Digital sociology is a sub-discipline of sociology that focuses on understanding the use of digital media as part of everyday life, and how these various technologies contribute to patterns of human behaviour, social relationships, and concepts of the self.
ABSTRACT: In this talk, I will discuss about a subject that really matters to me: teaching and learning. While I do most of my teaching inside the formal context of the university, as a professor, I am more and more interested in promoting education outside the classroom, in informal contexts, by involving the most diverse people as tutors and mentors. I will focus on computer science, coding and computational thinking, because I strongly believe they provide students with a creative form of expression that can have a profound impact on the way they learn.
BIO: Alberto Montresor is professor of Computer Science at the University of Trento, co-founder and BDFL of Coderdojo Verona. Passionate about algorithms and education, he takes pleasure in watching people who study and learn, for example by peeking through the windows of Povo's library.
Optimistic interpretations: ignoring social relations that influence the social distribution and impact of the new ICT. The new digital technologies function as commodities, and their distribution – at least initially – tends to follow existing divisions of class, race and gender. Rather than assisting with equalization, the new information and communication technologies tend to reinforce social inequality, and lead to the formation of socially and technologically disadvantaged and excluded individuals (Golding, 1996; Zappala, 2000).
ABSTRACT: In this talk, I will discuss about a subject that really matters to me: teaching and learning. While I do most of my teaching inside the formal context of the university, as a professor, I am more and more interested in promoting education outside the classroom, in informal contexts, by involving the most diverse people as tutors and mentors. I will focus on computer science, coding and computational thinking, because I strongly believe they provide students with a creative form of expression that can have a profound impact on the way they learn.
BIO: Alberto Montresor is professor of Computer Science at the University of Trento, co-founder and BDFL of Coderdojo Verona. Passionate about algorithms and education, he takes pleasure in watching people who study and learn, for example by peeking through the windows of Povo's library.
Optimistic interpretations: ignoring social relations that influence the social distribution and impact of the new ICT. The new digital technologies function as commodities, and their distribution – at least initially – tends to follow existing divisions of class, race and gender. Rather than assisting with equalization, the new information and communication technologies tend to reinforce social inequality, and lead to the formation of socially and technologically disadvantaged and excluded individuals (Golding, 1996; Zappala, 2000).
Simon Nash, an engagement and experience expert, introduces the concept of what we mean by "digital psychology" and how Reading Room are incorporating this into our core consultancy offering.
Media and digital literacy: Case studies from SloveniaDomen Savič
European Journalism in the Digital Age 2018 talk focusing on the development of media literacy workshops and classes in Slovenia while making a difference between media and digital literacy and the problems equalisation of those two terms bring.
The increasing importance of Digital Psychology as a strategic toolkitSimon Nash
A presentation outlining how rapid advances in digital technology are outpacing traditional user experience thinking and how psychology techniques can help bridge the gap.
The current generation of young children has been described as “digital natives”, having been born after1980 into a ubiquitous digital media environment. The greater majority of people today are digital natives. They are tech savvy with a very vibrant social media presence. They were born into a world of peak tech¬no¬log¬i¬cal inno¬va tion, where infor¬ma¬tion was imme¬di¬ate¬ly acces¬si¬ble and social media increas¬ing¬ly ubiquitous. They have some peculiar characteristics which have attracted the attention of researchers. These unique characteristics create predictable, serious problems between digital native learners and digital immigrant teachers, indicating that educational systems must change to catch up with modern times. The traditional education systems do not cater to the needs and interests of digital natives. This paper presents some ways educators can understand digital natives and change their teaching styles accordingly. Matthew N. O. Sadiku | Uwakwe C. Chukwu | Abayomi Ajayi-Majebi | Sarhan M. Musa "Education for Digital Natives" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-3 , April 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd49580.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/social-science/49580/education-for-digital-natives/matthew-n-o-sadiku
ABSTRACT: Open data has great potential, but it risks becoming a lost opportunity if the insiders' knowledge and tools to process it remain their prerogative. By analysing two case studies, the talk unveils the design approach of Sheldon.studio to turn open data into a digital commons, supporting a better-informed debate, a more vital civic consciousness, and fostering stronger participation in the democratic processes.
BIO: Matteo Moretti is an award-winning designer. He is co-founder of Sheldon.studio, the first studio on information-experience-design, and vice-director of the Iiteraction & Experience master at the University of the San Marino Republic. His projects, presented in many academic conferences and events, received the Data Journalism Award 2015, the European Design Award 2016, and 2017. Moretti has also been a jury member at the World Press Photo 2017-18 and one of the 100 ambassadors of Italian design in the world 2018.
Simon Nash, an engagement and experience expert, introduces the concept of what we mean by "digital psychology" and how Reading Room are incorporating this into our core consultancy offering.
Media and digital literacy: Case studies from SloveniaDomen Savič
European Journalism in the Digital Age 2018 talk focusing on the development of media literacy workshops and classes in Slovenia while making a difference between media and digital literacy and the problems equalisation of those two terms bring.
