaustion. Managers should also encourage individuals with a high level of connectedness in advisory networks play the role of “opinion leader” so that they can help others mitigate burnout.

Contract work at older ages

AbstractThe share of workers who are self-employed rises markedly with age. Given policy concerns about inadequate retirement savings, especially among those with lower education, and the resulting interest in encouraging employment at older ages, it is important to understand the role that self-employment arrangements play in facilitating work among seniors. New data from a survey module fielded on a Gallup telephone survey distinguish independent contractor work from other self-employment and provide information on informal and online platform work. The Gallup data show that, especially after accounting for individuals who are miscoded as employees, self-employment is even more prevalent at older ages than suggested by existing data. Work as an independent contractor is the most common type of self-employment. Roughly one-quarter of independent contractors aged 50 and older work for a former employer. At older ages, self-employment generally – and work as an independent contractor specifically – is more common among the highly educated, accounting for much of the difference in employment rates across education groups. We provide suggestive evidence that differences in opportunities for independent contractor work play an important role in the lower employment rates of less-educated older adults.

Detecting candidates of depression, anxiety and stress through malay-written tweets: a preliminary study

<p>Depression, anxiety and stress are not trivial conditions applicable for only the weak-hearted. They can be inflicted by anyone of all age groups, gender, race and social status. While some are courageous to acknowledge their condition, others shy away in shame or denial. In this paper, we proposed a “proactive” approach to detecting candidates of depression, anxiety and stress in an unobtrusive manner by tapping into what Malaysians tweet in Malay language. From this preliminary study, we constructed 165 Malay layman terms which describe depression, anxiety or stress as identified in M-DASS-42 scale. Since Twitter is an informal platform, construction of Malay layman terms is an essential step to the detection of candidates. Our study on 1,789 Malay tweets discovered 6 Twitter users as potential candidates, having high frequency of tweets with any of the layman terms. We can conclude that using tweets can be useful in unobtrusively detecting candidates of depression, anxiety or stress. This paper also identifies open research areas.</p>

BRICS in a world of regions

ABSTRACTThis article is devoted to the analysis of the role of BRICS in forming the world order of regions. Several researchers have observed that the liberal world order is in crisis, and they describe the emerging new world order as a ‘regiopolar world order’. Today BRICS has become an alliance of co-thinkers who are trying to reform the current liberal world order. However, in terms of the classical theory of international relations, BRICS is regarded as a hopeless and unpromising structure. It has been actively criticized by Western experts as an ineffective, informal platform which has not been able to make any changes in the world order. The idea of a non-Western world order based on pluralism and polycentricism could be realized based on the concept of the ‘regional world’. BRICS as a case of multiple and diverse but cross-cutting cooperation could become a ‘bridge’ between the global and regional worlds: each BRICS member is also the leading economy in its region and can actively develop regional integration. Hence this paper suggests that BRICS could become the basis for a new world order – a polycentric world order in which different types and forms of regions are the key elements.

Transport Geography Workshop 2018 at Masaryk University

The Department of Geography of the Faculty of Science of the Masaryk University hosted the fourth annual meeting of transport geographers from the Czech Republic and Slovakia on October 11 and 12, 2018. The Transport Geography Workshop is a regular-ly occurring event held every two years by a different academic workplace. The work-shop takes the form of an informal platform through which participants are acquainted with current events in the field of Czech and Slovak transport geography. The focus of the workshop is actually in line with current discussions about the present and the future of our discipline, which are taking place at other levels as well, see, for example, current texts in the key journal Progress in Human Geography (Cresswell, 2012, 2014; Merri-man, 2015, 2016, 2017; Lin, 2018; Schwanen, 2016, 2017, 2018).

Toward responsible scholarly communication and innovation: A survey of the prevalence of retracted articles on scholarly communication platforms

ABSTRACTOpen scholarly communication benefits us with unprecedented open access to scholarly information and many innovations, but it requires adequate quality control. This study aims to identify the extent of online availability of retracted articles across all disciplines in early 2019. In all, 1,541 articles were identified in Web of Science, published between 2000 and 2018. Using Google, Google Scholar, and Sci‐Hub, the full text of articles were searched on formal and informal platforms. The results showed that while even formal publishers could not comply with Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) guidelines (e.g., the lack of retraction alerts and open availability), most copies on informal platforms were non‐Version of Record, lacking any information of retraction. This preliminary study showed online propagation and inadequate quality control of the retracted articles by scholarly communication platforms, particularly by informal platforms.

NEW MEDIA: A REVIEW OF SOME TRENDS IN JOURNALISM TRAINING IN AFRICA

Ponte Academic JournalJan 2019, Volume 75, Issue 1 NEW MEDIA: A REVIEW OF SOME TRENDS IN JOURNALISM TRAINING IN AFRICAAuthor(s): Abiodun SalawuJ. Ponte - Jan 2019 - Volume 75 - Issue 1 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2019.1.4 Abstract:The growth of the Internet and World Wide Web has brought about newest medium for journalism, otherwise called online or cyber journalism. This development has engendered inevitable revolutions in both the practice and training of journalism. This development, for instance, has brought about certain phenomena which include Convergence. For instance, newspaper websites now include video, podcasts, blogs and slideshows. These developments have triggered up new challenges for the journalist who must be well acquainted with the new media, and for the journalism teachers and schools who must be up-to-date in knowledge, resources and facilities. This new development has also challenged the corpus of mass communication theories, to the extent that some sorts of reviews have been attempted. This paper considers the foregoing, and specifically examines how the digital developments have impacted on both the formal and informal training of journalism. The paper observes that while many journalism schools in Africa are yet to grasp the full import of the new phenomena, a certain few are doing pretty well. The paper also acknowledges the informal training in ICT Journalism being provided on platforms such as Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies� annual Highway Africa Conference, Panos Institute West Africa, International Institute for ICT Journalism (PenPlusbytes) et.c. The paper concludes with a call for a review of curriculum in most of journalism schools, a re-training of journalism teachers through informal platforms, adequate provision of infrastructures to enhance teaching in New Media, and a consideration of new business model for Journalism, in view of the new developments. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password