Network Society Research Articles

Promotion of DX during the US-China New Cold War and realization of Japan's unique networking society

Promotion of DX during the US-China New Cold War and realization of Japan's unique networking society

Transnational corporations and civil society as network society actors

The article examines the topic of determinants affecting the features of the practical implementation of ideas in the context of a digital society. The features of the digital model of society as a version of the post-industrial society are presented. The urgency of rethinking the problem as a determinant of social development has been substantiated. The essential features of the main trends of the digital society are analyzed and identified, which include the traditional interpretation of the inevitably distorted embodiment of ideas in social phenomena. Demonstrated are the changes represented by the identity of individuals and brought to the coalescence and the virtual level of being. The inevitability of taking into account the systemic effect of implemented ideas, which affects not only the sphere of their direct implementation, is noted. Theatricalization of digital society in the spheres of public life is highlighted. The problem of simulacra is actualized, allowing powerful actors to distort the original meaning of ideas in their own interests. The emphasis is made on the importance of linguistic analysis for adequate perception and understanding of the content of ideas. In conclusion, generalizations that form the theoretical and methodological basis of practical applications in the society of the digital world.

Indian Hostile Narratives and Counter Narratives of Pakistan

In the 21st century, international relations and communication have been interacting with each other in an ineffable manner. It is hard to find that how international relations are conducted and which actors are involved. This all happened because of the new media ecologies with the modernization of technology. Communication has to play a very crucial role in today’s world especially in international relations. The work of Manuel Castell “Communication Power” explains how communication and new media ecologies have shaped our world in twenty first century and how relationships of power can be defined and reconfigured through communication. Manuel uses the term of “network society” & “mass self-communication”. In a “networked society” new networked pattern of relationships emerge that may be political, social and economic. “Mass self-communication” that emerged during 2000’s encouraged everyone to have their own views of the world around them and broadcast online. The power of “mass self-communication” cannot be neglected in today’s world as this phenomenon helped toppled governments in the Arab Spring starting in 2011. Now communication is not controlled by elites in society but is available to all and its power cannot be undermined. Changing media ecologies gave rise to a concept of narrative building which political actors use in order to achieve political and other policy goals.

Virtual reality and cyberspace as attributes of modern society

The article attempts to comprehend cyberspace in its dialectical relationship with virtual reality. It is shown that ever-changing cyberspace is the result of the virtualization process. The question of space-time characteristics of virtual reality and ways of their ontological substantiation is raised. The main spatio-temporal properties of virtual reality created by cyberspace are highlighted. It is substantiated that virtual reality, formed by new information technologies, contributed to the creation of a network society, and the existence of cyberspace is its basis, which affects all spheres of public life.

Digitalization: potential risks for civil society

Transition to the digital economy involves the restructuring of industries, transport and agriculture and gives new opportunities for work with Big Data and optimization the processes in the economy via smart environments, cryptocurrencies and hybrid forms of interaction between human beings and artificial intelligence. Such global transformations could not but cause a massive change in both consciousness at the socio-anthropological level and traditional forms of management at the civilizational level. Speaking about the civil society in the era of digitalization, it should be understood that this is, first of all, a network society, and without understanding this type of society it is pointless to talk about new forms of civil society. The network society was considered a well-studied object of research by the early 2000s, however today the radical acceleration of ICT and other processes are connected with digital information-network revolution involving artificial intelligence, the possibility of which was not even thought about 20 years ago. Therefore, the main purpose of our paper is an attempt to conceptualize potential risks for civil society connected with the development, testing and implementation of digital services and technologies in the global economy. To achieve this, we used system and synergistic philosophical and methodological approaches developed by the modern post-non-classical science and applied for self-developing systems. To reveal the global trends in the economy and related social problems, we undertook comparative and interdisciplinary analyses based on sources available. Sociological, philosophical and methodological reflections about radical changes in the anthropotechnosphere during the COVID-19 pandemic have revealed a number of serious problems that threaten the well-being of civil society, such as the aggravation of economic inequality, the collapse of many small businesses due to the quarantine and the introduction of remote forms of work, mass layoffs of qualified specialists, job cuts including the area of intellectual work, transport and service, as well as a significant decrease in the income of the population, decline in the quality of education, a sharp reduction in tourist flows, the ban on mass demonstrations and gatherings, which is an integral basis of the life of civil society. Thus, during the period of pandemic lockdowns, there is a significant change in the economic and socio-cultural environment of modern civilization. At the same time, the crisis situation provides means not only for the development of civil society, but also for the maintenance of enforcing and regulating functions of the state, which can upset the harmonious balance of interaction between society and any state (capitalist, socialist) or the global state of TNCs. An analysis of the world economic development in the 21st century has revealed some signs of a systemic crisis of civilization, along with the processes of digitalization as a catalyst for the shift of the paradigm of civilizational development and a catalyst for civil movements. The most striking Umwelts («perceptual environment») of civil society emerging in the digital realm are described in the paper.

