Virtual Communities

This entry reviews and discusses several issues regarding online friendship. After introducing two opposite perspectives: the cues-filtered-out perspective and the social information process theory, it examines empirical studies with particular focuses on online friendships development, comparisons between online friendship and its offline counterpart, and the impacts of online friendship on the offline life.

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether encourage the owners of computing resources to bring ever-increasing levels of processing power to bear in validating the distributed ledger of cryptocurrency purchases and sales.  Initial coin offerings (ICOs) involve the sale of cryptocurrency coins or tokens with the aid of on white papers.  Crypto coin white papers involve a mixture of scientific, sociopolitical, and economic speech.  They often contain extended arguments for how users of the coins and the Internet or society in general could benefit from a new way of organizing economic relations, assembling and deploying assets, or exchanging messages or entitlements.  While they share some similarities with forms of commercial speech that enjoy quite limited First Amendment protection, they are arguably more similar to other economic statements that enjoy First Amendment protection against censorship, or to direct advertisements that are deemed insufficiently misleading to result in civil liability.  Nevertheless, some interpretations of U.S. securities and commodities law would prohibit authors of such white papers from raising funds for crypto coin platforms if the coin's users expect to earn a return on their investment and rely on the coin issuer's expertise or representations. 

This article explores principles of free expression that could shield truthful speech and subjective opinions about new crypto coins from some of the worst chilling effects of U.S. laws.  It examines ways in which crypto coins may benefit marketplace participants and economic efficiency, including by providing a beneficial alternative to traditional software app stores, logistics infrastructures, or banking and payment systems.  It then surveys the First Amendment and other constitutional issues that onerous regulations raise, and draws analogies to doctrines that reconcile the freedom of economic expression with the cause of consumer or investor protection under the Lanham Act, the Securities Exchange Act, state deceptive practices laws, and the law of warranties.  Several themes in the case law are ripe for application to ICOs: the need for precision and proportionality in framing regulation, the proscription against regulatory overkill and one-size-fits-all approaches, and the requirement that basic freedoms be preserved.  More specifically, the securities or commodities are not properly read as applying to many crypto coin offering papers, and describes other concepts such as virtual commodities or virtual barter systems from other jurisdictions that may be a better fit. 

The article urges American lawyers and judges to probe thoroughly whether the interests served by prohibitions and penalties on crypto coin speech justify the burdens imposed on information providers. Regulating false statements of existing fact and enhancing the remedies for making them will be more effective and less constitutionally infirm measures than those aimed at preempting merely potential harm.  Courts must balance the values of fraud prevention and remediation with the values of freedom of expression and expanded economic opportunity.  Analogous fields of law provide several tools with which to achieve this balance, including the distinction between general or universal fraud prohibitions and narrower securities or commodities regulation regimes, the difference between forward-looking and other statements in several area of fraud law, First Amendment principles governing professional and occupational licensing, and rules against vague or discriminatorily enforced regulations. 

keywords: cryptocurrencies, tokens, appcoins, altcoins, coins, coin offerings, ICOs, "initial coin offerings", free speech, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of information, cloud computing, virtualization, virtual communities,  virtual currencies, virtual commodities, digital barter, securities law, regulation, consumer protection, false advertising, Lanham Act, misleading, First Amendment, commercial speech, least restrictive means, overbreadth, vagueness, Fifth Amendment, due process, human rights, Telegram, TON, Kik, Kin, Kik Interactive, Bitcoin, Ether, smart contracts, crowdfunding, SEC, The DAO, CFTC, CFPB, European Union, EU, banking, risk, innovation, technology, financial technology, payment systems, multistakeholder governance, polycentric governance, puffery, bespeaks caution doctrine, California, New York, Texas, occupational licensing, libertarianism

Highlights
• An overview of the state of the art in community energy storage (CES) is provided.
• CES is conceptualized and analyzed as complex socio-technical system.
• Responsibility in CES design and implementation is operationalized. • CES is not only technical but also social innovation.
• The added-value of CES goes beyond economic benefits to wider societal benefits.

A B S T R A C T
The decreasing cost of energy storage and increasing demand for local flexibility are opening up new possibilities for energy storage deployment at the local level. Community energy storage (CES) is expected to contribute positively towards energy transition while accommodating the needs and expectations of citizens and local communities. Yet, the technological and societal challenges of integrating CES in the largely centralized present energy system demand for socio-technical innovation. In this article, we develop and discuss several configurations of CES. Applying system innovation and socio-technical transition frameworks and conceptualizing CES as a complex socio-technical system, different dynamics of CES in the energy systems such as coordination and interaction among actors and components of CES and the larger energy system is explored. The responsible research and innovation (RRI) framework can provide a new discourse in design and implementation of CES, facilitating the transition to a sustainable, reliable, inclusive and affordable future energy system.

