Sustaining Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-96
Author(s):  
Jennifer Forestal
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Sustainable Communities ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Communities Of Interest ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Cooperative Activity ◽  
Democratic Communities ◽  
Democratic Spaces

Democratic spaces must also be durable. Durable spaces facilitate our attachments to our communities and to other members; they help us sustain communities. Chapter 3 draws from Alexis de Tocqueville’s writing on democracy to explain how the durability of the built environment can be a powerful resource for generating the attachments that sustain democratic communities by (1) continually reminding citizens of their social obligations and (2) facilitating repeated interactions between citizens. The chapter then turns to the example of Twitter—particularly the mechanism of hashtags—to explore these dynamics in a digital environment. Hashtags provide temporary boundaries that are useful for mobilizing, but not sustaining, communities of interest; as a result, Twitter is not a platform well suited for cultivating the attachments required for longer-term cooperative activity. The chapter concludes with suggestions as to how we might design more durable spaces—and sustainable communities—in digital environments.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

2021 ◽  
pp. 31-64
Author(s):  
Jennifer Forestal
Keyword(s):  
The People ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Democratic Communities ◽  
Democratic Spaces

Boundaries are the first necessary characteristic of democratic spaces. Boundaries facilitate the democratic affordance of recognition; they help communities to form. This chapter outlines the role of boundaries in constituting democratic communities by drawing on Aristotle’s concept of “political friendship.” In clearly bounded spaces, citizens are more likely to recognize their common interests and interlocutors—the things they share and the people they share them with. Boundaries thus help generate ties of political friendship. With this function of boundaries in mind, the chapter turns to the example of Facebook to explain how boundaries can operate in digital environments. It shows how design choices made by Facebook—notably, the dissolution of the boundaries imposed by the early .edu requirement and the more recent turn to reimpose boundaries with Facebook Groups—have clear consequences for the likelihood that Facebook users can develop political friendships with one another, thereby forming communities on the platform.

Training managers of professional educational programs for work in the digital environment of the university

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. K. Samerhanova ◽  
M. A. Balakin
Keyword(s):  
Educational Program ◽  
Educational Programs ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Digital Competence ◽  
Education Management ◽  
Program Managers ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Digital Competencies ◽  
The University

Introduction. The article deals with the training of professional educational program managers for work in the digital environment of a university. The digital environment of the university is considered from the perspective of managing professional educational programs and is a complex open system that integrates system components for managing content, process, resources, contingent, finance and quality of programs that ensure the integrity and continuity of the educational process at all levels and in all respects. The implementation of a digital model for managing educational programs at a university on the basis of a single digital ring of services for an electronic platform for managing educational programs at a university dictates the need for digital competencies of managers of major professional educational programs (OPOP).By digital competence of the leaders of professional educational programs we mean the ability and willingness to perform labor functions in the design, implementation and replication of an educational program using digital technologies that ensure the effectiveness of activitiesThe way to identify professional deficiencies in the field of digital competencies of the leaders of professional educational programs was the personalized design of educational internship trajectories with tutorial support for the internship. The internship trajectory of the heads of OPOP has a modular structure and is aimed at eliminating professional deficits in the field of information, methodological, communication, technological and organizational component of digital competencies. The internship site (virtual laboratory) is a virtual educational space that provides training for educational program managers and online events: hackaths, quests, webinars, etc.Materials and methods. When writing an article, the following methods were used - theoretical and methodological analysis and synthesis of available special domestic and foreign scientific and methodological literature, conceptual analysis of scientific articles and publications on the topic; study and generalization of both domestic and foreign developments and implementation of projects to create digital environments in education management; application of generalization, comparison, forecasting methods, online surveys.Results. The structure of the digital environment for managing professional educational programs at the university is presented. Functionally described is the ring of digital services for the management of OPOP. The analysis of different approaches to assessing the digital competencies of educators is presented. The concept of digital competencies has been clarified in relation to the head of a professional educational program. The content of the components of digital competency is described: informational, methodological, communication, technological, organizational.Discussions and Conclusions. The developed modular program for eliminating professional deficits of heads of professional educational programs in the field of digital competencies, based on the personalized design of educational internship trajectories with tutorial support for internships, will allow you to effectively administer and manage BEP in the digital environment of the university.

