(Jaki?) Doktorat i co dalej? Rzecz o wysoko wykwalifikowanych specjalistach w społecznościach lokalnych

Author(s): Wlodzimierz Olszewski / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 16/2014

When searching for the internal developmental dominants of the local societies, it is crucial to focus on highly qualified specialists with the scientific degree. The reflections presented in the article are focused on the models of obtaining the doctorate degree, indicating the barriers for further scientific career of the doctors from the outside of the academic environments as well as their activity aiming at introducing the social and cultural changes. I do also try to create the typology of doctors inside the local societies. The said reflections are related to the Polkowice sub-region and are the case study itself.

(Ne)vjerodostojnost medijske reprezentacije kulture: od političke manipulacije do strategije skandala

Author(s): Nina Ožegovic / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 13/2018

The paper analyzes the media representation of cultural content in Croatia during the transition period, with particular emphasis on selectivity and ideological coloration, as well as the market condition of these contents in mass media. The paper establishes that the process of transformation of media content passes through three phases, and that each phase introduces new models, mechanisms and principles in presentation of culture on the press pages. These new models range from the model of political manipulation to cultural content and the individual’s satanization through the scandal’s strategy to media staging and theatricalization of the reality affecting the (non) credibility of information and the creation of public opinion.

74 Grupa Biednych z Ustki. Semantyka i sposoby wytwarzania

Author(s): Xawery Stanczyk / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 03/2017

The aim of this article is to analyse the semantics of the urban legend about 74 GrupaBiednych music group. The legendary band was formed in the late 1960s in a small town Ustka on the coast of the Baltic Sea. The amateur musicians created one of the most original groups of the music underground, combining psychedelic rock, free jazz, improvisation, oriental rhythmicity and happening art. However, the group did not achieve success and nowadays is barely recalled in memories and anecdotes as a mysterious hippie band from geographical and symbolic peripheries of the country.

A camera never told the truth: An exploration of objectivity in photojournalism

Author(s): Sharaf N. Rehman / Language(s): English / Issue: 4/2018

Several cases have surfaced in the past two decades where the photojournalists associated with some of the most respected and trusted news organizations have been accused of altering the news photos. During the same time, the developments in the digital cameras and editing software have put the image altering technology into the hands of all practicing journalists and journalism students. This paper explores two, somewhat connected, issues: objectivity in photojournalism and ethics of altering photographic images. The paper discusses objectivity in journalism in general and photojournalism to address the question: Can a photojournalist use a camera to record reality in an objective manner? Since the photographers have altered (retouched) images from the very beginning of photography, where are the ethical boundaries of image alteration for the photojournalists?

A jeśli nie "wrocławska piosenka", to co?

Author(s): Jacek Grebowiec / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 03/2017

The topic of the article is music that is strongly connected to the history of post-war, Polish again, Wroclaw — the city and its cultural, social and political landscape. This includes not only songs composed by artists from Wroclaw, but also songs dedicated to this city. In the article, songs from different timespans are analysed: the ones composed in the 1950s, in the pioneering period of restoration, as well as countercultural songs from the 1980s. The paper is complemented by an analysis of the newest songs that pretend to be hits or anthems of Wroclaw, although they have never gained the same fame as classical songs written by Maria Koterbska or new-wave band Klaus Mitffoch.

A magyar és a szlovák tanítási nyelvű alapiskola ötödik évfolyamában végzett tudásszintmérés (Tesztelés 5-2016) eredményeinek összehasonlítása

Author(s): Ingrid Alföldyová,Tomáš Ficek / Language(s): Hungarian / Issue: 4/2017

From the results of testing students´ knowledges and skills we have generally concluded that at lower primary, within teaching mathematics, we must lead pupils to master careful, concentrated reading, even in cases of simple or more complicated, realistic tasks having a mathematical context. They should also gain experience in mathematical understanding of real situations. When solving more complex mathematical tasks, in order to find accurate solution, it is important to allow scope for problem analysis, and definition of steps leading to solution.

