Traditional Means Of Communication Research Articles

Social media as a driver for local development: an entrepreneurial perspective from Ecuador

This research seeks to analyze the positive effect of social networks in starting a small business. According to this paper, social networks is of great help, especially for the entrepreneur, because of their wide reach and ease of dissemination. A potential customer can be transformed by this impact, becoming a real consumer, just by the impression of social networks. This article describes social networks and their environment and defines them as a tool that helps to reduce the risk of failure in ventures. Its usefulness is especially noted at the time of the first investment, due to its low cost compared to traditional means of communication. For this purpose, two case studies were conducted on entrepreneurship in the artisanal food sector in the city of Guayaquil, showing an improvement in the profitability of these businesses thanks to the help of social networks. Additionally, consumers were consulted through a survey to determine the use and importance given to small food businesses through social networks and the impact they have. In general, the results indicate that: 1) consumers in the Ecuadorian context have a propensity to use social networks to follow small food businesses; 2) consumers have or receive some influence from posts and promotions to make their purchasing decisions; 3) social networks are a tool with potential positive impact to promote small businesses, which in turn, generate local economic development for communities. This positive impact occurs even if there is no professional use strategy.

Utilizing video conferencing with families of critically ill non-COVID-19 patients during the pandemic curfew

Background COVID-19 pandemic curfew made it difficult for families to communicate with their loved ones while hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU). A hybrid telephone and video conferencing model (VC) was created as a method of communication. This study aims to assess the satisfaction of critically ill non-COVID-19 patients and their families with VC as a mean of communication during the curfew. Methods A prospective observational study was conducted in two academic hospitals. Family visits were replaced by VC during the curfew and visitation restriction. To assess the satisfaction with VC, families were surveyed twice while patients were surveyed once during the ICU admission. Results Among 81 family representatives initially surveyed, 26 (32.1%) underwent a follow-up survey. On a scale of 1-10, high general satisfaction was reported by family representatives in the initial and follow-up surveys (8.68 ± 1.66 and 8.31 ± 1.89, respectively). General satisfaction of 9.64 ± 0.67 was reported by the patients who were surveyed during their ICU admission (n=11). Higher patient’s Glasgow Coma Scale at the time of VC and increased number of VC sessions were associated with higher family satisfaction (P=0.001 and P=0.019, respectively). Among family representatives, more than 70% preferred video conferencing over traditional means of communication during the curfew. Conclusions Family representatives and their critically ill non-COVID-19 patients were highly satisfied with video conferencing as a mean of communication during the curfew and visiting restriction. Video conferencing offers a great way of communication during pandemics, such as COVID-19.

Roman Catholic Church and Cautious Embrace of Modern Communication Media

The Catholic Church has a complex history in its appropriation and use of modern means of communication. It has at various times sought to adapt and pushed back. Almost with equal measure, it has variously churned out instructions and guidelines and even condemnations on the heels of inventions and innovations that pushed the boundaries of traditional means of communication. For instance, the church transitioned from colourful medieval manuscripts to printed books with the invention of the printing press in the middle of the fifteenth century. Interestingly, whenever the church has been able to embrace any invention, it has almost always done so through the purviews of its mission of evangelisation. In contemporary times, Inter Mirifica (promulgated on 4 December 1963 by the Second Vatican Council) and Communio et progressio (23 May 1971) are two documents that signalled the church’s preparedness to accept the reality and phenomenon of the new frontiers ushered in by contemporary means of communication. The objective of this article is firstly to make a historical excursus of the Catholic Church’s embrace of the means of communication, characterised by caution and wariness, eagerness and enthusiasm. Secondly, it apportions a space to the Catholic Church in some African countries. It also highlights the importance attached to means of communication, especially the radio apostolate, by the local churches in those places. It does so by situating the media consciousness among local church hierarchies on the continent within the injunction of Pope John Paul II in Ecclesia in Africa.

