"With a special focus on the impact of the COVID-19, the collection is based on the 2021 Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference, with chapters from both academia and civic organizations. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed citizens' relationship with digital technologies for the foreseeable
...
future. Many people's main channels of communication were transferred to digital services, platforms, and apps. Everything 'went online': our families, friends, partners, health, work, news, politics, culture, arts and protesting. Yet access to digital technologies remained highly unequal. This brought digital inclusion policy and research to the fore, highlighting to policymakers and the public the 'hidden' challenges and impacts of digital exclusion and inequalities. The cutting-edge volume offers research findings and policy case studies that explore digital inclusion from the provision of basic access to digital, via education and digital literacy, and on to issues of gender and technology. Case studies are drawn from varied sources including the UK, Australia, South America, and Eastern Europe, providing a valuable resource in the pursuit of social equity and justice." (Publisher description)
more
"The COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered prejudices, systemic inequities and critical feelings about governmental institutions around the globe. Since the start of the pandemic, the 12 nations that make up South America have had more than 67 million cases and 1.3 million fatalities. Public trust in and
...
willingness to speak out about government responses to COVID-19 in each nation have differed vastly. Using spiral of silence, this study (n =1248) explored support for governmental COVID-19 response and willingness to speak out about that response in four South American nations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru. Results revealed Chileans are more likely to speak out on government response to COVID-19 than other South American participants. In addition, climate of opinion and support for government response positively predict willingness to speak. These results further our international and cross-cultural understanding of spiral of silence." (Abstract)
more
"The global pandemic has adversely affected migrant workers psychologically and economically, leading to a poor quality of life. How the Malaysian media portrays this group during uncertainty remains unexplored. Aside from Eurocentric-focused scholarship, this study uniquely examines the representat
...
ion of migrant workers in Malaysia. An inductive qualitative analysis of two Malaysian newspapers, Malay Mail (n = 36) and New Straits Times (n = 33), was conducted from January 2021 to August 2021. The findings show that the media portray migrant workers in a Janus-faced manner: They sympathetically represent them as vulnerable groups but also with an antagonistic stereotypical representation. This shows that media outlets adopt a more versatile approach to reporting on this group, which differs from previous studies. This study adds new perspectives and broadens the literature on the representation of migrant workers in ASEAN countries, such as Malaysia. It is also significant because it highlights subaltern erasures in the news discourses of marginalized groups, reducing xenophobia and racism toward them." (Abstract)
more
"Web series are, in some ways, tailored for capturing everyday life in a pandemic. As shortform episodic content distributed via online platforms, the creators of Web series commonly work with tight budgets, recruiting crew and cast from their own networks, and making use of the home as an inexpensi
...
ve location, methods well suited to the conditions of creative work in lockdown. This essay examines 3 of the many Web series that sought to chronicle everyday life during a pandemic: Cancelled, a Spanish-Australian Web series drama; If I Were There With You, an experimental Brazilian Web series; and the German comedy Web series Drinnen—Im Internet sind alle gleich (Inside: Everyone is equal on the Internet). The essay explores the ways in which international Web series made during lockdown interrogate and expand our understanding of the role of digital culture in everyday life for a post–COVID-19 future." (Abstract)
more
"This study explores the construction of distributed trust under today’s networked environment. Focusing on diaspora micro-influencers’ COVID-19-related videos on Bilibili, this study aims to explore: How platform-specific features of Bilibili enhance the construction of distributed trust; the d
...
ynamics among a diversity of sources on trust building; and the ways in which the content of uploaders’ videos and users’ comments contribute to the formation of distributed trust. The results show that user participation, particularly participatory surveillance enabled by platform-specific features, plays a key role in the construction of distributed trust. Although it has new characteristics, we can also see that the formation of distributed trust is not a replacement of the old model but only an outcome of its transformation and evolvement." (Abstract)
more
"Looking at patterns between those with meaningful connectivity — defined as having daily internet use with 4G-like speeds, owning a smartphone, and an unlimited access point at home, work, or a place of study — and those with just basic or no internet access at all, we saw key distinctions betw
...
