scholarly journals Mapping the social values of ecosystem services to support better decision making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sedigheh Mousavipour
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Value ◽  
General View ◽  
Landscape Units

<p><b>Social values of ecosystem services are the perceived benefits of natural ecosystems for the well-being of people. For sustainable land management, social values and preferences need to be integrated into land-use decision-making. Existing methods of social value capture commonly use participatory mapping and deliberative mapping. However, social media data has recently contributed to the gathering of spatial social value data. By reducing the time and cost of mapping, social media may be effective in social value mapping. However, the credibility of this data source has rarely been assessed for land planning.</b></p> <p>This thesis critically analysed the results of social media-based mapping (passive Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)) and deliberative mapping (expert-based evaluation) methods into providing credible social value data (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural values) for recreation planning. We analysed the content of 4642 photographs uploaded to Flickr as passive VGI and the results of an online survey and face to face interview for expert-based evaluation. This thesis found both the passive VGI and expert-based evaluation could identify all three types of relevant social values for ecosystem services (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural). </p> <p>Passive VGI can provide reasonably reliable information on the recreational preferences of people at the time that data is provided. Although social values identified in expert-based evaluation included useful information about current public preferences and a potential supply of recreation ecosystem services, it only captured a general view of the study area. Large areas of interest were provided by each of the experts participating in the online survey. Several landscape units were missed by passive VGI while expert-based dataset overrepresented a majority of landscape units. </p> <p>The results of this research demonstrated that spatial social value data are limited when a single method is applied. Potential users of such data need to understand their limitations. Applying several mapping methods (PPGIS, expert-based evaluation, passive VGI, etc.) may create a more useful and credible social value dataset to appropriately support recreational planning.</p>

scholarly journals Mapping the social values of ecosystem services to support better decision making

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sedigheh Mousavipour
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Value ◽  
General View ◽  
Landscape Units

<p><b>Social values of ecosystem services are the perceived benefits of natural ecosystems for the well-being of people. For sustainable land management, social values and preferences need to be integrated into land-use decision-making. Existing methods of social value capture commonly use participatory mapping and deliberative mapping. However, social media data has recently contributed to the gathering of spatial social value data. By reducing the time and cost of mapping, social media may be effective in social value mapping. However, the credibility of this data source has rarely been assessed for land planning.</b></p> <p>This thesis critically analysed the results of social media-based mapping (passive Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI)) and deliberative mapping (expert-based evaluation) methods into providing credible social value data (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural values) for recreation planning. We analysed the content of 4642 photographs uploaded to Flickr as passive VGI and the results of an online survey and face to face interview for expert-based evaluation. This thesis found both the passive VGI and expert-based evaluation could identify all three types of relevant social values for ecosystem services (recreation, aesthetics, and historical/cultural). </p> <p>Passive VGI can provide reasonably reliable information on the recreational preferences of people at the time that data is provided. Although social values identified in expert-based evaluation included useful information about current public preferences and a potential supply of recreation ecosystem services, it only captured a general view of the study area. Large areas of interest were provided by each of the experts participating in the online survey. Several landscape units were missed by passive VGI while expert-based dataset overrepresented a majority of landscape units. </p> <p>The results of this research demonstrated that spatial social value data are limited when a single method is applied. Potential users of such data need to understand their limitations. Applying several mapping methods (PPGIS, expert-based evaluation, passive VGI, etc.) may create a more useful and credible social value dataset to appropriately support recreational planning.</p>

scholarly journals Assessing People’s Values of Nature: Where Is the Link to Sustainability Transformations?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanna Stålhammar
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Services Research ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
Cultural Aspects ◽  
Central Task ◽  
Research And Policy

The efforts to measure people’s current preferences and values of ecosystem services raise questions about the link to sustainability transformations. The importance of taking social and cultural values of nature into account is increasingly recognised within ecosystem services research and policy. This notion is informing the development and application of social (or socio-cultural) valuation methods that seek to assess and capture non-material social and cultural aspects of benefits of ecosystems in non-monetary terms. Here, ‘values’ refer to the products of descriptive scientific assessments of the links between human well-being and ecosystems. This precise use of the values term can be contrasted with normative modes of understanding values, as underlying beliefs and moral principles about what is good and right, which also influence science and institutions. While both perspectives on values are important for the biodiversity and ecosystem services agenda, values within this space have mainly been understood in relation to assessments and descriptive modes of values. Failing to acknowledge the distinction between descriptive and normative modes bypasses the potential mismatch between people’s current values and sustainability transformations. Refining methodologies to more accurately describe social values risks simply giving us a more detailed account of what we already know—people in general do not value nature enough. A central task for values studies is to explore why or how peoples’ mindsets might converge with sustainability goals, using methods that go beyond assessing current states to incorporate change and transformation.

