scholarly journals Technological acceptance and media literacy 2005-2018: a longitudinal study of outlooks before, during and post internet adoption

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-92
Author(s):  
Lauren Dempsey

The growth and acceptance of the internet and associated technology has led to drastic social change regarding day-to-day behaviour. Whilst the uptake of changing technology has been extensively researched, studies tend to focus on the dichotomy between ‘user’ and ‘non-user’ adoption and behaviour. This paper builds on existing knowledge by longitudinally exploring nuances within the ‘user’ grouping, answering two research questions: what discrepancies exist in attitudes shown by those considered as ‘users’, and what implications may these have for obtaining and maintaining media literacy? This study analysed data from the UK communication regulator Ofcom’s Adult Media Lives project; a qualitative study consisting of annual in-home in-depth interviews with the same 18 participants between 2005- 2018. Through a thematic analysis of the raw video footage from each interview, this unique methodology provides a deeper understanding of how the same ‘users’’ outlooks may change over time, exposing how changing attitudes can be a key driver behind the development of media literacy. Four different attitudes were identified: enthusiastic, accepting, resistant and apprehensive. Following positive or negative experiences participants’ outlooks altered over time, shaping their use and often motivating a movement between these fluid attitudinal categories. With these attitudinal shifts their media literacy skills also fluctuated, illustrating how the obtainment of literacy is a volatile, non-linear process, shaped by personal experiences. This study exposes the limitations of only examining a ‘user’/ ‘non-user’ dichotomy, and highlights the importance of considering the nuances between ‘users’ when studying media literacy.

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Bretherton

Drawing on the results of a qualitative longitudinal analysis of the experiences of homeless people using an employment related programme in the UK, this article explores the experiences of homeless women. Research focused on women’s trajectories through homelessness remains unusual and this comparatively large study provided an opportunity to look at a group of homeless women over time. The results from 136 in-depth interviews with forty-seven homeless women are reported. The interviews explored their lives prior to becoming homeless, their routes into homelessness and their trajectories through and out of homelessness. The article does not compare experiences across gender, focusing solely on women, because the existing evidence base focuses largely on the experiences of lone homeless men. The goals of the article are twofold, first to add to the existing evidence on women’s experiences of homelessness and second to add to emergent debates on whether gender is associated with differentiated trajectories through homelessness.


2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Simone Christensen Hald ◽  
Ditte Aagaard Sondergaard

Background In 2002, the Nepalese abortion law went from being highly restrictive to fully liberal. This study aimed to explore a local community’s perception of the situation for unmarried Nepalese women wanting to practice their legal right to abortion.Methods The study comprised a cross-sectional survey and in-depth interviews with men and women above the age of 16 years living in the Makwanpur District, Nepal. The final data included 55 questionnaires and 16 interviews. The questionnaire data was univariate analysed, while a condensation of meaning analysis was carried out on the interviews.Results The overall awareness of abortion being legal was high, although the extent of knowledge of the specific legal grounds varied. Unmarried women were believed to have access to abortion services, although they risked stigmatisation due to their marital status. The community attitude towards these women having abortions was very negative, hence it differed from the legal acceptance of all women having the right to abortion. This was explained by societal norms on premarital sexual activity. Generally, the participants felt that changing attitudes would be difficult but possible over time.Conclusion A considerable gap exists between the legal acceptance of abortion and community attitudes when it comes to unmarried women as this group encounters barriers when wanting to practice their right. Therefore, these barriers need to be addressed to allow unmarried Nepalese women access to safe abortion services without the risk of being stigmatised.One possible alternative is educational initiatives such as disseminating information vigorously through mass media to create awareness.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/hprospect.v12i2.9869 Health Prospect Vol.12(2) 2013: 24-30


