Suchergebnisse

In this paper, we analyze the recessionary effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital platform workers. The crisis has been described as a great work-from-home experiment, with platform ecosystems positing as its most advanced form. Our analysis differentiates the direct (health) and indirect (economic) risks incurred by workers, to critically assess the portrayal of platforms as buffers against crisis-induced layoffs. We submit that platform-mediated labor may eventually increase precarity, without necessarily reducing health risks for workers. Our argument is based on a comparison of the three main categories of platform work—"on-demand labor" (gigs such as delivery and transportation), "online labor" (tasks performed remotely, such as data annotation), and "social networking labor" (content generation and moderation). We discuss the strategies that platforms deploy to transfer risk from clients onto workers, thus deepening existing power imbalances between them. These results question the problematic equivalence between work-from-home and platform labor. Instead of attaining the advantages of the former in terms of direct and indirect risk mitigation, an increasing number of platformized jobs drift toward high economic and insuppressible health risks.

AbstractWe study how people select their health support ties from their broader personal networks, taking into account the interplay of web-based and face-to-face interactions. We focus on users of self-styled Internet communities on eating disorders, often dubbed "pro-ana" and "pro-mia" and widely feared to contribute to maintaining and spreading these disorders. Despite the controversial anti-medical stances of some of them, "ana-mia" websites may channel mutual assistance, advice, and psychological and emotional support, with ultimate benefits for health.In 2011–12 we fielded an online survey of users of French- and English-language "ana-mia" websites, mapping the composition and structure of their personal networks both online and face-to-face, and their health and eating-related support networks, for two types of health issues. We estimate binary choice models for these data and find that different health needs call for different types of support, embedded in different parts of personal networks. Specifically, online groups provide distinctive sources of help, which partly compensate for perceived shortcomings in healthcare services, although members do not overwhelmingly reject standard health systems and norms. We discuss how web-based groups constitute an important source of social support, and a potential resource for enhanced public health services provision.

International audience ; Following the 2011 wave of political unrest, extending from the Arab Spring to the UK riots, the formation of a large consensus around Internet censorship is underway. The present paper adopts a social simulation approach to show that the decision to "regulate", filter or censor social media in situations of unrest changes the pattern of civil protest and ultimately results in higher levels of violence. Building on Epstein's (2002) agent-based model, several alternative scenarios are generated. The systemic optimum, represented by complete absence of censorship, not only corresponds to lower levels of violence over time, but allows for significant periods of social peace after each outburst. ; A la suite de la vague d'agitation politique de 2011, allant du printemps arabe aux émeutes britanniques, la formation d'un large consensus autour de la censure de l'Internet est en cours. Cet article adopte une approche de simulation sociale pour montrer que la décision de réglementer, de filtrer ou de censurer les médias sociaux dans des situations de conflit change les formes de la contestation, et aboutit finalement à des niveaux plus élevés de violence. Dans un développement du modèle à base d'agents de Epstein (2002), plusieurs scénarios alternatifs sont créés. L'optimum systémique, représenté par l'absence complète de la censure, non seulement correspond à des niveaux plus faibles de violence dans le temps, mais permet de connaître de longues périodes de paix sociale après chaque éclatement.

International audience Following the 2011 wave of political unrest, extending from the Arab Spring to the UK riots, the formation of a large consensus around Internet censorship is underway. The present paper adopts a social simulation approach to show that the decision to "regulate", filter or censor social media in situations of unrest changes the pattern of civil protest and ultimately results in higher levels of violence. Building on Epstein's (2002) agent-based model, several alternative scenarios are generated. The systemic optimum, represented by complete absence of censorship, not only corresponds to lower levels of violence over time, but allows for significant periods of social peace after each outburst. ; A la suite de la vague d'agitation politique de 2011, allant du printemps arabe aux émeutes britanniques, la formation d'un large consensus autour de la censure de l'Internet est en cours. Cet article adopte une approche de simulation sociale pour montrer que la décision de réglementer, de filtrer ou de censurer les médias sociaux dans des situations de conflit change les formes de la contestation, et aboutit finalement à des niveaux plus élevés de violence. Dans un développement du modèle à base d'agents de Epstein (2002), plusieurs scénarios alternatifs sont créés. L'optimum systémique, représenté par l'absence complète de la censure, non seulement correspond à des niveaux plus faibles de violence dans le temps, mais permet de connaître de longues périodes de paix sociale après chaque éclatement.

