The analysis of social capital in online social communities

Social networks have proven to be an attractive avenue of investigation for researchers since humans are social creatures. Numerous literature have explored the term “social networks” from different perspectives and in diverse research fields. With the popularity of the Internet, social networking has taken on a new dimension. Online social communities therefore have become an emerging social avenue for people to communicate in today’s information age. People use online social communities to share their interests, maintain friendships, and extend their so-called circle of “friends”. Likewise, social capital, also known as human capital, is an important theory in sociology. Researchers usually utilise social capital theory when they investigate the topic relating to social networks. However, there is little literature that can provide an explicit and strong assertion in that research area due to the complexity of social capital. This thesis therefore focuses on the issue related to providing a better understanding about the relationship between social capital and online social communities. To enhance the value within the scope of this analysis, an online survey was conducted to examine the effects of the dimensions of social capital: relational capital, structural capital, and cognitive capital, determining the intensity of using online social communities. The data were derived from a total of 350 self-selected respondents completing an online survey during the research period. The main results indicate that social capital exists in online social communities under normal circumstances. Finally, this thesis also presents three contributions for both theory and practice in Chapter 5. The main results contribute to the understanding of connectivity in the interrelationships between individual social capital exchange within online social networks. Secondly, social trust was found to have a weak effect in influencing the intensity of individuals using online social communities. Third, the perpetual role of information sharing has an indirect influence on individual users participating in online social communities. This study also benefits online marketing consultants as marketers can not only gain consumer information easier from online social communities but also this understanding assists in designing effective communication within online social communities. The cross-sectional study, the reliability of Internet survey data, and sampling issues are the major three limitations in this research. The thesis provides a new research model and recommends that the mediating effects, privacy paradox, and social trust on online social communities should be further explored in future research.

A sentiment-aware approach to community formation in social media

Participating in a community exemplifies the aspect of sharing, networking and interacting in a social media system. There has been extensive work on characterising on-line communities by their contents and tags using topic modelling tools. However, the role of sentiment and mood has not been studied. Arguably, mood is an integral feature of a text, and becomes more significant in the context of social media: two communities might discuss precisely the same topics, yet within an entirely different atmosphere. Such sentiment-related distinctions are important for many kinds of analysis and applications, such as community recommendation. We present a novel approach to identification of latent hyper-groups in social communities based on users’ sentiment. The results show that a sentiment-based approach can yield useful insights into community formation and metacommunities, having potential applications in, for example, mental health—by targeting support or surveillance to communities with negative mood—or in marketing—by targeting customer communities having the same sentiment on similar topics.

Are the popular users always important for information dissemination in online social networks?

This article verifies the importance of popular users in OSNs. The results are counter-intuitive. First, for dissemination speed, a large amount of users can swiftly distribute information to the masses, but they are not highly-connected users. Second, for dissemination scale, many powerful forwarders in OSNs cannot be identified by the degree measure. Furthermore, to control dissemination, popular users cannot capture most bridges of social communities.

Dynamic Social and Media Content Syndication for Second Screen

Social networking apps, sites and technologies offer a wide range of opportunities for businesses and developers to exploit the vast amount of information and user-generated content produced through social networking. In addition, the notion of second screen TV usage appears more influential than ever, with viewers continuously seeking further information and deeper engagement while watching their favourite movies or TV shows. In this work, the authors present SAM, an innovative platform that combines social media, content syndication and targets second screen usage to enhance media content provisioning, renovate the interaction with end-users and enrich their experience. SAM incorporates modern technologies and novel features in the areas of content management, dynamic social media, social mining, semantic annotation and multi-device representation to facilitate an advanced business environment for broadcasters, content and metadata providers, and editors to better exploit their assets and increase their revenues.

Towards Cloud-Based Knowledge Capturing Based on Natural Language Processing

Paper presented at the Cloud Forward Conference 2015, October 6th-8th, Pisa

Predicted impact of the sea-level rise at VellareColeroon estuarine region of Tamil Nadu coast in India: Mainstreaming adaptation as a coastal zone management option

Low-lying coastal areas are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change as they are highly prone for inundation to SLR (Sea-Level Rise). This study presents an appraisal of the impacts of SLR on the coastal natural resources and its dependent social communities in the low-lying area of VellareColeroon estuarine region of the Tamil Nadu coast, India. Digital Elevation Model (DEM) derived from SRTM 90M (Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission) data, along with GIS (Geographic Information System) techniques are used to identify an area of inundation in the study site. The vulnerability of coastal areas in Vellar-Coleroon estuarine region of Tamil Nadu coast to inundation was calculated based on the projected SLR scenarios of 0.5 m and 1 m. The results demonstrated that about 1570 ha of the LULC (Land use and Land cover) of the study area would be permanently inundated to 0.5 m and 2407 ha for 1 m SLR and has also resulted in the loss of three major coastal natural resources like coastal agriculture, mangroves and aquaculture. It has been identified that six hamlets of the social communities who depend on these resources are at high-risk and vulnerable to 0.5 m SLR and 12 hamlets for 1 m SLR. From the study, it has been emphasized that mainstreaming adaptation options to SLR should be embedded within a coastal zone management and planning effort, which includes all coastal natural resources (ecosystem-based adaptation), and its dependent social communities (community-based adaptation) involved through capacity building

