Seeing beyond corporate cultural boundaries is a necessary first step toward effective process integration and corporate transformation. But to ignore national culture is to invite failure. OVERVIEW: Culture creates barriers to business process reengineering. Three distinctive levels of culture must be recognized in process redesign-national, corporate and work group culture. American national culture has the most profound influence. Individualism and autonomy are key features of American culture that work against the logic of process integration and commonization by rewarding individuals for pursuing their own self-interests. This tendency also generates a lack of trust, which in turn creates barriers to sharing electronic data. Reengineering difficulties are exacerbated by an American fascination with technological solutions, and a view of new technology as a silver bullet that yields benefits automatically. Often, process redesign cannot be implemented without culture change. Culture can be influenced by exposing internal groups to external pressures, ensuring employee participation in reengineering, recognizing that training alone does not achieve culture change, redefining group boundaries, managing anti-champions, building trust, and leveraging the strengths of national and corporate culture. To compete effectively in world markets, many American corporations are attempting to redesign basic processes in ways that enable closer collaboration or integration of Marietta Baba is professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology at Wayne State University, in Detroit, Michigan. She is founder of the department’s graduate program in business and industrial anthropology. She has been on loan to the National Science Foundation during 19941996 to direct the launch of NSF’s new industry-funded research program on Transformations to Quality Organizations. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology and an MBA. E-mail address: Internet:75031.322@compuserve.com Donald Falkenburg is professor and chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Wayne State University. Previously, he was vice president for research and acting president of the Industrial Technology Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He has a Ph.D. in systems engineering. David Hill has an executive background in information management, manufacturing and international trade obtained through a variety of operating assignments with General Motors Corporation in the United States and abroad. Most recently, he was executive in charge, Corporate Information Management. He holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering. internal functions and/or external relationships. Integration of business processes often is equated with the introduction of new information technology (IT). Investing in IT, however, does not guarantee benefits. In a review of several recent studies, Majchrzak reported failure rates for the implementation of computer-automated technology in American industry that ranged from 30 to 75 percent (1). One explanation for these difficulties is that IT is only an enabler of better business processes; as an enabler, it cannot of itself achieve process improvement. Adler and others have reviewed in detail changes in workforce skills, work procedures, organizational structure, strategy, and culture that must accompany the introduction of advanced computer-automation if corporations are to realize the full benefits of IT (2). Culture in particular is mentioned frequently as an important factor affecting redesign efforts, but its nature and implications typically are not understood sufficiently to provide a base of knowledge for planned culture change. In this article, we address this need by exploring the role of culture in business process-redesign, and by providing suggestions for managers who are engaged in implementing new information technology aimed at process change. Although cultural factors may affect virtually any element of a process redesign initiation (e. …
Doc 402 : Networked Press Freedom and Social Media: Tracing Historical and Contemporary Forces in Press-Public Relations
This paper analyzes how mainstream, online news organizations understand press autonomy in their relationships to audiences. I situate the press in terms of neo-institutional sociology, seeing its autonomy as a distributed, field-level phenomenon involving boundary work among distributed actors. I then trace press-audience relations through two historical examples letters to the editor and ombudsmen, showing how the press has historically both separated itself from and relied upon audiences. Examining eight news organizations’ social media policies, I analyze the inside-out and outside-in forces through which the press distinguishes itself from audiences, concluding with a discussion of how such guidelines structure the types of control that news organizations have, or might have, as they use social network sites in their news work.
Doc 403 : Nurses’ autonomy: influence of nurse managers’ actions.
Background. Autonomy plays an important part in nurses’ job satisfaction and retention, but the literature shows that they are often dissatisfied with this aspect and want better working conditions and greater autonomy in decision-making.
Aims. The aim of this study was to examine the role that nurse managers have in enhancing hospital staff nurses’ autonomy.
Methods. The study used a comparative descriptive survey design. Data collection took place over the Internet through the use of selective listservs in the United States of America (USA), Canada, and the United Kingdom. Of the 317 hospital nurses participating, 264 (83·3%) were from the USA. Differences relating to nurses, nurse managers, and hospital settings were controlled in the analysis.
Results. Nurses were more autonomous in making patient care decisions than unit operational decisions, and they perceived their autonomy to be at a moderate level. Those who were autonomous in patient care decision-making were also likely to be autonomous in unit operation decision-making. Nurse managers’ actions had a strong relationship with nurses’ autonomy in deciding on patient care and unit operation decisions, and with total autonomy. The three important variables that were reported by staff nurses to increase their autonomy were supportive management, education and experience. The three most important factors that were reported to decrease nurses’ autonomy were autocratic management, doctors and workload.
Discussion. Technical issues such as the availability of listservs, valid e-mails, viruses, and familiarity with the Internet and its applications were the major limitations of this study. Nurses’ autonomy over patient care and unit operations decisions needs to be enhanced, and nurse managers should promote this. Similarly, there is a role for nurse education, both in preregistration programmes and in continuing education for managers. Further research needs to explore the barriers that nurses face in autonomous decision-making and how nurses’ participation in unit operational decisions can be promoted.
Conclusions. Hospital staff nurses have moderate autonomy which could be increased by more effective support from nurse managers. The use of electronic questionnaires is a promising data collection method.
Doc 404 : The Global Superorganism: An Evolutionary-cybernetic Model of the Emerging Network Society
The organicist view of society is updated by incorporating concepts from cybernetics, evolutionary theory, and complex adaptive systems. Global society can be seen as an autopoietic network of self-producing components, and therefore as a living system or ‘superorganism’. Miller’s living systems theory suggests a list of functional components for society’s metabolism and nervous system. Powers’ perceptual control theory suggests a model for a distributed control system implemented through the market mechanism. An analysis of the evolution of complex, networked systems points to the general trends of increasing efficiency, differentiation and integration. In society these trends are realized as increasing productivity, decreasing friction, increasing division of labor and outsourcing, and increasing cooperativity, transnational mergers and global institutions. This is accompanied by increasing functional autonomy of individuals and organisations and the decline of hierarchies. The increasing complexity of interactions and instability of certain processes caused by reduced friction necessitate a strengthening of society’s capacity for information processing and control, i.e. its nervous system. This is realized by the creation of an intelligent global computer network, capable of sensing, interpreting, learning, thinking, deciding and initiating actions: the ‘global brain’. Individuals are being integrated ever more tightly into this collective intelligence. Although this image may raise worries about a totalitarian system that restricts individual initia
Doc 405 : The Division of Labour, Worker Organisation, and Technological Change*
The model developed in this article explains differences in the division of labour across firms as a result of computer technology adoption. Changes in the division of labour result from reduced production time and improved communication possibilities. The first shifts the division of labour towards generic structures, while the latter enhances specialisation. Our estimates for a sample of Dutch establishments in the period 1990‐6 suggest that productivity gains have been the main determinant for shifts in the division of labour. These productivity gains induced skill upgrading, while in firms gaining from improved communication possibilities specialisation increased and skill requirements have fallen. The rapid spread of computer technology has led to substantial changes in the division of labour and a shift in the demand for labour in favour of skilled workers. Mostly these changes have been accompanied by flatter organisational structures, larger autonomy for workers or workgroups, the application of innovative human resource management practices and so on. There are also less typical examples where computerisation is associated with increased specialisation (e.g., the rapid increase of call-centres), scripting of communication with clients and stricter procedures. Although the empirical relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) adoption and organisational change has been well-documented, disagreement remains about the reasons why computerisation provides firms with incentives to change the structure of their organisation and the skill requirements of their workforce.
Doc 406 : Preparing schools to accommodate the challenge of Web 2.0 technologies
With laptops, mobile phones, tablets and broadband wireless access becoming more widely available, Web 2.0 is now entering schools. This changes the way students work and communicate, altering their relationship with knowledge, and generating new objectives for media literacy in the digital society. Thus, schools face new challenges and this paper aims at highlighting four of them. A first challenge relates to trust. Web 2.0 opens the classroom to the world and educators have to face new dangers and irrelevant uses, while bringing their students to gain better access to information and culture. The second challenge relates to teachers’ professional identities. The role of teachers is changing as Web 2.0 tools are being used by students, and policymakers should take this into account. A third challenge relates to a growing need to control working time, timetable organization and rhythm in schools. The fourth challenge that we underline is the need for common rules that allow students to benefit from the opportunities offered by Web 2.0 to develop their autonomy and to foster ethical practices.
Doc 407 : Regional, Communal, and Organizational Transformations in Las Cañadas:
The Las Cafiadas region of the Lacand6n forest, Chiapas-the heartland of the Ejercito Zapatista de Liberaci6n Nacional (Zapatista Army of National Liberation-EZLN) and now a central part of the so-called conflict zonehas experienced transformations over the past three decades that have reshaped both political practices and consciousness. There have been changes in the composition of both the region and its component municipios,1 and these have led to a loss of political unity, the transformation of the dominant role of the comon or community,2 the incorporation of new actors at the local level, and local participation in universally shared discourses. My interest in these changes dates to January 1994, when the EZLN and the Mexican government became involved in a political and armed confrontation. On February 16, 1996, the two sides signed their first agreement (known as the San Andres Accords), in which indigenous autonomy occupies a central role and is presented as inextricably linked to the concepts of democracy, justice, and pluralism.3 These are, however, very general postulates that need to be examined in the light of regionally distinct realities and the particular histories of the various indigenous communities living in Chiapas and in Mexico more broadly. Unfortunately, negotiations between the EZLN and the government came to a halt at the end of 1996, when it had become clear to the EZLN that the government was not honoring its promise to respect the concessions it had negotiated. From that time until the present (spring 2000), the national and international media have strongly emphasized the necessity of reinitiating formal negotiations and dialogue on the national level-that is, between the major parties, the EZLN and the federal government. However, this focus on high-level talks has obscured the fact that on a regional level local actors have been engaged in dialogue all along.4 Not surprisingly, these negotiations are neither documented on the Internet
Doc 408 : Adding a new perspective to distance (language) learning and teaching – the tutor’s perspective
To respond to students’ need for more speaking practice, the Open University’s Centre for Modern Languages is currently investigating the benefits of using an Internet-based, real-time audio application in distance learning/teaching. During a four-month trial period, French and German students met at weekly intervals to use the target language and participated in role-plays or other pre-arranged learning tasks requiring collaborative interaction. This paper describes the FLUENT (Framework for Language Use in Environments Embedded in New Technology) project from the tutors’ point of view, focusing on how learner autonomy and the tutor role were affected by the new learning environment.
Doc 409 : Pirates and Librarians: Big Media, Technology, and the Role of Liberal Education
Because the new processes of domination to which people react are embedded in information flows, the building of autonomy has to rely on reverse information flows. –Manuel Castells, The Power of Identity Introduction In recent decades, advances in information technology have vastly increased the channels by which librarians and educators can connect patrons or students with relevant resources. Certainly, it is difficult for librarians today–whether in reference or technical services–to imagine doing their jobs without access to online databases, internet resources, cataloging or circulation software, and the many other tools we now take for granted. Similarly, it is difficult to imagine contemporary patrons voluntarily relinquishing the ability to search OPACs, export bibliographic citations, retrieve full-text articles from thousands of journals, or contact a librarian at all hours via e-mail, chat, or text messaging. These new information-seeking habits of patrons drive libraries–and librarians–to keep up with new applications of technology, whether by using blogs and social networking sites to help promote the services we offer or by ensuring remote access to library resources on mobile devices. Given this centrality of technology to the evolving practice of contemporary librarianship–especially academic librarianship–it is difficult to remember that not all librarians welcomed the appearance of computers in libraries during the transformative era of the 1990s. Yet if we agree with Ranganathan’s most basic principles that books are for use and that librarians should save the time of the reader, why would any librarian object to new tools that help connect more users with more resources, more quickly than ever (Ranganathan, 1963)? Some, perhaps, felt threatened by the new skill sets required or the uncertainty of a transitional period. However, this paper will argue that the deeper answer points to a fundamental question of how librarians view our profession, its mission, and its role in fostering the values essential to liberal education and democracy. The technology that has enabled libraries to expand their roles has also led them to depend increasingly upon powerful commercial publishers, even as governments surrender more and more oversight to these corporate interests. Increasing consolidation of major media channels–including sources of scholarly communication–has allowed a shrinking number of corporations to control distribution and access to the materials libraries offer, through licensing fees, copyright restrictions, and digital rights management. If left unchecked, this trend threatens to stifle access to the information students need to construct knowledge, thereby undermining information literacy, critical pedagogy, and the development of those critical thinking skills so crucial to the mission of liberal education. I. Critical Pedagogy and the Threat to Liberal Education In order to understand how libraries arrived at this crossroads, it is instructive to assess the traditionally agreed upon values of libraries and liberal education, and to examine why some librarians felt those values to be under attack when technology took a larger role in libraries. Within the larger world of higher education, advocates for liberal education in the humanities argue that the critical thinking skills engendered in these fields can fortify an open society against domination by corporate or political elites. In her recently released book Why Democracy Needs the Humanities, the philosopher Martha Nussbaum argues that [a]s the critical thinking taught by the humanities is replaced by the unexamined life of the job-seekers, our ability to argue rights and wrongs is silenced. In a society of unreflective, undiscerning yes-men and yes-women, politics becomes meaner and business can invite disasters such as the economic meltdown or the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Allemang, 2010, p. …
Doc 410 : Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in foreign language learning through Facebook
Display Omitted Facebook higher in autonomy, relatedness and competence than f2f.The 2 groups differ in learning outcomes.The differences in learning outcomes relate to relatedness, autonomy and competence.Within the groups no relations between learning outcomes and SDT variables.Relatedness is the strongest predictor of learning, autonomy the weakest. This article aims to explain differences between a group learning English on a Facebook page and a face-to-face group in terms of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). SDT focuses on three main variables, which improve self-determination and motivation outside but also inside the classroom: autonomy, competence and relatedness. The main research question was: how can we explain differences between a face-to-face group (FTF) and a Facebook group learning a foreign language in terms of autonomy, competence and relatedness? The results indicate that there was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of learning outcomes as well as in the three SDT variables. Students in the Facebook group felt more autonomous, competent and related. All three SDT variables correlated with learning outcomes. There was, however, almost no relationship among the SDT variables with learning outcomes within the two groups. The strongest predictor of the difference in learning outcomes proved to be relatedness, followed by competence.
