Search Results (269)

Social media is a vital platform for policy communication, yet research rarely integrates content and structural features to evaluate communication effects multidimensionally. This study proposes a convergent framework combining text mining and social network analysis to assess policy communication effects and underlying mechanisms. Using China’s upgraded Mass Entrepreneurship and Innovation policy on Sina Weibo as a case, we analyze communication breadth, depth, audience sentiment, thematic focus, network topology, key nodes, and community characteristics. The results reveal that (1) communication breadth is dominated by official communicators, while audiences drive interactive depth, reflecting a “centralized broadcasting, decentralized engagement” model; (2) influential users express more positive attitudes than ordinary audiences; (3) discussions diversify from core innovation themes to micro-level concerns like regional development and talent policies; (4) the network shows loose global structure but strong local clustering, with bridging nodes posting less polarized, broader content. Theoretically, this study offers behavioral-level observations that align with key corollaries of the Spiral of Silence Theory—the tendency for individuals with deviating views to shift toward lower-visibility participation. These pattern-level findings offer a complementary empirical perspective on opinion expression in digital policy contexts. Practically, the findings offer preliminary insights that may inform adaptive, decentralized strategies for enhancing policy diffusion in similar social media contexts. Full article

Social movements increasingly rely on digital platforms to mobilize support, raise awareness, and coordinate collective action. At the same time, however, the rise of online activism has intensified concerns regarding “slacktivism”, namely forms of symbolic and low-effort engagement that fail to translate into consequential social action. Existing theoretical accounts have explained this phenomenon in terms of impression management, in-group enhancing, or moral licensing, but have paid little attention to how publicly expressing support for a social cause through online behaviors should undermine actual action, while overlooking the role of audiences in such a process. Drawing on symbolic self-completion theory (SCT), the present paper proposes a complementary motivational perspective. Specifically, we argue that publicly displaying identity-relevant symbols (e.g., posts supporting social causes) within like-minded online networks may generate a premature sense of completeness regarding an aspired-to identity (e.g., being a gender equality advocate), thereby reducing motivation to pursue difficult, high-effort behaviors required for genuine social change. Furthermore, we conceptualize social media echo chambers not merely as informationally homogeneous environments, but as non-dissenting validators of one’s identity goal symbols. By prioritizing symbolic recognition over cross-group dialogue and intervention, social media echo chambers may inadvertently undermine the social progress they purport to promote. Full article

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is redefining journalism, transforming news production, distribution, and consumption. Despite the growing adoption of AI in newsrooms, academic research remains fragmented and lacks a comprehensive overview of global trends, particularly regarding its implications for media literacy and disinformation. This article addresses this gap through a systematic literature review of publications on AI in journalism between 2020 and 2024, based on Scopus and Web of Science. The analysis shows a significant increase in research output since 2023, alongside a strong geographical concentration in Europe and North America, with limited representation from the Global South. The results identify six key thematic areas: automation of news production, algorithmic personalization, newsroom integration, ethical and regulatory challenges, disinformation, and journalism education. Across these themes, the findings reveal a shift from a predominantly technocentric perspective toward a competency-based approach, with increasing attention to media literacy. While AI is associated with efficiency and innovation, the literature consistently highlights concerns related to transparency, bias, editorial accountability, and the transformation of professional roles, as well as risks linked to misinformation and declining public trust. Importantly, the review shows that media literacy—particularly AI literacy—emerges as a transversal dimension, emphasizing the need for competencies that enable journalists and audiences to critically understand, evaluate, and engage with algorithmic systems. The study also identifies key gaps, including limited longitudinal research, scarce audience-centered approaches, insufficient interdisciplinary collaboration, and persistent deficiencies in AI-related training. By foregrounding literacy as a central analytical dimension, this article advances a more holistic understanding of AI in journalism and contributes to the development of a globally inclusive and competency-oriented research agenda. Full article

