Frontiers in Communication
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586
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9
(FIVE YEARS 6)

Published By Frontiers Media Sa

2297-900x

2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica J. Santana

Virtual communities of practice invoke novel forms of boundary work that are newly visible via publicly recorded discourse and failure narratives. This boundary work has critical implications for occupational knowledge, membership, and stratification. Building on social exchange theorization of network gatekeeping, the author tests the assumption that centralized peers are more competitive gatekeepers, in that they react more negatively to remedial narratives. The author tests this theory using empirical data from a virtual entrepreneur community on Reddit. The author finds that a peer’s tenure in the community network is directly related to exclusive, competitive boundary work of remedial members. However, by looking beyond the network structure to the content of the tie, the author finds that exclusive boundary work is not as impactful as inclusive, collaborative boundary work in this open network setting. The author builds on relational cohesion and exchange commitment theory to explain how remedial practitioners circumvent central community gatekeepers through failure narratives that provoke empathy from peripheral peers who experience higher uncertainty than core peers. Understanding these dynamics is critical to promoting recovery from failure and vitality of the community of practice.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Logar ◽  
Rym Bednarova ◽  
Alessandro Rizzardo ◽  
Luca Miceli

The world’s fragmented response to the COVID-19 pandemic created fertile ground for mixed messages and inconsistency. The authors analyzed Google-trending insights from five countries (Italy, Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) across three-week time (1–23 March 2020) to document trends in population health anxiety in response to the initial global spreading of the outbreak. The results are expressed in the form of Uncertainty Index (UI), which reflects the total number of Google searches/COVID-19 prevalence and standardized per million inhabitants. The United Kingdom experienced the highest level of health anxiety (UI = 11.5), followed by France (UI = 4.6) and Spain (UI = 3.2). The United States suffered the highest rate of uncertainty in the early stage of the pandemic; the Italian population experienced a balanced level of anxiety. Institutionalizing risk communication during COVID-19 should represent an integral part of the country emergency response.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phil J. Howson ◽  
Philip J. Monahan

Czech has a sibilant inventory that contrasts at three places of articulation: Alveolar, a pre-post-alveolar, and palato-alveolar. The specific aim of this study is to examine the perception of the typologically rare Czech sibilant inventory and to determine whether acoustic-perceptual characteristics play a role in the maintenance of the Czech trill-fricative. These results are compared to a more common three-way sibilant inventory, Polish. Native Czech listeners performed an auditory AX discrimination task in two blocks: A Czech block and a Polish block. Stimuli were embedded in varying levels of noise to increase task difficulty. Signal-to-noise ratio differences affected the perception of the Czech sibilants more than Polish sibilants. Moreover, a multidimensional scaling analysis revealed less perceptual dispersion for the Czech inventory than the Polish inventory. These results suggest that there is greater difficulty maintaining the Czech inventory considering the signal-to-noise comparisons and that this a factor that contributes to its rarity; however, similarities in perceptual dispersion indicate that maintenance across several acoustic-perceptual cues is possible, and Czech shows few signs of losing this typologically rare contrast.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Breanna Phillipps ◽  
Kelly Skinner ◽  
Barbara Parker ◽  
Hannah Tait Neufeld

