Citizen Participation and the Rise of Digital Media Platforms in Smart Governance and Smart Cities

Many governments and firms do believe that technology can supplant governance and human responsibility. This belief poses the question of who will really benefit from smart cities. This article explores this fundamental question through the study of digital media platforms. The ultimate goal is to understand the link between e-governance and smart city initiatives in our cases of study by testing whether these projects are explicitly for citizens. This article shows how e-platforms represent the use of information and communication technologies with the aim of encouraging citizen participation in decision-making processes, improving information and service delivery, reinforcing transparency, accountability, as well as credibility. Thirteen digital media platforms are surveyed, mostly in cities across countries. These e-platforms raise implementation challenges for both firms and policy makers, and new research opportunities for scientist to build up new research and to experiment with the aim to make the benefits for citizens wider and the participatory dimension stronger.

Influencing the Collective Mind

A convergence of quantum-field-based scientific, philosophical, psychological, esoteric, and religious research has contributed to a better understanding of Carl Jung's collective unconscious that is generating a paradigm shift in the scientific approach to cosmic reality and human purpose. Collective humanity now faces responsibility for intentional cosmic participation to change or reprogram this collective entity that is us. Because humans have significant agency in a universal frequency scaled-sentient and stratified unified field, human responsibility for influencing evolution is becoming more apparent. Indicators suggest that humans are responsible for an impending crisis of planetary extinction, which they are now capable of consciously re-programming. In this context, the author's extreme paranormal experiences of ‘IT'—a planetary analog for the collective human unconscious mind—is uniquely relevant.

Narrative responsibility and artificial intelligence

Most accounts of responsibility focus on one type of responsibility, moral responsibility, or address one particular aspect of moral responsibility such as agency. This article outlines a broader framework to think about responsibility that includes causal responsibility, relational responsibility, and what I call “narrative responsibility” as a form of “hermeneutic responsibility”, connects these notions of responsibility with different kinds of knowledge, disciplines, and perspectives on human being, and shows how this framework is helpful for mapping and analysing how artificial intelligence (AI) challenges human responsibility and sense-making in various ways. Mobilizing recent hermeneutic approaches to technology, the article argues that next to, and interwoven with, other types of responsibility such as moral responsibility, we also have narrative and hermeneutic responsibility—in general and for technology. For example, it is our task as humans to make sense of, with and, if necessary, against AI. While from a posthumanist point of view, technologies also contribute to sense-making, humans are the experiencers and bearers of responsibility and always remain in charge when it comes to this hermeneutic responsibility. Facing and working with a world of data, correlations, and probabilities, we are nevertheless condemned to make sense. Moreover, this also has a normative, sometimes even political aspect: acknowledging and embracing our hermeneutic responsibility is important if we want to avoid that our stories are written elsewhere—through technology.

What Can We Learn from Rural Youth in British Columbia, Canada? Environment and Climate Change—Issues and Solutions

“What can we learn from rural youth?” was a youth-led arts-based participatory action research project carried out to understand and facilitate positive youth development in two rural communities in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Data was collected using photovoice, visual art, journal reflections, and group discussions. During the study, youth expressed a strong connection with nature for their development or wellbeing. Issues such as environmental degradation and climate change were identified as causes for concern. They discussed human responsibility for environmental stewardship both in their local communities and globally. Climate change hazards such as flood and fire, human action leading to environmental pollution, and human responsibility for environmental stewardship surfaced as issues for their development. Youth expressed a felt responsibility to act on climate change and to reduce the anthropogenic impact on the Earth. Based on youth voices, we conclude that attempts to engage youth in climate action without considering their psychosocial wellbeing, may overburden them.

