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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Typ.Ologies: Reframing Ireland's Vernacular Letterform Through The Lens Of Heritage, Deirdre Maher Ring Nov 2023

Typ.Ologies: Reframing Ireland's Vernacular Letterform Through The Lens Of Heritage, Deirdre Maher Ring

Articles

Since the late 1800s, vernacular letterforms have been vital components of the traditional shopfronts of Ireland, enlivening, place-making, and inspiring dialogue with streetscapes. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage identifies, records, and evaluates Ireland’s post-1700 architectural heritage. While the state initiative appraises architecturally significant shopfronts, it typically overlooks the critical signage element. This research aims to bridge this gap by documenting, mapping, and interpreting the existing vernacular letterforms in Kilkenny as a paradigm. Through the lens of heritage, the study seeks to construct a case for preserving, promoting, and advocating for vernacular letterforms and the traditional craft of signwriting. Signwriting …


Walking The Walk: Ex-Prisoners, Lived Experience, And The Delivery Of Restorative Justice, Allely Albert Nov 2023

Walking The Walk: Ex-Prisoners, Lived Experience, And The Delivery Of Restorative Justice, Allely Albert

Articles

Although the role of prisoners and ex-prisoners has recently received significant attention in restorative justice research, the literature typically treats them as the ‘offending’ party within restorative justice processes. This article instead focuses on ex-prisoners as facilitators of restorative justice, highlighting their ability to lead such programmes. Using a case study from Northern Ireland, the article examines the way that experiences of incarceration have directly influenced practitioners’ skills and their ability to uphold restorative justice principles. It is contended that qualities developed and honed in the prison environment ultimately translate to unique characteristics that can improve the restorative process. As …


The Quest For Influence: Examining Russia's Public Diplomacy Mechanisms In Africa, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako Dec 2022

The Quest For Influence: Examining Russia's Public Diplomacy Mechanisms In Africa, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako

Articles

This article examines Russian public diplomacy mechanisms in Africa. These include the intentional use of historical ties, various aid programmes in education and health, the targeted use of international broadcasting and digital media, and the exploitation of anti-Western sentiments on the continent. Russia employs these to win the hearts and minds of African publics for its national interest. The article first explores Moscow’s public diplomacy in general and analyses the challenges Russia faces in Africa, which has become a ‘dumping ground’ for public diplomacy campaigns by the US, the EU and its members, the UK, and China. The article argues …


African Governments’ Foreign Publics Engagement: Public Diplomacy In African Perspective, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako Oct 2022

African Governments’ Foreign Publics Engagement: Public Diplomacy In African Perspective, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako

Articles

Scholars over the years have delved into the discourse of states’ foreign publics engagement in achieving their foreign policy objectives. This analysis is done generally with the western perspective of public diplomacy with recent Asian scholarship evolving. As a result, this study aims to reflect on public diplomacy from an African perspective. Therefore, it analyses how African governments have engaged their foreign publics (foreign governments and their citizens) to attract foreign aid, tourism, and investments in their nation-building and development trajectory. The article explores African public diplomacy mechanisms such as diasporas, nation branding, cultural diplomacy, and many others. It also …


“Be A Pattern For The World”: The Development Of A Dark Patterns Detection Tool To Prevent Online User Loss, Jordan Donnelly, Alan Downley, Yunpeng Liu, Yufei Su, Quanwei Sun, Lan Zeng, Andrea Curley, Damian Gordon, Paul Kelly, Dympna O'Sullivan, Anna Becevel Sep 2022

“Be A Pattern For The World”: The Development Of A Dark Patterns Detection Tool To Prevent Online User Loss, Jordan Donnelly, Alan Downley, Yunpeng Liu, Yufei Su, Quanwei Sun, Lan Zeng, Andrea Curley, Damian Gordon, Paul Kelly, Dympna O'Sullivan, Anna Becevel

Articles

Dark Patterns are designed to trick users into sharing more information or spending more money than they had intended to do, by configuring online interactions to confuse or add pressure to the users. They are highly varied in their form, and are therefore difficult to classify and detect. Therefore, this research is designed to develop a framework for the automated detection of potential instances of web-based dark patterns, and from there to develop a software tool that will provide a highly useful defensive tool that helps detect and highlight these patterns.