scholarly journals Young adults’ coping strategies against loneliness during the COVID-19-related quarantine in Greece

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrianos Golemis ◽  
Panteleimon Voitsidis ◽  
Eleni Parlapani ◽  
Vasiliki A Nikopoulou ◽  
Virginia Tsipropoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Psychological Impact ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
Cross Sectional

Summary COVID-19 and the related quarantine disrupted young adults’ academic and professional life, daily routine and socio-emotional well-being. This cross-sectional study focused on the emotional and behavioural responses of a young adult population during the COVID-19-related quarantine in April 2020, in Greece. The study was conducted through an online survey. A total of 1559 young adults, aged 18−30 years, completed Steele’s Social Responsibility Motivation Scale and the De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, and answered questions about compliance with instructions, quarantine-related behaviours and coping strategies. According to the results, participants displayed a relatively high sense of social responsibility (M = 16.09, SD = 2.13) and a trend towards moderate feeling of loneliness (M = 2.65, SD = 1.62); young women reported significantly higher levels of loneliness than men. The majority complied with instructions often (46.4%) or always (44.8%). Significantly more women created a new social media account and used the social media longer than 5 h/day, compared with men. Resorting to religion, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted higher levels of social responsibility; humour, practicing sports and sharing thoughts and feelings about COVID-19 with others predicted lower levels of loneliness. Conclusively, COVID-19 is expected to have a significant psychological impact on young adults. Currently, Greece is going through the second quarantine period. This study raises awareness about loneliness in young adults during the COVID-19-related quarantine and highlights the importance of developing online programmes, attractive to younger people, to nurture adaptive coping strategies against loneliness.

EVIDENCE, VALUES, AND DECISION MAKING

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Rawlins
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Observational Study ◽  
Social Values ◽  
Clinical Excellence ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Social Value ◽  
Value Judgments ◽  
Study Designs

Background: The evidence supporting the use of new, or established, interventions may be derived from either (or both) experimental or observational study designs. Although a rigorous examination of the evidence base for clinical and cost-effectiveness is essential, it is never sufficient, and those undertaking a health technology assessment (HTA) also have to exercise judgments.Methods: The basis for this discussion is largely from the author's experience as chairman of the national Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).Results: The judgments necessary for HTA to make are twofold. Scientific judgments relate to the interpretation of the science. Social value judgments are concerned with the ethical principles, preferences, culture, and aspirations of society.Conclusions: How scientific and social value judgments might be most appropriately captured is a challenge for all HTA agencies. Although competent HTA bodies should be able to exercise scientific judgments they have no legitimacy to impose their own social values. These must ultimately be informed by the general public.

scholarly journals Analysis of Sources for Information Gathering Before Visiting a Festival in the Case of Generation Z

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamás Iványi
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Information Sources ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Music Festivals ◽  
Generation Z ◽  
Use Of Information Sources

In recent years, festivals have become an essential part of summer activities for many members of Generation Z. Programs that last several days also mean significant financial burden for young people, so they gather information from multiple sources before decision-making. The purpose of the study is to examine which information sources – especially social media – and which motivations have become significant in the context of festival tourism's decision process.An online survey was conducted as part of and exploratory research over four consecutive years dealing with the use of information sources and the importance of the music festivals' characteristics targeting the Hungarian Generation Z attendees of festivals. Besides the descriptive statistics cluster analysis and ANOVA tables were used.It can be emphasized that in the case of festival tourism, the influence and usage of social media, relying on the opinions of acquaintances and friends is much more significant in the decision-making phase than in the case of traditional tourism. The program and the leading performers are not the only important factors, but meeting friends, the atmosphere of the festival, and reasonable value for money are also significant. Three groups of users could be identified: those who are mainly browsing official websites and search engines, those who try to make decisions based on earlier experiences, and those who are also looking at social media sites and digest several types of content to make the decision. Organisers of festivals should understand the differences among these groups to create better communication strategies.

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

scholarly journals Contribution of Ecosystem Services to Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals

Proceedings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veidemane
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Water Ecosystems

