Connected political consumers: transforming personalized politics among youth into broader repertoires of action

This study explores political consumerism motivations in an effort to understand the complex ways in which this lifestyle practice fits into the broader participation repertoires of young citizens. We begin by outlining the psychological motivations for political consumerism, and theorize how they might orient political consumers toward (and away from) online expressive, political, and civic participation. In particular, we examine how the desire to gratify distinct psychological needs shapes navigation of the digital media environment in search of information and connection, and how this, in turn, shapes participation. Results of a national survey of young adults show that value-expressive, social-identification, and social-approval motivations for green living relate differently to participation, and that online community embeddedness mediates these relationships. The findings suggest that connecting to likeminded others via digitally-enabled communities can transform individual concerns into collective concerns, and extend participation from the private spheres of everyday life into the public sphere.     

Birds of a feather petition together? Characterizing e-petitioning through the lens of platform data

E-petitioning platforms are increasingly popular in Western democracies and considered by some lawmakers and scholars to enhance citizen participation in political decision-making. In addition to social media and other channels for informal political communication, online petitioning is regarded as both a useful instrument to afford citizens a more important role in the political process and allow them to express support for issues which they find relevant. Building on existing pre-internet systems, e-petitioning websites are increasingly implemented to make it easier and faster to set up and sign petitions. However, little attention has so far been given to the relationship between different styles of usage and the causes supported by different groups of users. The functional difference between signing paper-based petitions vs. doing so online is especially notable with regard to users who sign large numbers of petitions. To characterize this relationship, we examine the intensity of user participation in the German Bundestag’s online petitioning platform through the lens of platform data collected over a period of five years, and conduct an analysis of highly active users and their political preferences. We find that users who sign just a single petition favor different policy areas than those who sign many petitions on a variety of issues. We conclude our analysis with observations on the potential of behavioral data for assessing the dynamics of online participation, and suggest that quantity (the number of signed petitions) and quality (favored policy areas) need more systematic joint assessment.     

Southern knowledge online? Climate change research discoverability and communication practices

The networked age promises global digital cultures with flattened power relations, given the affordances of information and communication technologies to collapse distance, enable easier cross-country collaborations and create new opportunities for knowledge production and sharing. In the academic domains, indications are that knowledge patterns continue to reflect physically based geopolitical realities – where knowledge from the South is still peripheral while knowledge from the North still dominates in terms of all the conventional metrics. This study explores the potential role of digital affordances to challenge structural Northern bias and generates questions about knowledge production and dissemination in the climate change knowledge domain. It is framed by the field of scholarly communication within an African setting and by the emergent field of climate change which is fraught with debates and contestations, particularly regarding mitigation and adaptation. It draws on Southern theory which interrogates the global dynamics of knowledge production and dissemination. It explores the intersection of the discoverability and visibility of local climate change research methodologically from the outside in, through an experiment of searches for ‘climate change/South Africa’ and from the inside out by reviewing the online presence of one climate change group in a top-ranked African university.     

#iamafeminist as the “mother tag”: feminist identification and activism against misogyny on Twitter in South Korea

This article explores feminist activism via the hashtag #iamafeminist on Twitter in South Korea. This hashtag became an important platform for feminist identification and activism against misogyny following its start in 2015 as a way to resist prevailing anti-feminist sentiment in Korea. In addition to opposing stigmas regarding identifying as a feminist, #iamafeminist affords an inclusive frame that can promote feminist identification by sharing personal motives for and stories about being a feminist. Although critics dismiss the potential of hashtag activism due to its ephemeral nature, I argue that #iamafeminist—which I call the “mother tag”—was able to persist for three months by continuing to connect with real-time gender issues and by initiating activism against misogyny both online and offline.     

Are We Making the Most of Learning From the Practice Placement?

It is almost universally accepted within social work education that placements are a defining feature of training and ‘… have a more profound and lasting impact than classroom teaching’. Consequently the placement is regarded as the signature pedagogy in social work education. However, it is also asserted that universities pay little attention to this aspect of teaching and concerns about a ‘significant level of disjunction between academic and practice learning’ are expressed.

The development of a new distance learning MA social work programme in which units are studied alongside part-time placements afforded opportunities for innovation in curriculum delivery, alongside increasing connections with learning on placement. Practice educators were invited to respond to an online mixed methods survey exploring their perceptions of the programme and views as to how greater integration of academic and practice learning can be achieved in social work education generally. Analysis of the results identified the important role which supervision with the practice educator can play in integrating learning on placement with the academic curriculum. The paper concludes that a greater focus on learning from practice may offer opportunities to maximise the learning potential of the placement as social work's signature pedagogy.     

消费升级下在线信任及其对在线消费行为的影响研究

以消费者购买决策理论为基础,探讨消费升级下在线信任及其对在线消费行为的影响,选取商家声誉、物流服务质量、平台功能和促销活动四个维度进行分析.研究表明:在线信任、物流服务质量、平台功能以及促销活动对在线购买意愿的正向影响显著;此外,在线信任在物流服务质量、平台功能以及促销活动对在线购买意愿的影响中起到部分中介作用,在商家声誉对在线购买意愿的影响中起到完全中介作用.当前,在消费升级环境下,线上零售商应注重声誉的打造,通过提高在线信任来降低减轻消费者风险,同时在运营中优化线上购买流程和商品陈列设置,精准匹配促销信息,保持顾客感知优势.     

高校校同网络舆情管理工作机制探析

网络舆情是影响大学生思想和行为的新兴力量。当前,高校网络舆情管理工作主要存在管理主体不明确;网络日常管理制度不健全;网络舆情管理机制不完善等问题。高校应建立网络舆情监测机制、引导机制和舆情突发事件的应急机制,减少网络舆情对大学生产生的负面影响,促进大学生的健康成长。     

网络人际互动对人类交往实践样态的崭新形塑

人类在不同的历史时期交往互动实践的出场方式上有着不同的路径与表现形态,呈现出鲜明的阶段性与历史演进的有序化、层级化特征。其中,作为网缘式的网络人际互动交往实践形态的出场,无疑是人类社会交往实践活动与形态的顶层制序,形塑着人类交往实践的崭新格局。网络人际互动创制了人类交往实践新的技术规则与逻辑、新的人伦规则与逻辑、新的经济化规则与逻辑、新的网络习俗与逻辑。网络人际互动生成着人类交往实践的新型权力关系,建构了人类交往实践活动崭新的“意义—权力”场域。     

角色变异：网络传播挑战“把关人”权利

20世纪末期兴起的网络传播,使大众传播的“把关人”权利受到严峻挑战。“把关人”已由传统的单向传播与控制信息向多元角色转换,成为集传播与接受、调整与变革为一体的新型网络信息调控。网络传播“把关人”的角色定位,是21世纪新闻传播需要研究的重要课题。     

C2C网上交易中信号机制的有效性分析

本文应用Berry等(1995)^[2]提出的离散选择需求模型和差异产品的伯川德竞争模型,并利用淘宝网上的交易数据,对声誉、消费者保障计划、保修服务及信息披露四种信号策略在网上交易中的作用进行了实证研究。需求估计结果表明消费者保障计划中的"7天无理由退换货"计划以及保修服务可以作为产品质量的信号;而在其他有效信号策略存在的情况下,消费者保障计划中的"先行赔付"计划以及卖家声誉作为质量信号的作用则被削弱。成本分析表明,信息披露虽然可以提高消费者购买的可能性,但是由于发出信号的成本太低,容易被低质量卖家所模仿,因此并不能作为有效的质量信号。本文首次从供给和需求两个方面分析了信号机制在信息不对称情况下的效应及其作用机制。