Search results

This article explores the implications of virtual social spaces for conceptualizing community engagement in the practice of architecture and design by critically analyzing multidisciplinary approaches to conceptualizing community namely space, place, and context to envision social spaces of virtual community engagement by architects and designers.

This conceptual article utilized narrative literature review as the primary method for conducting a transdisciplinary theoretical integration. First, the authors defined the metaverse as all manner of human-technological interaction. Second, the authors discussed theories of place from architecture, social geography, and human ecology and employed neoecological theory to describe the interactional processes inherent in research and practice with virtual communities. Finally, the authors documented specific types of virtual engagement strategies in architectural research and practice.

Virtual environments provide varied opportunities for effective collaborations among architects, designers, and community members. The primary strategies identified by the literature review of virtual community engagement were collaborative, augmented reality, and situated digital experiences. In addition, researchers have found that the most effective community engagement bridges interactions in the physical space and digitally mediated interactions.

The authors advocate for increased research towards understanding how the expanded availability of more complex technological tools, such as future versions of artificial intelligence (AI) software, may further layer the landscape of community engagement in ways that may be unpredictable and currently less understood. Additional research is also needed to address participants' perspectives in virtual community engagement and explore how the building of communities in the meta-context is felt, lived, and understood by those who act in them.

The availability of new technological tools and digital platforms challenges diverse professionals to expand their community-engaged practice into the metaverse. Although not every community has broadband Internet or software access, many physical locations whether community centers, libraries, schools, or one’s own home may serve as safe spaces for novel virtual engagement experiences by individuals and groups. Digital engagement can increase opportunities for involvement from persons who are home-bound, lack transportation or child-care to attend in-person community events, or may desire the anonymity afforded by virtual engagement.

Virtual environments can provide varied opportunities for effective collaboration among architects, designers, and community members by overcoming physical or nonphysical barriers to in-person engagement. For example, recent case studies of civic and community organizations have successfully integrated physical and virtual community engagement during the global COVID-19 pandemic by overcoming physical or nonphysical barriers to in-person engagement. Community development theorists have referred to such contexts as a “post-place community” in which individuals find solidarity through digital global networks.

This article theorizes virtual community engagement in the metaverse from a transdisciplinary perspective and coins the innovative concept of meta-contexts to describe a global “post-place” community. Integrating theories of place from architecture, social geography, and human ecology guides an original review of effective strategies for meta-contextual digital community engagement by architects and designers.

The study aims to examine the conceptualization of online abuse (OA) and identifies theories, countries of research, top-cited articles, methodologies, antecedents, mediators, outcomes and moderators of OA and future research opportunities. Two research questions are addressed. How have the past studies on OA progressed regarding theories, context, characteristics and methodology? What future research opportunities can be done in this area?

This study systematically reviews, synthesizes and integrates OA literature using the well-recommended preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) rules. The literature on OA was synthesized based on the Theory–Context–Characteristics–Methodologies (TCCM) framework given by Paul and Rosado-Serrano.

Through an examination of TCCM used in OA research, the review presents an all-inclusive and up-to-date overview of the research in this arena and sets a future research agenda to spur scholarly research. This systematic literature review has analyzed top-quality sample papers, published in the past decade. As a result, it contributes to a better understanding of this relationship by analyzing the different types of use and the value added to the shopping experience.

This study provides groundwork for researchers and promotes a deeper understanding of OA.

The research paper aims to study dissatisfaction of teleworking employees in Spain during the Covid-19 health pandemic in order to propose three models: sociodemographic profile of the teleworking dissatisfied employee; advantages and disadvantages for the teleworking dissatisfied employee and advantages for the teleworking dissatisfied employee.

This study uses official open data obtained from the Spanish National Statistical Institute (INE, 2022) through Decision Trees statistical multivariable models implementing Classification and Regression Trees and Recursive Partitioning and Regression Trees techniques to determine the variables that can influence the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the subjects.

This investigation offers three models with two sociodemographic profiles of dissatisfied teleworking employee, who is a high/middle-level manager/employee around 45 years old, and she/he lives with the partner. Regarding the most important advantage of teleworking, employees consider “use/saving of time” and as disadvantage “worse organization and coordination of work”.

