ABSTRACT
Coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) is a manipulative communication tactic that uses a mix of authentic, fake, and duplicated social media accounts to operate as an adversarial network (AN) across multiple social media platforms. The article aims to clarify how CIB's emerging communication tactic "secretly" exploits technology to massively harass, harm, or mislead the online debate around crucial issues for society, like the COVID-19 vaccination. CIB's manipulative operations could be one of the greatest threats to freedom of expression and democracy in our society. CIB campaigns mislead others by acting with pre-arranged exceptional similarity and "secret" operations. Previous theoretical frameworks failed to evaluate the role of CIB on vaccination attitudes and behavior. In light of recent international and interdisciplinary CIB research, this study critically analyzes the case of a COVID-19 anti-vaccine adversarial network removed from Meta at the end of 2021 for brigading. A violent and harmful attempt to tactically manipulate the COVID-19 vaccine debate in Italy, France, and Germany. The following focal issues are discussed: (1) CIB manipulative operations, (2) their extensions, and (3) challenges in CIB's identification. The article shows that CIB acts in three domains: (i) structuring inauthentic online communities, (ii) exploiting social media technology, and (iii) deceiving algorithms to extend communication outreach to unaware social media users, a matter of concern for the general audience of CIB-illiterates. Upcoming threats, open issues, and future research directions are discussed.
ABSTRACT
One of the achievements in the field of education development in recent years is the emergence and development of digital libraries. This term began to be used in the late 80s in foreign publications in connection with the development of Project Gutenberg in 1971. This process is intensively developed and improved to this day. Depending on the level of development of the state (availability of high-speed Internet, financing of institutions, etc.), this process develops at different rates around the world and involves various public and private institutions. Digital libraries have become even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic as researchers and readers have been able to access vast amounts of resources at any time of the day during this challenging period when people have been confined to their homes. To date, the presence of an electronic library in the university has become an indicator of its respectability. There are certain criteria for university libraries, so they must cover scientific, educational and methodological literature in all taught disciplines. The main advantage of digital libraries is the confidence that they will deliver information better than it was in the past. At the same time, the creation and development of electronic libraries encounters a number of problems and difficulties. First of all, at present there is no clear understanding of what an electronic library is, what information systems should be attributed to this class, what are the requirements and evaluation criteria for them. In this article, we will analyze the emergence and development of the digital library, reveal the main obstacles to its development based on the creation of a technological model for the library of the Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction and the electronic library of the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts in Turkey [ FROM AUTHOR]
ABSTRACT
A successful digital society is, in part, predicated on people having secure access to digitally-delivered services when they need it. It has long been recognised that parts of society are not able to access digital services without assistance, often as a result of economic precarity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of third and voluntary sector organisations in providing assisted digital access has come to the fore. As access to essential everyday services moved to digital-only and family and friendship networks of support became disrupted by the pandemic, for many, voluntary and third sector organisations were the source of digital assistance to claim welfare, pay bills, take part in education and purchase food. Our study explores the types of assisted digital access that voluntary and third sector organisations have provided thus far during the COVID-19 pandemic. We capture the dimensions of this assistance and evaluate the steps such organisations take to ensure that this access is safe for both the assister and assisted. From these findings we set out a security strategy with supporting design principles that combines digital security with human security in a security approach we term 'positive-first'. © 2022 Owner/Author.