The reception of Benedict Anderson’s ideas was very fruitful in many disciplines, and his work provided key concepts that can now throw a clarifying light in some blurry matters. The expression “imagined community” has known a remarkable proliferation, a situation that led to both the formation of a research direction and to the perpetuation of a cliché. In this respect, my article pointed out some suggestive characteristics of virtual communities, explaining why the imagined community is a valuable subject for the theorists of new media. The impossibility to know in person all the members of a big community is just one factor that determines its imagined face. Moreover, the set of values and inner presuppositions that guide the members are important bricks in the construction of community. In my opinion, the virtual community is imagined as a multi-layered experience (technological, conversational, relational etc.). The dynamic of a virtual community contains the tension amongst th...

The world now lives and works in cyberspace. Often, organizations have their people perform functional tasks by working in virtual teams, where members use technology to cooperate across geographic and organizational boundaries. As the use of virtual teams in the workforce becomes more prevalent, those involved must have the knowledge to communicate efficiently and effectively, especially the virtual team leaders. This chapter provides a general overview of virtual teams and virtual team leadership, and discusses specific communication strategies and competencies necessary for virtual team leaders to be effective and successful communicators.

This paper describes the use of adaptation patterns in the task of formulating standards for adaptive educational hypermedia (AEH) systems that is currently under investigation by the EU ADAPT project. Within this project, design dimensions for high granularity patterns have been established. In this paper we focus on detailing lower granularity adaptive patterns based upon learning styles. Several patterns from existing AEH system case studies are identified and classified according to an extended learning style "onion" model. This model forms the basis of a learning style taxonomy, introduced here, whose components determine adaptation patterns for AEH. These patterns are of importance both for authoring, as well as for interfacing between adaptive hypermedia systems. From an authoring point of view, these patterns may be used to establish a fine-grain approach to instructional strategies that can be implemented in AEH systems, as a response to a particular learning style. The implementation of this adaptation pattern taxonomy is discussed, both generally and in detail.

Multiuser virtual communities have become an accepted fundamental component of communication whereby community members share information and knowledge for mutual learning or problem solving. Virtual communities in a multiuser virtual environment (MUVE) have evolved into active social networks, formulating an alternative social existence and this phenomenon warrants further investigations. In these virtual social networks (VSNs), member participation is essential for their success. Therefore, developing knowledge on how to manage and sustain participation of members in VSNs fills a gap in our academic understanding of the dynamics underpinning the processes of virtual community development. This article aims to address these issues by extending the theory of sense of community into a virtual context (SOVC) and by integrating it with other communication theory of U&G.

Völlig neue Bild- und Erfahrungswelten versprechen die jüngsten Produkte der Medienindustrie ihren Usern. Euphorisch investieren Google, Microsoft und Co. Unsummen in digitale Medientechnologien wie Virtual-Reality-Displays. Jeder Blockbuster muss in 3D gedreht werden. Entwicklungen wie diese verdeutlichen nicht nur den hohen Stellenwert, der sowohl der technologischen Seite als auch den ästhetischen Strategien visueller Medien zukommt. Sie werfen auch eine Reihe von Fragen auf: Wie adressieren multimodale Medienarrangements die Sinne der Rezipienten? Welche Rolle spielen Technologie und Wahrnehmung bei der Modellierung von Bildwirkungen? Um diese Fragen zu beantworten, legt der vorliegende Band den Fokus auf die Analyse medialer Interfaces. Konzentrierte sich die Bewegtbilder-Reihe bislang auf den Film, widmet sich Bild und Interface auch interaktiven Digital- und Computerspielbildern. Dadurch sollen weitere Bausteine einer kritischen Bewegtbildwissenschaft herausgearbeitet werden.

