University of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Thinking about thinking about thinking1410908810.22059/jcss.2027.109088ENHowardRheingoldVisiting Lecturer in Stanford University, California, United States.Journal Articlehttps://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_109088_ccaf486ac0ad8be8fa6712cc505efc86.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101From stigma to status: Psychotherapy in Persian digital publics52510826610.22059/jcss.2026.412809.1243ENArthur AsaBergerProfessor Emeritus, Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University, United States.0000-0002-8164-7265ShahoSabbarDepartment of Iranian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.EhsanShahghasemiDepartment of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0000-0002-8716-5806Journal Article20260415Background: Modernity has resolved some problems while creating new ones. An increasing number of people turn to psychotherapy to cope with their daily struggles, and many have recently begun sharing their experiences with others on social media.Aims: This study investigates how Persian-speaking users of a major social media platform narrate, evaluate, and emotionally position their relationships with therapists in everyday discourse.Methodology: Drawing on 1,309 Persian-language posts from X spanning 2023 to 2025, the analysis traces how therapy is woven into vernacular routines, jokes, frustrations, and affective disclosures. Through a combination of sentiment analysis, topic modelling, and multi-label classification, twelve recurring thematic clusters are identified, ranging from long-term companionship and playful therapist–client interactions to economic conflict, cultural doubt, and comparisons with fortune-telling or religious guidance.Findings: The findings reveal an affective ecology marked by pragmatic positivity, ironic detachment, and substantial ambivalence. While nearly half of all posts are coded as positive, expressions of strong enthusiasm are rare, and critical or confused narratives remain prominent.Conclusion: The study conceptualises therapy talk as a form of mediated intimacy in which professional authority is continually negotiated through public micro-narratives. We argue that Persian-language social media users are not passive recipients of global therapeutic scripts, but active interpreters who reframe psychotherapy through culturally situated, morally inflected, and socially networked modes of speech; transforming what was once a source of stigma into a marker of status.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108266_c4756e09ab4ebb4e3220501908be71fa.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101The nexus between NDPR compliance and cybersecurity effectiveness: An empirical study of Nigerian organizations274710281710.22059/jcss.2025.396260.1168ENGbenga FemiAsereCentre for Cyberspace Studies, Nasarawa State Universities, Keffi, Nigeria.0009-0006-2818-0308Adenomon MondayOsagieDepartment of Statistics, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria.0000-0002-9523-8032Gilbert I.O.AimufuaDepartment of Computer Science, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria.IbrahimUmaruDepartment of Physics, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria.Journal Article20250528Background: As data breaches and cyberattacks increase, understanding how regulatory compliance impacts cybersecurity performance is critical.Aims: This study explores the relationship between compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR) and the effectiveness of cybersecurity measures in Nigerian organizations.Methodology: Using an empirical approach, data were collected from 30 organizations across sectors such as Financial Services, Telecommunications, Health, Education, and SMEs. Key variables analyzed include NDPR compliance rate, employee training, investment in cybersecurity infrastructure, and their effect on cybersecurity effectiveness indicators such as incident reduction, system uptime, and employee awareness.Findings: The findings reveal a strong positive correlation between NDPR compliance and cybersecurity effectiveness. Organizations with higher compliance rates experienced a significant reduction in cybersecurity incidents, improved system resilience, and heightened employee awareness. Investment in cybersecurity infrastructure and regular employee training emerged as critical factors influencing these outcomes. Financial Services and Telecommunications sectors demonstrated the highest levels of compliance and effectiveness, while SMEs and the Public Sector faced significant barriers, including inadequate budgets and technological gaps.Conclusion: This study highlights the pivotal role of NDPR compliance in strengthening organizational cybersecurity frameworks. It underscores the need for sector-specific strategies, increased investment, and enhanced regulatory enforcement to bridge compliance gaps. Policymakers and organizational leaders are encouraged to prioritize compliance initiatives as a pathway to improved cybersecurity effectiveness, ensuring data protection and resilience against evolving cyber threats.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_102817_e544dc4c6917c0754dcd58843aa76d69.