Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Community Technologies'
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1
Molapo, Maletsabisa. "Designing with community health workers: feedback-integrated multimedia learning for rural community health." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27977.
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Community Health Workers (CHWs) are an integral part of the rural health system, and it is imperative that their voices are accommodated in digital health projects. In the mobile health education project discussed in this thesis (The Bophelo Haeso project), we sought to find ways to amplify CHWs' voices, enabling them to directly influence design and research processes as well as technological outcomes. The Bophelo Haeso (BH) project equips CHWs with health videos on their mobile phones to use for educating and counselling the rural public. We investigated how to best co-design, with CHWs, a feedback mechanism atop the basic BH health education model, thus enabling their voices in the design process and in the process of community education. This thesis chronicles this inclusive design and research process - a 30-month process that spanned three sub-studies: an 18-month process to co-design the feedback mechanism with CHWs, a 12-month deployment study of the feedback mechanism and, overlapping with the feedback deployment study, a 17-month study looking at the consumption patterns of the BH educational videos. This work contributes to the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) in three distinct ways. First, it contributes to the growing knowledge of co-design practice with participants of limited digital experience by introducing a concept we termed co-design readiness. We designed and deployed explorative artefacts and found that by giving CHWs increased technical, contextual, and linguistic capacity to contribute to the design process, they were empowered to unleash their innate creativity, which in turn led to more appropriate and highly-adopted solutions. Secondly, we demonstrate the efficacy of incorporating an effective village-to-clinic feedback mechanism in digital health education programs. We employed two approaches to feedback - asynchronous voice and roleplaying techniques. Both approaches illustrate the combined benefits of implementing creative methods for effective human-to-technology and human-tohuman communication in ways that enable new forms of expression. Finally, based on our longitudinal study of video consumption, we provide empirical evidence of offline video consumption trends in health education settings. We present qualitative and quantitative analyses of video-use patterns as influenced by the CHWs' ways of being and working. Through these analyses, we describe CHWs and their work practices in depth. In addition to the three main contributions, this thesis concludes with critical reflections from the lessons and experiences of the 30-month study. We discuss the introduction of smartphones in rural villages, especially among elderly, low-literate, and non-English-speaking users, and present guidelines for designing relevant and usable smartphones for these populations. The author also reflects on her position as an African-born qualitative researcher in Africa, and how her positionality affected the outcomes of this research.
2
Caulfield, Michelle 1969. "Incremental power : the nexus between information technologies and community development." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65064.
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Thesis (M.C.P.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 123-132).
In today's postindustrial society, considering connections between power, knowledge, and information is fundamental to promoting democracy and equity. This thesis examines current and potential uses of information technologies in community development work. It argues that while these technologies are vital to developing and implementing sound policy, they are also valuable tools for fostering greater community dialogue, encouraging broad collaboration, and building community capacity to effect sustained positive change. Research is specifically designed to inform a nascent university-community partnership between the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Lawrence CommunityWorks, Inc., a community development corporation in Lawrence, Massachusetts. The goal of this multiyear partnership is to design, implement, and evaluate a neighborhood information system (NIS) as a strategy for empowering residents and supporting community development efforts in Lawrence. The approach of the thesis is to provide a theoretical and practical framework for this investigation. Technological advances, the devolution of social policy down to local agencies, and comprehensive community building efforts underscore the importance of information technologies in planning, organizing, and advocating for neighborhood change. Furthermore, the ability of citizens to access and use data and technology is fundamental to community empowerment. Quantitative and qualitative research methods are used to evaluate existing NIS and to document and inform the work in Lawrence. Findings suggest that while traditional NIS systems add value to public policy by providing access to reliable data, these systems fall short of building information literacy and technological fluency within neighborhoods. Citizen involvement, information and technology training, cross-cutting collaborations, and public agency partners are critical for successful and sustainable community-based technology projects. Recommendations for the Lawrence partnership emphasize the use of information technologies to support a network of formal and informal capacity building of residents, community leaders, community-based organizations, and institutions. Furthermore, given the widespread interest in the using information technologies to empower citizens, additional research into metrics and indicators of community capacity and community power is needed.
by Michelle Caulfield.
M.C.P.
3
Murrillo, Marilyn. "Faculty adaptation to emerging instructional technologies in higher education." Scholarly Commons, 2019. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3589.
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This study examined how and why faculty adopt podcasting as an instructional technology tool in their teaching. Podcasting is an instructional technology tool being used for teaching and learning in higher education. Faculty may record lectures with audio, video, and/or PowerPoint slides to instruct students on class material. Students may access podcasts at their convenience through various devices, including mobile devices and computers. Research has shown that students who use podcasts to study for tests tend to perform more successfully on tests. This study was a qualitative multiple case study of seven California community college faculty using podcasting as an instructional technology in their teaching. Email and telephone interviews were conducted to obtain data for this study. Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory, and specifically the perceived attributes of innovation and their rate of adoption, was the theoretical framework used in this study to help explain how faculty develop attitudes and behavior toward podcasting as a teaching tool in higher education and to provide a context for faculty adoption of podcasting as a teaching tool in higher education. This study revealed seven themes that informed how and why faculty adopt podcasting in their teaching, as well as constraints to adopting podcasting. The seven themes identified in this research using Rogers’ perceived attributes of diffusion of innovations framework and their rate of adoption (PADIRA) are: (a) Apprehension, (b) Flexibility, (c) Organization, (d) Personal Gratification, (e) Student Outcomes, (f) Technological Capacity, and (g) Training. Given the demonstrated potential of podcasting technology for enhancing teaching and learning, this study of perceived benefits and constraints faced by California community college instructors when adopting podcasting in their classroom teaching has provided insights into instructional technology adaptation issues in higher education.
4
Gough, Kathryn M. "Designing community-driven, social benefit applications using locative, mobile and social web technologies." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2016. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/97742/1/Kathryn_Gough_Thesis.pdf.
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This practice based, interaction design project explores how mobile, locative and social web technologies present new opportunities to help community members in need through collaborative online mapping of local support services and information sharing. In collaboration with community organisations, two social and locative media applications were produced. The underlying design principles were generalised to enable community agencies and individuals to apply them in development of further applications that aggregate information for social benefit.
5
Blair, Daniel P. "SolarBridge Technologies: Entrepreneurship in the Solar Inverter Industry." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1301506263.
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Mudalier, Ram. "A comparative study of how organizational culture and structure enhance or impede the adoption of information technologies within two community colleges in Northern Canada /." view abstract or download file of text, 2002. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p3072600.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002.Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-127). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.
7
Wang, Yiwei. "Using novel technologies to confront challenges in predator conservation, community ecology, and citizen science." Thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3617122.
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Habitat fragmentation and loss is the primary driver of mammalian carnivore extinctions across the world. In the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, native carnivores navigate daily through a landscape highly impacted by human development and activities. The puma (Puma concolor ) is the apex predator of this habitat, but it is susceptible to both direct and indirect influences of expanding human populations. Smaller predators are not only affected by anthropogenic disturbances, but also by intraguild competition with the more dominant pumas.
My dissertation utilizes new technologies to study the ecology and behavior of carnivores in a human dominated environment. In my first chapter, I catalogued puma behaviors in the wild using measurements recorded by accelerometers attached to the animals. I found that I could clearly distinguish movement from non-movement behavior, and that predation events had distinctive accelerometer signatures. The second chapter describes how I used movement data recorded by GPS (Global Positioning System) collars to evaluate puma behavioral responses to increasing development. Pumas primarily traveled nocturnally, and moved more often and further in areas of higher housing development. The increase in activity in human dominated landscapes could have major repercussions on the energetic expenditure of pumas living in fragmented areas. My third chapter addresses the impacts of human development and activities on the entire carnivore community. Combining passive and experimental observations using motion-detecting camera traps, I studied the spatiotemporal behavior of predators across a gradient of human influences. Mesopredator activity was restricted temporally in areas of high human use, and certain predators (e.g., pumas and foxes) were more sensitive to increasing development.
