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TopIntroduction
Knowledge Domain
Originated from Serge Moscovici’s1Opera Prima (1961), Social Representations theory (S.R.), originally European, is currently a multilingual worldwide field with a substantial body of literature in social psychology and other social science. Studies of “what” people know – and “how” this lay people knowledge relates to the social groups to which they belong and are shaped by the polyphonic traditional and new media system – are concerned with the social construction of everyday knowledge and the related socially situated practices. The “objects” studied have a strong societal impact in the social spheres.
This supra-disciplinary field is characterised by a great consistency in terms of epistemological and theoretical inspiration and a rich diversity both:
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From the paradigmatic point of view (“structural,” “social positioning,” “monographic”, “anthropological,” “dialogical,” “modelling” approaches);
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In terms of methodological research designs (qualitative, monographic, anthropological, experimental, descriptive, structural, visual-figurative, multi-methodological, etc.);
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From the thematic point of view
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With respect to the applied contexts and domains of expert and lay knowledge production and transmission: education, health, economics, environment, tourism, politics, organisations, media industry, etc.
The goal of this contribution is to present background, mission and future research directions of the So.Re.Com. “A.S. de Rosa” @-library: a digital platform integrating scientific documentation, networking and training purposes in the field of Social Representations and Communication (So.Re.Com.).
Background
Born from a personal bibliographic inventory, initially including almost 500 references in the field of Social Representations and Communication, the So.Re.Com. “A.S. de Rosa” @-library has been transferred into an ad-hoc designed relational database implemented in 1996 on the European/International Joint PhD in Social Representations and Communication website (de Rosa, 2000, 2001, 2004 a, 2004 b, 2006; 2008, 2009 a, 2009 b, 2010 a, 2010 b, 2010 c; 2011; de Rosa, Picone, 2007).
It is built on an on-going multi-year project aimed at an empirical meta-theoretical analysis of the whole literature on Social Representations (de Rosa, A.S. 2013 a, 2013 b). Guided by the main goal of evaluating the impact of the scientific production driven by the Social Representations theory in the social arena faced with social demand, the aim is to take stock of the scientific field developed in more than 50 years by conducting an empirical meta-theoretical analysis of the literature on Social Representations, mapping the development of different paradigms, the related research methods, the thematic areas and their impact on the various applied fields within the multi-generational community of scientists and across different geo-cultural contexts. This research program is led by de Rosa, creator and program director of both the European/International Joint PhD in S.R. & C. (http://www.europhd.eu/SoReComTHEmaticNETwork), a network of networks that promotes co-operation between academic, professional research and commercial institutions and facilitates the dissemination of scientific results in the field of Social Representations (see Figures 1 and 2).
Key Terms in this Chapter
So.Re.Com. “A.S. de Rosa” @-library: The So.Re.Com. “A.S. de Rosa” @-library i s a multiform digital environment of integrated relational repositories conceived in the logic of the semantic web, including a series of web interfaces aimed to integrate documentation services (bibliographic repository, meta-theo r etical analysis repository, intelligent @-Library) with networking (interactive web-videoconference, on - line So.Re.Com. virtual community) and research training (European/International Joint PhD “Virtual Campus”: video-courses in streaming, distant tutoring and co-tutoring, on-line trainee evaluation, timeline management, etc.).
European/International Joint PhD in Social Representations and Communication and So.Re.Com. Joint-IDP: Built on the experience of both the European PhD on Social Representations and Communication, awarding a recognized joint degree since 1996 ( http://www.europhd.eu ), and the EU approved So.Re.Com. THEmatic NETwork, this international joint doctoral programme, co-ordinated by Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), includes 8 universities, 2 private companies and 1 public research institute in 8 European countries (AT, CH, CZ, ES, FR, IT, RO, SE) and 6 universities in United States, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and China. The goal is to provide doctoral training in Social Representations and Communication, a supra-disciplinary research area of the social sciences that studies the social construction of everyday knowledge in social spheres and media, disseminating European excellence beyond the EU boundaries and attracting the best Early Stage Researchers from abroad. Structured into transnational teams by common research area and complementary multi-methodological approaches, this So.Re.Com.Joint-IDP guarantees a well-tested training structure including: a) an innovative integrated physical and virtual campus, where world-class academic scientists, internationally recognised experts, experienced researchers and ESR cooperate face-to face and online “for” and “by” research; b) multiple supervision via tutoring and co-tutoring by at least three tutors in different countries; c) individual mobility for ESR at research centres for secondments; d) collective international mobility of trainees and teaching staff during International Summer Schools and Lab meetings; e) learning by doing (including transferable skills) in academic and non-academic settings; f) worldwide access to common web platform, as tool for documentation, networking, training and monitoring trainees’ progress; g) high tech infrastructure and lab facilities; h) quality evaluation system; i) officialisation of the joint degree; l) active integration in the world-wide SoReCom THEmatic NETwork; m) enhancement of career prospects both in and outside academia.
Social Representations: Social Representations and Communication is a supra-disciplinary area of the social sciences, representing a unifying meta-theoretical perspective, in particular from the optic of Social Psychology, inspired by the Social Representations Theory, one of the most important theories of the social construction of knowledge and its relation to socially situated practices, founded by Serge Moscovici in 1961. This supra-disciplinary field is characterised by a great consistency in terms of epistemological and theoretical inspiration and its rich diversity both from the paradigmatic point of view, in terms of methodological approaches, from the thematic point perspective and with respect to the applied contexts and domains of expert and lay knowledge production and transmission: education, health, economics, environment, tourism, politics, organisations, media industry, etc.