Action Research in Higher Education Fostering Transition toward a Sustainable Economy: Trainings in Ecopreneurship at Three Bulgarian Universities

Author(s): Anna Varbanova / Language(s): English / Issue: 2/2019

This paper discusses the possibilities for higher education (HE) policies to be strategically assured upon the triple helix between university, local authorities and businesses providing the proper social context as a resource for authentic educational content and learning environment. The study is based on the application of Action Re¬search methodology in the framework of the applied project of the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, on the example of ecopreneurship training, supported by the German Federal Environmental Foundation, as an experiment regarding our central research question: How is it possible to foster the transition toward sustainable economy through education, on the example of such trans¬disciplinary course in higher education? In particular, we involve different stakeholders (university teachers, students, university administration and green businesses) in order to improve educational outcomes, and especially, to increase the level of competence of academic staff and students to teach, learn, explore, and transfer new fields of knowl¬edge, experience, and attitude toward sustainable economy. We operationalize that through competencies (with their nuclei – knowledge, skills, and attitudes) as a didacti¬cal instrument. During the process our cases reveal the need of transdisciplinary learn¬ing through especially designed close to ‘real-world’ settings. Thus, creating free space for experimentation and mutual learning we plan on achievable and product-oriented outcomes, which gives confidence and motivation for further learning and involvement in the field of sustainable economy.

Advances in Contemplative Social Research

Author(s): Krzysztof T. Konecki / Language(s): English / Publication Year: 2018

This book is unique and audacious, and fits very well with current tendencies within qualitative research. It introduces new, fresh threads to questions and concerns that are highly significant for contemporary social sciences. The formulated conclusions go beyond directly methodological issues, posing key philosophical questions to the whole project of Western sociology.Grażyna WoronieckaFrom the review of the bookDeep contemplation of the situation could be the epistemological choice for social scientists. It is a fundamentally different approach to the research, where the investigator is researching the object but also the situation of research and her-self/him-self. Contemplating is a dual way of the approaching the truth. It does not mean that the researcher is mentally divided; just the opposite, she/he wants to be complete and achieve the unity of being as a researcher-human being and an element of the situation (psycho-social and historical). Contemplating enables researchers to see how the mind works and creates the images and reports from the field – what is available for the mind and what is silent or repressed because of the dominating rhetoric of description and rhetoric of feeling?... Contemplation is not only analysis, it is also an ethical choice of stopping here and now to see the situation clearly and reporting it with the all reservations that could be the result of the mindfully-observed interaction of mind, self, and situation at one historical moment.From the Introduction

Akter-mreža teorija - Alternativni pristup razumijevanju tržišta

Author(s): Damir Kukic,Edin Tabak / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 03/151/2018

Many economic theories are based on the assumption that the rules of the market are the results of “natural” tendencies of rational individuals to gain their interests, and that those »natural laws« enable the market to be self-regulated. Their critics insist on a more significant role of state and society in the regulation of the market. Differences between these two camps are apparent: the first approach is based on rational individuals, the second one is based on the embeddedness of markets in the social and political context. However, both approaches are based on modernist dichotomies between subject and object, individual and collective, nature and society, which make it difficult to render the complexity of linking heterogeneous actors in the market. This text will propose Actor-Network Theory as an alternative approach to understanding markets. Such an approach implies that neither can market be self-regulated nor can a state regulate it. The market is instead viewed as an actor-network in which heterogeneous actors participate in its construction and maintenance.

