Abstract

This study aims to identify how the characteristics of shared outdoor spaces in housing estates influence residents to interact with one another. The study specifically focuses on a housing project called la cité des 1000 logts, which is situated in a zone d'habitat urbaine nouvelle in Biskra, a city in South Algeria. The investigation draws on two sources of information, observations of the ways in which the residents use their neighborhood spaces and a questionnaire survey with residents about the perceived adequacy of these spaces for social interaction. Data for the survey was collected from the owners of flats in the apartment blocks surrounding the open spaces. Housing samples were taken from a total of 1000 housing units identified within the study area. Twenty five percent (25%) of the total housing units were selected. Out of the 250 questionnaires administered to household-heads who were the respondents, only 230 were subsequently retrieved for data analysis. Results showed that the high degree of “openness” of la cité des 1000 logts and the poor quality of communal outdoor spaces in the area discourage all forms of spatial use and reduce these outdoor spaces to transit areas. Furthermore, findings indicated that the layout of buildings and the quality of common outdoor spaces in residential neighborhoods substantially affect the use of these spaces and the social interaction among residents.

Abstract

There has been considerable debate about the potential of social media to promote new democratic practices and active citizenship. However, the participation of young people in social networks seems to go in a more playful than ideological direction. This article discusses youngsters’ activity in Twitter simultaneously with the television viewing of two films: «V for Vendetta» and «The Hunger Games». As both films address social and political issues, we intend to identify whether youngsters referred to ideological issues in tweets generated during their viewing, and whether these tweets lead to joint reflection on the current social situation. 1,400 tweets posted during the broadcasts of the films in Spanish TV in 2014 were collected for this purpose. The encoding of messages is carried out following a «coding and counting» approach, typical of the studies of Computer-mediated communication. Then messages are classified based on their content. The results obtained indicate that messages about the social and political content of the films are almost non-existent, since young people prefer to comment on other aspects of the films or their lives. The conclusions have a bearing on the importance of considering popular culture, for its social and political implications, as a motive for reflection, and the importance of boosting a critical media education.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a non-exhaustive set of 36 design patterns for interactive social applications used by older adults. This proposal represents a reliable starting point for designers/developers to easily incorporate usability in interfaces for said technology promoting technology acceptance, use and adoption among older adults. The proposed patterns were based on previous efforts commonly presented as a design criteria and guidelines to describe usability issues in this kind of interfaces, reinforcing those alternatives by specifying related usability issues and providing solutions in a pattern-fashion useful for designers/developers. Pertinence of the patterns was analyzed through a usability study implementing «heuristic evaluation» technique (frequently used in Human-Computer Interaction to obtain users’ perception on a particular design). The study was conducted from two perspectives: the vantage point from experts, and the perception of a social group of older adults. The analysis revealed the proposed patterns are conducive to create well-designed interfaces able to provide a better user experience, encouraging a positive impact in the quality of life in older adults.

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a research project in which educational software was used to teach social and emotional skills to primary and secondary school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The participants with difficulties in recognizing emotional states were nine male and female students aged between 8 and 18, with a mental age range of between 5 and 7 years. A single group design with pre-test/post-test was used. The students were assessed before teaching in relation to their levels of social and emotional skills. This assessment was intended to set the starting level of the teaching process for each student. The educational intervention consisted of two 45-minute weekly sessions for 20 weeks over two academic years (2006/2008). Following the intervention, each student was again assessed. Results indicate that the pupils improved their performance in tasks that evaluate the ability to recognize and understand emotional expressions. These results confirmed that the use of educational software for teaching social and emotional skills helps students with ASD to improve their ability to perform tasks aimed at the understanding of emotional skills. In addition, the participants improved their social skills significantly, a fact that was noticed by both teachers and families.