Digital Social Sciences
Journal articles - Digital Social Sciences
All articles: 31
Scientific article
Ready-Made Garments (RMG) sector is crucial to Bangladesh's economy, significantly contributing to GDP, employment, and exports. However, supply chain management (SCM) inefficiencies, such as poor demand forecasting, inventory management, logistics, and quality control, pose persistent challenges. This study investigates the potential of integrating advanced technologies like AI, IoT, blockchain, Big Data Analytics, and automation to improve SCM in the Bangladeshi RMG sector. Through a review of literature, industry reports, and case studies, the study assesses the benefits and challenges of technology adoption in the sector. Advanced technologies can enhance visibility, efficiency, quality control, decision-making, and sustainability in SCM. However, challenges such as high costs, data privacy, technical complexity, and resistance to change require strategic planning to overcome. Adopting these technologies can significantly improve the RMG sector's efficiency and global competitiveness, requiring collaboration between policymakers and industry leaders. This study provides a concise analysis of technology integration in Bangladeshi RMG SCM, offering balanced insights to guide future research and industry practices.
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Local Dwellers’ Socio-emotional-based Connection to a Local Heritage Site
Scientific article
A local heritage site is a culturally, historically, or architecturally significant place that reflects a community’s identity. However, few studies explore how long-term residents develop emotional and social bonds with such sites. Grounded in the theory of community attachment, this study investigates the socio-emotionally based connections of local dwellers to a heritage site. Utilizing a semi-structured, researcher-designed interview guide, data was collected through face-to-face interviews with five purposefully selected residents aged 40 - 80, each of whom had lived near the site for at least ten years. Thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke revealed two (2) overarching themes: (1) Emotion-based connection and (2) Social-based connection - further divided into seven (7) sub-themes: sense of belonging, emotional response, spirituality and religious connection, economic engagement, collective perception of the site, caretaker networks, and collective concerns and preservation efforts, yielding twenty two categories overall. This study concludes that local dwellers possess numerous socio-emotion-based connections to the heritage site, shaped by both emotional and social dimensions of connection, suggesting the site functions as a living part of everyday communal life rather than merely a historical monument.
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Research Ethics in Digital Social Sciences
Scientific article
Since last decade, digital technologies have revolutionized the social science research, due to un-limited access to large-scale behavioral data, computational modelling, and analysis using AI. However, moral issues of privacy, monitoring, algorithmic prejudice, assent, and data breach have emerged simultaneously. Current study explores the relationship between technology ethics, and digital social science, suggesting that methodological innovation in social science is inextricably linked with normative ethical issues. The study explores surveillance capitalism, data ethics, and algorithmic accountability to examine the technological and ethical shifts towards reshaping digital social science. Digital social science can focus pattern recognition over meaningful explanation if it’s does not use a strong theoretical foundation and methodological reflexivity. The study highlights that research ethics boards and regulations, needs to be adjusted to computational research environments. An ethically-centered digital social science, needs transparency, collaborative data stewardship and responsible use of AI. The future of digital social science hinges on combining technological innovation with ethical considerations, with the aim of not sacrificing social responsibility or scientific integrity for the sake of computational power.
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Rethinking Classroom Assessment: Rural Nepalese Teachers’ Experiences with Formative Practices
Scientific article
Formative assessment remains an evolving practice, and the Continuous Assessment System is widely recognized as one of the most effective pedagogical approaches globally, envisioned to enhance the learning process for students. However, its practical implementation remains limited in many developing nations, particularly in relation to their instructional methodologies. The gap between policy formulation and classroom practice is frequently overlooked, especially when considering the insights of a secondary-level teacher from Baghchaur Municipality, Nepal, whose reflections informed the understanding of CAS's effectiveness and the challenges impeding its application. This convergent mixed methods study employed a census-based sampling strategy, incorporating all 40 teachers from 20 secondary schools within municipalities offering subjects such as Health, Population, and Social Studies. The study utilized a combination of randomized open-ended and Likert-scale questions, with the instrument's reliability confirmed by a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.87. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency distributions) and inferential statistical techniques, including independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVA, both grounded in chi-square analysis. Thematic analysis was also applied to data from non-observation periods, which provided critical qualitative insights. One of the central findings indicated that teachers generally held positive perceptions of CAS, acknowledging its potential to enrich instructional opportunities. Furthermore, many educators believed that CAS could reduce purposeless absenteeism (M = 4.45, SD = 0.81), support consistent graduation rates (M = 4.40, SD = 0.78), and enhance both academic achievement and teaching licensure outcomes (M = 4.30, SD = 0.83). Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences based on gender or teaching experience (p > .05), indicating that challenges related to CAS implementation are commonly experienced across demographics. Thematic analysis identified three major barriers: acute shortages of resources and disproportionate student-teacher ratios; insufficient and ineffective professional development initiatives; and external systemic influences that are both unsupportive and underdeveloped. The study revealed that while experienced educators recognize the pedagogical value of CAS, its effective implementation is hindered by a persistent gap between policy and practice. CAS should be viewed as a flexible, evolving process requiring ongoing improvement. Achieving meaningful reform demands strategic resource allocation, sustained teacher development, and the integration of formative assessment into school culture.