Lastly, education and outreach is an important component of carnivore conservation. In my fourth chapter, I describe results from a Facebook game I developed with collaborators. Players earned points by identifying wildlife species from camera trap photographs. I found that agreement among players was the most important determinant of accuracy, and that untrained Internet users could identify many wildlife species. The Internet is an emerging tool for outreach, and I hope my work encourages other ecologists to think creatively about incorporating citizen scientists into their research through social media.
8
Begg, Mohamed M. "The impact of information and communications technologies on the local Muslim community in Leicester." Thesis, De Montfort University, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/2086/4265.
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Barnes, Jake Peter. "The local embedding of technologies through community-led initiatives : the case of sustainable energy." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2016. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/61170/.
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It is widely acknowledged that existing low carbon technologies offer substantial means to reduce the carbon intensity of existing lifestyles. Yet the problem is not simply one of diffusion: commercially developed technologies need to be made to work in diverse local contexts of use. They need to be locally embedded. I approach the study of ‘local embedding' through a particular actor, community-led energy initiatives and the broad research question: how are community-led energy initiatives seeking to integrate sustainable technologies into local contexts of use? I explore the agency of community activists to locally embed technologies and the context dynamics influencing how their projects develop. In doing so, I identify a gap in current knowledge between the social embedding of technology by wider society (as conceptualised by sustainability transitions research) and the appropriation of technology by users (as conceptualised by domestication studies) and develop the concept of local embedding as a distinct conceptual contribution. Having identified community initiatives as performing a largely intermediary role I draw on insights from research on innovation intermediaries to understand their agency. A framework is constructed through building blocks from these approaches, then tested and refined through four comparative case studies on community attempts at local embedding. The research contributes a novel process model on community-based intermediation for local embedding. I identify an ideal-typical sequence to key community-based intermediary processes and identify a variety of context dynamics influencing project development. As such I contribute to current discussions within (a) sustainability transitions research, about actors and their agency, and (b) innovation intermediaries research, identifying an under-studied intermediary working at the user-end of innovation processes and refine an existing framework on key intermediary processes.
10
Davidi, Ilana. "Web 2.0 Wiki technology : enabling technologies, community behaviors, and successful business techniques and models." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42355.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, February 2007.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-113).
Many technologies fall under the umbrella of what is commonly known as "Web 2.0," including the Wiki, a software product which allows multiple users to review and edit documents online. Like all Web 2.0 technologies, Wikis are characterized by collaboration; without an active community, they can rapidly become stale and of little use. Businesses based on collaborative web sites must effectively manage a large circle of what are essentially non-employees with perhaps no or little interest in the company other than the benefit they derive from the information offered through the site. The company must provide this benefit to them and give them a desire to keep the site running in order to do its best to ensure itself with a sustainable revenue model. This thesis seeks to discover how a business can create visibility, maintain an eager-to-contribute user base, and generate revenue from users' effort. It will examine the evolution of technology which has created the collaborative Web 2.0 tools, specifically the Wiki. It will then move into looking at the social networks that must be created to sustain the Wiki. Lastly, it will examine the business models and techniques that can enable a savvy company to earn a profit from the use of these technologies.
by Ilana Davidi.
S.M.
11
Mavindidze, Zororo. "The contribution of renewable energy technologies to sustainable community development in Rusitu Valley, Zimbabwe." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/4066.
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Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)This exploratory study is based on the case of the Rusitu Valley, a low income rural community in Zimbabwe. Data was collected using largely qualitative methods and quantitative methods were used to obtain supportive descriptive statistics. Information elicited from focus group discussions conducted with members of the Rusitu Valley community as well as responses obtained from a brief structured questionnaire were used to abstract the Rusitu Valley as a complex adaptive system. Input from in-depth interviews with government representatives in energy policy, local government and non-governmental organisations as well as a review of secondary sources was used to support the analysis and confirm the contextual validity of the study. This study revealed that there is intimate connection between renewable energy technologies and sustainable community development. A key finding was that the contribution of renewable energy technologies in Rusitu Valley is mostly towards the economic dimensions of the community and is relatively limited with regard to social and environmental dimensions. Therefore, this study concluded that renewable energy technologies have not sufficiently contributed towards sustainable community development in the Rusitu Valley. This study also found that the contribution of renewable energy technologies is constrained not only by internal limitations but also external factors. A conclusion drawn from this study was that effective contribution of renewable energy technologies towards social, economic and environmental facets can be enhanced through mainstreaming of renewable energy in policy and planning, as well strengthening institutions and local capacity which would have the overall effect of sustainable community development in low income communities
12
Mlambo, Shepherd. "Using social learning environments to leverage traditional supervision of research students: a community of practice perspective." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/12358.
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Includes bibliographical references.South African higher education is plagued by student articulation gap, which is often attributed to insufficient knowledge production processes and surface approaches to learning. Unfortunately, supervisor-student model of supervision, one of the direct, personal interventions to address this challenge, is plagued by multiple flaws. The traditional supervisor-student model of knowledge generation may not be adequate in externalizing research processes to students. Yet, a social learning model potentially extends the traditional model by providing a social environment where students collectively generate knowledge through peer-based interactions. Mindful of supervision dilemmas namely, this study explores technology-enhanced social learning environments as complements to traditional supervision models.
13
Renner, Jasmine. "Engaging TBR Faculty in Online Research Communities and Emerging Technologies." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2017. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/3008.
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The growing impact of online research communities and emerging technologies is creating a significant paradigm shift and consequently changing the current research landscape of higher education. The rise of online research communities exemplifies a shift from traditional research engagements, to online research communities using “Web 2.0,” in which communities of researchers are the basic unit of research engagement. As institutional practices become increasingly digitized, the role of faculty, scholars, and professionals are constantly reshaped and re-negotiated. The rise and use of emerging technologies in the field of research, has the potential to significantly impact the individual researcher, their institutions and ultimately the State. The project Critical Conversations Research Network is a part of a broader initiative undertaken by the Tennessee Board of Regents Office of Academic Affairs. TBR’s Critical Conversations for Jobs and the Economy is designed to complement Gov. Bill Haslam’s “Drive to 55” initiative, which aims to bring the percentage of Tennesseans with college degrees to 55 percent by the year 2025. (Haslam, 2013). The initiative undertaken by TBR’S office of Academic Affairs consists of: (a) Conversational interviewing of selected scholars and researchers across TBR institutions through video recordings of important and critical research topics that affect policy implications in the state of Tennessee, (b) an interdisciplinary journal called Critical Conversations Interdisciplinary Journal (CCIJ) dedicated to promoting dialogue on topics of importance among scholars across disciplines at TBR institutions. The journal provides a platform for critical conversations through which all disciplines can inform practice and practice can inform all disciplines, providing guidance for future public policy decisions and (c) the proposed Critical Conversations Research Network which is the focus of this paper. The goal of the Tennessee Board of Regents Critical Conversations Research Network (“TBR’s-CCRN”) is to connect TBR’s faculty, researchers and scholars in collaboration, dialogue and engagement, about pertinent research initiatives undertaken by individuals and institutions across the state. A secondary purpose is to highlight the practical implications of research for economic and workforce development and to assist policymakers to engage in data-driven and informed decision-making.
14
Osman, Negla, and Thomas Köhler. "Does community matter? Social and cultural influences on acceptance and use of collaborative educational technologies." Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2013. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-126210.
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The recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs) over the past two decades have influenced many aspects of live ([19] and [7]). These advances make the issue of acceptance of ICTs a topic of increasing importance, particularly in educational research and practice [18]. Many studies have been conducted to understand, explain, and predict the issue of acceptance and use of new technologies. Fortunately, these studies have resulted in several serious theoretical developments [9]. Overall understanding of the role of culture and social norms in influencing acceptance and use of education technologies, particularly collaborative and interactive technologies such as the internet, can facilitate the successful implementation and use of these technologies in the educational context. This study concentrates on providing insight into the influence of culture and social processes on staff members’ acceptance and use of educational technology, namely the internet at Khartoum state universities (KSUs). Specifically, the study aims to identify the influential role of these factors on acceptance and the use of the internet as a helpful collaborative educational technology. To achieve this aim, the study adopts technology acceptance model (TAM), which is modified (i.e. extended) with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions (mainly uncertainty avoidance and masculinity). With the help of a structural equation model (SEM), the data assessment demonstrates the validity of the model and proves that social influence process and cultural factors have significant (direct and moderate) influence on staff members’ acceptance and use of internet technology for teaching and academic activities – i.e. the authors are able to assert that community matters in the adoption of these new ICTs. The article concludes by offering important implications and recommendations for both research and practice.