An Ethical Discussion About The Responsibility For Protection Of Minors In The Digital Environment: A State-Of-The-Art Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Aiden Carthy, Isobel Oreilly Dr May 2022

An Ethical Discussion About The Responsibility For Protection Of Minors In The Digital Environment: A State-Of-The-Art Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Aiden Carthy, Isobel Oreilly Dr

Articles

Many ethical questions have been raised regarding the use of social media and the internet, mainly related to the protection of young people in the digital environment. In order to critically address the research question "who is responsible for ethically protecting minors in the digital environment?", this paper will review the main literature available to understand the role of parents, the government, and companies in protecting young people within the digital environment. We employed a holistic process that covers a state-of-the-art review and desk research. The article is divided into four sessions; (1) Government Policies from the European Union (EU) …


Vaccine Diplomacy Game: The Race For Soft Power, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako Jan 2022

Vaccine Diplomacy Game: The Race For Soft Power, Isaac Antwi-Boasiako

Articles

This article examines the motivations and dynamics of the donors and suppliers of the covid-19 vaccines to the global south countries in the context of public diplomacy to wield soft power. Thus, it investigates how the West and East use the vaccines as a public diplomacy tool to influence public opinion in other nations or continents in order to either enhance their global image and reputation or exert some form of international influence or have new allies. The article argues that covid-19 vaccines are a soft power asset; therefore, the manufacturing nations may use them to shape their target foreign …


The Evolution Of The Internet And Social Media: A Literature Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Isobel O'Reilly Dr, Aiden Carthy Dec 2021

The Evolution Of The Internet And Social Media: A Literature Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Isobel O'Reilly Dr, Aiden Carthy

Articles

This article reviews and analyses factors impacting the evolution of the internet, the web, and social media channels, charting historic trends and highlight recent technological developments. The review comprised a deep search using electronic journal databases. Articles were chosen according to specific criteria with a group of 34 papers and books selected for complete reading and deep analysis. The 34 elements were analysed and processed using NVIVO 12 Pro, enabling the creation of dimensions and categories, codes and nodes, identifying the most frequent words, cluster analysis of the terms, and creating a word cloud based on each word's frequency. The …


Social Media Influencers (Smis) In Context: A Literature Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Isobel O'Reilly Dr, Aiden Carthy Dec 2021

Social Media Influencers (Smis) In Context: A Literature Review, Charles Alves De Castro, Isobel O'Reilly Dr, Aiden Carthy

Articles

This review focused on three main areas, "Social Media Influencers (SMIs) in Context, The Impact of SMIs on Adolescents, and Consumer Behaviour in a Digital Era – Generation Z in Perspective". This article aims to further the overall understanding of SMIs and outlines the impact of SMIs on adolescents‘ lives. Thus, the main objective of this literature review is to raise awareness within the marketing field about the influence of social media influencers on adolescents and how brands promote their products and content through social media influencers. The review comprised a regular search using electronic journal databases and secondary data …


Relationship Between Participation And Social Inclusion, Louis Nwachi Jan 2021

Relationship Between Participation And Social Inclusion, Louis Nwachi

Articles

Studies show that within most countries, there are generally many different socio-cultural, ethnic and religious groups and this diversity inevitably creates a level of inter-group tension, with income disparities, cultural differences, and intergroup segregation leading in turn to social exclusion. This paper sets out to develop a conceptual framework to examine the relationship between that participation and the social inclusion outcomes in the plan-making process. It addresses how social inclusion can relate to the plan-making process culturally, politically and institutionally, economically and socially with high level participation. In doing this, it adopts a case study approach using the Metropolitan Area …


Along The Tevere: A Gastro-Historic Portrait Of The Region, Anke Klitzing Jul 2020

Along The Tevere: A Gastro-Historic Portrait Of The Region, Anke Klitzing

Articles

In June 2009, a group of masters students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy spent nine days visiting the lands of the Tevere river, travelling from its springs on Monte Fumaiolo in Emilia-Romagna to Rome by way of Umbria and the Lake Trasimeno. This article is a gastro-historic portrait of the lands of the Tevere, linking contemporary social, cultural and economic activities around food and tourism to the rich and long history of the region and highlighting persistent patterns, continuity and change.


