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Objectives: This study explores how digital platforms, especially YouTube, influence public perception and trust in fatwas issued by institutions such as the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) in an increasingly digital world. It specifically examines MUI fatwas on cryptocurrencies, vaccinations, and boycotts of Israeli products, assessing the impact of digital dissemination on these religious edicts. Methodology: This study employed qualitative content analysis using QSR NVivo 12, focusing on sentiment and thematic elements in YouTube discussions. The methodology incorporates sentiment coding to assess general perceptions and thematic coding to explore the nuances of digital dissemination, public understanding, and trust in religious guidance online. Results: The analysis indicates a predominantly negative sentiment within the Indonesian online community towards MUI's fatwas on vaccines, cryptocurrencies, and boycotting Israeli products. This negativity reflects a disconnect between the public's understanding and acceptance of these religious edicts. Additionally, variations in netizens' comprehension of religious and economic concepts significantly shape their responses to fatwas. This study highlights the need for broader education and more effective communication strategies concerning fatwas, stressing the importance of transparency and context. Originality: This research underscores the criticality of aligning fatwas with Indonesia's contemporary socio-economic and cultural contexts. It advocates for enhancing the capacity and credibility of fatwa institutions in the digital era, focusing on improving communicative capabilities and increasing religious knowledge to ensure fatwas' continued relevance and effectiveness in addressing contemporary challenges.

We define a second (higher) homotopy group for digital images. Namely, we construct a functor from digital images to abelian groups, which closely resembles the ordinary second homotopy group from algebraic topology. We illustrate that our approach can be effective by computing this (digital) second homotopy group for a digital 2-sphere.

The main goal of the study is to identify factors influencing the formation of video game content through GTP models, and based on these factors to formulate strategies for improving these processes. The object of the research is digital information systems for creating the context of video games. The scientific task of the study is the formation and selection of the most optimal strategy for adapting an information system under the influence of negative factors for video game developers. The research methodology includes the use of a combined approach, including hierarchy analysis, pairwise comparison of alternatives, expert analysis and the Delphi method. As a result of this combined analysis and innovative methods, we developed and selected the most optimal strategy for optimal use of GPT models in video games, which takes into account both technological opportunities and challenges. The study has limitations because the strategies were formed on the basis of a certain list of factors, which theoretically could lead to failure to take into account secondary factors and elements that may also influence the area being studied.

This study aims to examine the interplay between political communication and discursive practices in the emerging new media landscape after the recent political reform in Ethiopia. The study employs interpretative textual analysis in qualitative research approach to analyze political communication texts posted by political party leaders and activists’ official pages through Critical Discourse Analysis. By using this method, the study critically examines the recent political developments with a specific focus on: EPRDF fragmentation, disintegration of TPLF from the central government, de-facto state formation, the integration of PP into political scene, inter-party political dialogues, and election scenarios among purposely selected ethno-nationalist and unionist political party leaders and activists’ official pages. The finding of the study reveals that political actors used social media as a political communication backchannel and a counter-hegemonic space to construct their political identities and ideologies. The result further shows ethnic identity has overwhelmingly become the source of power over pan-Ethiopian nationalism identity. The politics of ethnic belongingness is found to be an emerging political communication discourse in the study. Ethnic divisions and polarized political views have been recurrently propounded among political actor’s posts in their digital media. Accordingly, accommodative discursive strategies appear to be the dominant discursive strategies utilized by unionist political actors, while ethno-nationalists employ divisive rhetorical strategies in their political communication. In this continuum, polarized political views along with ethnic-based political formations put the issue of identity in a vexed condition and the existing Ethiopian politics in a state of interregnum.

Purpose Throughout the years, many scholarly answers were given to the question regarding the gender bias in Wikipedia. However, the research literature seldom explores how different barriers are interconnected and rarely focuses on what prevents women who initially declared their interest from eventually participating in the website. The purpose of this paper is to deal with this lacuna and explore the gender bias in Wikipedia through examining how the different barriers are interlinked in a manner that deters women and prevents them from editing in the website. Design/methodology/approach Based on action research with a mixed evaluation method and two rounds of interviews, the research followed the steps of 27 Israeli women activists who participated in editing workshops. Findings The findings show that having the will to edit and the knowledge of how to edit are necessary but insufficient conditions for women to participate in Wikipedia. The finding reveals two categories: pre-editing barriers of negative reputation, lack of recognition, anonymity and fear of being erased; and post-editing barriers of experiences of rejection, alienation, lack of time and profit and ownership of knowledge. The research suggests a “Vicious Circle” model, displaying how the five layers of negative reputation, anonymity, fear, alienation and rejection – enhance each other, in a manner that deters women from contributing to the website. Practical implications In order for more women to join Wikipedia, the research offers the implantation of a “Virtuous Circle” that consists of nonymity, connection to social media, inclusionist policy, soft deletion and red-flagging harassments. Originality/value Throughout the years, many answers were given to the question regarding the gender bias in Wikipedia. However, research literature seldom explores how different barriers are interconnected and rarely focuses on what prevents women who initially declared their interest and who attended editing workshops from eventually participating in the website. The current research has taken upon itself to deal with this lacuna and explores the power-relations in Wikipedia through three questions: first, why an educational intervention did not increase participation? Second, how the different barriers described by research group members are interconnected and enhance each other in a manner that prevents women from editing on the website? and third how can the gap be narrowed?