This paper adopts a multisemiotic perspective to examine the significations of monuments in city spaces in Calabar, Nigeria. Data were generated through photo documentation, participant observation and semi-structured interviews in a three-year fieldwork involving 34 participants. Drawing from interactions between the designers, the monuments and the social audience, findings present the monuments as multisemiotic significations of the benefits derived from Western education, gains from missionaries’ activities and their interface with the locals, abolition of the slave trade, sociocultural heritage, histories and identity, potential in tourism and carnivals, and an emerging shift from African traditional religion to Anglo-Christian beliefs. These representations are dialogic expressions of lived experiences and histories of residents that (re)construct memorials of their past and provide a guide for the present and project expectations of the future. The symbolic images integrate localised intentions of the designers drawn from the environment and the people, with appropriate interpretations by the social audiences to situate their indigenous significations within varying global discourses on monuments. Full article

Western societies increasingly treat dogs as sentient family members, but does this reshape cultural production, and can cultural production, in turn, reshape the relationship? We traced this circuit through Good Boy (2025), a horror film with a real, untrained dog as the sole protagonist, combining filmmaker interviews, behavioral coding of eleven sequences (21-behavior repertoire, permutation tests), and thematic analysis of 242 reviews on the Letterboxd website. The filmmaker restructured the production around his dog’s welfare, yet signs of stress persisted. The film’s canine perspective generated formal innovation but remained confined to human perception. Audiences showed concern for the real dog but read his discomfort as devotion—no review mentioned any behavioral indicator of stress. Good Boy reveals not the failure of a single film but the current state of a cultural transition—a society that has moved beyond treating dogs as props yet lacks the tools to act on its own values. Addressing this gap will require welfare monitoring during production, representation that goes beyond human perception, and public literacy in canine body language. Full article

The rapid growth of social media and artificial intelligence (AI) has intensified information disorder, highlighting the need for comprehensive Media and Information Literacy (MIL) education. While game-based approaches are increasingly explored in MIL, research has largely focused on student outcomes, with limited attention to teachers’ and facilitators’ experiences of implementing non-digital experiential learning interventions, despite the critical role of facilitation and reflection helping learners navigate information environments. This study adopts a qualitative exploratory design to explore teachers’ and facilitators’ perspectives on a board game-based experiential learning intervention for MIL in Malaysian educational settings. Grounded in Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory and social constructivist principles, the board game was designed to simulate real-world media dynamics, such as information circulation, audience influence, and ethical decision-making. Data were collected through four open-ended teacher feedback forms and one face-to-face semi-structured reflective group interview involving eight facilitators, and analysed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: (1) perceived pedagogical value for supporting learner engagement, critical discussion, and applied understanding of MIL concepts; (2) observed experiential and social learning processes characterised by peer interaction, negotiation, and reflection; and (3) implementation challenges related to facilitation demands, time constraints, and balancing competition with learning objectives and (4) recommendations for enhancing implementation. Findings highlight the importance of teacher facilitation and reflective debriefing in transforming gameplay into meaningful MIL learning experiences and reveal key implementation challenges. Full article