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Little digital natives and the public moral order of Persian social media496810865310.22059/jcss.2026.417807.1259ENKosarSaadatniaDepartment of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0009-0000-3382-6261BijanTafazzoliDepartment of International Relations, Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Koç University, Istanbul, Turkiye.0000-0002-1424-0000Journal Article20260703Background: Although the "digital native" has been empirically discredited as a scientific category, it survives as a folk figure through which adults register wonder and alarm at children's platform lives. Research on children and the internet has relied largely on Western, survey-based studies of children's experiences and parents' reported concerns, or on episodic moral panics amplified by professional media.Aims: This study maps how Persian-language Twitter users publicly construct the intersection of children and the internet, examining the temporal architecture of the discourse across the September 2022 blocking of Instagram in Iran, its thematic structure, its frames of concern and their gendering, and the engagement dynamics that determine which talk travels.Methodology: A corpus of 1,467 Persian tweets posted by 1,385 accounts between February 2021 and May 2025 was analyzed by combining non-negative matrix factorization topic modeling (benchmarked against LDA and a co-word network decomposition), dictionary-based frame analysis, PELT change-point detection, and negative binomial engagement regressions, with the full corpus closely read and all excerpts translated by the author.Findings: The dominant genre is lateral family surveillance: young adults publicly exhibiting the online conduct of younger relatives, with an exact child age stated in 31.6% of all posts. The 2022 blocking contracted the discourse by 38% before it recovered above baseline; the children-in-protest frame briefly saturated the corpus and then evaporated. Concern is sharply gendered, 96% of sexualization posts and 88% of child-influencer posts are girl-marked, the influencer economy is the only growing frame, and state child-protection vocabulary appears in 0.5% of posts. Kinship anecdotes drive conversational reciprocity; policy indignation does not.Conclusion: The public moral order of Persian social media is constructed from the family outward, not from the state downward.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108653_16a0ef479cb13a18cde81831264fa266.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Do chatbots attract users? Exploring the drivers of consumer intention698510687010.22059/jcss.2026.407333.1210ENSamehTebourbiDepartment of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Sfax University, Sfax, Tunisia.0000-0002-6166-3233RomdhaneKhemakhemDepartment of Management, Faculty of Economics and Management, Sfax University, Sfax, Tunisia.0000-0002-5061-6351Journal Article20251130Background: Chatbot become more popular, marketing research has paid enormous attention to chatbot and its impact on customer’s intention.Aims: This article aims to reveal the utilitarian motivations and communication style of the chatbot by highlighting the role of social presence and its impacts on user intent.Methodology: In this study, by applying social presence theory, adding utilitarian motivation and communication style as explicative variables, a survey data of 200 users of chatbot was used. The theoretical model was tested and confirmed via structural equation modelling (SEM).Findings: The results indicated that the utilitarian motivations, communication style and social presence of the chatbot are the main determinants of the intention to use this electronic channel. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as the limits and future directions of the study are discussed.Conclusion: This study examines the impact of chatbots on consumer intent, highlighting the role of social presence and communication style. The results confirm that these factors positively influence user intentions.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_106870_54cb42af64a35080c57d883b945de4c4.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Digital victimisation in cyberspace: Victim perspectives on cyberstalking and implications for online safety8710510718010.22059/jcss.2026.412933.1244ENShandre KimJansen Van RensburgDepartment of Criminology and Security Science, University of South Africa, Tshwane, South Africa.0000-0002-2433-7746Journal Article20260418Background: The expansion of digital connectivity has transformed cyberspace into a central site of social interaction, but has also enabled new forms of harm, including cyberstalking. Despite growing attention, cyberstalking remains conceptually underdeveloped, particularly in relation to its manifestations in digitally mediated environments.Aims: This study explores cyberstalking from a victim-centred perspective, focusing on how different forms of cyberstalking are shaped by the affordances of cyberspace and how these experiences inform online safety.Methodology: A qualitative phenomenological design was employed, with data collected through in-depth email interviews with 12 participants recruited using purposive and snowball sampling. Thematic analysis identified four distinct forms of cyberstalking, namely vindictive, composed, intimate, and collective cyberstalking, with intimate cyberstalking emerging as the most prevalent.Findings: Cyberstalking is a multifaceted form of digital victimisation, characterised by persistence, anonymity, and continuous accessibility across platforms. The study demonstrates that the impact of cyberstalking extends beyond immediate emotional harm, influencing victims’ social behaviour, digital participation, and perceptions of safety.Conclusion: By situating cyberstalking within the structural conditions of cyberspace, the study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of digital victimisation and highlights the need for context-sensitive online safety measures that respond to the varied forms of cyberstalking.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_107180_f524c12469b1d2e160b47df95456fbda.