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Рецензия на книгата „Медиатизираното измерение на външната политика“ на Мария Нейкова и Ралица Ковачева

Author(s): Parvan Simeonov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2018

The book Тhe Мediatized Dimension of Foreign Policy presents the results of a study of foreign policy claims in the election campaign for the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on March 26, 2017. The study was carried out by Prof. Dr. Maria Neikova and Dr. Ralitsa Kovacheva under a project financed by the Scientific Research Centre at the Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’.The book Тhe Мediatized Dimension of Foreign Policy presents the results of a study of foreign policy claims in the election campaign for the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on March 26, 2017. The study was carried out by Prof. Dr. Maria Neikova and Dr. Ralitsa Kovacheva under a project financed by the Scientific Research Centre at the Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’.

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I Love It, But It Is Too Complicated. Aging Adults’ Perspective on Mobile Technology Acceptance

Author(s): Ioana Iancu,Bogdan Iancu / Language(s): English Issue: 26 (2)/2020

In the context of constant population aging, digital technologies are required especially for communication and geriatric care. However, before a large-scale deployment could be implemented, the general technological acceptance level should be assessed. The paper aims to descriptively analyze the perception of aging adults on mobile technology. Based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the variables considered are emotional attachment on technology, actual use, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and behavioral intentions. Methodologically, a set of semi-structured interviews have been conducted. The results show that although individuals love their mobile devices and although they perceive them as being useful, the devices are not easy to be used and there are numerous concerns regarding technology. Paradoxically, while they claim the like owning smart devices, they consider them too complex and intrusive.

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Aging in Online Communities: A Systematic Literature Review of Design Recommendations

Author(s): Ana Isabel Veloso,Sónia Ferreira,Liliana Vale Costa,Óscar Mealha,Carlos Santos / Language(s): English Issue: 26 (2)/2020

The increase of computer-mediated communication use and the aging population has led to a renewed interest in online communities and social networks for active aging and social support in daily living. However, a systematic understanding of the design recommendations in Senior Online Communities is still lacking in scientific documentation. The aim of this paper is to identify the design recommendations used in online communities that support active aging. In addition, this paper highlights some of the benefits of using online communities by older adults. Twenty-three papers published between January 2015 and May 2020 in English-language, peer-reviewed publications, met inclusion criteria. The review presents a set of recommendations for designing online communities to enhance older adults’ social interactions. A process that aims for “engagement” is suggested to strategically guide the design of Senior Online Communities: Interacting – Sense of Belonging (Role-playing, Storytelling, and Legacy) – Engaging.

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Age and Technology in Digital Inclusion Policy: A Study of Italy and the UK

Author(s): Simone Carlo,Maria Sourbati / Language(s): English Issue: 26 (2)/2020

The role of media and communication technologies in increasing the quality of life of the elderly is today a key topic in academic and policy debates. This article discusses findings from a study into the way public policy frames the role of technologies in later life. The aim of our study was to critically investigate the policy discourses on ‘old age’ and on the role of digital ICT in fixing challenges associated with ageing. Our focus was on digital inclusion policies of the UK and Italy, two countries experiencing similar trends in population ageing but different ICT diffusion patterns. We found that an age-based understanding of digital technology use was quite common, as was an enthusiastic embracing of the role of digital ICT in the implementation of Active Ageing and Information Society goals. We also found that the understanding of the role of digital technology and its relationship to (old) age has been changing over the last decade, starting to reflect social complexity as ICT diffusion increases among older age groups.