Individual and Typological Characteristics of Student Responsibility

В статье обоснована актуальность психологического исследования ответственности личности. Представлены отдельные психологические взгляды на проблему ответственности человека. Проанализированы результаты эмпирического исследования индивидуально-типологических особенностей данного свойства у студентов. Описаны содержательно-смысловой и инструментально-стилевой аспекты ответственности «энергичного» и «астенично-затрудняющегося» типов ее реализации, представители которых различались преимущественно динамическими, эмоциональными и регулятивными особенностями. Авторами установлено, что студенты с «энергичным» типом реализации ответственности, четко осознавая ее высокую важность для различных сфер жизни, демонстрировали устойчивое стремление к проявлению ответственности и развитию навыков ответственного поведения, преодолению возникающих трудностей и препятствий, ориентировались на свои внутренние ресурсы и силы, не полагаясь на помощь окружающих и волю случайных обстоятельств; ощущали большую результативность ответственного поведения в личностно значимой сфере, несмотря на то, что в основе их стремления к проявлению и развитию ответственности лежали и эгоистические, и социоцентрические цели и мотивы: они в равной мере руководствовались как личными установками, намерениями и интересами, связанными с удовлетворением собственных планов и исполнением желаний, самовыражением, раскрытием своих способностей и потенциала, так и стремлениями выполнить долг, оказать помощь близким, соответствовать ожиданиям значимых других. В различных ситуациях они переживали и позитивные, и негативные эмоции и чувства в зависимости от степени новизны и сложности предстоящей задачи, а также оценки достаточности собственной компетентности для ее выполнения. В то время как студенты с «астенично-затрудняющимся» типом реализации ответственности, также осознавая значимость данного свойства, проявляя его и при решении практических задач в предметной сфере, и в процессе саморазвития, самоактуализации и активно регулируя его проявления, характеризовались неустойчивым стремлением проявлять ответственное поведение, более негативным эмоциональным фоном, тревожностью, неуверенностью в себе в ситуациях необходимости проявления данного свойства. Знание специфических индивидуально-типологических особенностей ответственности студентов выделенных типов, учет сильных и слабых сторон этого важнейшего свойства личности у каждого из них помогут вузовским психологам, педагогам и самим студентам определить направления работы по его развитию и коррекции. The article substantiates the relevance of psychological research of personal responsibility. It analyzes different psychologists’ views on the issue of human responsibility. It analyzes the results of empirical research pertaining to individual and typological characteristics of student responsibility. It describes the conceptual and instrumental aspects of responsibility in vigorous and asthenic people who differ in their emotional dynamics and emotional regulation. The author maintain that vigorous students fully appreciate the importance of various spheres of life, they do their best to behave responsibly, to overcome challenges, to rely on their internal resources and strengths and not on external factors, such as external help. Vigorous students see the results of their responsible behaviour. Driven by initially selfish and sociocentric interests, these students assist others, fulfill their duties, meet the expectations of other people who are important for them. Facing a new task, such students assess whether they are competent enough to complete it. In different situations, they experience both positive and negative emotions. Asthenic students fully appreciate the importance of responsible behaviour, however, they do not always behave responsibly, they often experience negative emotions and anxiety. In situations that require responsible behavior, they experience problems with self-esteem and self-confidence. Knowing specific individual and typological characteristics of student responsibility, taking into consideration their strengths and weaknesses, university psychologists and educators will be ale to help students to become more responsible and efficient.

Application of Fluidized Bed Furnance Bottom Ash in Civil Engineering – A Review

For several years there has been widespread and open discussion about climate problems and human responsibility for the generated waste. The number of regulations has led to a search for applications for by-products of combustion. Moreover, the forecasted economic crisis additionally motivates to use every possible material to reduce the cost of manufacturing activities. Efficient waste management is a key element for Polish companies in their efforts to reduce their negative impact on the environment. Fluid combustion of fuels in the Polish power and heat industry still belongs to relatively new technologies. Despite the application of the most technologically advanced processing methods, bottom ashes from fluidized bed boilers are still reluctantly used. The author sees possibilities of using bottom ashes in geotechnical works. The aim of this review is to present the existing source papers relating to the use of bottom ashes in construction processes. A particular area of interest is the use of said ashes in jet-grouting (JG). The paper briefly refers to fluidized bed combustion technology as a source of combustion byproducts. The author pay special attention to the characteristics defining the characteristics of the ashes. The reader's attention will then be drawn to jet-grouting technology. References can be found to the methodology of general cement-soil testing. Due to the nature of the use of JG, the focus is particularly on their strength, water-permeability and frost resistance properties. Due to the need to determine the internal structure of the cement-ground, attention was also paid to the possibility of using X-ray computed tomography for soil cement testing.

4. Contests of intellectual authority

‘Contests of intellectual authority’ examines the clash of ideas and ideologies that shaped America in the years leading up to the Civil War through the end of the nineteenth century. It opens with two historical events of 1859 that altered the course of American thought: John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. The moral challenges raised by race-based slavery and evolutionary theory shaped American notions of freedom, divine providence, and human responsibility. While the Civil War ultimately resolved a political and legal dispute, it did not resolve larger intellectual, religious, and moral ones. These contests of moral authority and the range of human responses to human problems are on full display in late nineteenth-century American life.

