Humanizing Technology, Vol. II

Ferreira da Silva, Mônica; Lima Gonçalves Araújo, Silvia; Pereira Lima Filho, Silas; Montaleão Brum Alves, Renato

Humanizing Technology, Vol. II

Digital Futures in Language, Health, and Society

by Mônica Ferreira da Silva (Volume editor) Silvia Lima Gonçalves Araújo (Volume editor) Silas Pereira Lima Filho (Volume editor) Renato Montaleão Brum Alves (Volume editor)

Science, Society & Culture

Series: Digital Learning and the Future, Volume 4

Summary

This second volume of the Humanizing Technology collection examines the transformative impact of digital technologies on language, health, and society. The volume provides an exploration of how digital tools are transforming various aspects of human life. It examines the impact on human experiences, the implications for mental health, and the role of digital support for daily life. Furthermore, it addresses the societal and technological implications of digital transformation. This analysis highlights the diverse and far-reaching effects of digital advancements across various domains.
This volume will serve as an important resource for researchers, professionals, and policymakers seeking to comprehend the profound impact of digital technologies on our world. It offers valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities of the digital age, providing a framework for leveraging technology to create a more inclusive and informed society.

Excerpt

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Preface
Part I Language, Communication, and Digital Literacies
1 Create Your Own Utopia: A Case Study on Integrating the Internet, Language and Utopia (Raquel Souza, Joel Faustino, Joana Pinela, Lile Kobaliani, and Luciano Moreira)
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Valongo Utopian City: Context
4. Methods
5. The Activity
6. Discussion
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
2 An Evaluation Index of the Use of Plain Language: The Case of the Public Services Portal of Tocantins (Rodrigo Oliveira and Claudia Cappelli)
1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Plain Language Manual Evaluation
3.1. ABEP-TIC Plain Language Index
3.2. Results
4. Automatic Plain Language Evaluation
4.1. Plain Language service evaluation system
4.2. Results
5. Conclusion
Author Note
References
3 Portal inCorpora: A Digital Repository for Linguistic Data (Mariana Gonçalves da Costa, Marcia dos Santos Machado Vieira, and Maria Luiza Machado Campos)
1. Introduction
2. Open Science and Linguistic Preservation
3. Challenges and Discussions
4. Final Considerations
Author Note
References
4 Disfluencies Classification: A Corpus-Driven Approach (Átila A. S. Vital and Bruno N. R. M. Rocha)
1. Introduction
2. Methods
3. Results
Author Note
References
5 An Essay on the Impact of Blindness on Camilo Castelo Branco’s Literary Production through Sentiment Analysis and Natural Language Processing (Lilian Carvalho de Oliveira and Álvaro Iriarte Sanromán)
1. Introduction
2. Methodology
2.1. Objective
2.2. Database structuring strategy
2.3. Data extraction
3. Results and Discussion
4. Conclusions and Limitations
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
Appendix
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
6 Looking From A Distance: Digital Humanities Insights into the Field of Feminist Utopian Criticism (Luciano Moreira, Joana Pinela, Joel Faustino, Raquel Souza, Felipe Ferreira, Lile Kobaliani, and Liam Benison)
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Distant reading
2.2. Digital Humanities
2.3. Utopian studies
2.4. Feminist utopianism
3. Methods
3.1. Data
3.2. Procedures
4. Results
5. Discussion
6. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
Part II Health, Wellbeing, and Digital Adoption
7 Impacts of Excessive Social Media Use on the Mental Health of Adolescents and Young Adults (Leonardo Pereira Rocha, Rafael Elias de Lima Escalfoni, and Mônica Ferreira da Silva)
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Foundation
3. Relevance
4. Methodology
4.1. Research questions
4.2. Search string
4.3. Inclusion and exclusion criteria
5. Results
5.1. Main effects of excessive social media use on the mental health of adolescents and young adults
5.2. Impact of excessive social media use on different age groups
5.3. Relationship between social media usage time and anxiety/depression levels in adolescents and young adults
5.4. Impact of problematic use of these media on social and academic life
6. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