15
Kohring, Sheila Elayne. "Pottery technologies and the materialization of society : Late Copper Age community practices in western Spain." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2007. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.613322.
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Butterworth, Charles A. "Psychiatric nursing in the community: the application of new technologies to an organization in transition." Thesis, Aston University, 1986. http://publications.aston.ac.uk/12158/.
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Masikisiki, Baphumelele. "The investigation of the role and the efficacy of learning technologies towards community skill development." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/5972.
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Research has revealed that during systems design and development of e-learning technologies there is a tendency of neglecting the needs of end users and focus on the design process and the technology factors, and this has traditionally been the reason for poor usability of otherwise well conceptualized systems, as a result a number of IT-based learning tools ended up not being usable and not being utilized effectively. This study aims to investigate the impact of e-learning technologies, how people perceive the usage of e-learning technologies towards community skill development. An evaluation of four different e-learning technologies was conducted to investigate the role and efficacy of e-learning technologies within the surrounding communities. Data was analyzed as nominal data using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software 24. Descriptive analysis, frequency, reliability and correctional analysis and also measures of central tendency were computed. Reliability was evaluated for assessing the internal consistency of the items using Cronbach’s alpha. To analyze the relationship between variables matrices of Pearson’s correlation was used. Pearson’s correlation can only be accepted when the significant effect (P>.05), this indicates that there is a positive or a negative relationship between two variables, if these conditions are not met then the proposed correlation or hypothesis can be rejected. Results indicate a poor perception and poor acceptance of e-learning technologies due to a number of factors, these factors include lack of computer-self efficacy which leads to computer anxiety, affordability of internet connectivity which leads to inaccessible of e-learning technologies. The findings also indicated that LAMS was found to be less useable and less useful by a number of students. However, students who enjoy working in groups found LAMS to be useable because it was supporting their preferred learning style, whereas individualistic students preferred Moodle and Dokeos because it was supporting their personal preferences and assessment styles. Having understood all the characteristics of learning tools, relevant learning technologies that are suitable for students can then be recommended.
18
Dawson, Shane Peter. "Juxtaposing community with learning: The relationship between learner contributions and sense of community in online environments." Queensland University of Technology, 2007. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16348/.
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Australian Government policy has sought to decrease university reliance on federal support through the re-allocation of funding. Access to this pool of funding is based on teaching and learning performance and the subsequent comparison with similar education institutions. The concept of community has been promoted as a strategy for responding to these government demands whilst facilitating the student learning experience. Despite an intensive investment in strategic initiatives to enhance sense of community among the student cohort, there is a lack of scaleable evaluative measures to assess the overall effectiveness and accomplishment of intended outcomes. Contemporary methods for the assessment of community primarily rely on the establishment of pre-defined characteristics and the subsequent content analyses of communication artefacts to identify presence or absence. These studies are often small in sample size and limited in scalability and therefore the generalisation of research findings is impeded. This study aimed to examine the relationship between student sense of community (SOC) and communication interactions. To achieve this aim the study first developed a scaleable quantitative methodology that can be used to benchmark current pedagogical performance and guide future implemented practices relating to the establishment of a student community. The study juxtaposes an established scale of SOC with student online communication behaviours to identify potential relationships. In developing this methodology the study confirmed that the Classroom Community Scale (CCS) was a valid and robust instrument. The study incorporated a mixed methods paradigm to investigate the research questions. Quantitative data were derived from an online survey (N= 464), student online communication interactions and social network analyses. These data were further explored using more qualitative approaches such as content analyses of the discussion forum transcripts (n = 899) and student interviews (N = 4). The findings demonstrate that students and teaching units with greater frequencies of communication interactions possess stronger levels of SOC as determined by the CCS (R2 = .24, F = 14.98, p < .001; R2 = .83, F = 16.53, p < .01, respectively). A significant correlation was observed between discussion forum interaction types (learner-learner; learner-content; system) and SOC. Although learner-to-learner interactions demonstrated a positive correlation (r = .48, p < .05), system posts (isolated contributions) illustrated a negative correlation (r = - .50, p < .05). Quantity of discussion forum postings alone was not observed to be a significant indicator of SOC. Social network analyses demonstrated that the centrality measures closeness and degrees are positive predictors of an individual's reported SOC (t = 3.02 and t = 3.24, p < .001 respectively). In contrast, the centrality measure betweenness revealed a negative correlation (t = -3.86, p < .001). Discussion forum content analyses illustrated the fluid transition of discourse between social and learning oriented communities. Student interviews suggested that pre-existing external networks influence the type of support and information exchanges required and therefore, the degree of SOC experienced. The study also recognised that a key challenge in the implementation of data mining practices to monitor lead indicators of community lies in the notion of surveillance. This study examined the impact of technologically mediated modes of surveillance on student online behaviour. The findings demonstrate that students' unaware of the surveillance technologies operating within the institution modify their online behaviour more than their cognisant peers. The results of this study have implications for educational theory, practice, monitoring and evaluation. This research supports the development of a new model of community that illustrates the inter-relationships between student SOC and the education environment. Furthermore, the developed methodology demonstrates the capacity for cost effective data mining techniques to guide and evaluate implemented teaching and learning practices. Consequently, alignment with other theoretical constructs such as student satisfaction and engagement provides the institution with a lead indicator of teaching and learning performance. As the findings from this study illustrate the relationship between communication interactions and SOC, educators have the capacity to monitor communication trends and alter the teaching and learning practices to promote community among the student cohort in a just-in-time environment.
19
Brentzel, Kelvin, Carol Harris, and Patrick Coronado. "NPP IN-SITU GROUND SYSTEM - BRIDGING TECHNOLOGIES BETWEEN EOS, NPP AND THE FUTURE." International Foundation for Telemetering, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/605585.
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International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 20-23, 2003 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, NevadaAs part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) Preparatory Project (NPP), the Direct Readout Laboratory (DRL) of NASA/GSFC Code 935, is developing the prototype NPP In-Situ Ground System (NISGS). The NISGS supports earth remote sensing, and its functions bridge from all EOS satellites to planning for future NASA and interagency launches. The NISGS solution enables the end user to acquire and process NPP and predecessor instrument data, and provide a means to make these technologies and data products available to the Direct Broadcast Community. This document describes the NISGS model, methodology, and system architecture.
20
Qutaishat, Fadi Taher. "An investigation of web-based personalisation technologies for information provision focussing on the multiple sclerosis community." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2007. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/36095.
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The exponential growth of online information has made the process of locating appropriate information complex. This complexity increases when individuals are characterised by changeable needs, preferences, goals or knowledge, because this requires the system to personalise or adapt e.g. content in accordance with these needs. This research developed a prototype system for personalising information and investigated the appropriateness of using personalisation techniques. It focused on people with MS (Multiple Sclerosis) who have changeable needs. During the investigation, a prototype of a personalised system was developed to provide personalised content, links and content presentation (i.e. layout). A number of personalisation approaches, techniques and models that are used in the domain of adaptive hypermedia, were selected in the development of the prototype system. Furthermore, XML, XSL and the Apache Cocoon framework were used as the underlying technologies for this development.
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D'Mello, Cheryl A. "The Influence of New Communication Technologies on the Acculturation of Bhutanese Refugees in an American Community." Cleveland State University / OhioLINK, 2010. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1284056323.