Doc 411 : Interrogating the Global/Local Interface: Workplace Interactions in the New Economic Spaces of Kolkata
Indian mega-cities have been undergoing remarkable socio-cultural transformations alongside major economic shifts driven by information and communication technologies. The newly emerging economic spaces are characterized by numerous complex home–workplace links, speeding up of information and communication flows; time–space compression; and increased individualism (Cresswell, 2009). These have juxtaposed different spatial and temporal domains in close proximity to each other. In this context, the location of female subjectivity posits an interesting field of enquiry, primarily because women have often been projected as epitomizing these new economic spaces in the visual images and corporate billboards that dot the urban cityscape. These new “iconic” women are perceived to have access to technical and higher education, corporate jobs, and greater autonomy—in short, they are portrayed as the privileged signifiers and transmitters of new India (Radhakrishnan, 2009). And the new economic spaces have been cons…
In the globally networked world, strange, unexpected, and sometimes amusing events occur. This article analyzes one such happening with the purpose of understanding how the global communication system affects national cultures. It is the author’s hypothesis that the current state of globalization, of which the internet is a major component, imposes a new and heightened level of interaction between cultures. This interactivity changes each culture in many ways, one of which the article highlights: the degree of autonomy of each culture is significantly reduced as a consequence of the global information network.
Today, we observe widespread application of the internet, both synchronous and asynchronous communication, by educators in many worldwide classes. Weblog (blog or web log) can be one of the instructional and integral components for ESL instructors. By applying interview and observation, this study reports on ESL students’ experience and perceptions in applying weblog throughout a semester in a writing class in Malaysia. Besides, this study examined the effect of using Weblog on students’ writing autonomy. The findings revealed that students enjoyed the process of publishing their writings, and exchanging their experience in the weblog. Students also acknowledged weblog as a tool which provides more opportunities to publish their writing freely, extend their interaction with their peers outside the class setting, be able to publish and share interesting videos, have the chance to look for the appropriate materials in the World Wide Web (WWW) and check their sentences in the Google simultaneously. Students enjoyed some features in weblog which cannot be found in conventional modes of teaching and learning, such as experiencing unlimited time and place, more independency and freedom in publishing and exchanging comments. With the empirical data presented in this study, weblog can be applied as a suitable instructional tool to promote autonomy among language learners.
Doc 414 : Managing Perceived Challenges of E-Learning in Nigerian Higher Education
Higher Education is the climax of the process of providing knowledge, changing learners attitude and inculcating specialized skills in individuals preparatory to taking a life-long employment with intent to earning a living and equally contributing to national economic growth and development. The Teaching and learning process is cardinal to the realization of the educational objectives of any nation. The advent of information and communication technology has made teaching and learning easier and beyond the traditional face to face interaction between the teacher and the learner. E-learning basically involving the transfer of skills and knowledge through an electronic device aims at improving the teaching/learning process. In spite of the benefits of e-learning to both regular students and distance learners, e-learning has been fraught with some challenges in Africa. Therefore, this paper discusses some of the challenges facing e-learning in Africa particularly in the Nigerian higher education system. These among others are epileptic power supply, high cost of procurement of computer hardware, inadequate infrastructure, and resistance to change on the part of the instructors, inability of learners to make use of ICT infrastructure, inadequate skilled manpower ICT, and corruption of computer storage device through viruses. Effectively managing the identified challenges means that the government would have to ensure regular power supply, lecturers and learners should be trained in the use of ICT infrastructure, and the government should evolve viable ICT policy as well as control or subsidise the price of the s of ICT infrastructure to make it affordable for both lecturers and learners. Keywords - Education, Challenges, Information and Communication Technology, National Educational Objectives, University system, Descriptive Research, Ibadan, Nigeria
Doc 415 : Seeking Personal Autonomy Through the Use of Facebook in Iran
In Iran, where males and females are kept separated in different spheres, Facebook may be used as an opportunity to bridge this gap between the genders. However, this study showed that Facebook, as a nonymous platform in which people are in contact with their already-made social ties, didn’t seem to be liberating from the existing norms and rules within society. Facebook was a stage that became restricted with the involvement of social ties. The study’s analysis of interviews with six young Iranians showed that social meanings and norms of self-presentation on Facebook are defined to a large degree in terms of gender. The informants used a variety of strategies when presenting themselves on Facebook. They used Facebook simply for gaining personal autonomy. Strategies were adopted especially when one’s personal and community needs were in conflict. Efforts made to apply strategies were gendered and were used mainly by females. Males conformed to and women resisted societal norms and expectations.
Doc 416 : Assisting learning in e-assessment: a closer look at educational supports
This study analyses the educational support offered through information and communication technology during formative assessment in two different cases in higher education. We analysed one blended and one virtual case from two different universities. The study aimed at identifying specific patterns of educational support intended to foster two interaction processes: (1) the promotion of greater autonomy in the students and (2) the construction of more appropriate meanings by them. The analysis showed that these two processes were achieved with different attainment levels in each of the two study cases. Specific patterns of support mediated by technology were found underlying these different results. This led us to identify ‘suitable’ and ‘undesirable’ patterns of support in e-assessment practices.
Doc 417 : Evaluating Tandem Language Learning in the MOO: Discourse Repair Strategies in a Bilingual Internet Project
Over the past years, the Internet has developed communication tools as well as information resources. Text-based tools have been established as valuable modular environments for education. One of them, the MOO virtual environment, has maintained its appeal, not least through initiatives such as the CALLMOO project, which developed an educational database with a Java-based interface and undertook systematic research on educational uses of MOOs (Aarseth & Jopp, 1998). In this paper, we will give a short overview of the concepts of learners autonomy and tandem learning. We will then look at repair strategies as represented in two types of data, questionnaires and transcripts, from a bilateral tandem MOO project between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) students from Trinity College Dublin and the Fachhochschule Rhein-Sieg near St. Augustin, Germany. By triangulating the data, we will show how repair strategies, in particular translation and paraphrase are distributed, and how learners’ intention…
Doc 418 : Individual Differences as Predictors of Social Networking
Research suggests that personality dictates specific Internet preferences. One area that remains relatively unexplored is the influence of personality on engagement with social networking sites SNSs. The current study employs a ‘Uses and Gratifications’ framework to investigate whether personality, age, and sex predict motivations for using SNSs. The study explores both global and specific factors of personality using Eysenck’s EPQ-R short form extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism and Beck’s SAS sociotropy and autonomy. Principal component analysis identified ten distinct motivational components, which were then successfully predicted by individual differences through regression analyses. It is therefore suggested that individuals with different profiles vary in their motivations for using SNSs. Results support theoretical assumptions based on previous literature and personality dispositions.
TED (Technology Entertainment Design), a collection of regularly updated talks, offers a web-based platform that is easily accessible. This platform affords language learners across multiple proficiency levels an opportunity to develop autonomy and critical thinking skills alongside their second language (L2) development. With an international community of TED presenters proffering diverse and progressive ideas, learners gain access to authentic language settings and valuable exposure to World Englishes. This will serve learners as they become members of an increasingly global community. By adapting literature circles into the context of blended learning, this article illustrates how such a learning platform can offer students a meaningful and interactive (language) learning experience. This article also contributes to ongoing discussions regarding technology and second language acquisition, and how these intersect to provide effective and relevant social media–based lessons that serve the demands of L2 learners in the digital age.
Doc 420 : How Does My Research Question Come About? The Impact of Funding Agencies in Formulating Research Questions
It is a well-known post-positivist myth that the empirical researcher can be neutral politically and ethically with his/her field, and even many qualitative researchers somehow agree with this statement, since neutrality seems to guarantee inquiry’s rigor, trustworthiness, and legitimacy (Diebel, 2008). The researcher is supposed to be politically independent in designing the research project and ethically detached from the participants. The paradigm turn (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Denzin & Lincoln, 2005) and especially the critical theory paradigm has powerfully criticized this assumption from a political perspective (Kincheloe & McLaren, 2005). In particular, many scholars have argued that locating funding for qualitative research is a political process (Cheek, 2005; Roth, 2002). However, what I would like to illustrate here is that the funding body has also a methodological impact of which the researcher should be aware and should learn to deal with. Few years ago, I was funded by a broadcasting company associated with the former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi. This circumstance made me very concerned and unsettled for many reasons. But this was also the reason for taking very seriously the problem of the ethical (and political) underpinnings of funded qualitative research. Doing research under these circumstances made me understandably worried about the possibility to carry out my research with the autonomy I wanted. The research topic–television experience of 3-6 years old children–was very controversial and a heated debate divided, and still is dividing, professionals, academics, NGOs in two opposite perspectives on the role of TV viewing for little children. And I actually realized that the impact of funding agencies also has methodological consequences on the research practice. After a brief review of some main positions about the issue of the development of the research topic and the research question, I will examine the sources from where a topic or a general problem comes about, and then how it can be shaped into a workable research question. In this passage, I identify four specific constraints. In this paper, however, I will deepen only one of them: the funder-related constraints. I will illustrate the methodological impact of funding agencies by presenting a case of a research on the use of television in families, funded by a mixed board of television industries and children’s advocate groups. Then, I will show four possible solutions to the methodological problem of funding related to four different paradigms, and, finally, I will present what we actually did in our research to deal with this issue. 1. Choosing a Topic Choosing a research topic (or problem) in qualitative inquiry and establishing a workable research question are two different, but interrelated processes, and it is difficult to define which one comes first or after (Miles & Huberman, 1994). Researchers are always embodied in the world they wish to explore and their stance is never neutral or separate from the world in which they live. So the research question that one cuts off from the whole topic is difficult to isolate like a figure on the background. However, in the practice of research the passage from the first step to the second step is necessary, and represents one of the most difficult processes, especially (but not only) for novices (Silverman, 2000). Traditionally, every research comes from a topic that then requires to be transformed (or reduced) into an experimental hypothesis or a focused research question. Quantitative research calls this delicate passage operationalization–the transformation of abstract concept in something measurable. By the way at the beginning of the 1970s even some qualitative methodologists talked about operationalization too (Schatzman & Strauss, 1973, p. 101; see also Denzin, 1971). Before examining the problems in qualitative research that are also related to the transformation/reduction of a concept into a workable research question, it is interesting to see how a research theme emerges and how one considers a research area as relevant. …
Doc 421 : The Autonomy Paradox: The Implications of Mobile Email Devices for Knowledge Professionals
Our research examines how knowledge professionals use mobile email devices to get their work done and the implications of such use for their autonomy to control the location, timing, and performance of work. We found that knowledge professionals using mobile email devices to manage their communication were enacting a norm of continual connectivity and accessibility that produced a number of contradictory outcomes. Although individual use of mobile email devices offered these professionals flexibility, peace of mind, and control over interactions in the short term, it also intensified collective expectations of their availability, escalating their engagement and thus reducing their ability to disconnect from work. Choosing to use their mobile email devices to work anywhere/anytime—actions they framed as evidence of their personal autonomy—the professionals were ending up using it everywhere/all the time, thus diminishing their autonomy in practice. This autonomy paradox reflected professionals’ ongoing navigation of the tension between their interests in personal autonomy on the one hand and their professional commitment to colleagues and clients on the other. We further found that this dynamic has important unintended consequences—reaffirming and challenging workers’ sense of themselves as autonomous and responsible professionals while also collectively shifting the norms of how work is and should be performed in the contemporary workplace.
