Search Results (397)

In the post-truth era, effective governance of emergency public sentiment faces significant challenges due to the phenomenon of opinion deviation. Although online public opinion has been extensively investigated, the specific impact of Public Opinion Deviation (POD) on the evolution of group negative emotion remains inadequately understood. To address this gap, this study proposes an explicable framework that integrates community detection, text mining, and opinion dynamics. Opinion deviation communities are identified by applying the Louvain algorithm and TextRank to social media data, followed by a deviation analysis of community topics against core issues. Subsequently, a multi-stage quantification model is constructed to measure the severity of POD. During these processes, we develop a novel Opinion Dynamics F-J model (POD F-J model) and its intervention-oriented model (IPOD F-J model), which incorporate the quantified POD severity to simulate the evolution of group negative emotion. Our findings demonstrate an intrinsic correlation between the severity of opinion deviation and the intensity of group negative emotion at the information level, thereby confirming the necessity of targeted intervention. Simulation experiments indicate that different intervention strategies should be adopted depending on the situation. Moreover, the application of a greedy algorithm identifies the time points corresponding to the peak severity of deviation and its onset as the efficiency-oriented intervention timings. This study provides a data-driven framework for monitoring and mitigating emotional contagion in deviation communities, contributing to both the theory and practice of digital governance. Full article

As the building sector shifts toward community-led energy efficiency (EE) initiatives to mitigate the climate crisis, scaling adoption requires understanding behavioral drivers. This study examines key drivers of EE measure adoption: perceived non-energy benefits, trusted advisors, and behavioral signaling. This research contributes to the energy policy and social science literature by empirically linking social trust with signaling preferences. It extends existing EE adoption decision theories by identifying distinct clusters of “expert” versus “close” advisors across demographic groups. Data from an experimental survey (n = 238) in Portland, Oregon, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate regression modeling. Results indicate that saving money and better indoor air quality are the most valued benefits with significant missing survey responses for other non-energy benefits, perhaps indicating a lack of respondent understanding. While family and contractors remain the most trusted advisors, findings highlight a clear split between expert actors and close social networks. Signaling via yard signs is the most preferred method for signaling EE behavior (31%), though “super-participators” prefer multi-channel signaling. These findings suggest that practitioners should thoughtfully leverage social networks and diverse signaling media to improve the salience and increase the adoption of residential energy efficiency programs. Full article

Spirulina, a cyanobacterium recognized for its nutritional and environmental advantages, has emerged as a potential ingredient for sustainable diets. Consumer acceptance remains limited despite its benefits, particularly due to sensory challenges and limited prior awareness. This study aimed to investigate knowledge, consumption patterns, and attitudes toward Spirulina among a Brazilian sample. A cross-sectional online questionnaire distributed via social media and public spaces yielded 933 valid responses, categorized into three groups based on prior awareness and consumption history. Results indicated limited prior awareness and low consumption, with more than half of consumers having tried Spirulina only once. Education, income, generation, and health-related behaviors were associated with knowledge and consumption, although most effect sizes were small. Knowledge of Spirulina was concentrated on nutritional attributes, whereas environmental and technological attributes were less widely recognized. Health and environmental benefits were most often rated as increasing willingness to consume Spirulina, while self-reported barriers included taste, smell, and issues related to powdered and capsule forms. Preferred applications were in familiar food categories such as baked goods and powdered mixes. These findings indicate that Spirulina occupies a niche position among respondents and suggest the relevance of sensorially acceptable formulations, tailored communication strategies, and inclusive educational efforts. 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

This article examines the utilization of WhatsApp as an alternative communication tool for disseminating visual content among social activists during protests. While WhatsApp is typically conceptualized as an interpersonal or group messaging platform, research on its role as an infrastructure for alternative media and citizen journalism remains limited. The study focuses on the “Tikva” group, established at the onset of the public struggle against the 2023 judicial reform in Israel, which evolved into a nine-month mass protest movement described as one of the largest in the country’s history. Through qualitative thematic content analysis of videos distributed within the group, the article explores how WhatsApp functions simultaneously as a channel for digital activism and as a site of bottom-up, democratic, non-institutional news production. The findings indicate two primary trends: functionally, WhatsApp operates as a mechanism for resource mobilization, calls to action in physical and digital spaces, and the cultivation of belonging and solidarity among activists facing institutional power; in terms of content and production, the videos articulate an anti-hegemonic discourse and challenge mainstream media conventions. The analysis shows how these videos dismantle delegitimizing frames and construct a counter-narrative depicting protesters as citizens defending democracy, thereby sustaining the protest movement’s momentum. Full article