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Dawson, Shane Peter. "Juxtaposing community with learning: The relationship between learner contributions and sense of community in online environments." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2007. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/16348/1/Shane_Dawson_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
Australian Government policy has sought to decrease university reliance on federal support through the re-allocation of funding. Access to this pool of funding is based on teaching and learning performance and the subsequent comparison with similar education institutions. The concept of community has been promoted as a strategy for responding to these government demands whilst facilitating the student learning experience. Despite an intensive investment in strategic initiatives to enhance sense of community among the student cohort, there is a lack of scaleable evaluative measures to assess the overall effectiveness and accomplishment of intended outcomes.
Contemporary methods for the assessment of community primarily rely on the establishment of pre-defined characteristics and the subsequent content analyses of communication artefacts to identify presence or absence. These studies are often small in sample size and limited in scalability and therefore the generalisation of research findings is impeded.
This study aimed to examine the relationship between student sense of community (SOC) and communication interactions. To achieve this aim the study first developed a scaleable quantitative methodology that can be used to benchmark current pedagogical performance and guide future implemented practices relating to the establishment of a student community. The study juxtaposes an established scale of SOC with student online communication behaviours to identify potential relationships.
In developing this methodology the study confirmed that the Classroom Community Scale (CCS) was a valid and robust instrument. The study incorporated a mixed methods paradigm to investigate the research questions. Quantitative data were derived from an online survey (N= 464), student online communication interactions and social network analyses. These data were further explored using more qualitative approaches such as content analyses of the discussion forum transcripts (n = 899) and student interviews (N = 4).
The findings demonstrate that students and teaching units with greater frequencies of communication interactions possess stronger levels of SOC as determined by the CCS (R2 = .24, F = 14.98, p < .001; R2 = .83, F = 16.53, p < .01, respectively). A significant correlation was observed between discussion forum interaction types (learner-learner; learner-content; system) and SOC. Although learner-to-learner interactions demonstrated a positive correlation (r = .48, p < .05), system posts (isolated contributions) illustrated a negative correlation (r = - .50, p < .05). Quantity of discussion forum postings alone was not observed to be a significant indicator of SOC.
Social network analyses demonstrated that the centrality measures closeness and degrees are positive predictors of an individual's reported SOC (t = 3.02 and t = 3.24, p < .001 respectively). In contrast, the centrality measure betweenness revealed a negative correlation (t = -3.86, p < .001). Discussion forum content analyses illustrated the fluid transition of discourse between social and learning oriented communities. Student interviews suggested that pre-existing external networks influence the type of support and information exchanges required and therefore, the degree of SOC experienced.
The study also recognised that a key challenge in the implementation of data mining practices to monitor lead indicators of community lies in the notion of surveillance. This study examined the impact of technologically mediated modes of surveillance on student online behaviour. The findings demonstrate that students' unaware of the surveillance technologies operating within the institution modify their online behaviour more than their cognisant peers.
The results of this study have implications for educational theory, practice, monitoring and evaluation. This research supports the development of a new model of community that illustrates the inter-relationships between student SOC and the education environment. Furthermore, the developed methodology demonstrates the capacity for cost effective data mining techniques to guide and evaluate implemented teaching and learning practices. Consequently, alignment with other theoretical constructs such as student satisfaction and engagement provides the institution with a lead indicator of teaching and learning performance. As the findings from this study illustrate the relationship between communication interactions and SOC, educators have the capacity to monitor communication trends and alter the teaching and learning practices to promote community among the student cohort in a just-in-time environment.
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Mozaffar, Hajar. "Inside the new sites of innovation : how user communities influence complex enterprise technologies." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/17920.
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User groups have been recognised as one of the most important coupling mechanisms between users and vendors. There are hundreds of such groups around the world attached to complex technological artefacts and systems. Innovation scholars have referred to these groups as the new sites of innovation and gone as far to suggest that vendors may struggle to survive without the user-led innovation that derives from these forums (von Hippel, 2005). This is particularly the case for software products. However, despite their growing academic and policy importance, and notwithstanding the fact these communities have been in existence for more than three decades, the Information Systems literature has not yet explained the complex workings of such groups. This study produces one of the first ethnographic studies of a major software user group linked to a complex packaged enterprise system. It describes and characterises the range of functions carried out by this group, which includes their internal workings and organisation, how members relate to each other, how the group links to the vendor and other intermediaries, and the group’s attempts to shape the development of its technology. A key focus of the work is the various tensions and barriers found in these communities. To analyse this group the study adopts and extends the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) and its recent offshoot, the ‘Biography of Artefact’ (BoA) framework. This thesis contributes to these approaches by showing the importance of multifaceted time dimensions and heterogeneity of spaces in examining users groups. Whilst existing studies using these approaches have looked at the evolution of technology over extended periods, this thesis contributes by considering the coevolution of the technology and the community attached at the same time. This allows us not only to gain a better conceptualisation of the user group but as a result see new forms of innovation invisible to more dominant perspectives. It challenges economist led understandings of user-led innovation which tend to give only a rather superficial understanding of the process by which users create new innovation. In particular, and through arguing for the need to take into account both ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in the process of user-led innovation, the thesis offers the concept of ‘artification’ to explain further complex outputs originating from the interaction of these actors in multiple spaces and over long periods of time. The thesis also extends theories of the Social Shaping of Technology by depicting innovation as an arena where different actor spaces act collectively, but also compete, and as a result wield influence on different stages of the technology lifecycle. This leads to a further contribution of this thesis in the field of Information Systems research by suggesting that enterprise software innovation is a community achievement. In particular, the research proposes the concept of ‘unification’ to show the collective acts of users in aggregating their needs to participate in the development of technology. The study concludes by offering insights and recommendation to practitioners and policy makers for deploying user communities for better technological outcomes, both in terms of design and development as well as implementation and use.
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Prado, Paola. "Bridging Digital Poverty: Adoption of Information and Communication Technologies at Community Technology Centers in the Dominican Republic." Scholarly Repository, 2009. http://scholarlyrepository.miami.edu/oa_dissertations/289.
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Globalization and the rise of the Information Society pose many challenges to developing nations. In adherence to the Millennium Development Goal of digital inclusion, the government of the Dominican Republic established a national program of community technology centers, or telecenters, that aim to promote digital literacy among the poor. This study examined how these telecenters promote the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and tested whether perceived structural factors, individual motivation or demographics predict adoption. Results from a survey conducted in the rural villages of El Seybo, Navarrete, and Oviedo confirm that telecenter users learn how to use information and communication technologies as a resource for information about civic life, entertainment, and professional development. The study concludes that telecenters can succeed in decreasing digital poverty, provided issues of sustainability are addressed with consistent and continued government funding and support. The field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) is in its infancy and has yet to develop strong methodological or theoretical standards. This study of ICT adoption and telecenter use in rural areas of the Caribbean contributes empirical evidence to the literature of this emerging discipline.
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Walimbwa, Michael. "Developing proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies: an educational design research of a community of practice at Makerere University." Doctoral thesis, University of Cape Town, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/27303.
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This thesis investigated the development of proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies amongst educators at Makerere University. Limited educator CoPs focused on pedagogical integration of ETs inhibit educator potential to contribute to quality learning through pedagogical integration of ETs. The general question in this thesis is how social architecture in an educator CoP provides opportunities for enhancing proficiency development in pedagogical integration of ETs. Based on educational design research framework and situated learning theory, a community of practice as an intervention was designed and implemented between 2014 and 2016. Data was collected through observations, focused discussions and interviews from five educators who actively participated. An interpretive thematic analysis was done from which findings indicate that a social architecture in community of practice enables educators to initially accept that they are less experienced and potential members and then, join forces in a community to take charge of their transformation process. A social architecture enables drawing on individual talent and exploiting synergy between individuals with varying experiences; the process also comprises specific actions and engagements, which when shared in a social environment help motivate, inspire and evoke emulation of a practice. A community of practice provides an ideal context that enable educators to be more honest in evaluating their own technology skills and gaining confidence in seeking to develop skills. Pedagogical integration of emerging technologies is a practice highly influenced by individual attitudes in a social environment. In communities of practice faced with resource-constraints, the constantly evolving technologies, limited mentorship capacity, and mind-set are among the inhibitors in the social architecture that contributes to proficiency development in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. This thesis concludes that social architecture in a community of practice contributes to the process of developing proficiency in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. The design principles that emphasize configuration of a social architecture like interactions, networks and collaborations among educators are helpful in pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. It is therefore recommended that a social architecture in a community of practice be exploited by educators to enhance pedagogical integration of emerging technologies. The original contribution of this thesis is coming up with new design principles and theoretical insights related to a social architecture in a community of practice focused on pedagogical integration of emerging technologies.