8 Historical Trajectory of the Adoption of Information and Communication Technologies in the Unified Health System (Alessandra Barrias Loureiro, Arlindo Souza Amaral Neto, Danilo Pestana de Freitas, Paulo Vitor Rodrigues de Carvalho, and Alessandro Jatobá)
1. Introduction
2. Basic Concepts
2.1. Unified Health System of Brazil
2.2. ICT in health
2.3. Waves of evolution of ICT in health
3. Historical Analysis of ICT in the Unified Health System
3.1. Technological introduction (until 1989)
3.2. Registration of information (1990–1999)
3.3. Integration and decentralization (2000–2009)
3.4. Incorporation of Digital Health (2010–2019)
3.5. Consolidation of Digital Health (2020–2021)
4. New Technological Perspectives
5. Final Considerations
Author Note
References
9 Technology Adoption, User Experience and Metacommunication in the Use of Health Data on National Statistical Institutes Websites (Paulo David de Jesus Tostes dos Santos, Mônica Ferreira da Silva, Jonice de Oliveira Sampaio, and Silas Pereira Lima Filho)
1. Introduction
1.1. Impact of digitalization and e-government on user experience
1.2. Objectives
2. Perceptions and Challenges of Technology Teams in Health Data Management
2.1. Analysis of the respondents’ profiles
2.1.1. Education
2.1.2. Professional experience
2.1.3. Functions performed
2.1.4. Conclusions on the profile of the respondents
2.2. Limitations on data collection
2.2.1. Analysis of the collected data
2.2.2. Possible conclusions
3. Autoethnography: Exploring Personal Experience in Navigating and Searching for Health Data in Statistical Institutes
3.1. Rationale for the use of autoethnography
3.2. Methodology
3.2.1. Analysis of the barriers encountered
3.2.2. Impact of barriers on user experience
3.3. Specific difficulties encountered on the websites of the statistical institutes
3.3.1. Brazil
3.3.2. Paraguay
3.3.3. Uruguay
3.3.4. Argentina
3.4. Metacommunication and accessibility
3.4.1. Impact on user experience
3.5. Future research
4. Conclusions
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
10 Promoting Health Management in Older Adults: The Role of eHealth Literacy and User Experience in the Adoption of eHealth Technologies (Nathália M. do Nascimento and Mônica Ferreira da Silva)
1. Introduction
2. Proposal
2.1. Research question
2.2. General and specific objectives
3. Methodology
3.1. Phase 1: Systematic review
3.2. Phase 2: Case study
4. Ethical Considerations
5. Expected Contributions
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
11 Adoption of Information Technologies for Therapeutic Support of People with ASD (Alexandre Neves Louzada, Mônica Ferreira da Silva, and Tiago Cruz de França)
1. Introduction
1.1. Motivation
1.2. Goals
1.3. Relevance
2. Theoretical Framework
2.1. Autism Spectrum Disorder
2.2. Diagnosis
2.3. Symptoms
2.4. Treatment
2.5. ICTs in mental health support
3. Methodology
3.1. Type of research
3.2. Design Science Research
3.3. Multivocal and systematic literature review
3.4. Participant groups
3.5. Inclusion and exclusion criteria
3.6. Ethical aspects
4. Catalog Development
5. Impact and Future Applications
6. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
12 Use of Digital Technologies in the Socio-Emotional Development of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder by Classroom and Support Teachers (Omara Machado Araujo de Oliveira, Mônica Ferreira da Silva, and Alessandro Jatobá)
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
3. Methodology
3.1. Methodology of literature review
4. Final Considerations
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
13 Digital Technologies in Post-Transplant Medication Adherence: Current Knowledge and Future Directions (Claudia Araújo and Bruno Fernandes)
1. Introduction
2. Method
3. Results and Analysis
3.1. Characteristics of the reviews
3.2. Impact of digital technologies on improving adherence to medication use in solid organ transplant patients
3.3. Avenues for future research on the theme
4. Conclusion
Author Note
References
14 Potential Benefits of Applying Artificial Intelligence in Renal Pre-Transplantation: A Scoping Review (Bruno Fernandes and Claudia Araújo)
1. Introduction
2. Method
3. Results and Analysis
3.1. Characteristics of the studies
3.2. Application of AI in the kidney pre-transplant stage
3.2.1. Medical evaluation and risk assessment
3.2.2. Donor–recipient matching and compatibility
3.2.3. Health optimization and risk mitigation
3.3. Potential benefits of applying AI in the kidney pre-transplant stage
3.4. Studies’ limitations and future research suggested by the authors of the analyzed studies
4. Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Author Note
References
