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The authors in this study examined the function and public reception of critical tweeting in online campaigns of four nationalist populist politicians during major national election campaigns. Using a mix of qualitative coding and case study inductive methods, we analyzed the tweets of Narendra Modi, Nigel Farage, Donald Trump, and Geert Wilders before the 2014 Indian general elections, the 2016 UK Brexit referendum, the 2016 US presidential election, and the 2017 Dutch general election, respectively. Our data show that Trump is a consistent outlier in terms of using critical language on Twitter when compared to Wilders, Farage, and Modi, but that all four leaders show significant investment in various forms of antagonistic messaging including personal insults, sarcasm, and labeling, and that these are rewarded online by higher retweet rates. Building on the work of Murray Edelman and his notion of a political spectacle, we examined Twitter as a performative space for critical rhetoric within the frame of nationalist politics. We found that cultural and political differences among the four settings also impact how each politician employs these tactics. Our work proposes that studies of social media spaces need to bring normative questions into traditional notions of collaboration. As we show here, political actors may benefit from in-group coalescence around antagonistic messaging, which while serving as a call to arms for online collaboration for those ideologically aligned, may on a societal level lead to greater polarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives This study measures the prevalence of risk factors among pregnant women and young children aged 12-24 months in a rural community in West Bengal, India. Methods Community health workers (CHWs) enrolled women and children into this 2015 cross-sectional study. Pregnant women were evaluated for underweight, anemia, and abnormal blood pressure. Children were evaluated for underweight, abnormal head and upper arm circumferences, and low scores from the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ). Data were collected on smartphones and tablets or by paper. Results More than half of the 279 women (59.9%) had a risk factor during pregnancy: 48.7% were anemic, 35.1% had low blood pressure, and 7.5% were underweight. Among the 366 children, 59.3% had a risk factor, including 24.0% with low ASQ scores and 49.7% who had abnormal anthropometric measures. Conclusions for Practice Vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women and young children, needed a greater connection to doctors in this rural community. This study demonstrated the feasibility of CHWs to listen to health concerns and connect underserved populations with health care services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public spending on computer centers in rural Indian public schools raise questions about the value of expensive modern technology in extremely resource-strapped environments. Arguments for or against providing computers in low-income schools have appeared in policy circles, academia, teacher conferences, and philanthropic discussions, with passionate rhetoric from all sides. We present the results of a qualitative study of computer-aided learning centers in schools catering primarily to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in four districts of rural Karnataka, South India. Here, we held a series of open-and close-ended discussions with parents of children from these schools on issues such as aspirations, quality of schooling, and the perception of computers more generally. The research reveals a range of voices on hopes for the next generation, perceived value of computer courses and higher education, and the perceived changes in villages after the arrival of computers in their local schools. It emerges that for many parents, the computer has an immense symbolic value—separate from its functional value—that is tied to social and economic ascendancy. We find that this symbolic value derives from associations that parents imbibe from their various interactions with people using computers in a range of situations. We find in our interviews a heightened sense of mystique over the technology and its potential, across people with varying levels of first-hand experience and understanding of computers. We find that notions of change and hope are situated within an environment of great fear about the future of agriculture. We argue here that this, alongside a widespread existing discourse about computers in media and public life in India, mostly emerging from urban middle-classes ideas around technology, help spur a strong sense of expectation that the computers can dramatically change social prospects even among the poorest and most excluded. From competing with English as the gateway to power, to impacting dowry costs for female youth, interviews show a myriad of expectations from technology, creating what we see as a strong case for a nuanced look at the discourse and mythology of computers and technology in developing regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Akshaya project from Kerala has been a much discussed case for the community of practitioners and scholars working on technology and development. A unique feature of the project is its state-wide e-literacy goal in which one member of every household was trained in the telecenters set up under Akshaya at public expense. Using a survey of 1,750 households in the experimental area of Malappuram and a comparison group of neighbouring Kozhikode, this work investigates the extent of e-literacy and discusses the performance of service delivery using telecenters. While the question of whether public funds should be spent on projects such as telecenters or e-literacy continues to be an ongoing debate, the evidence here is that even though structural factors such as service delivery mechanisms and publicity make an impact on technology adoption, the overall participation in free e-literacy services among poor households remains low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]