Anàlisi

Echoes of Aristotle: Grammar and Rhetoric, conditions of the text generation algorithm

2024-05-07T13:10:03+02:00

Aristotle’s contributions to literary studies remain influential, notwithstanding the scepticism of Cartesian linguistics regarding his authority as a foundation for scientific evidence. It was the grammarians themselves who affirmed the significance of these studies by acknowledging the nuanced linguistic skill of the speaker. They discerned that the lexical ambiguity, critiqued by some philosophers as a flaw inherent to colloquial language, stemmed from the process of grammaticalization—a concept Aristotle elucidated in his treatises on grammar, poetics and rhetoric. This article draws connections between the enduring legacy of rhetorical tradition throughout the modern era and the culmination of mental process automation exemplified by the ChatGPT algorithm. Following Chomsky’s insights, it argues that while the machine employs vast resources to mimic the boundless creativity of human beings, it does not surpass it.

Artificial intelligence versus journalists: The quality of automated news and bias by authorship using a Turing test

2024-05-14T14:01:50+02:00

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the media results in the publication of thousands of automated news articles in Spanish every day. This study uses a Turing test to compare the quality of news articles written by professional journalists (from Efe) with those produced by natural language generation (NLG) software (from Narrativa). Based on Sundar’s dimensions (1999) crucial to news perception – credibility, readability and journalistic expertise – , an internationally validated experimental methodology is employed, exploring a novel topic in Spanish: health information. The experiment deliberately varied real and declared authorships – AI and human journalists – to detect potential biases in assessing authorship credibility. A self-administered questionnaire adapted for online surveys was used (N=222), and gender imbalances were minimized to ensure gender equality in the sample (N=128). The study reveals that there are no significant differences between news articles generated by the AI and those written by professional journalists. Both types of news are considered equally credible, though some biases are detected in the evaluation of declared authorship: the AI author is perceived as more believable than the human, while the human journalist is perceived as creating a more lively narrative. The study concludes that it is feasible to produce automated news in Spanish without compromising its quality. In the global media landscape, automated systems employing NLG, machine learning and sophisticated databases successfully advance into new domains such as health information.

An audiovisual campaign: Analysis of the 2023 general elections on social networks

2024-02-23T13:18:46+01:00

For more than a decade, elections in Spain have been subject to a double reading, one in the real world and one extracted from social networks. The academic literature on this issue is extensive. The aim of this paper is to analyse the presence of the four main candidates for the Presidency of the Government in the general elections of 23 July 2023. To do so, it employs a quantitative methodology with the use of tools for data collection on social networks. Among the main findings, it is worth highlighting that the candidates that generate the greatest response from users are Yolanda Díaz and Santiago Abascal. Similarly, images, and specifically audiovisuals, become the center of political communication on social networks, relegating text to a secondary role.

Interactivity in the principal independent online media in Mexico (2023)

2024-04-24T11:18:57+02:00

Based on the hypothesis that independent Mexican digital media outlets are more connected to their audiences than traditional newspapers, the primary objective of this study is to examine the interactivity proposed and provided to users by these independent online media outlets. As secondary objectives, we seek to identify trends in the interface design of the selected media outlets. Lastly, this research aims to compare the levels of interaction present in the sample. To accomplish this, we analyzed 137 Mexican newspapers from the Sembramedia database (2023), applying an interactivity model according to the Rodríguez et al. (2012) model, with a previous adaptation done by the authors and validated through the Kuder-Richardson coefficient (KR20). The main findings reveal that, while there are high levels of interactivity in terms of information accessibility and media presence on Web 2.0 platforms, interactivity remains limited when it comes to user-generated content reproduction, information personalization, and utilization of Web 2.0 tools. Consequently, this study concludes that the analyzed independent digital media outlets still hesitate to relinquish greater control to users. However, their business model continues to prioritize audience loyalty, increasingly relying on subscriptions and, to a lesser extent, government advertising. Furthermore, the findings suggest three crucial factors influencing the evolution of interactivity. Firstly, improving transparency in media-user communication and facilitating user content publication. Secondly, simplifying access and using intuitive tools may enhance user experience, although it could lead to a potential reduction in multimedia content. Lastly, restricting media connections with Web 2.0 platforms suggests centralizing web traffic within the outlet, departing from external platforms that monopolize advertising investment.