15 Oil Spill Detection at Sea Using Drones: Technological Innovations and Environmental Impacts (Thais Angelo Ferreira de Oliveira and Alessandro Jacoud Peixoto)
1. Introduction
2. Literature Review
2.1. Traditional oil spill detection technologies
2.2. Technological advances in drones and remote sensing
2.3. Social and environmental impact of oil spills
3. Research Methodologies for Processing and Automation
3.1. Automatic detection of oil in the ocean using semantic segmentation
3.1.1. Methodology
3.1.2. Contributions
3.1.3. Limitations
3.2. Use of statistical methods and artificial neural networks for oil slick detection
3.2.1. Methodology
3.2.2. Contributions
3.2.3. Limitations
3.3. Computer vision and CNNs in oil leak detection
3.3.1. Methodology
3.3.2. Contributions
3.3.3. Limitations
4. Environmental and Social Impact
4.1. Environmental impact
4.2. Social impact
5. Conclusion
5.1. Future work
Author Note
References
Part III Society, Media, and Digital Challenges
16 A Method of Analyzing the Influence of Content on Collective Sensemaking in Social Media (Rita de Cássia Castro de Mendonça Negreiros, José Orlando Gomes, and Tiago Cruz de França)
1. Introduction
2. Related Works
2.1. Sensemaking
2.2. The SIR model
3. Methodological Approach
3.1. Message topic selection
3.2. Select epidemiological model
3.3. Select social media to be monitored
3.4. Align model parameters with social media data
3.5. Identify message related to the topic
3.6. Perform data collection
3.7. Extract rates from the epidemiological model
4. Evaluation Results
5. Final Considerations
Author Note
References
17 Anti-vax and Anti-politics: Conspiracy Theories and Hate Speech in Brazilian Anonymous Forums (Adriano Beringuy and Leandro Guimarães Marques Alvim)
1. Introduction
1.1. Online reactionary extremism
1.2. Anonymity and incivility in online discussions
2. Method
3. Results and analysis
3.1. Discussion topics
3.2. Pejorative terms
3.3. Semantic similarity
3.3.1. Black community
3.3.2. Jewish community
3.4. User perception regarding discussed topics
3.4.1. Black community
3.4.2. Jewish community
3.4.3. Left-wing
3.4.4. Right-wing
3.4.5. Jair Bolsonaro
3.4.6. COVID-19
4. Conclusions
Author Note
References
18 Fake News: A Pilot Study Based on the Fake.Br Corpus (Átila A. S. Vital and João V. P. Rocha)
1. Introduction and Theoretical Framework
2. Methods
3. Results
4. Final Remarks
Author Note
References
19 Tweet Stance Detection Using a Stacked Neural Ensemble Model with Meta Learning (Km Poonam and Tene Ramakrishnudu)
1. Introduction
2. Related Work
3. Preliminaries
3.1. Recurrent Neural Network
3.2. Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory Network
3.3. Random Forest
3.4. XGBoost
3.5. Gated Recurrent Unit
4. Proposed Stacked Neural Ensemble Model
4.1. Dataset
4.2. Preprocessing
4.3. Embedding layer
4.4. Proposed model
5. Results and Discussion
6. Conclusion
Author Note
References
20 Perspectivism in Social Network Discourses: A Mixed Methodological Proposal to Unveil Imaginaries from Points of View (Luana Chinazzo and Fabio Malini)
1. Introduction
2. Methodological Proposal
2.1. Perspectival method for social network analysis
Step 1: Visualize the network and identify its clusters and users
Step 2: Visualizing the perspectives in a semantic network
2.2. Discursive Imaginaries Analysis
3. Categorization by Emerging Topics
4. Description and Analysis
5. Final Considerations
Author Note
References
21 Impact of ICT on Organizational Performance in Commercial Establishments in the Callejón de Huaylas (Marco Antonio Henry Herrera Collins, María del Pilar Anto Rubio, Angela Pamela Mariño Zegarra, and Charito Norma Chipana Peceros)
1. Introduction
2. ICT in Business Performance
3. Epistemological Current of Research
4. Methodology
5. Results
5.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis
5.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis
5.3. Structural Equation Modeling
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Author Note
References
22 Impact of Information and Communication Technologies on Administrative Management in Peruvian Universities (Charito Norma Chipana Peceros, Angela Pamela Mariño Zegarra, Marco Antonio Henry Herrera Collins, Miguel Ángel Miñope Gómez, and María del Pilar Anto Rubio)
1. Introduction
2. ICT in Administrative Management in Educational Institutions
3. Epistemological Research Approach
4. Methodology
5. Results
5.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis
5.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis
5.3. Structural Equations
6. Discussion
7. Conclusions
Author Note
References