ABSTRACT
Although smart contracts already existed before COVID-19, some Ecuadorian companies still show delays in the modernization of their contractual processes, which goes in the opposite direction to the needs that a digital society demands. The need to promote the implementation of technologies that minimize physical contact of people and optimize resources has been evidenced. In addition, based on the effects of the pandemic, the contractual dynamics of Ecuadorian companies force us to make the definitive digital step in this field that still is not present at all, even though there is national and international legislation that allows it. In the national and international context, it becomes imperative to consider the use of smart contracts. This paper presents a descriptive methodology to use smart contracts as an alternative for improvement in digitization processes as a vision to eliminate distance barriers between the parties, automatic execution of the clauses and conditions, elimination of paper, optimization of resources, and improvements over time. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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Introduction. Active using of Internet technologies in the process of learning has become one of the most characteristic trends in the development of Russian education sys- tem over the past few years. The spread of this trend is facilitated by both the internal patterns of the development of Russian educational institutions and the need to transfer the learning process to a distance learning format, which arose under quarantine measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, it remains difficult to say, whether this process meets the real needs of students or not.The aim of the article is to identify and describe the main sentiments that arise in the environment of Russian students in connection with the growing role of the Internet in the learning process.Methodology and research methods. The present research is based on a complex meth- odology and uses both theoretical and empirical methods of analysis. The conceptual frame- work and the initial hypothesis of the research are determined on the basis of an analytical review of current papers in the area of psychology and sociology of education, which was im- plemented by using of common scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, comparison, and gen- eralisation. The peculiarities of the actual attitudes of students to online learning were revealed using a mass survey of students in Ekaterinburg (N = 526) and an in-depth psychodiagnostic questionnaire conducted among students at the Ural State Pedagogical University (N = 120).Results. In the course of the research, it was established that the increasing internetisa- tion of the learning process does not correspond to the real needs and patterns of behaviour of the majority of students and is perceived by them rather negatively. It was possible to find out that Russian researchers are used to considering modern students as a special generation of people, who have grown up in the conditions of the widespread spread of Internet technologies, who are accustomed to using such technologies very actively and are in need of their applica- tion within the framework of the learning process. However, the analysis of real moods of the students demonstrated that such a view is only partly true. Although many of them are really accustomed to actively using the Internet in their daily lives, most of them do not express real demand for using of it into the learning process.Scientific novelty. The authors substantiate skepticism about the intensive implemen- tation of Internet technologies in the process of learning. The argument for the inconsistency of online learning with the real needs and patterns of behaviour of student representatives is presented. The need to carefully introduce Internet technologies into the learning process is recognised.Practical significance. The research materials can be used for the optimisation of In- ternet technologies implementation in the learning process and for the clarification of optimal algorithms for using such technologies when working with students.
ABSTRACT
The digital transformation has become the fundamental axis to seek leadership in the market, organizations innovate production processes, but also in the provision of services always seeking to generate positive experiences, faced with this reality, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are also included. Universities adapt their management processes, not only in education, but also in applying new communication channels in the provision of services to students, who seek to streamline the relationship with their institution, optimizing resources and response times. It is the responsibility of the directors of HEIs, through their strategies, to move towards a digital culture in which the entire educational community can interact, leaving aside traditional structures applied in management towards students and the general public. The digital transformation in educational organizations is possible and necessary to begin as soon as possible and it will be viable if the teams that have to implement it know in detail the vision and strategy of the university, they know clearly where they want to go and what they want attain [1]. The main objective of this research is to determine the process of digital transformation in which the Universidad Tecnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) is working, the changes obtained as a result of the adaptation of new attention and communication channels in the provision of academic-administrative services, mainly towards his students. The processed data correspond to the collection of information on the use of communication channels used by UTPL students and how the issue of the COVID 19 pandemic influenced the repowering of these relationship media, ratifying the student as the center of its operation.
ABSTRACT
The rapid and breakthrough development of digital technology in the digital era creates excellent opportunities for Vietnam’s socioeconomic development, profoundly changing all activities and people’s lifestyles. However, due to old age characteristics, older adults become a vulnerable population group and face many difficulties when digital transformation occurs widely in all aspects of life. Research issues raised by the research team, such as sociodemographic characteristics, active aging, the activeness and attitudes of the elderly in Vietnam toward the digital environment, the importance of relevant government policies, and necessary attention from telecommunications and online service providers, are considered the novelties of this study. Among these, sociodemographics were found to be the most important factor influencing the digital adaptation of older people, as they dominate the age-related problems faced by older people. These suggestions were confirmed by evaluating the results of a sociological survey conducted by the research group At Hanoi University of Science and Technology on the influence of the technological environment on older adults’ lives using qualitative research methods. The purpose of the study was to determine the factors influencing the digital adaptability of Vietnamese elderly people in order to propose policy implications to encourage the elderly to adapt to the digital environment in the emerging digital society in Vietnam.