Doc 422 : ACTIVE ethics: an information systems ethics for the internet age
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a novel mnemonic, ACTIVE, inspired by Mason’s 1985 PAPA mnemonic, which will help researchers and IT professionals develop an understanding of the major issues in information ethics. Design/methodology/approach – Theoretical foundations are developed for each element of the mnemonic by reference to philosophical definitions of the terms used and to virtue ethics, particularly MacIntyrean virtue ethics. The paper starts with a critique of the elements of the PAPA mnemonic and then proceeds to develop an understanding of each of the elements of ACTIVE ethics, via a discussion of the underpinning virtue ethics. Findings – This paper identifies six issues, described by the mnemonic, ACTIVE. ACTIVE stands for: autonomy, the ability of the individual to manage their own information and make choice; community, the ethical effect of an information systems on the community which it supports; transparency, the extent to which the derivation of content and process in…
Doc 423 : Health and psychosocial effects of flexible working hours
OBJECTIVE: To examine whether any impairments in health and social lives can be found under different kinds of flexible working hours, and whether such effects are related to specific characteristics of these working hours. METHODS: Two studies - a company based survey (N=660) and an internet survey (N=528) - have been conducted. The first one was a questionnaire study (paper and pencil) on employees working under some ‘typical’ kinds of different flexible working time arrangements in different companies and different occupational fields (health care, manufacturing, retail, administration, call centres). The second study was an internet-based survey, using an adaptation of the questionnaire from the first study. RESULTS: The results of both studies consistently show that high variability of working hours is associated with increased impairments in health and well-being and this is especially true if this variability is company controlled. These effects are less pronounced if variability is self-controlled; however, autonomy does not compensate the effects of variability. CONCLUSIONS: Recommendations for an appropriate design of flexible working hours should be developed in order to minimize any impairing effects on health and psychosocial well-being; these recommendations should include - besides allowing for discretion in controlling one’s (flexible) working hours - that variability in flexible working hours should be kept low (or at least moderate), even if this variability is self-controlled.
Doc 424 : La autonomía de la voluntad y el pluralismo jurídico en nuestros días
Autonomy of will - that beautiful matrix of classic liberal private law (he who says contractual, says fair) is currently an important instrument for regulating social relations. Observation of real - effective - functioning of that legal tool reveals in a paradigmatic way the identity of the social post-modern individual whose freedom is both immense and insignificant, an unlimited source of power and servile subjection to directives by public and private organizations which establish what we should want in order to want effectively. Exercising that prerogative means adhering to norms that really impose themselves regardless of their sources, but at a degree that can be determined. Such degree - sociologically interesting and politically useful - implies a broad definition of normative and legal pluralism, as Gurvitch proposed. That definition, without exclusions and quite inaccurate, has the advantage (as well as the inconvenience) of warranting men of Law as the new professionals of certain domains that recently used to be strange to them. To those who question the opportunity of such interventions, it could be answered that in practice they are often effective guarantees against arbitrariness. Therefore, this work presents examples of that recent development within the field of sports Law and the protection of privacy (especially on the Internet). In any case, those new spaces have been conquered by literate people and thus Legal sociologists have no other option than taking an interest in them if they want to be professionally faithful to phenomena within their field.
This article explores whether the perception of learner autonomy that is promoted in language pedagogy is suitable for preparing students to perform successfully in the changed circumstances of the use of English. Recent developments, which include the growing role of English as a lingua franca and computer-mediated communication (CMC), give rise to fluid and emergent contexts in which speakers from a variety of language and cultural backgrounds interact. It is argued that the current training-oriented view of learner autonomy in ELT, with its focus on learning processes, should be amended to enable learners to cope with the challenges of communication in the twenty-first century. In this article, an approach that shifts the attention to language use is suggested, where autonomy is developed through tasks and activities that engage learners on their own terms and allow them to effectively exploit their linguistic resources in online negotiation of meaning.
Doc 426 : Use of social networking sites for knowledge exchange
This research wants to identify the factors that impact the use of the social networking sites for knowledge exchange based on the open and sparse structure of virtual communities. Thus, we have adapted the technology adoption model (TAM) to evaluate the perceptions of the members of virtual communities of professionals hosted inside social networking sites regarding their autonomy, the openness of the sites, the diversity of the members of the networks and the interactivity when using these sites. Social networking sites are beneficial for knowledge exchange since their openness influences diversity of members and ideas. Usefulness increases when users feel to have more autonomy in managing their activity in the sites. Autonomy and diversity of the members are key factors because they influence the level of interactivity inside the network.
Doc 427 : A technology roadmap of assistive technologies for dementia care in Japan
The number of elderly people in Japan is growing, which raises the issue of dementia, as the probability of becoming cognitively impaired increases with age. There is an increasing need for caregivers, who are well-trained, experienced and can pay special attention to the needs of people with dementia. Technology can play an important role in helping such people and their caregivers. A lack of mutual understanding between caregivers and researchers regarding the appropriate uses of assistive technologies is another problem. A vision of person-centred care based on the use of information and communication technology to maintain residents’ autonomy and continuity in their lives is presented. Based on this vision, a roadmap and a list of challenges to realizing assistive technologies have been developed. The roadmap facilitates mutual understanding between caregivers and researchers, resulting in appropriate technologies to enhance the quality of life of people with dementia.
Doc 428 : Some Factors to Consider when Designing Semi-Autonomous Learning Environments.
This research aims to answer the question, what ways do mediated learning environments support or hinder learner autonomy? Learner autonomy has been identified as one important factor in the success of mediated learning environments. The central aspect of learner autonomy is the control that the learner exercises over the various aspects of learning, beginning with the decision to learn or not to learn. But as Candy (1995) points out, there are several areas where learner-control can be exercised. The first are the motivational-intentional forces that drive the learner to apply some determination (or vigour) to the act of learning. They are the conative functions of learning and include learner intiative, motivation and personal involvement. They are often associated with life goals that are independent of the actual learning goals pursued within the strict confines of the learning environment (Long, 1994). The second area of learner-control is the one comprising the nuts-and-bolts of the act of learning, such as defining learning goals, deciding on a learning sequence, choosing a workable pacing of learning activities, and selecting learning resources (Hrimech & Bouchard, 1998). These are the algorithmic aspects of learning, and in traditional schooling, they are the sole responsibility of the teacher. In mediated learning environments, it can be shared between the platform and the actual learner. Just a few years ago, learner control was necessarily limited to these two sets of features, conative and algorithmic. Today however, with the proliferation of educational offerings in both the private and public sector, as well as the developments in educational technology, two other aspects of the learning environment emerge as important areas where learner-control can be exercised. The semiotic dimension of learner-control includes the symbolic platforms used to convey information and meaning, for example web pages, hypertext, video/audio multimedia, animation, each of these bringing with them their own specific set of possibilities and limitations for autonomy in learning. And then again, all learning environments exist in their own distinct economic sphere where decisions about whether, what and how to learn are made on the basis of cost-benefit, opportunity cost, and extrinsic market value. We will examine the implications of each of these areas of learner-control, and share our analysis of a series of interviews with cyber-learners, based on this framework of conative, algorithmic, semiotic and economic factors.
This article introduces the notion of ‘routinisation’ into discussions of informed consent. It is argued that the routinisation of informed consent poses a threat to the protection of the personal autonomy of a patient through the negotiation of informed consent. On the basis of a large survey, we provide evidence of the routinisation of informed consent in various types of interaction on the internet; among these, the routinisation of consent to the exchange of health related information. We also provide evidence that the extent of the routinisation of informed consent is dependent on the character of the information exchanged, and we uncover a range of causes of routinisation. Finally, the article discusses possible ways of countering the problem of routinisation of informed consent.
Doc 430 : The Internet Citizenry: Access and Participation
By drawing attention to estates in governance and politics, especially the role of the scientific estate, Price has provided a model of what ought to be, as well as a way of studying what is. It is significant that scientists’ most important resources in public engagement are their specialized expertise, and the perception that they are apolitical in their policy stances. These are resources they must use carefully if they wish to protect their autonomy as well as their influence. The interaction of science, technology, and public policy is emerging again as an important sub ject of action and analysis given today’s public agenda. In observing and comprehending issues associated with the subject, it is useful to recall Price’s still relevant book.
Doc 431 : Personal autonomy in the travel panopticon
I argue in this paper that the development and convergence of information and communication technologies (ICT) is creating a global network of surveillance capabilities which affect the traveler. These surveillance capabilities are reminiscent of 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s panopticon, and as such the emerging global surveillance network has been referred to as the travel panopticon. I argue that the travel panopticon is corrosive of personal autonomy, and in doing so I describe and analyse various philosophical approaches to personal autonomy.
In this essay, Foucault’s concept “of other spaces” – or, heterotopia – is used to examine the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement in the context of systemic crisis. Neoliberalism is marked by innovations that amplify and accelerate contradictions, unfolding the false utopia of finance capitalism. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) helped hyper-financialize the economy, enrich banksters and extend inequalities. Conversely, high-tech developments allow for decentralized decision-making and more direct democracy, paralleling the ethics of OWS. New ICTs compress TimeSpace, opening doors for empathic connections, generating conditions for elevation of collective superstructural consciousness. This paper explores how these conditions create – and are recreated by – heterotopic spaces. Drawing on Foucault’s method of heterotopology we throw light on the potential of OWS to prefigure another world, analyzing endeavors to promote cooperative autonomy, and raise consciousness in and through mediated environments, always contested, ever in flux, and inevitably over-(but never pre-)determined.
Doc 433 : The hardware and software aspects of energy consumption in the mobile development platform
Purpose – The set of services provided by the mobile phone platform, is becoming increasingly complex and requiring more computing power, hence higher energy consumption, and compromising the autonomy of these devices. The purpose of this paper is to identify scenarios where methods could be applied to reduce such consumption and extend the mobile autonomy.Design/methodology/approach – This mobile evolution has given rise to a lot of energy saving research activities, which mainly focus on the hardware side of computational systems. However, it is tempting to suppose that only hardware dissipates power, not software. This paper characterizes several hardware and software scenarios, which could be explored to develop energy‐efficient mobile techniques.Findings – From this analysis, the authors argue that the development of applications that consider energy saving as one of their requirements, can result in a significant final energy saving because solutions will be part of their own software and they do no…
Doc 434 : The Media Game: New Moves, Old Strategies
Campaigns are strategic contests between candidates and reporters. While candidates have proven to be adept at gaming news coverage of their campaign advertisements, journalists have maintained their autonomy by curtailing coverage of the candidates’ stump speeches. The advent of online media, however, advantages the candidates by permitting direct communication between candidates and voters. Author Notes: Shanto Iyengar holds the Chandler Chair in Communication at Stanford University, where he is also a professor of political science. Ever since primary elections replaced conventions as the principal means of nominating candidates, the relationship between journalists and candidates has been critical to understanding the conduct of American political campaigns. Each side has clearly defined and conflicting objectives. Candidates covet the free and “objective” publicity provided by news reports. Reporters, for their part, are motivated to maintain their autonomy by debunking campaign rhetoric and “spin.” In the ensuing tussle over whose voice is to be heard, which side comes out ahead? Writing in 1993, well before the dawn of modern, technology-driven campaigns, Ansolabehere, Iyengar, and Behr gave the nod to the candidates and their handlers. The relationship between political figures and the media has changed dramatically since the advent of television. Politicians have been much quicker to adjust to these changes than the media. Elected officials, candidates, and their consultants have developed intricate strategies for using or evading the media to their advantage. The media, on the other hand, have only just begun to develop counterstrategies for protecting their independence. Elected officials are adept at inducing reporters to cover their activities in the best possible light. Reporters don’t always know how they’re being manipulated, and if they do, they don’t always know how to stop it. (234) If candidates had the superior game in the 1980s, there is a compelling case to be made that recent changes in the campaign environment have only strengthened their hand. In this essay, I update the strategic dance between candidates and the press in the area of the two main forms of campaign communication: paid advertising and “free” news coverage.
Doc 435 : Young people’s experiences of mobile phone text counselling: Balancing connection and control☆
Abstract Mobile phone text counselling offers an opportunity to engage young people via a familiar and accessible medium. Interviews conducted with young people highlighted aspects of text counselling they perceived as valuable including privacy and autonomy, having control over the counselling process and maintaining anonymity. Participants appreciated the accessibility of text counselling and felt comfortable communicating through text. Despite the anonymity, they also felt they got to know the counsellor as a ‘real person’ and experienced a relational connection with them. Text counselling may help young people balance their contradictory needs for autonomy and connection and facilitate their engagement with counselling support.
Doc 436 : Will monitoring systems kill intrinsic motivation? An empirical study
The use of monitoring devices (data collection) in business organizations is facilitated through New Information and Communication Technologies (NICT) such as fingerprint, facial or eyes biometric, time clocks, cyber surveillance, remote tracking of employees via GPS, and others. While standard economic theory advocates the use of incentive systems and surveillance to increase performance at work, some empirical studies show a fall in the level and quality of effort after the introduction of monitoring. Using self-determination theory (SDT), we explain this phenomenon by the negative impact of “monitoring systems extensiveness” on employees’ intrinsic motivation (IM). We hypothesize the mediation of this impact by the degree to which employees perceive their supervisors as being “autonomy supportive”. We also investigate the possibility of a moderating effect of “employees’ beliefs about the purposes of devices for monitoring” on the relationships between “monitoring systems extensiveness”, “perception of supervision” and “intrinsic motivation”. We test these hypotheses using a questionnaire, collected in France, from 579 employees having at least one supervisor. Developing a structural equation model, we find: firstly, a significant crowding out effect of IM by monitoring; secondly, this crowding out effect is significantly mediated by employees’ perception of supervision; thirdly, we confirm a strong positive relation between an autonomy supportive supervision and IM. Finally, we do not find any significant moderation by employees’ beliefs about the purposes attributed to monitoring devices.
