Complex data and simple instructions: Social regulation during the Covid-19 pandemic

Responses to the Covid-19 pandemic include the generation of new norms and shifting expectations about everyday, ordinary behaviour, management of the self, and social interaction. Central to the amalgam of new norms is the way information and instructions are communicated, often in the form of simple images and icons in posters and signs that are widespread in public settings. This article combines two sociological concerns – social control and visual research – to investigate the ways social interaction is being recalibrated during the pandemic. It focuses on some of the imagery relied on in public information about the coronavirus and investigates the form and content of various signs, instructions, and notices for their normative underpinnings, their advice and directives which attempt to modify and regulate diverse activities.

Drawing as a method of researching social representations

This paper explores the possibilities of drawing as a method of researching social representations. The theory of social representations focuses on studying the forms, contents, and functions of socially shared common knowledge. In this paper, we (1) present the central premises of social representations theory, (2) elaborate drawing as a visual research method, and (3) synthesize how the drawing method may promote and diversify our understanding of social representations. We suggest that the drawing method is especially fruitful in the analysis of objectification process (how something abstract is made tangible); cognitive polyphasia (the idea of the simultaneous existence of diverse and contradicting social representations); and the different levels of analysis in which social representations become observable: ontogenesis (individual level), microgenesis (social interaction level), and sociogenesis (societal level). Through these insights, this paper advances the current understanding of the drawing method in qualitative social representations research.

Shifting the Frame: Theoretical and Methodological Explorations of Photography in Educational Research

In this article, I focus on the relationship between photography and educational research, situating this conversation at the interstices of fact/fiction, indexical/imaginary, and art/data. I ask: How has our understanding and use of photography, the camera, and the photographer been shaped by the field of qualitative research? What possibilities exist for reimagining the role of photography in educational research and practice? Drawing on a diverse body of theoretical, empirical, and artistic works, I respond to the questions by looking at three key elements shaping image-based visual research: the ontology of photography, collaboration and photography, and thinking with art/photography. Across these three key elements, I interrogate taken-for-granted assumptions about the camera, photographs, and the relationships between the photographer-photographed in the context of educational research and articulate some shifts that help reframe our understanding of photography and how it is used within educational research and practice.

Features of cascading disk-gear extrusion of plastics

The relevant task of today is to improve the installations for thermostat extrusion, in order to increase the indicators of resource/energy efficiency. The study of the features peculiar to the loading and melting area (LMA) and the elimination of shortcomings can significantly reduce the energy costs of the process. To achieve high-quality results in cascading disk-gear extrusion, the main methods of the dispersion melting of thermoplastic granules are analyzed, taking into account all the features of the physical model of the extrusion process. The dispersion model of melting is achieved by observing a limited supply of raw materials to the loading area. This ensures the intensification of the process and significantly reduces the total length of the LMA. In this case, the length of the area with the most filled channel directly depends on the resistance of the disk zone. With increasing resistance, the polymer stopper moves to the loading neck. The polymer is gradually compacted, and each leakage of the LMA is periodically filled. From the rotating disk heated to 107 oC, samples of the polymer were removed and cut into separate sections. Previously, to facilitate the process of visual research, the polymer was colored with 0.5% blue pigment. The results of the analysis confirmed the performance of the proposed physical model for the processes occuring in the disk-gear extruder. As a result, it is possible to calculate the time over which the granules stay in the LMA and the length of the screw cutting in this area, depending on the performance. Taking into account all the features of the disk-gear extrusion process allows creating an upgraded productive, resource-efficient installation and implementing it into practice.

A Visual Conversation From South Africa: Climate Resilience and Hope for a Green Recovery

As the world copes with two parallel catastrophic events-climate change and COVID-19, this article examines how visual art students in South Africa used the pandemic period to imagine a better world, a green economic recovery, and a closer connection with nature and biodiversity. The visual conversation that this new generation of artists created provides a lens for engaging with a world in change. They generate inspirational and resourceful ideas, calling on us to be participatory and inclusive as a fundamental aspect of being human, evoking imagination to create alternative visions in collaboration with others. New understandings through visual research can provide a foundation for developing collective strategies toward economic and social security, and flourishing individually and as community.