scholarly journals Media use, information reliability and political efficacy in Tunisia, 2011–2019

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Andrea Kavanaugh ◽  
Steven Sheetz ◽  
Hamida Skandrani ◽  
Malek Sghaier

Information access and open communication – through in person and mediated information and communication technology – are critical to an informed citizenry in democratic societies. The 2011 Arab Spring uprising that originated in Tunisia and resulted in the overthrow of long-time Tunisian authoritarian president Ben Ali, established a new transitional government with more democratic institutions and more open press and political expression. In this paper, we explore changes over time (2011–2019) in the use by young, educated Tunisians of different political information sources, the perceived reliability of these sources, their information sharing behavior, and sense of being politically well-informed (i.e., political information efficacy). We report here results from the third of three surveys we administered of an online questionnaire to three different but comparable opportunity samples of young, educated Tunisians. The first two surveys conducted in 2012 and 2015 have been previously reported. We compare results from the most recent survey regarding 2019 elections with findings from the two prior surveys. Our findings confirm increasing perceived reliability of government information sources during the 2014 and 2019 elections, and decreasing reliability of social media. Results also confirm that higher perceptions of information reliability along with information sharing, lead to greater political information efficacy which is an important predictor of further democratic political participation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Martin Potthast ◽  
Matthias Hagen ◽  
Benno Stein

No Web technology has undergone such an impressive evolution as Web search engines did and still do. Starting with the promise of "Bringing order to the Web" 1 by compiling information sources matching a query, retrieval technology has been evolving to a kind of "oracle machinery", being able to recommend a single source, and even to provide direct answers extracted from that source. Notwithstanding the remarkable progress made and the apparent user preferences for direct answers, this paradigm shift comes at a price which is higher than one might expect at first sight, affecting both users and search engine developers in their own way. We call this tradeoff "the dilemma of the direct answer"; it deserves an analysis which has to go beyond system-oriented aspects but scrutinize the way our society deals with both their information needs and means to information access. The paper in hand contributes to this analysis by putting the evolution of retrieval technology and the expectations at it in the context of information retrieval history. Moreover, we discuss the trade offs in information behavior and information system design that users and developers may face in the future.


2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 992-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina A Clarke ◽  
Joi L Moore ◽  
Linsey M Steege ◽  
Richelle J Koopman ◽  
Jeffery L Belden ◽  
...  

To synthesize findings from previous studies assessing information needs of primary care patients on the Internet and other information sources in a primary care setting. A systematic review of studies was conducted with a comprehensive search in multiple databases including OVID MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Scopus. The most common information needs among patients were information about an illness or medical condition and treatment methods, while the most common information sources were the Internet and patients’ physicians. Overall, patients tend to prefer the Internet for the ease of access to information, while they trust their physicians more for their clinical expertise and experience. Barriers to information access via the Internet include the following: socio-demographic variables such as age, ethnicity, income, education, and occupation; information search skills; and reliability of health information. Conclusion: Further research is warranted to assess how to create accurate and reliable health information sources for both Internet and non-Internet users.


2017 ◽  
Vol 80 (6) ◽  
pp. 375-383
Author(s):  
Gail Boniface ◽  
Deborah Morgan

Introduction Six reviews/inquiries into housing adaptations/home modifications processes occurred in Wales between 2004 and 2015. One resulted in the removal of the means test for children's Disabled Facilities Grants. This research investigated families' and professionals' experiences of the adaptations/home modification process to gain an understanding of their views and experiences. Method Mixed methods of an online questionnaire for professionals, and semi-structured interviews or an online questionnaire for families (depending on their preference), were employed. Forty-eight families participated and an additional 16 families responded to an online questionnaire. Analysis of qualitative data identified emergent themes, which are discussed in this article. Findings The themes were: poor information and communication mainly aimed at older adults; negative experience of the process; and the positive impact of the completed adaptation. Additionally, whilst undergoing the process, families felt that they needed a contact to guide them through the process. This contact was often by default the community occupational therapist. Conclusion A single contact person should be made available for families; occupational therapists should consider their part in that role; more specific information on children's needs should be provided; families need to recognize the part they can play in adding to delays in the delivery of adaptations.


Author(s):  
Tetiana Stambulska

The article analyzed the peculiarities of the interpretation of the «communication culture» in the context of scientific researches of the past and contemporary domestic researchers. An analysis was carried out to define the concept of «communication culture of a person», the approaches to the definition of this concept are singled out. The positions of scientists concerning the role of eloquence in the formation of the linguistic personality are analyzed, the language is analyzed as a «social and psychological phenomenon», historical conditions of the formation of the concept of «communication culture» are characterized, in particular, attention is focused on the formation of the linguistic personality. It was found out that studies of the ancient traditions of the formation of the language of culture make it possible to better understand modern trends in the development of the person's communication culture. Modern studies have shown that in linguistics for a long time there was no unity in the interpretation of the concepts of «language» and «communication». Problems of the formation of the culture of broadcasting have become the object of research by eminent thinkers, beginning with the period of Antiquity. The question of the formation of a culture of speech has long traditions. Note that in European linguistics, the first decades of the twentieth century. Theoretical study and approval of the concept of «culture of language» in the scientific circulation is underway. It should be noted that in connection with the introduction of information and communication technologies in all spheres of society life has increased interest in the theory and practice of eloquence. This is explained by the fact that the active use of information and communication technologies involves the search for ways of speaking influence, both on the interpersonal and on the public level. According to authoritative experts in rhetoric, L. Matsko, O. Matsko, N. Mykhailychenko, V. Poltupets, etc., there are also communicative reasons that ensure the actual and further development of the theory and practice of oratory in the XX-beginning of the XXI century.