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Micro-media networks as a decentralized medium; A documentary and data-driven analysis of architecture, efficacy, ethical governance, and soft-power capacity at regional and global scales10713610896810.22059/jcss.2026.416690.1254ENRoohollahAbediDepartment of Media Management, University of Religions and Denominations, Qom, Iran.0000-0001-5727-2427HassanBashirDepartment of International Communication, Imam Sadiq University, Tehran, Iran.Journal Article20260616Background: Declining engagement with linear news and persistent institutional distrust have renewed interest in human-mediated distribution. For public or state media, however, interpersonal proximity can contribute to trust repair only when editorial reform is demonstrable and institutional relationships remain transparent.Aims: This article develops Micro-Media Networks as a human-centered, decentralized trust-repair infrastructure for a public or state media organization that has already undertaken demonstrable editorial reform. The model is not intended to disguise institutional messages or bypass an inherited trust deficit. Rather, it seeks to make truthful, source-transparent, corrigible content socially accessible and contestable through professionally autonomous human intermediaries. The article grounds the model in network society, social capital and weak ties, persuasion psychology, choice architecture, and AI-governance scholarship; reviews secondary evidence relevant to networked-human distribution; and proposes an auditable governance framework separating the model from astroturfing and hypernudge. Methodology: The study follows a documentary-library method: systematic literature retrieval from Scopus and Web of Science, appraisal using Scott's four criteria, and qualitative content analysis. Quantitative material is drawn from secondary analysis of sources with heterogeneous evidentiary status—peer-reviewed research, official intergovernmental statistics, multinational survey reports, Google Trends, industry compilations, and Iranian online media surveys. These sources are used as contextual and convergent evidence rather than as a causal test of the proposed architecture.Results: Convergent secondary evidence indicates a shift in attention and news access from linear institutional channels toward platform-based and human-mediated distribution, especially among younger cohorts; it does not test the proposed model itself. In response, the article proposes a three-tier architecture—an organizational core, a ring of professionally autonomous civic intermediaries, and a volunteer civic network—and formulates eight hypothesized structural advantages for future testing. A bounded AI co-pilot assists nodes without profiling individual audience vulnerabilities or replacing human judgment. The five-principle governance framework is supplemented by polycentric oversight: an Independent Public Trust Council, distributed public evaluation, and periodic academic-technical audit. Three conditional pathways illustrate how a transparently governed and empirically validated network might contribute to transnational soft power.Conclusion: Micro-Media Networks offer a conditional framework for making institutional reform socially observable through autonomous human mediation. Their trust-repair and soft-power potential depends on transparent sponsorship, cognitive autonomy, and independent oversight. The model requires empirical validation before claims of efficacy or large-scale implementation can be justified.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108968_1d819c586b99b3cfa1ca4945633fbbe8.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Using digital platforms in developing Iran’s exports to Russia: A case study of herbal medicines13716210801310.22059/jcss.2026.413557.1249ENBabakBoozariDepartment of European Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0009-0002-2936-1558EhsanRasoulinezhadDepartment of European Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0000-0002-7726-1757Journal Article20260430Background: Iranian herbal medicines have significant export potential to the Russian market, yet face structural barriers including information asymmetry, lack of digital trust, and regulatory complexities.Aims: This study evaluates the role of electronic platforms in overcoming these challenges.Methodology: Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 36 stakeholders via a structured questionnaire and from 14 experts through in-depth interviews.Findings: Statistical analysis using SPSS revealed that while Russian market demand is high (mean= 4.1/5), traditional export processes remain inefficient due to legal barriers (mean= 2.9/5) and weak after‑sales services (mean= 2.44/5). The correlation between platform adoption and export success is strong and positive (r= 0.72, P< 0.001), while legal barriers have a significant negative relationship with success (r= -0.45). Digital trust (r= 0.65) and after‑sales support (r= 0.61) are also key predictors. Based on expert estimates, digital platforms can reduce buyer discovery time by ~85%, intermediation costs by ~60%, and customs clearance time by ~70%. Also, findings indicate that in the Iran‑Russia context, alignment of digital standards and document transparency are primary prerequisites for building trust. Contrary to expectations, simple and well‑integrated platforms are more effective than complex technologies like blockchain at the current stage.Conclusion: The study concludes that transitioning from traditional methods to an integrated digital ecosystem is not merely an option but a strategic necessity for sustainable export development.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108013_d5d4136a1561f13778f2585b20f1d878.