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognized as one of the most urgent global health threats, demanding coordinated, multisectoral responses under the OH framework. Among the multidisciplinary tasks aimed at collectively tackling the AMR crisis, surveillance, research and education stand as major priorities. Education is a strategic pillar of the World Health Organization Global Action Plan, yet a comprehensive synthesis of educational initiatives explicitly grounded in One Health (OH) remains limited. Previous reviews have examined AMR educational interventions focusing on specific strategies, regions, professional groups, or pedagogical tools, but without an OH perspective. This review is the first to comprehensively synthesize educational programmes that explicitly integrate OH principles across different educational levels, target audiences, and learning settings. It also examines the pedagogical strategies used to promote AMR awareness, prevention, and responsible antimicrobial use. A structured literature search (2015–2025) was conducted in Scopus and complemented by institutional sources and citation tracking. Educational initiatives incorporating OH principles, addressing multiple sectors, or promoting interdisciplinary AMR education were narratively synthesized. School-based programmes (e.g., e-Bug, ISGlobal initiatives, Ambientech); public awareness and community education via national strategies such as PRAN; programmes for university students; professional training, and continuing education (e.g., ESCMID, AMR EDUCare); and international online platforms including FAO e-learning programmes and the OH Workforce Academy were examined. Programmes were analysed according to target population, pedagogical approach, sectoral integration, and evaluation methods. Active and experiential methodologies, such as service-learning (e.g., Tiny Earth, MicroMundo) game-based learning, gamification, and interdisciplinary and systems thinking-based learning, consistently enhance knowledge acquisition, systems thinking skills, and awareness of cross-sectoral AMR transmission pathways. Despite all these initiatives, studies on knowledge, perceptions and attitudes about AMR point to clear errors and deficiencies. Key gaps, such as inconsistent curriculum integration, limited integration of environmental dimension and scarce rigorous impact evaluations, persist. Strengthening OH-oriented AMR education requires policy-level curriculum inclusion, cross-sector collaboration, standardized competencies, and robust evaluation frameworks. Embedding education within national AMR strategies is essential to fostering sustained behavioural change and preserving antimicrobial effectiveness across human, animal, and environmental systems. Full article

Digital rural construction is a key component of China’s agricultural and rural transformation, as well as a means to improve rural productivity and strengthen the coordinated development of urban and rural areas in the Yangtze River Delta, which requires the backing of an efficient policy framework. Based on this, the research object is the 145 digital village policies issued by the Yangtze River Delta, and 16 of them are selected for evaluation after content mining. The findings are as follows: (1) Sixteen policies have an average PMC index of 8.42; four policies are excellent, 12 are good, and the quality of policies is generally good. (2) At the administrative level, there is a characteristic that the quality of provincial policies is superior to that of municipal policies. Among regions, the policy quality advantages represented by Zhejiang are obvious, presenting a pattern of “Zhejiang leading, Jiangsu steady, Anhui catching up, and Shanghai waiting for improvement”. (3) Except for the “policy function”, although the absolute scores of some indicators (such as policy field, policy content, policy evaluation) are at a high level, there is still a significant gap compared to the outstanding performance of the policy function (0.98). Moreover, from the perspective of the requirement for comprehensive and coordinated development of policies, the attention and investment in these dimensions are slightly insufficient, resulting in policies not fully exerting their expected comprehensive effectiveness, which is the main reason restricting the overall quality of policies. (4) It is recommended to increase the regulatory and advisory nature of the policy; Expand the scope of policy audiences; Take into account the forward-looking and long-term nature of policy formulation; Refine the execution plan to ensure the implementation of policies; The content of the construction of fiscal taxation, laws and regulations will be increased to provide a scientific basis for the rural transformation; Encourage local exploration and innovation, combine with local conditions, and form replicable and promotable development models. Full article

Background: The use of creative methods, including immersive digital media such as virtual reality (VR), has grown in popularity over the past decade. At the same time, the power of co-creation within transformative research has also strengthened. Together, co-creation and digital immersive methods offer the potential for the intended audience, including decision-makers, to deeply engage with the information communicated through focused immersion in people’s stories and familiar local settings. Method/Reflections: In this article, the process of co-creation through a digital VR storytelling approach is discussed and reflected upon from the perspectives of co-creators from regional cities and towns across Australia. Our team included three young adults with disabilities, an academic researcher with a disability, and an independent researcher. This includes 1. presenting an overview of co-creation itself as both an ethos and method; 2. describing our experiences of co-creation using online storyboarding and script-writing workshops to portray the reality of local community experiences, and re-imagining what an inclusive community would look like; 3. reflecting on our completed stories made into VR short films and their potential to impact decision-making to improve urban and regional planning and design; and 4. discussing reflections and insights into the challenges, benefits, and key considerations for applying co-creation and VR storytelling in research and public planning engagement. Full article