AN ADAPTIVE SOLUTION FOR MANAGING THE MODULE OF AUTOMATIC ALLOCATION OF OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENTS IN THE EASY-LEARNING ONLINE EDUCATION PLATFORM

Author(s): Radu Radescu,Mihai Ureche,Valentin PUPEZESCU / Language(s): English / Issue: 01/2016

This paper aims to present the steps, methods and technologies used to create the new management module of the automatic allocation of students' optional assignments for mid-term projects, homework and graduation thesis, using a virtual education system. The Easy-Learning platform provides a framework for any type of on-line or off-line activity in distance/virtual learning, which is useful for tutors and students at any level of education and training. To achieve this new integrated module within the platform, PHP5, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3 technologies, MariaDB database and REST, Android, Apache (web server) services were used, as well as a number of methodologies for securing communication between a server application and a client application. The paper presents in detail the new proposed procedure and emphasizes the achieved benefits and progress, with numerous examples to illustrate the methodology of design, implementation and use of this module. The Easy-Learning platform is a complex e-learning system running on a web server (local or remote) and was created with dynamic web pages using Symfony framework, based on the objectoriented side of the PHP web programming language. Among other features, the platform uses MariaDB as a database management system for storing and retrieving information. The main reason to choose the development environment is given by the minimum requirements needed for the applications (running on the server).

AN ATTEMPT TO INTERPRET POETRY FROM THE PSALTER. THE WALL COMPOSITION OF THE VAULT BUILT IN THE 19TH CENTURY IN THE CHURCH OF DOLNA VERENITSA

Author(s): Katerina Dyulgerova / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2017

The report examines and analyses the unique and specific in nature wall decoration in the additionally constructed 19th-century narthex of the church in the village of Dolna Verenitsa. The emphasis in this study is placed on the allegorical rosette created on verses from The Psalter with calendar and cosmogonic interpretations which, in the form they are written/painted, are not found in churches constructed at the same time in the region; and which are of particular interest for iconographic studying due to their singular nature. Emphatic is also the choice of the psalm, and composite references to other churches displaying similar images.

Analyzing Biographies of Foreign-born Academics in Slovakia: Why Highly Skilled Employees Decide to Choose a Peripheral Country

Author(s): Kamil Luczaj / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2019

Analyzing Biographies of Foreign-born Academics in Slovakia: Why Highly Skilled Employees Decide to Choose a Peripheral Country. This paper summarizes findings from qualitative research conducted in Slovakia in early 2018. One of the main research questions was related to factors attracting foreign-born academics to Slovak higher education institutions. This data supplements limited knowledge derived from the official statistics. Using individual in-depth interviews (IDI), six types of foreign-born academics were distinguished: family-tied academics, commuters, socioeconomic migrants, transnational scholars, local enthusiasts, and last resort scholars. The paper includes a detailed characteristic of each category supported by extensive excerpts from the interviews. It facilitates a discussion regarding another dimension of the distinction between global academic centers and peripheries.

Another story about Šaban Bajramović – /B/Lueser from the South Side

Dragoljub B. Djordjević: I asked a little snail: my sociological story about Šaban Bajramović. Belgrade: Službeni glasnik, 2018, 334 pp.

Author(s): Dragan M. Todorovic / Language(s): English,Serbian / Issue: 2/2019

Šaban Bajramović was the most fruitful and most important, and certainly most famous and most popular Romani singer, composer and poet in the Balkans, crowned with the title “Tsar” of Romani music. He also represents an institution and authentic cultural value of a national group - the Romani, who continue the struggle for a dignified place under the heavenly vault even in the twenty-first century. The book by Dragoljub B. Djordjević, a Nišian sociologist of religion and a romologue, titled “I asked a little snail: my sociological story about Šaban Bajramović”, published by Službeni glasnik from Belgrade, testifies about what needs to be done so that he can posthumously retain what he had achieved in life.

AR LAUKIAMI DIASPOROS VAIKAI LIETUVOJE? TĖVŲ IR MOKYTOJŲ PATIRTYS

Author(s): Irma Budginaite,Ruta Mašidlauskaite / Language(s): Lithuanian / Issue: 2 (78)/2015