The Amphibian Filmmaker: A new evolutionary species In the time of the Post-truth.

This proposal is an exploration where film and new media art (particularly post-internet art) are approached from a perspective of the so-called post-truth. To do this, it starts from questioning the ideas ofobjectivity and the subject/object pair from two related points of view: how these ideas are interpreted in documentary films and how they play a role in the current scientific method crisis. This serves to give context to the problem of the image as a system of representation in both realms (film and science), and how truth is portrayed particularly in the realm of the technical image, serving to aesthetic and scientific purposes. Having mapped out this epistemological tension, three types of films are briefly discussed - the biopic, the intimate documentary and the false documentary - emphasizing on the latter and presenting it as the direct forerunner of the so-called “fakes” on the Internet. Moreover, the pair truth-objectivity is challenged in favor of false narratives that through humor or irony depict critical issues in a more engaging way. In order to do this, several examples are presented showing how the historical evolution of the single screen of the cinema into the multiple screens of the network society not only hybridizes creators with consumers,but expands with diversity the prior unequivocalness of the objectivity discourse. Finally, the concept of the amphibian filmmaker is posed, as a metaphor of a creator who is able to move on these fuzzy aesthetic territories being faithful to an artistic vision but also to a social and activist ethos.

Interacting with the ordinary people: How populist messages and styles communicated by politicians trigger users’ behaviour on social media in a comparative context

Populist politicians’ social media activity has often been associated with their electoral success. Yet, research on the driving forces of engagement on social media is scarce. Are populist politicians triggering more interaction than mainstream politicians, or is it rather the populist ideology they convey? To disentangle these different factors, we conducted a comparative content analysis of Twitter and Facebook communication of 13 leading candidates in Austria and the Netherlands during an election campaign. Findings show that it is rather styles conductive to populism (i.e. emotionality, first-person references) than the actual content of populist communication that trigger online behaviour. Importantly, irrespective of the content they convey, right-wing populist politicians are more successful in spreading their message via social media than mainstream politicians. These findings have important implications for our understanding of the role of online communication for populist politicians’ success in spreading their viewpoints across networked societies.

Learning in the openness: the lost way of the MOOC

At the end of the 2000´s, MOOCs broke into the educational field with the promise of learning with features more suited to the demands of our times. Their connectivist genesis provided a provocative expectation regarding the potential of collaboration, sharing, reuse, and free access, as factors of a possible transformation of the current educational system, which has been characterized by being rigid and reluctant to change. Given the relevance and growing participation of MOOC in education, there is a strong interest in understanding both their functioning and structure so that they can be considered as relevant educational options for a networked society. In this sense, a mixed study was conducted on 225 MOOCs based on the four categories that make up their denomination. The results of the study show that the contributions of MOOCs as generators of shared and collaborative learning experiences as proposed in their origins are not reflected in the reality of their current offering.

