Tech Talk (Asynchronous - Online Only)
Covid 19 Pandemic, Conspiracy Theories, and Government Responses: The Case of South African Department of Health Facebook Page View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Memory Mabika
First discovered in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 the Coronavirus has caused untold havoc throughout the globe and its effects will be remembered for many years to come. This flu like Covid19 virus has resulted in governments introducing some of the most drastic measures to stem its virulence. Because of its evolving nature, and the mystery surrounding its origins scientists, governments and the public have been left puzzled. This has created fertile grounds for speculations, conspiracy theories and fearmongering, particularly on social media platforms, thereby further complicating efforts of governments to combat the pandemic. While vaccines have been developed, uptake of these vaccines, particularly in developing countries such as South Africa has been very low, due to among other things, uncertainty about the efficacy of these vaccines and peddling of conspiracy theories on social media and other mass media platforms. This qualitative study examines users’ comments on the South African Department of Health official Facebook to shed light on the way in which conspiracy theories about COVID19 stand in the way of government efforts to combat the pandemic. The study employs the social cognitive theory to explain the possible effects of conspiracy theories on the government’s information and communication strategies in fighting the Covid19 pandemic.
From Outsourcing to In-house Sound Mixing Facility for BA Film and Animation Thesis Film Production: A Case Study View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Khalid Al Mkhlaafy
This paper critically examines the risks, challenges and potential successes relating to the installation of an in-house sound mixing facility based on a case study at a Film School in Singapore. In order to address the urgent need to effectively train final year BA Film students in professional sound post-production practices to ensure their thesis films were exhibition ready for their annual Avant Premiere, a practical, budget conscious approach was adopted in order to secure the adequate resources to design and equip four small surround sound editing/mixing facilities to cater to increased demand from an increase in student numbers. By leveraging on the democratising nature of recent technological developments and the preponderance of more affordable hardware and software based solutions for audio post-production, the goal for setting up the modest sound mixing resources was to elevate the discipline as it had historically suffered from a degree of neglect for various reasons, which will discussed in the paper. One significant outcome of the shift to bring the process in-house, was an immediate increase in the number of final year students selecting sound as their area of specialism: a trend, which has continued ever since the setting up of the first sound mixing facility in 2016.
Problematic Smartphone Use and Social Relationships: Findings from a Systematic Review of the Research Literature View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jakub Bandoch
In my paper, I address the problematic use of the Internet, social media, and smartphones (PSU). These are research areas that are directly related to each other and deal with identical problems. I explore the impact that smartphones have on social relationships in primary and secondary groups. I conducted a systematic review of the scientific literature on the topic of the possible negative impact of smartphones on individuals' lives and social relationships. The exemplary conclusions that emerged from the review are as follows: correlational analyses indicate that there is a negative relationship between children's and adolescents' perceived relationship with their parents and the occurrence of problematic smartphone use in their lives. In such cases, PSU is most often the product of several different negative stimuli (such as violence, lack of communication, failure to show affection, or overprotectiveness) and is treated as a result of them. Some studies have also found that parental overprotectiveness is associated with the occurrence of PSU among children. At the same time, basically all the studies were carried out using quantitative methods, on non-representative research groups and using different research tools. Therefore, the interpretation of their results is not obvious and the results themselves are not conclusive. In my paper, I discuss the literature review, point out the results of the selected articles, and discuss their limitations. I then show in which direction future research on problematic Internet, social media, and smartphone use should be developed.