Author(s):  
Christopher Hood ◽  
Rozana Himaz

This chapter draws on historical statistics reporting financial outcomes for spending, taxation, debt, and deficit for the UK over a century to (a) identify quantitatively and compare the main fiscal squeeze episodes (i.e. major revenue increases, spending cuts, or both) in terms of type (soft squeezes and hard squeezes, spending squeezes, and revenue squeezes), depth, and length; (b) compare these periods of austerity against measures of fiscal consolidation in terms of deficit reduction; and (c) identify economic and financial conditions before and after the various squeezes. It explores the extent to which the identification of squeeze episodes and their classification is sensitive to which thresholds are set and what data sources are used. The chapter identifies major changes over time that emerge from this analysis over the changing depth and types of squeeze.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Ben R. Evans ◽  
Iris Möller ◽  
Tom Spencer

Salt marshes are important coastal environments and provide multiple benefits to society. They are considered to be declining in extent globally, including on the UK east coast. The dynamics and characteristics of interior parts of salt marsh systems are spatially variable and can fundamentally affect biotic distributions and the way in which the landscape delivers ecosystem services. It is therefore important to understand, and be able to predict, how these landscape configurations may evolve over time and where the greatest dynamism will occur. This study estimates morphodynamic changes in salt marsh areas for a regional domain over a multi-decadal timescale. We demonstrate at a landscape scale that relationships exist between the topology and morphology of a salt marsh and changes in its condition over time. We present an inherently scalable satellite-derived measure of change in marsh platform integrity that allows the monitoring of changes in marsh condition. We then demonstrate that easily derived geospatial and morphometric parameters can be used to determine the probability of marsh degradation. We draw comparisons with previous work conducted on the east coast of the USA, finding differences in marsh responses according to their position within the wider coastal system between the two regions, but relatively consistent in relation to the within-marsh situation. We describe the sub-pixel-scale marsh morphometry using a morphological segmentation algorithm applied to 25 cm-resolution maps of vegetated marsh surface. We also find strong relationships between morphometric indices and change in marsh platform integrity which allow for the inference of past dynamism but also suggest that current morphology may be predictive of future change. We thus provide insight into the factors governing marsh degradation that will assist the anticipation of adverse changes to the attributes and functions of these critical coastal environments and inform ongoing ecogeomorphic modelling developments.


Author(s):  
N. A. Mozumder

AbstractThis article presents findings from a qualitative study (via in-depth interviews with 121 local political leaders from 65 local authorities in the UK) that aims to understand how ethical leadership practices can restore public trust in political leaders. The study finds that being a moral person, an ethical political leader sets good examples of behaviour, sets the tone at the top and challenges those who do not behave ethically, as well as encourages, supports and rewards those who perform and conduct themselves well. As a result, the level of public trust in political leaders is likely to increase gradually.


Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Adrian Cherney

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of programs aimed at preventing radicalization and disengaging known violent extremists. Some programs have targeted individuals through the use of case management approaches and the development of individual intervention plans (e.g., the Desistance and Disengagement Program and the Channel program in the UK; the Australian New South Wales Corrections Proactive Integrated Support Model—PRISM—and state-based division initiatives in Australia). There is a broad consensus in the literature that the evaluation of such initiatives has been neglected. However, the evaluation of case-managed interventions to counter violent extremism (CVE) is challenging. They can have small caseloads which makes it difficult to have any comparison or control group. Client participation can vary over time, with no single intervention plan being alike. This can make it hard to untangle the relative influence of different components of the intervention on indicators of radicalization and disengagement. In this presentation, results from primary research that set out to evaluate case-managed CVE interventions in Australia and develop evaluation metrics are presented. This research involves the examination of interventions implemented by New South Wales corrections and state police. The effectiveness of these interventions was assessed against a five-point metric of client change. Client change overtime was analyzed using case note information collected by the various interventions on client participation. Results show that client change is not a linear process and that the longer an individual is engaged in a case-managed intervention, the more likely they are to demonstrate change relating to disengagement. Specific case studies are used to illustrate trajectories and turning points related to radicalization and to highlight the role of case-managed interventions in facilitating disengagement. Key elements of effective interventions include the provision of ongoing informal support. Investment in capturing case note information should be a priority of intervention providers. Different challenges confronted by case-managed CVE interventions are highlighted.