een women based on geography and education in our study sample which impacted their experiences of the internet. Across our six survey countries [Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda], women with a tertiary education were nearly twice as likely to be meaningfully connected compared to their peers with less education. Women living in rural areas were three times more likely to lack internet access than their urban-dwelling peers, while women living in cities were over 50% more likely to have meaningful connectivity. Meaningful connectivity enabled women around the world to learn, earn, access government and financial services, and connect with family and communities, thereby also saving essential time and money in transport costs. Women’s educational level and having meaningful connectivity are the strongest predictors of finding information online or participating in the digital economy. Women int erviewed in underserved localities — such as remote villaes in India and impoverished urban settlements in Nigeria — reported restricted digital access due to: lack of infrastructure (such as mobile towers); high cost of devices and data services; income-generating activities and unpaid care work leave little to no time available to access connectivity or digital skills educational initiatives; dependency on men in their family to use devices [...]
We propose four tiers of achievable solutions — and call attention to policymakers, investors, and the ICT sector at large to fast-track meaningful connectivity and inclusive digital development for all:
1. Deep investments that use substantial resourcing to make profound changes in a specific policy area or for a specific community. Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs) represent a key mechanism across the majority world for deep investment strategies. When well executed, they provide clear interventions with measurable changes in the lives of affected communities.
2. Grand visions that combine years of effort with substantial funding resources to revolutionize the status quo. National broadband plans and other key strategy documents — when appropriately supported and resourced through implementation stages — represent a core example of grand visions within this space.
3. Easy wins that are comparatively discreet and specific changes that can still create tangible value at their scale. Gender data — collecting it, creating it, analyzing it, and using it — is a critical component to several easy wins that have been implemented in recent years. Policymakers can start from this level of research and measurement to make clear steps in the right direction.
4. Scalable systems that represent large, programmatic change in the pre-existing ways of working. Multistakeholder approaches and gender targets can provide the foundation for long-term, ongoing processes that scale progress towards closing the gender digital divide. By using policy and regulation to create mechanisms and procedures that consider digital inclusion, policymakers can build habits and routines that gradually and consistently change the course of history." (Executive summary, pages 2-4)
more
"Populists and the Pandemic examines the responses of populist political actors and parties in 22 countries around the globe to the Covid-19 pandemic, in terms of their attitudes, rhetoric, mobilization repertoires, and policy proposals. The responses of some populist leaders have received much publ
...
ic attention, as they denied the severity of the public health crisis, denigrated experts and data, looked for scapegoats, encouraged protests, questioned the legitimacy of liberal institutions, spread false information, and fueled conspiracies. But how widespread are those particular reactions? How much variation is there? What explains the variation that does exist? This volume considers these questions through critical analysis of countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, by leading experts with deep knowledge of their respective cases. Some chapters focus on populist parties, others on charismatic populist leaders. Some countries examined are democracies, others autocracies. Some populists are left-wing, others right-wing. Some populists are in government, others in opposition. This variation allows for a panoramic consideration of factors that systematically influence or mediate populist responses to the pandemic. The book thus makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the intersection between two of the most pressing social and political challenges of our time. The book will be of interest to all those researching populism, extremism, and political parties, and those more broadly interested in political science, public policy, sociology, communications, and economics." (Publisher description)
more
"Die Affinität zu Verschwörungsnarrativen lässt sich nur bedingt aufgrund von sozialstrukturellen und lebensweltlichen Kontextbedingungen vorhersagen. Auch die Coronapandemie hat diese Mentalitäten nicht hervorgebracht, sie waren, wie die Untersuchungen aus den früheren Jahren zeigen – bereit
...