ABSTRACT
Digital society is already a reality and is increasingly shaping many aspects of social, economic and political life, among other aspects. The concept of Society 5.0 is a proposed form of a possible political nature to fulfil this digital society through a super-smart society. Based on document analysis of articles and books on this topic, this conceptual paper aims to critically discuss some aspects of Society 5.0, such as the dimensions of digitalization and sustainability. It is concluded that Society 5.0 is not an inevitability, and that the transformations it entails, as well as its advantages, also have challenges and limitations that should be considered, such as the risk of reproducing old forms of micro, meso and macrosocial inequalities within each country and between countries and regions, and, at the same time, creating new forms of social, cultural, economic and political inequalities, among others. A critical spirit seems to be necessary in the follow-up of this Society 5.0 and for which citizen-science logic, in an interdisciplinary way, can potentially provide tools for previous and prospective analysis of its implementation. We justify the need for smart education in these smart societies as a way of contributing to responding to the pressing problem of sustainability. It is smart education in and for a super smart society.
ABSTRACT
This communication has a two fold purpose, on the one hand, to partially present the results of a project covering the current situation of the periodical publications industry across Spain and, on the other, to serve as a starting point for a subsequent analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic onto this sector. This report concentrates on analysing the importance of distribution within the printed periodical publications sector and herein addresses the study of the evolution of the points of sale in Spain, drastically affected by the impacts of Digital Society. The approach focuses on a territorial perspective, with the analysis divided by autonomous regions. Points of sale data and associated trends are compared against population and area data in order to determine the evolution in terms of geographical coverage, given the particular nature of the type of product that is commercialized - to some extent it acts as a guarantor of a fundamental right, in terms of democratic quality, such as the access to information. The results, based on the available data comprising the time preceding the COVID pandemic, are not encouraging at all, reporting a marked decline in the number of points of sale across the nation and, subsequently, a drop in the number of stores per square kilometer and by population. This indicates a fall in the ease of access to these products by the general population: in some cases, these being the only ones that specific groups of society have when accessing information provided by printed publications, as well as for certain entertainment purposes, in particular in regions of the country identified with the ‘España Vaciada’ (the hollowed-out Spain) slogan. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The digital transformation has become the fundamental axis to seek leadership in the market, organizations innovate production processes, but also in the provision of services always seeking to generate positive experiences, faced with this reality, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are also included. Universities adapt their management processes, not only in education, but also in applying new communication channels in the provision of services to students, who seek to streamline the relationship with their institution, optimizing resources and response times. It is the responsibility of the directors of HEIs, through their strategies, to move towards a digital culture in which the entire educational community can interact, leaving aside traditional structures applied in management towards students and the general public. The digital transformation in educational organizations is possible and necessary to begin as soon as possible and it will be viable if the teams that have to implement it know in detail the vision and strategy of the university, they know clearly where they want to go and what they want attain [1]. The main objective of this research is to determine the process of digital transformation in which the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL) is working, the changes obtained as a result of the adaptation of new attention and communication channels in the provision of academic-administrative services, mainly towards his students. The processed data correspond to the collection of information on the use of communication channels used by UTPL students and how the issue of the COVID 19 pandemic influenced the repowering of these relationship media, ratifying the student as the center of its operation. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Italian sociological studies exploring parenting in challenging circumstances from material, cultural, or relational perspectives are still few. Therefore, in 2019, the national interest project Constructions of Parenting on Insecure Grounds (CoPInG) was launched with the aim of analyzing the construction of parenthood and practices of “doing family” in uncertain circumstances. It is a qualitative study, which, using the grounded theory approach, aims to give voice and visibility to some of the most vulnerable parent groups (for example, parents living in poverty and precarious economic conditions;parents with forced migration backgrounds;gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans parents;and parents facing violent conflicts). The advent of COVID-19 upset the initial research design of the CoPInG project, making it even more difficult to recruit Italian parents and carry out the scheduled interviews. In this scenario, the research group identified and adopted alternative solutions to continue the project regardless. This paper examines the impact of digital technology on research that was originally designed to be offline, focusing in particular both on the possibilities offered by new communication channels to intercept vulnerable subjects and on strategies to be implemented to conduct the foreseen interviews. Thus, the global aim of this work is to introduce a series of critical reflections on digital innovations in social research on parenting in Italy, presenting the practical limits and possibilities for concrete research © 2022. Italian Sociological Review. All Rights Reserved.