This research provides empirical evidence with inductive reasoning on understanding the challenges of teleworking dissatisfied employees in Spain not only in turbulent times but also in “normalcy” to improve overall teleworker well-being and accomplish company’s and organization’s long-term objectives for better productivity and effectivity. The study has high practical value due to the integral approach incorporating dissatisfaction as a driver that can trigger negative behaviours towards the organizations and that is seldom addressed in the literature. Additionally, this paper could provide some new ideas for accomplishing “Spain Digital 2025” and “Europe’s Digital Decade: 2030” plans on institutional level.

This study aims to analyze to what extent distance education is feasible and efficient with the limited technological infrastructure in Egypt. The study answers this question from the perspective of households' preparedness level regarding possessing information and communication technologies (ICTs). In addition, it assesses whether the pattern of students' ICT ownership is influenced by disability- and socioeconomic-based inequality in education and whether the pattern of ICT ownership exacerbates such biases.

A three-stage probit model with double sample selection (PMDSS) was applied to estimate the factors likely to influence ICT possession, considering the selection process for school enrollment and education continuation. The authors utilized nationally representative data from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey 2018.

About 40% of students aged 12–25 did not have ICTs. Most socioeconomically poor households, particularly those living in Upper Egypt, were the least likely to obtain ICTs and rely on distance education. In addition, female students, particularly those with disabilities, had the lowest chance of benefitting from distance learning.

The persistent structural deprivation of school enrollment and educational progression has led to the positive selection of well-off children in education, which is extended to ICT possession and internet use. Without addressing these structural biases, the study suggests that distance education will likely exacerbate educational inequalities.

The study analyzed the extent to which Egyptian families were prepared in 2018 regarding ICT possessions for distance education for their children, particularly those with disabilities. Furthermore, it investigated whether access to distance learning was influenced by disability- and socioeconomic-based inequalities in education.

To reveal the emotions and information needs expressed by Chinese parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in an online forum, and their relationship.

The 10,062 data were from “Yi Lin”, China’s largest online forum for ASD. Open coding identified parents’ emotions and information needs, and a chi-squared test explored the correlation.

First, parents’ emotions were categorized into four themes: emotions about coping with their child’s care, emotions about the parents’ own behavior, emotions about social support with other parents and emotions about anticipating the future. Parents’ overall emotions were negative (72.47%), while the tendency of emotions varied among the four themes. Second, five information needs topics were expressed: intervention and training of ASD, parenting experiences, schooling issues, social interaction and support and future development. Different information needs topics contained different themes of emotions. Third, the tendency of emotions and expression of information needs were significantly correlated. Negative emotions had a statistically significant correlation in expression of information needs.

This study reveals the relationship between the emotions and information needs expressed by parents of children with ASD. The ASD forum could develop emotional support modules and functions for parents and facilitate emotional communication between parents.

This paper analyses children's experiences of school or family visits to Hare Krishna eco-farms in Europe. The article evaluates the extent to which these encounters enable retention and recollection of memories and, consequently, trigger change towards more sustainable behaviour.

Participatory research, qualitative observations and theories of childhood memory are used to explore the nature of children's environmental encounters on Hare Krishna eco-tours.

Findings reveal that Krishna eco-tours offer a conducive environment for cerebral registering and future reminiscing through the following components: experiential learning of sustainable practices which are radically different to mainstream alternatives, sensory experiences, nature play and entertainment and freedom from everyday constraints.

The emerging literature on children's eco-tourism has largely focussed on market-related aspects and farmers' needs. In contrast, the authors’ conceptual framework, based on contemporary research in childhood memories, offers a tool to evaluate the impacts of eco-tourism from a more holistic perspective.

This study aims to investigate the extent to which the Indonesian conditional cash transfer (CCT), known as the Family Hope Program (FHP), impacts the probability of children engaging in labour activities.

This study utilizes data from the Indonesian Family Life Survey in 2014, focussing on periods following the implementation of the FHP. To estimate the impact of FHP on child labour in Indonesia, the authors employ a propensity score matching strategy to balance the characteristics observed between the participant and non-participant groups.

The estimates show that FHP has no statistical impact on child labour across all matching techniques. This implies that receiving the CCT does not always help poor households decrease the probability of stopping their children from participating in labour activities.

The conditions applied to the beneficiaries, which only require children to attend school without requiring them to stop working, may not effectively address the issue of child labour. The current structure and design of the FHP need to be re-evaluated and improved to effectively combat child labour.