A educação escolar na comunidade negra de Sibaúma: a trajetória educacional da Escola Municipal Armando de Paiva

The black communities, nowadays known as quilombolas, have long been segregated in social and cultural distances in relation to other groups in the country. Gradually, the establishment of public policy has enabled the inclusion of these social communities in new instances, favoring the improvement of standards of learning. In order to know the route of the school in relation to its surroundings, this paper presents a reflection on the educational history of the Municipal School Padre Armando de Paiva, inserted in the context of afrodescendência (African descendants), in the community called Sibaúma, municipality of Tibau do Sul - RN, characterized as the object of this study. Methodologically, this study is limited in a descriptive research of the historical reconstruction of the school, a case considered worthy of analysis. From a reflection on the presence of African descent in Brazil and in Rio Grande do Norte, the study also presents information on education in Brazil. Finally, it presents the trajectories directed to the analysis of physical conditions, the dynamics of registration, and avoidance of repetition of its students and the qualifications of its teaching staff. Survey selected for analysis five-year academic periods, a series which began in the year nineteen eighty and ends in the year two thousand and ten

Electricity, hot water and cold water production from biomass. Energetic and economical analysis of the compact system of cogeneration run with woodgas from a small downdraft gasifier

Wood gasification technologies to convert the biomass into fuel gas stand out. on the other hand, producing electrical energy from stationary engine is widely spread, and its application in rural communities where the electrical network doesn't exist is very required. The recovery of exhaust gases (engine) is a possibility that makes the system attractive when compared with the same components used to obtain individual heat such as electric power. This paper presents an energetic alternative to adapt a fixed bed gasifier with a compact cogeneration system in order to cover electrical and thermal demands in a rural area and showing an energy solution for small social communities using renewable fuels. Therefore, an energetic and economical analysis from a cogeneration system producing electric energy, hot and cold water, using wooden gas as fuel from a small-sized gasifier was calculated. The energy balance that includes the energy efficiency (electric generation as well as hot and cold water system; performance coefficient and the heat exchanger, among other items), was calculated. Considering the annual interest rates and the amortization periods, the costs of production of electrical energy, hot and cold water were calculated, taking into account the investment, the operation and the maintenance cost of the equipments. Crown Copyright (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zona costeira resiliente: um estudo sócio-ecológico no Nordeste paraense

Esta tese de doutoramento apresenta contribuições conceituais e metodológicas de análises sistêmicas, envolvendo ciências sociais e ciências naturais, ao debate sobre a aplicabilidade do desenvolvimento sustentável no território costeiro amazônico. O principal desafio é a utilização de um referencial teórico inovador que articula sistemas sócio-ecológicos - SES e resiliência – à análise de dados primários e secundários. O universo da pesquisa abrange a região costeira bragantina, contemplando os sistemas sociais (comunidades de pescadores) e ecológicos (manguezal) como área amostral. O programa, Dinâmica e Manejo em Áreas de Manguezais – MADAM, totalizando dez anos de pesquisas interdisciplinares serve como principal fonte de informação. Com base nos conceitos do SES e da resiliência, são analisadas as relações entre o uso dos recursos naturais e a organização e estruturação sócio-econômica local. O objetivo é analisar a resiliência do sistema sócio-ecológico costeiro paraense, com base em processos contínuos de desenvolvimento sócio-econômico, identificando quais as mudanças geradas, e como o sistema costeiro reage e se adapta, a partir de novas configurações. O objetivo é fornecer alternativas para o correto desenvolvimento da referida área. O resultado reflete um panorama das condições atuais da zona costeira bragantina. Constatou-se, neste trabalho, que os principais fatos que contribuem para aumentar e diminuir a resiliência sócio-ecológica dessa região, entendida como a capacidade de se adaptar e se reorganizar frente a mudanças e distúrbios, são, particularmente, as forças motrizes endógenas, especialmente, o capital social e o Conhecimento Ecológico Local - CEL, este fornece um potencial reflexivo para um planejamento sustentável no contexto do litoral amazônico.