s vorher weit verbreitet. Es gibt allerdings einige Risikofaktoren, die erwähnt werden sollten: Eine hohe subjektive Belastung durch Corona in Kombination mit dem Gefühl, von Staat und Gesellschaft alleingelassen worden zu sein, gehören ebenso dazu wie Migrationserfahrung und ein hohes Alter. Ausgehend davon, dass die Coronapandemie soziale Differenzen nicht nur sichtbarer gemacht, sondern auch verschärft hat, bot sie für betroffene Bevölkerungsgruppen offenbar auch mehr Anlässe für die Hinwendung zu alternativen Erzählungen, die Kontrollverluste aufwiegen und den Selbstwert steigern. Der größte Risikofaktor ist allerdings politischer Natur: Menschen mit ausgeprägter Verschwörungsmentalität stehen politisch rechts und sind mit dem Funktionieren der Demokratie in Deutschland unzufrieden. Dieser Befund legt es nahe, sie vor allem im politischen Raum anzusprechen. Das ist auch deswegen notwendig, weil Menschen mit starker Verschwörungsmentalität kein Randphänomen sind. Unsere Analysen lassen erkennen, dass mindestens 12 Prozent der hier analysierten Stichprobe überzeugte Verschwörungs-„Theoretiker“ sein dürften. Umgekehrt können wir festhalten, was gegen Verschwörungsnarrative hilft: Bildung trägt ihren Teil bei, ebenso wie eine optimistische Zukunftssicht und eine positive Haltung gegenüber der Demokratie." (Zusammenfassung und Ausblick, Seite 12)
more
"The contributions of this special issue are grouped in three sections: context, theoretical framework and empirical research. The first articles set up two important dimensions of the context we are living in that have to be definitely improved if we want to take advantage of the positive sides of
...
Covid-19’s effects to bring about real social relations and a good communication of science [...] The following articles deal with three important core components needed to set up a theoretical framework, from which this issue intends to start a serious scholarly conversation around the lessons learned from the Covid’s impact on social communication: (1) how a person knows and shapes his/her judgment in practical affairs when s/he is critically involved in them, (2) why and how science has surrendered to technology in the last decades, (3) and how practical knowledge is socially shared [...] The context and theoretical framework having been set up, the issue enters into the empirical part of our research: several papers examine the news coverage of the Church dealing with the pandemic in a good sample of newspapers around the world, one paper looks at how social media have engaged in the response to the pandemic by the Catholic Church, and another at how local churches have managed the challenges of the pandemic [...] The analysis of worldwide media coverage aims to find out how the mainstream press has portrayed the role of Christian churches and other religious bodies in dealing with the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. All researchers have broadly shared a common qualitative methodology: looking for the frames and inducing the topoi (common places) underlying the resulting frames of the examination of news and editorial items." (Pages 2-4)
more
"The contributions in the form of research articles and essays come from a variety of religious perspectives – Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim, Jain, Hindu, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox. Despite coming from different religious worldviews, the underlying message fundamentally affirms that promoting ecol
...
ogical flourishing requires an approach that centers on both praxis and spirituality in order to prevent the task of caring for our common home to become simply a series of dry mechanical calculations, purely theoretical propositions, or clever policy enactments. Religions at their best inspire and infuse external acts that are consistent with authentic interior virtues ordered to the wellbeing of both humanity and the natural environment. In this respect, religions must undergo its own self-examination in order to adequately speak to the present context." (Page 176)
more
"This study analyses the impacts of COVID-19 and its associated public policy responses on digital and intersectional inequality in South Africa from a demand-side perspective. The overarching research question it seeks to address is: To what extent were people in South Africa able to mitigate the n
...