Doc 437 : A City of Ten Years: Public/Private Internet Development in Nanhai
Does the Internet, a key technological infrastructure in contemporary urban China, facilitate the emergence of entrepreneurs and autonomous citizens? Who deserves the credit? Chinese national leaders answered yes to the first question and pointed to themselves as the answer to the second. This essay maintains, however, that local state actors played the central and effectively centralizing role in (xinxihua) projects in Nanhai City, Guangdong province. Through local e-government projects and a series of policies regarding land use, financing, and personnel training, the Nanhai government was able to shape the emerging local economy in a way that limited entrepreneurial autonomy for small-scale start-ups in the Internet industry. The highly centralized campaign fundamentally reversed Nanhai’s renowned decentralized model of rural industrialization. Through this process, a fractured system emerged for the and meanings attached to and to the city itself. This was manifested in everyday practice and discourse among local policymakers, entrepreneurs in both new and old economies, and average residents with different (mis)perceptions of the Internet influenced by their gender. At the formal policy level, the trend toward centralization was most obvious, revolving around the formation of a nebulous public network space being constructed by the city using technological, administrative, and rhetorical devices. Yet the private practices and perceptions of Internet that defined Nanhai’s informational landscape persisted in a fractured manner at the same time, leading to major corruption scandals and the implosion of the grandiose technology campaign. To understand such a paradoxical process, this article examines the contextual and internal factors for Nanhai’s Internet buildup. From a critical and historical perspective, it highlights a long-term seesaw battle along the problematic public-private borderline regarding issues of urbanization and in contemporary Chinese cities. This article reflects on the restructuring of local power relations and the role of informatization policy discourse therein. A crucial, yet often overlooked, dimension of reform in China today is the migration and subsequent transformation of technosocial meaning across different scales of and operations. The discursive process often has a transnational reach and tends to follow a political logic that usually only makes sense against the backdrop of the local history.
Doc 438 : Arab Religious Skeptics Online: Anonymity, Autonomy, and Discourse in a Hostile Environment
The Arab atheist community is largely an online phenomenon, with limited visibility offline and with virtually no umbrella groups. It exists in unfriendly, if not hostile, political, social, religious, and legal environments. This paper aims to deepen our understanding of virtual space by analyzing the Arab atheist community online: its content, discourse, and structure. The research examines the relationship between the networked information economy and the emergence of religious skeptics as manifested in Arab cyberspace. A central question is whether the Internet enhances individual autonomy in matters of faith. Given that the Arab atheist community online is prevailingly anonymous, the paper assesses the potential and limitations of anonymous and pseudonymous speech online and the extent to which this facilitates or hinders sharing, debating, community building, and collective action.
Doc 439 : Role-based Interaction Infrastructures for Internet Agents
SUMMARY With no doubt the Internet will achieve advantages in exploiting software agents for applications, thanks to their autonomy in carrying out tasks. In such a scenario, appropriated methodologies are needed to manage the interactions among agents. The BRAIN framework proposes an interaction model based on roles, each one composed by a set of capabilities and an expected behavior. The achieved advantages are agentoriented features, separation of concerns and reuse of solutions and experiences. In this paper we present two interaction infrastructures, Rolesystem and RoleX, which rely on the above mentioned role-based interaction model. These infrastructures allow agents to assume roles and to interact. An application example and the comparison with other approaches show the efiectiveness
Doc 440 : Electronic administration in Spain: from its beginnings to the present
This study presents the basic lines of electronic administration in Spain. The complexity of the Spanish political-administrative system makes such a study challenging, in view of the considerable degree of autonomy and competences of the regional administrative bodies and local agencies with respect to the central government, the former being more visible in the 17 regions of Spain. Nonetheless, the central government maintains a series of legal instruments that allow a certain common framework of action to be imposed, aside from what is put into effect through diverse programs aimed precisely to develop common tools for the regions and municipalities of Spain. After an introduction that provides some necessary background, this study describes the legislative framework in which Spain’s electronic administrative system has developed. The data included in the study refer to investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and the services offered by the different Administrations on the internet; internet access by citizens, homes, businesses, and employees, as well as the interactivity existing with administrations by means of the internet; the origins and rise of various political initiatives of the Central Government involving electronic administration; and finally, the situation of civil service personnel, as catalysts of the success of Information Society in the Public Administration within Spain.
Doc 441 : Electronic Records Management and Public Accountability: Beyond an Instrumental Approach
In evaluating government actions, accountability fora depend public records. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) candepending how they are usedpositively or negatively affect the availability of records for accountability. Dominant trends in the effect of ICTs records management are (1) the mixing of on the record and off the record communication, (2) the shift of control over information to the individual, (3) the focus present rather than historic information, (4) the interlinking of information managed by several organizations, and (5) the integration of procedures into computer systems. These trends indicate that the introduction of ICTs challenges the existing balance between organizational values (e.g., formality and informality, central control and individual autonomy). Electronic records management is therefore about finding an organizational design that balances values to fit the organization’s accountability situation.
Doc 442 : The student and the ovum: the lack of autonomy and informed consent in trading genes for tuition.
Rising tuition costs have forced university students to become creative in finding ways to fund their education. Some female university students have decided that ova donation may be an acceptable alternative in which to pay for their tuition. This alternative presents itself because of the insufficient number of ova available for assisted reproduction and emerging stem cell technologies. Young female university students are encouraged by Internet sources and respectable electronic and print media to donate their ova in the cause of assisted reproduction for monetary compensation. While university students generally exhibit autonomy, the constraining influence of their financial predicament compromises the elements of informed consent (voluntariness, competence, capacity, understanding, and disclosure) as to their making an autonomous decision in regard to egg donation. Thus, any moral possibility of giving informed consent is negated. Informed consent can only occur through autonomy. A female university student in need of financial resources to pay for her education cannot make an autonomous choice to trade her genes for tuition. Donated ova are not only needed for assisted reproduction, but for stem cell technologies. While the long-term health of women who donate their ova is of concern (a potential risk of cancer after long term use of ovulation induction), of equal concern is the possibility of a growth in the trade of ova targeting third world and Eastern European women where the precedence for autonomy and informed consent is not well established.
Doc 443 : Language Learning Activities of Distance EFL Learners in the Turkish Open Education System as the Indicator of Their Learner Autonomy.
This study investigates the noncompulsory language learning activities performed by a group of distance EFL learners in the Turkish Open Education System. Performance of these activities has been considered as an indicator of their learner autonomy. The data were collected through an online questionnaire and interviews. The study shows that in general learners do not demonstrate autonomous language learning behaviour. They prefer learning English in a relaxed environment particularly by engaging in entertaining activities, and through note-taking. However, they do not have sufficient interaction with their facilitator, other learners or speakers. Although the participants are distance learners, they do not prefer Internet-based activities. Conditions stemming from adulthood, lack of skills necessary to perform an activity, lack of awareness of some activities and learners’ experiences in their previous years of education are some of the reasons for their unautonomous behaviour. The article also includes suggestions for teaching and future research.
Doc 444 : The theoretical basis of the effective school improvement model (ESI)
This article describes the process of theoretical reflection that preceded the development and empirical verification of a model of “effective school improvement”. The focus is on basic mechanisms that could be seen as underlying “getting things in motion” and change in education systems. Four mechanisms are distinguished: synoptic rational planning, the market mechanism, cybernetics, and autopoiesis. Principles relevant for effective school improvement that are deducted from these basic mechanisms are: goal setting for improvement, pressures to improve, cyclical improvement processes, and autonomy. The article also briefly touches upon the way empirical models of school effectiveness and school improvement can be linked and used in the encompassing model of effective school improvement that the ESI project has yielded.
Doc 445 : New networked technologies and carers of people with dementia : an interview study
Dementia is one of the greatest contemporary health and social care challenges, and novel approaches to the care of its sufferers are needed. New information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to assist those caring for people with dementia, through access to networked information and support, tracking and surveillance. This article reports the views about such new technologies of 34 carers of people with dementia. We also held a group discussion with nine carers for respondent validation. The carers’ actual use of new ICT was limited, although they thought a gradual increase in the use of networked technology in dementia care was inevitable but would bypass some carers who saw themselves as too old. Carers expressed a general enthusiasm for the benefits of ICT, but usually not for themselves, and they identified several key challenges including: establishing an appropriate balance between, on the one hand, privacy and autonomy and, on the other: maximising safety; establishing responsibility for and ownership of the equipment and who bears the costs; the possibility that technological help would mean a loss of valued personal contact; and the possibility that technology would substitute for existing services rather than be complementary. For carers and dementia sufferers to be supported, the expanding use of these technologies should be accompanied by intensive debate of the associated issues.
Doc 446 : Impacts of Learning Management System on Learner Autonomy in EFL Learning
The integration of interactive online communication into different educational settings has been widely researched since the emergence of Web 2.0 technology. It has been particularly identified to give EFL students more opportunities to express ideas, enhance their engagement in learning activities and promote their confidence during virtual interactions. These benefits coincide with attributes of a learning environment that can foster learner autonomy. Therefore, this paper reports on an investigation into the impacts of the employment of a web 2.0 Learning Management System (LMS) in an EFL course. Data extracted from individual interviews with four undergraduate students in a Vietnamese university was analyzed to illustrate possible effects of LMS in students’ ability to initiate, monitor and evaluate their learning process. The presentation continues with a discussion on the cyclic relationship among these three capabilities. It also addresses the local students’ perspective on socializing and academic activities as well as the relationship between them in the socio-cultural context of Vietnam. It then concludes with implications for EFL teaching practices with the adoption of LMS and puts forward suggestions for further research.
Doc 447 : My space, my body, my sexual subjectivity: social media, sexual practice and parental control among teenage girls in urban Chiang Mai
This ethnographic study conducted among young women aged 18-21 years in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, explored the parental control mechanisms imposed by Thai middle-class families on the sexuality of their daughters. It addressed the ways in which young women tactically use the social media in order to negotiate the sexual controls they encountered in everyday life. Taking the teenage girls’ point of view, this paper argues that, as active agents, young women achieve a certain level of sexual autonomy and construct their own sexual selves in modern northern Thai society, despite their parents’ attempts to prevent this. The paper highlights the ways in which social media are used by Thai girls in order to achieve such a goal. Research findings should inform the development of future programmes on sexual health promotion, parental skills and sexual communication between Thai parents and their children.
Doc 448 : Your search – ‘Ontological Security’ – matched 111,000 documents: An empirical substantiation of the cultural dimension of online search
More than any other form of online activity, the practices of online information search have been overwhelmingly associated with their straightforward utility and with the potential alterations in the socio-economic structure that the access to this information, or lack thereof, entails. However, even when afforded such an apparently instrumental role, several important elements of the Internet are based on, and oriented towards, culture, identity and collectivity, and relate to a symbolically un-fragmented system that remains largely unconscious. In this paper we appropriate the concept of ontological security to explore the autonomy of the cultural dimension of online search, which has gone largely unanalysed in the literature. Ontological security is the unconscious sense that individuals have about the continuity and order in events related to their lives. At the collective level, it relates to the stability of the symbolic structures of society, which are both inclusive and exclusionary. Through a se…
Doc 449 : The moral value of informational privacy in cyberspace
Solutions to the problem of protecting informational privacy in cyberspace tend to fall into one of three categories: technological solutions, self-regulatory solutions, and legislative solutions. In this paper, I suggest that the legal protection of the right to online privacy within the US should be strengthened. Traditionally, in identifying where support can be found in the US Constitution for a right to informational privacy, the point of focus has been on the Fourth Amendments protection in this context finds its moral basis in personal liberty, personal dignity, self-esteem, and other values. On the other hand, the constitutional right to privacy first established by Griswold v. Connecticut finds its moral basis largely in a single value, the value of autonomy of decision-making. I propose that an expanded constitutional right to informational privacy, responsive to the escalating threats posed to online privacy by developments in informational technology, would be more likely to find a solid moral basis in the value of autonomy associated with the constitutional right to privacy found in Griswold than in the variety of values forming the moral basis for the right to privacy backed by the Fourth Amendment.
Doc 450 : Qualities of Peer Relations on Social Networking Websites: Predictions From Negative Mother-Teen Interactions
This study examined associations between characteristics of teenagers’ relationships with their mothers and their later socializing behavior and peer relationship quality online. At age 13, teenagers and their mothers participated in an interaction in which mothers’ and adolescents’ behavior undermining autonomy and relatedness was observed, and indicators of teens’ depressive symptoms and social anxiety were assessed. At age 20, youth self-reported on their online behaviors, youths’ social networking webpages were observationally coded to assess peer relationship quality online, and symptoms of depression and social anxiety were reassessed. Results suggested that problematic mother-teen relationships were predictive of youths’ later preference for online communication and greater likelihood of forming a friendship with someone met online, yet poorer quality in online relationships. Findings are discussed within a developmental framework suggesting the importance of considering youths’ family interactions during early adolescence as predictors of future online socializing behavior and online interactions with peers.
