Sensory Social Sciences

Ciò che di più importante si è ereditato dal secolo dei lumi è l’esercizio critico della ragione. Esercizio che al pari di tutte le facoltà umane,se non allenato e quotidianamente usato, tende ad atrofizzarsi. Questa facoltà deve essere maieuticamente aiutata a crescere altrimenti rischia di non fare la propria comparsa nell’individuo, rimanendo solo in potenza.
I mass media hanno una grande responsabilità in questo, essendo i principali agenti di socializzazione e i principali produttori di significati condivisi che la società umana abbia mai conosciuto. Agiscono a livello cognitivo, fornendo non solo il panorama da osservare ma spesso anche gli occhiali con il quale guardarlo: in altri termini forniscono sistemi e processi sociali di conoscenza. I media di massa, per loro stessa natura, non coltivano il pensiero critico. Una nota di speranza può venire allora dalle nuove tecnologie. La comparsa dei new media, con la loro dimensione di interattività, non solo cambia lo scenario mediatico, ma connota in termini diversi l’aspetto cognitivo.

The formation of customary international law has long been criticized for its lack of a clear methodology, characterized by an ambivalent relationship with state consent. Although customary international law seems to be entirely a creature of state consent, after all it is based on actual practice, in reality the fit with state consent is loose at best. Customary international law only awkwardly bridges the gap between a descriptive and prescriptive norm. Unable to move forward, the study of the formation of customary international law appears to have largely reached an impasse. Yet, states still appear to support and apply customary international law as a source of law, so we are faced with the situation of embracing a source of law that we do not understand well and where the applicable law is often vague.

This article is an attempt to bring into international law a perspective from the hard and soft sciences for discussing the formation of customary international law, specifically the study of critical mass in collective group behavior. This language is not entirely new to discussions on customary international law. Where it has been mentioned, the implications of critical mass theory have not been fully explored. Critical mass can be a loose concept to simply describe the accumulation of small actions that result in large shifts in collective behavior; however, it is also an empirically-based scientific study that attempts to assess how those changes come about. This article seeks to delve more deeply into critical mass and apply the insights from this study to the formation of customary international law.

Following a very brief introduction with background on customary international law, the paper will describe how the social sciences have embraced the critical mass theoretical perspective in the study of collective decision-making. Three primary elements of social change will be identified: (1) the importance of the content of the norm, (2) the role of influence through networks, and (3) the role of key individuals, “opinion leaders” and “opinion diffusors”.

Following this review of the science, the author will draw some implications for customary international law. In particular, the author will re-characterize three major discussions within customary international law into the three key factors of critical mass. The first discussion is that over the qualitative assessment of norms. The second is the growing influence of networks either as transnational governance or international organization rule-making. The final discussion is a proposal to understand the role of the “specially interested” state as a norm entrepreneur. The paper will conclude that study of critical mass can contribute to a better, and more formal, methodology for understanding customary international law.

In this article the problem of perception is highlighted from a philosophical, physiological and psychological point of view. The essay (second update) is followed by a list of publications, journals and websites about perception. The author would be delighted to receive comments. He can be contacted at j[underscore]kuijper[at]online[dot]nl.

Brazilian multicentric study of psychiatric morbidity. References http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/171/6/524#otherarticles Article cited in: permissions Reprints/ [email protected] to To obtain reprints or permission to reproduce material from this paper, please write to this article at You can respond http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/eletter-submit/171/6/524

"This article offers an approach to writing about the qualitative experience of change in an educational context. The analyst spent four years studying how children use technology to augment their literacy practices in the Midlands of the UK. He simultaneously became involved with free parties in the district that offered social celebratory gatherings using technology to generate dance music. Rather than separating these experiences into categories such as work and play, the analyst has drawn them together through the practice of techno-shamanism. To summarise this approach, the researcher’s understandings about techno-literacy change through research into the behaviours of the youth of the area who are present in the schools that took part in the study. He also changes as he dances and organises parties that represent an augmentation of the self through technology. Thus techno-shamanism synthesises an exploration of these
changes and the transformative power that technology offers at its most intense and socially inclusive."