egative (health and economic) effects of the pandemic and lockdowns through digital substitution? It draws on the results of a national phone questionnaire of 1 400 randomly selected respondents and the findings from six focus groups of men and women from urban and rural areas to examine the levels of digital substitution in relation to work, schooling and economic activity (such as banking, e-commerce and online business). It also investigates how digital substitution enabled access to social protection and COVID-19 relief. Finally, it discusses how public and infrastructure policies could be optimised for post-pandemic recovery and future policies." (Executive summary)
more
"The COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019, spread to the rest of the world in 2020 and still holds nations in its grip in 2021. There is scant research on the way it has affected Holocaust awareness. Based on scholarly work on Holocaust awareness in Israel, the top-down memory of the Holocaust in the med
...
ia and the vernacular Holocaust memory on social media, this article analyzes the ways the Holocaust became a frame of reference in Israel for the interpretation of the COVID-19 pandemic and the newest link in a long chain of using the Holocaust as a prism for other topics in Israeli society. The article centers on the evolution of the COVID-19 – Holocaust references and the role of media and social media in it. It shows that the initial panic created a wave of comparisons between the Holocaust and the pandemic in the media and social media. In the second half of the year, as the restrictions and two more lockdowns became part of life, references to the Holocaust changed – negative reactions to COVID-19 government regulations and law enforcement were compared on social media to Nazi acts. The Israeli media did not create these comparisons but reported them widely and contributed to their circulation." (Abstract)
more
"El panorama de los medios de comunicación han cambiado: de las grandes empresas editoras de periódicos, generalmente propiedad de grupos familiares, a los medios nativos digitales financiados por los propios periodistas o por ONGs gracias a los aportes ciudadanos o iniciativas de recaudación de
...
fondos y suscripciones. Este texto dibuja un panorama general de lo que significan los medios digitales y revisa las experiencias de algunos medios de Ecuador, Colombia, Perú y Argentina. En el caso ecuatoriano, se analiza la cobertura de un hecho particular -las movilizaciones de octubre 2019- por parte de tres medios: Wambra EC, La Periódica y el Centro de Medios Virtuales de la Carrera de Comunicación de la Universidad politécnica Salesiana." (Descripción de la casa editorial)
more
"Confronted with a situation that was new to everyone, world leaders sought the best way to contain the pandemic caused by the coronavirus. The measures introduced, with lockdowns and curfews, affected fundamental rights such as freedom of movement and assembly, with implications for freedom of expr
...
ession and freedom of the press. Demonstrations against the governments’ COVID-19 policies and the associated encroachments on citizens’ fundamental rights in turn led to attacks on media representatives and thus on the freedom of reporting. They were also further proof that attacks on the freedom of the media no longer come only from the state. The restrictions on journalistic work were by no means a surprise attack on the media, but the continuation of a worldwide trend that has been evident for several years, not only in authoritarian systems, but also in established democracies. For those who fear the free press and its watchdog function, the pandemic provided a welcome opportunity, under the pretext of public health, to tighten the reins a bit more and create facts that will endure beyond the pandemic. Financial support for the media, especially the printed press, to cushion the economic consequences of the pandemic and to secure newspapers for the future, establishes new dependencies that can affect free reporting in the long term." (Abstract)
more
"This article is a study of mourning among Shi’a Muslims during the COVID-19 pandemic through a call-in talk show called #IAMHUSSEINI. By analyzing the discourses of callers and presenters and locating them within a visual context of the television studio, this article shows how the viewership of
...
#IAMHUSSEINI constitutes a televisual majlis (Arabic: ‘assembly’) composed of more than passive asynchronous consumption and resembling what Patrick Eisenlohr refers to as ‘atmospheres’. This article argues that the COVID-19 pandemic drove #IAMHUSSEINI to recalibrate to expectations of a spatially proximate ritual, rather than sustaining a ‘natively digital’ aesthetic, repurposing Richard Rogers’ approach to digital methods. This change brought about a tacit understanding of the televisual majlis among #IAMHUSSEINI’s viewers. This article therefore posits a difference between ‘spatial intercorporeality’, in which bodies are mediated by spatial proximity, and ‘functional intercorporeality’, in which they are mediated by the material preconditions of a shared activity." (Abstract)
more