The proliferation of the Internet has given opportunities on different entities to share resources or conduct business transactions. However, how to establish trust among strangers without prior relationship and common security domain poses much difficulty for these activities. To resolve these problems, a promising approach known as Automated Trust Negotiation (ATN), which establishes the trust between strangers with iterative disclosure of credentials and access control policies, is proposed. In this paper, a comprehensive survey of research on ATN is presented, and some basic techniques, e.g. negotiation model and architecture, access control policy specification, credential description and credential chain discovery, are introduced and compared. Then based on the analysis of the shortcomings and problems of the techniques, the trend of research and application is discussed. All these work may contribute to the further work on trust establishment for entities with privacy protection and autonomy in open internet.
Doc 452 : Bullying behaviour following students’ transition to a secondary boarding school context
IntroductionAdolescence is a developmental stage in life that is associated with major cognitive, emotional, physiological and social change. Adolescence coincides with the onset of puberty and is typically described by parents as a period in which they attune to their child’s growing need for autonomy and greater desire to source social support from same aged peers. Many adolescents look forward to the transition to secondary school as it represents a period of possibilities; a time to master new academic, social, emotional and extracurricular activities (1). However, adapting to multiple formal and informal organizational and social relational structures that are inextricably linked with the high school environment can prove particularly daunting to transitioning students (2).Transitioning from primary school to a secondary boarding school adds another layer of complexity to secondary school life, as students have to simultaneously adjust from a situation where home and school are separate, into a setting where a temporary new home and schooling are merged together. Although some boarding students have reported the transition to boarding school has given them a greater appreciation for family and home, other students have equally reported that the process of adapting to new boarding school duty of care rules and regulations can be difficult as they tend to reduce privacy and personal freedom. Moreover, it commands boarding students to almost instantly display high levels of self-reliance, life skills and independence Similarly, boarding school requires adjusting from a situation where contact with family members occurs on a daily face-to-face basis to a situation where for extended periods of time contact is limited to contact via telephone, Skype and other means of communication such as email and text messages. Others have also described this change as shifting from vertical relationships with parents to horizontal relationships with peers at school and within the boarding house (3).Friendship and peer support are needed for the development of social, emotional and mental health and have been identified as important contributors to a successful school transition (4). Peers not only provide support, but information and guidance (5). However, a peak in bullying victimization occurs following the transition to secondary school (6) largely resulting from the pressure to attain high social status and the formalization of relationships and social roles in new social groups (7). The seriousness and negative impact of school bullying is well known contributing to significant physical, psychological and social wellbeing problems (8) which in turn effects academic performance (9).In boarding schools, a significantly larger amount of time is spent with peers (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) compared to day students (6 hours a day, 5 days a week). Arguably, the residential boarding context provides greater opportunity for bullying to occur (10, 11).Some have described bullying at boarding school as ‘relentless’ given that targets have fewer choices to minimize their exposure to bullying, with bullying often following the target from the day school setting into the residential setting (3). Evidence suggests bullying can become institutionalized into the culture of boarding schools that are not vigilant to its presence (11). Poynting and Donaldson (10) described peer-to-peer bullying in one Australian elite boys’ only boarding school as endemic and entrenched, taking the form of ridicule and racial slurs, physical and sexualized assault, all contained within a culture of intimidation and non-disclosure. In these instances bullying has been justified through language that constructs it as a ‘tradition’ or ‘initiation’ and analogous with a normal a rite of passage (12).The long term negative mental health and life trajectory implications for individuals that experience bullying and also perpetrate bullying while at school are increasing being acknowledged (13). …
Doc 453 : Multidimensional strategies for learning evaluation in on-line courses
This work presents the results of a qualitative investigation supported by descriptions from an on-line collaborative specialization course with emphasis on the evaluation process of students’ learning. The investigation showed that, as a result of the possibilities both information technology and communication technology create to people, the evaluation process can not be limited to the logic of a post-procedural and definitive examination, it should rather be applied all time long, in all ways and for all activities and practices in a course environment. This approach has a multidimensional nature and is able to handle with the complexity of the related knowledge, taking into account many possibilities of interaction, different timing and spaces to learn and teach, the related interfaces as well as interdisciplinary approaches in the analyzed collaborative environment. The theoretical references have explored the evaluation concepts and its predominant practice, and examine several aspects of information and communication technology which apply to the education. Based on these two main fronts, other concepts have been considered in the theoretical field such as complexity, collaboration, time, space, interdisciplinary aspects, among others, which have allowed the research to have its basis on a framework of ideas from which the analysis have been brought to light in order to show the broad scope of the multidimensional learning evaluation in on-line collaborative environment, considering that such evaluation allows to set individual goals of students and teachers according to a pedagogical strategy that dialectically focuses the autonomy and the collective construction of knowledge. Another important point demonstrated in this investigation is that people are much more important than technologies, and that the collaboration between people is also important for an assessment of all moments, even considering the history of each participant as an individual who has a personal history and knowledge gathered from multiple sources and being continuously processed.
Doc 454 : Practicing what we teach in teaching systems practice: The action-learning cycle
Respect for autonomy is a powerful tool for managing complexity. It lets natural, mutually supportive order emerge. In Western culture, though, much order is imposed. This causes conflict, which only increases complexity. This conflictual pattern has an antidote in systems practice: the systemic action–learning cycle. When used reflectively at the level of second-order cybernetics, this cycle embodies respect for autonomy. The UK Open University course T306: Managing Complexity—A Systems Approach teaches this action–learning cycle, and uses the cycle in its own teaching. In particular, it uses the cycle in its online conferences, to invite participation and dissolve conflict. This paper shows how.
Doc 455 : Powerful Devices: How Teens’ Smartphones Disrupt Power in the Theatre, Classroom and Beyond.
During a series of high school English and Drama class trips to the theatre, so many students were online, the entire back row often glowed blue. Although much of the literature suggests that information and communication technologies are benign and neutral, this back-row collision of digital and live culture signals to teachers that technology is freighted with issues of power: questions of identity formation, consumerism, autonomy and freedom. This qualitative study of high school students at the conclusion of their four-play series suggests that cell phones shape the youth audience experience, that etiquette regarding the use of these powerful devices remains sharply contested, and that students apply a range of strategies to dealing with issues of power and agency around their use.
Doc 456 : Communication and Collaboration, Satisfaction, Equity, and Autonomy in Blended Learning Environments: A Case from Turkey
Research studies conducted in the area of e-learning and blended learning lead to the emergence of new concepts, which directly influence quality. Among these concepts, the ones taken into consideration for this research study are as follows: communication and collaboration, satisfaction, equity, and autonomy. The perceptions of students taking blended ICT courses in a private university in Turkey were gathered through an Online Learning Environment Survey (OLES). Additionally, the suggestions of instructors for improving the quality of blended learning were obtained through a focus group interview. The findings of this study show that the perceived communication, collaboration, and satisfaction levels of students vary according to their levels of computer and Internet literacy. Also, there are differences in the students’ satisfaction levels based on gender. The majority of students revealed that they considered themselves to be autonomous and equal in the blended learning environment. The findings of this research study, together with our review of recent literature, lead us to conclude that there are four major areas (containing several factors) that must be considered when developing a high-quality blended learning environment: technology, instructors, students, and pedagogy. Based on the findings, some practical suggestions for transforming traditional courses into blended ones are also offered at the end of the research study. Finally, suggestions for the future are provided.
Doc 457 : Do Demanding Conditions Help or Hurt Self-Regulation?
Although everyday life is often demanding, it remains unclear how demanding conditions impact self-regulation. Some theories suggest that demanding conditions impair self-regulation, by undermining autonomy, interfering with skilled performance and working memory, and depleting energy resources. Other theories, however, suggest that demanding conditions improve self-regulation by mobilizing super-ordinate control processes. The present article integrates both kinds of theories by proposing that the self-regulatory impact of demanding conditions depends on how people adapt to such conditions. When people are action-oriented, demanding conditions may lead to improved self-regulation. When people are state-oriented, demanding conditions may lead to impaired self-regulation. Consistent with this idea, action versus state orientation strongly moderates the influence of demands on self-regulatory performance. The impact of demanding conditions on self-regulation is thus not fixed, but modifiable by psychological processes. Demanding conditions are pervasive in everyday life. At the workplace, employees need to stay abreast of rapid technological innovations and deal with constant pressures towards increased efficiency and productivity. In educational settings, students must meet high standards of academic excellence, often while performing low-paying jobs to cover high tuitions and while taking care of their family members. Even among friends, there are always emails to be responded to, birthdays to be remembered, meetings to be arranged, favors to be returned, along with countless other duties and obligations. Given that demanding conditions are exceedingly common, it is important to understand how people can most effectively deal with such conditions. Unfortunately, psychological theories offer seemingly contradictory insights into this matter. Some influential theories propose that demanding conditions are likely to undermine self-regulation (Baumeister & Showers, 1986; Beilock, Kulp, Holt, & Carr, 2004; Deci & Ryan, 2000; Muraven & Baumeister, 2000). However, other theories suggest that demanding conditions lead people to marshal their self-regulatory resources, resulting in enhanced motivation and self-regulation (e.g., Botvinick, Braver, Barch, Carter, & Cohen, 2001; Brehm & Self, 1989; Trope & Fishbach, 2000). These different theories have very different practical implications. If demanding conditions undermine self-regulation, people will be best off by avoiding demanding conditions. By contrast, if demanding conditions facilitate selfregulation, people may be advised to seek out demanding conditions whenever they can. In the present article, we develop an integrative theoretical analysis of how demanding conditions influence self-regulation. In what follows, we begin by taking a closer look at the basic ways in which demanding conditions might help or hurt self-regulation. Next, drawing upon action control theory (Kuhl, 1984, 1994a), we propose that the self-regulatory impact of demanding conditions depends on people’s mode of adapting to these
Doc 458 : How students’ perceptions of teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviours affect physical activity behaviour: an application of the trans-contextual model
The aim of this study was to assess a modified version of the trans-contextual model (Hagger, Chatzisarantis, Culverhouse, & Biddle, 2003) based on self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and the theory of planned behaviour (Ajzen, 1985). The modified version included two additional components: use of learning strategies and positive general feedback. It was hypothesized that students’ perceptions of how they use learning strategies taught by their physical education (PE) teachers and perceived positive general feedback would influence students’ intrinsic motivation, intentions, and physical activity behaviour in a leisure-time context through intrinsic motivation in PE. A structural equation model supported the hypotheses and demonstrated that the use of learning strategies and perceived positive general feedback in PE indirectly influenced intrinsic motivation in leisure time through the effect of intrinsic motivation in PE. There was a direct effect of perceived positive general feedback on physical activity behaviour as well as an indirect effect through the motivational sequence.
Doc 459 : How and why do people with depression access and utilize online drug information: a qualitative study.
Abstract Background People with depression commonly use the Internet to access antidepressant information, but the quality of this information is highly variable. The objective of this study was to assess how and why people use the Internet to access antidepressant information, and the self-reported impact of information obtained online. Methods Six focus groups were conducted with a cross-section of Internet users ( n = 29) with depression. Focus group transcripts were thematically content analyzed using a constant comparison approach. Results Reasons cited for seeking online information included to obtain a second opinion, to verify information provided in the Package Information Leaflet, to prepare to visit to a physician, and to learn about peer experiences. The Internet was used to complement rather than replace information provided by health professionals. The self-reported impacts of utilizing online drug information included increased autonomy, improved knowledge, being reassured, deciding to change a dose, to discontinue a drug and to suggest a new drug to a physician. Limitations Additional quantitative research and a random sampling technique would be required to obtain generalizable results and to assess the relative importance of the various reasons cited by the focus group participants. Conclusions The Internet was perceived as an important source of additional drug information, particularly when fear of stigmatization or depression related symptoms limited information seeking from other sources. Health professionals should design online services and direct their clients to accurate and reliable sources of online drug information.
Doc 460 : Social Networking: Anybody is a Data Controller
This paper will look at the definition of a data within the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and consider whether the phenomenom of social networking (through Facebook (FB), MySpace and Bebo) has produced unintended consequences in the interpretation and application of the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC to the online environment. The Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC defines a data broadly to refer to the ‘natural or legal person, public authority, agency or any other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of processing are determined by national or Community laws or regulations, the controller or the specific criteria for his nomination may be designated by national or Community law.’ If the definition of the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC (DPD) is applied literally to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, arguably, not only organisations such as FB and MySpace are regarded as data controllers (through Art. 4 of the DPD), but individuals who posted information about others (friends or work colleagues etc.) would also be regarded as data controllers and thus have to adhere to the legal rules laid down under the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC (ie. Art. 7 of the DPD fair and lawful processing; not excessive etc) unless it could be shown that the exemptions under Art. 9 that processing was intended for journalistic, artistic and literary purposes or that Art. 13 exceptions apply. As identified in an earlier paper, Art. 3.2 DPD (Wong and Savirimuthu, Art. 3(2) All or Nothing: This is the Question? The Application of Art. 3(2) Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC to the Internet) is unlikely to apply whereby processing was carried out for private and domestic purposes. This paper is an attempt to address a definitional difficulty that the legislatures did not anticipate. In attempting to protect the privacy of individuals, it is now possible to argue that it is becoming easier for individuals (and not merely organisations) to be brought within the scope of the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC in a social networking environment.