Using Technology for Community Engagement: Four Key Web-Based Platforms for Adoption in Extension

Extension professionals engage with communities to present programming, find solutions, and disseminate research-based knowledge. While traditional means of communication and face-to-face meetings are still important, the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the ways these professionals connect to their communities. Web-based platforms can provide unique, alternative ways to engage communities in programs, evaluations, and information sharing. Our team of Extension professionals share platforms that create engaged communities by meeting virtual demands.

Features of implementation of electronic governance in the activities of local self-government bodies

ABSTRACT. Introduction. In the context of the development of digital technologies, traditional means of communication of subjects of power with citizens are no longer effective and are in the process of reforming. Everyday life of citizens has been transformed due to the "number" which encourages local authorities to develop e-governance and e-democracy tools. Summary of the main results of the study. The article considers the introduction of e-governance and e-democracy tools into the activities of local self-government bodies, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as the main problems that communities struggle with during digital transformation processes. Conclusions. The spread and development of modern information and telecommunication technologies allow the subjects of power to reach a new level of interaction with citizens, provide them with high-quality services and quickly receive feedback, but this requires a comprehensive approach to amending the current legislation.

Research on practical teaching of Ideological and political education based on VR technology in the information age

Abstract With the popularity and maturity of VR technology, maximizing the utility advantages of relevant technologies and teaching projects has become a new topic. Because of the current era of science and technology’s best ideas, relevant methods of Ideological and political education learning have become richer in form and connotation. In order to make relevant methods better, true adoption experimental teaching of Ideological and political education here explores the true adoption of relevant methods in Ideological and political education college students’ learning. Through questionnaire survey to study the effect of relevant methods used by college students’ learning Ideological and political education and fuzzy analysis judging method to argue the teaching effect of integrating VR in Ideological and political education classroom, using comparative analysis method to compare and reference the traditional means of communication of Ideological and political education college students’ learning VR (virtual reality) The advantages of VR over traditional means of communication are summarized. Finally, the reasonableness and Probability of possible realization of relevant methods of college Ideological and political education are demonstrated by considering the needs and feasibility of the presented audience. The results show that most students’ applicability of the confirmation method and optimistic ideas and expressions for future development prospect of applying VR, a real simulated scenes relevant methods, to the practical college students’ learning for patriotic learning at the ideological level of college students learning. During the implementation of learning activities, about 89% of the students think that it can increase immersion, 80% think that it can be interactive, and most think that VR can make learning emotions high, highly concentrate on learning, and improve learning efficiency. Therefore, adopting relevant methods improves children’s enthusiasm for Ideological and political Education and transforms passive education into active participation.

Timeliness of online COVID-19 reports from official sources.

Making epidemiological indicators for COVID-19 publicly available through websites and social media can support public health experts in the near-real-time monitoring of the situation worldwide, and in the establishment of rapid response and public health measures to reduce the consequences of the pandemic. Little is known, however, about the timeliness of such sources. Here, we assess the timeliness of official public COVID-19 sources for the WHO regions of Europe and Africa. We monitored official websites and social media accounts for updates and calculated the time difference between daily updates on COVID-19 cases. We covered a time period of 52 days and a geographic range of 62 countries, 28 from the WHO African region and 34 from the WHO European region. The most prevalent categories were social media updates only (no website reporting) in the WHO African region (32.7% of the 1,092 entries), and updates in both social media and websites in the WHO European region (51.9% of the 884 entries for EU/EEA countries, and 73.3% of the 884 entries for non-EU/EEA countries), showing an overall clear tendency in using social media as an official source to report on COVID-19 indicators. We further show that the time difference for each source group and geographical region were statistically significant in all WHO regions, indicating a tendency to focus on one of the two sources instead of using both as complementary sources. Public health communication via social media platforms has numerous benefits, but it is worthwhile to do it in combination with other, more traditional means of communication, such as websites or offline communication.

