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COVID-19 Impact of Virtual Communication During Social Isolation on Bulgarian Society

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Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Supporting Everyday Life Activities (HCII 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12787))

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Abstract

The topic of virtual communication in the context of social isolation during the spread of the new corona virus strain (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated disease COVID-19 is an extremely important scientific problem with paradigmatic dimensions and fundamental consequences for society. As a technologically mediated way of communication, it proved that during a pandemic, the virtual communication is the only alternative to traditional face-to-face communication, and its use was inevitable to partially or completely overcome the social restrictions imposed. In order to examine some of the effects of the virtual communication during the social isolation in Bulgaria, an academic research team from the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at The St. Kliment Ohridsky Sofia University undertook a study in the declared two month’s period (13.03.–13.05.2020) of the state of national emergency in the country. The researchers conducted a three-folded study: on the sociological polls and the media coverage during the pandemics; on the activities of the telecommunication industry; and on the impacts of virtual communication during the social isolation, using mixed methodology: quantitative and qualitative survey with three groups of respondents: media users, media professionals and media experts. The results of the effects of virtual communication in social isolation were indicative.

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Acknowledgements

The paper has been developed within the framework of COST Action CA16226 Indoor Living Space Improvement: Smart Habitat for the Elderly (SHELD-ON) of the European Commission, supported by the research projects КP-06-COST/5-18/06/2019 and КP-06-M35/4-18/12/2019 of the National Scientific Fund of Bulgaria.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Lilia Raycheva, Nadezhda Miteva, Neli Velinova & Mariyan Tomov

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  1. Lilia Raycheva
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  2. Nadezhda Miteva
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  3. Neli Velinova
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Correspondence to Lilia Raycheva .

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  1. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Qin Gao

  2. Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

    Jia Zhou

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Raycheva, L., Miteva, N., Velinova, N., Tomov, M. (2021). COVID-19 Impact of Virtual Communication During Social Isolation on Bulgarian Society. In: Gao, Q., Zhou, J. (eds) Human Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Supporting Everyday Life Activities. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12787. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78111-8_31

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