The destruction of Indigenous food systems is a direct consequence of the settler-colonial project within Canada and has led to decreasing access to Indigenous foods, disproportionate rates of food insecurity and disconnection from Indigenous food systems and environments. We interviewed Indigenous women, non-Indigenous staff of Indigenous-serving organizations, and policymakers (i.e., those who develop, interpret, or implement wild food policy) to explore how the policy context has impacted Indigenous women and their communities’ experiences of accessing Indigenous foods in urban northwestern Ontario. We applied an Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis (IBPA) Framework to shape our research questions and guide the thematic analysis of the data. We found that stakeholder groups had differing understandings of the issue of accessing wild foods and Indigenous food security and their actions either supported or disrupted efforts for access to wild food to promote food security or Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Policymakers cited necessary barriers to promote food safety and support conservation of wildlife. Staff of Indigenous-serving organizations approached the issue with consideration of both Western and Indigenous worldviews, while Indigenous women spoke about the ongoing impacts of colonial policy and government control over their lands and territories. The main policy areas discussed included residential school policy, food regulation, and natural resource regulation. We also investigated community-level strategies for improvement, such as a wild game license. Throughout, we tied the colonial control over ‘wildlife’ and the Western food safety discourse, with infringements on Indigenous Food Sovereignty, experiences of racism in food settings and on the land, as well as with broad control over Indigenous sovereignty in Ontario. This work contributes to an increased understanding of how Western discourses about health, food, and the environment are perpetuated through systemic racism in government policy and reiterated through policymakers' views and interpretations or actions. Government institutions must develop culturally safe partnerships with Indigenous leaders and organizations to facilitate a transfer of power that can support Indigenous Food Sovereignty.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlene J. Astell ◽  
Sarah Shoaran ◽  
Maggie P. Ellis

Caregivers find it difficult to interact with people with dementia who have lost the capacity for speech. Adaptive Interaction is a simplified approach that uses the nonverbal fundamentals of communication to connect with people who can no longer speak. Here we present Adaptive Interaction as a method for equipping caregivers with these nonverbal skills to increase communication with the people they care for. Six caregivers were each paired with one individual with dementia and trained in Adaptive Interaction. After receiving training in Adaptive Interaction, caregivers identified more communicative behaviours in their interactions partners and engaged in more frequent positive social behaviours and meaningful actions during interactions. These findings suggest that it is possible to equip staff to use simplified communication based on nonverbal fundamentals to connect with people with dementia who can no longer speak.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phoebe Tay ◽  
Bee Chin Ng

Singapore, a young nation with a colonial past from 1819, has seen drastic changes in the sociolinguistic landscape, which has left indelible marks on the Singapore society and the Singapore deaf community. The country has experienced many political and social transitions from British colonialism to attaining independence in 1965 and thereafter. Since independence, English-based bilingualism has been vigorously promoted as part of nation-building. While the roles of the multiple languages in use in Singapore feature prominently in the discourse on language planning, historical records show no mention of how these impacts on the deaf community. The first documented deaf person in archival documents is a Chinese deaf immigrant from Shanghai who established the first deaf school in Singapore in 1954 teaching Shanghainese Sign Language (SSL) and Mandarin. Since then, the Singapore deaf community has seen many shifts and transitions in education programming for deaf children, which has also been largely influenced by exogeneous factors such as trends in deaf education in the United States A pivotal change that has far-reaching impact on the deaf community today, is the introduction of Signing Exact English (SEE) in 1976. This was in keeping with the statal English-based bilingual narrative. The subsequent decision to replace SSL with SEE has dramatic consequences for the current members of the deaf community resulting in internal divisions and fractiousness with lasting implications for the cohesion of the community. This publication traces the origins of Singapore Sign Language (SgSL) by giving readers (and future scholars) a road map on key issues and moments in this history. Bi- and multi-lingualism in Singapore as well as external forces will also be discussed from a social and historical perspective, along with the interplay of different forms of language ideologies. All the different sign languages and sign systems as well as the written/spoken languages used in Singapore, interact and compete with as well as influence each other. There will be an exploration of how both internal factors (local language ecology) and external factors (international trends and developments in deaf education), impact on how members of the deaf community negotiate their deaf identities.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Paatelainen ◽  
Elisa Kannasto ◽  
Pekka Isotalus