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Securing Low-Energy Data Centres in Sustainable Cybersecurity Infrastructure
Scientific article
The global digital economy exists on a physical paradox: whilst the ‘cloud’ is an industrial physical infrastructure that uses a lot of electricity, water and other raw materials to operate. The emergence of this paradox has led to a significant doctrinal tension between a government’s obligation for cyber security against its government’s obligation for environmental sustainability as the European Union continues with its “twin transition” of digitisation and decarbonisation. In the paper, I will provide an analysis of the legal and technical implications of this conflict by examining how the NIS 2 Directive, GDPR and the recast Energy Efficiency Directive relate to each other. Finally, I will explain that the move towards using “low-energy” infrastructure will create new vulnerabilities that are not being addressed under current liability frameworks due to the adoption of liquid cooled systems; IoT-driven environmental controls; and lightweight cryptography. In addition, this write up discusses the “Sanitization Paradox”, which is a situation where data protection absolutism requires functional devices to be physically destroyed (shredded), creating a break in the circular economy for Critical Raw Material (CRM) commodities such as Neodymium and Cobalt. This write up synthesizes technical information related to “Green AI” and cryptographic efficiency with legal information regarding tort liability and regulatory compliance in order to propose a standard for “eco-efficient resilience” that balances the demands of security against the demands of sustainability.
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Scientific article
Succeeding in any political endeavor requires thoughtful execution. As digital media rose in influence while traditional outreach remained relevant, various campaign strategies were employed to target specific goals. This study aimed to describe students' views on how election campaign strategies shaped newly registered voters' political views. The study adopted a qualitative-descriptive approach, gathering data through a pre-validated, semi-structured written interview guide. Nine (9) newly registered voters from the College of Education were selected through purposive sampling. Clarke and Braun's thematic analysis was used to identify recurring patterns in the data. Seven (7) key themes emerged from the analysis namely: (1) Advertising through social media, (2) Interacting with trending posts and memes, (3) Participating in online discussions, (4) Doing door-to-door campaigning, (5) Using posters, banners and flyers, (6) Organizing rallies, and (7) Displaying campaign slogans, then classified into fifteen (15) categories. Results identified that while digital platforms expanded voters’ exposure to campaign information, conventional methods continued to build trust through personal interaction. The interplay of digital and conventional approaches in election campaigning proves essential in shaping varied political perspectives among young voters.
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Scientific article
Cockfighting remains a deeply rooted cultural practice in the Philippines; however, when persistently pursued as a form of gambling, it generates significant but often hidden socioeconomic costs. This study explores these socioeconomic disparities caused by persistent cockfighting involvement. Anchored in Becker and Murphy’s (1988) Rational Addiction Theory, it examines how habitual gambling, despite an awareness of long-term harm, follows a rational yet destructive pattern motivated by short-term rewards such as excitement, social connection, and perceived financial gain. Employing a descriptive qualitative approach, the study identified three (3) major themes: intensified financial vulnerability, declining employment commitment, and erosion of family relation-ships. These themes encompass twelve (12) subthemes: (1) cockfighting expenses consume daily earnings; (2) bettors borrow to cover losses; (3) savings and income plans are disrupted; (4) loss of financial control; (5) absenteeism from work; (6) declining job performance; (7) weakened work commitment; (8) mismanagement of work schedules; (9) household financial strain; (10) emotional family conflicts; (11) neglect of family roles; and (12) erosion of emotional family support. Findings show that the normalization of cockfighting within com-munities reinforces these destructive behaviors. The study highlights the urgent need for multi-sectoral inter-ventions and further research to address the broader consequences of this culturally embedded yet socially harmful form of gambling.