Perbandingan Konsep Teodise John Calvin dan C. S. Lewis serta Relevansinya terhadap Sikap Fatalistik dalam Menghadapi Covid-19

The world is currently enduring an epidemic of COVID-19 which causes suffering and pain. Facing the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesian people have shown various responses. One pupular respond is theological fatalism, which believe that God has determined everything so that human efforts and actions are not necessary. In connection to this, the question arouse whether Christian theology, especially Christian theodicy, which was represented in this paper by John Calvin and C. S. Lewis, fell into fatalism? To answer this question, the writer would compare of the two theodicies by using a literature research. Through this research, it was concluded that neither John Calvin's theodicy nor C. S Lewis's had fallen into theological fatalism. Both emphasized free will and human responsibility in making choices and actions. The right attitude is to submit to the authority of God's word which commands us to act by doing good to others who are suffering and sick.Abstrak. Dunia saat ini sedang dilanda wabah penyakit COVID-19 yang menyebabkan penderitaan dan kesakitan. Berhadapan dengan pandemi COVID-19, manusia Indonesia menunjukkan berbagai respon. Salah satu yang umum adalah fatalisme teologis yakni kepercayaan bahwa Allah sudah menetapkan segala sesuatu sehingga usaha dan perbuatan manusia tidak membuat perbedaan dan dampak di dalam sejarah kehidupan. Berkaitan dengan hal tersebut muncul pertanyaan apakah teologi Kristen, khususnya teodise Kristen, yang diwakili di dalam paper ini oleh John Calvin dan C. S. Lewis jatuh ke dalam fatalisme? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut penulis akan membandingkan kedua teodise tersebut dengan menggunakan studi pustaka. Melalui penelitian tersebut disimpulkan bahwa baik teodise John Calvin maupun C. S Lewis tidak jatuh ke dalam fatalisme teologis. Kedua-duanya sama-sama menekankan kehendak bebas dan tanggung jawab manusia di dalam melakukan pilihan dan tindakan. Sikap yang tepat adalah tunduk kepada otoritas firman Tuhan yang memerintahkan kita untuk bertindak dengan berbuat baik kepada sesama yang menderita dan sakit.

The Christian Ideal of Sustainable Development and Its Perception among Young Adults: A Case Study from Slovakia

In this article, we present the concept of the participation and responsibility of individuals in the sustainable development (SD) of the world from a Christian ethics point of view. The Christian ethics perspective is based on the biblical command to care for and protect creation. Nevertheless, errors have been repeated throughout history because of a misunderstanding of human responsibility for what has been entrusted to man from the beginning. The article explores not only these mistakes, but also the concept of a properly understood individual responsibility from the point of view of Christian ethics. The ideal from the perspective of Christian ethics is followed by our own qualitative research. The research sample consists of 120 young adults. During the research, the perception of a person’s individual responsibility tasks for SD is explored from the perspective of university students. The research findings answer the question of in which of the four areas of SD do respondents see the needs of their participation the most. The findings of the research also indicate the importance that the young respondents allocated to all four areas of SD, which were clearly defined by The National Strategic Document on Sustainable Development in Slovakia. Furthermore, we recorded a total of 12 main areas that the respondents considered to be important tasks of man for the world and its SD. We also evaluated the qualitative findings in the group of young adults that confirm the perception of each student’s individual participation and responsibility for the SD of society and the physical world.

Pandemic Capital or “The New Gravity”

This paper aims to highlight a latent evidence emerging from the pandemic phenomenon: Pandemic Capital. By this formula I mean a process of naturalization in regards to the equivalence between the right of a commercial enterprise to profit from its activity and the right of people to protect their own health, or, better, the right to maximize profit as new aspirant fundamental right. This naturalization becomes particularly clear in relation to the question of vaccine patents. The distinction between just (legitimate) profit and maximum profit equates to an updated version of the classic dilemma between nomos (law) and dike (justice), which in Sophocle’s Antigone takes the form of a clash between Kreon and Antigone. Faced with the risk of a legal nihilism, we need to (re)establish a hierarchy of rights that is up to par with our times, namely we must re-contractualize the social contract. To overcome the challenges of a globalized world/pandemic society, we need the neo-contractualism of a social contract that includes a “natural contract” as well. The latter is strictly related to the question of an Open Access Knowledge as new common good. Knowledge also means power, and as such demands responsibility, particularly from scientists and intellectuals. The idea of a human responsibility – or better, “fraternal responsibility” – could therefore represent the basis for a new alliance between nomos and dike for the sake of the polis.