Mass Media, Social Media and Technological Evolution Today: A Theoretical Approach

This study aims to make a synthetic theoretical presentation of the main challenges currently noticeable in the evolution of the mass media and social media in the context of the accelerated development of new technologies. It is a slow, but decided, visible change, one that profoundly affects human society. In this context we put forward the use of the post-media concept, which defines the transition from classical to new (digital) media, assimilating both the facilities of rapid communication and linking, as well as the tensions arising as a result of the dangers generated and the pressures exerted by various changes. The analysis covers the main types of convergence in communication, the integration of new technologies and equipment, the generalization of interconnection, the extension and diversification of handling arrangements, and the need to rewrite ethical and professional codes for the use of those working on digital platforms.

The Dawn of the Network Society

This chapter follows the implementation of telegraphic communication during the so-called era of ‘reaction’ in the 1850s. It investigates the influence of parliaments in Prussia and Bavaria in shaping the initial outline of state networks and the conditions of their use by the public, as well as the emergence of a regional telegraph association, the Deutsch-Österreichischer Telegraphen-Verein. It traces the adoption of telegraphic communication by banks, stock markets, and news agencies across Germany, and the creation of a ‘two-speed’ society, as privileged sections of the economic bourgeoisie (Wirtschaftsbürgertum) in commercial centres adopted more rapid and coordinated rhythms of business. It also considers the efforts of governments to keep up with the pace of communication by managing the circulation of information to the press, and by adopting the technology for policing purposes. This chapter also describes the ambiguous culture of progress which surrounded the implementation of telegraphic communication. It does so using a variety of sources, from articles in Die Gartenlaube and Kladderadatsch to the work of the economist Karl Knies. While some praised the technology’s capacity to ‘annihilate’ space, others feared that the time sensitivity it engendered among certain users, businessmen in particular, was practically pathological. Both the advantages of rapid communication and its potentially nefarious consequences were highlighted during the period, from early instances of ‘fake news’ during the Crimean War to the unstoppable diffusion of the ‘Panic of 1857’. The work of Karl Knies, meanwhile, illustrates the ways in which these developments influenced new understandings of society and the economy.

Development of a communication system for humanitarian emergencies

One of the main tasks of NGOs is the countries in which they operate is to alert to possible humanitarian emergencies that may occur due to different events such as epidemics caused by illness, famine, armed conflict, and other events that may occur. A key element for the emergency to be controlled and not have tragic consequences is the speed of information management: rapid communication of the emergency, where it is occurring, immediate needs…This information will allow the NGO managers to take action and decisions about how to act. This information is normally collected at the place where it is produced by the donors. So it is necessary to have specialized computer tools that facilitate the cooperator the transmission of information and the subsequent processing and display of the information collected. This article describes a tool aimed at NGO cooperators that aims to facilitate data collection, transmission and processing.

Torsional strength tests of spline connections made of polymer materials (Rapid communication)

This work is a continuation of the publication [1], in which the torsional strength tests of samples made of polymer materials, loaded with torsional moment, which more and more often can be made with the use of incremental technologies, were carried out. The designed proprietary test stand, which was described in the publication [1], was used. A series of preliminary studies on the torsion of fittings with spline connections obtained using additive techniques were carried out. It was found, that a additive technologies have a clear impact on the torsional strength of the tested machine components, including the placement of the prototype relative to the 3D printing plane or the method of processing polymer material.

Psychiatric ethics and the professions

The chapter provides a critical analysis of past understandings of the characteristics of professions. Many of these characteristics have lost meaning in the twenty-first century. High status has been diminished partly by professionals’ betrayal of the values they expound, but partly also by social factors such as rapid communication of information and changed understanding of the nature of knowledge, both of which have led to general scepticism about expertise. Professionals’ previous relative autonomy is challenged by government intervention and by the fact that more professionals are employed in large organizations where managers are the power centres. The chapter argues for a ‘new professionalism’ and takes two principles from the Code of Ethics of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry to demonstrate how carefully deliberated codes of ethics can enunciate the particular values which the professions contribute in a well-functioning society.

Equities and Exchanges, 1993–2006

By the 1990s the pressures on traditional stock exchanges were so intense that inertia was no longer an option. These pressures included the globalization of investment, deregulation, dismantling of capital controls, cheap and rapid communication, and powerful computing, The effect was to undermine the grip that exchanges had once exerted over national stock markets. No longer were the members of exchanges the filter through which buying and selling passed because of the control they exercised over access to both information and the market. Alternative means of trading stocks were proliferating, undermining and then destroying the exclusive privileges long enjoyed by those belonging to stock exchanges. Leading this attack on the power of stock exchanges were the megabanks. As these banks grew in scale and scope, extending their activities around the globe, they were either able to internalize many transactions or trade between themselves. In the process they cut out the exchanges, bypassing, and the charges and restrictions they imposed. There had long been an ambiguous relationship between banks and exchanges, as they were both rivals and heavy users. The combination of the megabanks, interdealer brokers, and electronic markets was rendering exchanges redundant in the 1990s, forcing them to respond through diversification and mergers.