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Generative AI and the ontological inversion of the self16318210801510.22059/jcss.2026.413106.1246ENEbrahimMohseni AhooeiPhD in Communications and New Media Studies, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.0000-0003-4468-3571Journal Article20260421Background: The rapid advance of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is unsettling long-standing metaphysical assumptions about the nature of the Self. Capacities once taken to be uniquely human— such as language, creativity, and reflective thought— are now enacted by machines, forcing philosophy to confront an inversion in which the Self no longer appears as an autonomous, originating subject but as a phenomenon refracted through technological mediation.Aims: This paper examines four broad conservative responses to this disruption—residual, integrationist, relational, and hierarchical—and argues that each proves insufficient when measured against the scale of the ontological shift. The article proposes instead that the Self be re-imagined as an emergent and distributed process, constituted through assemblages of human and machine, rather than as a fixed metaphysical foundation. The aim is to sketch the limits of inherited categories and to point towards the contours of a genuinely post-singular metaphysics.Methodology: This paper employs a critical-theoretical, assemblage-informed philosophical methodology that integrates conceptual synthesis across process ontology, philosophy of technology, and posthumanist theory. It conducts a structured comparative critique of dominant interpretive stances on the Self, using theoretical deconstruction to diagnose their insufficiency under conditions of generative AI-mediated cognition.Findings: The analysis demonstrates that generative AI destabilises inherited conceptions of subjectivity by reconfiguring cognition as a distributed, socio-technical process. This inversion exposes the inadequacy of conservative frameworks and highlights the emergence of hybrid agency within human–machine assemblages across epistemic and ethical domains.Conclusion: The paper concludes that generative AI precipitates a fundamental ontological inversion in which the Self is displaced from autonomous subject to distributed, technologically co-constituted process. Conservative metaphysical frameworks fail to accommodate this shift, necessitating a post-singular, assemblage-based reconceptualisation of subjectivity, agency, and consciousness.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108015_e4acfffc730e46f05feb3a4442214079.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Online and divided: Social media's effects on American life18320310807410.22059/jcss.2026.413721.1251ENSeyed AliMousaviDepartment of Social Communication Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0009-0005-0483-0305HosseinHassaniDepartment of Cyberspace Studies, Communication Research Institute Research Institute for Culture, Art, and Communication, Tehran, Iran.Journal Article20260504Background: Social media is deeply embedded in American political and social life, yet evidence about its consequences remains fragmented across single outcomes, specific platforms, and predominantly younger populations. It therefore remains unclear whether its associations extend broadly across social life or are concentrated in particular domains and operate through distinct communicative and psychological mechanisms.Aims: This study examines the relationships between social media engagement and five domains of American social life— political polarisation, institutional trust, subjective wellbeing, racial attitudes, and religious practice— and tests the mediating roles of online political talk, cross-cutting exposure, and anticipated loneliness without internet access.Methodology: Data were drawn from the 2024 General Social Survey (N= 3,986), with model-specific subsamples resulting from its split-ballot design. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlations, multivariate ordinary least squares regressions with demographic controls, and observed-variable path analyses were employed.Findings: Given the cross-sectional design, the findings are interpreted as associational rather than causal. Greater social media engagement was associated with higher ideological extremity (β= 0.058, P= 0.044) and greater anticipated loneliness without internet access (β= 0.375, P < 0.001). Path analysis indicated that the relationship between social media engagement and polarisation was primarily channelled through online political talk (indirect effect: β= 0.230, P < 0.001). Cross-cutting exposure also produced a smaller positive indirect effect (β= 0.034, P= 0.026), suggesting that encountering opposing views online may intensify rather than reduce polarisation. Social media engagement had no significant direct association with happiness but showed a significant negative indirect association through anticipated loneliness (β= −0.018, P < 0.001). No significant associations emerged for institutional trust or religious practice, while only a small negative association was found for endorsement of innate explanations of racial inequality. Overall, social media’s associations with American social life appear selective and mechanism-dependent rather than universal.Conclusion: They are concentrated in politically expressive interaction and psychological dependency, shifting analytical attention from exposure alone to platform affordances that reward adversarial participation and continuous connectivity. These findings support a domain-sensitive and mechanism-centred approach to digital media effects while underscoring the need for longitudinal and experimental verification.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108074_2278556aab75c94c8a1af11aee202200.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Digital environmental activism: Narratives of decline and hope in Instagram before-and-after photographs20522410684810.22059/jcss.2026.411239.1230ENBehnamRezagholizadehDepartment of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Tehran, Iran.0000-0002-6911-6218Journal Article20260215Background: In recent decades, Iran has faced multiple forms of environmental decline, such as water crises, drying up of lakes and rivers, air pollution, and forest destruction. In such a context, Instagram has become one of the most important spaces for informal environmental activism in Iran.Aims: This study involves the simultaneous construction of the narrative of "irreversible decline" and "hope for collective action" as well as the identification of the semiotic system and layers of signification in four comparative "before and after" images posted on Instagram that refer to the decline of Lake Urmia, Zayandeh Rud, Karun, Hamun, urban air pollution, and the