‘Tainted Pearls of Wisdom’ . A thematic analysis of the representation of women in Egyptian proverbs

2023-06-07T16:48:02+02:00

This article discusses the representation of women in Colloquial Egyptian proverbs (CEPs). Even though myriad studies have tackled the image of women in many linguistic genres, this is the first study to discursively examine such portrayal in Egyptian proverbs. Proverbs are usually laden with a moral legacy so instructive that it can steer the rudder of social ideologies. In patriarchal societies, however, sexist proverbs represent women negatively and sediment their submissiveness. The aim of this paper is to explore the major themes in the representation of women in CEPs. To this end, we conducted a thematic analysis of the data from a feminist critical discourse analysis perspective, employing Glick and Fiske’s (2001) Ambivalent Sexism Inventory with its two types of sexism, hostile sexism and benevolent sexism. The data revealed six major themes and 17 subthemes, all exhibiting either hostile or benevolent sexist depictions of women. The data showed that the CEPs were mostly designed to enforce male supremacy over women. Women were portrayed as a source of shame if they did not obey the rules of patriarchal society. While women were objectified and commodified, superficially valuing women for their stereotyped female attributes of domesticity and nurturing of their children, women’s worth is depicted as conditional upon men’s evaluation.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict in the media sphere: A semantic analysis of the titles and comments of the prepper movement in YouTube videos

2023-12-01T11:15:45+01:00

The ‘prepper’ movement takes steps to survive adverse situations such as pandemics, general blackouts, economic collapse or climate change, among others. While its origins are linked to the Cold War, its popularity grew after the attacks on the twin towers on 11 September 2001. COVID-19 and the recent armed conflict between Ukraine and Russia are the latest threats to be added to the list of concerns. This research has studied the topics present in the videos published by the preparationist community on YouTube and has analysed whether the invasion of Ukraine has become part of the out-of-control events that concern this group. YouTube DataTools and Gephi were used to represent the network of connections created around the videos and to identify the nodes with the greatest authority and influence in terms of the propagation of information on preparationism. The findings indicate that the military confrontation between Ukraine and the country with the world’s largest nuclear weapons has become the preferred topic, displacing the other issues addressed in videos published before the conflict. With regard to those who lead the discourse on the platform, there is a presence of different ideological profiles. Some adhere to right-wing political content, related to white supremacy, weapons and various conspiracy theories. While others are of a less politicized and more playful nature.

Media education in Spain: Awareness, implementation, and challenges. The case of Catalonia

2023-10-26T15:47:40+02:00

This study analyses the current state of media education in Catalonia, its strengths and weaknesses, and the challenges it faces. In-depth interviews with five specialists and six teachers and educators were carried out. This qualitative approach offers key first-hand insight into the definition of the term ‘media education’; the relationship between media education and ethical journalism; core elements any media education programme should include, along with content, tools and guidelines for teachers; the level of expertise and training of teachers and specialists; the importance of student access to media education initiatives; and the challenges of media literacy. Results show that media literacy includes the ability to read and understand media languages and to create audiovisual messages independently and maturely, and to take certain ethical principles into consideration; and that the media companies should take their responsibilities seriously, since it is they that create images and role models that have a great impact on children and teenagers – while children and teenagers, on the other hand, demonstrate a very positive response to media literacy initiatives. The specialists and educators interviewed have different levels of training and have been involved in a variety of projects. They note that key challenges for media literacy include lack of interest from the authorities, lack of training among teachers, and the need for incentivisation and easy-access resources for educators.

Media literacy: The case of the Catholic clergy in Portugal

2023-11-29T16:22:53+01:00

Using data obtained from a random sample of the Catholic clergy in Portugal, consisting of 546 Portuguese priests from all the country’s dioceses – representing almost 24% of the total – the concept of a networked society (timelessness and virtuality) is linked to concepts of community and Christian identity, identifying how digital technologies, the media and social networks – the internet in general – are involved in their expression. It then describes what digital media the clergy use and how they use them in their pastoral and ministerial practice, as well as their opinion of their potential in ministerial activity, according to the data obtained through a survey carried out for this purpose. Some of the points identified as necessary to improve the presence and missionary performance of Portuguese Catholic priests in the digital world are: training that results in better digital literacy; an adaptation of language and its appropriate use in the different types and formats of digital environments; and less info-exclusion. Some lines of research are suggested, which point out how to improve the educommunication of the clergy, their media literacy and their relationship with the world of digital communication.