Meditation Apps and the Promise of Attention by Design

2021 ◽  
pp. 016224392110492
Author(s):  
Rebecca Jablonsky
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Technology Addiction ◽  
Discursive Strategy ◽  
New Form

This article demonstrates how meditation apps, such as Headspace and Calm, are imbricated within public discourse about technology addiction, exploring the consequences of this discourse on contemporary mental life. Based on ethnographic research with designers and users of meditation apps, I identify a promise put forth by meditation app companies that I call attention by design: a discursive strategy that frames attention as an antidote to technology addiction, which is ostensibly made possible when design is done right. I argue that attention by design is a promise unfulfilled. Meditation app companies construct attention as socially valuable by endlessly pointing out its purported opposite, technology addiction. Attention by design is promissory in that it keeps promising even when it doesn’t deliver what it promises, compelling the user to return to a practice that represents socially desirable traits that can never be fully acquired—and that often recede further from reach as the person becomes distracted by other obligations and communication mediated through the smartphone. Despite this broken promise, users believe they are becoming more attentive. The promissory attention designed into meditation apps reflects a new form of governmentality, in which users receive a mental nudge to reinterpret similarly designed experiences as different.

scholarly journals Tactical urbanism in the context of urban practices development in Ukraine

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Loktionova
Keyword(s):  
Public Discourse ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
The Public ◽  
Internet Resources ◽  
Tactical Urbanism ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Process Of Urbanization ◽  
New Form ◽  
The City

The article presents the study of tactical urbanism phenomenon as a way of integrating a person into the socio-cultural environment of the city. The works and publications of both domestic and western researchers are considered. The research sources are outlined: from the classics of sociology to contemporaries, informational and analytical Internet resources which highlight the content of the tactical urbanism ideas. The author has revealed that the research focus of the predecessors is mainly focused on rethinking the problem of urban area spatial development. Taking into account this, the process of research definitive field theorizing is highlighted (starts from M.Castells).The content of «tactical urbanism» concept in the public discourse presented. It should be understood as targeted actions of the city authorities and the public in the field of urban environment in order to fill its traditional content. The process of urbanization movement institutionalization in the context of domestic development is presented. The domestic formal / informal local initiatives are analyzed. The basic forms and practices of tactical urbanism are demostrated, the circle of actors involved in the process of their realization is outlined. The main results of the sociological research showing the level of citizens responsibility and involvement in the process of improvement / arrangement of the city’s territory are highlighted. The features of the tactical urbanism phenomenon in the context of the domestic society development in modern conditions are generalized. It is established that the citizens involvement in the practice of tactical urbanization is fairly called a new form of civil participation. However, the results of the conducted sociological research have shown that despite the development of tactical urbanism ideas in the context of domestic urban practices implementation, the population readiness in urban changes and the level of their responsibility for these changes remains low.

Somali piracy prisoners and biopolitical penal aid in East Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brittany V Gilmer
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Rule Of Law ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
New Form

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has elicited a growing body of interdisciplinary research. Much of this research focuses on identifying the root causes of piracy, analyzing onshore and offshore responses, or evaluating various rule-of-law approaches; no study has yet to examine how Somali piracy has impacted prisons. Drawing upon ethnographic research, this article explores how UNODC counter piracy funding is reshaping the carceral spaces of East Africa. I examine how the need to secure and develop Somali piracy prisoners in regional prisons has created a bodies-for-aid penal market in East Africa. Large aid packages are awarded to prisons that agree to accept suspected Somali pirates and ensure the support, maintenance, and enhancement of the lives of Somali piracy prisoners. I theorize a new form of penal aid— biopolitical penal aid—linking prison development funding to the containment of specific prisoner populations. Using the Montagne Posée Prison in the Seychelles as a case study, I explore how biopolitical penal aid is reshaping prison spaces and practices to tease out underlying tensions between international and regional security projects, how these projects are negotiated and appropriated at different scales, and how they are being experienced by staff and Somali piracy prisoners.

