The processes of post-socialist transformation, especially large-scale migration from Eastern Europe to the Western hemisphere, are creating an ‘expansion of space’ from the local to the supra-local. This process involves the expansion of personal-, familial- and friendship-based networking practices which acquire significance as transnational mobile livelihoods and as significant dimensions of urban dynamics in global cities like Chicago. What are the networks, attachments and social bonds of Eastern European migrants in Chicago? Ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Chicago in 2013 among recent Lithuanian immigrants brought out the importance of a cultural identity of East European-ness involving contested loyalties and limited integration. While living locally, Lithuanian immigrants are expected both to be bound to the ethnic community and to be immersed in the multicultural life-style of the mega city. However the research has shown that livelihoods and social relations among ‘one's own people’ are involved in trans-ethnic networks and that the bonds of intimacy and the alliances among ‘one's own people’ run through homeland roots and patrimonial linkages rather than through the citizenship loyalties of the state (the United States and/or Lithuania). The circle of ‘one's own people’ implies extensive reciprocity and social networking among ‘friends’ and co-workers based on ‘one's own resourcefulness’ a kind of social capital. Thus, ‘sharing important acquaintances’ ought to involve ‘doing favours’ and livelihood experiences transplanted from oversees are practised in Chicago as ‘local’ life-styles and are used for transnational networking, securing in the process the social status of those involved.

With the ongoing coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2, SARS-CoV-2), the entire community of health professionals is working to control disease and investing crores in vaccine development. The present discussion is to bring the focus on various social issues that emerge during outbreak and calls for equal attention as that of other health-care interventions. These issues are summarized in three categories: first, stigmatization due to lack of knowledge about the source of infection; second, speculations and their consequences around lack of knowledge about transmission; and finally, the concern regarding miscommunication during such a crisis. Most of these concerns emerge from press and social media coverage of the episode. The Ebola outbreak response is an example of how social scientists and anthropologists can work with other experts to solve questions of public health importance. Their approach toward the community with the objective to understand the sources, reasons, and circumstances of the infection will help to manage the current outbreak. In this context, we suggest collaboration of diverse scientific community to control and sensitize the people to tackle the misinformation in the affected and non-affected community during the outbreaks.

This paper presents the results of a study exploring the intercultural development of first-year Japanese university students engaged in online intercultural exchange (OIE) using two variations: one implementing guided reflection, and the other relying on the learner autonomy model. Intercultural development was quantitatively measured using the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (Chen & Starosta, 2000) and qualitatively investigated through participants’ written reflections. Results of the OIE using guided reflection showed significant gains in respect for the target culture, whereas the OIE that followed the autonomous learning model yielded significant gains in self-efficacy in relation to intercultural contact. Qualitative analysis of student reflections confirmed these findings and provided insight into the processes involved in achieving these results.

This study aimed to assess the risks and opportunities associated with Facebook usage and to explore the moderating role of psychosocial (mal)adjustment, nationality and age in these relationships. This correlational study involved a sample of 452 Brazilian and 500 Portuguese youths, aged between 14 and 20 years. Results showed that these youths spent a daily average of 61-120 minutes on Facebook, three to four times per week, displaying a positive attitude towards its use. These characteristics were most notable in the Brazilian youths [t(950) = 5.64, p < .001; t(950) = –5.07, p < .001; and t(950) = – 6.85, p < .001, respectively]. The Portuguese youths ran more risks than the Brazilians [t(950) = 6.36, p < .001], but both youths equally enjoyed the opportunities. In the case of the Portuguese youths, the risks and opportunities were moderated by the frequency of use, in other words “the higher the usage, the more risks and opportunities” (β = –.235 p < .001and β = –.167, p < .001, respectively). The psychosocial adjustment indicators did not moderate the effects of Facebook usage habits in risks and opportunities. The less psychosocially adjusted youths were those who ran more risks and also made the most of the opportunities. The results are discussed in light of the role of psychological, socio-cultural and developmental factors.

In this article we review research on Chinese guanxi andsocial networking in the past twenty years and identify the majorperspectives, theories, and methodologies used in guanxiresearch at micro and macro levels. We summarize the main findings of over200 journal articles on guanxi research in terms of itsconceptual definitions and measurements, its antecedents and consequences,and its dynamics and processes. Furthermore, we identify the gaps betweendifferent levels of guanxi research and discuss futuredirections to advance our understanding of the complex and intricate guanxi phenomenon.

Three years ago James Mullan delivered a presentation called “Emerging technologies” and followed this up with an article in Legal Information Management (LIM) called “Making mountains out of molehills: a look at some emerging technologies”1 Two years further on and the Editor of LIM asked him to re-visit the issues and to write a follow-up article on the subject. As a result this paper looks at the current state of play with those technologies and identifies some of the significant technological developments to have taken place since his original article.

This study compared the degree to which social networking sites and structured extracurricular activities provided adolescents with positive developmental experiences. Given the relatively unique nature of social networking sites as a leisure context for adolescents, and the extremely fast rate at which this leisure activity has been adopted by the majority of youth in countries where the technology is easily accessible, it is important that research explores how this leisure context compares to more traditional extracurricular activities. Adolescents from eight high schools across the state of Western Australia were surveyed. The results showed that traditional structured leisure activities (e.g., sport, art) provided adolescents with more experiences of identity exploration and reflection and positive peer interactions than social networking site use. Further analysis compared differences within social networking site use and found that both the frequency with which an adolescent visited their social networking site, and the degree of investment they had in their social networking site, positively predicted greater experiences of identity exploration and reflection and positive peer interactions. Though social networking sites are a popular adolescent leisure activity, they do not provide the same level of positive developmental experiences that are afforded through adolescent participation in traditional structured extracurricular activities.

In this article, James Mullan addresses recent technological developments with particular emphasis on Google+, Cloud Computing, mobile technologies, ebooks and e-readers.

Many successful organisations consider Internet recruitment to be an important element of their recruitment strategy, in order to promote, attract, manage and inform applicants in what is seen to be a cost and time effective manner (Anderson, 2003; Bartram, 2000; Parry & Tyson, 2008). This article contributes to the understanding of this subject by considering the content and characteristics of online recruitment resources within the cruise industry with reference to the resultant attitudes and behaviours of prospective employees. This study sought to critically analyse the effectiveness of online resources to attract and inform future employees within the hotel sector of the cruise industry and make recommendations to employers in relation to developing practice. A research plan was formulated that aimed to take a multimethod approach to revealing practice and potential client perceptions. This approach included conducting a comparative analysis of cruise websites using a modified version of a conceptual e-recruiting model, as defined by Young and Foot (2005). In addition, a cruise industry recruitment specialist was interviewed to capture key contextual and strategic data. Thereafter, data from a focus group involving final year Cruise Management students from the University of Plymouth, were collected to highlight perceptions of online recruitment resources from the potential employees' perspective. The investigation reveals that many elements such as content usefulness, web site attractiveness and usability have a major influence on prospective employees' perceptions and opinions of a company or cruise brand and that cruise brands have yet to harness the full capability of the medium to best effect.

At the BIALL Conference in June 2010 John Duffy presented a paper recounting his experiences of installing a bespoke desktop library interface for all the barristers, with customisation available and utilising Web 2.0 tools.