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Recommendations on Age-friendly and Gender-balanced Media Content Delivery of Products for Seniors: Findings from a Case Study

Author(s): Paula Alexandra Silva,Maria João Antunes / Language(s): English Issue: 26 (2)/2020

ociety is ageing at an unprecedented pace. In tandem, the number of technology-enabled solutions targeted at older adults continues to rise. It is therefore important to understand how to best communicate these solutions to seniors and facilitate use and adoption. To develop an understanding of what could be an improved strategy of communication and media content delivery for companies that provide older adults with technology-based solutions is the goal of this research. Aware of the potential stereotypes that may emerge towards the ageing population, this paper takes a special interest on ageism and gender to determine imbalances. With this in mind, this paper conducts an in-depth case study of the online presence of a company that developed a digital product for seniors that has been nominated for a Prize on Best Practice on Active and Healthy Ageing. Findings concerning the communication strategy of the company are extracted based on the analysis of their website and their five social media profiles. In total 120 posts were inspected, containing 120 text excerpts, 352 pictures, and 21 videos. Results show that the organisation sustains a continuous engagement with both seniors and the seniors’ organisations that use their product, privileging a relationship of close proximity. The representation of older adults is one that shows exceptionally happy and active seniors, who are surrounded by an aura of admiration. There seem to be no considerable differences with regards to gender.

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Digital Media Usage and the Engagement of Older People from Rural Areas in Technological Projects: Co-design Sessions

Author(s): Ana Merlo,Lídia Oliveira,Ana Carla Amaro / Language(s): English Issue: 26 (2)/2020

The question posed in the call “How the widespread of new technologies are changing the norms and practices of the later life?” was transformed in the main motivation to write the paper. LOCUS scientific research project addresses the subjects of Internet of Things, its impact in maintenaince and sustainability of Cultural Heritage and the important role of older generations to these operations. What the research team noticed is that sometimes it is the dissemination of technologies (and accompanying infrastructures) that promote their use and the creation of the need. And when the technologies do not exist, the infrastructures are compromised and/or nonexistent. It is considered that there is a before and an after period in the way in which the implementation of technological projects influences rural areas and older people. This also means that there is a high relevance in the second question of the call “How social actors, groups, institutions and mainstream media provide, spread or constrain ways of growing older via digital devices?” But also, a high importance of the project developed for the scientific knowledge advancement in the study areas (Communication, Technology, Sociology, Demography, Geography, etc.). The main conclusions of the paper are that digital technologies contributes to those Cultural Heritage maintenaince and sustainability, however, this is only possible with the mediation of oler people. Consequently, those people need to know or learn how to manage digital media and technology in order to contribute for the projects and technology development. Older people aim to participate in these projects and that also influences on their proficiency on technologies (on a win-win basis).

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Perception of Media and Information Literacy among Representatives of Mid–Age and Older Generations: the Case of Latvia

Author(s): Anda Rožukalne / Language(s): English Issue: 26 (2)/2020

Academic interests on the impact of media on individuals’ lives often highlight differences in knowledge across generations. The spread of disinformation and its potential impact on societies has added a new dimension to this process - the need to continuously improve media and information literacy (MIL). Thus, the older generations face greater challenges, as they need to acquire new skills more rapidly and on a larger scale. This article analyses interrelations between encouragement measures (implemented by media policy makers) and media literacy perception of middle-aged and older population in Latvia (aged 55 to 75). The research employs data of two national representative surveys (May 2019, 1017 respondents; August 2019, 1005 respondents) that include data on respondents’ perception of MIL and test their media literacy skills. The theoretical background of this paper is supported by literature that discusses age and generations in context of media and technology use (Aroldo, 2014), and the Ideological model of literacy (Street, 1984; 1994). Data shows that a higher proportion of middle-aged and older respondents, compared to other age groups, are not interested in MIL issues and evaluate their MIL competences as rather low, but in the everyday practice their ability to recognize and evaluate information is equivalent to that of other age groups.