Background/Objectives: Childhood vaccine refusal may negatively affect immunization programs in Türkiye, where regional clusters of hesitancy have emerged despite high national coverage. This study aimed to identify sociodemographic, behavioral, and vaccine confidence-related factors independently associated with childhood vaccine refusal in Konya, Türkiye. Methods: An unmatched case–control study was conducted between July and October 2025 in family health centers across Konya. Cases were parents who had refused at least one routine childhood vaccine (n = 406); controls were parents whose children had completed all routine vaccinations (n = 412). Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a 47-item structured questionnaire and the Turkish version of the Vaccine Hesitancy Scale (VHS). Independent associations were assessed using multivariable logistic regression, with multicollinearity evaluated by variance inflation factors. Results: Maternal employment (aOR = 0.371, 95% CI: 0.218–0.633), parental COVID-19 vaccination (aOR = 0.131, 95% CI: 0.086–0.200), mother’s complete childhood immunization (aOR = 0.418, 95% CI: 0.262–0.667), tetanus vaccination during pregnancy (aOR = 0.259, 95% CI: 0.159–0.421), and neonatal vitamin K administration (aOR = 0.256, 95% CI: 0.132–0.497) were independently associated with lower refusal odds. Higher number of children (aOR = 1.281) and perceived vaccine-related adverse events in the social environment (aOR = 16.982, 95% CI: 9.914–29.089) increased refusal odds. VHS scores were significantly lower in the refusal group (22.2 ± 6.4 vs. 39.8 ± 6.5; p < 0.001), indicating greater hesitancy. Notably, 21.9% of refusing parents reported being advised by a healthcare professional not to vaccinate. Conclusions: Childhood vaccine refusal in Konya was associated with sociodemographic, behavioral, preventive health-related, and vaccine confidence-related factors. The findings suggest relatively reduced engagement with selected preventive health practices, greater reliance on non-professional information sources, and lower vaccine confidence among refusing parents. Interventions should focus on strengthening healthcare-professional communication, trust-building, transparent risk communication, and evidence-based social media strategies. Full article

In this work, we inspected the friendship network on Twitter (recently rebranded as X), concentrating on individuals and organizations intertwined with the energy field. We particularly focus on seasoned professionals, corporate entities, and domain specialists, all connected through ‘following’ relationships. By meticulously examining these ties, we uncover several distinct groupings within the network, each defined by the unique roles its members occupy. Our analysis demonstrates that the natural emergence of such clusters on social platforms exerts a profound influence on public discourse regarding energy and other critical matters, including climate change. Furthermore, we observe that the resulting communities exhibit distinct structural properties and communication patterns, with some clusters showing lower internal engagement, which may be indicative of fragmentation dynamics in online conversations. These emergent clusters, characterized by their shared communication styles, form relatively compact communities where the exchange of information is infrequent compared to larger networks and is usually confined to accounts created for specific commercial objectives. We emphasize that our analysis focuses on a structurally coherent connected component emerging from a curated set of energy-related seed accounts, rather than attempting to reconstruct the entirety of the energy discourse on Twitter. Consequently, peripheral or weakly connected communities may be underrepresented. Additionally, by combining machine-learning-based node classification with graph-based centrality measures, we are able to characterize the roles of structurally central actors within these niche segments and analyze the connectivity patterns that define their positions. This method provides novel insights into how corporate communication unfolds on social media, offering a refreshed perspective on professional networking. Ultimately, our findings highlight the ways in which companies within the energy sector take advantage of Twitter to coordinate their initiatives, with key institutions serving as central nodes in maintaining the organization of these networks. Full article

With the rise in digital technologies, video games have become a key arena of family communication, where relationships, norms and roles are being reinterpreted. The aim of this study is to explore the meanings attributed to video games in the narratives of different generations, and how they shape the dynamics of family interactions. The research employed a qualitative approach: 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted with three groups—young adult gamers, gamer parents and non-gamer parents. Through thematic analysis, we identified five main categories of meaning, along which the interviews were analysed. The results highlight that co-play has the potential to bridge the gap between generations, whilst social discourses surrounding digital media significantly influence parents’ interpretations of control and responsibility. This study interprets video games as mediated rituals of contemporary family communication, in which relationships, norms and meanings are constantly renegotiated. Full article

