Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Geo, Audio, Video, Photo: How Digital Convergence In Mobile Devices Facilitates Participatory Culture In Libraries, Peta J. Hopkins, Joanna Hare, Jessie Donaghey, Wendy Abbott

Peta Hopkins

Libraries are often hailed as the cultural and learning hub of their communities. To deepen community engagement and social inclusion, libraries are adopting new technologies to facilitate a participatory and learning culture. With market saturation of smartphones and tablets and their associated apps, new affordances for content creation, curation and sharing show great potential to enhance participatory culture. The typical smartphone or tablet now incorporates digital technologies such as geo-location, audio, video, photo and web technologies. Bringing these technologies into a single device has enabled the development of apps such as Instagram, HistoryPin and SoundCloud. It has also changed the …

Geo, Audio, Video, Photo: How Digital Convergence In Mobile Devices Facilitates Participatory Culture In Libraries, Peta J. Hopkins, Joanna Hare, Jessie Donaghey, Wendy Abbott

Jessie Donaghey

Libraries are often hailed as the cultural and learning hub of their communities. To deepen community engagement and social inclusion, libraries are adopting new technologies to facilitate a participatory and learning culture. With market saturation of smartphones and tablets and their associated apps, new affordances for content creation, curation and sharing show great potential to enhance participatory culture. The typical smartphone or tablet now incorporates digital technologies such as geo-location, audio, video, photo and web technologies. Bringing these technologies into a single device has enabled the development of apps such as Instagram, HistoryPin and SoundCloud. It has also changed the …

Spain In The European Union: A Qualitative Study Of National Identity, Antonio Menéndez Alarcón

Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

This article focuses on Spanish interpretations of the European integration process. Based on extensive use of primary sources and interviews, the article examines perceptions of national identity, nationalism and people’s cultural attachment to the European Union (EU). It discusses the diversity of opinions among the different political parties, labor unions, business leaders and lay citizens regarding the organization of the EU. The study is located in the cultural studies approaches that attempt to describe the complexity and interdependence of political, economic and ideological structures. It shows that the EU is as much about representation and cultural meanings as it is …

The Culture Of Citizenship, Leti Volpp

Leti Volpp

The headscarf debate in France exemplifies what is widely perceived as the battle between a culture-free citizenship and a culturally-laden other. This battle, however, presumes the existence of a neutral state that must either tolerate or ban particular cultural differences. In this Article, I challenge that presumption by demonstrating how both cultural difference and citizenship are imagined and produced. The citizen is assumed to be modern and motivated by reason; the cultural other is assumed to be traditional and motivated by culture. Yet citizenship is both a cultural and anti-cultural institution: citizenship positions itself as oppositional to culture, even as …

How Do Cultural Activities Influence Happiness? The Relation Between Self-Reported Well-Being And Leisure, Maximo Rossi, Victoria Ateca, Mariana Gerstenbluth, Irene Mussio

Maximo Rossi

Well-being, measured as self-reported happiness has many determinants, which range from gender to income and political affiliation. When it comes to more or less active ways of participating in cultural activities, leisure has a significant impact in the levels of reported happiness, which is in line with the proposed ideas of Stiglitz et al (2009). We also quantify the likelihood of being more or less happy in relation to different types of leisure activities. Our approach has the advantage that all these cultural activities can be considered at the same time, accounting for the individual impact of each on individual …

Connecting Through Consilience: Ecology, Society, Culture And Technology, Ruth Mirams, Alexander Hayes

Alexander Hayes Mr.

Amongst linguistic, cultural and geographic diversity, humanity is characterised by inquisitiveness, communication and a deep desire to connect with each other. Despite our advanced intelligence and technological capacity, we are creatures of nature - a species which occupies a habitat, depends on consumable resources and fragile in many ways. As a species, we currently face challenges including overpopulation, diminishing resources and habitat degradation. In essence, we are exhausting the resources we depend on. [1] Resource depletion, disruption, famine, growth and sustainability are all observable in other species and natural systems. Human societies and systems can be described through the same …

Perceived Barriers For Implanting Microchips In Humans: A Transnational Study, Christine Perakslis, Katina Michael, M.G. Michael, Robert Gable

Professor Katina Michael

This quantitative, descriptive study investigated if there was a relationship between countries of residence of small business owners (N = 453) within four countries (Australia, India, UK, and the USA) with respect to perceived barriers to RFID (radio frequency identification) transponders being implanted into humans for employee ID. Participants were asked what they believed were the greatest barriers in instituting chip implants for access control in organizations. Participants had six options from which to select. There were significant chi-square analyses reported relative to respondents’ countries and: 1) a perceived barrier of technological issues (χ2 = 11.86, df = 3, p …

We Got To Do Better, Katherine Albrecht, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

Each year, thousands of film buffs gather at the Sundance International Film Festival in park City, UT, U.S.A., to see the offerings of the world’s brightest filmmakers. If it’s true that movies reflect the preoccupations and obsessions of the larger culture, it’s eye opening that three of the twelve contenders for international documentary film this year address the dark side of screen technology.

Love Child, looks at the tragic 2010 death by neglect of a three-month-old baby named “Sarang” (“Love” in Korean), when her parents spent up to twelve hours a day playing the game Prius, caring for their avatar …

Comparing Portrayals Of Beauty In Outdoor Advertisements Across Six Cultures: Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, South Korea, And Turkey, Pamela Morris

Pamela K. Morris

This research expands scholarship on cross-cultural investigations by examining ideas of beauty through the lens of outdoor advertisements. Using a content analysis method, 293 images of women in outdoor advertisements from six different cultures, including Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, South Korea, and Turkey, were reviewed through a framework of advertising and consumer culture, globalization, and theories of beauty. The findings revealed that differences across cultures exist and that beauty ideals are culture dependent.

Self-Talk As A Regulatory Mechanism: How You Do It Matters, Jiyoung Park

Jiyoung Park

Sexual Rights For Marginalized Populations, Louis Graham, Mark Padilla

Louis F Graham

Incest Taboos And Kinship: A Biological Or A Cultural Story?, Dwight W. Read

Dwight W Read

Befriending Death: Over 100 Essayists On Living And Dying, Michael C. Vocino, Alfred G. Killilea

michael c vocino

This book provides brief essays from people of a vast array of backgrounds, all taking death seriously and openly reflecting on how and where they find meaning in life. Many of these voices are from the smallest state, Rhode Island, which we feel serves as a microcosm of the diversity and insight of the larger country. This chance for a rare sharing of views on a truly profound subject has attracted commentators who are deeply religious and those who are not religious, noted authors and people who have never published a word, people celebrated by the world and people ignored …