The increasing importance of Digital Psychology as a strategic toolkitSimon Nash
A presentation outlining how rapid advances in digital technology are outpacing traditional user experience thinking and how psychology techniques can help bridge the gap.
The current generation of young children has been described as “digital natives”, having been born after1980 into a ubiquitous digital media environment. The greater majority of people today are digital natives. They are tech savvy with a very vibrant social media presence. They were born into a world of peak tech¬no¬log¬i¬cal inno¬va tion, where infor¬ma¬tion was imme¬di¬ate¬ly acces¬si¬ble and social media increas¬ing¬ly ubiquitous. They have some peculiar characteristics which have attracted the attention of researchers. These unique characteristics create predictable, serious problems between digital native learners and digital immigrant teachers, indicating that educational systems must change to catch up with modern times. The traditional education systems do not cater to the needs and interests of digital natives. This paper presents some ways educators can understand digital natives and change their teaching styles accordingly. Matthew N. O. Sadiku | Uwakwe C. Chukwu | Abayomi Ajayi-Majebi | Sarhan M. Musa "Education for Digital Natives" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-6 | Issue-3 , April 2022, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd49580.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/humanities-and-the-arts/social-science/49580/education-for-digital-natives/matthew-n-o-sadiku
ABSTRACT: Open data has great potential, but it risks becoming a lost opportunity if the insiders' knowledge and tools to process it remain their prerogative. By analysing two case studies, the talk unveils the design approach of Sheldon.studio to turn open data into a digital commons, supporting a better-informed debate, a more vital civic consciousness, and fostering stronger participation in the democratic processes.
BIO: Matteo Moretti is an award-winning designer. He is co-founder of Sheldon.studio, the first studio on information-experience-design, and vice-director of the Iiteraction & Experience master at the University of the San Marino Republic. His projects, presented in many academic conferences and events, received the Data Journalism Award 2015, the European Design Award 2016, and 2017. Moretti has also been a jury member at the World Press Photo 2017-18 and one of the 100 ambassadors of Italian design in the world 2018.
Writing Tools and Software, Referencing Tools and Reference Management Software, Research Tools and Software, Grammar Checkers and Sentence Correction Tools.
Predatory Publications and Software Tools for IdentificationSaptarshi Ghosh
Journals that publish work without proper peer review and which charge scholars sometimes huge fees to submit should not be allowed to share space with legitimate journals and publishers, whether open access or not. These journals and publishers cheapen intellectual work by misleading scholars, preying particularly early career researchers trying to gain an edge. The credibility of scholars duped into publishing in these journals can be seriously damaged by doing so. It is important that as a scholarly community we help to protect each other from being taken advantage of in this way.
Selective Reporting and Misrepresentation of DataSaptarshi Ghosh
Research integrity means conducting research according to the highest professional and ethical standards, so that the results are trustworthy.
It concerns the behavior of researchers at all stages of the research life-cycle, including declaring competing interests; data collection and data management; using appropriate methodology; drawing conclusions from results; and writing up research findings.
Finding the Right Journal at the Right Time for the Right WorkSaptarshi Ghosh
JournalFinder helps you find journals that could be best suited for publishing your scientific article. Please also consult the journal’s Aims and Scope for further guidance. Ultimately, the Editor will decide on how well your article matches the journal.
Impact Factor Journals as per JCR, SNIP, SJR, IPP, CiteScoreSaptarshi Ghosh
Journal-level metrics
Metrics have become a fact of life in many - if not all - fields of research and scholarship. In an age of information abundance (often termed ‘information overload’), having a shorthand for the signals for where in the ocean of published literature to focus our limited attention has become increasingly important.
Research metrics are sometimes controversial, especially when in popular usage they become proxies for multidimensional concepts such as research quality or impact. Each metric may offer a different emphasis based on its underlying data source, method of calculation, or context of use. For this reason, Elsevier promotes the responsible use of research metrics encapsulated in two “golden rules”. Those are: always use both qualitative and quantitative input for decisions (i.e. expert opinion alongside metrics), and always use more than one research metric as the quantitative input. This second rule acknowledges that performance cannot be expressed by any single metric, as well as the fact that all metrics have specific strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, using multiple complementary metrics can help to provide a more complete picture and reflect different aspects of research productivity and impact in the final assessment. ( Elsevier)
The phrase new normal is an oxymoron typically used to indicate a life event that is out of the ordinary and has a long-lasting or permanent impact on someone’s day-to-day routine.
But using the phrase to describe efforts that makes me uncomfortable to fight a global pandemic implies a sense of permanence.
In her foreword to John Putzier, Weirdos in the Workplace: The New Normal—Thriving in the Age of the Individual (2004), Libby Sartain claims that the phrase “the new normal” is a recent coinage
Great wits are sure to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.
(John Dryden, 1681)
There is no great genius without a tincture of madness. (Seneca, 1st Century A.D.)