destruction of Fandoghloo Forest.Methodology: Adopting a qualitative approach and drawing on Kress and van Leeuwen's social semiotics- which conceptualizes the image as comprising three dimensions of meaning (representational, interactive, and compositional)- this study examines the Instagram platform. The unit of analysis consists of "before and after" comparative images related to Iran's environmental issues, with a focus on the narratives of decline and hope. Samples were selected purposively, and the analysis is solely concerned with the visual meaning and narrative of the images.Findings: The images produce a powerful narrative of environmental decline by using temporal comparison, high modality, and ideological arrangement, and by linking the crisis to symbolic places, they activate collective memory and identity. The visual contrast between the lush past and the dry or polluted present evokes feelings of nostalgia, sadness, and environmental mourning, and provides the context for the formation of Affective Publics. At the same time, these images have the potential to transform mourning into active hope and collective action.Conclusion: Digital environmental activism in Iran relies mainly on visual-emotional strategies of decline, but for long-term sustainability, it requires the development of hope-based and constructive narratives. By providing a local analysis of the limited media environment, this study adds to the global literature on environmental visual communication and highlights the dual role of platform logic in empowering and constraining activism.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_106848_9502db3dad05d67b8dde5d564713b448.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101A netnography analysis of brand co-creation in online brand communities; Case study: Hiba22525410569010.22059/jcss.2026.406347.1199ENMohammad RezaJalilvandDepartment of Business Management and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0000-0003-0740-6778Mohammad MoeinZiadoustDepartment of Business Management and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Farabi Campus, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.Journal Article20251115Background: Instagram, as one of the most popular social platforms, provides a suitable environment for interaction between brands and users. In this digital space, the concept of "brand co-creation," which refers to the active participation of users in the formation and enhancement of brand value, has gained particular significance.Aims: This study aims to propose a brand co-creation framework within the online communities of brands active on Instagram.Methodology: This study adopts a netnographic strategy to develop a framework of brand co-creation in online communities. In this regard, the Instagram page activities of the Hiba brand over the past year were analyzed. In addition, interviews were conducted with 12 followers of this page who had actively participated in co-creation activities.Findings: The identified themes under the dimension of transparency in brand co-creation include: valuable content, creative and distinctive content, educational and useful content, interactive and participatory content, storytelling content, customer orientation and trust-building, digital empathy, emotional and affective interactions, and behavioral and practical interactions. In the dimension of tools for brand co-creation, the identified elements include posts, likes, comments, liking comments, stories, direct messages, polls, sharing, and Instagram Lives. Furthermore, the themes extracted under the dimension of risk and benefit of brand co-creation consist of hidden burdens and gaps, both material and spiritual. Communication failures, communicative inefficiencies, lack of information, communication errors, trust cues, positive and effective responsiveness, authenticity and transparency, and purposeful communication are among the themes related to the transparency dimension.Conclusion: Interactions in online brand communities are influenced by the content presented and the nature of communication. Brands must reinforce consumer trust by delivering valuable and creative content. Various tools such as likes, comments, and polls assist brands in engaging more collaboratively with consumers. Brand co-creation has both advantages and disadvantages, necessitating intelligent management to evolve into a successful strategy. Additionally, the clarity of interactions is affected by various factors that can influence consumer trust and satisfaction.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_105690_a08ca79c2bebbaf085e72e5ed6d44e02.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101When technology fails: A neurophenomenological model of human intervention in phygital customer journeys25527410801410.22059/jcss.2026.412441.1241ENSainaFadaei BazghalehDepartment of Business Management, Ra.C., Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran.0009-0005-1725-655XAlirezaFarokhbakht FoomaniDepartment of Business Management, BaA.C., Islamic Azad University, Bandar Anzali, Iran.0000-0002-8307-0324MohammadTaleghaniDepartment of Industrial Management, Ra.C., Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran.0000-0001-6086-348XJournal Article20260403Background: The modern retail landscape is undergoing a structural transformation, one defined not merely by the adoption of new technologies but by the fundamental reconstitution of the service encounter itself. Across sectors ranging from consumer electronics to luxury fashion, retailers are deploying interactive kiosks, augmented reality displays, AI-driven recommendation engines, and sensor-embedded product zones in a deliberate effort to dissolve the boundary between the physical store and the digital platform.Aims: This study investigates the experiential and neurophysiological dynamics of technology-based service failures in physical retail environments to develop a theoretical model for effective human-led service recovery. As retailers