Sensorial interfaces are based on augmenting existing physical objects with digital information. We propose sensorial activity theory to relate multisensory mappings to the context of device physicality and rituals of use. We share a design process for creating sensorial mappings, relationships between digital information and sensory information.

To address the research question, “How can the processes of computer-mediated communication be analyzed, described and understood through a natural history, microanalytic, structural approach?” a new analytical instrument that systematically examines the structural properties of CMC via asynchronous online discussion boards is presented. In this approach, the sequence of participant activity within discussion board threads, and the references that allow inferences about who or what a specific message points back to, are mapped in varying ways.
In this method, posts, or messages submitted at one time, are understood as meaningful acts that serve as building blocks of the communicative structure within a discussion board thread, or post set. Posts are mapped according to their order of occurrence in order to learn more about how posting activity occurs within a post set. Posts are also linked to one another by reference cues, or highly reliable indicators of whom or what they are addressing.  Two posts linked by a reference cue are referred to as a post pair, and post pairs are grouped into chains based on posts they share in common.  This allows for the creation of new maps that represent a more meaningful account of participation, highlighting features of referencing activity in a post set. Several types of visualizations are presented, allowing for the observation and comparison of non-obvious features of communication in post sets.
The developed method is demonstrated and tested through the analysis of data from discussion boards in two distinct research settings: a college course website, and a fan site for the television series Lost. Features of posting activity and referencing activity are compared between and within these two data sets. Posting approaches are identified by observing individual differences in participation within and across post sets.
The method was found to successfully capture participation in the observed post sets. A majority of posts were involved in referencing activity, which was found to be indicative of interaction. The features of, and constitutive possibilities for, communication in the observed research settings are described and outlined.  Suggestions for future research are made based on the discoveries of the present analysis.

Throughout what is now the more than 50-year history of the computer a great number of theories have been advanced regarding the contribution this machine would make to changes both in the structure of society and in ways of thinking. Like other theories regarding the future, these should also be taken with a pinch of salt. The history of the development of computer technology contains many predictions which have failed to come true and many
applications which have not been foreseen.
While we must reserve judgement as to the question of the impact on the structure of society and human thought, there is no reason to wait for history when it comes to the question: what are the properties which could give the
computer such far-reaching importance? The present book is intended as an answer to this question.

The emergence of social media has created a new medium for administering surveys for tourism research. While social media has great potential for tourism researchers, several aspects need to be considered. In the case of backpackers, a traditionally ‘difficult to sample’ group, destination based surveys, email surveys, survey links posted in online forums, and social media sites like Facebook, have all been used to administer surveys.  The purpose of this paper is to present the case for a mixed-mode dual frame sampling procedure as an optimum for targeting backpackers.  The sampling procedure discussed in this paper included self administered surveys through backpacker specific groups on Facebook.com, and self-administered surveys at backpacker hostels in Cairns, Australia. This paper argues that for this particular group, the combining off-line and on-line sampling modes allows the research to minimize errors while maximizing the diversity. Additionally, this paper provides some insights and recommendations into administering surveys through Facebook for tourism researchers.

Many types of human interaction are mediated processes. However, regarding the details of human description, the mediating unit structure and dynamics is not developed appropriately. The explicit concentration on mediators contributes to understanding of interplay between value sets governing interaction, interaction roles in regular activities and interaction design for purpose. This article is a contribution to development of a concept of mediated human interaction through structuring of mediated elements.

The origin of mediators is the environment, here interpreted as a collection of excitations. Among the excitations, the extracted subgroups are elementary environment excitations (EEE) - which have recognised functions in a local value set, and exchangeable EEEs or mediators - which are used regularly in human interaction. The collection of relations of a human and an EEE is called a vertex. The vertex combines initial and final human states with the EEE. The vertex formally expresses probability that a particular combination of a human state and an EEE brings about a given final human state. Combination of vertices brings about general human-environment and human-human interaction.

Brazilian multicentric study of psychiatric morbidity. References http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/content/abstract/171/6/524#otherarticles Article cited in: permissions Reprints/ [email protected] to To obtain reprints or permission to reproduce material from this paper, please write to this article at You can respond http://bjp.rcpsych.org/cgi/eletter-submit/171/6/524