The pandemic has invited itself into a world in the midst of a crisis of meaning

The forces of normalization are at work, however, even though there is a magnificent windfall effect, through the current health crisis, for the ecological discourse. The pandemic has invited itself into a world in the midst of a crisis of meaning. The current pandemic has clearly demonstrated our inability to manage this "meaning". In crisis situations, the emphasis is on interpersonal behavior. This involves two main elements: altruism and otherness. Capitalism is a "bazaar thing", into which we put money in order to get as much as possible out of it. Analysis of the behavior of different countries with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic shows how much influence social models can have on our ability to face these new perils. The chapter considers that managing a health system is first and foremost a matter of balancing the supply of care and patient demand and provides a whole series of elements. © ISTE Ltd 2022.

How To Convince People To Get A COVID-19 Vaccine: An Opinion Dynamics Model for REUNS 2022

When COVID-19 Vaccines became first available, there were a lot of questions and uncertainty related to them [1]. In this paper, we aim to model the evolution of COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy through an opinion dynamics model. We extend the model in [5] to general polygons and explore the parameter space. We compare our model with the real data available for Floyd County, Texas. Our findings imply that our model is good in predicting evolution of Vaccine Hesitancy in other counties. We also think that our model can be used to model and predict evolution of opinions on other topics. © 2022 IEEE.

Teaching accessibility as a shared endeavour: Building capacity across academic and workplace contexts

The social model of disability, accessibility legislation, and the digital transformation spurred by COVID-19 expose a lack of accessibility capacity in the digital workforce, indicating persistent gaps in academic and professional education. This paper reports qualitative research with 30 expert educators in academia and the workplace to consider the relationship between these sectors in building accessibility capacity. Their insights highlight important disconnects and contextual challenges that educators must manage and navigate. Digital accessibility is increasingly recognised as a shared endeavour in the workplace. However, in academia, faculty cultures and disciplinary silos can result in responsibility for accessibility defaulting to individuals. To prepare accessibility-skilled professionals, cross-role education and training is necessary across disciplines. With a focus on teaching and training practices, we highlight the need for academia and the workplace to learn from each other and adapt together to generate pedagogies that will better prepare learners for accessibility practice. © 2022 ACM.

Panel on Ethical Constraints on Validation, Verification, and Application of Simulation

Today's challenges must be addressed as socio-technical systems, including insights from the social sciences and humanities to adequately represent the human components. As results of simulations are increasingly driving and justifying political and social decisions, it is important to validate and verify (VV) simulation and data. However, the understanding of what establishes truth and how these views impact validation differ between the social and technical partners. Therefore, we must expand our view of VV. The panel provides various use cases and derives ethical questions related to supporting universities during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating multi-disciplinary teams with diverse viewpoints, challenges of using validated insights without critical evaluation, and lack of broadly accepted scientific measures to connect social models and empirical data. We conclude that the role of VV must be reemphasized, that its social-theoretical implications must be better understood, and that it should be driven by an overarching metaethical framework. © 2021 IEEE.

Supporting new digital natives: Children's mental health and wellbeing in a hi-tech age

This book pulls together insights into how children and young people (CYP) can be active co-producers in shaping their learning experiences. Not only is it helpful for thinking about the role new digital natives play in their own educational journey and for supporting their mental health and wellbeing in today's rapidly changing virtual climate, but the varied and innovative interventions and initiatives it outlines will surely continue to inspire and have relevance down the line. The book addresses teachers, parents and carers, educators, social workers and others who work directly with the new digital native generation, and crucially it can help make a real difference to the lives of those children and young people. The enduring battle against the COVID-19 crisis has brought the plight of CYP's mental wellbeing further into the spotlight, with new as well as existing challenges to overcome. It is imperative that government policies and strategies worldwide are robust and well targeted to protect the mental wellbeing of all CYP and prevent the onset of more serious problems taking hold. This will require an understanding of the complex and intersecting nature of the issues facing CYP, many of which predate the pandemic. The book highlights some of those crucial factors and, moreover, showcases some innovative and insightful projects which offer simple, practical approaches to help ameliorate CYP's mental wellbeing. The interventions and initiatives presented in this book offer an insight into a range of approaches which have the common purpose of supporting mental wellbeing for children growing up in a digital age. The theoretical framework of the book aligns with social models of mental health which contrast with the traditional biomedical focus on individual deficits and treatment approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)