increasingly automate the customer journey, technology failures represent a critical threat to customer experience, creating a paradoxical need for skilled, human intervention.Methodology: This research employs a neurophenomenological approach, integrating first-person data from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) with third-person, objective data from electroencephalography (EEG). A video-cued recall protocol was designed to capture rich, in-the-moment experiential accounts from eight participants in a flagship phygital electronics store, while ensuring high-fidelity, artifact-free neural data. Data saturation was confirmed after the eighth participant, justifying the sample size within IPA norms.Findings: The analysis revealed that technology failures induce a distinct "neural signature of frustration", characterized by negative emotional valence (low Frontal Alpha Asymmetry), high cognitive load, and profound disengagement. Conversely, effective human intervention acts as a regulatory mechanism, resolving technical issues and transforming this negative state into a more positive and engaged emotional state. This "Human Anchor" role, dependent on employee competence and situational awareness, is particularly critical in low-trust market contexts where the physical store functions as a validation point for the online brand.Conclusion: Theoretically, this study extends service recovery theory into the phygital domain by proposing a model of human intervention as a cognitive-emotional regulation mechanism. Methodologically, it validates a neurophenomenological protocol for consumer research, bridging the gap between subjective lived experience and objective neurophysiology.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108014_c2a6cc9ae8609d7673e7bb8952dea98d.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Navigating cyberliterature borders: Comparative Twitterature narratology in Neil Gaiman’s Hearts, Keys and Puppetry and Alberto Chimal’s Ciudad X: Novela en 101 Tuits27529810676910.22059/jcss.2026.408666.1219ENElahehNourigholamizadehDepartment of American Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0000-0001-5145-6356MarjanYazdanpanahiDepartment of American Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0000-0002-8607-6481Journal Article20251223Background: Cyberliterature, also known as digital or electronic literature, encompasses literary creations designed for digital platforms, leveraging interactivity, hyperlinks, multimedia, and non-linearity.Aims: Twitterature—a portmanteau of "Twitter" and "literature"—adapts traditional genres like poetry, aphorisms, and fiction to Twitter's constraints (initially 140 characters, later 280) and affordances, such as real-time threading and hashtags.Methodology: This study conducts a pioneering comparative analysis of Neil Gaiman's Hearts, Keys and Puppetry (2009)—a crowd-sourced #bbcawdio/@BBCAA fairy-tale twovel—and Alberto Chimal's Ciudad X: Novela en 101 Tuits (2014)—a sequential dystopian countdown posted October 10 on @albertochimal/@CityX101—employing Henry Jenkins's transmedia storytelling and participatory culture theories alongside Gérard Genette's five transtextual layers: intertextuality, paratextuality, metatextuality, architextuality, and hypertextuality.Findings: The analysis dissects how both exploit Twitter's technical limits for serialized engagement: Gaiman's 874 participatory tweets foster English fairy-tale postmodernism (Alice/Oz allusions, invitational paratexts, reflexive chaos, portal hybrids, audiobook parody), while Chimal's solitary 101 posts embed Latin American Magical Realism (Ayotzinapa glitches, ritual countdowns, institutional critique, speculative poetry, print pastiche). Convergences emerge in Jenkinsian expansions amid ephemerality, yet divergences highlight cultural mediation: Gaiman's British redemptive whimsy expands global flows via crowd curation tempering multiplicity; Chimal's Mexican narco-protest contracts mythopoetic urgency through precise menace.Conclusion: Addressing authorship interplay, platform linguistics, coherence impacts, and cyberliterature border navigation through participatory flows, this cross-cultural narratology fills a scholarly gap in Twitterature studies, affirming its palimpsestic potency in linking global idioms and democratizing authorship for ordinary creators, while inviting multilingual extensions.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_106769_4e51b70d7ae3e2a6194d23b399acb43d.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Algorithmic representation of Iranian cultural values: A comparative semiotic analysis of AI image generation platforms29932510826510.22059/jcss.2026.413603.1250ENMaryamEbadiDepartment of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.0009-0006-0785-895XSorayaMemarDepartment of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.0000-0002-7786-6094MohsenGoudarziDepartment of Social Sciences, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.0000-0003-4597-8806Journal Article20260502Background: In the age of artificial intelligence, AI image generation platforms have become active agents in cultural representation. This study examines how three core Iranian cultural values— belief in God, patriotism, and the idealized woman— are represented on platforms such as Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot. The main problem is the presence of cultural biases in training data and algorithmic architectures, which may lead to stereotypical, inaccurate, or Western-centric portrayals of non-Western cultural identities.Aims: This research aims to analyze the mechanisms through which these three fundamental values are represented in AI-generated images and to determine the extent of bias in these platforms compared to indigenous and religious models within Iranian society.Methodology: Employing a semiotic analysis based on Roland Barthes's five-code framework and Stuart Hall's theory of representation, this study qualitatively analyzed 18 images