Why We Post

Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Haapio-Kirk
Keyword(s):  
Global Education ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Digital Learning ◽  
Rapid Rise ◽  
The Public ◽  
Anthropological Research ◽  
Public Anthropology ◽  
Intellectual Integrity ◽  
Dynamic Phenomena

Based on ethnographic research on digital learning from the Why We Post project at UCL Anthropology, this paper outlines how academic insights can benefit pedagogy, reaching beyond traditional modes of education towards public engagement. The paper demonstrates how a spectrum of digital dissemination, ranging from the academic (such as journal papers) to the public (such as a website and MOOC), can transform anthropological research into global education at the same time as maintaining intellectual integrity. In an uncertain world, fear of 'the other' and anxiety around the rapid rise of technology permeates public discourse. Anthropological education offers an antidote by focussing on the culturally-constructed nature of dynamic phenomena shaping our world. In order to shift wider perspectives towards an appreciation of cultural diversity, this paper argues that public anthropology needs to be held in higher regard within the discipline.

Civic Engagement in exile: Exploring Social media Presence of Dissidents From Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
pp. 194016122110472
Author(s):  
Punny Kabir
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Media Usage ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Social Media Presence ◽  
The Right

The emergence and the consequent popularity of social media in the 21st century have given dissenters living in exile an unprecedented opportunity to stay involved in domestic debates and disseminate information to local and international audiences. From an authoritarian context, the rebellious voices from exiled spaces are considered threats for building external pressure on the regime. In contemporary Bangladesh, the right to exercise freedom of expression is increasingly curtailed by various state-sponsored repressive measures, forcing many dissidents to leave the country. But many of them are continuously participating in civic affairs taking place in the digital sphere of the society they physically left behind. Why and how do certain exiled dissidents influence public discourse in Bangladesh through social media platforms? This is a vital question that drives the qualitative ethnographic research which employs interviews of five exiles and analysis of their social media usage from May to October 2020.

scholarly journals Konceptuel imperialisme og engageret sympati i forskning om kvindelige sexsælgere

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeanett Bjønness
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Female Sex

Conceptual imperialism and engaged sympathy in research on female sex-sellers: This paper investigates academic knowledge production on sex-sellers’ everyday life and strategies. Methodological discussions are first contextualized in public discourse on prostitution in Denmark characterized by a highly polarized debate often opposing ‘the victim’ to ‘the autonomous individual’ and second in the researcher’s autobiography. The paper discusses how the researcher’s ownclassed and gendered experiences affect the ethnographic research process. Does attempted identification with informants sometimes obscure valuable knowledge? Does it even sometimes lead to unintended kinds of ‘othering’ or ‘epistemological imperialism’? The paper builds on data from long term fieldwork in a drop-in center for marginalized Danish women, life history interviews, and a critical reading of contemporary debates on prostitution in Denmark.

Antidemocratic Populism in Turkey after the July 2016 Coup Attempt

Populism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julius M. Rogenhofer
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Public ◽  
Bharatiya Janata Party ◽  
New Form ◽  
Law And Justice ◽  
Political Realm ◽  
Coup Attempt

AbstractPresident Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) fundamentally transformed the Turkish political realm: The AKP was elected in 2002 on promises of economic liberalisation and accession to the European Union (EU). Over sixteen years it steered Turkey from being perceived as a “model” western-style democracy to autocracy. Instrumental for this transformation was Erdogan’s use of a new form of right-wing, religiously legitimated populism that systematically undermined the institutions of democracy by polarising society, capturing the public discourse and disregarding constitutional principles. This article examines the emergence of the AKP’s right-wing, religiously legitimated populism through three analytical lenses: First, the historical development of democracy in Turkey and its shortcomings; second, the antidemocratic effect of Erdogan’s post-coup attempt policies; third, a comparison between the AKP’s brand of populism with political strategies employed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) in Poland and Putin’s Russia.