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THE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION AND COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE: THE CASE OF NORTH MACEDONIA AND KOSOVO

Author(s): Mirlinda Vejseli,Ferdi Kamberi / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

Communication is a process and part of human identity without which man could not exist today. Intercultural communication is a form of global communication, which refers to intercultural interactions between different cultures that appear in a social group with different religious, social, ethnic, cultural, and social backgrounds. North Macedonia and Kosovo are considered multicultural states which have ethnic identities within them, which are part of the mosaic and the promotion of intercultural communication is a test of the democratic development of these states. Therefore, this study aims to research and analyze the role of intercultural communication between local communities in both countries, communication of local government with the community, and community participation in public meetings as part of local decision-making. The methodology applied in this paper is the study of literature and the development of quantitative research with local communities. The results show that even though the participation of local communities is low in both countries, due to various factors, intercultural communication has broken down barriers between communities and has influenced the initiatives for the organization and development of the community itself.

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THE ROLE OF MEDIA IN PEACEBUILDING IN IRAQ AFTER ISIS

Author(s): Araz Ramazan Ahmad / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2021

The victory over the territorial rule of the so-called Islamic State provides an opportunity for the government of Iraq to restore its state institutions and reassert its authority. Can the Iraqi leadership step beyond cycles of failure in this transition to tackle the systemic issues that sustain state weakness and promote the emergence of groups like ISIS? This paper aims to enlighten the challenges faced by Iraq after ISIS for the restoration of peace between minorities and religious groups, and coexistence after the myth, so that conflicts are going on between minorities and religious groups, particularly in Mosul and other cities under the control of ISIS, the state could not reconcile the displaced people. Correspondingly, this paper intends the focus and role of local, regional, and international media in the process of peacebuilding and coexistence in Iraq after ISIS.

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COLLECTIVE MEMORY IN THE CONTEXT OF CONTENT RECONFIGURATION: THE ANECDOTES OF THE SOVIET AND POST-SOVIET ERA

Author(s): Nataliia Komykh,Yaroslav Zharko / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2022

The article considers the phenomenon of collective memory as a resource of social interaction, legitimization of social practices. In particular, attention is paid to aspects of reconfiguration of the content of the collective memory of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. Societies remember differently. Ukrainian society has a traumatic social experience gained as a result of the transformational processes of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the formation of an independent state, a democratic political order. The phenomenon of memory is considered in more detail on the example of the results of the study of collective memory reflected in anecdotes. The authors noted that the anecdote is a mechanism for translating cultural meanings into the memory of societies. The anecdote represents the symbolic systems of objective manifestations of collective memory. Based on the analysis of the results of the research by the method of content analysis using the online program Voyant Tools, reconfigurations of the content of anecdotes were recorded: from political to private; from local toponymic discourse to global; from ridiculing the policy of the state to the experience of society through the humor of the historical events of the formation of independent Ukraine.

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THE POST-TRUTH PHENOMENON INFILTRATING THE US POLITICAL SYSTEM, MEDIA, AND POPULACE: THE CRITICAL THINKING ANALYSIS ABOUT DONALD TRUMP’S POLITICAL LEADERSHIP

Author(s): Evi Aryati Arbay,Ari Santoso Widodo / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2022

Donald J. Trump, one of the 2016 US presidential candidates, is thought to have benefited from political fact-doctoring in his attempt to diminish his adversary's reputation using the post-truth phenomena. This research aimed to identify and analyze post-truth phenomena that infiltrated the political system, media, and the American people during Donald J. Trump's leadership. This study used a qualitative approach with a critical thinking analysis method. The findings found that individual rationality's post-truth disrupted and then directed to online information impulses, in which people tended to seek information that supported their own opinions, particularly on issues connected to Donald J. Trump's leadership in all sectors of policy, including irrelevant facts or reality and the use of language increasingly exploited by hyperbole without a clear basis reference.

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„Етничният синдром“ четвърт век по-късно – едно научно откровение за народа, паметта и историята

Author(s): Elya Tsaneva / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2021

For almost three decades now, there is an ongoing, but also inconsistent search for a new conceptual framework for the study of ethnicities and identities. Against this background, the article offers an interpretation of a fundamental monographic text on this subject from the recent past, a contemporary evaluation of a book from the arsenal of ethnic/national dialectic theory. Written by an insightful connoisseur of culture and history, the book presented some innovative and provocative ideas about the relationship and the dynamic combination of the most important phenomena and characteristics of the ethnonational process. The author shares some thoughts about the ways in which these ideas can be interpreted from the point of view of today’s methodological explorations.