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney Gabel ◽  
Tim Brackenbury ◽  
Farzan Irani

The purpose of this study was to examine societal knowledge of stuttering, access to information sources, and the influence of information sources on knowledge of stuttering. 185 participants from Northwest Ohio were surveyed. Results of the study indicated that the general public varies in their knowledge of stuttering and that majority of participants had not accessed information about stuttering, and the few who had, did so a long time ago. Finally, access to information sources had little influence on knowledge of stuttering. Implications for future research are discussed.


2020 ◽  
pp. 58-62
Author(s):  
T. Yu. Krotenko

The term “digitalization” for a long time settled in the agenda of significant events dedicated to education. The education system, fulfilling the adopted program, should prepare a huge number of schoolchildren, students and workers for life with the indispensable use of information and communication technologies. However, often the actual digitalization is reduced either to the digitization of educational materials and documents in educational structures, or to unhindered access to the Internet. If the request for digitalization is addressed to education, then, being in the pedagogical space, it would be reasonable to first determine what and how to teach. The problem of the lack of a reasonable psychological and pedagogical concept of digital learning, which could be used by the subjects of the educational process as a basic one, is raised in the article.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yijia Guo ◽  
Ioana A. Cionea

Purpose This paper aims to examine the occurrence and management of conflict in Chinese organizations, from an emic perspective. The authors provide an in-depth understanding of Chinese working adults’ lived experiences regarding workplace conflicts. Design/methodology/approach The study is a qualitative one, consisting of open-ended questionnaires administered to 55 Chinese nationals who worked in governmental, public or international organizations in China. A thematic analysis of the answers was conducted. Findings Chinese participants adopted a normative mental model that defined their preferred “way of doing” things. A skillful balance was expected in conflict management that incorporated integrated open communication and strategic silence. Chinese working adults emphasized maturity in the workplace and the recognition of shared goals. Research limitations/implications The online questionnaire format may have constrained participants’ responses. Also, the data were collected from various organizational contexts, but there were not enough participants from each type of organization so that comparisons between institutions could be made. Practical implications The results could help expatriate populations better prepare their lives abroad in China. Also, the findings could aid organizational or management consultants who work closely with Chinese partners. Social implications The findings enhance our understanding of how Chinese working adults deal with workplace conflicts and the circumstances in which conflicts arise in the workplace, which also reflected the social and cultural contexts of the Chinese workplace experience. Originality/value This study provides an alternative interpretation of workplace conflicts and their management in China that is anchored in the unique organizational and national cultural context. They constitute the base for future development of culture-based explanations of Chinese organizational conflict behaviors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 79-87
Author(s):  
Meredith Carroll ◽  
Paige Sanchez ◽  
Donna Wilt

Abstract. The purpose of this study was to examine how pilots respond to conflicting information on the flight deck. In this study, 108 airline, corporate, and general aviation pilots completed an online questionnaire reporting weather, traffic, and navigation information conflicts experienced on the flight deck, including which information sources they trusted and acted on. Results indicated that weather information conflicts are most commonly experienced, and typically between a certified source in the panel and an uncertified electronic flight bag application. Most participants (a) trusted certified systems due to their accuracy, reliability, recency, and knowledge about the source, and (2) acted on the certified system due to trust, being trained and required to use it, and its indicating a more hazardous situation.


Author(s):  
Aibo Guo ◽  
Xinyi Li ◽  
Ning Pang ◽  
Xiang Zhao

Community Q&A forum is a special type of social media that provides a platform to raise questions and to answer them (both by forum participants), to facilitate online information sharing. Currently, community Q&A forums in professional domains have attracted a large number of users by offering professional knowledge. To support information access and save users’ efforts of raising new questions, they usually come with a question retrieval function, which retrieves similar existing questions (and their answers) to a user’s query. However, it can be difficult for community Q&A forums to cover all domains, especially those emerging lately with little labeled data but great discrepancy from existing domains. We refer to this scenario as cross-domain question retrieval. To handle the unique challenges of cross-domain question retrieval, we design a model based on adversarial training, namely, X-QR , which consists of two modules—a domain discriminator and a sentence matcher. The domain discriminator aims at aligning the source and target data distributions and unifying the feature space by domain-adversarial training. With the assistance of the domain discriminator, the sentence matcher is able to learn domain-consistent knowledge for the final matching prediction. To the best of our knowledge, this work is among the first to investigate the domain adaption problem of sentence matching for community Q&A forums question retrieval. The experiment results suggest that the proposed X-QR model offers better performance than conventional sentence matching methods in accomplishing cross-domain community Q&A tasks.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document