Disinformation Narratives in Public Communication of Lithuanian Political Leaders during the COVID-19 Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large part of Lithuanian society was deprived of a direct contact and traditional means of communication and information sharing. The uninhibited publication and dissemination of any information provided by digital space had become a tool for some politicians not only to protect their constituents but also to seek transient popularity or other goals in manipulative ways. In a post-truth culture, such an approach based on ‘personal opinion’ or emotion has virtually become a substitute for scientifically proven facts and objective truth. The research on the phenomenon of disinformation draws upon analysis of individual narratives and the deconstruction of their structure and content. It involves the identification of the main false narratives developed by Lithuanian political leaders from January of 2020 onwards and the singling out those narratives that determined the politicians’ subsequent success or even the rise to popularity of some older or new social movements and political parties.

The Role of Social Networks in Forming Social Relations among University Students

With the advent of the Internet, social networking sites have spread, and their number has increased dramatically. The number of its users, especially school and university students, who use these sites for social communication and entertainment for obtaining information and exchanging experiences with their peers has increased. The study aimed to identify the role of social networks in forming social relations among students of private universities. The study used the descriptive analytical method. The study population consisted of all students of three private universities. A random sample of 530 students was chosen to answer a questionnaire. The study revealed that students enjoy the freedom to use social networks. Also, it is inferred that social networks have become a source of news as they compete with traditional means of communication. In addition, students using social networks has many negatives, including wasting time and effort, distorting facts, and spreading rumors. In contrast, they have many advantages, including making new friends, communicating with friends and relatives, and exchanging opinions. Furthermore, the study showed that social networks achieve cognitive satisfaction by providing students with information about the world. It is believed that they satisfy the desire for curiosity by 80% and cognitive needs by 77%. In light of the results, the study recommends the necessity of using social networks by educational institutions to achieve psychological, social, and cognitive gratification for students.

Research on The Functions of Local Government in The Protection and Inheritance of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Intangible cultural heritage is not only the historical memory of a nation and a region, but also the cultural link connecting the feelings of a nation and a region. With the development of the times, the protection of intangible cultural heritage is facing many problems, such as lack of non genetic inheritance and single traditional means of communication. The local government is one of the main bodies of the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. How to play the role of local government in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage is a problem worthy of our serious consideration. Taijiquan, originated from Chenjiagou, Jiaozuo City, is one of the first batch of intangible cultural heritage in China. On December 17, 2020, it was listed in the representative list of human intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO. Taijiquan has an important position in China's intangible cultural heritage. Taking Taijiquan as an example, this paper analyzes the current situation and existing problems of the development of Taijiquan, and discusses the functions of local government in the protection and inheritance of intangible cultural heritage.

Evaluating the Benefits of Collaborative VR Review for Maintenance Documentation and Risk Assessment

Technical documentation creation is a collaborative process involving several departments in R&D. Even though virtual reality (VR) has been demonstrated to facilitate industrial collaboration and advance the product development lifecycle in earlier studies, it has not been utilized for technical documentation review and risk assessment processes in industrial companies. This article presents a case study where the benefits of VR to maintenance documentation reviews and risk assessments were studied. The virtual reality environment was tested by nine domain experts from an industrial company in a user study that replicated their actual real-life industrial collaboration tasks. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected during the study. Our findings show that collaborative VR has the potential to enhance the documentation review and risk assessment processes. Overall, the concept of using virtual reality for documentation review and risk assessment processes was rated positively by participants, and even though further development is needed for the review tools, VR was viewed as a concept that facilitates collaboration, enhances the current review practices, and increases spatial understanding. The benefits of VR are evident, especially for geographically scattered teams that rarely meet face-to-face or do not have access to the actual physical equipment. In cases where traditional means of communication are not enough, process improvements are needed for documentation review and risk assessment processes, and our proposed solution is VR.

