scholarly journals Cohorts as collections of bodies and communities of persons: insights from the SEARCH010/RV254 research cohort

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 584-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail E Henderson ◽  
Stuart Rennie ◽  
Amy Corneli ◽  
Holly L Peay
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Acute Infection ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Early Phase Clinical Trials ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Longitudinal research cohorts are uniquely suited to answer research questions about morbidity and mortality. Cohorts may be comprised of individuals identified by specific conditions or other shared traits. We argue that research cohorts are more than simply aggregations of individuals and their associated data to meet research objectives. They are social communities comprised of members, investigators and organizations whose own interests, identities and cultures interact and evolve over time. The literature describes a range of scientific and ethical challenges and opportunities associated with cohorts. To advance these deliberations, we report examples from the literature and our own research on the Thai SEARCH010/RV254 cohort, comprising individuals diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during acute infection. We reflect on the impact of cohort experiences and identity, and specifically how people incorporate cohort participation into meaning making associated with their diagnosis, the influence of cohort participation on decision making for early-phase clinical trials recruited from within the cohort, and the impact of the relationships that exist between researchers and participants. These data support the concept of cohorts as communities of persons, where identity is shaped, in part, through cohort experiences. The social meanings associated with cohorts have implications for the ethics of cohort-based research, as social contexts inevitably affect the ways that ethical concerns manifest.

The signifying voice

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Meaning Making ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Human Voice ◽  
Linguistic Imperialism ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Semiotic Systems ◽  
Language And Music ◽  
The Common

Abstract Drawing on a social semiotic framework, this paper sets out to examine two different semiotic systems whose default mode of expression is the human voice – language and music. Through comparing how each system differentially employs the human voice, we can identify both their commonalities and differences, and go some way to treating both equally within de Saussure’s envisaged broader field of “semiology”, avoiding the common trap of “linguistic imperialism”, i.e. taking language as the model for all semiotic systems. Starting by conceptualising the key relationship between the text, or unified instance of meaning-making, and the social contexts in which it functions, the paper then examines the material affordances utilised by each system, and the kinds of social meanings they express.

scholarly journals Through the eyes of others – the social experiences of people with dementia: a systematic literature review and synthesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 791-805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty M. Patterson ◽  
Chris Clarke ◽  
Emma L. Wolverson ◽  
Esme D. Moniz-Cook
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Direct Result ◽  
People With Dementia ◽  
The Social ◽  
Relational Aspect ◽  
Person With Dementia ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTBackground:Psychosocial models suggest that the lived experience of dementia is affected by interpersonal factors such as the ways in which others view, talk about, and behave toward the person with dementia. This review aimed to illuminate how informal, everyday interpersonal relationships are experienced by people with dementia within their social contexts.Method:A systematic review of qualitative literature published between 1989 and May 2016 was conducted, utilizing the electronic databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and CINAHL-Complete. This was followed by a critical interpretative synthesis to understand how people with dementia perceive the attitudes, views, and reactions of other people toward them, and the subjective impact that these have.Results:Four major themes were derived from the findings of the 23 included studies: being treated as an “other” rather than “one of us”; being treated as “lesser” rather than a full, valued member of society; the impact of others’ responses; and strategies to manage the responses of others. Thus, people with dementia can feel outcast and relegated, or indeed feel included and valued by others. These experiences impact upon emotional and psychological well-being, and are actively interpreted and managed by people with dementia.Conclusion:Experiences such as loss and diminishing identity have previously been understood as a direct result of dementia, with little consideration of interpersonal influences. This review notes that people with dementia actively engage with others, whose responses can foster or undermine social well-being. This dynamic relational aspect may contribute to emerging understandings of social health in dementia.

scholarly journals Formal and Informal Russian Invitation: Context and Politeness Strategies

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 994-1013
Author(s):  
Gayane Rubenovna Vlasyan ◽  
Irina Vladimirovna Kozhukhova
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Speech Acts ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Politeness Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
Politeness Strategies ◽  
The Impact

Invitation is a speech act which is perceived differently across cultures. Understanding the pragmatics of invitation requires knowledge of the notion of politeness and politeness strategies which comprise culture specific elements. Politeness is realized in various discourses, social contexts and speech acts. The purpose of the study is to identify politeness strategies in Russian invitation in formal and informal contexts in three age groups and see how they correspond to the understanding of politeness in Russian communicative culture. The empirical data for the study were obtained through discourse completion tests with 101 participants (issuers of the invitation) of different age and social status as well as through ethnographic observation. The research is based on Discourse Analysis and Politeness Theory (Brown & Levinson 1987; Larina2009, 2015; Locher 2006, 2013; Leech 2014; Mills 2003, 2017; Sifianou 1992; Terkourafi &Kadar 2017; Watts 2003, among others). We used discourse analysis to analyze the impact of the social and cultural context on the performance of invitation, the descriptive method which was used to analyze the pragmatic functions of invitation, as well as contextual interpretation of this speech act and the method of quantitative data processing. The study revealed some differences between a formal and informal invitation concerning politeness strategies and linguistic means of its expression. It also showed that in Russian culture issuing an invitation is not perceived as a face threatening speech act; in the analysed social contexts the preference is given to direct invitation, and the inviter’s imposition, as a rule, is perceived positively. The results contribute to a better understanding of Russian politeness and communicative style and can be implemented in intercultural pragmatics, intercultural communication and SL teaching.