In Deutschland endet etwa jede dritte Schwangerschaft mit dem (zumeist frühzeitigen) Verlust des Kindes (Kersting 2015, S. 161). Trotz der Häufigkeit dieser oftmals traumatisierenden Erfahrung können Fehlgeburt, Totgeburt sowie prä- und perinataler Kindsverlust als eines der letzten Tabus in der postmodernen Gesellschaft angesehen werden (vgl. Müller 2012, Stukenbrock 2013). Bisherige Forschungen haben gezeigt, dass die Trauer um verstorbene früh- oder totgeborene Kinder nach Verlassen des Krankenhauses vielfach als ungerechtfertigt verurteilt wird und die Betroffenen bei ihren Mitmenschen auf weitgehendes Unverständnis stoßen. Das daraus resultierende Verschweigen des Ereignisses ist insofern problematisch, als dass sich die Bewältigung von Trauer im Rahmen von Sinnerzeugung durch Sprachgebrauch vollzieht (Malacrida 1998, Neuman u.a. 2006).
Bekannt ist mittlerweile aber auch, dass Trauernde ihre ‚Sprachlosigkeit‘ durchbrechen, indem sie ihre Erfahrungen in Blogs oder Webforen teilen, sich in Diskussionsforen engagieren, virtuelle Friedhöfe oder eine Gedenkseite auf eigens dafür vorgesehenen Internetportalen gestalten (vgl. Jacoby/Reiser 2013, Tienken 2013). Hastings u.a. (2007) haben zudem gezeigt, dass die Teilnehmenden in dem von ihnen untersuchten Forum eine Art „counterplot to societal narrative expectations for bereavement“ erstellen (ebd., S. 153). Die Bezeichnung Sternenkind für im Mutterleib oder kurz nach der Geburt verstorbene Kinder erscheint dabei im Kontext von Foren zu Schwangerschafts- und Kindsverlust signifikant.
Der vorliegende Beitrag hat daher zum Ziel, den Neologismus Sternenkind als Sinnformgebung im Schnittpunkt von Lexikologie, Wortbildung und kulturanalytischer Linguistik zu erfassen.  Mit Sinnformgebungen sind sprachliche Formen gemeint, die individuelles Handeln und deren kollektive Ratifizierung dialogisch in sich vereinen. Es sind sprachliche Formen, die durch kommunikative Passungsprozesse ihren sozialen Sinn erhalten und somit ihre kulturelle Bedeutung offenbaren (vgl. Tienken 2015). Im Rahmen eines solches Konzepts lässt sich zeigen, inwiefern Kommunikationsgemeinschaften „ihr Selbst- und Weltverständnis herstellen, sicherstellen, aber auch verändern“ (Linke 2014, S. 188)



Publication Name: Susanne Tienken (2015): Von der Fehlgeburt zum Sternenkind. Ein Neologismus und seine kulturelle Bedeutung. In: Magnus P. Ängsal/ Frank Thomas Grub (Hrsg.): Visionen und Illusionen. Frankfurt am Main: Lang. S. 129-149.

Research Interests:
Media and Cultural Studies, Lexicology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, and Morphology (Languages And Linguistics)

""Netzbasierte Kommunikation, Identität und Gemeinschaft" – in diesem Band finden sich zwanzig Beiträge versammelt, gruppiert um ein thematisches Zentrum: sich verändernde Muster individueller und kollektiver Identitätsbildungen in Verbindung mit sich verändernden Formen in der Assoziation zusammen lebender, interagierender oder miteinander kommunizierender Personen.
Als "sozio-kulturelle Transformationen" sind diese Veränderungen nicht einfach Folge erweiterter technischer Möglichkeiten oder deren breiterer Nutzung. Internet, computervermittelte Kommunikation und neue Medien zeichnen sich vielmehr dadurch aus, dass sie die Verhältnisse von "Virtualität und Realität" sowie von "Raum und Zeit" in einem bisher unbekannten Ausmaß gesellschaftlich verfügbar und gestaltbar machen.
Für uns ergeben sich damit neue Bedingungen und Modalitäten in der Expression und Wahrnehmung eigenen und fremden "kommunikativen Handelns" sowie im Arrangement des räumlichen und zeitlichen aufeinander Bezugnehmens von Interaktionen. Zu diskutieren sind daher ebenso vielfältige wie weitreichende Konsequenzen für unser Selbst- und Weltbild, unsere Vergesellschaftungsformen, die politische Willensbildung und die Diversität sprachlich-kultureller Praktiken überhaupt."

Mit diesem Titel liegt eine veröffentlichte Magisterarbeit vor, deren redaktioneller Beschreibungstext auf dem Buchrücken einen „Blick über den Tellerrand hinaus“ verspricht. Dieses Versprechen soll sich durch drei Leitaspekte einlösen, die den Einfluss von virtuellen Welten auf das menschliche Verhalten fokussieren, zweitens das Suchtpotenzial und die Isolation von der Außenwelt thematisieren und drittens die neuen sozialen Komponenten beleuchten, die durch die ‚Begehung’ virtueller Welten ermöglicht werden.