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Nolden, Colin. "Regulating the diffusion of renewable energy technologies : interactions between community energy and the feed-in tariff in the UK." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10871/9884.
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An ever increasing body of legislation and regulation is transforming the UK’s energy system and its surrounding national energy framework. Depending on the mechanisms that result from this process, new forms of engagement with energy, particularly electricity, might emerge. The current trajectory of UK energy policy leans towards a centralised scenario with a portfolio of centralised renewable energy technologies (i.e. geographically concentrated such as offshore wind), nuclear power stations and gas fired power stations with the option of Carbon Capture and Storage technologies if it becomes a commercially viable option (CCC, 2011). Forecasts predict that a combination of these technologies could place the UK on the right path to reach its 2050 carbon reduction commitments (UKERC, 2008). However, this approach fails to take broader benefits of decentralisation and localisation into account and many official documents such as the Microgeneration Strategy (DECC, 2011a) and those surrounding Community Energy Online (DECC, 2011b) point to a need for greater public engagement in the generation of energy in order to ‘derive greater benefits locally’ (DECC, 2011a: 45). The question remains in how far these diverging objectives can be achieved within the current regulatory environment as there is a lack of coordinated incentives in place to facilitate the development of new scales and ownership structures capable of promoting new forms of engagement at scales below the point at which economies of scales apply. This thesis seeks to establish what barriers are preventing community energy with the capacity to increase acceptance of renewable energy technologies while also contributing towards climate change action, energy security and the strengthening of local economic cycles from becoming more widely embedded in the UK. The main focus is on how ‘niche creation’ policies such as the feed-in tariff might provide the basis for overcoming these barriers by diffusing new scales and ownership structures of renewable energy technologies. Accompanying social innovations could potentially include more meaningful engagement with energy in general and renewable energy in particular, while also enabling communities willing to invest in renewable energy technologies to build resilient local energy infrastructures with the capacity to reduce the impact of increasing energy insecurity, fossil-fuel depletion and climate change constraints. In order to appreciate the potential of community energy in the UK, parallels are drawn to the governance of national energy frameworks in other European countries, Germany and Denmark in particular, that have provided the basis for successful community energy engagement.
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Li, Xiaojin. "Anammox-based Technologies for Sustainable Mainstream Wastewater Treatment: Process Development, Microbial Ecology and Mathematical Modeling." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/93328.
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The nitritation-anammox process is an efficient and cost-effective approach for biological nitrogen removal, but its application in treating mainstream wastewater remains a great challenge. The key objectives of this dissertation are to develop nitritation-anammox process to treat wastewater with low-nitrogen strength, understand the fundamental microbiology, and optimize its operation through experimental studies and mathematic modeling. Chapter 2 showed that the nitritation-anammox process has been successfully developed in an upflow membrane-aerated biofilm reactor, where pure oxygen was delivered via gas-permeable membrane module. Chapter 3 demonstrated that hybrid anaerobic reactor (HAR) could be an effective pretreatment method to provide a relatively low COD/N ratio for nitritation-anammox reactor. In Chapter 4, a novel mathematical model has been proposed to evaluate the minimum DO requirement for the nitritation-anammox reactor to achieve the maximum TN removal under various COD/N scenarios (controlled by HRTHAR). Chapters 5 and 6 designed an OsAMX system by linking nitritation-anammox to forward osmosis to remove the reverse-fluxed ammonium while using ammonium bicarbonate as a draw solute. The microbial community structures and dynamics, spatial distributions in these bioreactors were characterized by high-throughput sequencing and fluorescent in situ hybridization techniques. The studies in this dissertation have demonstrated that nitritation-anammox process is a promising alternative for sustainable mainstream treatment with the appropriate pretreatment approach and operation optimization.PHD
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Marcos, Valls Alejandro. "Information and Communication Technologies for Sustainable Development in the Field : A case study of a rural community in Nicaragua." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-236177.
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The use of information and communication technologies, ICTs, is increasing the possibilities to exchange information and communicate in different contexts all over the World. The use of ICTs for development, ICT4D, in order to contribute to the improvement of living standards in developing countries is one of these possibilities. This paper presents a qualitative research based on a case study in Nicaragua, which explores the current situation when it comes to the uses of ICTs and its potential to be used to develop in a sustainable manner. The research framework is based on empowerment theories and the study of the diffusion of innovation and it shows how ICTs are being used in a rural community in Nicaragua to amplify their needs through communication, gaining visibility among other actors, increasing their opportunities and empowering themselves by increasing the awareness of power imbalances and identifying and learning about new possibilities through ICTs. This paper also studies the diffusion of ICTs in the community and deepens the understanding of the role of individuals and other interpersonal factors in the innovations-adoption process.Information and communication technologies, ICTs, are becoming more and more popular all over the World. The use of mobile phones, smartphones and the Internet is a revolution that affects our everyday lives in both professional and personal contexts. These potential for different uses has converged in the appearance of ICT4D, ICT for development, which promotes the use of new technologies to offer new social and economical opportunities for developing countries. On the other hand, the use of resources and the impact of development on the environment is also a trigger to consider sustainability in the combination together with ICT4D in countries that are aiming to grow during the upcoming years. This paper presents an overview of the uses of ICTs in a rural community in Nicaragua through a case study and explores the potential and limitations for the use of new technologies to achieve a more sustainable development. The study presents how different community members use ICTs to communicate with other individuals in a personal sphere (family and friends) but also that there are other uses related to other actors which implies the creation of networks and therefore the increasing of visibility and opportunities for the community. These uses are leading to new situations where the community is gaining power in relation with other actors. The thesis shows how ICTs are promoting and amplifying the communication among actors, which, at the same time, are bringing new information and opportunities for the community. Due to the fieldwork in Nicaragua, this thesis has been able to identify the uses of ICT4D but also the role of different individuals and how some personal characteristics are promoting the use of new technologies. Different stages for the diffusion of the innovation are explained to show that among the interviewees we can identify degrees in the knowledge and practice of the ICTs where different uses are tested before the adoption of the innovation or not. At the same time, the paper presents the main limitations identified by the actors for the use of ICTs, which should be considered in the implementation of ICT4D such as degree of education, age, economic resources, fear to change or lack of motivation among others. Finally, in relation with the use of ICTs for sustainable development, the paper presents the opportunities identified by the actors being aware that the environment is presented as an instrumental element to develop socially and economically but also that ICTs are considered as an opportunity to learn about a more sustainable resource management and as a way of obtaining new resources from entities to avoid or reduce environmental impacts.
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De, Beer D. J. "The impact of additive fabrication technologies on Institutional Research Development and the SA product development community-the CRPM story." Interim : Interdisciplinary Journal, Vol 7, Issue 1: Central University of Technology Free State Bloemfontein, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/11462/377.
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Published AticleThe Centre for Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing (CRPM) made a humble start in 1997 as a spin-off from a proposed research activity in 1995, at a stage when Technikons were still being seen as occupational training institutions rather than higher education institutions and and as such, were not funded for research. Addressing an area of high importance to the South African industry, the research activity soon grew into a research unit, commercial centre / centre of excellence, technology transfer unit and innovation support centre. Above all, the research started to impact on product development practices to deliver improved products. The paper considers the development of the available technology platforms at the CUT'S CRPM to become a technology power-house on the African continent, and how it impacted on Institutional Research Development in South Africa.
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Wallace, Robert. "Categories of Conceptions in Karlstad Community Classrooms : An analysis of educator interviews regarding new media technologies as teaching tools." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Avdelningen för medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-15046.