The “Linked Prosperity” Model as an Integrated Response to Corporate Management Challenges in a Network Society

In the context of technological and social changes, business faces the challenges of a more complex operating environment. New business models are required that take into account an unprecedentedly wide range of emerging factors. Among such approaches, an integral model stands out, which allows one to adapt to a new level of development of society and master a new context. The approaches to the development of an integral model are still in the process of formation, since a deeper study of the modern network society, its values, guidelines, and preferences is required. Taking into account such complexity requires non-linear approaches and thinking in terms of complex, dynamic systems. From this point of view, when interacting with the increasingly complex environment, it is advisable for companies to view themselves as an element of a large-scale system of horizontal, social ties, in which the idea of ​​social responsibility acquires new meanings. It is especially difficult to implement integral approaches within the framework of traditional thinking due to the variety and multi-layered factors that change the context of companies' activities. The transformation of corporate governance and approaches to social responsibility is a non-linear process driven by a chain of events related to changes in consumer behavior and other aspects. Such exponential changes are characterized by profound and cumulative consequences, radically changing the spheres of activity, social relations, and institutions. This article demonstrates the case of a company that, despite the difficulties, managed to implement a similar approach and maintain a dynamic pace of development.

Network Society and Social Movement: Message Reception among Instagram Users

In the dynamics of a state, any change can happen through a social movement as an initial stage. Studies about it have been conducted since the 1940s. Nowadays, as the shift of the era involves communication technology, the model of the social movement has changed as well. Collectivity dominated the social movement in the past, but connectivity is more prominent nowadays as the network society era emerges. The purpose of this research is to explore the social movement in the network society era through an Instagram account, @ketimbang.ngemis.yogyakarta along with the message reception among the Instagram users. Using Stuart Hall’s theory of message reception, this study employed snowball as the technique sampling. After analyzing five posts on @ketimbang.ngemis.yogyakarta Instagram account and having an interview with eight informants, there were two conclusions. It is found that there is a shift in the model of social movement. In the past, social movements were dominated by demonstrations, in which a group of people gathered in a particular place, and relied on oratory skills. Meanwhile, at present, many social movements have made use of social media, one of which is Instagram. The photos in Instagram are used to show marginalized groups which can attract sympathy, empathy, and attention of social media users as an initial stage to the social movement. Moreover, the social media users tend to be a negotiated code type in the reception of social movement message.

Contra judíos, masones y comunistas. Un caso de violencia paraestatal en La Plata en 1970

Este artículo es un estudio de caso sobre el accionar represivo de un escuadrón paraestatal integrado por militares en el año 1970 en la ciudad de La Plata. El trabajo se basa principalmente en el hallazgo de un sumario del Consejo Supremo de las Fuerzas Armadas realizado a los integrantes de dicho grupo en el Archivo intermedio del AGN, los cuales fueron condenados por la justicia militar, luego indultados por el presidente de facto Alejandro Agustín Lanusse y posteriormente amnistiados. Este sumario, así como materiales de la Dirección de Inteligencia de la Policía de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (DIPPBA), testimonios de sobrevivientes y artículos periodísticos, permiten reconstruir las trayectorias individuales de los militares implicados en el accionar represivo clandestino, sus convicciones ideológicas y las redes de sociabilidad establecidas. A su vez, el análisis de los recorridos individuales de estos sujetos plantea una serie de interrogantes respecto a la manera de analizar el accionar paraestatal, la periodización de la represión y las ideologías políticas durante la década de 1970.