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) for 2030 are established to address global challenges including environment and human well-being. The SDGs are interconnected and achievement of them requires consideration of the planet’s ecosystems and resources - land, water and air. Ecosystem services (ES) approach has a high potential for better planning, policy and decision making. Understanding how different ecosystems (e.g., forests, rivers, wetlands, grasslands) contribute to the social and economic benefits is critical to ensure the long-term biodiversity protection and sustainable use of ecosystems. A conceptual framework linking biodiversity and ecosystem condition (its structure and functions), and ES to human well-being has been well-established in EU by so called MAES process (Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystem Services) lead by the European Commission. The framework is applied in recent research studies and projects, as well as national MAES processes. Various methods are applied for MAES in terms to determine biophysical, economic and social values and to deliver integrated ecosystem assessment. Assessment of ES and trade off analysis shall provide a new perspective for land use planning and decision making at different administrative and spatial levels and in different sectoral policies. EU and national policies for instance on agriculture, fishery, forestry, climate should account the benefits provided by relevant ecosystems and to ensure that the values are not diminished but rather enhanced during the implementation of the policies. Terrestrial and water ecosystems are interconnected as land-based human activities creates pressure that impacts the conditions in water ecosystems and thus delivery of ES by rivers and lakes. For example, intensive agricultural land use produces food for people and income; however, the activity also most frequently causes problems with water quality and quantity in the catchment area and a loss of biodiversity. A risk of such trade-off shall be handled in policy development. Ecosystems also contributes to the resilience of communities by reducing the risk of natural hazards and mitigate adverse impacts. Regulating services such as flood control are substituting investments in flood protection ensured by forests, wetlands and grasslands instead of human built infrastructure. Appropriate land cover and land use shall serve as a basic flood protection measure. Natural processes are increasingly recognised to create new-type solutions that use and deploy the properties of natural ecosystems and their services in an “engineered” way. A wide range of measures called also as nature-based solutions provide another opportunity to work with nature towards global sustainability.

scholarly journals Social Media Activities, Emotion Regulation Strategies, and Their Interactions on People’s Mental Health in COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (23) ◽  
pp. 8931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yang ◽  
Keqiao Liu ◽  
Siqi Li ◽  
Man Shu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Emotion Regulation Strategies ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Regulation Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed the general population’s life worldwide. People may spend more time on social media because of policies like “work at home”. Using a cross-sectional dataset collected through an online survey in February 2020, in China, we examined (1) the relationships between social media activities and people’s mental health status and (2) the moderation effect of emotional-regulation strategies. The sample included people aged ≥18 years from 32 provinces and regions in China (N = 3159). The inferential analyses included a set of multiple linear regressions with interactions. Our results showed that sharing timely, accurate, and positive COVID-19 information, reducing excessive discussions on COVID-19, and promoting caring online interactions rather than being judgmental, might positively associate with the general public’s psychological well-being. Additionally, the relationships between social media activities and psychological well-being varied at different emotion-regulation strategy levels. Adopting the cognitive reappraisal strategy might allay the adverse relationships between certain social media activities and mental health indicators. Our findings expanded the theory of how social media activities can be associated with a human being’s mental health and how it can interact with emotion-regulation strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Environmental decision making and an ecosystems approach

2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-680 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rob D. Fish
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Natural Resource Management ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Stakeholder Values ◽  
Environmental Decision Making ◽  
Theoretical Design ◽  
Environmental Decision

This paper explores issues of theoretical design and application arising from ecosystem service based approaches to natural resource management. Conserving ecosystem services is now a key normative goal of environmental decision making, but the implications of embracing this concept are still little understood. In this paper I highlight two recurring and cross-cutting aspects of an ecosystems approach around which credible treatments of ecosystem services can be realized, not only in theory, but also in practice: first, the need to think ‘holistically’ about how any given project, proposal or plan would impact on service provision and human well-being; and, second, the need to manage ecosystem services in relation to wider stakeholder values, needs and priorities. While thinking about decision making from the perspective of ecosystem services is no panacea for sustainability, the paper points to a number of social science issues that interdisciplinary researchers could usefully address in these two contexts if they are to harness this concept in creative and critically engaged ways.

Effects of social media motivations on women’s psychological well-being in Pakistan

First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iffat Ali Aksar ◽  
Mahmoud Danaee ◽  
Huma Maqsood ◽  
Amira Firdaus
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Psychological Well Being

Social media use has been increasing apace regardless of geographical and economic boundaries. In particular, its penetration has occurred more rapidly in developing and low-income countries with abounding health and psychological disadvantages. Given the understanding that women are more prone to psychological disorders than men, the current research is an effort to examine social media motives and subsequent effects on the psychological well-being of women social media users in Pakistan. The study is based on an online survey conducted to ascertain as to what extent social media use contributes to women’s psychological well-being or otherwise. The survey recorded responses of 240 women selected through purposive sampling technique. SEM-PLS analysis of the collected data revealed that social media usage plays a meaningful role in women’s psychological health. However, results exposed that Pakistani women, under the traditional patriarchal social pressure, not only have to observe cultural norms in online practices but are also forced to adhere to socially constructed gender roles in online spaces. The mixed results suggest conducting extensive research for a deeper insight into the role of social media in psychological well-being of women in other low-income countries.

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