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In the age of the digital society formation in countries of the post-industrial development stage, digital transformations take place in all spheres of public life. Such social institution as education witnesses especially drastic changes. New learning formats are emerging, including Online learning, E-learning, Smart-learning, Smart Education and other distance learning forms. However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific and educational community updated a number of issues regarding the identification of works, assessing the level of comprehensibility of the discipline and the independence of completing individual tasks of distance learning students. The present research is intended to complement the range of relevant studies in this area as it is devoted to the methodology of Big Data Analytics and e-proctoring at higher education institutions. The results of this study will help to improve the understanding of the algorithm for the final certification of students. In addition, the subjects of the educational process will be able to improve their skills in solving the problems of conducting final and intermediate certification in the format of distance learning and optimize this process in educational institutions of various levels. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The Coronavirus pandemic has made Irreversible changes in our society and the business world. Almost all aspects of the business and daily routine have shifted to the digital platforms and various forms of personal, indirect communications and suit the current environment in guarding us against coronavirus. The outbreak also brought a refreshing load of creativity in the people who found new ways to solve everyday problems. The key to solving problems is effective communication. With the help of mobile devices and computers, people were able to change their environment so that their expression of thoughts and their tasks of daily routine got aligned with social media platforms. People express themselves as if they are not going to get another chance to express themselves. They use doodles, poetic tweets, and many other forms of colloquial language. Using mixed language such as Hinglish became a norm for the commoner. In this research work, an attempt has been made to review techniques that can be used to work trust models from which meaning insights can be drawn in times such as covid-19 pandemic. From this study it can be inferred that no single approach of modeling complex scenarios such trust in times of covid-19 can be done. There is an urgent need to take inspiration from multiple techniques and approaches to assess the trust level in the digital society. © 2021 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This article explores social media coverage of news related to the infodemic as a threat to panic and peace in society during the current global crisis due to Covid-19. The infodemic phenomenon has distorted scientific work and reduced public trust in state authorities. This research has identified and analyzed the government’s response to fake news attacks on social media. The method used is qualitative-exploratory with data analysis used of Nvivo 12 Pro. The research results showed that the quality of people’s digital literacy, public communication performance, and the effectiveness of government regulations are part of the challenges in mitigating the infodemic. The Indonesian people have been trying to mitigate the Covid-19 infodemic in Indonesia, both in groups and individually. The presence of the digital society and media movement to mitigate the Covid-19 infodemic that is rife in industry 4.0 within digital public spaces in Indonesia. The presence of fact-checking in the form of a report website to face hoaxes and disinformation is a form of the Indonesian digital 4.0 mitigation movement. In addition to the efforts of the Government of Indonesia, which has three strategic approaches, namely 1) Upstream, digital literacy, and capacity;(2) middle flow, direct action to remove harmful information through technology and collaboration with social media platforms;and (3) downstream, direct action to provide technical assistance in monitoring the spread of malicious information. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The purpose of the study was to explain what is understood by educational quality and the philosophical considerations that should be exposed in a virtual reality context due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is based on the historical hermeneutic paradigm, with a qualitative, socio-critical approach;for this purpose, a thorough documentary information search was carried out. Among the main findings, the most accepted paradigm in the pandemic situation is the constructivist paradigm, in which the incorporation of ICT plays an important role. Likewise, in terms of philosophical considerations, the two aspects that make up the leading role that ICTs have played in virtuality are clear, according to their geographical, temporal and cultural location: engineering and humanistic. Finally, it is concluded that quality education is the main tool to combat the various social problems and achieve optimal levels of growth and development, both social and economic;however, to understand this, the philosophy involved in the same teaching-learning process, in a social or cultural reality, cannot be left aside. © 2022, Universidad del Zulia. All rights reserved.