Ireland, Broadcasting And The Spectrum Wars, Kenneth W Murphy Jan 2020

Ireland, Broadcasting And The Spectrum Wars, Kenneth W Murphy

Articles

This paper offers an overview and evaluation of Ireland’s changing media landscape through the prism of the recent policy contestation surrounding the future use of the UHF spectrum and it’s implications for the medium of television broadcasting. The article brings into focus current policy and governance developments and their interplay with market and technological change and how they are shaping a small open European state’s adaptation to the increasingly complex national/global hybrid media ecosystem. It examines the contexts surrounding the competition for spectrum resources and its implications for the role of free to air broadcasting and mobile broadband technologies in …


When Mini-Publics And Maxi-Publics Coincide: Ireland’S National Debate On Abortion, David M. Farrell, Jane Suiter, Kevin Cunningham, Clodagh Harris Jan 2020

When Mini-Publics And Maxi-Publics Coincide: Ireland’S National Debate On Abortion, David M. Farrell, Jane Suiter, Kevin Cunningham, Clodagh Harris

Articles

Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly (CA) of 2016–18 was tasked with making recommendations on abortion. This paper shows that from the outset its members were in large part in favour of the liberalisation of abortion (though a fair proportion were undecided), that over the course of its deliberations the CA as a whole moved in a more liberal direction on the issue, but that its position was largely reflected in the subsequent referendum vote by the population as a whole.


Digital Age Of Consent And Age Verification: Can They Protect Children?, Liliana Pasquale, Paola Zippo, Cliona Curley, Brian O'Neill, Marina Mongiello Jan 2020

Digital Age Of Consent And Age Verification: Can They Protect Children?, Liliana Pasquale, Paola Zippo, Cliona Curley, Brian O'Neill, Marina Mongiello

Articles

Children are increasingly accessing social media content through mobile devices. Existing data protection regulations have focused on defining the digital age of consent, in order to limit collection of children’s personal data by organizations. However, children can easily bypass the mechanisms adopted by apps to verify their age, and thereby be exposed to privacy and safety threats. We conducted a study to identify how the top 10 social and communication apps among underage users apply age limits in their Terms of Use. We also assess the robustness of the mechanisms these apps put in place to verify the age of …


Expectations Of Artificial Intelligence And The Performativity Of Ethics: Implications For Communication Governance, Aphra Kerr, Marguerite Barry, John D. Kelleher Jan 2020

Expectations Of Artificial Intelligence And The Performativity Of Ethics: Implications For Communication Governance, Aphra Kerr, Marguerite Barry, John D. Kelleher

Articles

This article draws on the sociology of expectations to examine the construction of expectations of ‘ethical AI’ and considers the implications of these expectations for communication governance. We first analyse a range of public documents to identify the key actors, mechanisms and issues which structure societal expectations around artificial intelligence (AI) and an emerging discourse on ethics. We then explore expectations of AI and ethics through a survey of members of the public. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the role of AI in communication gover- nance. We find that, despite societal expectations that we can design …


Have You Asked For It?: An Exploratory Study About Maltese Adolescents’ Use Of Ask. Fm, Lorleen Farrugia, Mary Ann Lauri, Joseph Borg, Brian O'Neill Nov 2019

Have You Asked For It?: An Exploratory Study About Maltese Adolescents’ Use Of Ask. Fm, Lorleen Farrugia, Mary Ann Lauri, Joseph Borg, Brian O'Neill

Articles

This article focuses on adolescents’ use of anonymous social networking sites (SNSs). Their perceptions and attitudes toward one such platform, Ask.fm, are discussed using the framework of uses and gratifications theory to explore motivations for using it. Four focus groups and four interviews were carried out with 22 Maltese adolescents (10 female and 12 male) aged 11 to 16 years. Thematic analysis of data collected was undertaken to identify and develop themes relevant to Ask.fm use. Findings indicate that the platform is a space where adolescents interact with others as part of their identity exploration. The role of anonymity was …


Philanthropy-Supported Journalism, Harry Browne Jan 2019

Philanthropy-Supported Journalism, Harry Browne

Articles

There is a widespread perception that the market is failing to ensure the provision of high quality, impactful journalism, especially investigative work and in‐depth coverage of governmental and international affairs. One answer to that market failing has been the development of philanthropy‐supported journalism. Some writers see this as a potentially important, if partial, solution to journalism's problems, strengthening the editorial focus on creating social and policy impacts. Others have expressed concern that philanthropic support draws journalists toward elite orientations, with both funders themselves and their desired audiences representing the socioeconomic upper tiers.