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Från höstterminstarten 2011 har alla nya elever inom de kommunala gymnasieskolorna i Karlstad och Hammarö tillgång till en egen dator, en satsning som brukar gå under beteckningen en-till-en. Denna situation öppnar för en möjlighet att studera hur denna tekniska förändring också påverkar lärares upplevelse av teknikskiftet och hur lärarna uppfattar att tekniken förändrar skolvardagen. Under december 2011 intervjuades 47 lärare i engelska (du skriver rätt antal) utifrån en gemensam intervjuguide med öppna frågor kring erfarenheter, strategier och åsikter om hur det är att arbeta i klasser som omfattades av en-till-en-satsningen. Syftet med studien var att kategorisera lärarnas uppfattningar och hur de erfar denna nya situation; detta då med hjälp av en fenomenografisk analysmetod. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i ett sociokulturellt perspektiv där lärandet ingår i en social kommunikativ process. Resultatet av analysen pekar mot att det går att dela in lärarnas syn på den nya situationen i tre huvudkategorier; erfarenhet av fenomen genom jämförelse; undervisning strategier i förhållande till fenomenet; fenomen i praktik.
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Wiley, Shannon. "Professional Learning in Cooperative Extension: Understanding Opportunities for Social Learning and the use of Computer Mediated Technologies." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/85862.
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Social Learning in the workplace can encompass many things. In social environments, adults are constantly communicating with their colleagues and actually participating in an exchange of shared knowledge. As virtual learning continues to become more prominent in the workplace in an effort to help adults work and collaborate, learners will need to continually generate a network of communities to engage in practice. This study utilized the theoretical framework of Wenger's social theory of learning as a lens for identifying experiences contributing to social learning in the workplace and to what extent technological tools contributes to those collaborative learning opportunities. Qualitative methods were utilized for this study which generated themes central to "learning through collaboration", and "learning through system processes". There were also findings that related to the use of technological tools and specifically related to how they contribute to opportunities for learning. Extension Professionals including Extension Agents and State Specialists were recruited for participation.Ph. D.
Social Learning in the workplace can encompass many things. In social environments, adults are constantly communicating with their colleagues and actually participating in an exchange of shared knowledge. As virtual learning continues to become more prominent in the workplace in an effort to help adults work and collaborate, learners will need to continually generate a network of communities to engage in practice. This study utilized the theoretical framework of Wenger’s social theory of learning as a lens for identifying experiences contributing to social learning in the workplace and to what extent technological tools contributes to those collaborative learning opportunities. Qualitative methods were utilized for this study which generated themes central to “learning through collaboration”, and “learning through system processes”. There were also findings that related to the use of technological tools and specifically related to how they contribute to opportunities for learning. Extension Professionals including Extension Agents and State Specialists were recruited for participation.
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Coulibaly, Souleymane. "Understanding African migrants' and refugees' experiences of digital health technologies in south east Queensland, Australia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2022. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/236175/1/Souleymane%2BCoulibaly%2BThesis%282%29.pdf.
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This thesis focuses on the African migrant and refugee community in South East Queensland to investigate how community members use digital technologies for accessing health information. It demonstrates that African community members in Australia access and use digital technologies differently to non-African members of the community. The thesis highlights that an information sharing culture, especially via instant messaging apps such as WhatsApp, prevails in the African community. The thesis also shows that digital technologies, which convey health information and services around the world, are not equally experienced by people and this has implications for health providers and policy makers.
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Schaumburger, Emelie, and Louise Lagerlöf. "A Community's Impact on The Innovation Process : A study within the healthcare sector." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Industriell teknik, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-413686.
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Today's increasing world population has put a strain on the healthcare system due to the spread of diseases that requires new knowledge and technology. As a consequence, problems regarding medical errors and quality can lead to the cause of death. However, salvation to these problems can be innovative solutions. Moreover, the shown difficulties to implement innovations in the healthcare market can be improved by innovating according to, and together with, the end-users, which can be achieved through firm-hosted user- communities. This study aimed to examine the innovation process within a host-firm community with several user-communities in the healthcare market. Consequently, the contribution of the research consists of extending the knowledge about the communication flow within a host-firm community with several user-communities as well as the characteristics of the innovations that get developed and realized by the host-firm. This was examined through a qualitative approach with the main methodology of semi-structured interviews. The collected data was further analyzed through a thematic approach and viewed through a constructed conceptual lens. The conceptual lens constitutes a combination of Rogers’s theory of communication channels and the convergence model of communication, as well as Rogers perceived characteristics of innovation. The outcome of this study portrays the innovation process within the setup of a host-firm community with several user-communities. In other terms, the identified communication flows were between the host-firm and user- communities, between the user-communities and within the user- communities, where the one between user-communities was shown to be almost non-existent in this study. However, the innovation ideas that are transferred in an iterative process within the community resulted in innovation with the characteristics of being a relative advantage, complex and observable.
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Jochheim, Stefanie. "How a unique Culture uses Information and Communication Technologies : An ethnographic field study of the community of Lamu, in Kenya." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Fakulteten för ekonomi, kommunikation och IT, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-8521.
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The study has investigated the culture of Lamu through an ethnographic field study and the usage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT’s) through interviews. The field study, including the interviews, was conducted during a fifteen week period. Theories of technological and cultural determinism as well as theories of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) are presented as theories which my analysis is based upon. What is investigated is the interplay between technology and culture in Lamu. The data collected will be used to discuss possible ICT4D assessments for future projects; what factors need to be investigated and mapped out prior to a project plan. Lamu is a complex community with a long history of outside influences. Nowadays, the influences are not from imperialistic power nations but from tourists, Non-governmental Organizations (NGO’s), Governmental Organizations (GO’s) and private investors. The culture of Lamu has gone through a change in behavior throughout the generations. What has changed lately is the adoption and usage of ICT’s. In conclusion, this study shows the unique way in which the culture uses technologies. This has been analyzed with former ICT4D projects in mind and seen out of a development work perspective. Lamu’s religious character has colored the three spheres of the community and is presented as one of the many important binary factors that need to be considered in development work assessments. What has been found out through this study is the importance of a culturally humble assessment before making a plan for ICT4D projects. Previous projects have failed due to the top-down approach. What has worked is the bottom-up approach and this is proclaimed in this study. All of the dimensions of a community, its history and all spheres need to be assessed before successful projects can be made. Lamu is a unique case and shows the complexity of assessments due to the binary factors and the many layers in the society that are important to take in account.
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Nordin, Mohd Shukri. "Exploring the development of metacognitive strategies in learning technologies among pre-service teacher trainees through an e-space community framework." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/31236/.
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The purpose of this study was to explore the extent of e-space community framework in developing metacognitive strategies of pre-service teacher trainees towards ICT competency in contemporary learning technologies. The e-space community framework used in this study created a virtual community of practice (VCoP) that has the possibilities of developing the trainees’ metacognitive strategies in learning technologies. The framework looks at extending Vygotsky’s concept of Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) upon the VCoP. Evidence has shown that ZPD has the potential of helping a learner learn better by seeking guidance from surrounding peers. It is argued that the combination of ZPD and VCoP has the advantages of making teaching and learning more engaging and effective. The study proposed the use of an e-space community as the mediator to develop metacognitive strategies in learning technologies. The concept of e-space community is congruent with Wenger’s concept of Communities of Practice (CoPs), where people of the same interest do and learn better via regular interaction. It is also parallel with the earlier mentioned concept of ZPD as discussed by Vygotsky. The research used an explanatory mixed-method approach on 38 pre-service teacher trainees, where a pre-test, a mid-test and a post-test with a treatment intervention were supported by interviews. The quantitative findings of this study revealed that e-space community in this study gave very little impact on the development of the pre-service teacher trainees’ metacognitive strategies towards ICT competency in contemporary learning technologies. This was supported by the qualitative findings that concur with the fact that the participants did not prefer the official e-space platform chosen for this study and were more drawn to more convenient external platforms. The study has implications on how any official e-space platform of an institution should be designed and deployed in order to create more appeal and attract the targeted CoP to use and gain benefits from the intended objectives towards ICT competency.