Several prominent public voices have advanced the hypothesis that networked communications erode the value of privacy in favor of a transparent connected existence. Especially younger generations are often described as prone to live "open digital lives". This hypothesis has raised considerable controversy, polarizing the reaction of its critics as well as of its partisans. But how likely is the "end of privacy"? Under which conditions might this scenario come to be? What are the business and policy implications? How to ethically assess risks and opportunities? To shed light on the co-evolution and mutual dependencies of networked structures and individual and collective strategies towards privacy, this book innovatively uses cutting-edge methods in computational social sciences to study the formation and maintenance of online social networks. The findings confound common arguments and clearly indicate that Internet and social media do not necessarily entail the end of privacy. Publicity is not "the new norm": quite to the contrary, the book makes the case that privacy is a resilient social force, resulting from a set of interconnected behaviors of Internet users

The paper investigates the place of visual tools in mixed-methods research on social networks, arguing that they can not only improve the communicability of results, but also support research at the data gathering and analysis stages. Three examples from the authors' own research experience illustrate how sociograms can be integrated in multiple ways with other analytical tools, both quantitative and qualitative, positioning visualization at the intersection of varied methods and channelling substantive ideas as well as network insight in a coherent way. Visualization also facilitates the participation of a broad range of stakeholders, including among others, study participants and non-specialist researchers. It can support the capacity of qualitative and mixed-methods research to reach out to areas of the social that are difficult to circumscribe, such as hidden populations and informal organisations. On this basis, visualization appears as a unique opportunity for mixing methods in the study of social networks, emphasizing both structure and process at the same time.

Cet article présente un modèle multi-agents à partir d'un forum internet sur la santé. Si la littérature récente démontre la pertinence des approches de réseau pour comprendre les mécanismes de formation du consensus au sein des groupes de pairs en ligne, le processus dynamique d'ajustement mutuel des orientations de santé des participants a rarement été exploré. Notre modèle est fondé sur les données qualitatives collectées au moyen d'entretiens semi-directifs avec des utilisateurs d'internet atteints de troubles des conduites alimentaires, souvent stigmatisés en raison des controverses entourant les sites « pro-ana » (anorexie). Les fils de discussion qui se déroulent dans le forum, exprimant un éventail d'orientations en matière de santé allant de l'extrême « pro-pathologie » jusqu'aux postures « pro-guérison », forment un mélange de réactions conflictuelles ou de soutien pouvant déclencher des changements dans les orientations des membres au cours du temps. Nous développons une simulation informatique d'échanges de messages dans un forum, décrivant des micro-comportements par un simple mécanisme d'influence. Ensuite, nous complexifions le contexte macro pour prendre en compte les effets du renouvellement des effectifs (la possibilité de sortir et/ou d'entrer dans le forum) et du changement du taux de participation active des membres aux discussions. Notre modèle montre que, dans des conditions empiriquement plausibles, les orientations pro-guérison modérées sont plus susceptibles d'émerger que celles plus radicales, refusant la médiation médicale. Ces résultats permettent de produire des recommandations en termes de politiques publiques, afin de concevoir des campagnes efficaces d'information en matière de santé, et de signaler qu'il faut en particulier éviter les restrictions d'accès ou le filtrage de ces communautés en ligne.

Access to Official Data and Researcher Accreditation in Europe: Existing Barriers and a Way Forward

ResumeThis paper offers a methodical review of the scientific literature of the last decade that concerns itself with online services offering supportive advocacy for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa ('pro-ana' and 'pro-mia'). The main question is whether these studies reproduce the traditional divide in the study of eating disorders, between clinical and social science perspectives, with limited mutual exchanges. Having first identified a specific body of literature, the authors investigate its content, methods and approaches, and analyse the network of cross-citations the components generate and share. On this basis, the authors argue that the scientific literature touching on pro-ana websites can be regarded as a single transdisciplinary body of knowledge. What's more, they show that the literature on computer-mediated sociabilities centred on eating disorders displays different structural characteristics with respect to the traditional, non-Web-related research on eating disorders. In the latter, the social sciences have usually provided a critical counterpoint to the development of a health sciences mainstream. In the case of Web-related research, however, the social sciences have taken the lead role in defining the field, with the health sciences following suit.