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За дуалистичния характер на българския граждански празничен календар

Author(s): Grigor Har. Grigorov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The paper puts forward the proposition that today’s Bulgarian civic festive calendar may be examined as a system composed not of individual holidays but of corresponding holiday pairs (3 March – 2 June, St. George’s Day – St. Michael the Archangel’s All Soul’s Day, 24 May – 1 November). The holiday pairs have been formed gradually, and in the course of time a ‘strong’ and a ‘weak’ holiday came to exist, the former – honouring a supreme community value, whereas the latter – paying respect to the memory of the heroes who devoted their lives to its achievement. The paper makes an attempt to substantiate the thesis that dualism is the leading trend in the development of the festive calendar, which might be observed in its past historical stages as well.

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Празникът „Кюстендилска пролет“ и социалистическата празничност: „Изобретяването“ на празника (Част I)

Author(s): Svetla I. Kazalarska / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The article examines and analyses the process of “inventing” Kyustendil Spring Day in the context of socialist festivity. Based on the local tradition of welcoming spring in Kyustendil, which integrates pre-Christian rituals related to the day of spring solstice, the Day of Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Orthodox calendar and Mladentsi in the folk calendar, the holiday is gradually “domesticated” by the socialist authorities in the late 1960s, purged of its religious elements and re-invented – engaged with “new, socialist content”. Having combined various festive forms, symbols and rituals and occupying various urban spaces throughout the years, the holiday eventually established itself as a successful “invented tradition” during the socialist period, including several elements: a beauty contest, a ceremony for handing over the symbols of spring, a carnival procession, a public celebration on the Hisarlaka hill above the town, and accompanying cultural and sports events.

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Градска празничност в епидемична обстановка

Author(s): Iskren Velikov / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 1/2022

The holiday is an essential element in the ideological regulation of public life; it plays an important role in shaping and stabilizing the group celebrating it, in all cases by actualizing the most important unifying values, and very often – by distinguishing examples of exemplary behaviour. The spread of the COVID-19 epidemic at the very beginning of 2020 leads to a number of radical changes in social life. The speed with which processes develop, as well as the search for new forms to continue established practices, leads to experimentation with the possibilities of new technologies, as well as of new conditions – education in an online environment, online shopping, outsourced commercial cash registers for outdoor service, limiting the capacity for public access, reducing programs, etc. Limiting physical access to official celebrations provoked an attempt to compensate for it by broadcasting the festive ceremonies live. However, the transfer of an event to an online environment places local communities in the passive role of spectators of a performance, without the opportunity of participation, and the social function of the celebration is reduced to the possibilities of the social network to communicate through texts and chat with other representatives of the community who observe the broadcast. These restrictions seem to compromise the very idea of a celebration and make visible the fact that its fundamental feature is the possibility of physical presence and participation of citizens.

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RUSSIA’S COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES ABOUT CRIMEA IN SPANISH-LANGUAGE SPUTNIK AND RUSSIA TIMES (2014-2018)

Author(s): Ludmila Gonzalez Cerulli,Sybil Rhodes / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2022

We analyze Russia’s communication strategies in the period leading up to and following the seizure (2014-2018) of the Crimean Peninsula in the Spanish editions of its digital platforms, Sputnik and Russia Times. Drawing from theories of political communication, we show how Russia used storytelling and framing to build an international image and political brand consistent with, and try to justify, its foreign policy actions. Specifically, Russian messages transmit no room for doubt about the legality of any of its strategies in Crimea. We argue that this communication strategy is consistent with the concept of ‘sharp power’ to describe Russian projection in the world. Cultural and emotional appeals designed to generate positive emotions about Russia, i.e., ‘soft power’, were far less common. In recent years, Russian projection of sharp power appears to have increased in the Spanish-speaking world, particularly in South America. In addition to helping explain Russian foreign policy, our findings contribute to broader debates about political branding and truth in a ‘post-truth’, multipolar world.