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Dinh, Pham-Hien. "Community participation in the transfer of advanced technologies in agriculture to farm households in the mountainous region of Northern Vietnam." Beuren Stuttgart Grauer, 2007. http://d-nb.info/989951375/04.
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Denison, Thomas Frank. "Diffusion and sustainability of information and communications technologies in community-based non-profit organisations: an exploratory study of Victoria and Tuscany." Monash University. Faculty of Information Technology. Caulfield School of Information Technology, 2009. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/72047.
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Worldwide, governments and representatives of the community sector believe that the adoption of ICT by community-sector organisations is important because it contributes to the achievement of mission, strategic and business objectives, and benefits the communities those organisations serve. However, despite the fact that many organisations have developed innovative ICT applications, most experience problems in taking up ICT (Burt & Taylor 1999, Surman 2001, DCITA 2005b). This thesis explores the conditions for success and barriers to the take-up and effective use of information and communications technology (ICT), specifically websites and online services, by community-based non-profit organisations, using a study of seventeen organisations based in rural and regional Victoria in Australia, and Tuscany in Italy. In particular, it examines the structural barriers and the inter-organisational relationships that act to facilitate the take-up, or otherwise, of technology by community sector non-profit organisations. The study adopts a grounded theory approach, based on a two-stage data analysis: using the LIAISE framework for the take-up of ICT (Schauder et al. 2005), to identify the factors or conditions that contribute to the development of effective, sustainable websites; and social network analysis to explore the extent to which organisational networks enable the achievement of those conditions. The broad aims of this approach are to enable the evaluation of the existing LIAISE framework and to develop it as a more dynamic systems model capable of serving as a guide to policy and action. The study finds that although the LIAISE framework provides a good taxonomy of the factors important to the take-up of ICT by community-based non-profit organisations, it has weaknesses in that it does not explicitly identify user literacy as a factor, nor does it sufficiently emphasise the importance of an organisation’s external relationships, which provide an essential means of accessing required information and resources such as technical skills, and of enhancing core internal skills such as the ability to develop strategic plans. A new model is proposed to address these weaknesses: ALLIANCE (Applications; Literacy; user Literacy; Infrastructure; Access; Networks; Computing support; and Evaluation).
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Barden, Pollie. "Older people and digital technology : from digital learners to digital leaders through participatory design with community-based organisations." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2017. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/31709.
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It is predicted that there will be more people over the age of 65 than under 5 by 2050 in developed countries. In recognition of the needs of an ageing population, there is a growing field of research in HCI focused on engaging older people with digital technologies. This thesis contributes to the field of ageing in HCI through a community-based participatory design investigation into the challenges and opportunities for older people to engage with digital tools in their everyday lives. We demonstrate how the commitments, practices and values of participatory design can be used to better understand and foster engagement between digital tools and older people through the support of community-based organisations. This is achieved through two case studies. The rst study with a traditional computer class at a local day centre. The second with a London-based intergenerational running club. The research reflects on and examines the details and decisions of the learning and adoption process across these two studies. We expand our view beyond the digital tools to the influences and situations that contribute to older people's attitudes and usage. Through the lens of participatory design and communities of practice we discuss the considerations of values, problem-solving, and identity that can potentially be transferred to other non-traditional digital learning environments for older people. We provide recommendations and reflect on our challenges to serve as guidance for other researchers engaging in similar participatory work `in-the-wild'.
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Poole, Melissa J. "The formation of a community of practice in preservice teacher education the interaction of the classroom environment and new communication technologies /." Diss., Columbia, Mo. : University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10355/4096.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004.The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file viewed on (June 29, 2004) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.
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Phingilili, Gcotyelwa. "A framework for implementation of ICT4D initiatives in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1017789.
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South Africa’s rural communities have received Information and Communication Technologies services through initiatives such as tele-centres, living labs, Thusong service centres and donations of computer applications. There is need, with little plans in place to ensure that the rural communities will benefit from those initiatives. As a result of this, it is necessary to establish a framework for implementing Information and Communication Technologies for development initiatives in order to ensure successful implementation of these initiatives in rural communities. Literature shows that in order to successfully implement an ICT initiative for rural communities, there should be active engagement with ICT stakeholders, consultation of Information and Communication Technologies policies, presence of ICT infrastructure, ICT services, monitoring, evaluating, training and maintenance. Current literature on ICT developments shows that in order to successfully implement an ICT initiative for rural communities, there should be active engagement with ICT stakeholders, consultation of ICT policies, and presence of ICT infrastructure, ICT services, monitoring, evaluating, training and maintenance. Unstructured interviews were used as a research method to collect primary data that was used as a basis to develop the proposed framework. Findings from the studies carried out indicated that several ICT4D initiatives which were abandoned due to challenges such lack of proper resources, trainings, lack of local content, access, lack of ownership and lack of stakeholders’ involvement. This study presents a framework for implementing ICT for development initiatives in rural communities which has been developed in order to reduce the number of initiatives that are abandoned or which end up not serving their intended purpose in rural communities of South Africa.
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Bhola, Gaurav. "India and China space programs from genesis of space technologies to major space programs and what that means for the international community /." Orlando, Fla. : University of Central Florida, 2009. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0002745.
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Mirisaee, Seyed Hadi. "Human-centred methods for design of mobile social technologies : a case study of agile ridesharing." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2014. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/72909/2/Seyed_Hadi_Mirisaee_Thesis.pdf.
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Social contexts are possible information sources that can foster connections between mobile application users, but they are also minefields of privacy concerns and have great potential for misinterpretation. This research establishes a framework for guiding the design of context-aware mobile social applications from a socio-technical perspective.
Agile ridesharing was chosen as the test domain for the research because its success relies upon effectively connecting people through mobile technologies.
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Jammet, Thomas. "Mettre le web social au service des marques : une sociologie pragmatique du community management en France." Thesis, Paris Est, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016PESC0051/document.
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L’essor du « web 2.0 », couramment qualifié de web participatif ou social, a réactivé le vocable de la « communauté » pour désigner le regroupement spontané d’internautes autour de sujets de discussion ou de projets communs. À mesure que se développent les plateformes informatisées d’échange d’information et de contenu, au premier rang desquelles Facebook et Twitter, les annonceurs les investissent massivement de leur présence, sous forme de pages et de comptes de marque, pour tirer profit de l’expressivité des internautes au prisme de la « communauté de marque ». La gestion de ces espaces promotionnels innovants est confiée à une nouvelle catégorie de prestataires de service – les community managers – chargés de promouvoir l’offre des organisations et de répondre à la demande ininterrompue d’informations des consommateurs. C’est ce double mécanisme de la relecture marchande des collectifs en ligne et de la visée stratégique de leur administration qui est questionné ici. Le community management est traité comme un accomplissement pratique, afin de saisir la manière dont une doctrine du marketing s’inscrit dans une activité professionnelle qui se reconfigure au fil de vagues successives de rationalisation de la communication numérique de marque. Ce faisant, cette recherche souhaite contribuer à une sociologie pragmatique qui refuse de réifier le processus de « transformation numérique » de nos sociétés, pour décrire la manière dont celui-ci est performé par une pluralité d’acteurs qui œuvrent à aligner l’expressivité des consommateurs connectés sur les besoins des entreprisesThe rise of “Web 2.0”, commonly referred to as social or participatory Web, has reactivated the terminology of “community” to characterize the spontaneous gathering of individuals around joint discussion topics or projects. As the computerized information and content sharing platforms – such as Facebook and Twitter – develop, companies are heavily investing them by creating brand pages and accounts permitting them to take advantage of the expressivity of Internet users through the prism of the “brand community”. The animation of these innovative promotional spaces is entrusted to a new category of service providers – the community managers – responsible for promoting organizations and responding to the consumers’ ongoing demands for information. This thesis questions the dual mechanism of online collectives’ commercial reinterpretation and of the strategic aim of their management.Considering community management as a practical achievement, the analysis describes how a marketing doctrine is being unfolded in a professional activity that is successively reconfigured through the rationalization of digital brand communication. By doing so, this research wishes to contribute to a pragmatic sociology that refuses to reify the process of “digital transformation” of our societies by describing how the latter is performed by a plurality of actors working to adjust the expressiveness of connected consumers to the companies’ needs
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Lariviere, Matthew. "An ethnography of the everyday practices of people with dementia and their informal carers with assistive technologies and telecare in community-based care." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2018. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/69056/.