Esta investigación, propone la integración sistemática
de las plataformas tecnológicas de la Universidad de Carabobo,
en su Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud-Sede Aragua, con la
del Sistema Público Nacional de Salud, a través del desarrollo
de productos de las Nuevas Tecnologías de Información y
Comunicación, en este caso, haciendo uso de la estrategia de
comunidades virtuales. Las comunidades virtuales, constituyen
espacios propicios de desarrollo de las redes sociales, que con
la llegada de la Internet permiten su creación y progreso más
allá del contexto físico. Se empleó la modalidad de proyecto
factible, para el diseño de un prototipo de curso on line,
considerado como experiencia piloto, para la enseñanza de la
estrategia de comunidades virtuales, Grupos Yahoo - Facebook,
como recurso de mediación de experiencias de aprendizaje en
las Pasantías de Ejercicio Profesional en Ciencias de la Salud.
Fundamentan la propuesta, principios de convergencia
tecnológica, de encuentro de saberes, la necesidad de
construcción de la ciudadanía digital en salud, la búsqueda de
representaciones sociales de la tecnología, la inclusión digital
de las comunidades para su autonomía y bienestar, implicando
también el desarrollo de espacios virtuales de emancipación,
que finalmente asienten una tecnología supeditada a lo
humano, a la justicia social.

Public relations scholars have emphasised the role of the Internet, and in particular social media, as a new and effective way for communication professionals to engage with stakeholders on social issues. However, beyond conceptual papers, there has been limited to no empirical evidence that online spaces are indeed more effective when aiming to engage diverse, dispersed communities. This paper aims to address this gap, by examining the social media activities of two seemingly dissimilar communities: the Australian Asbestos Network and the West Australian Anti Nuclear Movement. The authors conclude that in an online advocacy context, communities create issues, as opposed to congregate around carefully crafted communications messages.

Networks are assumed to enhance tourism small firms' performance and competitiveness. Research indicates that there are different sources of values that could derive from these networks such as cost and time efficiency, quality improvement, flexibility and innovation. However, in most cases, these values are associated to a general framework of what Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and a network model are supposed to offer for small and medium enterprises (SME) and to its participating actors. Little, isolated empirical research has been conducted regarding the real value participating firms could appropriate and create. This paper reports on findings of an empirical research aimed to measure and investigate the value that single tourism enterprises could create and/or appropriate by participating in network tourism systems. The perceptions of small medium tourism enterprises (SMTE) regarding the value sources that could derive from their participation in network systems are also reported.

The diffusion and easy access to geographic and computer equipment has revolutionized not only the models of communication, but also the techniques of production and diffusion of geographic information, combining more and more objective dimension of knowledge with that subjective and perceptive. At the same time, through the Virtual globe (Google Earth, GPS, etc.) or the so-called Volunteered Geographic Information (Wikimapia, Open street map, Google My Maps, etc.) also the spatial dimension of knowledge has found new life in the world of digital communication and Web 2.0. This paper, therefore, part from the theoretical constructs object of the Cybergeography [22], of the Geographical information science [29; 6] or of what many call " Neogeography " or " Geography from below " [44], focusing on new dynamics of interaction between technologies, territories and communities in tourism, or on how the tourist information-which is the basis of the image and attractiveness of a tourist place, and therefore of competitiveness-born more and more by the interaction between the territory and the community in the age of digital communications and social networks. The literature review on issues specifically dealt with, will be accompanied by the presentation of some experiences of Virtual Community particularly significant as a form of representation and self-representation of local tourist systems through a Tourism 2.0.

Although it does not look or at first seem like what proponents of virtual worlds have been waiting for, Minecraft is the breakthrough success for virtual worlds.  In thinking through how what has emerged through the Minecraft phenomenon has redefined what a virtual world is, this presentation explores three interrelated questions: What does it mean to consider Minecraft as a virtual world?  Why has it succeeded as the breakthrough virtual world? How does transmedial experience factor into Minecraft as a virtual world?

This chapter examines social media relations, which build virtual Erdogans as two opposite realities, with netnography method because of community composition and cultural sharing contents. It will be analyzed visual 'Erdogan' productions in Anti-Tayyip (Opponent) and Erdoğan Sevdalıları-Lovers of Erdogan (Fan/Supporter) communities and it will be drawn post-truth biography of a leader in visual culture of social media. Two different/opposite virtual realities of Erdogan, which are reproduced in social media sociality every day, lead to expansion of polarized political climate in the context of organic society and absorb the political identity of Erdogan.