scholarly journals Analyzing Social Meaning: How Words Matter in Social Contexts (Based on German Communicative Practice)

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1556-1566
Author(s):  
Sergei T. Nefedov ◽  
◽  
Valeria E. Chernyavskaya ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Practice ◽  
Linguistic Anthropology ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Linguistic Unit ◽  
Communicative Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings

The paper discusses the notion of social meaning that has become a central one in sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, metapragmatics. The study was informed by these research directions and the main outcomes. The term social meaning pinpoints what linguistic forms convey about the social identity of the users, about their personality, social features and ideologically, value-based orientations. We presume that this is a category of meaning that a linguistic unit (an utterance) obtains as a result of its usage in a certain context. Social meanings are fixed by social practice. It acts as an index to the context in which the linguistic unit is expected to be used and relevant. Indexical relations are open for re-evaluations that are mediated by speakers ideological views. The study is based on German socio-cultural practice and reveals how indexical relations arise between a linguistic unit and the socio-cultural environment, the social occasion of its usage. The analysis is conducted as corpus-assisted discourse analysis, based on the «Digital dictionary of the German language» / «Das Digitale Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache»

scholarly journals Mobile word of mouth (m-WOM): analysing its negative impact on webrooming in omnichannel retailing

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Flavian ◽  
Raquel Gurrea ◽  
Carlos Orús
Keyword(s):  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Product Category ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to analyse the influence of mobile word of mouth (m-WOM), received at the physical store, which “challenges” the consumer's preferences in a webrooming experience. The impacts of the social relationship between the sender and the receiver of the m-WOM and product category (electronics versus fashion accessories) are examined.Design/methodology/approachAn online experiment was carried out which manipulated the presence and type of challenging m-WOM, and product category, in a 3 × 2 between-subjects factorial design. The participants were 204 consumers recruited through a market research agency. Their perceptions about the helpfulness of the m-WOM, and their product preferences and choices, were analysed.FindingsReceiving in-store m-WOM was perceived as helpful by webroomers and affected their preferences and choices. For electronics online reviews posted by anonymous customers were more influential than friends' opinions, whereas the opposite was the case with fashion accessories. The trustworthiness and expertise of the m-WOM source may explain the effects of m-WOM.Practical implicationsm-WOM entails challenges and opportunities for retailers in the omnichannel era. The findings suggest that allowing customers to access m-WOM may be beneficial; however, retailers must consider the type of m-WOM that may be most suitable for their businesses. Recommendations for referral and review sites are also offered.Originality/valueThis study examines the impact of challenging m-WOM on shopping experiences, combining online, mobile and physical channels. The results revealed the importance of the information source and product category in the determination of consumers' perceptions of helpfulness, preferences and choice.

scholarly journals How did covid19 change our communities? Acompared analysis of meetup communitiesbefore and after the pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pau Munoz
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
The Social ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The Impact

The year 2020 has been characterized by the outbreak of covid19. The spread of the disease has had a severe impact in many aspects of our lives that go beyond our health. From economical to psychological or social contexts, covid19 caused a halt in our daily activities and forced us to adapt or develop new habits. The following study uses data retrieved from 800 groups in the platform meetup.com to study and compare the impact of the coronavirus in the social life of two vibrant but culturally different cities such as Washington DC and Barcelona. Results suggest that though groups have been able to maintain their activity, mostly through complementing offline with online events, communities have become more fragmented in 2020. The results also suggest that the halt in activity along with the fragmentation has been higher in Barcelona where a very strict lockdown policy was implemented and that Washington DC has been more able to effectively switch to online events after the outbreak of the pandemic.

scholarly journals Brexit and the stratified uses of national and European Union citizenship

2021 ◽  
pp. 001139212110485
Author(s):  
Djordje Sredanovic ◽  
Francesco Della Puppa
Keyword(s):  
Added Value ◽  
Freedom Of Movement ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Union Citizenship ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Migratory Experience ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Do So