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RETHINKING STRATEGIC AUTONOMY IN TIMES OF NEXT GENERATION EU: NEW DIGITAL AGENDA

Author(s): Miguel Angel Benedicto Solsona,Marcin Roman Czubala Ostapiuk / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

The digital transformation of the global economy and society has accelerated after the Covid-19 pandemic. The European Union (EU), compared to China and the United States, is losing its capacity for innovation and control over data and fundamental raw materials and could even lose ground in the regulatory power it has in the digital realm. This paper pays special attention to the situation and progress toward a new European policy to achieve digital strategic autonomy. It also briefly outlines the Recovery Plan for Europe as a possible incentive for its promotion. Both descriptive and analytical methods were employed to gather the data from secondary sources and provide reliable research results. The major findings of this article are that strategic autonomy is an imperative requirement for sustaining and encouraging European integration, forcing the EU to advance faster toward developing critical digital technologies. There is also an urgent need to secure critical parts of supply chains and data protection, intellectual property, and defense against disinformation. Finally, the European Union must improve its resilience to face new crises and lead the digitalization of its economy.

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WHAT DOES “BIG DATA” TELL? A NETWORK ANALYSIS APPROACH TO THE JUSTICE AND DEVELOPMENT PARTY’S ROLE PERFORMANCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST BETWEEN 2015 AND 2020

Author(s): Hikmet Mengüaslan,Sadullah Çelik / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

In this paper, we exploited big data (The Global Database Events, Language and Tone - GDELT) by utilizing network analysis to elaborate on the Justice and Development Party’s (JDP) Middle East (ME) policy for 2015 and 2020 - our conceptual framework built on the role theory. We identified two dynamics - the positioning of the “Transatlantic” link in Turkish Foreign Policy’s (TFP) orientation and the shape and politics of the JDP elites’ conception of activism - based on which we developed two hypotheses to conceptualize the JDP’s role performance for the period: 1) There was a mismatch between national role conceptions and systemic role prescriptions for Turkey in the period of analysis; 2) This mismatch led the appeal of partnership with non-Western actors to rise. We utilized network analysis by exploiting the GDELT big dataset to test our hypotheses empirically. The empirical findings proved the validity of our conceptual arguments.

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Ива Кюркчиева. „Етнология и футбол“. София: Издателство на БАН „Проф. Марин Дринов“, 2020

Author(s): Stanoy Stanoev / Language(s): Bulgarian Issue: 3/2022

Book review

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PROTEST POLICING AS A MEANS OF RESTRICTING FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY DURING THE PANDEMIC IN BULGARIA

Author(s): Kamila REZMER / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2024

During the coronavirus pandemic, numerous individual rights and freedoms were restricted. Most often, the right to assembly was restricted due to the increased risk of spreading the virus. First, legal regulations introducing total bans on gatherings or periodic bans and determining the number of people who could take part in them. Limitations depended mainly on risk assessment, number of cases and other measurable indicators. However, the restrictions did not stop people from protesting for issues important to them even during the pandemic. In this situation, the security services also had to take measures to limit the citizens' right to assembly. The aim of this study is to analyze the nature of the protests, determine what actions were taken by the security services towards the protesters, and evaluate whether they led to an escalation, silencing, or abandonment of further action on the part of the protesters. This will allow us to answer the question: whether, and if yes, to what extent was protest policing one of the means of restricting the right to assembly? Moreover, what was the nature of the activities of the security services? The analyzed period was July 9, 2020, to April 16, 2021, in Bulgaria due to increased protest of citizens who demanded mainly changes and resignation of the government. In the source analysis, mainly data from ACLED was used.

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