It Takes Two to Tango: How the COVID-19 Vaccination Campaign in Israel Was Framed by the Health Ministry vs. the Television News

BackgroundThe internet has become a major resource in information transfer during COVID-19, and traditional means of communication are digitized and accessible online to the public at large.ObjectivesThis study seeks to examine how Israel's two main television news channels (Channel 12 and Channel 13) covered the Covid-19 vaccination campaign, compared to how the Ministry of Health ran the campaign.MethodsA qualitative study based on triangulation of online content analyses from three different sources: advertising campaigns, social media posts and reports on television news channels. The research sample included 252 reports from the newsrooms of Channel 13 (n = 151) and Channel N12 (n = 101), Israel's two leading news channels, all broadcast between December 1, 2020 and November 30, 2021. The sample also included posts from Israel Ministry of Health Facebook page and advertising campaigns from the Facebook page of the Israel Government Advertising Agency (LAPAM), which constructs advertising campaigns for the MOH (113 items).ResultsThe research findings reveal congruence between the way the MOH framed its vaccination campaign and news coverage of the vaccination issue. The vaccination campaign used three primary framing strategies: (1) positive framing (emphasizing the vaccine's advantages and stressing that the vaccine is safe and effective based on cost-benefit calculations and public health perspectives); (2) fear appeal strategy (conveying persuasive messages that seek to arouse fear through threats of impending danger or harm); (3) attribution of responsibility strategy (blaming the unvaccinated and targeting all those who criticized Israel's generic vaccination policy).ConclusionAs the watchdog of democracy, the news should function as a professional and objective source that criticizes government systems if necessary and strives to uncover the truth throughout the crisis. Public trust, which is so essential during such a crisis, can be achieved only if the news channels provide reports and meaningful journalistic investigations that challenge the system. By doing so, they can help fight conflicts of interest that divert management of the crisis from the professional health field to the political-economic arena.

Evaluating the use of virtual reality for maintainability-focused design reviews

The Operation and Maintenance (O&M) phase can account for as much as 80% of the overall lifecycle cost of a project. The inputs from O&M practitioners are often not incorporated during the design phase leading to maintainability issues during the O&M phase, which results in significant costs and hinders building performance. Traditionally, design communication with practitioners is conducted using 2D drawings and in some more advanced projects, with Building Information Models (BIMs). Virtual Reality (VR) has the potential to facilitate maintainability-focused design input from O&M practitioners, but this application has not been studied in detail. This paper addresses the gap by examining the usability of VR for providing access-related maintainability inputs. A quasi-experimental approach was adopted to evaluate the difference in access-related inputs provided by sixteen O&M practitioners, once using 2D drawings and BIM and again using VR. We assessed the variation in time for O&M practitioners to provide the inputs and the perceived quality of the inputs using the two design communication methods. We also examined the effect of practitioners' years of experience on providing access-related maintainability inputs using VR. The results suggest that there was no statistically significant difference in the access-related maintainability inputs provided using the two design communication methods, which demonstrates that O&M practitioners could provide similar access-related inputs using VR and traditional means of communication using 2D drawings and 3D models. The results also show that O&M practitioners were able to provide inputs significantly faster using VR. The O&M practitioners also reported that VR facilitated ease of use and high confidence in their inputs. Furthermore, the practitioners' years of experience did not lead to any variation in the access-related inputs provided and the time efficiency of providing the inputs. While the small sample size limits the generalizability of the results, the study acts as a proof of concept on the usability of VR for improving O&M practitioner input on the maintainability of building designs.

Domestic Terrorist Acts as Cultural Texts: A Pentadic Analysis

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said that publicity is the oxygen of terrorism. It is our position that mass-mediated terrorism, white supremacy, and doctrines of racial superiority that justify discrimination, segregation, domination, and even extermination of persons of color should be deprived of the oxygen of publicity. At the same time, we believe that analysis, discussion, confrontation, and condemnation of terrorism and hateful ideologies is painful but necessary. The hate speech and radical ideologies of today’s web-based terrorists reach far beyond traditional means of communication. The purpose of this paper is to use Kenneth Burke’s pentad to analyze acts of domestic terrorism while removing the names of the perpetrators — the oxygen of terrorism in the Internet Age. We begin our analysis of three recent acts of domestic terrorism with a short analysis of The Turner Diaries, written by William Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald, as a critical exemplary narrative that continues to drive hate speech, radicalization, and physical violence.

Masks, Empathy, and a Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis During COVID-19.

Masks, Empathy, and a Pediatric Cancer Diagnosis During COVID-19.