The Effects Of Mixed Membership In A Deliberative Forum: The Irish Constitutional Convention Of 2012–2014, David Farrell, Jane Suiter, Clodagh Harris, Kevin Cunningham Jan 2019

The Effects Of Mixed Membership In A Deliberative Forum: The Irish Constitutional Convention Of 2012–2014, David Farrell, Jane Suiter, Clodagh Harris, Kevin Cunningham

Articles

The Constitutional Convention was established by the Irish government in 2012. It was tasked with making recommendations on a number of constitutional reform proposals. As a mini-public, its membership was a mix of 66 citizens (randomly selected) and 33 politicians (self-selected). Its recommendations were debated on the floor of the Irish parliament with three of them leading to constitutional referendums; other recommendations are in the process of being implemented. This article uses data gathered during and after the operation of the Convention to examine this real-world example of a mixed-membership mini-public. The focus is on how the inclusion of politicians …


Parental Mediation And The Internet: Findings Of Net Children Go Mobile For Parents' Mediation Strategies In Ireland: Mediazione Dei Genitori E Internet: Risultati Di Net Children Go Mobile Per Le Strategie Di Mediazione Di Genitori In Irlanda., Thuy Dinh, Brian O'Neill Jan 2019

Parental Mediation And The Internet: Findings Of Net Children Go Mobile For Parents' Mediation Strategies In Ireland: Mediazione Dei Genitori E Internet: Risultati Di Net Children Go Mobile Per Le Strategie Di Mediazione Di Genitori In Irlanda., Thuy Dinh, Brian O'Neill

Articles

Based on data collected from the Net Children Go Mobile project, a cross- national study of children aged 9-16 in seven European countries with a focus on the Irish context, this article examines parental mediation of children’ online ac- tivities. The relationship between children’s digital skills (including internet and smartphone use) and parental mediation is also examined and factors influenc- ing parent mediation are highlighted. Parents implement a range of strategies, favouring strict mediation and rules over active mediation on internet safety, but these were associated with reduced children’s online activities and digital skills. These findings challenge researchers to identify …


Memories Of Television In Ireland: Separating Media History From Nation State, Edward Brennan Jan 2018

Memories Of Television In Ireland: Separating Media History From Nation State, Edward Brennan

Articles

This article emerges from a broader project that explores the history of television in Ireland using audience life story interviews. It argues that a dominant narrative persists in the history of television in the Republic of Ireland. Based in institutional sources this narrative is ideologically narrow although it tells a story of cultural liberation. A key example of its ideological limitation lies in the way that Irish people’s experience of British television transmissions has been forgotten. The reason for this lies in historical methods rather than conscious bias. Nevertheless, historical methods themselves can promote limited visons of reality that promote …


The Run Of Ourselves: Shame, Guilt And Confession In Post-Celtic Tiger Irish Media, Marcus Free, Clare Scully Jan 2018

The Run Of Ourselves: Shame, Guilt And Confession In Post-Celtic Tiger Irish Media, Marcus Free, Clare Scully

Articles

This article examines the emergence of the themes of shame and guilt in Irish print and broadcast media in the wake of Ireland’s 2008 economic collapse. It considers how the potential search for explanation of the crisis as a manifestation of unregulated banking and development sectors was displaced onto a confessional discursive pattern in which emphasis was placed on rampant borrowing and consumption as reflective of collective narcissism and acquisitive greed. Hence the logic that ‘hubris’ led inevitably to a national fall from grace and the corresponding resurgence of postcolonial shame; and the interplay between cultural nationalist and neoliberal discourses …


The Production Of Ek Tha Tiger: A Marriage Of Convenience Between Bollywood And The Irish Film And Tourist Industries, Giovanna Rampazzo Jan 2016

The Production Of Ek Tha Tiger: A Marriage Of Convenience Between Bollywood And The Irish Film And Tourist Industries, Giovanna Rampazzo

Articles

This article examines a collaboration between the Irish and Hindi film industries, adopting the production of Kabir Khan’s Ek Tha Tiger (2012) in Dublin as a case study. It critically narrates the arc of the film’s production, foregrounding the intersecting concerns of Yash Raj Films and Irish creative and cultural institutions. Ek Tha Tiger represents Ireland through constructed idyllic images which proved to be successful in attracting tourists. Tracing the links between the production of the film and the promotion of tourism to Ireland, this article explains how the film was used to construct a ‘tourist gaze’ for audiences in …


Syllable Circles For Pronunciation Learning And Teaching, Charlie Cullen, Keith Gardiner, John B. Whipple Jun 2015

