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This paper investigates the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and digital technology with specific focus on the elderly who are acknowledged as being the most vulnerable group in this global health emergency. The paper commences by providing a global context through a brief analysis of both the pandemic spread and digital technology take-up. Clarification is provided for digital divide terminology. Actions and inactions relating to grey digital outcasts are analysed through a snapshot study, using a heuristic approach, of ten countries, including China, the U.K. and U.S. Sources include published papers and articles, newspapers, TV broadcasts, blogs and a qualitative survey. These analyses are used to tease out common global themes and issues. The paper concludes with a derived set of guiding principles which lays the foundation for a global response to address the support of grey digital outcasts particularly in times of crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

QAnon has become an important phenomenon in American politics due to both its relative popularity as well as its adoption/endorsement by political elites. However, this conspiracy theory/social movement has received sparse investigation in the social sciences. This gap is particularly noticeable in regards to the QAnon movement's overall beliefs and perceptions of global affairs. This piece addresses these research gaps by using repeatable inductive computational social science methods to analyze a sample of comments from YouTube, a platform popular with QAnon followers. This investigation affirms previous observations regarding QAnon's narratives connecting the U.S. government (particularly prominent Democrats) and alleged sexual violence against children, anti-semitism/fundamentalist Christian theology, and pro-Trump sentiments, and also reaveals several novel conclusions regarding QAnon. These novel observations include: [1] that the QAnon community sustains substantial discussion of international affairs, largely revolving around China, Russia and Israel (in order of prominence); [2] that discussion of China in QAnon comments received more "likes" than other international topics; and [3] that a nexus of conjectures tying former presidential candidate, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the Chinese party-state dominate these China-centric comments. Aside from these novel conclusions regarding QAnon, this paper also seeks to make a contribution to repeatable social science analysis of YouTube comments more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue looks closely at contemporary data systems in diverse global contexts and through this set of papers, highlights the struggles we face as we negotiate efficiency and innovation with universal human rights and social inclusion. The studies presented in these essays are situated in diverse models of policy-making, governance, and/or activism across borders. Attention to big data governance in western contexts has tended to highlight how data increases state and corporate surveillance of citizens, affecting rights to privacy. By moving beyond Euro-American borders - to places such as Africa, India, China, and Singapore - we show here how data regimes are motivated and understood on very different terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines interest-oriented vs. relationship-oriented social network sites in China and their different implications for collective action. By utilizing a structural analysis of the design features and a survey of members of the social networks, this paper shows that the way a social network site is designed strongly suggests the formation and maintenance of different types of social ties. The social networks formed among strangers who share common interests imply different types of collective action, compared to the social networks that aim at the replication and strengthening of off-line relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports an ethnographic study of an environmental volunteer organization in Mincheng, China and the Transition Town movement in Totnes, U.K. We examine limits that affected local sustainable activities, and how people attempted to counter the limits. Our use of the term "limits" is a little different than "limits on computing" but pertinent to the larger issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the trends of China's home computer ownership and Internet use, analyzes the disparities in computer ownership, and examines the impacts of increasing computer and Internet use on e-commerce and trade, Internet addiction and public health, family and marriage relationships, and public policy and democracy. Analysis results suggest that average income and urbanization have been the key factors behind both the growth of and the disparities in home computer ownership and Internet use in China. Also, the increasing use of computers and the Internet has resulted in both positive and negative impacts in Chinese society and brought about opportunities and challenges for human development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Borrowing concepts from classic game theory, this paper theoretically re-examines the impact of the Internet on interest articulation in China. I consider the Chinese state to be a monopolist interacting with a number of entrants, that is, individuals wishing to bring information relating to public goods into the public space. Instead of being a unitary monopolist, the Chinese state has opted for different strategies, depending on the perceived costs of conceding or fighting against entrants. The entrants, similarly, have different strategic concerns depending on how salient the issue is that they seek to bring up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]