Figures

Figure 2.1: Plain Language evaluation system interface (Portuguese)

Figure 4.1: The mechanism of repair in Levelt (1983)

Figure 4.2: Example of disfluencies annotation in ELAN

Figure 4.3: Gesture during a disfluency of repetition (left) and after the repetition (right)

Figure 5.1: Structure of the Portuguese lexicon update dictionary from the 1913 orthography to that of 1945 in Python

Figure 5.2: Logic of the algorithm for updating the Portuguese lexicon from the orthography of 1913

Figure 5.3: Spreadsheet of the sentiment analysis of each sentence from one of the works

Figure 5.4: Relative and absolute frequency of positive and negative sentiment in each work

Figure 5.5: Frequency of the most common negative-sounding verbs in the works

Figure 5.6: Frequency of the most common negative adjectives in the works

Figure 5.7: Frequency of the most common negative adjectives in the works

Figure 6.1: Frequency of the words/themes English subset

Figure 6.2: Network analysis of English subset

Figure 6.3: Frequency of the words/themes feminist subset

Figure 6.4: Network analysis of the feminism subset

Figure 9.1: Comparison of roles by professional experience

Figure 9.2: Comparison of respondents’ areas of expertise

Figure 14.1: Selection and evaluation diagram – PRISMA Protocol adapted from Page et al. (2021)

Figure 16.1: Set of Steps for the development of the work

Figure 16.2: Number of reactions collected via Crowdtangle

Figure 16.3: Construction of meaning from reactions collected via Crowdtangle

Figure 18.1: Results of t-SNE analysis for 100 samples

Figure 18.2: Results of the sentiment analysis based on polarity for 100 samples

Figure 18.3: Results of tense and mood in 1,000 samples

Figure 18.4: Results of person category for 1,000 samples

Figure 19.1: Architecture of proposed Stacked Neural Ensemble Model (PSNEM)

Figure 20.1: Graph of the repost network with the terms “vaccine” and “vaccination” and the different groups identified between June 22 and July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 20.2: Disinformative Group identified in the repost network with the terms “vaccine” and “vaccination” between June 22 and July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 20.3: Informative Group identified in the repost network with the terms “vaccine” and “vaccination” between June 22 and July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 20.4: Memetic Group identified in the repost network with the terms “vaccine” and “vaccination” between June 22 and July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 20.5: Semantic network of the GD group from June 22 to July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 20.6: Semantic network of the GI group from June 22 to July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 20.7: Semantic network of the GM group from June 22 to July 1, 2020, on X (formerly Twitter)

Figure 21.1: Relationship of items and dimensions in the CFA

Figure 21.2: Structural Equation Model of the study

Figure 22.1: Relationship of items and dimensions in the CFA

Figure 22.2: Structural Equation Model of the study

Tables

Table 2.1: Metrics of the ABEP-TIC Plain Language Index

Table 2.2: Score for service in the Plain Language manual evaluation

Table 2.3: Metrics of the Plain Language evaluation system

Table 2.4: Score for service in automatic Plain Language evaluation

Table 4.1: Table with the types of disfluencies catalogued

Table 4.2: Table with the motivations for disfluencies

Table 6.1: Lyman Tower Sargent Bibliography: Works and tokens

Table 7.1: Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Table 11.1: Group of research participants

Table 12.1: Search string and databases

Table 14.1: Articles analyzed

Table 16.1: Collected message

Table 16.2: Sum of reactions for the sir model

Table 17.1: Offensive terms against the Black population

Table 17.2: Offensive terms against the Jewish population

Table 17.3: Translation of the top words against the Jewish population using “((()))”

