Open Password – Wednesday March 23, 2022
#1045
Use of digital media – Asylum seekers – Asylees ICT and Digital Media Usage: New Life / New Information – De Gruyter Saur – Smartphone – Multifunctional tool – Translation tools – Map app – Internet – YouTube – Refugee flow from Ukraine – European Union
Lecture series on information science – Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf – Isabelle Dorsch – Scholarly Communication – h-Index – Journal Impact – Altmetrics – Mendeley – Twitter – Traditional indicators of scientometrics – Web of Scinece – Scopus – Google Scholar – Medicine – Natural sciences – Humanities and Social Sciences – Economics – Metric Culture – Metric-Wiseness – Metrics Literacies
War of aggression on Ukraine – Cyber attacks – Cyber war against Ukraine – Risk situation in Germany – Federal Office for Information Security – ESET – Smaller utility companies – Reduce attack surfaces – Digital spring cleaning – Reduce outages – Create awareness – Have internal and external resources ready – Monitor network traffic for anomalies – Emergency plans – Backups – IT supply chains
I
Newly published
The use of digital media and information and communication technologies
by asylum seekers – By Katrin Scheibe and Franziska Zimmer
II.
Lecture series on information science at the University of Düsseldorf:
Communication and measurement of science: How it all began and how it continues – By Isabelle Dorsch
III.
War of aggression on Ukraine
This is how companies prepare for possible cyber attacks – By Prof. Dr. Norbert Pohlmann, IT Security Director, eco – Association of the Internet Industry
Newly published
The use of digital media
and information and communication technologies by asylum seekers
By Katrin Scheibe and Franziska Zimmer
On March 21st, the English-language monograph “Asylee’s ICT and Digital Media Usage: New Life – New Information?” was published in the Knowledge and Information book series by De Gruyter Saur. In it, the authors address several questions on the topic of “Use of digital media and information and communication technologies (ICT) by asylum seekers and their information behavior”: What type of information do asylum seekers look for in a new country? What was your information behavior in your home country and how has your information behavior changed? Who are they communicating with? What ICT, social and digital media do they use? What are their motivations for using certain devices or services, from Facebook and WhatsApp to YouTube and TikTok? Are both gender and age-related differences observed? To answer these questions, a mixed method approach was chosen to collect data from online questionnaires and interviews to survey asylum seekers and experts, as well as content analysis of an online platform for people with a refugee background.
Katrin Scheibe
Difficult conditions, be it war, threat of persecution, economic or political reasons, make it necessary for many people to flee their home country and seek asylum in another country. In the host country, many of the asylum seekers have questions about the upcoming asylum process; they also have to learn a new language in order to get by in everyday life and then be able to look for job opportunities. The culture is also new for many people. Some are separated from their family members and try all means to stay connected with their relatives and friends. The smartphone plays an important role here and is used by many as a multifunctional tool. Messaging services make it possible to stay in touch with others and establish new contacts. With the help of translation tools, texts can be understood and communicated with others in writing and orally. Routes are planned using a map app. Or information about local public transport is accessed via the Internet.
Many respondents say that they do not have time to do things for diversion and entertainment because learning the new language takes a lot of time. There are additional responsibilities, for example for your own children and the household. Some people no longer want to hear news from their previous homeland because it often brings them a lot of suffering and bad memories.
Franziska Zimmer
Finding your way around a new country is difficult for everyone. But there are additional challenges for refugees. To name just a few examples: filling out the necessary paperwork, the uncertainty about the decision on the asylum application, the possibility of deportation, cultural and linguistic hurdles and the risk of social isolation. Media and ICT can offer a possibility of support, provided they are adapted to the media and information behavior of asylum seekers and people with a refugee background. This is where our study comes in.
The results of the survey and interviews with refugees show that every young person of a certain age and every adult has a smartphone with internet access. Many report that they use it primarily to stay in touch with others and search for information about everyday life. People share photos of joint celebrations and experiences on Facebook and find out about the lives of relatives and friends. Children and young people mostly use the Internet to complete school assignments. For many of those surveyed, news (especially from the host country) was interesting.
The video platform YouTube is used by many people to watch films and videos in their home language or to obtain information and learn German. Several emphasized that they need help with questions about letters or documents. For this purpose, teachers from language courses and integration courses, people from the responsible office, but also neighbors are asked. The majority of those surveyed would like to have more and frequent contact with Germans.