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At present teachers are facing a number of challenges caused by the reform processes in education that require acquisition of new competencies. Digital competence, that includes both technical skills needed to manage the software and cognitive skills that are related to education, has been gradually introduced in the curricula over the past decade. Teachers’ digital competence includes the ability to use technologies efficiently, developing digital content and inspiring students to work in a digital environment. This also requires a wider conceptualization of digital competence in the context of re-conceptualization of flexible learning. The methodology employed in this study is three focus group interviews with forty-three teachers of comprehensive and vocational schools in Latvia on their experience in integrating digital technologies into the remote teaching process during the emergency situation due to coronavirus disease COVID-19 from March until June 2020. The study focuses on digital transformations in education process at schools in Latvia and is aimed at exploring difficulties and challenges faced by teachers while ensuring remote teaching/learning process. COVID-19 was a big push towards the introduction and wider usage of technologies into education process that also greatly impacted the level of pressure and stress experienced by educators due to the demand to adapt to urgent and swift shift. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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At all educational levels, it is necessary to have a teacher training to teach, except at the university. The crisis of professionalism in the university teaching function is worsening, it constitutes an unresolved challenge. The objective of the study is to understand the predominant identity representations that define the performance of the university teacher in a situation of digital society and new normality. Fifteen university professors participated, participants of the program identities in times of pandemic, of the Peruvian Network of Universities. The results show that the abrupt change in university training and academic-organizational processes, caused by COVID-19, by demanding new functions and competencies in the action of university teaching, generate a permanent tension that overwhelms, complicates and undermines the dichotomous professional identity between what is, and what should be, putting at risk the professional legitimacy of the teacher and the social value of the university. © 2021 Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University of Malang. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic visualized how digital assets influence contemporary society and play a decisive role in economic recovery. The objective of this work is to identify the social and educational gaps derived from the impact of the level of digitization in Spain 2020. This research is based on comparative education as methodological, relational and critical with the technological implementation;who tries to link education with changes in their social environment;in order to contribute to the improvement of the educational system. In this sense, based on the DESI report for the last three years, the case of Spain is analyzed in relation to the average score of the rest of the EU member countries. The social gaps pointed to profiles of vulnerable populations for having few digital skills or for being practically excluded from digital services and resources, achieving a new perspective centered on the human being will mean achieving economic development. The educational gaps pointed to Human Capital and its low skills in software, few specialists in ICT specialties and low female representation in ICT specialties. These results showed the importance of STEM and gender-sensitive education, which appears to be the key to economic growth and national competitiveness.
ABSTRACT
This paper aims to show the opposition between the Humanist cultural tradition and the main theses currently defended by Posthumanism. The structure of the paper is built upon the corresponding answers provided by both trends to the three main philosophical questions: How do we know reality? What are the world and life, and how are they explained? What is the best way to live one's life? Gnoseology (or theory of knowledge), Ontology, and Deontology or Ethics have respectively tried to provide answers for such questions. Certain ambiguities of the Posthumanist dehumanizing project are also addressed. The paper concludes with an exposition of the arguments that justify the continuity of Humanist values, principles, and rights, updated according to the demands of our time.
ABSTRACT
The novelty of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is that it is occurring in a globalized society enhanced by digital capabilities. Our aim was to analyze the psychological and emotional states of participants in different pandemic-related contexts, with a focus on their digital and physical distancing behaviors. The online survey was applied during the ascending phase of the pandemic in March 2020 in two neighboring EU countries: Italy and Croatia. The study subjects involved four groups, two directly affected by epidemiological measures and two serving as controls-(1) participants from Italy who were in lockdown (Italy group), (2) participants from Croatia who were not in lockdown but who were in direct contact with an infected person and underwent epidemiological measures (CRO-contact group), (3) participants from Croatia who were in an analogous situation but not near the same infected person (CRO-no contact group), and (4) participants from Croatia who were not aware of any infected person (CRO-unrelated group). The survey consisted of validated scales of psychological and emotional states, and custom-made questionnaires on the digital (online) and physical (off-line) behavior of the participants. The Italy group in lockdown had higher self-perceived scores for depression, stress, post-traumatic intrusion, and avoidance, as well as the highest digital activity and physical distancing than the not-in-lockdown Croatian groups. The insight into the extent of online activities and off-line isolation allowed for the introduction of Digital Activity and Physical Distancing Scores. Self-perceived post-traumatic avoidance was higher in both the Italy and CRO-contact groups than the control CRO-no contact and CRO-unrelated groups, and higher avoidance correlated with higher Digital Activity and Physical Distancing Scores. Being in direct contact with the infected person, the CRO-contact group had no other alterations than unexpectedly lower post-traumatic hyperarousal when compared with the Italy group. The Italy group in lockdown demonstrated higher self-perceived psychological toll together with higher digital activity and physical distancing than Croatian groups not in lockdown, even when compared with the affected CRO-contact group. The study outcomes suggest that the general emergency measures influenced citizens in lockdown more than exposure to the virus through direct contact with an infected person.