Doc 461 : Informed consent among analog people in a digital world
Abstract This paper addresses the concept of informed consent when working with remote, non-literate groups. By examining both the legal and moral obligations of informed consent, it will be argued that “erring on the side of caution”, for instance by not publishing on the Internet because the consultants/community do not have exposure to such things, is just as paternalistic as assuming that they would consent if they understood. It is further argued that the researcher has an obligation to explain the research to the consultants/community as fully as possible and to engage in an ongoing negotiation of consent, but that the researcher must respect the autonomy of the consultant/community decision, even if the consent was not fully “informed”.
Doc 462 : Contemporary Greedy Institutions: An Essay on Lewis Coser’s Concept in Times of the ‘Hive Mind’
Lewis Coser perennially discussed various forms and facets of ‘greedy institutions’ with their total grasp on the individual. Coser’s ‘greedy institutions’ demand undivided time and loyalty from the individual who will voluntarily devote him/herself for exclusive benefi ts only granted to loyal followers. Although the ancient authorities have vanished—princes with their court Jews, masters with their servants, or religious and political missionar- ies—one can argue that the idea of the greedy institution is far from obsolete today. Management consultants, 24/7 old-age carers from Eastern Europe and particularly the ‘hive mind’ of new social media show that a revisiting of Coser’s theory can help in understanding modern forms of greed in institu- tions. This awareness may enhance vigilance against intrusions into personal autonomy.
Doc 463 : Seizing the moment: The presidential campaigns’ use of Twitter during the 2012 electoral cycle
Drawing on interviews with staffers from the 2012 Obama and Romney presidential campaigns and qualitative content analysis of their Twitter feeds, this article provides the first inside look at how staffers used the platform to influence the agendas and frames of professional journalists, as well as appeal to strong supporters. These campaigns sought to influence journalists in direct and indirect ways, and planned their strategic communication efforts around political events such as debates well in advance. Despite these similarities, staffers cite that Obama’s campaign had much greater ability to respond in real time to unfolding commentary around political events given an organizational structure that provided digital staffers with a high degree of autonomy. After analyzing the ways staffers discuss effective communication on the platform, this article argues that at extraordinary moments campaigns can exercise what Isaac Reed calls “performative power,” influence over other actors’ definitions of the …
Current debates over the autonomy of virtual worlds have an eerie similarity to discussions about the independence of cyberspace two decades ago. The history of the Internet offers some important lessons for how the law will affect virtual worlds, and how it should do so.
Doc 465 : Institution Design and the Separatist Impulse: Quebec and the Antebellum American South
Regional autonomy and separatist movements severely test the conflict management capacities of a nation’s political system. Following Calhoun, a series of institutional arrangements and political practices which depart from majority rule decision making have been identified in the literature as contributing to the peaceful management of subcultural cleavages. Such arrangements provide minority subcultures with institutionalized means of self-protection and guarantees against stable unrepresentation and official cultural stigmatization. But, as Schattsneider pointed out, conflicts are best regulated before they start and institutional arrangements such as those above must be made before regional cleavages become too politicized. At a certain stage of conflict, peaceable partition may be the only solution. In Canada and the antebellum U.S., failure to set up formal modes of sectional self protection led to conflict regulation failure and the emergence of separatist movements in Quebec and the South. Witho…
Doc 466 : Students’ profile as autonomous learners in an Internet-based EAP course
This study aims to find out to what extent university students are able to develop learner autonomy through an EAP course delivered through the Internet. The course, oriented to the use of Internet resources for language learning, was designed specifically to foster learner autonomy. Based on a previous exploratory study (Arno et al. 2003), this research seeks to refine the profile of the autonomous learner initially developed and to discover which specific actions and attitudes related to learner autonomy are found in students’ behaviour. Thus, combining qualitative and quantitative methods, we carried out an analysis of the autonomous behaviour displayed by students when using different Internet resources through activities designed to foster learner autonomy. This study has allowed us to outline the profile of autonomous learners in a virtual classroom, with students who are able to take the initiative and make decisions on the organization and management of their learning process. Focusing on the connection between making the most of the Internet and developing students’ autonomy, our ultimate aim is to point to ways in which students may be encouraged to become more autonomous and explore the role that the Internet may play in helping us attain this objective.
Doc 467 : Living wills in the nursing profession: knowledge and barriers
The aims of this study were to understand Spanish nurses’ knowledge about living wills and legal regulations and to explore their experiences, needs and challenges in these situations using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The first part of the study was a descriptive survey administered to a convenience sample of nurses (454 individuals) who worked in hospitals and other primary care clinics in the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain. The survey tested their knowledge of living wills and related major legal issues. At the end of the survey, the nurses were asked to provide a personal email address if they were interested in participating in a personal interview. In the second part of this study, we used a qualitative phenomenological approach based on Husserl’s framework. The results indicate that nurses are not sufficiently knowledgeable about the use of LWD in clinical practise. As a consequence, they are unable to support patient autonomy in health care treatment decisions.
Doc 468 : Predictors of Learning Satisfaction in Japanese Online Distance Learners
Japanese distance education has been slow to utilize the Internet, and mainly depends on the mail system and to a lesser extent TV broadcasting as its mode of delivery. However, since 2001 regulations have been relaxed to allow students to complete all course requirements for a university degree via online distance learning. This paper reports the results of a questionnaire study administered to the students (N=424) enrolled in one of Japan’s few online distance universities. Satisfaction with learning was explored by examining student opinions and learning preferences in regard to five aspects of distance learning identified as important: 1) teacher interaction, 2) content interaction, 3) student interaction, 4) computer interaction and 5) student autonomy. In addition, student responses to three open-ended questions were included in the analysis. The results indicated students were generally satisfied with their learning, and that specifically, learning satisfaction was higher for students who: 1) could persevere in the face of distance learning challenges, 2) found computers easy to use, 3) found it easy to interact with instructors, and 4) did not prefer social interaction with others when learning.
Doc 469 : Efficiency, Feasibility and Desirability of Learner Autonomy Based on Teachers” and Learners” Point of Views
Learner autonomy has been a recent trend in education which highlights the students’ engagement in their own learning. Although over the past 30 years, a large body of research has been carried on learner autonomy, limited attention has been paid to the sense teachers in comparison to learners would make of this concept. The present study is an attempt to shed light on the general existing pattern of the way teachers and learners view learner autonomy. To do so, applying the convenience method of sampling, a structured questionnaire consisting of five sections was emailed to most of the teachers teaching English as a foreign language in Isfahan, Iran. In order to have a more precise analysis, an interview was carried out to see what reasons are behind the participants’ answers. Employing the referential statistics, the results indicated that nearly all the teachers and learners agreed on the fact that learner autonomy allows language learners to learn more efficiently than they otherwise would. Furthermore, in relation to desirability and feasibility of learner autonomy, almost all the participants agreed that it is more desirable than feasible. The findings of this study might benefit those teachers and institution officials interested in enhancing learning autonomy among their students and even educating themselves or the other teachers to make use of it practically in classrooms.
Doc 470 : Motivation to persist with internet-based cognitive behavioural treatment using blended care: a qualitative study.
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244x-13-296 Maja Wilhelmsen Kjersti Lillevoll Mette Bech Risør Ragnhild Sørensen Høifødt May-Lill Johansen Knut Waterloo Martin Eisemann Nils Kolstrup
The prevalence of depression is high and results in huge costs for society. Internet-based cognitive behavioural treatment (ICBT) has been suggested for use in primary care and has been shown to be more effective when combined with human support. However, non-completion rates remain a challenge. Current recommendations state that steps to improve persistence with ICBT should be determined and the impact of therapist support on persistence explored. A few earlier studies have explored motivations to persist with ICBT without face-to-face therapist support. The present study explored the motivation to persist as experienced by a group of patients who sought help in primary care and used “blended care”, i.e. ICBT supported by short face-to-face consultations. To elucidate motivation in an everyday context and the meaning of patients’ experiences we chose a phenomenological hermeneutical approach. We interviewed participants in the intervention group of a randomized controlled trial that evaluated the efficacy of an ICBT programme called MoodGYM, an eHealth intervention used to treat depression. Fourteen participants, both completers and non-completers, went through individual, semi-structured interviews after they ended their treatment. Hope of recovery and a desire to gain control of one’s life were identified as intrinsic motivators. The feeling of being able to freely choose how, when and where to complete the ICBT modules was identified as an important supporting condition and satisfied the participants’ need for autonomy. Furthermore, the importance of a sense of belonging towards partners, friends or family was essential for motivation as was the ability to identify with ICBT content. Another supporting condition was the experience of connectedness when met with acknowledgement, flexibility and feedback from a qualified therapist in the face-to-face consultations. A key finding was that participants were motivated to persist with ICBT when their overall need for relatedness was satisfied. This was achieved through a sense of belonging towards partners, friends and family. Connectedness with the therapist and the participant’s ability to identify with the ICBT modules also gave a sense of relatedness. Improving these motivational aspects may increase patients’ persistence with ICBT.
Doc 471 : THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF WORDS: A COMPUTER-BASED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
This article reports on an action research project that took place as part of two regular and compulsory courses in the 3 rd year of English Studies at Alcala University, developed in the Blackboard learning system, that is, a computer-mediated format. The steps of the project were the following: Firstly, the integration of computerized tools in the curriculum of the two university subjects. Secondly, the implementation of this learning experience was based on a corpus of selected texts which were annotated to help and guide students in their work (the World of Texts); and a database used by students to deal with lexical analysis and to record their findings and their knowledge about lexical items from the texts compiled (the Web of Words). By integrating ICT in the teaching process, we expected to foster students’ autonomy and motivation as well as to improve their lexical and semantic competence. The research results suggest that, in the first place, the computer-mediated format increased students’ motivation and encouraged autonomy in the learning process; in addition, it contributed to a better understanding of both subjects.
Doc 472 : A survey of privacy in multi-agent systems
Abstract Privacy has been a concern for humans long before the explosive growth of the Internet. The advances in information technologies have further increased these concerns. This is because the increasing power and sophistication of computer applications offers both tremendous opportunities for individuals, but also significant threats to personal privacy. Autonomous agents and multi-agent systems are examples of the level of sophistication of computer applications. Autonomous agents usually encapsulate personal information describing their principals, and therefore they play a crucial role in preserving privacy. Moreover, autonomous agents themselves can be used to increase the privacy of computer applications by taking advantage of the intrinsic features they provide, such as artificial intelligence, pro-activeness, autonomy, and the like. This article introduces the problem of preserving privacy in computer applications and its relation to autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. It also surveys privacy-related studies in the field of multi-agent systems and identifies open challenges to be addressed by future research.
Doc 473 : Effects of Computer Training and Internet Usage on the Well-Being and Quality of Life of Older Adults: A Randomized, Controlled Study
The quality of life of older adults may be improved by the use of computer or Web-based services. A limited number of experimental studies on this topic have shown mixed results. We carried out a randomized, controlled intervention study that aimed to examine the causal relationship between computer use and measures of physical well-being, social well-being, emotional well-being, development and activity, and autonomy. We randomly assigned a group of 191 participants to an intervention group, a training-no intervention group, or a no training-no intervention group. A fourth group consisted of 45 participants with no interest in computer use. We collected data at baseline, after 4 months, and after 12 months. The results showed that using computers and the Internet neither positively nor negatively influenced everyday functioning, well-being and mood, and the social network of healthy older individuals. We discuss possibilities for future studies.
Doc 474 : An activity-theoretical approach to research of ICT integration in Singapore schools: Orienting activities and learner autonomy
This paper discusses the findings of two case studies (two primary schools in Singapore), which are part of a larger research study, that aims to examine and analyze where and how information and communication technologies (ICTs) are integrated in Singapore schools to engage students in higher order thinking activities. For students to engage in higher order thinking, they first need to have autonomy over their learning processes. The focus of the paper is on how orienting activities support learner autonomy in the ICT-based learning environment. Taking the activity system as a unit of analysis, the study documents the actual processes by which orienting activities are planned and organized to support learner autonomy in their contexts.
By employing methods such as observations, focus group discussions with students, and face-to-face interviews with teachers, an account of how the activity systems within and between classrooms, and the schools are generated. The account identifies and describes five categories of orienting activities: introductory sessions to ICT tools, advance organizers and instructional objectives, worksheets and checklists, dialogues among participants, and tools for post-instructional reflection. It also highlights the constraints of time and lack of knowledge and experience in the contexts that the teachers are working under, and how these constraints are addressed.