In a nutshell, co-creation is described as a way to open up a company to the outside world, helping to generate product innovations and to update brand meanings. Drawing on the online community and co-creation literature, this paper aims at contributing to exploring the main intra-organizational challenges of online customer co-creation for innovation, from the viewpoint of middle managers. The intent is to broaden the existing conceptual understanding of the main internal factors hindering customer co-creation but also of the practices that could be adopted to best manage the related challenges. The study adopts a qualitative approach and is based on the results of eight in-depth, semi-structured interviews with digital and marketing managers, working closely with co-creation initiatives in the Italian food industry, with the aim of exploring intra-organizational challenges perceived by those who are directly involved in co-creation implementation. The results complement existing literature by 1) offering a more longitudinal vision of the implementation process-and the related internal hurdles, 2) identifying the most appropriate coping strategies and 3) formulating some hypothesis that could support an interpretative model of the capabilities needed to start the process and managing it in a strategic perspective.

"Diversidad cultural, narrativas y representaciones sociales. Hacia un estudio de la TV abierta en Uruguay.


L. Nicolás Guigou, p. 19.


Resumen, p. 21.


1. Introducción, p. 21.
2. Los quehaceres mediáticos, p. 22.
3. Mirar la Televisión, p. 23.
4. Narrando la (in) seguridad, p. 25.
5. Comenzando el montaje: los guardaespaldas en la TV, p. 26.
6. Los niños asaltantes, p. 31.
7. El barrio Marconi, p. 32.
8. La televisión y la construcción del Otro: a modo de conclusión, p. 35.
Bibliografía, p. 37.


Resumen
Indagamos las narrativas y representaciones sociales sobre la seguridad pública y la ciudadanía presentes en la Televisión abierta uruguaya. A través de la subsunción de la diversidad cultural a la figura de un Otro-enemigo, la Televisión abierta, en tanto superficie de inscripción, resume performáticamente la fascinación tanática del límite de ese frágil “nosotros-ciudadanos” en relación a una alteridad monstruosa y radical.
Dicha alteridad radical (u Otro-enemigo), se expresa a través de un estilo de montaje específico del espacio discursivo televisivo que este artículo trata de analizar y desnaturalizar mediante la elaboración de –precisamente- un montaje etnográfico de corte benjaminiano.
Asimismo, este trabajo discute la pertinencia de un enfoque crítico sobre la televisión que atienda lecturas más allá de la supuesta pasividad o la infinita resignificación de un posible “televidente-ideal”, considerando la sofisticación de los contemporáneos dispositivos de captura del medio de comunicación abordado."

Talking politics online is not exclusively reserved for those spaces dedicated to politics, particularly the everyday political talk crucial to the public sphere. However, past net-based public sphere research has focused mostly on political spaces thereby neglecting an array of other genres. The aim of this article is to move beyond politically oriented communicative spaces by investigating political talk within the British reality TV discussion forum Wife Swap. The purpose is to see whether a forum dedicated to reality TV provides the communicative space, content, and style for politics that extends the public sphere. The central question is whether it fulfils the requirements of rationality and ‘decent’ deliberation. Moreover, the analysis moved beyond a formal notion by investigating how expressives influence the more traditional elements of deliberation. The findings revealed that Wife Swap participants engaged in political talk that was often deliberative. Moreover, it was a space where the use of expressives played a key role in enhancing such talk.

This article argues that clicktivism is a legitimate political act. It emphasizes that such acts, through a recurrent negative discourse, have been marginalized. As a result, new modes of participation that draw upon the simplification of social connectivity have largely been ignored in the mainstream Political Science literature. In addressing this issue, the article develops a heuristic that identifies seven dimensions (or characteristics) of clicktivism. This new heuristic will allow for the analysis of clicktivism as a form of civic engagement separate from digital activism more broadly. Subsequently, the article applies the heuristic to several popular forms of clicktivism, including social buttons and the creation of memes, demonstrating both its utility and flexibility.

Neste artigo centramo-nos na relação entre as comunidades virtuais circundantes aos jogos digitais e a produção de conteúdo pelos jogadores, em como o senso de comunhão atua como agente motivador para  criação colaborativa e em como a geração de conteúdo atua em prol da comunidade, na conformação tanto de um ponto de recursos comunal, como de um lugar de referência para a construção cultural comunitária.