Author(s):  
Kiran Tota-Maharaj ◽  
Alexander McMahon

AbstractWind power produces more electricity than any other form of renewable energy in the United Kingdom (UK) and plays a key role in decarbonisation of the grid. Although wind energy is seen as a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, there are still several environmental impacts associated with all stages of the lifecycle of a wind farm. This study determined the material composition for wind turbines for various sizes and designs and the prevalence of such turbines over time, to accurately quantify waste generation following wind turbine decommissioning in the UK. The end of life stage is becoming increasingly important as a rapid rise in installation rates suggests an equally rapid rise in decommissioning rates can be expected as wind turbines reach the end of their 20–25-year operational lifetime. Waste data analytics were applied in this study for the UK in 5-year intervals, stemming from 2000 to 2039. Current practices for end of life waste management procedures have been analysed to create baseline scenarios. These scenarios have been used to explore potential waste management mitigation options for various materials and components such as reuse, remanufacture, recycling, and heat recovery from incineration. Six scenarios were then developed based on these waste management options, which have demonstrated the significant environmental benefits of such practices through quantification of waste reduction and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings. For the 2015–2019 time period, over 35 kilotonnes of waste are expected to be generated annually. Overall waste is expected to increase over time to more than 1200 kilotonnes annually by 2039. Concrete is expected to account for the majority of waste associated with wind turbine decommissioning initially due to foundations for onshore turbines accounting for approximately 80% of their total weight. By 2035–2039, steel waste is expected to account for almost 50% of overall waste due to the emergence of offshore turbines, the foundations of which are predominantly made of steel.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 2103
Author(s):  
Laura Nicklin ◽  
Stuart Gordon Spicer ◽  
James Close Close ◽  
Jonathan Parke ◽  
Oliver Smith ◽  
...  

Excessive engagement with (increasingly prevalent) loot boxes within games has consistently been linked with disordered gambling and/or gaming. The importance of recognising and managing potential risks associated with loot box involvement means understanding contributing factors is a pressing research priority. Given that motivations for gaming and gambling have been informative in understanding risky engagement with those behaviours, this qualitative study investigated motivations for buying loot boxes, through in-depth interviews with 28 gamers from across the UK. A reflexive thematic analysis categorised reasons for buying into seven “themes”; opening experience; value of box contents; game-related elements; social influences; emotive/impulsive influences; fear of missing out; triggers/facilitators. These themes are described in detail and discussed in relation to the existing literature and motivation theories. This study contributes to understanding ways in which digital items within loot boxes can be highly valued by purchasers, informing the debate around parallels with gambling. Findings that certain motivations were disproportionately endorsed by participants with symptoms of problematic gambling has potential implications for policy and warrants further study.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
SHARON WRIGHT ◽  
PETER DWYER

Abstract Universal Credit is the UK’s globally innovative social security reform that replaces six means tested benefits with one monthly payment for working age claimants - combining social security and tax credit systems. Universal Credit expands welfare conditionality via mandatory job search conditions to enhance ‘progression’ amongst working claimants by requiring extra working hours or multiple jobs. This exposes low paid workers to tough benefit sanctions for non-compliance, which could remove essential income indefinitely or for fixed periods of up to three years. Our unique contribution is to establish how this new regime is experienced at micro level by in-work claimants over time. We present findings from Qualitative Longitudinal Research (141 interviews with 58 claimants, 2014-17), to demonstrate how UC impacts on in-work recipients and how conditionality produces a new coerced worker-claimant model of social support. We identify a series of welfare conditionality mismatches and conclude that conditionality for in-work claimants is largely counterproductive. This implies a redesign of the UK system and serves as an international warning to potential policy emulators.


1981 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Etaugh ◽  
Deborah Bohn Spandikow

Cross sectional data indicate that college students show more liberal attitudes toward women with increasing years of college attendance. This shift may reflect intraindividual change or simply differential dropout of more traditionally oriented students. To study this problem longitudinally, the Attitudes Toward Women Scale was administered to 430 university students who had completed the same questionnaire 2 years earlier. Attitudes toward women generally became more liberal over time for both male and female students, supporting the intraindividual shift hypothesis. For both sexes, attitudes involving women's educational-vocational rights became more liberal than those involving women's marital and maternal responsibilities. Socio-demographic characteristics of subjects who became more traditional were compared with those of subjects who became more liberal.


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