The aim of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it offers a systematic analysis of the data available regarding Spanish scientists' dissemination activities; on the other, it seeks to shed light on their behaviour and motivations. To do this, we consider the context of Spanish society and the conditions affecting the work and professional promotion of scientists. We present evidence from two surveys of CSIC researchers and of participants in Spain's main science fair, with the caveat that the data were obtained in a methodologically favourable scenario. A contrast exists between scientists' vocation to disseminate and the limitations derived from a low degree of interest in science in Spanish society, together with professional promotion policies that do not give priority to dissemination activities. This leads us to conclude that Spanish scientists are trapped between dissemination activities governed by moral values and a scarcely favourable social and professional context.

Esta es la versión de autor del artículo publicado en: This is an author produced version of a paper published in:Information Sciences 447 (2018) AbstractSocial networks are one of the most preferred environments for people to carry out debates. Due to the fact that a high amount of people can participate in the process, there is a need of tools that can analyse these discussions and extract useful information from them. In this paper, a novel way of determining how the debate is going on, if there is consensus among the participants and which alternatives are preferred is presented. Sentiment analysis is used in order to measure the level of preference that social media users have about a certain set of alternatives. In order to test the presented scheme, a real application example that makes use of Twitter information is presented.

In this study we identify, for the first time, social determinants of opposition to artificial intelligence, based on the assessment of its benefits and risks. Using a national survey in Spain (n= 5,200) and linear regression models, we show that common explanations regarding opposition to artificial intelligence, such as competition and relative vulnerability theories, are not confirmed or have limited explanatory power. Stronger effects are shown by social values and general attitudes to science. Those expressing egalitarian values and privacy concerns, as well as those less predisposed to innovation in a general sense, are more prone to oppose both technological applications. Lastly, we found evidence that, as in other complex technological applications, a new cognitive shortcut is produced. In this case, we found a strong correlation (0.652, p <0.001) between public attitudes towards robotization in the workplace and towards artificial intelligence. We discuss the implications of this new cognitive schema, the "intelligent machine", as a new threatening or beneficial element.

Digital social networks have attracted the attention of a growing number of specialists. The use of digital tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to express socio-political demands or to perform protest actions has become a central issue for social science today. However, few studies analyse the factors behind this phenomenon using explanatory models based on analytical sociology and rational action. In this article, we take steps in this direction and study the socio-political use of social networks based on a methodological individualism model. Through an analysis of structural equations, we analyse how the individual and social factors

ResumenEl modelo de aceptación de la tecnología (TAM) es uno de los enfoques individualistas metodológicos más relevantes en el estudio del uso de Internet. El presente trabajo constituye una revisión del debate sobre el peso de las variables psicológicas y sociales en este modelo. Nuestra tesis es que, a medida que Internet va penetrando socialmente, las variables psicológicas, como las creencias subjetivas sobre las posibilidades del medio, van cediendo protagonismo. Por el contrario, las variables sociales se transforman en los mejores predictores del uso de Internet, ya que son los estímulos y los inhibidores más importantes para la adopción de este comportamiento. En esta línea, los estudios empíricos muestran que la capacidad predictiva de las variables psicológicas es ahora menor que la de las variables sociales. En el presente trabajo, mostramos empíricamente dicha circunstancia y defendemos el papel de un modelo individualista metodológico de corte sociológico, basado en la preponderancia de las variables sociológicas sobre las psicológicas para explicar el uso de Internet. Palabras clave: modelo TAM; brecha digital; Internet; cambio social; sociedad de la información y del conocimiento