Zahra Ojagh; Hamid Abdollahyan
Abstract
This paper will attempt to discover how public science magazines in Iran use a managerial logic in order to produce their projected content. Production of knowledge in this area will contribute to understanding why and how specific type of content is being produced in science magazines in Iran. In order ...
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This paper will attempt to discover how public science magazines in Iran use a managerial logic in order to produce their projected content. Production of knowledge in this area will contribute to understanding why and how specific type of content is being produced in science magazines in Iran. In order to acquire such knowledge the paper will focus on how a language is being used as a tool of simplifying science. In addition, the paper will explore the type of logical relations which have been established between application of language capabilities in such magazines and the managerial logic that run such magazines. The importance of this research lies in the fact that these magazines have been around for about 100 years, while the management of transmitting their scientific messages has not yet been researched on. In order to do this research we have used a combined methodology that consists of content analysis, direct interviews and survey. The units of observations or subjects of study included individuals who are considered to make up such magazines’ audience, as well as randomly selected magazines. Due to the fact that when we started the research we figured out that a thorough list of Iranian science magazines did not exist, therefore, we first had to provide such list. Afterwards and according to such list as one of our units of analysis, we were able to determine how to do random sampling. Some findings indicate that science magazines in Iran have been using a simplified language accompanied by making science attractive to their audience while interacting with their audience as strategies of building up their audience. Other findings indicate that the managerial logic that leads the content has been focusing on the dichotomy of culture and information as major function of their content. Based on our interviews and survey results, we however discovered that focusing on business and education would probably be a more effective strategy to organize the content of science magazines in Iran.
Hamid Abdollahian; Hosein Kermani
Abstract
This paper will attempt to offer a set of indicators that together construct a model which will help to measure social capital among users of social networks. The world is now experiencing some new changes that are affecting conceptual equations in social sciences, two of which are of our concern here: ...
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This paper will attempt to offer a set of indicators that together construct a model which will help to measure social capital among users of social networks. The world is now experiencing some new changes that are affecting conceptual equations in social sciences, two of which are of our concern here: 1- the concept of social capital that has opened its way into epistemological basis of social sciences, and; 2- the world has welcomed the birth and development of social networks in our daily life, affecting many aspects of social actions. There is Facebook from among a handful of social networks that has reached the threshold of international networking capacity with roughly one billion users. We will use Robert Putnam's theory of social capital alongside Frank's methodological innovation regarding measuring tools of social capital in order to create a marriage between these two as well as to address a yet more problematizing issue, i.e., how to measure social capital of the Facebook users. Accordingly the paper will focus on Facebook as the field of research and will introduce triangulation approach that we used in order to come up with the set of indicators. Participatory observation and online survey were used as constructing elements of triangulation approach so to generate the necessary data for the above purpose. At first, we used participatory observation through which 14 targeted samples were selected and whatever they had in their profile in Facebook were collected and analyzed. This analysis helped us to construct our questionnaire which was launched through Google docs. In the end, some 218 respondent returned their completed questionnaires. The final stage of analysis consisted of finding out how we can use the results to offer a new tool for measuring social capital of Facebook users. The research findings indicated that there are 10 indicators which should be put together if social capital is to be properly measured.
Hamid Abdollahyan
Abstract
This paper proposes an examination of the epistemological position of intercultural communication as it is experiencing a lack of orthodoxy tradition. It is claimed here that a lack of such tradition, in turn, has reflected itself on problems such as a) ill-determined subject matter of intercultural ...
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This paper proposes an examination of the epistemological position of intercultural communication as it is experiencing a lack of orthodoxy tradition. It is claimed here that a lack of such tradition, in turn, has reflected itself on problems such as a) ill-determined subject matter of intercultural communication, b) ill-conceived theoretical stance of intercultural communication, and; c) undecided methodological considerations. We contend here that in order to demarcate the subject areas of intercultural communication, and in order to deal with the above-mentioned concerns, this scientific field should at least be able to resolve the question of what is the nature of problematic in intercultural communication. The paper goes on to claim that once the problematic of intercultural communication is determined the problem-solving processes would force the field to determine its paradigms and methodological considerations. To follow this line of logic, the paper uses a combined methodology and will indicate that it is a principle in intercultural communication that in order to solve problems one needs to rely on epistemological stance of the one’s researcher more than he/she will rely on traditional model of academic articulations. Therefore, we will focus on the role of language and symbols in formation of problems in intercultural communication, as well as their role in helping to resolve problems. We will consider three stages in development and evolution of social sciences. In the third stages, which started in the 1980s individuals ’as well as groups’, expectations took precedence over structural and coercive expectations. Taking these developments into consideration the paper claims that problematic of intercultural communication in the third stage can be understood and identified as a result of the effect of four issues: 1- failures of scientific-paradigmatic of modern science, 2- local experiences of individuals and groups, 3- the interaction between extra-national expectations and new media specially internet.
