Media - Culture - Social Communication

Pious protagonists: Using the screen to expand images of Muslim faith beyond the dichotomy of “good” and “bad”

2023-10-04T08:17:53+00:00

This article analyses how movies have been reproducing pejorative and stereotypical storytelling regarding Muslims and Arabs for more than a century, mainly along a narrow-minded dichotomy between “bad” fanatic religious extremists or “good” non-religious secularized Muslims. The article explores alternative storytelling combined with using a model to discuss emotional engagement among moviegoers. The conclusion is that mainstream movie culture is still indebted to stereotypical images of Islam/Muslims. However, things are changing. More nuanced storytelling has been taking place lately, giving room for a broader spectrum of Muslim religious identity positions, including examples of religious wisdom and spiritual integrity, offering the audience imagery beyond the stereotypical “good” and “bad” dichotomy. Looking outside Hollywood and European mainstream films, new voices are being heard, making way for a wider spectrum of views.

Scientific information discovery and access: A bibliographic review

2023-10-04T08:17:57+00:00

This review study is based on original research studies investigating how scientific information is discovered and accessed. The study highlights the role of various platforms, including search engines, databases, repositories, web-scale discovery services, academic social media, and illegal platforms like Sci-Hub in this process. The results indicate that while libraries have implemented discovery services and repositories to increase their role in the discovery and access field, Google and Google Scholar are still the most popular options for discovering scientific information. Additionally, databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed are also used by users, and newer platforms like ResearchGate and Sci-Hub have gained popularity for accessing scientific information

A complex perspective on digital education development: From economic impact to community advancement

2023-10-04T08:17:48+00:00

Evidence shows that education prepares future generations for the future, but technological innovations are reshaping the present and the near future to such an extent that it is increasingly unpredictable what exactly future generations should be prepared for. The research was guided by Microsoft's 2018 research summary "Transforming education - Empowering the students of today to create the world of tomorrow", which provided inspiration on the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

The first part of the paper reviews the societal drivers and imperatives for transforming education through a complex literature review, while the second part of the paper presents a practical organisational transformation process sequence. The paper presents Hungarian examples and cases, but it can also serve as a thought-provoking tool for the wider region, where the study of the process outlined reveals a striking contrast between potential and current transformation efforts. The purchase of technological equipment and the provision of schools with new educational technology is not achieving the desired objective, as the funds are not available. It is instructive to reflect on what the system developers have tried to skip over and get away with, and why this is not a viable path.

Female activists in environmental movements on Instagram: An ecofeminism perspective in the Indonesian context

2022-12-01T07:46:36+00:00

Social media has become an essential instrument for activists and organizations to campaign and share their activism in the digital sphere. In Indonesia, while discussing digital activism, many activists also utilize social media to create, interact, and expand their networks. Numerous studies have analyzed the importance of environmental groups and activists in combating the climate issue; however, relatively few have examined how female activists depict and debate environmental activism on social media from an ecofeminist viewpoint, particularly on Instagram. Considering the contributions of female activists may provide broader and more critical viewpoints that link environmental challenges with other topics. Therefore, the growth of online networks and social media platforms may lead to a rise in the number of female activists who are able to voice their opinions and campaign on environmental concerns, particularly in the Indonesian setting.

Analysis of religious ritual behaviours on the Facebook group ‘Trust Jesus’ in relation to Pascal Boyer’s concept of the religions ‘in the wild’ and interaction rituals theory by Randall Collins

2023-10-04T08:18:00+00:00

This article provides an analysis of communication within a private Facebook group “Trust Jesus” as a ritual action performed by its members. The aim of the conducted study utilizing the virtual ethnography method was to establish whether properties of religious ritual behaviour can be observed in the posts and comments published in the studied group. In order to support the arguments and interpretations of the gathered research materials presented in the article, the authors refers to the cultural evolution theory, the concept of wild religions by Pascal Boyer as well as the sociological concept of interaction rituals by Ronald Collins.

Binge-watching as an interdisciplinary research field

2023-10-04T08:18:16+00:00

The authors of this text aim to quantitatively describe the state of the academic literature on binge watching, formally characterize the research on this phenomenon (methods, techniques, population) and present the is motives and consequences. The paper applies an in-depth literature review analysis of binge watching (126 publications for the period 2014-2021) and discusses the development of research trends within the interdisciplinary field of binge-watching.

