The paper presents the main preliminary findings of GEITONIA research project (Growing and Enabling of Information Technologies for Online Neighborhoods: Implications and Applications). Focusing on the development of a local social network for neighborhoods of Nea Smyrni community in Attica (Greece), the main results of an exploratory mixed methods research study, are discussed. The local social network is a non-commercial social medium that operates as a mobile application. Residents of the local community will have the opportunity to use the application for a pilot period, create their virtual neighborhoods, interact with other neighbors, and expand local social ties in a continuum of physical and virtual spatialities. Moreover, taking into consideration residents’ perceptions, demands and visions, regarding a local social network for their neighborhoods, the research project aims to enhance the rule that sets the focus on the users, as co-creators and co-producers of communication technologies.
Starting from the grassroots movements and the Arabic spring we examine the utopic views of social media as they emerged at the dawn of the 21st century. Inspired by Umberto Eco’s dystopic notion of an army of idiots we analyze the techno-social dynamics of trumpism, Brexit and the global raise of extremist voices on social media over the past decade. How these phenomena relate to the techno-social complexity of the modern world? Is Trump’s successful presidential campaign related to social media dynamics, and to an army of idiots that emerged due to this dynamics? How specific social media affordances, like spreadability, searchability, anonymity, pseudonymity and echo chambers contribute to the emergence of a brand new, complex and unpredictable, social landscape? To address these questions, we take into consideration the last Mark Zuckerberg’s manifest Building Global Community (published on February, 2017) and we argue on how Logos-driven, virtual communities can play a critical role in an era of liquid reality, destabilization and unpredictability.
Cyberpsychology is an emerged field in Social Sciences concerned with control and communication of humans and machines focusing on Psychology and Communication Studies. In its generalized form operates as a thematic “umbrella” for all branches of Psychology and Communication employing different methodologies, methods and techniques related to interactive, cognitive and behavioral phenomena that are observed on the internet and social media. As a special science, in the form of Cybernetic Psychology, is focusing on the mechanisms of cognitive control of perception, information and behavior. It targets the programmable simulation of these phenomena; their algorithmic representation and the feedback learning processes that allow adaptation in cyberspace. Issues as integration of everyday life in digital context, management in governance, problem-solving in human-machine interaction, consulting and therapy assistance to practitioners, establish Cyberpsychology and Cybernetic Psychology as areas that contribute and furthering the scientific knowledge of successful or failed human evolutionary processes and strategies. Homo Virtualis as cybernetic organism seeks to maintain and strengthen control over itself, the others and machines, in digital environments, through cognitive, behavioral and affective processes. The paper attempts an introduction to questions regarding the dimensions of the ontological basis of Cybernetic Psychology as foundation of general Cyberpsychology. The special issue “Initiation to Cyber-Psychology: A Students’ Research Anthology” is dedicated to the work of undergraduate students of the Psychology Department of Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. Students’ papers were prepared within the “Cyberpsychology” course, taught, for the first time as a compulsory, during the spring semester of the academic year 2020-2021.
The emergence of blockchain technology has created a debate regarding technologies’ socio-cultural symbolism. Prevailing as alternative or complementary to internet technology, blockchain’s decentralized radical architecture reflects organizational change, enhancement of degrees of freedom, for individual identities and communities, new schemes of distributed trust and privacy, transformation of power relations and social reality perception. The current paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate, from an organizational and socio-psychological perspective, discussing the key elements of a socially grounded technology, like any other technological product within the history of humanity. Through an evolutionary lens, blockchain technology is examined as a decentralized grassroots organizational movement at birth, influencing and, at the same time, be influenced, by science, culture, as well as by other aspects of individual and collective networked life, apart from the economy. Social sciences and cyber sciences are in a crossroad where society and technology integrate creating a mixed socio-technological or techno-social reality. Therefore, it is of high importance for them, to address the new epistemological challenges by developing new methodologies and tools, independently from any utopian or dystopian predictions.
The rapid development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) along with the mass urbanization phenomenon have led to dramatic changes in the ways people create social bonds, form and understand communities and act collectively towards common goals. One important change is that locality and distance is no longer perceived as a key prerequisite for the development of social bonds. Local communities, traditionally based on social grouping by physical proximity, have been seriously affected by technological media (social media and applications). Socio-psychological research shows that the major impact of technology-based communication is the transformation of social bonds between members of local communities and the social capital they accumulate. Within this framework, the research project “GEITONIA” has a dual scope. On a theoretical level, to shed more light on the different ways and degrees local communities use social media and applications in everyday life. On an empirical level, to examine if and in what ways a local social medium mobile application, developed for neighborhoods, can help the understanding of the sense of community and re-strengthen the social cohesion among its members. The article is an attempt to provide a quick glance on the key concepts and theoretical background on which the research project is based.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.