Designing for Democracy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Forestal
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Built Environments ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Democratic Spaces ◽  
Personalization Of Politics

Designing for Democracy addresses the question of how to “fix” digital technologies for democracy by examining how the design of the built environment (whether streets, sidewalks, or social media platforms) informs how, and whether, citizens can engage in democratic practices. “Democratic spaces”—built environments that support democratic politics—must have three characteristics: they must be clearly bounded, durable, and flexible. Each corresponds to a necessary democratic practice. Clearly bounded spaces make it easier to recognize what we share and with whom we share; they help us form communities. Durable spaces facilitate our attachments to the communities they house and the other members within them; they help us sustain communities. And flexible spaces facilitate the experimental habits required for democratic politics; they help us improve our communities. These three practices—recognition, attachment, and experimentalism—are the affordances a built environment must provide in order to be a “democratic space”; they are the criteria to which designers and users should be attentive when building and inhabiting the spaces of the built environment, both physical and digital. Using this theoretical framework, Designing for Democracy provides new insights into the democratic potential of digital technologies. Through extended discussions of examples like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit, it suggests architectural responses to problems often associated with digital technologies—loose networks, the “personalization of politics,” and “echo chambers.” In connecting the built environment, digital technologies, and democratic theory, Designing Democracy provides blueprints for democracy in a digital age.

scholarly journals Toward Healthier Cookie Habits: Assessing the Role of Packaging Visual Appearance in the Expectations for Dietary Cookies in Digital Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho ◽  
Raffaele Campo ◽  
Modesto De Luca ◽  
Carlos Velasco
Keyword(s):  
Product Quality ◽  
Visual Cues ◽  
Opposite Effect ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Product Packaging ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Digital Version ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Dietary Food

As we tend to consume more and more via e-commerce platforms, the digital version of a dietary product’s package can be one of the most important touchpoints that the consumer has with such product during the purchasing stage of the consumer’s journey. Hence, a dietary food/drink properly presented via its packaging in e-commerce is key, for example, to nudge consumers toward healthier purchase habits. In this study, we assessed the role of different configurations of visual cues commonly present in a product’s packaging (jar vs. bag, transparent vs. opaque, labeled vs. unlabeled) in the expectations associated with dietary cookies when presented in a digital environment. A between-participants study was conducted where eight different packages with different combinations of the three aforementioned features were digitally evaluated by the participants. The results suggest that the presence (vs. absence) of labeling triggered the highest ratings on most assessed dimensions (product quality, healthiness, lightness, sweetness, crumbliness, price, tastiness, greediness for product, product/packaging liking). Moreover, transparent (vs. opaque) packaging tends to yield higher expectations concerning this product’s quality (i.e., product liking, package liking, greediness), though it has an opposite effect on the expected healthiness for such cookies. Some particular interactions between these three visual cues were also observed and are discussed as part of the obtained results. In summary, our results point to how the visual appearance of packaging can be strategically used in order to potentially nudge consumers toward healthier cookie purchase habits.

scholarly journals THE POSSIBILITY FOR APPLYING THE CONCEPT OF “INTERFERENCE” TO DESCRIBE THE AREA WHERE THE DIGITAL AND PRE-DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT MERGE

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Eduard V. Patrakov ◽  
Viktor I. Panov
Keyword(s):  
Social Group ◽  
Information Society ◽  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Psychological Research ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
The Subject

The article is dedicated to the theoretical study of the process of convergence and integration of the digital and predigital environments. The general and distinctive features of the following concepts: “information society”, “information environment”, “digital environment” in terms of influence on an individual and on a social group are presented. Based on psychological research in various areas, the authors present a classification of stages where the convergence of the digital and pre-digital environment takes place. The concept of “interference” and its application in psychology and the related disciplines is revealed; the authors’ understanding of interference to describe the area of merging and integration of the digital and pre-digital environments is showcased. The results of the research can be of significance in the study of digital environments in both theoretical and empirical research, explaining the digital transformation of the subject.

Ongoing Challenges for Digital Critical Editions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Régnier
Keyword(s):  
Digital Technology ◽  
Online Publication ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Scholarly Edition ◽  
Critical Editions ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Digital Environments

This chapter focuses on the issues at stake in digital scholarly edition, commenting on the main challenges and opportunities that the use of digital technology, computers, and dynamic schemas in online publication of critical editions entails. It emphasizes how the new digital environment can modify and perhaps extend textual criticism's scope and reach. Particular attention is given to societal, epistemological, and cultural factors that can influence the evolution of the discipline; to the rapid change and transformation rhythm; to the inherent instability of new digital environments; and finally, to the multiplicity of the varied representational frameworks that can compete within a digital structure.

Democracy for Profit?

2021 ◽  
pp. 137-176
Author(s):  
Jennifer Forestal
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Politics ◽  
For Profit ◽  
User Control ◽  
Lack Of Control ◽  
Digital Environments ◽  
Algorithmic Design ◽  
Democratic Communities ◽  
And Control

This chapter evaluates Facebook and Twitter’s algorithms using the framework of democratic space. Prominent critiques highlight their opacity and users’ lack of control; tools like Gobo “fix” these algorithms by increasing their flexibility. But while these solutions might cede more control to individual users, they are insufficient for building democratic communities; the more pressing concern for both Facebook and Twitter is their lack of clear boundaries, which undermines users’ ability to recognize their communities. The chapter concludes by showing how we might “democratize” these algorithms in ways that not only increase user control over their digital environments and the algorithms that structure them, but also help to generate and sustain the communities required to exert that control democratically. Ultimately, the chapter argues that questions of ownership and control must be placed alongside considerations about the communal effects of algorithmic design if we are to build environments supportive of democratic politics.

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