Uma breve história da tecnologia na Escola da Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de Santa Catarina

Resumo: Este artigo enquadra-se como um registro da história da tecnologia a partir das ciências da educação. Discorre sobre o uso da tecnologia na Escola do Legislativo Catarinense, amparando-se nas intercessões e conexões da literatura, educação e comunicação, atravessadas pela tecnologia. Para tanto, adotam-se os métodos indutivo e descritivo (FURASTÉ, 2012). O mapeamento foi conduzido pelo rastreamento das tecnologias de informação e comunicação (TICs) a partir das mediações culturais (MARTIN-BARBERO, 2006) apoiadas na cibercultura (LÉVY, 1999) e nas demais correntes originadas dela: a sociedade em rede (CASTELLS, 2008) e a cultura da convergência (JENKINS, 2008). Espera-se que o presente trabalho contribua para o registro da memória sobre a evolução tecnológica da Escola da Assembleia Legislativa do Estado de Santa Catarina e seja disponibilizado como material de consulta para servidores e estudiosos das áreas evidenciadas no decorrer do texto. Palavras-chave: Educação 1. Tecnologia 2. Alesc 3.

Freedom of Network Society in a Social Security Space

The purpose of this article is to reflect on what freedom of speech in the web is. In the age of universal freedom of access to the Internet, controversy is growing between supporters of full freedom and supporters of legal restrictions on the use of global Internet resources. Should the Internet be the space of unlimited freedom? Surprisingly enough, the answer to this question is not obvious, although intuitively one would like to answer in the affirmative. By definition, the Internet is an egalitarian tool of communication, a space for free creation and flow of content, for which the only limit is technology and human imagination, whose boundaries cannot be determined. The global network is a field completely unregulated and not bound by any rules. This situation is slowly changing and legislators and courts are beginning to set the boundaries of online proceedings. People posting content on the Internet must do so with precaution so as not to violate the limits of freedom of speech, especially in the field of broadly understood public security, crime, morality, public order, other people’s personal rights, and confidential information.

Palm print Biometric Authentication System for Security Applications

Biometric technology can offer better protection improved accuracy to protect personal classifications and very access control problems. This has turned into a developing innovation as of late because of the exchange fakes, security ruptures and personal identification and so forth. It gives each person a special code that can not be repeated or produced by anyone, and the splendour of biometric invention. These mechanisms are commonly accepted in the networking society and are replacing passwords and keys due to their trustworthiness, their simplicity and the steady increase in protection requests. We have here implemented an extraordinary protected palm print identification method with removal from region of interest ( ROI), using a morphological process, using the use of an undecimedbiorthogonal wavelet (UDBW) to eliminate the low-level features of the included palm prints to create its relevant features (FV) to resolve the drawbacks of a single fingerprint identification system.

Я онлайн, следовательно я существую. Новые медиа как пространство социального творчества пользователей

This paper examines the social and creative practices of new media users, identifies their varieties from the point of view of the product and subject of this activity, analyzes their nature through the characteristics of the properties of the online space and through the prism of ideas about the network society. Creativity, in general, is considered in the context of the communicative approach, according to which the creative act involves not only the creation of a new, never-before-seen but also is realized when its result is included in the social context. In addition, social creativity is defined as an activity aimed at transforming social space, the product of which can be new practices, norms, values, and organizational forms of individuals. Ideas about the systemforming role of information and communication technologies in the structure of modern society allow M. Castells and J. van Dijk to characterize it as a network, whose members are included in many communities (including virtual ones) and discourses. Participation in mediated horizontal communications requires individuals to be socially active and creative. The environment of the global information network, its variability and novelty motivate the user to engage in social and creative practices. The work proposes a classification of the latter on two grounds: in terms of the subject, we can talk about individual and collective practices, in terms of the creativity result, practices are allocated to aimed at the production of digital artifacts, the implementation of socially-active activities or the creation of social samples. The author concludes that participation in creative practices allows the users to realize social and communicative needs and, ultimately, to declare their existence in the virtual world.

Development of literature in the context of digital transformations

The question of literature in the modern era cannot be considered outside the cultural context as a whole, not only because the literary process reflects to some extent all the components of socio-cultural reality, but also because the reality – primarily technical one – has a significant impact on literature. And even the authors' deliberate rejection of the era, social environment, dominant cultural attitudes, generally accepted forms and technologies does not allow them to be completely autonomous from the era in which they unfold their creative activity. This article is devoted to the discussion of the features of literature functioning in the network society. Its material is useful for the formation of professional competencies of specialists in the fields of Journalism and Language Studies.