In this article the authors explore how Brexit changes the social meanings and uses of formal national and EU citizenship and how these meanings and uses are stratified, including by migratory experience, class and age. They do so through in-depth interviews with Britons in Belgium, EU27 citizens ‘by birth’ residing in the UK, and Bangladeshis who naturalised in Italy before moving to the UK. The article highlights the differences both between the three groups and within the groups, along lines of class and age, in the expectations regarding rights linked to citizenship, in the salience of different rights (e.g. freedom of movement, access to welfare, voting), and in the availability of alternative resources to contain the impact of Brexit. The authors argue that the Brexit process not only highlights the value of citizenship as well as the added value of a citizenship of an EU member state, but that it also reveals how the value of citizenships is internally stratified.

scholarly journals Student voices in academic writing: PsychLiverpool a community for meaning making

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Forsythe ◽  
Emir Demirbag ◽  
Jasmine Warren
Keyword(s):  
Academic Writing ◽  
Academic Language ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Student Writing ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Student Voices ◽  
The Social ◽  
Peer Network ◽  
Academic Communication ◽  
The Impact

The practice and expectations of academic communication are changing, and blogging provides a socially liberating mechanism by which to support the development of student writing and literacy. The study reported here examines the impact of an academic–student partnership in supporting the development of student discourse. Anonymous feedback gathered from both the contributors and readers of the student blog, PsychLiverpool was analysed using automated text analysis. The analysis identified that high levels of positive emotion were associated with PsychLiverpool. Students valued its capacity to trigger thinking and insight, and the social and networking relationships the blog offered. PsychLiverpool empowered students to expand their learning networks outside of their classroom and peer network by connecting them with like-minded students and academics.  By providing students with safe opportunities to develop their skills and networks, it fulfilled their needs for affiliation and achievement, power and reward. The particular advantage of PsychLiverpool was that in operating outside of traditional university processes of assessment and feedback, students were more motivated to write about and engage with academic language on their own terms.

scholarly journals Research on aging during the Venezuelan humanitarian crisis: the experience of the Maracaibo aging study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gladys E. Maestre ◽  
Rosa V. Pirela ◽  
Carmen L. Paz ◽  
Jesus D. Melgarejo ◽  
Luis J. Mena ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Longitudinal Research ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Humanitarian Crisis ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Aging Study ◽  
Basic Services ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Venezuela is in the throes of a complex humanitarian crisis that is one of the worst in decades to impact any country outside of wartime. This case analysis describes the challenges faced by the ongoing Maracaibo Aging Study (MAS) during the deteriorating conditions in Venezuela. When the MAS began in 1997, it focused on memory-related disorders. Since then, strategic planning and proactive community participation allowed us to anticipate and address logistical, funding, and ethical challenges, and facilitated the enrollment and retention of more than 2500 subjects over 55 years of age. All participants, who are residents of the city of Maracaibo, Venezuela, underwent various assessments on several occasions. Here, we discuss how our approach to implementing a longitudinal, population-based study of age-related conditions has allowed our research program to continue throughout this period of political, economic, and social upheaval. Discussion As the social context in Venezuela became more complicated, new challenges emerged, and strategies to sustain the study and participation were refined. We identified five main mechanisms through which the evolving humanitarian crisis has affected implementation of the MAS: 1) community dynamics; 2) morale of researchers, staff, and participants; 3) financial feasibility; 4) components of the research process; and 5) impact on the health of staff, participants, and their families. Strategies to compensate for the impact on these components were implemented, based on inputs from community members and staff. Improved communication, greater involvement of stakeholders, broadening the scope of the project, and strengthening international collaboration have been the most useful strategies. Particular demands emerged, related to the increased mortality and comorbidities of participants and staff, and deterioration of basic services and safety. Conclusion Although the MAS has faced numerous obstacles, it has been possible to continue a longitudinal research project throughout the humanitarian crisis, because our research team has engaged the community deeply and developed a sense of mutual commitment, and also because our project has provided funding to help keep researchers employed, somewhat attenuating the brain drain.

scholarly journals Artificial intelligence, digital capital, and epistemic domination on Twitter: A study of families affected by imprisonment

2021 ◽  
pp. 146247452110143
Author(s):  
Pamela Ugwudike ◽  
Jenny Fleming
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Social Networking ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Digital Capital

Online Social Networking Sites (SNSs) and other Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems are transforming the epistemological foundations of justice systems and influencing knowledge production concerning criminal justice and its impact. This article focuses on a dimension of criminal justice which is the impact of imprisonment on families and seeks to unravel how knowledge about this problem is produced on SNSs. To this end, it draws on a study that explored conversational networks of key stakeholders on the SNS, Twitter. Building on insights from the study, the paper unravels interdependent sociotechnical dynamics that reproduce the offline marginality of affected families and operate as barriers to equitable knowledge production. Through its analysis of the dynamics, the paper provides new insights and advances the sparse criminological scholarship on the intersections of AI systems and the delivery of justice. It specifically highlights exclusionary epistemic processes that are fomented by the infrastructure of AI systems and the social contexts in which they are deployed.

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