NARRATING A PENDING CALAMITY: ARTISANAL CRISIS IN THE MEDINA OF FES, MOROCCO

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-129
Author(s):  
Orit Ouaknine-Yekutieli
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Practical Knowledge ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Islamic Philosophy ◽  
Colonial Modernity ◽  
Dialectical Relationship

AbstractA crisis narrative dominates current public discourse about the artisanal sector in Fes, Morocco. Through historical and ethnographic research on Fessi crafts and craftspeople, this article elucidates the rise of the crisis narrative and its relationship to modernity and moral and political economy. Sustained analysis of the dialectical relationship between craftspeople's practical knowledge and public narratives highlights the existence of a “pool” of multiple and cross-cutting storylines from which the artisans draw to depict their profession. These storylines are marked by intertextual reverberations of precolonial Islamic philosophy, colonial Orientalist discourses, modern governance, and liberal and neoliberal economic policies. This article claims that the current, widespread crisis narrative took precedence over other storylines with the arrival of colonialism and modernity in Morocco. Drawing on the analytical framework of colonial modernity, it argues that from the colonial period to the postcolonial present, rulers and ruled alike have produced, maintained, and enhanced the crisis narrative, which is deeply rooted in modernity.

Fine Structure of Platelet Interaction with a New Microcrystalline Collagen Preparation

1974 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 58-59
Author(s):  
W. H. Zucker ◽  
R. G. Mason
Keyword(s):  
Fine Structure ◽  
Platelet Aggregation ◽  
Hydrochloric Acid ◽  
Whole Blood ◽  
Platelet Adhesion ◽  
Hemostatic Agent ◽  
Native Collagen ◽  
Fibrillar Morphology ◽  
Clinical Interest ◽  
New Form

Platelet adhesion initiates platelet aggregation and is an important component of the hemostatic process. Since the development of a new form of collagen as a topical hemostatic agent is of both basic and clinical interest, an ultrastructural and hematologic study of the interaction of platelets with the microcrystalline collagen preparation was undertaken.In this study, whole blood anticoagulated with EDTA was used in order to inhibit aggregation and permit study of platelet adhesion to collagen as an isolated event. The microcrystalline collagen was prepared from bovine dermal corium; milling was with sharp blades. The preparation consists of partial hydrochloric acid amine collagen salts and retains much of the fibrillar morphology of native collagen.

The staining pattern of the tropomyosin sequence is displayed in a new paracrystal

1986 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 150-151
Author(s):  
M.K. Lamvik ◽  
L.L. Klatt
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid ◽  
Amino Acid Sequence ◽  
Staining Pattern ◽  
Banding Patterns ◽  
Mass Thickness ◽  
New Form

Tropomyosin paracrystals have been used extensively as test specimens and magnification standards due to their clear periodic banding patterns. The paracrystal type discovered by Ohtsuki1 has been of particular interest as a test of unstained specimens because of alternating bands that differ by 50% in mass thickness. While producing specimens of this type, we came across a new paracrystal form. Since this new form displays aligned tropomyosin molecules without the overlaps that are characteristic of the Ohtsuki-type paracrystal, it presents a staining pattern that corresponds to the amino acid sequence of the molecule.

Beyond Intelligence Testing

2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 320-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serge Nicolas ◽  
Zachary Levine
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Experimental Psychology ◽  
Intelligence Testing ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Mental Life ◽  
Applied Psychology ◽  
Important Research ◽  
Memory Research ◽  
English Translations ◽  
The Many

Though Alfred Binet was a prolific writer, many of his 1893–1903 works are not well known. This is partly due to a lack of English translations of the many important papers and books that he and his collaborators created during this period. Binet’s insights into intelligence testing are widely celebrated, but the centennial of his death provides an occasion to reexamine his other psychological examinations. His studies included many diverse aspects of mental life, including memory research and the science of testimony. Indeed, Binet was a pioneer of psychology and produced important research on cognitive and experimental psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, and applied psychology. This paper seeks to elucidate these aspects of his work.

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