The content analysis of the “Other Questions” category of the forum for people with a refugee background also reflects the need for information on legal topics and documents. The data shows that almost 45% of the answers evaluated are related to legal matters, documents and the asylum process. This is followed by around 13% answers on the topics of “employment and jobs” and media.
The current refugee movement of many people from Ukraine is not included in the results presented here, as the data collection took place in 2018 and 2019.
***
In 2015 and the years that followed, many people fled their home countries and came to the European Union (EU). In 2015 alone, around 1.5 million initial applications for asylum were made in the EU – more than twice as many as in 2014 (Table 1). Most of these applications were made in Germany (441,800: 35%). Many of the people who fled came from the Middle East, Africa and southeastern Europe.
Table 1: Number of initial asylum applications in the EU by gender (rounded).
Source: Eurostat (2021).
Year
Total
Masculine
Female
Unknown
2020
416,950
266,175
150,675
100
2019
675,535
422,105
253,235
195
2018
602,520
383,125
219,220
175
2017
654,620
436,985
217,390
240
2016
1,206,055
814,980
389,150
1,930
2015
1,256,580
911,060
344,270
1,050
2014
562,680
398,355
164,155
175
Credentials:
Eurostat. (2021). Asylum and first time asylum applicants by citizenship, age and sex – annual aggregated data (rounded). [Asylum seekers and first-time applicants by nationality, age and gender – annual data collected (rounded)]. Data Browser. Retrieved March 15, 2021 from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/MIGR_ASYAPPCTZA__custom_1593290/default/table?lang=en
Lecture series on information science
at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Communication and measurement
of science: How it all began and what continues
By Isabelle Dorsch
Isabelle Dorsch
As part of the lecture series Digital meets Society [1] of the Department of Information Science at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, the lecture Communication and Measuring Science: How it all began and how it continues [2] took place. In this lecture I gave an insight into internal scientific communication and research evaluation, explained their historical background and presented the results of a current case study on publication and citation numbers and the h-index.
Science communication can be divided into internal and external communication. The main actors in internal scientific communication are researchers, institutions such as universities, colleges and research institutes as well as libraries and scientific publishers. In the English-speaking world, internal scientific communication is also referred to with the term Scholarly Communication . A variety of practices and processes fall under this umbrella term. The production, analysis and dissemination of scientific knowledge span the complex ecosystem of internal structures in science [3]. Articles in scientific journals, conference papers and monographs are well-known publication media for communicating scientific findings. At the same time, they provide a data source for conducting meta-level analyzes of science itself.
Scientometrics deals with the analysis of science and technology [4]. Scientific publications can, for example, be viewed in terms of their number (productivity) or their citations (impact) [5]. In addition, more and more metrics for research evaluation are being developed, presented and critically examined. Within science and across all disciplines, the h-index and the journal impact factor have gained popularity, particularly in recent years. This also applies to the area of alternative metrics (Altmetrics), which for ten years has provided an alternative way of measuring the impact of scientific output based on activities in online tools (such as Mendeley) and social media (such as Twitter). represent [6, 7].
Even if no comprehensive statements can currently be made about what altmetrics actually measure and the area offers many opportunities for research, it can still be said that they represent an extension to traditional indicators of scientometrics.
The h-index can be calculated for researchers from the number of h publications, each of which has been cited at least h times. For an h-index of 3, this means that at least 3 publications by a person working in science have been cited 3 times each [8]. If you use databases such as Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar, you will find different h-values for a researcher. In addition to studies that analyze the h-index as a metric or present alternative versions of the h-index, the perception, knowledge and use of scientometric indicators such as the h-index is also a focus of research [e.g. 9-12].
The presentation of the lecture series finally shows the results of an online survey about the opinions of German university professors on the h-index, but also on publication and citation rates. About 90% of the 1,081 professors surveyed said that publications are important to them. They are particularly important for university professors in medicine. Citations, visibility in databases and the h-index are also important for natural scientists, while humanities and social scientists, economists and lawyers rated them as less important. The older the professors are, the less important they considered visibility and their own h-index to be. However, there are hardly any significant differences between women and men. 40% of the professors surveyed stated that they did not know any details about the h-index with regard to its definition and the calculation method [13]. In connection with the application, knowledge and opinion about scientific metrics such as the h-index, one also speaks of a so-called “metric culture” [14], “metric-wiseness” [15] or “metrics literacies” [16], the latter with the aim of improving the understanding and appropriate use of scientific metrics in science.