Syllable Circles For Pronunciation Learning And Teaching, Charlie Cullen, Keith Gardiner, John B. Whipple

Articles

Syllable Circles is an interactive visualization representing prominence as a feature in short phrases or multi-syllable words. They were designed for Computer Aided Pronunciation Teaching as a part of English Language Teaching. This study explores the question of if and how interactive visualizations can affect English Language Learners’ awareness of prominence, or stress, in English pronunciation. The study followed seven learners and three teachers. Think-aloud protocols, notes from direct observation and interviews of two groups allowed for six streams of data. It was found that interactive visualizations of syllable circles facilitate noticing prominence. Learners and teachers believed interactive visualizations were …


Yes, It's Equality, But It's Not What It Used To Be, Edward Brennan May 2015

Yes, It's Equality, But It's Not What It Used To Be, Edward Brennan

Articles

No abstract provided.


Tv Still Failing To Reflect Our Multicultural Society, Ian Kilroy Jan 2015

Tv Still Failing To Reflect Our Multicultural Society, Ian Kilroy

Articles

Irish television and media in 2015 still lacks diversity and does not reflect our multicultural society. An Op-Ed (opinion piece) in the Irish Times by a Dublin-based academic and lecturer in Technological University Dublin.


The Western Way: Democracy And The Media Assistance Model, Daire Higgins Jan 2015

The Western Way: Democracy And The Media Assistance Model, Daire Higgins

Articles

International media assistance took off during a time where the ideological extremes of USA vs. USSR were set to disappear. Following the Cold War, international relations focused on democracy building, and nurturing independent media was embraced as a key part of this strategy. Fukayama called it the ‘End of History’, the fact that all other ideologies had fallen and Western style democracy was set to become the one common ideology. The US and UK led the way in media assistance, with their liberal ideas of a free press, bolstered by free market capitalism. America was the superpower, and forged the …


Mobile Technologies And The Incidence Of Cyberbullying In Seven European Countries: Findings From Net Children Go Mobile, Brian O'Neill, Thuy Dinh Jan 2015

Mobile Technologies And The Incidence Of Cyberbullying In Seven European Countries: Findings From Net Children Go Mobile, Brian O'Neill, Thuy Dinh

Articles

The harmful effects of bullying and harassment on children have long been of concern to parents, educators, and policy makers. The online world presents a new environment in which vulnerable children can be victimized and a space where perpetrators find new ways to perform acts of harassment. While online bullying is often considered to be an extension of persistent offline behavior, according to EU Kids Online (2011), the most common form of bullying is in person, face-to-face. With the rise in use of mobile Internet technologies, this balance is changing. Increased levels of use and more time spent online accessed …


Ecological Perspectives And Children’S Use Of The Internet: Exploring Micro To Macro Level Analysis, Brian O'Neill Jan 2015

Ecological Perspectives And Children’S Use Of The Internet: Exploring Micro To Macro Level Analysis, Brian O'Neill

Articles

Age-old debates on children’s encounters with media technologies reveal a long, fractured and contentious tradition within communication and media studies. Despite the fact there have been studies of e ects of media use by children since the earliest days of broadcasting, the subject remains under-theorised, poorly represented in the literature and not widely understood in media policy debates. Old debates have intensi ed in relation to the study of children and the internet. Pitted between alarmist accounts of risks, excessive use and harmful e ects on the one hand and the many accounts about „digital natives” and the transformational power …


Final Recommendations For Policy, Brian O'Neill, Elisabeth Staksrud Sep 2014

Final Recommendations For Policy, Brian O'Neill, Elisabeth Staksrud

Articles

EU Kids Online is the primary source of high quality, independent and comprehensive evidence regarding children’s use of the internet in Europe. This report provides research based recommendations to make the internet a better and safer place for children. Our recommendations include the following guidance:


First Report On The Implementation Of The Ict Principles, Brian O'Neill Apr 2014

First Report On The Implementation Of The Ict Principles, Brian O'Neill

Articles

It was a core commitment from the outset in 2010, when discussions began on the formation of an ICT Coalition spanning the whole ecosystem of internet-connected devices and online services, that any such self-regulatory initiative would need to demonstrate its commitment to independent assessment of its members’ achievements in online safety, given the concerns of the public and other stakeholders in this area. This report is the first such assessment, carried out by Dr Brian O’Neill, two years after the formal launch of the ICT Coalition - a timely moment to review the achievements of ICT Coalition members, assess the …