Audience reactions to oral communication are shaped by both communicative practices and broader social contexts. While elements such as message content, delivery style, and vocal expression can be developed through training, other factors—such as gender and ethnicity—reflect social identities that are often associated with how speakers are perceived and evaluated. This study examines how these contextual attributes are associated with audience engagement in digital public speaking environments. Drawing on an initial dataset of 977 TEDx talks, resulting in two high-confidence subsamples of 610 speakers for gender and 387 for ethnicity, curated through a combination of computational methods with a communication perspective. We analyzed the relationship between the two factors with engagement indicators—including likes, dislikes and interaction rates. The analysis explores whether patterns of audience response differ across demographic groups and at the intersection of gender and ethnicity. The findings reveal that neither gender nor ethnicity, considered on its own, was significantly associated with audience engagement; differences emerged only at the intersection of the two. Specifically, non-Hispanic Black speakers were associated with higher levels of negative feedback in both genders, Hispanic male speakers received more positive engagement than other male speakers, and Asian female speakers showed lower interaction levels—fewer views, likes, and comments—than non-Hispanic White female speakers. These patterns suggest that disparities in how audiences respond to speakers’ social identities in mediated contexts are intersectional, becoming visible only when gender and ethnicity are considered jointly. By providing empirical evidence from a diverse digital corpus, this study contributes to ongoing debates on digital inequalities, representation, and participation in contemporary media environments, highlighting the importance of considering social context in analyses of audience behavior. Full article

Neither women’s studies nor lesbian and gay studies offers an adequate theoretical or political base for disruptive scholarship. Reading and interpreting Southern African writers, especially Sindiwe Magona and Ngugi wa Thiong’o, promotes women’s studies as an academic and political approach to both gender and the erotic. Drawing on genealogies of rupture and intergenerational studies, we argue that the feminist is a positionality that must be widely available to challenge heterosexual perspectives and become a catalyst for audiences to engage in nuanced analyses of discourses on places and genres—narrative in particular—where memories are rearticulated and elaborated. This article explores how the narratives of Magona, Ngugi, and Soyinka inform and complicate the erasure, erosion, and amnesia that accompany contemporary imaginaries of what is re/membered. We challenge the tendency to evaluate African feminisms as only either oppressive or empowering and read the selected texts and their prototypical characters as dynamic embodiments that inform gendered spaces across both the attachments that people hold to particular gender identities and styles and recognising the punitive realities of dominant gender expectations. The article takes a positionality on the often troubled relationship between feminism and femininity, a critical but generous reading that highlights the potential for an affirmative orientation towards identity politics. This study utilises the theoretical lenses of border thinking and decolonial and African feminisms to interrogate matrifocal borderlands and the sociohistorical and cultural dis/continuities of being and becoming. We explore notions of the entanglement of motherhood, daughterhood, wifehood, and sisterhood as morphing identities. These are identities at the margins of political, sociocultural, and gender normativities in African literature. Magona’s “threshold people”, like Ngugi’s perfect nine, destabilise, disrupt, and refuse to be subordinated as they codify living differently in the in-between worlds. Magona, for instance, laminates the challenging discourse of contestation to map difficult, dangerous, and marginal spaces where women live at the borders of sociocultural, religious, ethnic, and gendered norms. These are spaces suffused with affective possibilities—defensiveness, shame, anxiety, anger, curiosity—and the women have to develop relational solidarities in negotiating hyper-visibilities or (in)visibilities within the 21st-century global south. Full article

This study examined how exposure to constructive audiovisual news shapes people’s perception of societal issues in the Netherlands. An online experiment was conducted among 575 participants aged 18 to 90 years old. Participants were randomly assigned to watch an audiovisual news item, either constructive or nonconstructive news, about plastic waste in the ocean or the Dutch housing market. The study investigated how these different reporting styles affected participants’ perceptions of the main message, their awareness of the seriousness of the societal issue, and their evaluation of the journalistic quality of the news report. Results showed that, contrary to critics’ concerns, constructive news did not reduce perceived problem awareness: participants across conditions reported similarly high levels of awareness regarding the seriousness of the issues presented. Perceived journalistic quality also remained high in both constructive and nonconstructive conditions, indicating that incorporating constructive elements did not compromise credibility. Furthermore, constructive news appeared to encourage a broader, more solution-oriented perspective, prompting participants to consider opportunities and future prospects. Importantly, this broader perspective did not come at the expense of perceived problem awareness or journalistic quality. Overall, the findings provide empirical support for the value of constructive journalism in the Dutch media context. Full article