In seinem zukunftsweisenden Text The Cyborg’s Dilemma: Embodiment in Virtual Environments (1997) entwickelte Frank Biocca das Konzept des progressive embodiment. Mit diesem Theoriekonzept entwirft Biococa ein interaktionistisches Modell des mediatisierten Raumes, in welchem sich physischer Körper und technologische Apparatur über ein komplex gestaltetes Interface miteinander verbinden lassen. Diese Verbindung bleibt allerdings nicht ein rein technisches Kalkül, sondern mündet direkt im kognitionsphilosophischen ›Cyborg’s Dilemma‹ und der damit verbundenen Problemstellung, wie sich das subjektivierte Ich während der rezeptiven Verkörperung innerhalb digitaler Bildsimulationen autonom von der artifiziellen Präsenz des Technischen abgrenzen kann. Dies führt zu der bereits europhänomenologisch anmutenden Frage: »Where am ›I‹ present?«.
Mit Blick auf aktuelle Medientechnologien – vor allem in Bezug
auf immersive Interfaces und Displays – lässt sich plausibel vom
progressive embodiment oder von Medien der Verkörperung in zweifacher Hinsicht sprechen: Zum einen unterstützen die von Biococa genannten Interfaces die virtuelle Verkörperung der Rezipienten in den simulierten Bildraum hinein; und zum anderen entwickeln sich die Medien immer stärker zu ›Körpern der Bilder‹, indem sie eine multimodale und damit sinnlich-extensive Repräsentation erlauben.

Son yıllarda yeni bir sosyal alan haline gelen internet, birey ve sosyal organizasyonlara zaman ve mekândan bağımsız bir iletişim ortamı sunmaya başlamıştır. Bu durum birey ve sosyal organizasyonların internet ortamında örgütlenmesine yol açmış ve sanal cemaat yapısını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Bu bağlamda makalede, sanal cemaatlerin anlaşılması amacıyla öncelikle geleneksel cemaat kavramı üzerinde durulacaktır. Buna bağlı olarak da insanların ortak değer ve düşüncelerini paylaşmalarına imkân sağlamaları noktasında sanal cemaatler ele alınacaktır. Bu yeni toplulukların ortaya çıkışıyla birlikte geleneksel cemaat yapılarının nasıl ve hangi koşullarda sanal ortama transfer oldukları da ele alınacaktır. Buradan hareketle sanal cemaatlerin geleneksel cemaatlerden farklılıkları ve benzerlikleri ortaya konmaya çalışılacaktır.

Candano, C. (June 2011). Alternative Philippine Voices in Online Climate Change Reporting. Paper presented at Climate Change and Communication panel, the Asian Media Information and Communications Centre (AMIC) 20th Annual Conference, Hyderabad

Chair: Assoc. Professor Mohammed Zin Nordin, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia

Computer games are quickly gaining momentum by enabling new approaches to teaching and learning experience for programming courses in K-12 curriculum. However, it remains unclear if the game interface and elements created by using three-dimensional (3D) virtual worlds combined with visual programming languages or a visual programming environment can affect students’ learning performance. This quasi-experimental study presents evidence about how a game can assist boys and girls to gain a greater understanding on skills related to CT for developing, implementing and transforming their solution plans into code based on their computational problem-solving strategies. A total of fifty (n=50) high school students who volunteered to participate in this study divided into a control group (n=25) and an experimental (n=25) group that used Scratch and OpenSim with the Scratch4SL palette, respectively to propose their solutions for the same problem-solving tasks via a simulation game. The study findings indicate substantial differences and important points of view about students’ learning performance by assessing their computational problem-solving strategies. Students from the experimental group performed significantly better both in measures of problem-solving and algorithmic thinking. Mean scores on post-questionnaires from the experimental group revealed improvements higher than their control group counterparts in two aspects. First, students of the former group created more complete computational instructions with rules to be specified and delivered the learning goals. Second, students of the same group proposed and applied more correct computational concepts and practices in code. Finally, this study discusses the implications for designing learning experiences using OpenSim with Scratch4SL.

This study aims to fill an empirical void in our understanding of how doctoral students, both domestic and international, cope with loneliness and isolation, and what types of tactics they use during different phases of their doctoral studies to overcome such issues.  Data gathered through a netnographic study show that loneliness is a major problem for both domestic and international students and that it occurs at different stages of the doctoral study. Tactics used by participants to deal with this issue include multiple forms of (face to face and online) social interaction, professional development and escape from the doctorate. The paper discusses avenues for further research alongside some practical recommendations that might be implemented at universities to decrease feelings of isolation among students and further reduce drop-out rates.