Doc 475 : The contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to language learning environments or the mystery of the secret agent
In this paper, E. Esch and C. Zahner argue that the learners themselves are the key agents in the construction of new language learning environments. Learners differ in their ability to import new elements – such as ICTs – into their model of what constitutes an appropriate language learning environment. It is argued that accessibility, autonomy, ‘reflectivity’ and interactivity are conditions which must be met if ICTs are to become truly relevant to language learners. The way these principles have been guiding the development of the network-based language learning environment installed by the Language Centre of the University of Cambridge is described.
Doc 476 : Learner autonomy via Asynchronous Online Interactions: A Malaysian perspective
The integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in course offerings in institutions of higher learning (IHLs) is the catalyst towards empowering learners to become autonomous lifelong learners. In an effort to produce quality and independent learners, Learning Management Systems (LMS) are seen as a means to assist educators in developing quality online internet based courses and websites as well as to fulfil students’ needs in acquiring information anywhere and anytime. This paper explores the Malaysian perspective in addressing issues and challenges faced by adult learners in IHLs to keep abreast with this latest trend. This research paper is based on a pilot study that investigated learner autonomy via a distance learning programme in a local university in Malaysia. Initial findings indicated that first-year students lacked the confidence needed to learn autonomously. Even though they showed some confidence in planning, results indicated they needed help in organising, monitoring and evaluating their learning. If students are required to participate in asynchronous online learning, necessary steps have to be taken to ensure they are empowered with the necessary skills and tools to help them manage their own learning for their journey to become lifelong autonomous learners.
Doc 477 : Freedom to surf: the positive effects of workplace Internet leisure browsing
Kony 2012, a film released by the nonprofit Invisible Children in the spring of 2012, drew a flurry of Facebook “shares” and “likes.” However, critics expressed a concern that the film offered a distorted portrayal of Africans and African politics. In this article, we test these criticisms by asking what effects the film had on college students’ perceptions of Africa and Africans. To address this question, we draw on a survey and an experiment conducted at a small liberal arts college where Kony 2012 enjoyed popularity. The results show that the film did affect students’ perceptions of Africa; specifically, it led many to perceive Africans as lacking agency and autonomy. We argue that whereas the film did have initial negative effects on students’ perceptions of Africa, these effects seem to fade over time. Future research should explore the compounding effects of exposure to images that misrepresent the African continent.
Doc 479 : Grassroots organizing in the digital age: considering values and technology in Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street
Power dynamics shape, and are shaped by, the tools used by participants in social movements. In this study we explore the values, attitudes, and beliefs of Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street stakeholders as they relate to their use of technology. This multi-method study applies the lens of value sensitive design [VSD; Friedman, B. (Ed.) (1997). Human values and the design of computer technology (vol. 72). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] to examine stakeholder values and sites of value tension. We contextualize our findings with qualitative observation of how these values are reflected in each organization’s online spaces, including Facebook, Twitter, and key organizational websites, as well as private spaces such as email.We found liberty, the value most mentioned by Tea Party members, was not reflected in the movement’s organizational websites and Facebook pages, where user autonomy is frequently undermined. However, the Occupy value of equality is supported in the movement’s web presence. We also f…
Doc 480 : Reflections of German Football Journalists on Their Relationships With Bundesliga Club Public Relations Practitioners
This article examines German print sport journalists’ perceptions, experiences, and relationships with Bundesliga clubs’ public relations (PR) staffers and each club’s designated press spokesperson, as well the impact of a competitive, multitier 21st-century media environment on their jobs. All Bundesliga clubs are now disseminating more multimedia content on their own through official Web sites and social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Meanwhile, the German newspaper industry is in a state of transformation and decreased prominence among mediums in German sport journalism. A survey of print journalists who cover Bundesliga clubs showed that these changes have affected the historic symbiotic relationship between the sporting press and Bundesliga clubs. Power and media autonomy have increased for Bundesliga clubs and their designated press spokespersons, while print reporters are more dependent on the clubs’ PR staffers to provide access. The surveyed journalists recognize the increasing power of television in German sport journalism, but nearly half do not consider this as negative for their jobs. These print sport journalists are called on to find new ways and types of media content to begin restoring the needed balance in a symbiotic relationship between independent press and PR, while also distinguishing their work from televised media content.
Doc 481 : From the Wright Brothers to Microsoft: Issues in the Moral Grounding of Intellectual Property Rights
This paper considers the arguments that could support the proposition that intellectual property rights as applied to software have a moral basis. Undeniably, ownership rights were first applied to chattels and land and so we begin by considering the moral basis of these nghts. We then consider if these arguments make moral sense when they are extended to intellectual phenomenon. We identified two principal moral defenses: one based on utilitarian concerns relating to human welfare, the other appeals to issues of individual autonomy and private control. We conclude that intellectual property rights could not be defended from a moral perspective that emphasizes autonomy and individual control because copyright and patent restrict fundamental freedoms to transfer and redistribute one’s property. We also find it difficult to defend intellectual property in software from a utilitarian perspective because of the current structure of the market. We menH tion two characteristics of the software market that make it distinct and promote monopolistic conditions and excessive profit taking: the facility of replication, and the need for compatibility in operatirlg systems. We conclude that there are good reasons to reverse the current market’s structure. We suggest three possible remedies. The government could ngorously enforce antitrust legislation, impose greater monitoring and pnce controls, or obviate the commercial aspect altogether by denying the application of intellectual property rights to software.
Doc 482 : The embeddedness of transnational corporations in Chinese cities: Strategic coupling in global production networks?
The embeddedness of transnational corporations (TNCs) in metropolitan economies has become a central issue in the research on globalization and local development. This paper attempts to enhance understanding of FDI embeddedness by assessing TNCs’ backward and technological linkages with domestic firms. Through a case study of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Suzhou, a frontier globalizing city in the Yangtze River Delta in China, it was found that strategic coupling between TNCs and domestic Chinese firms rarely exists and global production networks (GPN) have not brought substantial benefits to the development of domestic firms in the region. Regression analysis further reveals that TNCs’ backward and technological linkages with domestic firms are highly selective and contingent upon market potential in the host region, TNCs’ research and development (R&D) orientation and to a lesser extent subsidiary autonomy. It is also found that the booming and sizable domestic market and the development of domestic firms have potential to pave the way for upgrading. These findings suggest that there is a need to develop a broader conceptualization of the upgrading pathways of local firms beyond the notion of strategic coupling in the GPN perspective.
Doc 483 : The Influence of Elite Philanthropy on NGO Development in China
AbstractScholars have explained the rise of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in China since the period of reform and opening in terms of a changing political and economic environment, NGO policy, international non-governmental organisations (INGOs), and the influence of communications media and the Internet. This article proposes a new explanatory factor: the philanthropy of China’s new wealthy. Four cases are used to analyse the influences of the philanthropy of the wealthy on NGO development. The article proposes not only that the philanthropy of the wealthy provides funding and intellectual support for NGOs but also that the wealthy use their influence and social networks to increase the autonomy, capacity, sustainability and impact of NGOs in China.
Doc 484 : The iLab Shared Architecture: A Web Services Infrastructure to Build Communities of Internet Accessible Laboratories
https://doi.org/10.1109/jproc.2008.921607 V. J. Harward J.A. del Alamo Steven R. Lerman Philip H. Bailey Joel Carpenter K. DeLong C. Felknor James L. Hardison B. Harrison I. Jabbour Phillip D. Long Tingting Mao L. Naamani J. Northridge M. F. Schulz D. Talavera Charuleka Varadharajan Shaomin Wang K. Yehia Rabih Zbib D. Zych
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s iLab project has developed a distributed software toolkit and middleware service infrastructure to support Internet-accessible laboratories and promote their sharing among schools and universities on a worldwide scale. The project starts with the assumption that the faculty teaching with online labs and the faculty or academic departments that provide those labs are acting in two roles with different goals and concerns. The iLab architecture focuses on fast platform-independent lab development, scalable access for students, and efficient management for lab providers while preserving the autonomy of the faculty actually teaching the students. Over the past two years, the iLab architecture has been adopted by an increasing number of partner universities in Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia, and the United States. The iLab project has demonstrated that online laboratory use can scale to thousands of students dispersed on several continents.
Doc 485 : Menores y acceso a Internet en el hogar: las normas familiares
This paper examines and discusses the rules and standards set by parents for their children on Internet usage at home. Data that supports the paper have been obtained by surveying a representative sample of children in the Balearic Islands aged between 6 and 16 years; the analysis dimensions are: access by minors to the Internet from home; location of the computer from which have online access; level of autonomy or accompaniment while surfing the Net; norms imposed by their parents; types of rules imposed; relationship between norms and gender; the minors’ opinion and assessment of the knowledge and abilities of their parents on use of the Internet and, finally, the accompanying strategies of parents when their children access the Internet. The main results shows that just over 53% of minors between 6 and 14, and 62% of those between 15 and 16, surf the Internet without their parents’ presence and free of any norms and/or limitations. Where standards are established, these are mainly to do with temporary restrictions. Therefore, it appears that parents are unaware of the dangers of the Internet or at least act irrationally. This shows the need for awareness and provision of skills, knowledge and abilities to enable parents to assume their responsibilities in the Internet usage of minors.
Doc 486 : Factors Affecting Sexual Autonomy among Female University Students
Abstract This study examined the factors affecting the sexual autonomy of female university students to provide thebasic data for developing an intervention program for sex education. The data was collected from 322 female collegestudents and analyzed with a t-test and multiple regression using the SPSS 21.0 program. The significant factors of sexual autonomy were intercourse experience (β=0.115, p=.040), sex knowledge (β=0.118, p=.028), permissiveness ofsexual violence (β=-0.290, p<.001), and the perception of unwed pregnancy (β=-0.104, p=.048). These factors explained 21.7% of the variance in sexual autonomy. In conclusion, there is a need to develop a sex education program to increase sexual autonomy considering the factors affecting sexual autonomy. Key Words : Sex, Autonomy, Knowledge, Attitude. * Corresponding Author : Yun-Hee Kim(Pukyong National Univ.)Tel: +82-51-629-5783 email: soohappy@pknu.ac.krReceived September 11, 2014 Revised (1st October 6, 2014, 2nd October 16, 2014, 3rd October 24, 2014, 4th October 28, 2014) Accepted November 6, 2014
Doc 487 : TRUST, PSYCHOLOGICAL NEED, AND MOTIVATION TO PRODUCE USER- GENERATED CONTENT: A SELF-DETERMINATION PERSPECTIVE
As social media grow in popularity, more and more people produce user-generated content (UGC) in various types of social media. Thus, practitioners are interested in how to support people’s motivation to produce UGC. While previous literature has examined various factors influencing people’s motivation to produce UGC, few studies have examined the role of other participants as well as the social media sites. Based on self-determination theory, our study examines the relationship between content attractiveness, trust, perceived competence and autonomy, individual differences, and motivation to produce UGC. Using social network sites as the context of our study, we tested our hypotheses with U.S. college students, and the results supported our hypotheses. We contribute to the current literature by demonstrating that, when individuals perceive that other participants enjoy their UGC and trust social media sites, the individuals’ perceived competence and autonomy are enhanced, which in turn supports their motivation to produce UGC.
Doc 488 : INFORMATION-SEEKING BEHAVIOUR ON INTERNET: A comparison between Arts and Science Undergraduate Students in Iran
The demand of responsibilities among teachers has evolved not only in classroom management but also to the extent of promoting communication and interpersonal skills. Social media is integrated in schools and higher learning institutions for communication and reflection of learning which enhance teachers’ performance in leadership quality and effective teaching. This study was designed in a qualitative approach mainly to explore the extent of interest and enjoyment students experienced during an intensive ICT course. Blog was used as a medium for reflection during the class where students posted their creations of videos, posters and other ICT materials. The three needs investigated were namely autonomy, competence, and relatedness support. The researcher further examined on students’ awareness of the usefulness of the ICT skill they learned and how much they can use the blog for teaching and learning. Based on the Basic Psychological Needs Theory framework (BPNT), this study has adopted the direct observation, journal entry, and interviews as a triangulation approach.
Doc 489 : Organising Co-Existence in Cyberspace: Content Regulation and Privacy Compared
The Internet globalizes the world. National regulatory autonomy shrinks. Transferring data from one country to another is almost costless. Foreign content is just a click away. Why is it that states have been able to re-install co-existence in some policy areas, and not in others? In data protection, the safe-harbour compromise between the US and the EU found a way out. In the area of content regulation, transnational conflict is no less pronounced. The Europeans are preoccupied with Nazi publications, that are constitutionally protected in the US. The US public dislikes portrayals of nudity, that most Europeans find inoffensive. Yet no attempts at organizing co-existence are within sight. This paper develops a rational choice model to explain the difference. States are modelled as actors. The good is the degree of protection accorded to a value. Nations evaluate such protection differently. Moreover, rational nations are aware of the opportunity cost involved in any activity to protect local values. To a degree, the inability of organizing co-existence stems from a difference in preferences. If so, there is no room for a win-win solution. But typically, one nation does not positively want some content to be accessible that the other nation dislikes fervently. Usually, the first nation is just indifferent, or the opportunity cost seems too high. The more important difference between data protection and content regulation thus turns out to be strategic. Organizing co-existence in both areas presupposes overcoming a strategic conflict. But in data protection, this typically is a one-to-one conflict, while in content regulation the typical conflict is of a one-to-many nature. In public goods terminology, co-existence is a weaker-link good with a very high threshold. This difference might make it advisable for countries with a strong preference for protection to shift from mitigation to adaptation. Practically speaking, they would push, perhaps even subsidize, the development of powerful filtering technologies. And they would strengthen their social norms ostracizing access to outrageous content.