Brucellosis remains an important zoonotic disease in southern Saudi Arabia; however, community-level knowledge, risk-related practices, and information pathways in Najran City are insufficiently characterized. This study assessed brucellosis-related knowledge, attitudes, practices, and information pathways among adults in Najran City to inform locally relevant One Health interventions. In this cross-sectional survey, adults were recruited using stratified time–location (venue-based) sampling across community and exposure-relevant sites in Najran City. A total of 608 adults completed a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Composite scores were calculated for knowledge (0–21), attitude (0–22), practice (0–64), and information-source breadth (0–6). Descriptive statistics, group comparisons, correlation analyses, and multivariable linear regressions were performed. The findings suggest that participants more commonly relied on interpersonal social networks, especially family and friends, for information related to brucellosis (53.9%), whereas formal sources were less commonly reported, including health professionals (7.9%), media (4.6%), internet sources (3.3%), educational institutions (2.0%), and agricultural or veterinary organizations (1.3%). Mean knowledge scores were moderate (10.7/21), attitudes were generally favorable (19.5/22), and practice scores were moderate (36.6/64). Exposure-related behaviors remained common, particularly the consumption of unpasteurized milk or dairy products (56.6%). The breadth of information sources showed a moderate positive correlation with knowledge (rho = 0.561), whereas attitude showed only small positive correlations with knowledge and practice. Finally, knowledge was weakly and inversely correlated with practice. Among adults recruited in this venue-based sample, favorable attitudes did not consistently correspond to safer practices. These findings support practical One Health interventions, including coordinated veterinary–public health messaging on animal abortion events, safe-dairy guidance at points of sale and community venues, workplace-based training for livestock-contact groups, and referral pathways linking suspected animal cases with veterinary services and human care-seeking. Because recruitment was venue-based and non-probability, the results should be interpreted as descriptive and hypothesis-generating rather than population-representative; however, they still identify practical communication and service-delivery priorities for future intervention studies in Najran. Full article

China and Italy both possess rich operatic traditions, yet both encounter challenges in sustaining engagement among younger generations. This study investigates how infrastructural conditions influencing young audiences’ willingness to experience with traditional opera through a comparative study of two cultural contexts. Drawing on focus group interviews with participants across both countries, the research examines three interrelated theoretical dimensions: accessibility, experience, and mediation. Through systematic qualitative content analysis, the results indicate that while both Chinese and Italian participants recognized opera as a culturally significant art form, their participation modes differed. In China, attendance was often perceived as a planned and formal activity tied to modern cultural districts, with a strong reliance on media support to reduce entry barriers. In Italy, opera was described as embedded in historical urban environments and social routines, prioritizing the preservation of live performance integrity, maintained through continuity and familiarity. Such findings define opera engagement as a process shaped by interwoven access, experiential, and mediating infrastructures. Overall, this research identifies the needs of young opera audiences in both countries and offers cross-national perspectives for theatrical institutions, aiming to enhance operations and global communication of traditional opera. Full article

This study examined rural pre-service teachers’ preferences for online learning platforms, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Moodle discussion forums in the Open Distance e-Learning environment. This group of students experiences digital illiteracy, limited access to assistive technologies, and network challenges, which may prevent them from optimally utilising formal learning platforms such as Moodle. They can, however, use Telegram and WhatsApp, as they regularly engage informally on these platforms. Against this backdrop, this study explored rural pre-service teachers’ experiences with Moodle and these social media platforms in an Open-Distance e-Learning space. This study employed a descriptive, qualitative case study with semi-structured interviews, guided by Siemens’s Connectivism theory. Fifteen student teachers from the College of Education in an ODeL institution were purposively sampled to provide in-depth insights into their lived experiences of platform use. The findings revealed that, although each platform served a unique instructional function, their perceived professionalism, safety, and interactivity differed substantially. Social media platforms such as Telegram and WhatsApp were lauded for their immediacy, accessibility, and low bandwidth usage, chiefly among rural pre-service teachers from economically disadvantaged communities. However, participants perceived these platforms as unprofessional, disruptive, and unsafe. Conversely, Moodle’s discussion forum was viewed as a credible, structured space that fostered academic discipline through the presence and guidance of lecturers. These contrasting perceptions highlight tensions between accessibility and academic regulation within ODeL environments. Although prior studies support incorporating social media platforms into LMSs, this research extends this discourse by emphasising the need to balance accessibility, interaction, and academic integrity within resource-constrained contexts. The study concludes that social media platforms and discussion forums can complement each other in ODeL, encouraging student interaction and inclusion, while discussion forums ensure educational rigour, safety, and institutional integrity. Full article