Desenvolvimento da floricultura tropical paraense: uma análise dos fatores locais de inovação

Teve como objetivo a interação de comunidades sociais específicas no aglomerado da floricultura tropical paraense. A mesma foi direcionada a produtores locais em interação direta com outros agentes do setor para valorizar os fatores locais de inovação da floricultura tropical. Embora a floricultura tropical tenha uma representação econômica menor que a da floricultura temperada (inserida de outras regiões do Brasil) no cenário local, a mesma, ainda em seu curto estabelecimento, vai sendo considerada pelos diferentes agentes públicos e privados como uma importante atividade econômica do estado do Pará. No entanto, evidenciam-se ações de atores que se focam em organizações sociais, alternativa que reduz os “custos de produção” e os “custos de transações” sobre as diferentes atividades que este setor demanda. Entre as comunidades estudadas estão: a Associação dos Floricultores de Benevides (AFLORBEN), Cooperativa Agrícola Santo Antônio (COOPSANT), Associação dos Produtores de Flores de Santa Bárbara (TROPISAN), Associação de Microprodutores de Castanhal (BARREIRÃO), Associação Paraense de Floricultura e Plantas Medicinais (PARÁFLOR), e por último, as comunidades e/ou agentes que conformam o cenário comercial e institucional da floricultura (a Rede Social do Aglomerado Local de Flores na Mesorregião Metropolitana de Belém). Esta última comunidade como sendo a responsável pela concretização do objeto central do estudo, onde se integrou os processos organizacionais de relevância que valorizam os fatores de inovação local e seu impacto para o desenvolvimento sustentável do setor. A metodologia foi baseada na análise do capital social e redes sociais, tendo como finalidade resgatar a estruturação e a funcionalidade da sociedade local sobre um mercado dinâmico e competitivo como a floricultura em si. Já os resultados mostram que os processos organizacionais minimizam os custos de transação e ajudam a permanência destes grupos sociais no mercado, e com isto, a valorização da marca tropical. Por último, sugere-se priorizar processos mais integrativos e abrangentes para fortalecer ainda mais esta atividade local.

Social Impact of Mining Survey : Aggregate Results Queensland Communities

This is the final report from a study into the social impact of mining in Queensland.

School education as social and economic governance : responsibilising communities through industry-school engagement

This article examines shifts in educational and social governance taking place in Queensland, Australia, through Industry School Engagement Strategy of Education Queensland and its Gateway Schools program. This significant educational initiative is set within the context of the social investment agenda first articulated in the education policy framework, Queensland State Education-2010. The article traces the historic extension of this governmental strategy through establishment of the Gateway Schools concept that brokers industry-school partnerships with global players in the Queensland economy. Industry sectors forming the partnerships include Minerals and Energy, Aerospace, Wine Tourism, Agribusiness, Manufacturing and Engineering, Building and Construction and ICT. We argue that this ‘post-bureaucratic’ model of schooling represents a new social settlement of neoliberal governance, in which educational outcomes align with economic objectives, and frame the conditions for community self-governance.

Improving self organizing capabilities of local communities for sustainable development in decentralized Indonesia : the roles of procedural justice and social learning

The development planning process introduced under Law No. 25/2004 is said to be a better approach to increase public participation in decentralised Indonesia. This Law has introduced planning mechanisms, called Musyawarah Perencanaan Pembangunan (musrenbang), to provide a forum for development planning. In spite of the expressed intention of these mechanisms to improve public participation, some empirical observations have cast doubt on the outcomes. As a result, some local governments have tried to provide alternative mechanisms for participatory local development planning processes. Since planning constitutes one of the most effective ways to improve community empowerment, this paper aims to examine the extent to which the alternative local development planning process in Indonesia provides sufficient opportunities to improve the self organising capabilities of communities to sustain development programs to meet local needs. In so doing, this paper explores the key elements and approaches of the concept of community empowerment and shows how they can be incorporated within planning processes. Based on this, it then examines the problems encountered by musrenbang in increasing community empowerment. Having done this, it is argued that to change current unfavourable outcomes, procedural justice and social learning approaches need to be incorporated as pathways to community empowerment. Lastly the capacity of an alternative local planning process, called Sistem Dukungan (SISDUK), introduced in South Sulawesi, offering scope to incorporate procedural justice and social learning is explored as a means to improve the self organizing capabilities of local communities.

Social infrastructure planning and sustainable communities : Example from South East Queensland, Australia

From its early birth through to the twenty-first century, the planning for social infrastructure has been viewed as a crucial element in promoting the development of healthy communities. The existence of good social infrastructure in every level of human settlement (i.e. neighbourhoods, districts, regions etc.) is vital because it is considered to be an element that impacts positively and meaningfully on the quality of life for members of the targeted community. The increasing importance of the sustainable development agenda in human settlements has prompted concerns over the cost of the government’s failure to provide for adequate social infrastructure for their communities. Part of this failure is attributed to the inconsistent outcome from the use of traditional planning standards that are based on population-to-facility ratios. This paper explores the literature discussion on social infrastructure for sustainable communities. It examines how a participation-oriented, need-sensitive approach in the planning and provision of social infrastructure is used as an alternative to the traditional standards that are based on population-to-facility ratios. It does this by giving an overview of its application in the planning and provision of social infrastructure for Australia’s fastest growing region of South-East Queensland.