1,720,967 research outputs found
Engaging with barriers hampering uptake of digital tools
Get PDFPublisher Copyright: © 2023 Grivins M., , Kilis E.It is widely accepted that digitalisation can allow us to tackle the social, economic and even environmental challenges that agro-food systems are currently facing. There is a vibrant debate regarding the challenges one might face when adopting digital tools. This article engages in this discussion by exploring how barriers farmers encounter when implementing digital solutions manifest themselves as practical challenges farmers have to resolve. To do this, the article explores three cases in Latvia's beef farming sector. The article focuses on the following two questions: 1) what were the challenges that the groups of farmers faced while trying to implement the new solutions; 2) how did these challenges transform the initial solutions the farmers were trying to implement? The three cases represent three initiatives at various stages of development (an emerging cooperative of beef farmers; an unorganised attempt by farmers to develop joint digital marketing tools; an online shop developed and maintained by an individual enterprise). The article argues that there are multiple creative strategies for dealing with barriers to digitalisation, but studies focusing on different obstacles to digitalisation should also be mindful of pre-existing issues that hamper digitalisation, while simultaneously being impervious to purely digital fixes.Peer reviewe
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
The ambiguity of hybridity : an encounter between constructivism and Latvian sociology
Get PDFWith few exceptions, science studies has neglected potential insights that could be gained by studying sociology, a discipline that has played an important role in its own development. This thesis addresses the specificities of sociology from the perspective of constructivist science studies and explores the tensions that arise as a result of this encounter. The theoretical framework is based on actor-network theory (the work of Bruno Latour in particular), and supplemented with the work of Pierre Bourdieu (his theory of sociology in particular) to examine issues specific to sociology. Via a document and interview-based study of sociology in Latvia set against the background of Soviet science, the thesis argues that an open-ended and normatively saturated conception of knowledge hampers the stability of the discipline. I suggest, however, that these qualities matter vitally to the long-term development of sociology as a form of knowledge. Applied to sociology, a science studies understanding of science illustrates what happens when the intimate connection between political representation and scientific representation is not concealed, and hybridity is acknowledged
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Whose ethics and for whom? Dealing with ethical disputes in agri-food governance
Get PDFPublisher Copyright: © 2019, The Author(s).In contemporary societies there is a continuous process of creation and destruction of ethics. Shared norms are fuzzy, as actors tend to share core principles but interpret them differently. In this paper we analyse three cases of ethical dispute in the agri-food sector by employing the distinction between matters of fact and matters of concern proposed by Bruno Latour. We further suggest that ethics in the agri-food industry should be considered in relation to collective goals such as sustainability and social justice. To expand the role of ethics it is necessary to broaden the view on who is responsible and how for the manifold challenges faced in food production, distribution and consumption. We contend that reflections on the relationship between ethics and sustainability must go beyond an anthropocentric approach and also consider the welfare of non-human nature (e.g. land, animals). Our study suggests that the boundary between politics and ethics is fluid and governing institutions have a role to play in ethicisation of food systems along with industry and civil society. Any resolution of matters of concern is neither innocent, nor impartial. Ethical responses to food system challenges are rather to be established through dialogue and alignment of ethical practices.Peer reviewe
Creeping Road Traffic Surveillance in Latvia: Social and Legal Implications of Digital Policing Tools
No full textThis article critically analyses road traffic surveillance and its social and legal implications, with a focus on the use of digital tools in policing, namely: speed cameras, drones, and a police mobile application in Latvia. Specifically, the article explores: (1) the attributed role of these surveillance tools in terms of caring, preventive, and punitive functions and the potential for function creep and (2) the key challenges these tools pose to fundamental rights and data protection. Thus, it contributes to academic and public debate around the consequences of digital surveillance and embedding democratic governance in policing. The research is based on an exploratory case study that includes analysis of expert interviews, media coverage, the legal framework, and a focus group with traffic participants. We argue that, while the use of these surveillance tools is construed as an example of benevolent and caring surveillance aimed at improving road safety in a preventive manner, it is reliant upon a pronounced punitive dimension that in itself may not be conducive to behavioural change. At the same time, the increasing deployment of all of these tools may lead to function creep and raises challenges for fundamental rights and data protection. While efforts have been made to ensure legitimate use of these tools, not enough attention has been paid to their compliance with data protection requirements. Moreover, there is a need to improve the regulatory framework regarding police use of new surveillance tools, such as drones, which would determine the purposes of such uses and set an obligation to evaluate their effectiveness, impact, and proportionality in order to comply with fundamental rights law and ensure their trustworthy use
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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