A growing network for cultural transmission

Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi

The first chapter discusses how digital media increased, and are still increasing, the network in which cultural transmission can occur. Research inspired by the social brain hypothesis shows that our social networks did not change radically in the last years. The size of our digital social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) is similar to the size of our offline social networks, and some of their characteristics, such as their geographical extension, are also comparable. Nonetheless, it is argued that digital connections, together with our tendency to share information for limited or null gains, made cultural transmission relatively detached from these networks. In cultural evolutionary terms, online digital media increased cultural population sizes, that is, the number of individuals with whom we may exchange information. This hyper-availability together with new opportunities pose new problems related to cultural evolution. One is that, when we can copy from everybody, it may become potentially more difficult to decide from whom we should.

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Graves ◽  
CW Anderson

News organizations have adapted in various ways to a digital media environment dominated by algorithmic gatekeepers such as search engines and social networks. This article dissects a campaign to actively shape that environment led by professional fact-checking organizations. We trace the development of the Share the Facts “widget,” a device designed to give fact-checks greater purchase in algorithmically governed media networks by driving adoption of a new data standard called ClaimReview. We show how “structured journalism” gave journalists a language for the social and technical challenges involved, and how this infrastructural technology mediates between fact-checkers, audiences, and platform companies. We argue that this standard-setting initiative exhibits both promotional and disciplining facets, offering greater distribution and impact to journalists while also defining their work in specific ways. Crucially, in this case, this disciplining influence reflects internal professional-institutional agendas in an emerging subfield of journalism as much as the demands of platform companies.


Author(s):  
Pedro Álvaro Pereira Correia ◽  
Irene García Medina ◽  
Zahaira Fabiola González Romo

The emergence of social networks has revolutionized the way people communicate and share information. Consequently, it becomes important to analyze the role of these models of collaboration and innovation through social networks in the strategic vision of the responsibility of marketing and communication in tourism industries, mainly the role of Facebook in e-business actions. This chapter presents a qualitative and exploratory analysis of the individuals in the virtual context of the social media, their behaviors, reactions, and attitudes, to perceive which social factors can enhance the appearance of competitive advantages for the organizations. There was a predilection for companies with a greater international connection at the level of clients and also at the level of the operation because there was a predominance of companies related to the tourism sector of Madeira.


2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 1150002 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. S. PREMO

Population geneticists have shown that the effects of local extinction and recolonization on selectively neutral genetic diversity are sensitive to the number of individuals that migrate between groups. Here, we employ a spatially explicit metapopulation model to investigate the extent to which the effects of local extinction on selectively neutral cultural diversity and change are sensitive to intergroup cultural transmission — the rate at which cultural variants are transmitted between groups. Our results show that the level of intergroup cultural transmission as well as the topology of the social network that mediates cultural transmission between groups influence the way in which local extinctions affect total diversity, group differentiation, and the rate at which copy errors accumulate in structured populations. The results are discussed in the context of the archaeological record of Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Erdmann

The number of courses offered partially or entirely online continues to grow, offering students many different ways to access academic content.  Educational institutions largely use course management systems to deliver academic content, collect assignments and conduct discussions.  Traditional CMS systems, however, are often underutilized and almost always require login protocols tied to students’ institutional email accounts.   The ubiquity of the social networking site Facebook, demonstrates that students are willing to use online environments to exchange information and, naturally, many academics have been eager to use the networking site in their classes.  The following essay examines some of these attempts in order to gain a clearer picture of some of the advantages and pitfalls of using Facebook as a CMS.


Author(s):  
Abraham G. van der Vyver

In 2000 the General Assembly of the United Nations accepted their Millennium Declaration. Two of their main foci are the eradication of poverty and the economic upliftment of disadvantaged societies. In Thailand, three initiatives contributed to the eradication of poverty. The “One Tambon, One Product” (OTOP) that was launched in 2001 has as its mission to stimulate the economy by creating small economic hubs in each subdistrict (Tambon). The OTOP initiative grew exponentially and a total of 85,173 products have been registered by 2010. The growing network of telecentres helped to close the digital divide. It also anchored many of the OTOP projects. In the third instance, the social networks redefined the business environment and created new communication platforms to promote entrepreneurial hubs. The researcher combined field studies with content analysis of the social media in order to establish to what extent these drivers of poverty eradication have been integrated.