Cultural Politics of Historically Marginalized Students in Indian Universities

Abstract The university space, the most endangered zone in Indian democracy in the present, is witnessing the ideological churnings, contradictions, and emergent possibilities of affinity among radical voices contesting culturally hegemonic practices. Student activism in general and anti-caste activism in particular offer a complex interplay of caste, gender, culture, and politics in the university space, traditionally defined as neutral. Envisioning a democratic, socially just, and genuinely secular nation, historically marginalized students challenge and critique hegemonic narratives. This article argues that anti-caste activism on campuses invokes the democratic space of universities, where ideological meanings are constructed and deconstructed to unveil the suppression of historically marginalized voices in contemporary network society. The dominant culture and politics are actually rooted in the iron laws of ancient hierarchies intrinsically opposed to the self-historicizing and well-informed democratic aspirations of student activism.

JUDEUS, CATÓLICOS E PROTESTANTES NA TERRA DO AÇUCAR: AFINIDADES E DIVERGÊNCIAS

A Igreja Católica era hegemônica no período colonial, porém outras confissões religiosas também constituíam o campo religioso, a exemplo do Judaísmo, o Protestantismo, as Religiões Xamânicas Indígenas e as Religiões de Matrizes Africanas, condenadas como heresias, feitiçarias, passíveis de perseguição pela Inquisição. A Igreja Católica era o inimigo comum de judeus e protestantes, os quais mantinham afinidades e redes de sociabilidade, que contemplavam negócios e a leitura de textos sagrados. Com a dominação holandesa no Nordeste, especialmente no período de Nassau, houve uma certa tolerância religiosa, vigiada pelos clérigos calvinistas, ciosos de suas doutrinas

Adoption of Web 2.0 Technologies in Driving Reading Habits of Secondary School Learners in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe

Reading in the 21st century networked society is no longer confined to print. The scope of reading has extended to Web 2.0 technologies that have changed the traditional reading culture of readers. The problem is that secondary school learners in Zimbabwe are not fully adopting Web 2.0 technologies to cultivate their reading habits. This qualitative study examined the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in driving the reading habits of secondary school learners in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province in Zimbabwe. A multiple-case study design was employed, which collected data from 210 learners. The learners were divided into 14 focus groups as a data collection tool. Data were augmented through interviews with school librarians and then analysed thematically. Findings reveal that some learners spend five hours per day using different types of Web 2.0 technologies, which include WhatsApp, Facebook, WattPad, Pinterest and YouTube for the purposes of entertainment, and this has a negative effect on their reading. The study revealed potential positive effects of using Web 2.0 technologies, such as having up-to-date reading materials. It is concluded that Web 2.0 technologies can be adopted in driving the reading habits of secondary school learners. Some learners are already using Web 2.0 technologies for downloading novels. Especially girls (and some boys) are reading newspapers by using Web 2.0 technologies; however, other learners are using them for the wrong reasons. This paper contends that if guided well, young people can use these technologies to cultivate their reading habits. A further study is recommended on how parents/guardians can adopt the use of Web 2.0 technologies as a drive to improve the reading habits of learners.

Unanticipated Movements: Examining the Role of ICT in Leadership and Decision Making during the Shahbag Protests in Bangladesh

Abstract This paper explores the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in leadership and decision making in social movements. To do so, this study examines the 2013 Shahbag protests in Bangladesh through the lens of new social movement theories. The study employs a multi-level and multi-method approach in analyzing the protests. It finds that, along with traditional communication tools, ICT played an important role in the leadership and decision-making process in the first three days of the protests that made it an example of new social movement. However, when the political party members captured the protests, it became a hybrid. I argue that the new network society formed by using ICT changes the communication pattern among activists, the nature of leadership, and the process of decision making of a movement and that this differentiates it from other conventional social movements.