generated by three platforms (Gemini, ChatGPT, and Copilot).Findings: The findings indicate that these platforms do not neutrally reflect cultural reality but actively participate in meaning construction and ideological representation. Three key findings emerged: (1) Inaccurate and generalized representation of specific Shiite rituals, with a tendency toward generic Sunni Islamic imagery; (2) A significant shift in the representation of patriotism, centering women as primary agents of national identity, in contrast to traditional masculine and military iconography; and (3) A contradictory, algorithm-driven representation of the ideal woman, where her agency and success are defined not by traditional roles (such as motherhood) but by her ability to navigate the tension between tradition and modernity and conform to modern professional standards.Conclusion: AI systems function not as neutral tools but as powerful cultural actors. Algorithms reproduce algorithmic majoritarianism, whereby dominant cultural patterns in training data marginalize minority traditions (such as Shiism) and redefine values like womanhood based on modern, algorithmically preferred criteria. This research underscores the necessity of critically revising AI's representational politics and involving represented communities in the design of these systems to achieve fairer and more accurate cultural representations.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108265_6c03774b093e79107a3afbe73df8a4a3.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Near-death narratives and transnational Shia media: A case study of Zindagi Pas Az Zindagi in Kashmir32734410849910.22059/jcss.2026.415511.1252ENSyed Humaira AhadChuraFaculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.0009-0004-8489-9443RezaSaberiFaculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.Seyed RezaNaghibulsadatFaculty of Communication Sciences, Allameh Tabatabai University, Tehran, Iran.Journal Article20260530Background: While existing scholarship highlights how post-revolutionary Iranian media fosters religious affect and moral instruction, little attention has been paid to its impact beyond Iran, particularly in contexts culturally influenced by Iran.Aims: This study examines the reception of the Iranian television programme Zindagi Pas Az Zindagi (ZPAZ) among Persian-knowing audiences in Kashmir.Methodology: Drawing on Diaspora Media Engagement Theory and Reception Theory, this research investigates how Kashmiri viewers interpret ZPAZ's narratives of near-death experiences (NDEs) and their theological implications. We employed a qualitative, audience-centred design, collecting data from 40 Kashmiri participants (29 Shia, 11 Sunni) through semi-structured interviews conducted via encrypted digital platforms. Thematic analysis revealed six recurring themes: curiosity about the afterlife, accessibility of everyday Persian language, identification with narrated experiences, reduced fear of death, cross-border spiritual resonance, and reinforcement of Shia identity. Reception of the programme's explicitly Shia theological content varied by sectarian background: Shia participants frequently described a strengthening of religious identity, while Sunni participants more often reported new curiosity about Shia theology rather than reinforcement of an existing identity.Findings: Findings suggest that ZPAZ functions as a form of mediated spirituality, reported by participants as reducing existential anxiety and, for Shia viewers in particular, strengthening transnational religious belonging.Conclusion: Extending diaspora media frameworks to a “symbolic diaspora,” this study demonstrates how Persian-language religious broadcasting contributes to identity formation and cultural continuity in the Kashmir region.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108499_d35c072bbda213e3a099565811b2fb8c.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Co-creating cyberspace governance: A boundary critique perspective on digital participation and policy legitimacy34537910873710.22059/jcss.2026.418413.1260ENSeyed MohammadSobhaniDepartment of Business Policy Making at SR.C., Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran.0000-0003-2977-8791Mohammad RezaFathiDepartment of Management and Accounting, College of Farabi, University of Tehran, Qum, Iran.0000-0002-7973-9814ShimaGhadimiDepartment of Accounting, Daneshestan Institute of Higher Education, Saveh, Iran.0009-0003-4924-9659Journal Article20260712Background: Cyberspace governance has become a complex socio-technical field where sovereignty, cybersecurity, digital participation, and policy legitimacy intersect. Although previous studies have extensively examined digital sovereignty, e-participation, and co-creation, limited attention has been paid to how boundary judgments shape stakeholder inclusion, decision authority, knowledge recognition, and legitimacy in cyberspace governance, particularly in the Iranian context.Aims: This study aims to examine how Critical Systems Heuristics (CSH) can reveal and reconstruct the boundary judgments shaping co-created cyberspace governance, digital participation, and policy legitimacy in Iran.Methodology: A qualitative exploratory case study design was adopted, drawing on semi-structured interviews with 26 experts and analysis of policy, regulatory, and strategic documents. Data were analyzed using Ulrich and Reynolds’ CSH framework by distinguishing current “is” conditions from desirable “ought to be” arrangements across the dimensions of motivation, control, knowledge, and legitimacy.Findings: The analysis indicates that current cyberspace governance is primarily bounded by security, sovereignty, infrastructural control, regulatory authority, and technical expertise. However, affected stakeholders, including citizens, digital businesses, educators, researchers, civil society actors, vulnerable groups, and future generations, remain weakly represented in governance processes.Conclusion: The study argues that legitimate cyberspace governance requires a transition from primarily control-oriented arrangements toward structured co-creation based on stakeholder inclusion, plural knowledge, transparent accountability, and participatory boundary governance.