Lucia Casiraghi

This study examines the dynamics of engagement between climate scientists and the public on Twitter, focusing on two primary research questions: first, how do the themes, attributes, and communication styles of climate scientists’ posts influence online climate change dialogues on social media? Second, what role do the public’s attitudes, opinions, and engagement features play in shaping these online dialogues? Employing a mixed-methods approach, including both quantitative and qualitative content analyses, we explored the content of tweets from four climate scientists and the public’s replies to these posts. We found that the narrative styles of scientists and the thematic content of their posts significantly influence public engagement, with visual elements playing a key role in amplifying their positive effects. The public’s responses, characterized by a diverse range of attitudes and opinions, highlight the complexity of engaginga broad audience in climate change discussions. Ultimately, the study concludes that effective science communication on social media requires a nuanced understanding of audience perceptions, strategic utilization of visual elements, and a focus on fostering dialogic and participatory conversations, as advocated by the public engagement with science (PES) model. This approach not only enhances public engagement with scientific content but also promotes broader civic awareness and participation in scientific dialogues about climate change, especially on social media platforms like Twitter.

Negli ultimi anni, numerosi studi di linguistica (ma anche di psicologia, antropologia, sociologia e altre discipline) si sono occupati delle nuove forme di comunicazione sviluppatesi a partire dalla diffusione di internet come mezzo accessibile su larga scala. Le ricerche condotte sul linguaggio della rete hanno rilevato la presenza di modalità comunicative miste, che si collocano lungo il continuum tra la lingua scritta e parlata. Considerando tale premessa, questa indagine si propone di analizzare la presenza di alcuni segnali discorsivi, in quanto elementi tipici dell’oralità, nel linguaggio scritto della comunicazione mediata da computer.

Negli ultimi anni, numerosi studi di linguistica (ma anche di psicologia, antropologia, sociologia e altre discipline) si sono occupati delle nuove forme di comunicazione sviluppatesi a partire dalla diffusione di internet come mezzo accessibile su larga scala. Le ricerche condotte sul linguaggio della rete hanno rilevato la presenza di modalità comunicative miste, che si collocano lungo il continuum tra la lingua scritta e parlata. Considerando tale premessa, questa indagine si propone di analizzare la presenza di alcuni segnali discorsivi, in quanto elementi tipici dell’oralità, nel linguaggio scritto della comunicazione mediata da computer.

This article investigates the use of Internet memes in Italy, to establish in what measure and how the Anglo-American model influences their creation and fruition. Using a qualitative approach, the article examines the cultural references and the verbal and visual elements of a corpus of image macros. The results suggest some relevant tendencies, including the connection between the features of different kinds of memes and their target audiences, and the presence of hybrid memes that combine global and local elements, such as dialects.

Questo articolo analizza l’uso dei meme di internet nel contesto italiano, al fine di determinare il loro rapporto con il modello angloamericano globalmente dominante. In particolare, vengono presi in considerazione i riferimenti culturali e gli elementi linguistici e visivi presenti in un corpus di meme costituiti da testi e immagini. Dall’analisi qualitativa di questi contenuti emergono alcune tendenze rilevanti, tra cui il legame tra le loro caratteristiche e la tipologia di utenti a cui si rivolgono e la presenza di meme ibridi, creati a partire dalla combinazione di elementi globali e altri marcatamente locali, come i dialetti.

During the coronavirus pandemic, political messaging and propaganda have been driven by strategic narratives that are influenced by economic, political and health communication policies. The aim of this paper is to look at how the official communication about coronavirus has been managed by the Italian and the American government, in order to gain some insights on how people were informed about the development of the pandemic and how this could have influenced the public opinion.

The main aim of this study is the investigation of university students’ attitudes, beliefs, motivations and habits with respect to English as a Second Language and English as a Lingua Franca after an international mobility experience.
In particular, a sample of students of the University of Pavia who spent part of their careers abroad through the Erasmus mobility programme was selected and their background and perspectives were investigated through an in-depth analysis of their narratives. Since the main interest of this investigation lies in dimensions that would be difficult, if not impossible, to explore through questionnaires or other quantitative techniques, a qualitative approach was chosen, namely focus groups (FGs) and in-depth interviews.  The resulting corpus of transcriptions was finally analyzed through a Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software, Atlas.ti.