ALTMETRICS : A HASTY PEEP INTO NEW SCHOLARLY MEASUREMENTSaptarshi Ghosh
The term ‘Altmetrics’ was proposed by Jason Priem, a PhD student at the School of Information and Library Science at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill through a tweet. [https://twitter.com/asnpriem/status/25844968813].
Altmetrics is the combination of two words such as: ‘Alternative’ and ‘Metrics’ in which the ‘alt-‘part refers to alternative types of metrics (that is alternative to traditional metrics such as citation analysis, impact factor, downloads & usage data etc.).
Altmetrics is the creation and study of new metrics based on the Social Web for analyzing, and informing scholarship (http://altmetrics.org/about/). It is the study of new indicators for the analysis of academic activity based on Web 2.0.
Paradoxical betweenness in Academic endeavors and research metricsSaptarshi Ghosh
Publish or perish" is an aphorism describing the pressure to publish academic work in order to succeed in an academic career. ... The pressure to publish has been cited as a cause of poor work being submitted to academic journals.
Management of Change is being relevant with the time and space. This presentation elaborates existence of information professionals beyond their territories as survival of the fittest lies only on more information diffusion and information dissemination for the collective wisdom of the stakeholders in a society
Will the Digital library sustain as a Social Capital for dissemination of Inf...Saptarshi Ghosh
Abstract
This paper deals with the relationship between digital library and social development. The core of digital library which rests with strong social bonding and participatory approach, has been reflected in this write-up. Today, global prosperity and individual productivity depend upon the ability to learn constantly, adapt to change readily, and to evaluate information critically. Right now in this information rich world, we must remain ways to transform information into knowledge. So, how can we ensure that our communities can access the resources and services that we have available? How can we ensure that we are responsive to, and representative of, our communities' actual, as opposed to perceived, needs? We will look at various ways that library services can partner with their communities to bring about better outcomes for all. The digital library can bridge these gaps and it may be turned as a people’s access to the information repository and can be a motivator to sustainable development.
Information System Design in Context of Social InformaticsSaptarshi Ghosh
Informatics is a branch of information engineering. It involves the practice of information processing and the engineering of information systems, and as an academic field it is an applied form of information science.
The field considers the interaction between humans and information alongside the construction of interfaces, organisations, technologies and systems.
“Organization Behaviour is concerned with the study of what people do in an organization and how that behaviour affects the performance of the organization.” (Robbins: 1989)
Library Intelligence The collection, analysis, and synthesis of data. Time devoted to reflection and development of insight Willingness and ability to change. Library Intelligence makes it easier for library staff to focus on improving their digital literacy fluency.
Information Ecology: Legacy Practices with changing dynamicsSaptarshi Ghosh
“The study of the inter-relationships between people, enterprises, technologies and the information environment” -The International Encyclopedia of Information and Library Science
Welcome to TechSoup New Member Orientation and Q&A (May 2024).pdfTechSoup
In this webinar you will learn how your organization can access TechSoup's wide variety of product discount and donation programs. From hardware to software, we'll give you a tour of the tools available to help your nonprofit with productivity, collaboration, financial management, donor tracking, security, and more.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
2. Terminological Turmoil …
Cybersociology
E-Sociology
Sociology of Cyberspace
Sociology of ICTs
Sociology of Online Communities
Internet Studies
New Media Studies
Sociology of the Internet
Digital sociology is all this and more!
3. ‘digital sociology’? … dude…What is this?
Focus away from ‘the cyber’ to ‘the digital’ C--D
Responds to terminology of other sub-disciplines: digital humanities, digital
anthropology, digital cultures, digital geography
Incorporates all things digital.
Signals focus on ‘Web 2.0’ and ‘Web 3.0’ technologies.
4. Beyond the digital to the sociological…
Life is digital → social life is digital → ‘the social’ is digital
Digital use/non-use involves all the usual suspects: gender, age, class, income, education,
race/ethnicity, culture, geographical location
Digital technology now imbricated into all social institutions: the economy, the mass media, the
workplace, education, the family, the healthcare system
Digital technology contribute to concepts of selfhood, identity and embodiment
Digital technology involved in new forms of power relations
Digital technology offer new and inventive ways of practicing and teaching sociology and
disseminating research
Academics are now ‘digitised’, whether we like it or not!
5. Dimensions of digital sociology
We now cannot practice as sociologists without using,
theorising and researching digital technologies.
Professional digital practice: using digital media tools for sociological work
Sociological analyses of digital media use: researching how and why people use
digital tech
Digital data analysis: using digital data for social research, either quantitative or
qualitative; and
Critical digital sociology: undertaking reflexive and critical analysis of digital
media tech.
6. Final thoughts …
Digital sociology offers valuable insights to and on our
thoroughly digitised world
Can provide a counter-foil and complement to reductionist tendencies of big
data and data science
A critical, reflexive and complex stance on the digital is sorely needed – we
can provide it
Helps us move from ‘dead sociology’ to ‘live sociology’