The lecture and the lecture slides can be accessed at the following links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0uOfb7m3Y&t=1678s
https://zenodo.org/record/5113064#.YUiLkrgzbnc
credentials
[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz0uOfb7m3Y&t=1678s
[3] Anderson, R. (2018). Scholarly Communication: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford University Press.
[4] Van Raan, A. F. (1997). Scientometrics: State of the art. Scientometrics, 38 (1), 205-218.
[5] Rousseau, R., Egghe, L., & Guns, R. (2018). Becoming Metric-wise: A Bibliometric Guide for Researchers . Cambridge, MA: Chandos.
[6] Priem, J. Taraborelli, P., Groth, C., & Neylon, C. (2010). Altmetrics: A manifesto. Retrieved from http://altmetrics.org/manifesto
[7] Priem, J. (2014). Altmetrics. In B. Cronin & CR Sugimoto (Eds.), Beyond bibliometrics: harnessing multidimensional indicators of performance (pp. 263-287). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
[8th]. Hirsch, J. E. (2005). An index to quantify an individual’s scientific research output. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102 (46), 16569-16572.
[9] Derrick, GE, & Gillespie, J. (2013). A number you just can’t get away from: Characteristics of adoption and the social construction of metric use by researchers. In S. Hinze & A. Lottman (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators (pp. 104-116). Berlin, DE: Institute for Research Information and Quality Assurance.
[10] Rousseau, S., & Rousseau, R. (2017). Being metric-wise: Heterogeneity in bibliometric knowledge. El Profesional de la Informatión, 26 (3), 480-487.
[11] Chen, CM-L., & Lin, W.-YC (2018). What indicators matter? The analysis of perception towards research assessment indicators and Leiden Manifesto. The case study of Taiwan. In R. Costas, T. Franssen, & A. Yegros-Yegros (Eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Science and Technology Indicators (STI 2018) (September 12–14, 2018) (pp. 688-698). Leiden, NL: Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS).
[12] Lemke, S., Mehrazar, M., Mazarakis, A., & Peters, I. (2019). “When you use social media you are not working”: Barriers for the use of metrics in social sciences. Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics, 3 (39), 1–18.
[13] Kamrani, P., Dorsch, I., & Stock, WG (2020). Publications, citations and H-index in the opinions of German university professors. Contributions to university research, 42 (3), 78-98.
[14] Hammarfelt, B., & Haddow, G. (2018). Conflicting measures and values: How humanities scholars in Australia and Sweden use and react to bibliometric indicators. J ournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 69 (7), 924–935.
[15] Rousseau, S., & Rousseau, R. (2015). Metric wiseness. J ournal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 66 (11), 2389.
[16] Haustein, S. (2018). Metrics literacy [Blog post] . https://stefaniehaustein.com/metrics-literacy/
War of aggression on Ukraine
This is how companies prepare
for possible cyber attacks
- The security situation can change quickly and companies should keep an eye on this
- Emergency plans ensure maximum business continuity in times of crisis
- Check IT supply chains for dependencies now
By Prof. Dr. Norbert Pohlmann, IT Security Director, eco – Association of the Internet Industry
Norbert Pohlmann
When the war began in Ukraine, critical infrastructure, companies and authorities became the target of cyber attacks. According to the BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) and the eco – Association of the Internet Industry, Germany is. V. – As of today – has not become more of a target for cyber attacks. This assessment of the situation could change at very short notice and targeted and massive cyber attacks could seriously endanger cybersecurity at any time. The steps now necessary include keeping an eye on the situation, reducing the attack surface and checking emergency plans to see whether one’s ability to act in the event of an attack is guaranteed.
The European IT security manufacturer ESET has been recording increasing cyber attacks on Ukrainian government institutions, critical infrastructure and industrial complexes since 2014. In the run-up to the Russian invasion, we saw a significant increase in cyberattacks in Ukraine. Unfortunately, we must assume that if the conflict escalates further, Germany will become the focus of state-motivated cyber attacks more than before. It cannot be ruled out that the computer systems of smaller utility companies, such as local energy suppliers, have already been successfully infiltrated with malicious code.”