Despite numerous studies examining the impact of CCT on child labour which remains inconclusive in Indonesia, this study contributes to the existing literature by considering children participating in labour activities across all types of work without focussing on specific education levels or regions.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-07-2023-0580

This study acknowledges the existing digital divide in India, particularly for marginalised populations, and highlights the need for exceptional attention to address their unique needs, challenges and demands. Although previous research and policies have primarily focused on physical access and internet skills, this study shifts the focus to the outcomes of internet use. By understanding how older adults in marginalised communities incorporate the internet into their daily routines, this study aims to contribute to the development of an operational framework that charts the disadvantages of the digital divide.

The study draws from Helsper’s (2015) internet outcomes framework to identify the outcomes that older adults can derive from being online. By using a qualitative approach, the study seeks to understand how educational and economic backgrounds influence internet usage among older adults and how this can promote advantageous internet use.

The findings indicate that highly educated individuals are more likely to experience positive outcomes across various societal domains than their less educated counterparts. However, it was observed that the highly educated participants also try to limit the impact of internet use on their personal lives by intentionally disconnecting from the internet whenever possible.

By offering programmes and interventions to encourage internet use and improve digital skills, as well as by enhancing digital accessibility and incentive systems, the government should go forward with its plan to close the outcomes gap in internet use among older adults. For policymakers, it turns the spotlight on creating an environment conducive to the digital inclusion of older adults, consistent with sociocultural structures.

This study contributes to understanding the nuanced dynamics of internet use among older adults, shedding light on the role of educational background and sociocultural factors in shaping internet outcomes. It highlights the need to consider qualitative approaches in digital inequality research to capture the complexities underlying the digital divide.

The purpose of this paper is to present an explanatory model of the factors that determine parental support for possible entrepreneurial initiatives of the parents' children. This is one of the most important challenges to promote the next generation of entrepreneurs.

A perspective based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) is adopted, and the model is extended to integrate the antecedents of personal attitude toward children's entrepreneurship. The model is tested on a sample of 400 parents.

Perceived behavioral control (PBC), namely the perception that parents have about the readiness of the children to be entrepreneurs plays the greatest effect on the intention of supporting children's entrepreneurial behavior. In addition, parents' perceptions of how people from the immediate surroundings value the children's possible entrepreneurial behavior are the second most influential variable in the parents' intention to support such behavior. Finally, a parent's personal attitude toward the parent's children's entrepreneurship is the third most relevant variable to explain intention to support, practically with the same weight as subjective norms (SNs).

The results seem to confirm the importance of entrepreneurship development policies that focus on family characteristics and mindsets rather than on more traditional formal institutional support, such as business advice or financial resources. Family emerges as a key mediator to transfer the rules of normative and cultural-cognitive dimensions. Moreover, the results indicate the important role of entrepreneurship education in enhancing entrepreneurship not only due to the positive direct impact on students' entrepreneurial intentions, but also by changing parents' perceptions regarding the children's capabilities and, therefore, influencing the support for entrepreneurial behavior.

Previous studies have analyzed the influence of support from the immediate environment, especially the family, on young people's entrepreneurial behavior and have defined the types of support the family environment can provide. However, there is a missing link in the literature regarding the determinants of family support, despite the determinants' importance in configuring the normative and cultural-cognitive dimensions and the determinants' impact on society, promoting entrepreneurship.

Current issues (such as health and economy-related) emerged due to the impact of COVID-19 on women’s and children’s health. The purpose of this opinion paper is to understand the world’s health issues after COVID-19.

The authors study the devastating effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of women and children in 2023. The authors have applied the content analysis method and reviewed the post-COVID-19 impacts on women’s and children’s health. As a result of unemployment or financial instability, the fear of economic insecurity increases cases of women and child violence, child labour and other health issues. According to the study, the authors find that post-COVID-19-related health issues increase at a high level.

After COVID-19, across the world, children and women have gone through domestic violence and health issues (i.e. stress, anxiety and so on) and the vulnerable situation of children and women has badly impacted their mental and physical health.

Many children were orphaned, and the poor died due to poverty. COVID-19 has had a direct or indirect effect on children and women all over the world till today. This opinion paper focuses on post-COVID-19 issues that we all have forgotten to include in our current discourse.