Political campaign communication has become increasingly hybrid and the ability to create synergies between older and newer media is now a prerequisite for running a successful campaign. Nevertheless, beyond establishing that parties and individual politicians use social media to gain visibility in traditional media, not much is known about how political actors use the hybrid media system in their campaign communication. At the same time, the personalization of politics, shown to have increased in the media coverage of politics, has gained little attention in the context of today’s hybrid media environment. In this research we analyze one aspect of hybrid media campaign communication, political actors’ use of traditional media in their social media campaign communication. Through a quantitative content analysis of the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts of Finnish parties and their leaders published during the 2019 Finnish parliamentary elections, we find that much of this hybridized campaign communication was personalized. In addition, we show that parties and their leaders used traditional media for multiple purposes, the most common of which was gaining positive visibility, pointing to strategic considerations. The results have implications for both the scholarship on hybrid media systems and personalization of politics.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy H. Brinson

The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the death of over 625,000 Americans and it continues to have monumental consequences worldwide for economic, social and individual life. An effective vaccine program is considered vital to securing collective immunity; yet, many Americans are still hesitant to be vaccinated. This two-part study first experimentally tests two message frames (inoculation vs control) designed to counter resistance to the COVID-19 vaccine with individuals who are initially supportive, neutral or opposed to it. Based on a key finding from Study 1 (that political ideology appears to be impacting receptiveness to the messaging), Study 2 examines response to these same two messages using either a politicized (Dr. Anthony Fauci) or neutral source to test the mediating effects of political ideology. Results contribute to existing literature by examining inoculation effects in a new context (“debunking” misinformation vs “prebunking” to bolster supportive attitudes), and demonstrate how psychological reactance is working in tandem with inoculation to influence attitudes toward the COVID-19 vaccine.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelsey M. Gray ◽  
Cindy Achat-Mendes ◽  
Ann Cale Kruger ◽  
Tashi Lhamo ◽  
Rinchen Wangyal ◽  
...  

Led by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the initiative taken by the Tibetan Buddhist monastic community to connect with western science and scientists presents a unique opportunity to understand the motivations and engagement behaviors that contribute to monastic science learning. In this study, we draw on quantitative data from two distinct surveys that track motivations and engagement behaviors related to science education among monastic students. The first survey was administered at one monastic university in 2018, and the second follow-up survey was completed by students at two monastic universities in 2019. These surveys assessed the reception of science education related to motivations among monastics and their demonstration of engagement-with-science behaviors. We also tested for variation over time by surveying students in all years of the science curriculum. We identified that monastic students are motivated by their perception that studying science has an overall positive effect and benefits their Buddhist studies, rather than negatively affecting their personal or collective Buddhist goals. In accordance with this finding, monastics behave in ways that encourage fellow scholars to engage with science concepts. Survey responses were disaggregated by years of science study and indicated changes in motivation and engagement during the six-year science curriculum. These insights support the relevance of considering motivation and engagement in a novel educational setting and inform ongoing work to expand the inclusiveness of science education. Our findings provide direction for future avenues of enhancing exchange of knowledge and practice between Buddhism and science.


2022 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elana Kimbrell ◽  
Gemima Philippe ◽  
Mary Catherine Longshore

Scientists’ engagement with society on critical environmental and health issues is essential to reaching positive and equitable long-term outcomes. We argue that stronger institutional support for public engagement is necessary and that inclusive practices should be built into public engagement training and relationships. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)’s Center for Public Engagement with Science and Technology provides a model of support for scientists that we believe other scientific institutions can replicate and expand on. This model prioritizes representative and accessible science communication training, resources (e.g., funding and staff and peer support), opportunities to practice engagement, and rewards and incentives for doing engagement. We describe our programs in each of these areas and reflect on how well each builds scientists’ engagement skills and institutional capacity, and whether each embodies and models thoughtful, accessible, and representative engagement. Through these various approaches, the Center communicates to other scientific institutions that engagement by scientists should be valued, celebrated, and supported, and builds capacity for individual scientists to do effective engagement. We argue that these supports can be applied by other scientific institutions to reflect and incorporate society’s diverse needs and concerns, thus truly serving the public and making science and scientific institutions stronger for it.


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