Background/objectives: The study aimed to identify the key methodological challenges and solutions related to recruitment and retention of rural-dwelling young adults into a randomized controlled trial that tests the feasibility of a digital healthy eating intervention (Veg4Me). Methods: Digital registration for a 12-week study was set up as a one-step process without researcher involvement. Participant registrations and recruitment rates were monitored daily using predetermined online preventative measures to identify fraudulent responses and to amend the digital registration process where necessary. Retention rates were monitored daily to identify any necessary amendments to the follow-up protocol. Results: During data collection, n = 279 fraudulent responses were identified from n = 536 total responses (52%). One month into recruitment, amendments were made to the registration process to reduce fraudulent responses. To address bot attacks, Qualtrics passwords and a two-factor authentication process were added to the Veg4Me landing page. Targeted recruitment strategies, such as unpaid social media posts, corresponded to peaks in recruitment. In the final recruitment month, a question was embedded within follow-up correspondence to encourage completion of the post-intervention survey. This resulted in an additional n = 8 (7%) participants completing the intervention. Conclusions: Empirical observations made in this study suggest that digital recruitment protocols without direct researcher involvement should consider multiple in-built strategies for identifying and preventing fraudulent responses. This includes a two-factor authentication process and minimizing the over-promotion of financial incentives in recruitment strategies. Recruitment strategies should consider the use of social media posts in local community groups, while the use of reminders and notifications could support retention. Full article

Due to the health information asymmetry, the upsurge of Patient Online Communities (POCs) and Patient Social Media groups has increased the importance of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) in health care, influencing individuals’ health decisions, as well as a medical organization’s image. This study investigates the association between the multidimensional perceived value of patients and their eWOM intentions in health care services, based on Art Weinstein’s adapted Perceived Value framework. According to this framework, perceived value comprises perceived quality, perceived service outcome, non-monetary costs, and organizational image. Data were collected from 210 Cardiology patients and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings of this study revealed that perceived value is positively associated with eWOM intentions within this sample, which highlights the practical importance of enhancing patient experience. As perceived value improves, it may be associated with increased patient-generated content in the form of eWOM. This study provides practical insights and contributes to the understanding of the patients’ perceived value in engaging in health-related eWOM. Full article

Background: The growing use of big data and algorithmic personalisation in political communication has intensified concerns about surveillance, privacy, and manipulation. Although previous research has examined these issues among the general public, much less is known about how journalism students—future professionals who have grown up in data-fied environments—perceive them. This study investigates the extent to which these students feel ‘spied on’ by digital platforms and online media, how such perceptions influence their trust in media, platforms and political actors, and what attitudes they hold regarding the ethical use of data in journalism. (2) Methods: Based on a survey of 222 journalism students, the research analyses perceptions of digital surveillance, awareness of political microtargeting, and attitudes toward the ethical use of audience data in journalism practice. A qualitative component, through focus groups, complements the survey by exploring ethical reflections on algorithmic tracking and journalistic responsibility. (3) Results: The findings reveal a widespread distrust of social networks and political actors and a more moderate scepticism toward the news media. Students express strong ethical concerns about data use and algorithmic personalisation, particularly in political communication and in relation to their future professional roles. (4) Conclusions: The study suggests that journalism students show critical awareness of algorithmic personalisation. Their perceptions highlight the need for academic training in transparency, consent, and accountability in data-driven practices. Full article

In a media ecosystem marked by misinformation and disinformation, democratic resilience requires new strategies for digital and media literacy and participation. In the proposed model, the University, through transnational Cooperation Partnerships, activates applied research laboratories that generate high-social-impact communication prototypes. The European case studies Respectnet and DigiFunCollab demonstrate that the conscious use of digital media, transforming students from passive users into conscious creators, reduces vulnerability to cognitive biases, filter bubbles, and echo chambers, thereby limiting manipulation in democratic processes and stimulating civic participation. The imitative diffusion of such practices generates virtuous circles of collective learning. The theoretical framework combines institutional isomorphism, reinterpreted as a virtuous isomorphism of best practices, with democratic resilience and the UNESCO MIL and DigComp 2.2 frameworks. The methodology adopts a mixed-methods design with a quantitative prevalence. The qualitative phase includes focus groups with national stakeholders and a national report (regulatory analysis, training needs, SWOT on social entrepreneurship) preliminary to course design. The quantitative phase involves monitoring training pathways (online course and project work) and a final questionnaire. Indicators include the number of participants, certifications, projects developed, and engagement levels. By systematically implementing this approach, the Academy fuels multi-stakeholder institutional dialogue. Knowledge transfer creates communicative culture and strengthens the democratic capacity of communities. This approach confirms the role of Visual Education as a tool to integrate the University’s three missions, thus structurally reinforcing democratic resilience. Full article