In order to be prepared for any eventuality, eco recommends that companies review their existing protective measures now and expand them if necessary:
_____________________________________________________
- Check basic protection – reduce attack surfaces
_____________________________________________________
Companies should use the current situation as an opportunity to review their existing basic measures to protect against cyber attacks. As with digital spring cleaning, all IT systems should be provided with updates so that possible vulnerabilities through which attacks could occur are closed. This applies to both the centrally administered servers and all end devices. The allocation of rights and external access to the company should also be critically examined to determine their necessity. Accounts of departed employees or accounts that were set up for testing are often not completely removed and then provide a welcome back door for attacks. But reducing communication options using firewall systems also helps to reduce potential attack surfaces.
_____________________________________________________
- Reduce failures
____________________________________________________
In the event of large-scale cyber attacks, short-term infrastructure failures can also occur. The Internet is fundamentally designed to be redundant. It is important to check within the company whether there are areas with increased reliability requirements. Emergency power generators for an uninterrupted power supply should be regularly tested for functionality. This also includes an adjusted supply of required operating resources, such as sufficient diesel. There may also be short-term disruptions to the internet connection. If there are increased requirements, a second redundant connection, possibly using a different technology, should be considered.
_____________________________________________________
- Create awareness for the special situation
_____________________________________________________
In the event of increased cyber attacks, it is to be expected that cyber criminals will attempt to gain access to company systems using phishing emails. Employees should be made aware of such attacks in order to be able to recognize corresponding emails. Keeping awareness high is particularly important when many colleagues are cut off from the usual radio in the home office.
_____________________________________________________
- Have internal and external resources ready
_____________________________________________________
In an emergency, companies need qualified personnel on site. To do this, it is necessary to create a replacement plan in the event of an unexpected loss of an employee, as well as to ensure the availability of your IT specialists. The responsibilities of your IT employees should be clearly defined and known. Responsibilities and responsibilities are also recorded in writing in an emergency plan so that organizational misunderstandings do not arise in the event of an IT attack. Remember that an external service provider cannot always respond promptly in the event of an incident. Prepare your employees to be able to act even without external support.
_____________________________________________________
- Monitor network traffic for anomalies
_____________________________________________________
Unusual network activity is a clear alarm signal; respond to warnings from your monitoring software, unless you have handed over the monitoring of your network to an external service provider. External IT systems, such as employees’ mobile workstations or communication devices, are particularly at risk. Such access should always be protected and particularly monitored using appropriate measures – for example VPNs – together with multi-factor authentication. The individual privileges for users and end devices can be clearly defined in policies and compliance can be monitored. Employees who need to work with administrative rights should have their own login for each role. The strict separation of the respective roles and the limitation of rights in the network to what is necessary helps to strengthen the security level. But external services also need to be critically evaluated and secured. In principle, external connections to internal systems must only be enabled from specified IP addresses or via VPN and protected using multi-factor authentication. Appropriate monitoring of access can help to detect misuse of connections at an early stage.
_____________________________________________________
- Emergency plans
_____________________________________________________
With the help of an emergency plan, companies can react immediately to attacks or failures of their IT systems and thus minimize downtime. Rules and measures to be taken in an emergency are defined here. Responsibilities and people are also determined and a checklist with instructions for action is created. The eco IT security survey shows that emergency planning is one of the top security topics for companies ( eco IT security survey 2022: Companies react to a tense cybersecurity situation – eco ). But so far only 63 percent of companies have actually implemented a corresponding emergency plan.
_____________________________________________________
- Backups
_____________________________________________________
A backup is an elementary protective measure against attacks that can be used to ensure the recoverability of data and thus the continuation or resumption of business operations in an emergency. Therefore, an efficient and, above all, tried and tested backup strategy is “life insurance” for a company.
_____________________________________________________
- IT supply chains
_____________________________________________________
Attacks on software or IT service providers can also be used to attack their customers. In this context, it must be prevented that your own IT infrastructure can be taken over or impaired by attacked partners. Ensure that only authorized apps can run, create secure policies for integrating code and external updates. Also monitor your partners’ incoming network traffic for irregularities. Your partners also have strict security guidelines for network access. Also keep in mind that physical supply chains can be affected by attacks and make plans in advance on how you will deal with such an attack.
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