Table 17.4: The words “preto” (black) and “pretos” (blacks) are chosen to explore the semantic neighborhood in discussions about the black community

Table 17.5: To analyze the semantic neighborhood created around the Jewish population, the words “judeu” (Jew) and “judeus” (Jews) are chosen

Table 18.1: The main corpus metrics (Monteiro et al., 2019)

Table 19.1: Dataset distribution for Task A across various targets

Table 19.2: Comparison of F1-scores of PSNEM with PNEM (Siddiqua et al., 2019) with other SemEval-2016 Task-A baseline model SVM-ngrams (Siami-Namini et al., 2019) and other deep learning models such as MITRE (Zarrella and Marsh, 2016), CNN+LSTM (Wei et al., 2016)

Table 20.1: Example of categorization into emerging topics

Table 21.1: KMO and Bartlett’s test

Table 21.2: Rotated component matrix

Table 21.3: Grouping of dimensions and items according to EFA

Table 21.4: Grouping of dimensions and items according to CFA

Table 21.5: Structural Equation Modeling fit

Table 22.1: KMO and Bartlett’s test

Table 22.2: Rotated component matrix

Table 22.3: Estimates of the relationship between latent and observable variables in CFA

Table 22.4: Grouping of dimensions and items

Table 22.5: Summary of SEM model FitCMIN

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, we would like to thank and acknowledge the contributors to this volume for their support and patience, as well as the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions, which helped improve the outline of the book and its presentation. Additionally, we extend our gratitude to the Peter Lang team for their extensive efforts throughout the various phases of this project. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), the Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ), and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) for their funding support.

Preface

The digitization of collections and daily-life processes, along with their benefits and challenges for society, is a key aspect of the Digital Humanities field of study. This three-volume series expresses a critical and innovative approach to the contemporary issues posed by the digitization of language and social practices. By bringing together studies that cross disciplines, it reaffirms the centrality of the Digital Humanities in building more inclusive, sensitive, and technologically aware futures.

This second volume focuses on the broader social dimensions, such as language and health, of digital transformation. The collection brings together studies on language technologies, social media, misinformation, health communication, and environmental monitoring, alongside explorations of creativity and cultural identity in the digital sphere. The diversity of contributions reflects the complex ways in which technologies both shape and are shaped by society.

Rather than following a single argument, the chapters provide a mosaic of approaches and insights. Readers may browse selectively, focusing on the themes that resonate most strongly with their own work: language and plain communication, the social dynamics of online communities, digital health, or the role of technology in cultural production. The chapters are designed to be read individually, but they also speak to each other, offering connections that emerge across sections.

This volume is particularly valuable for those seeking to understand how digital technologies impact identity, participation, and collective life. It invites readers to draw links between cultural analysis and practical application, between the arts, the social sciences, and emerging technologies.

Details

Pages: XVI, 292
Publication Year: 2026
ISBN (PDF): 9781805843238
ISBN (ePUB): 9781805843245
ISBN (Softcover): 9781803749532
DOI: 10.3726/b23491
Language: English
Publication date: 2026 (October)
Keywords: Digital Humanities Language Literacies Health Communication Social Media Misinformation Digital Futures Societal Impact Technology Adoption Computational Linguistics eHealth Sentiment Analysis
Published: Oxford, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, 2026. xvi, 292 pp., 37 fig. b/w, 32 tables.
Product Safety: Peter Lang Group AG

Biographical notes

Mônica Ferreira da Silva (Volume editor) Silvia Lima Gonçalves Araújo (Volume editor) Silas Pereira Lima Filho (Volume editor) Renato Montaleão Brum Alves (Volume editor)

Mônica Ferreira da Silva is a Professor at UFRJ with an interest in technology adoption in health and education. Silvia Lima Gonçalves Araújo is an Associate Professor at the University of Minho, specializing in digital humanities. Silas Pereira Lima Filho is a Professor at UFRJ, specializing in Computer Science. Renato Montaleão Brum Alves is a Researcher at UFRJ, specializing in Computer Science.

Humanizing Technology, Vol. II

Summary

Excerpt

Table Of Contents

Figures

Tables

Acknowledgments

Preface

Details

Biographical notes

Key Subject Areas