Scholarly communication of early career researchers – organisation of international research with the participation of Poles and its Polish follow-up

2023-10-04T08:17:41+00:00

This paper discusses the central assumptions as well as the organisation of studies into scholarly communication as seen through the eyes of early career researchers, which have been conducted for several years in eight countries, i.e. the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Malaysia, China, Russia and Poland. The research projects carried out between 2016 and 2022 (funded by Publishing Research Consortium, CIBER Research Ltd. and Sloan Fundation) involved conducting longitudinal interviews with scholars representing the fields of engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, science and life sciences, as well as social sciences. On the other hand, 2023 (National Science Centre project no. 2022/45/B/HS2/00041) saw the introduction of interviews with Polish early career researchers from previously unanalysed fields, namely the humanities, theological sciences and the fields of arts.

Topics and participants of dialogues on the cinematographic YouTube channel on the example of a case study of channel called Drugi Seans

2023-10-04T08:18:18+00:00

Communities created around YouTube channels are often formed around the attraction to the creators or the topics they discuss. Viewers can watch the published content and post comments under the videos. This article aims to identify who is discussing what topics on the Drugi Seans channel, which was selected for this study. A total of 1,541 comments were collected, and 342 threads were analysed. The analysis revealed that: many threads consist of two elements, creators of the channel actively participate in dialogues, many threads focus on cinematography as the primary topic. Additionally, it was found that the length of the threads is probably influenced by the cultural text discussed in the video.

Distribution and promotion of films by the Open Cages Poland: Between an activist agenda and digital marketing

2023-10-04T08:17:51+00:00

This article aims to analyse the distribution and promotion practices of films produced by the Open Cages Poland (SOK), an organisation that works for the rights of farm animals. SOK promotes and distributes audiovisual works in a deliberate way, mainly through social media, with the primary goal of implementing the organisation’s objectives. The article discusses how SOK activists create films with the specificity of social media in mind and educate volunteers on specific platform criteria rather than film art theory. This approach conflicts with the non-systemic, activist nature of the organisation, but it aligns with the philosophy of effective altruism and the overriding mission of the organisation. The article is based on an analysis of existing data, film production and distribution, media education and nine individual interviews conducted with activists.

Opinions of Internet users on fake news (research report)

2023-10-04T08:18:03+00:00

Fake news is becoming increasingly prevalent in mass media and poses a significant threat to various aspects of society, including individual, political, economic, cultural, and health domains. Current events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, demonstrate the harmful effects of disinformation on the real world. This article presents the findings of an empirical study conducted on a sample of 110 internet users to understand their attitudes towards fake news. The study aimed to explore how internet users perceive fake news, its forms, and the risks associated with believing false information. The research results demonstrate that the respondents had a good understanding of the concept of fake news and its dangers. Most of the respondents reported attempting to verify the information they read by cross-checking it with multiple sources of information.

Dual-process model and competitiveness as predictors of in-game toxicity

2023-10-04T08:18:13+00:00

The goal of this research was to better understand in-game toxicity. In-game toxicity was measured with general harassment in computer games, sexual harassment in computer games and video game sexism. The proposed dual-process model included social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism as main predictors and benevolent sexism and hostile sexism as additional independent variables. A total of 834 participants took part in the online survey, out of which 40% were female. The data was analyzed employing t-tests and a structural equation model. Social dominance orientation turned out to be a better predictor than right-wing authoritarianism, supporting earlier findings. A total of 50% of video game sexism variance has been explained. The variance of general harassment in computer games and sexual harassment in computer games was explained in 8% and 13% respectively. Competitive game players achieved statistically higher results on all three scales that measured dependent variables.

Parenting on the Internet and the media in Olsztyn. Selected aspects

2023-10-04T08:18:06+00:00

This article is an exploratory study of online parenthood, combining research with popularization. The author has set two main objectives: 1) to present selected pro-parenting groups and foundations in Olsztyn that follow attachment parenting (AP) and nonviolent communication (NVC), and 2) to examine their image in the local press. Using publications from the Olsztyn edition of Gazeta Wyborcza, the author highlights the fact that attachment parenting and nonviolent communication are part of worldwide trends in parenting and that they are often the subject of negative media coverage. The study includes results from an uncategorized interview, and the author argues that local media plays a significant role in shaping public perception of the phenomenon.

The scientific discipline of social communication and media studies at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn with the right to confer doctoral and post-doctoral degrees

2023-03-12T13:03:13+00:00

Monitoring Centre for Online Citizen Journalism

2023-03-12T14:28:28+00:00

Between the worlds of anthropology, culture, theology and cinema

2022-04-24T18:40:43+00:00

Report on the 6th Congress of the Polish Society of Social Communication – „Media and society in the era of platforms, algorithms and data”, Gdańsk September 22-24, 2022

2022-12-30T18:53:37+00:00