Sports-based television formats combining competition, cooperation, and physical confrontation have long attracted large audiences. Since the 2000s reality television has increasingly adapted these elements, particularly through wrestling- and boxing-themed programs. This study examines the genre of celebrity boxing within the broader context of contemporary media culture, with the aim of interpreting its popularity through perspectives from communication and media theory. The analysis applies a qualitative approach drawing on concepts such as the media violence and Carey’s and Couldry’s ritual model of communication and includes an empirical case study of the Hungarian television program Sztárbox. The findings suggest that celebrity boxing operates as a pseudo-sporting spectacle that combines media violence with celebrity culture to maintain audience attention, while its dramaturgy—following Barthes’ and Jenkins’ interpretations—relies heavily on simplified moral oppositions and dramatized role-playing. These elements function as micro-rituals that structure viewer engagement and contribute to collective meaning-making beyond mere entertainment. The study concludes that the appeal of celebrity boxing lies not only in the display of physical confrontation but in its ritualized narrative framework, which reinforces social and cultural interpretations of conflict, identity, and spectacle within the logic of contemporary media environments. Full article

Differing perspectives on the ephemerality of performance have led to debates since the 1980s regarding its ontology. Sondra Fraleigh and Peggy Phelan, for example, believe that performance’s ‘only life is in the present’. Others have disagreed. For example, Rebecca Schneider believes that performance remains in the body of the spectator in a complicated manner and Miranda Joseph, drawing on Marxist theory, argues that performance is in fact material because it produces social relations which have material effects: they affect our thinking and behaviour. In alignment with Joseph, this text begins with the presupposition that performance, and, specific to this text, the object we might call dance performance—the dance performance event and its particular contours, in other words, the performance event as an entity which emerges in the space-time where/when the onlooker and the work meet—is material because it is social. I discuss two dance performance objects, my work Martyro (2011) and Jérôme Bel’s (2005) Veronique Doisneau, as (im)material affective objects. I examine each work individually, providing first a thick description of each in order to communicate how they used affect to connect to their spectators and to critique the contexts of their presentation, the worlds in which the Subject in each of these performances worked. Drawing on understandings and theories of affect (from Deleuze and Guattari, Gilbert Simondon, and Brian Massumi to Lauren Berlant) and political economy (including David Harvey, Cedric Robinson, Jeremy Gilbert, Ashok Kumar, and Katerina Paramana), I then argue that both works used affect to remind their audiences, their witnesses, of the power of revealing one own’s experience of ‘suffering’ as Subjects, whilst simultaneously critiquing the wider economies in which these works, these affective objects and their Subjects, are embedded. It is this production of affect, I suggest, that potentiated action for change, by affecting others’ perspectives and behaviours. Full article

Despite overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity drives climate change, public opinion in the United States remains sharply polarized along political lines. This project tests whether a theory-driven narrative intervention can reduce divergence between individuals skeptical of climate change and those who accept the scientific consensus. Guided by narrative transportation theory, we hypothesize that an inclusive, character-driven video grounded in the authentic language of skeptical audiences will reduce polarization and increase civic engagement. The study proceeds in three phases. Phase 1 uses focus group discussions to identify words, phrases, and perspectives used by skeptical and accepting participants. Phase 2 integrates these findings into the production of a 2–3 min narrative short film, refined through iterative audience testing. Phase 3 employs a stratified online experiment assessing climate attitudes, policy support, and activism behaviors before exposure, immediately after, and one week later. Mediators include narrative transportation, perceived similarity, and character identification. We test whether pre-exposure divergence narrows over time and whether engagement mechanisms explain observed changes. Findings will inform climate communication policy, intervention design, and broader research on depolarization in polarized public issues. Full article