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108737_360b7822fd760c7d73a1b0ca5bce1c07.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Competing models of AI statecraft: Techno-nationalism, governance divergence, and the India-China rivalry in the emerging global AI order, 2020-202638141310879410.22059/jcss.2026.420355.1275ENMaziarMozaffari FalartiDepartment of South, East Asian & Oceanian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0000-0001-5305-8589ShirinKhoshabiDepartment of South, East Asian & Oceanian Studies, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.0009-0004-3857-7718Journal Article20260808Background: Artificial intelligence has emerged as a general-purpose technology reshaping economic competitiveness, military capability, public administration, and normative order. Between 2020 and 2026, the intensifying competition between India and China has become a defining feature of this global transformation.Aims: This article argues that the India-China AI rivalry transcends mere technical metrics, such as research output or compute capacity, to represent a clash between contrasting models of AI statecraft.Methodology: Drawing on techno-nationalism, neo-realism, and policy-diffusion theory, this study demonstrates that while both nations treat AI as a strategic asset, they organize its development through fundamentally distinct institutional architectures and normative commitments.Findings: China’s approach is characterized by centralized coordination, long-horizon industrial policy, civil-military fusion, and the systematic construction of a sovereign AI ecosystem spanning data, standards, and deployment. Conversely, India’s model, articulated through frameworks like #AIForAll and the IndiaAI Mission, prioritizes inclusive innovation, ethical accountability, digital public infrastructure, and developmental applications. China’s quantitative leadership in scale and infrastructure is tempered by concerns regarding international trust and regulatory legitimacy. Meanwhile, India’s strengths in human capital and ethical framing remain constrained by fragmentation and commercialization gaps. The rivalry carries implications far beyond bilateral relations: it shapes the menu of governance models available to the Global South and influences the evolution of global AI norms, standards, and technological autonomy.Conclusion: By situating this competition within a comparative institutional analysis, the article contributes to scholarship on emerging-technology geopolitics, sovereign AI, and the politics of digital infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108794_f9a2fcb91d78da31bbcf01df581afab6.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101From internet memes to TikTok challenges: A multimodal content analysis of common patterns in sociocultural representation within digital culture41545310875610.22059/jcss.2026.420088.1274ENSaeedMassahiDepartment of Sociology, Deh.C, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.0009-0002-1227-7085FaezehTaghipourDepartment of Communication Sciences, Institute of Humanities, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.0000-0003-2912-7358AsgharMohammadiDepartment of Sociology, Deh.C, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.0000-0002-8419-6594Journal Article20260804Background: Digital media have become symbolic battlegrounds for the production and reproduction of social norms. Within this environment, internet memes and TikTok challenges have emerged as pervasive phenomena that are typically examined separately and in isolation from one another.Aims: This study aimed to integrate and comparatively analyze these phenomena in order to identify their shared socio-cultural mechanisms and functions.Methodology: The research employed a qualitative approach based on comparative multimodal content analysis using an iterative, theory-informed comparative methodology. The sample consisted of 19 units of analysis (10 memes and 9 challenges), which were purposively selected and coded across four analytical layers: visual/bodily, linguistic, auditory, and contextual.Findings: The findings showed that despite the fundamental difference in their production mechanisms (memes being based on textual re-contextualisation and challenges on physical reproduction), these two phenomena are organised into five common macro-dimensions: identity construction and group demarcation, emotion regulation and nostalgia, informal resistance and symbolic activism, digital normative laboratory, and attention economy with risk-taking. At the cognitive level, memes have become shortcuts for quick judgements, and challenges have become tools for self-presentation.Conclusion: The results emphasise that these phenomena are not simply reflections of culture, but rather microscopic machines of norm production that necessitate a transition from traditional media literacy to deep multimodal literacy.https://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_108756_7811130ce09710703e01e43649b64024.pdfUniversity of Tehran on behalf of the "Cyberspace Research Policy Center" and the "UNESCO Chair on Cyberspace and Culture: Dual Spacization of the World"Journal of Cyberspace Studies2588-549911120270101Book Review: Post-TV: Piracy, Cord-Cutting, and the Future of Television by Michael Strangelove45545910907110.22059/jcss.2026.109071ENHaiderFalah ZaeidCollege of Media, University of Thi Qar, Thi Qar, Iraq.0000-0002-4005-6880Journal Article20260920Aurhor: Michael StrangeloveTitle: Post-TV: Piracy, Cord-Cutting, and the Future of TelevisionYear of Published: August 2015viii + 347 ppIn EnglishISBN: 978-1-4426-4662-9 (cloth); 978-1-4426-1452-9 (paper)Publisher: University of Toronto Presshttps://jcss.ut.ac.ir/article_109071_9338a2b3062b5a6d52a48206346efe2a.pdf