2021 ◽  
pp. 51-67
Author(s):  
ŽELJKO BJELAJAC ◽  
ALEKSANDAR FILIPOVIĆ

The Internet has undoubtedly become a dynamic and sublime tool of communication. It gives us the freedom to create and maintain contacts with individuals and groups from all over the world, to cooperate, socialize and exchange information, content and experiences. At the same time, nowadays it is almost impossible to imagine an internet business or presentation without a presence on social networks / media. These are online web services that open unlimited spaces for users for various forms of communication and personal promotion. Some of the most popular social networks that are especially receptive to most users from global spaces are: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, TikTok… By the way, on most social networks, the presence is free. Digital media have the capacity to inform visitors in the most efficient and practical way about important events, current campaigns and innovations related to the business, products or services offered, with the quality content of the texts they manifest. Also, their significant impact is reflected in the domain of education and / or providing certain advice. In addition to colossal achievements and obvious positive sides, with the advent of the Internet and digital media, sexual predators have been given a new field / playground, in which to establish contacts with others (often with children). In this digital environment, they manipulatively lurk and recruit potential victims for various forms of abuse and sexual exploitation.


2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Mesoudi ◽  
Kevin N. Laland

We applaud Gintis's attempt to provide an evolutionary-based framework for the behavioral sciences, and note a number of similarities with our own recent cultural evolutionary structure for the social sciences. Gintis's proposal would be further strengthened by a greater emphasis on additional methods to evolutionary game theory, clearer empirical predictions, and a broader consideration of cultural transmission.


2018 ◽  
pp. 185-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assumpció Huertas ◽  
Estela Marine-Roig

There are three phases in the use of online social media by tourists: before, during and after the trip. The aim of this study is to determine what social network users use to find information before and during the trip, the type of information they search, and where they share information. The study also identifies the relationship this has with the trustworthiness social networks provide them, especially distinguishing the social networks managed by the destination organizations. Therefore, we conduct a survey of 800 tourists who are social network users. Results show that social networks are not a major source of information before or during the trip but are very important for sharing contents after the experience, and that the most searched information concerns the main attractions of the destination. Moreover, there is a relationship between the use of social media and their perceived trustworthiness. In this case, for those who use social networks managed by destinations, these give them greater confidence.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 150292 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. I. M. Dunbar

The social brain hypothesis has suggested that natural social network sizes may have a characteristic size in humans. This is determined in part by cognitive constraints and in part by the time costs of servicing relationships. Online social networking offers the potential to break through the glass ceiling imposed by at least the second of these, potentially enabling us to maintain much larger social networks. This is tested using two separate UK surveys, each randomly stratified by age, gender and regional population size. The data show that the size and range of online egocentric social networks, indexed as the number of Facebook friends, is similar to that of offline face-to-face networks. For one sample, respondents also specified the number of individuals in the inner layers of their network (formally identified as support clique and sympathy group), and these were also similar in size to those observed in offline networks. This suggests that, as originally proposed by the social brain hypothesis, there is a cognitive constraint on the size of social networks that even the communication advantages of online media are unable to overcome. In practical terms, it may reflect the fact that real (as opposed to casual) relationships require at least occasional face-to-face interaction to maintain them.


Author(s):  
Alberto Acerbi

From emails to social media, from instant messaging to political memes, the way we produce and transmit culture is radically changing. This book uses, for the first time, cultural evolution theory to analyze how information spreads, and how it affects our behavior in the digital age. Online connectedness and digital media allows access to networks where cultural transmission is possible, increasing both the availability of cultural models (from whom we can copy) and our reach (the number of individuals who can copy from us). This poses new problems, and new opportunities (Chapter 1). A cognitive and evolutionary approach suggests that we are wary learners, and the power of social influence, either online or offline, is often overestimated (Chapter 2). The background developed in the initial chapters into the details of different online phenomena is used: the tendency to copy popular individuals (Chapter 3), popular opinions (Chapter 4), or exchange information only with same-minded individuals (Chapter 5). The spread of online misinformation is then scrutinized at length (Chapter 6), proposing that to understand the phenomenon we need to understand why, generally, some information is more successful in spreading than other. The last two chapters examine how online, digital, transmission is different from other forms of cultural transmission, providing more “fidelity amplifiers” (Chapter 7), and how this could affect future cultural cumulation (Chapter 8). Overall, it is proposed that a “long view” to the current situation, based on a personal perspective of cognitive and evolutionary approaches to culture, suggests that some of the dangers of digital, online, interactions may have been overestimated, and the opportunities still ahead of us are discussed.


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