The digital sphere is pivotal in shaping social norms, and the Italian “manosphere” is a key player in this process. This study examines the composition and structure of the Italian manosphere, an intricate online ecosystem characterised by antifeminist and often misogynistic ideologies. Through a comprehensive analysis of Facebook networks and blog presentations from various groups, we mapped and classified the main actors within this ecosystem, shedding light on their connections and functions. The analysis focuses on two main aspects by employing natural language processing techniques and social network analysis. First, we investigated the functions of different groups within the network—Men’s Rights Activists, Men Going Their Own Way, Involuntary Celibates, and Pick‐Up Artists—identifying their roles, how they interconnect and their ties to the international manosphere. Second, we analysed the blog presentations of members to explore the motivations driving individuals to join these communities, revealing the key themes emerging from their narratives. Our findings highlight the manosphere as a complex and interconnected phenomenon that not only reflects global neosexist trends but also integrates unique socio‐cultural elements specific to the Italian context. This study underscores the significance of understanding the manosphere’s influence on public discourse and its far‐reaching implications for the socio‐political landscape in Italy, particularly concerning gender relations.

The digital sphere can be studied as one of the most mature materialisations of the process of abstraction that accompanies capitalism. It is also a framework where subjectivity internalises the abstract form of commodities even further. In this sense, the Internet is the home of an abstract nature that is linked to a particular reification process that characterises post-Fordist production and consumption. This process can be named “eidetisation”. My basic assumption is that the process of reification is being intensified with the digitalisation of the capitalist system. I will begin discussing the concept of reification as a specific form of alienation, stressing that the reification of society changes and intensifies in as much as capitalist production and consumption evolve. Then I will consider the process of abstraction as one of the main elements of reification. Finally, I will try to identify some distinctive traits within the process of “eidetisation”.

In little over a decade, essential concepts in research on communication have become zombie concepts (Beck & Willms, 2004) and are no longer effective for understanding the profound transformation that has taken place with the arrival of the internet. Public sphere, deliberation, audiences, public ... the academic literature has oscillated between an initial optimism about the potential for strengthening democracy of communication technologies to a critical scepticism. This text reviews the academic literature with regard to the forms of social deliberation adopted in the context of the media and social networks and its impact on the public sphere.

In their recent article ‘Europe’s political constitution’, Alexander Somek and Elisabeth Paar conclude: ‘scholactivism is the form of constitutional law of Europe. There is nothing below or above it. It is all there is’. In this reply I want to take issue with such (rather bleak) view of what European constitutional scholarship is about. Firstly, I argue that scholactivism undermines the very conditions of scholarship as a pursuit of knowledge autonomous from both public and private power. The current attacks on academic institutions by authoritarian governments, and also the increasing dependence of research on private funders result, at least in part, from the politicization of scholarship. Secondly, I argue that we should be more critical towards the infrastructure of the digital public sphere, which Somek and Paar see to be emerging through blogs and other platforms, and be more protective of the existing practices that we inherited from our predecessors.

Palestinian cultural identity has always been the flip side of the Palestinian people’s political resistance. While many studies have examined Palestinian culture from political and historical perspectives, limited academic works have investigated how social media plays a role in providing opportunities for Palestinians to resist negative stereotypes and provide alternative representations of their cultural symbols, including traditional customs. In its attempt to fill a gap in the existing body of knowledge, this article examines the contemporary representation of Palestinian culture, in particular, national garments—the thobe and keffiyeh—in the digital public sphere. Through employing theories of representation, the digital public sphere and applying semiotic analysis, this article follows four main X (formerly known as Twitter) hashtag-based trends that highlight traditional Palestinian garments (thobe and keffiyeh): #MyHistoricalThobe, #TweetYourThobe, #WorldKeffiyehDay, and #KeffiyehDay. Forty tweets extracted from top 10 X accounts, which first appeared in a hashtag search and were tweeted using these hashtags, were selected and coded. Using a semiotic analysis, the article deconstructed the tweets into connotation and denotation elements to better understand what the thobe and the keffiyeh mean collectively in the context of Palestinian cultural narrative. This research contributes to the debate concerning the relationship between interactive digital platforms and contemporary cultural resistance. It pushes forth the argument that shared representations of national cultural symbols are noticed when examining, and collectively reading, particular social media-based campaigns.