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Scientific article
India's economy is developing rapidly due to digitization, changing the way citizens interact with the government and improving the way services are delivered. However, significant cybersecurity issues are identified in India's digital system, demanding new ways to protect citizens' "informational privacy”. This study explores the evolution of Indian (privacy) law by significant courts' decisions; starting with M.P. Sharma (1954) and ending with the K.S. Puttaswamy v Union of India (2017) that established the right to privacy as part of the fundamental rights framework established through Article 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution. Accordingly, a close analysis of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (“The DPDPA”) is reported exploring the conflict between state interests and individual liberties and specifically the broad exemptions provided to government agencies pursuant to Section 17 of the DPDPA. It is these same exemptions that some persons believe will enable unchecked government surveillance on an equivalent basis as the “Going Dark” debate related to encrypted data. The paper will focus on the technical aspects of how the laws and regulations defining end-to-end encrypted systems, zero-trust security models (pursuant to CERT-In’s requirements to report breaches within six hours), and the requirements to report breaches/other incidents within six hours can be interpreted and enforced. Comparisons will be made to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union and how there are gaps in the Indian framework that do not ensure regulatory independence and/or facilitate cross-border data transfers. Ultimately, while DPDPA 2023 may represent an important moment in Indian legal history, its success or failure will depend more on the operational independence of the Data Protection Board than on the harmonization of legal requirements with the changing nature of cybersecurity.
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The Endless Mesh: Life in the Societies of Control
Scientific article
This paper analyzes the structural and conceptual transition from Michel Foucault’s “disciplinary society” to Gilles Deleuze’s “society of control,” examining its profound implications for the social production of subjectivity in contemporary digital environments. Grounded in Foucault’s formulation of discipline as a mechanism that optimizes bodies through spatial compartmentalization and discrete institutional enclosures – such as the school, factory, hospital and prison – the study explores how Deleuze reinterprets this framework in light of evolving computational infrastructures and datafication. As foundational modern institutions face a crisis of legitimacy, power shifts from fixed physical molds to continuous, fluid modulations, transforming the governance unit from the unified “individual” into the datafied “dividual” – a subject decomposed into numerical codes and algorithmic data streams. The investigation details how this mutation erodes classic modern dichotomies (interior/exterior, public/private, self/Other) as physical public spaces are sublimated into politically inert virtual non-spaces governed by platform capitalism, predictive feedback loops and automated protocols. At the macro-level, the disappearance of a dialectical “Other” hollows out traditional state sovereignty, establishing the global market as the supreme diagram of contemporary power. Finally, the paper demonstrates how the carceral network transitions from physical confinement to a psychopolitical digital panopticon. Embedded within personal devices and notification loops, digital control operates through voluntary self-quantification and continuous engagement. The society of control does not dismantle disciplinary power, but rather digitizes and intensifies it, creating an omnipresent “endless mesh” that continuously generates subjectivity across every layer of daily existence.
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Scientific article
As Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data rapidly evolve, their integration into sustainable devel-opment strategies presents both promising opportunities and profound ethical challenges. This research inves-tigates the dual role of AI and Big Data in shaping governance structures, enhancing social welfare systems, and addressing global equity disparities, while critically examining the ethical tensions that arise. Drawing from a multidisciplinary approach, the study analyzes policy frame- works, case studies, and technological deployments across both developed and developing nations. The research highlights how AI-driven decision-making can improve resource distribution and public service efficiency, while also revealing concerns such as data privacy violations, algorithmic bias, and reinforcement of socio-economic inequalities. Through qualita-tive content analysis and policy review, this paper contributes to the discourse on responsible AI and ethical data governance, underscoring the need for global cooperation and robust legal frameworks that safeguard human rights while promoting innovation.
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The Future of Digital Companions: Intimacy, Attachment, and the Reconfiguration of Human Connection
Scientific article
Digital companions, or conversational agents, have arisen in the wake of generative AI and their ability to support continuous social and emotional engagement. From science fiction emerge AI companions that are now reaching tens of millions of users across the globe, and more specialized platforms and more general-purpose AI assistants are all becoming more and more relational partners. With a sociotechnical approach in mind, this paper explores the potential trajectory of digital companionship, discussing the form of design logic that makes digital companions so attractive, the psychological processes involved in human-AI bonding, and the future of synthetic bonding and human sociality. Informed by recent empirical studies, platform analyses and a critical-theoretical approach, the paper proposes that digital companions are not only a new technology but a profound reconfiguration of intimacy, relational norms and intimacy in the modern society. The future of digital companionship will be defined by the interplay of market forces, regulatory responses and changing cultural attitudes, and will have a significant impact on how humans interact with technology and each other.
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