The article is based on a research project funded by the Lithuanian Research Council and conducted in Lithuania, with a focus on the challenges when integrating children that are coming back with parents from abroad into the Lithuanian education system. It is based on semi-structured interviews and one focus group with teachers that have experience educating returnees’ children as well as interviews with return migrants that have children under eighteen. In addition, two representative surveys – the Lithuanian population survey and the survey of return migrants – are used to illustrate the tendencies of return migration. This article aims to contribute to the development of return migration research field and raises such questions as: How the educational opportunities for children make impact on decision to return to Lithuania? How educational institutions are chosen and how the pupils’ knowledge is evaluated? What are the main challenges that teachers face while educating returnees’ children? The research has revealed that family circumstances are one of the most important factors motivating emigrants to return. The desire to start a family and raise children in a Lithuanian cultural environment and children’s education may be important aspects when deciding to return. Parents that are planning to return are interested in educational opportunities for children, are collecting relevant information and, if possible, are visiting schools before returning to Lithuania. Some of them express their worries about the preparation of teachers to educate their children. The research also shows that not all teachers are aware how to deal with the challenges they face educating pupils with the migrant background. The qualitative interviews have revealed that it is harder to get relevant information for teachers from small towns, and it is hardly possible for them to participate in the trainings that are organised in the cities. Therefore, teachers are obliged to find individual creative solutions for teaching children. According to the interviewees, such measures as individualised course materials, specific training courses, allocation of additional funding for the Lithuanian language or other subject classes could contribute to a better integration of returnees’ children. The interviews also disclosed that not all policy measures for the integration of children with the migrant background are applicable in small towns.

Arguing for Art, Debating Censorship

Author(s): Liviu Malita / Language(s): English / Issue: 1/2019

Using a sociological and philosophical approach, this paper discusses the legitimacy, utility and functionality of art censorship both as a social practice and as an autonomous discourse. My intervention reconstitutes and deconstructs the legal arguments underlying the decision to censor artistic products, by investigating the most common accusations by which the law seeks to justify art censorship: immorality (pornography, obscenity), the encouragement of indecent behaviour or incitement to violence/hatred/racism. Moreover, the paper describes two perspectives that can decisively settle this controversial debate: one in favour of the unconditional, absolute freedom of art, and the other in favour of social control. The former perspective brings together arguments stating that the act of censorship is incompatible with the specificity of art as fiction, while the latter considers that art benefits from normative flexibility that tends to impunity. The analysis of the two perspectives points out that it is difficult (even impossible) to definitively answer the question whether there is a solid reason for (not) censoring art. Art is placed in the interval. The problem of art immunity oscillates between Scylla (with its excessive prohibitions) and Charybdis (with the notion that art works carry messages with a socially toxic potential). The excesses of art cause not only a need for civic control, but also excesses of censorship. The reverse is also true. Among the extreme cases placed at the edge of the spectrum, there is the everyday situation in which art is admonished, more or less harshly, for its “boldness”. Ultimately, while the penchant for censoring art in totalitarian societies is obvious, there is little consensus in the debate on censorship in democratic, liberal societies. Here “anonymous authority” (Erich Fromm) is frequently expressed through mute, conservative, informed censorship, lending itself to a vast polemical discussion about what the “freedom of art” truly means.

Around the Bloc: An “Assault” on the Arts in Russia

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 11/01/2016

An anti-censorship speech by a famous Russian actor and director has caused a week-long uproar, with many famous political and cultural personalities entering the fray.

Around the Bloc: Barbed Wire Is the Tie That Binds Belarus and Russia

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 11/01/2016

Anonymous artist makes a pointed addition to a Minsk mural symbolizing the city’s friendship with Moscow.

Around the Bloc: Czechs Hold Russian Dissident Artist on Interpol List, Extradition Unsure

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 09/27/2016

Moscow is awaiting official notice from Prague about the possible repatriation of Oleg Vorotnikov, a founding member of Russian public-art collective Voina.

Around the Bloc: Dushanbe Residents in Bid to Save Soviet-Era Buildings

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 10/27/2015

Decrepit old structures must go, but plans for their replacements are classified, official claims.

Around the Bloc: Estonian Museum Wins Prestigious Award

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English / Issue: 05/31/2016

The transformation of a Soviet-era airbase into an ethnographic museum has been controversial, but just won international recognition for its innovative and environmentally friendly design.