Doc 490 : Information Technology and Banking Organization
We investigate the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on local loan officers’ autonomy in small business lending. We derive a simple agency model of the interaction between a local branch manager and the headquarters, which yields an estimable equation for the optimal delegation of authority. Using a unique and specifically tailored dataset including about 300 Italian banks, we show that banks equipped with more ICT capital and resorting to credit scoring delegate more decision-making power to their local branch managers. These results are robust to many additional controls, including instrumental variable estimation. The effects on decentralization are strengthened for those banks that jointly hold higher ICT capital endowments and adopt credit scoring.
Doc 491 : Integrating mobile-phone based assessment for psychosis into people’s everyday lives and clinical care: a qualitative study
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-244x-13-34 Jasper Palmier-Claus Anne Rogers John Ainsworth Matt Machin Christine Barrowclough Louise Laverty Emma Barkus Shitij Kapur Til Wykes Shôn Lewis
Over the past decade policy makers have emphasised the importance of healthcare technology in the management of long-term conditions. Mobile-phone based assessment may be one method of facilitating clinically- and cost-effective intervention, and increasing the autonomy and independence of service users. Recently, text-message and smartphone interfaces have been developed for the real-time assessment of symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia. Little is currently understood about patients’ perceptions of these systems, and how they might be implemented into their everyday routine and clinical care.
Doc 492 : Authority and liquid religion in cyber-space: the new territories of religious communication
This article considers three case studies of forms of authority within new cyber-territories. We first deal with the example of a traditional religion, Islam, by exploring new social issues that this religious system encounters in cyber-space. Second, we turn to a social movement that is by definition less traditional and less established, namely neo-paganism; and finally, we examine the new phenomenon of hyper-real religion (Possamai 2005b, 2012) to discover whether, even in free-floating religions where in principle everything is permitted and where the individual has full autonomy to decide on the specific constructions of his/her religion, forms of authority and social/religious distinctions are paradoxically present.
Doc 493 : Using IT for Non-Hierarchical Performance Assessment: New Ways to Develop Professionals in Health Care
The aim of this article is to describe how technological innovations are being used to address the specific challenges of assessing health care professionals’ performance and to discuss the theoretical implications of these innovations for human resources management. Performance management is specifically challenging for organizations employing skilled professionals, such as physicians, due to the complexity in defining performance and to the autonomy that professionals enjoy. Professionalism of employees implies that supervisors cannot evaluate adequately their subordinates’ performance and, thus, alternative assessment systems are necessary. This explains why in health care schemes such as 360-degree feedback and peer review are increasingly used. We define these alternative assessment systems as “non-hierarchical performance assessment” and report exploratory data from an Internet search of performance assessment Information Technology (IT) solutions offered by IT providers. We use a classification of these IT solutions in order to identify and discuss new ways for assessing and for developing professionals in health care. We conclude by discussing differences and similarities between 360-degree feedback and peer review and by identifying current trends and possible future developments about how IT enables new assessment systems in this industry.
Doc 494 : If the Supreme Court Were on Facebook: Evaluating the Reasonable Expectation of Privacy Test from a Social Perspective
This article examines the Supreme Court of Canada’s position that reasonable expectations of privacy in informational spaces can be protected by focusing on the protection of the information itself. It then measures this position against the findings of social science research studies that have examined the behaviour of young people in online spaces. The author argues that the legal test being advanced by the Court is out of step with what we know about people’s online experiences and expectations. As such, the test may limit the Court’s ability to protect us from surveillance technologies that negatively affect our dignity, autonomy, and social freedom. Especially as more of our public and private lives migrate to virtual spaces, it is essential that the courts begin to pay attention to the lessons to be gleaned from the social sciences research on privacy and reinvigorate the legal protection of privacy as a social value.
Doc 495 : Tecnología asistencial móvil, con realidad aumentada, para las personas mayores
Modern technology offers many facilities, but elderly people are often unable to enjoy them fully because they feel discouraged or intimidated by modern devices, and hus become progressively isolated in a society where Internet communication and ICT knowledge are essential. In this paper we present a study performed during the Nacodeal Project, which aims to offer a technological solution that may improve elderly people’s every day autonomy and life quality through the integration of ICTs. In order to achieve this goal, state-of-art Augmented Reality technology was developed along with carefully designed Internet services and interfaces for mobile devices. Such technology only requires the infrastructure which already exists in most residences and health-care centres. We present the design of a prototypical system consisting of a tablet and a wearable AR system, and the evaluation of its impact on the social interaction of its users as well its acceptance and usability. This evaluation was performed, through focus groups and individual pilot tests, on 48 participants that included elderly people, caregivers and experts. Their feedback leads us to the conclusion that there are significant benefits to be gained and much interest among the elderly in assistive AR-based ICTs, particularly in relation to the communication and autonomy that they may provide.
Doc 496 : The Benefits of Benevolence: Basic Psychological Needs, Beneficence, and the Enhancement of Well-Being
Pro-social behaviors have been associated with enhanced well-being, but what psychological mechanisms explain this connection? Some theories suggest that beneficence-the sense of being able to give-inherently improves well-being, whereas evidence from self-determination theory (Weinstein & Ryan, 2010) shows that increases in well-being are mediated by satisfaction of innate psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Here we simultaneously assess these two explanations. Study 1 (N = 335) used a cross-sectional survey with an Internet sample to develop a measure to assess beneficence satisfaction. The next two cross-sectional Internet-sample studies tested mediators between pro-social behavior and general well-being (Study 2, N = 332) and situational peak moment well-being (Study 3, N = 180). A fourth study (N = 85) used a diary method with university students to assess daily fluctuations in well-being associated with needs and beneficence. It was shown across all studies that both the three psychological needs and beneficence satisfaction mediate the relations between pro-social actions and well-being, with all four factors emerging as independent predictors. Together, these studies underscore the role of autonomy, competence, and relatedness in explaining the well-being benefits of benevolence, and they also point to the independent role of beneficence as a source of human wellness.
Doc 497 : How Consumerist Do People Want to Be? Preferred Role in Decision-Making of Individuals with HIV/AIDS
What role do patients want to play in treatment decision-making? The new physician–patient relationship is popularly characterized in the language of consumerism; some speak of the “new patients,” armed with reams of Internet printouts, telling their doctors how they wish to be treated (Eysenbach and Jadad 2001; Haugh 1999). This emphasis is supported by medical ethics, which has long stressed respecting patient autonomy (Beauchamp and Childress 2001; Katz 1984; President’s Commission 1982); by legal standards requiring informed consent (Caulfield 2004; Etchells et al. 1996; Rozovsky 1997); and by the consumer movement, which encourages patient empowerment, medical consumerism and informed choice (Epstein 1996; Haug and Lavin 1983; Lupton 1997; Williamson 1992; Wood 2000). However, many providers continue to argue that this portrait does not depict the patients they see, that consumerist expectations are unrealistic and that their patients do not wish to be autonomous decision-makers.
A growing body of literature on shared decision-making (Charles et al. 1997; Coulter 2002; Coulter and Rozansky 2004; Deyo 2001; Frosch and Kaplan 1999; Kaplan 1999; McNutt 2004; Sevdalis and Harvey 2006) emphasizes the importance of partnership between providers and patients. Deber and colleagues (Deber 1994; Deber and Baumann 1992; Deber et al. 1996) further defined “preferred” role by distinguishing between two dimensions of “participation,” which they termed “problem-solving” (PS) and “decision-making” (DM). PS tasks have “right” and “wrong” answers, determination of which often requires expertise, whereas DM tasks incorporate both factual knowledge and individual preferences. These authors’ research confirmed that few care recipients in the populations they studied wished to assume responsibility for PS, although many did wish involvement in DM (Deber and Sharpe 1999; Deber et al. 1996; Kraetschmer et al. 2004; Stewart et al. 2001; Deber et al. 2007).
We accordingly surveyed people living with HIV/AIDS (PHAs), a population widely believed to be both highly knowledgeable about their disease and more actively involved in making treatment decisions (Epstein 1996; Furin 1997) and hence relatively likely to wish to assume an autonomous role. Indeed, in the early days of the epidemic, researchers found that many PHAs distrusted organized medicine. These attitudes were said to be fuelled by a combination of radical AIDS activism, reactions to perceptions of homophobia among healthcare providers (Douglas et al. 1985; Epstein 1996; O’Hare et al. 1996) and recognition of the limited ability of the medical establishment to deal effectively with this new disease (Epstein 1996). Consequently, many PHAs became experts in the disease and its treatment, attending conferences, presenting to peers, participating on pharmaceutical, government, policy and research advisory boards, and institutionalizing these efforts through AIDS service organizations (ASOs) (Kayal 1993).
This history suggests that PHAs are more likely than most care recipients to have relatively strong consumerist tendencies related to making their own healthcare choices. We asked PHAs about their preferences for involvement in treatment decision-making, their level of satisfaction with their current role in treatment decision-making, their trust in organized medicine and their use and views of a series of potential information sources.
Doc 498 : Conceptualizing time, space and computing for work and organizing
Through this article we draw on concepts of time and space to help us theorize on the uses of information and communication technologies in work and for organizing. We do so because many of the contemporary discussions regarding work and organization are usually, and too often implicitly, drawing on rudimentary understandings of these concepts. Our focus here is to advance beyond simplistic articulations and to provide a more conceptually sound approach to address time, space and the uses of information and communication technologies in work. We do this focusing on temporal and spatial relations as a means to depict time and space at work. We characterize work as varying by two characteristics: the degree of interaction and the level of individual autonomy. We then develop a functional view of information and communication technologies relative to their uses for production, control, coordination, access and enjoyment. We conclude by integrating these concepts into an initial framework which allows us to theorize that new forms of work are moving towards four distinct forms of organizing. We further argue that each of these four forms has particular spatial and temporal characteristics that have distinct and different needs for information and communication technologies.
Doc 499 : The Relatedness to Others in Physical Activity Scale: Evidence for Structural and Criterion Validity
The purpose of this study was to test the structural and criterion validity of scores derived from the Relatedness to Others in Physical Activity Scale (ROPAS). The participants (n1 = 893; n2 = 522) completed the ROPAS in addition to demographic questions (study 1) and well-being indicators (study 2) using cross-sectional, nonexperimental surveys. Confirmatory factor analysis (study 1) supported the tenability of a 6-item ROPAS measurement model that was invariant across gender. Higher ROPAS scores were associated with greater perceived autonomy and competence and greater well-being (study 2). Overall, these findings suggested the ROPAS displays a number of psychometric properties that render the instrument useful for investigating issues of belonging and connectedness with others in global physical activity settings. jabr_ 61..87 Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2002) has become a popular framework for understanding motivational issues in physical activity contexts such as sport and exercise (Hagger & Chatzisarantis, 2007). This is not surprising given the macro-level approach taken within SDT that specifies the nature and function of human motivation as well as the conditions that facilitate (or thwart) motivational development and enhance well-being (Deci & Ryan). The approach embraced within SDT centers around an “organismic-dialectic” (Deci & Ryan, p. 5), which assumes that humans are active growth-orientated organisms who seek out opportunities for assimilation within their social world. The development of human potentials central to SDT does not occur in a social vacuum but relies on ambient supports that interface with the organism’s innate tendencies to optimize motivation and promote greater well-being (Deci & Ryan). The concept of basic psychological needs is central to Deci and Ryan’s (2002) meta-theory and is formally explicated within Basic Psychological Needs Theory (BPNT). Deci and Ryan extolled the importance of feeling competent,
Doc 500 : Ethical practice for the playwork practitioner
This paper discusses the importance of ethics for play and playwork practitioners as the sector and work force move towards becoming a recognised profession within the United Kingdom. Exactly what is meant by the term ethics is defined, before moving on to a discussion of two key areas. First, the ethical framework known as F.A.I.R. (this mnemonic stands for Fairness, respect for Autonomy, Integrity, and to seek the most beneficial and least harmful consequences or Results) devised by Rowson [2006. Working ethics: How to be fair in a culturally complex world. London: Jessica Kingsley) and second, the four ethical principles of Beauchamp and Childress (2013. Principles of biomedical ethics (7th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press]. Throughout links are made to the eight Playwork Principles developed by the Playwork Principles Scrutiny Group, Cardiff in 2005 and endorsed by SkillsActive (2013a. Playwork principles [Internet]. Retrieved August 26, 2015, from http://www.skillsactive.com/PDF/sectors/Playwork…