An online tool for information to women with epilepsy and therapeutic drug monitoring in pregnancy: Design and pilot study.

ObjectiveInformation to women with epilepsy on pregnancy‐related antiseizure medication (ASM) issues and reliable tools for therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) are important aspects of epilepsy care. We aimed to develop and test an online tool for patient education on pregnancy‐related issues and communication with epilepsy nurses during pregnancy for women with epilepsy.MethodsAn existing national platform for online communication (1177.se) was used, and an online tool was developed by two epilepsy nurses, two neurologists, and an IT technician. The tool was launched as a complement to standard care, and patients deciding to use it were invited to participate in a survey of user experiences and knowledge questions.ResultsThe online tool consists of two modules: one for patient education and one for TDM during pregnancy. The latter module allows scheduling of automatic reminders of blood tests that are sent to patients at set intervals. The epilepsy nurse can communicate results and suggested dose changes in the tool. A total of 48 women answered the survey: 28 had been invited to use the information module and 20 to use the TDM module. Patient experiences were generally good, and most users of the TDM module would prefer an online means of communication in future pregnancies. For epilepsy nurses, the tool provided good overview of patients currently pregnant and administrative advantages compared with traditional means of communication.SignificanceOnline patient education and communication about TDM during pregnancy are feasible and can be a valuable part of future digitalization efforts in epilepsy care.

Идея и реальность научной коммуникации в академических социальных сетях

The paper includes general findings of the study with respect to the impact of academic social networks on the academicians’ professional practice. The authors consider academic social networks as the new means of communication that seek to overcome the limits of traditional means of communication, i.e. academic conferences, scholarly periodicals and books. The study shows that web-platforms, including academic social networks, challenge the superiority of journals in the system of science communications. Based on the results of the empirical study, the authors pay extra focus to studying communication processes via digital platforms. It shows that social networks, due to their specific nature, transform the scientific activity, i.e. change an academician’s motivation and values, encouraging the pursuit of high ratings, more content, citations, followers and page traffic. The authors consider social networks as a tool of open science ideology, concluding that promotion of social networks profiles is underlined by certain power interests aimed at restructuring science communication pursuant to the values of the neoliberal economy.

Modernity could not destroy them: historicizing the African oral artist and the traditional means of communication in Nigeria

This study examines the identity of the African verbal artist, his communal functions and his role in information dissemination in Nigeria. Before the advent of modern telecommunication systems in ...

INVESTIGATION OF SOCIAL ECONOMIC VARIABLES AS DETERMINANTS OF PREFERRED SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

This paper sought to investigate the social economic variables as determinants of preferred social networking sites by International Students of Eastern Mediterranean University in North Cyprus. Social Networking Sites (SNS) platforms are gradually replacing the known, traditional means of communication as a result of new improved communication systems.The application of Social Networking Sites in our present generation is inevitable due to its efficiency and capability of connecting the whole globe in a second.These Social Networking Sites have made great contribution towards socio-cultural and economic development thereby re-ordering the world and making it a global village. Two platforms are considered in this research; Facebook and Instagram to know the right prediction based on the demography of users. The research design is survey, while questionnaire was used as the instrument of data collection. Uses and Gratifications Theory is adopted as theoretical framework. Using SPSS for the analysis, the CHAID method with the help of a tree diagram shows that some of the demographic factors are better predictors of social media platforms when it comes to communication with specific places.

Social media communication and higher education brand equity: The mediating role of eWOM

Beyond its ability to enhance the generation of goals and objectives, understanding an organization's brand equity is a key driver in communicating values to consumers and end‐users. In a very competitive marketplace, it is high time universities ditched the traditional means of communication and comply with the trending social media communication forms so as to better capture both the virtual as well as the real social space of their students who, in turn, are ambassadors of the institutions. Using data solicited from 317 university students, this study found that universities can better position themselves to compete when they employ both user‐generated and firm‐generated social media communication in building their brand equity. Our study also validates electronic word of mouth as a mediator of the relationship between social media communication and higher education brand equity. Recommendations for practice were also suggested.