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Industry, government and care service providers claim that assistive technologies and telecare services will enable people with dementia to continue living independently and safely in their communities. Yet there is little research that examines how people with dementia actually use these technologies in their everyday life. This thesis presents an ethnographic study, A Collaborative COMMunity-based ethnography of people with Dementia using Assistive technology and Telecare at home in England (ACCOMMODATE). This ethnographic study examines everyday practices of people with dementia and their informal carers using assistive technologies and telecare. The study design departs from conventional ethnographic approaches which rely on situated, immersive, and sustained fieldwork commitments. Instead, this study purposively sampled participants from a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial entitled Assistive Technology and Telecare to maintain Independent Living At home for people with dementia (ATTILA). ACCOMMODATE, therefore, draws on recent methodological insights to design an ‘embedded ethnography’ to address the research problem. Embedding ethnographic activities within the ATTILA trial settings influenced how I initially conceptualised assistive technologies and telecare in dementia care in the community as part of technology-enabled dementia care services. Yet this ‘imagined community care’ de-contextualised the personal experiences of living with memory problems, care practices, and community-based relationships. Through partially disembedding my ethnographic activities from ATTILA, I re-framed these concepts to illustrate tensions about how different people understood care, inhabited spaces within their home, and enacted new technological practices. Such diverse practices and understandings from participants suggests ‘assistiveness’ and ‘care at a distance’ can be seen as actively co-constructed to fit within the complexities of everyday practices. Future policies should more precisely distinguish ‘imagined’ goals, such as ‘community care’, from the reality which people with dementia experience with assistive technologies as ‘home care’. Such a shift may better locate and articulate the current practices constituting technology-enabled dementia care.
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Chiotis, Thomas. "Farmers, Intermediaries and ICTs in an Agricultural Community in Greece- an ethnographic study." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för informatik (IK), 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-66837.
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The purpose of this thesis is to assess the implications of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the agricultural supply chain in Greece by examining the relationships between farmers and their intermediaries, and their interactions during the buying and selling process. More specifically, the focus of the research takes place in Pouri, a small village in central Greece whose economy centers around Apple Farming, where we can observe the exchange of locally grown goods between farmers and intermediaries. The thesis consists of two parts; the first part examines how Greek farmers perceive the process of buying and selling agricultural products and how they respond to problems within their current structure; through observing processes, conducting interviews and collecting narrative stories to identify the issues, we assess whether it would be advantageous for farmers to implement ICTs as part of the solution. The second part consists of a review of the academic literature to examine the same or similar situations in the agricultural supply chain of other global regions and their economic contexts. Lastly, a thorough thematic analysis of the research data provides a better understanding of the issues facing farmers and their needs as they pertain to ICTs, to improve the agricultural supply chain and the entire rural sector.
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Allawerdi, Rabii, and Raisa Kemppainen. "Aktiviteter som främjar samarbete inom kreativa online communitys : En fallstudie om social loafing." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för informatik (IK), 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-96556.
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Det finns en utmaning för designers att skapa digitala miljöer som främjar aktivitet, för att skapa goda vanor och rutiner som leder till växandet av communitys. Online communitys kan ibland sakna målstyrning som leder till minskat engagemang och motivation för medlemmar att bidrag till communityt. Det kan vara svårt för deltagare i dessa digitala miljöer att se vilket värde deras egna bidragande skapar. Eftersom online communitys får en allt mer växande roll i dagens samhälle när distanskollaborationer blir allt vanligare är det relevant att undersöka dessa problem. Tidigare forskning uppmärksammar social loafing som en förklaring till minskat engagemang och motivation i samarbeten. Vad som har kunnat påvisa förebyggande faktorer för denna negativa utveckling är att om individer blir påminda om deras värde till en community kan bidragandet öka, samt att gruppmål kan ge en mer bidragande effekt än individuella mål. Vad som även påverkar motivationen hos deltagarna är arbetsmönster i form av vanor och rutiner och den gemensamma grund som etableras mellan parter som inleder samarbeten. Denna studie fördjupar sig i aktiviteter hos innehållsskapare i kreativa online communitys inom spelutveckling, musikproduktion och andra typer av distanskollaborationer som är beroende av datorstödd kollaborativt arbete (CSCW). Resultat från intervjuer och enkätundersökningar har analyserats med hjälp av Aktivitetsteorin för att förstå vilka vanor som leder till framgångsrika kreativa samarbeten i en online community. Detta har genererat riktlinjer för design av digitala plattformar avsedda som online communitys och grundar sig i de aktiviteter som etablerar gemensam grund och deltagarkultur. Ett bästa praxisexempel presenteras även, baserat på de fynd från datainsamlingen som beskriver en distansbaserad musiktävling som främjar deltagande kultur och etablering av gemensam grund. Fortsatt forskning inom online communitys för kreatörer rekommenderas eftersom det finns ett behov tillgodose användarens specifika behov som grundar sig i personliga mål men även deras specifika användande av externa verktyg.There is a challenge when designing digital environments that promotes activities for the purpose to creates routines and habits leading to the growth of a community. Online communities could sometime lack objective management, resulting in lowered engagement and motivation amongst the members to contribute. Members in these environments sometimes struggle to see how their contribution can make an impact. The importance of online communities has a greater role in society while attitude towards distance collaborations are becoming familiar, consequently investigating these issues is relevant. Previous research has observed this behavior and defines it as social loafing, groups and communitys lack contribution even though they have many members. What has been found as a prevention to this negative development shows that individuals are more likely to contribute when their value are acknowledged. What also has a motivating and positive effect is when they are assigned group-oriented goals rather than just assigned goals individually. Establishing routines, habits, and common ground between members of a collaboration has a role in this development. This study explores activities amongst creators that are active in creative online communities oriented in game development, music production and other types of distance collaborations dependent on computer supported collaborative work (CSCW). The results gathered from interviews and user-surveys, has been analyzed through Activity theory, to better understand the habits that leads to successful creative collaborations in online communities. We propose design guidelines for development of digital platforms that serves the purpose for online communities and stems through the activities that establishes common ground and a culture for participation. We also present a best practice example based on the finding, describing a distance facilitated competition in music production that promotes participation and establishment of common ground. Taking to account the wide variety of different technical and individual needs and goals of multidisciplinary creators serves as a suggestion for further research.
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Chawinga, Winner Dominic. "Research data management in public universities in Malawi." University of the Western Cape, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/6951.
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Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe emergence and subsequent uptake of Information and Communication Technologies has transformed the research processes in universities and research institutions across the globe. One indelible impact of Information and Communication Technologies on the research process is the increased generation of research data in digital format. This study investigated how research data has been generated, organised, shared, stored, preserved, accessed and re-used in Malawian public universities with a view to proposing a framework for research data management in universities in Malawi. The objectives of the study were: to determine research data creation, sharing and re-use practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate research data preservation practices in public universities in Malawi; to investigate the competencies that librarians and researchers need to effectively manage research data; and to find out the challenges that affect the management of research data in public universities in Malawi. Apart from being guided by the Community Capability Model Framework (Lyon, Ball, Duke & Day, 2011) and Data Curation Centre Lifecycle Model (Higgins, 2008), the study was inspired by the pragmatic school of thought which is the basis for a mixed methods research enabling the collection of quantitative and qualitative data from two purposively selected universities. A census was used to identify researchers and librarians while purposive sampling was used to identify directors of research. Questionnaires were used to collect mostly quantitative and some qualitative data from 36 librarians and 187 researchers while interviews were conducted with directors of research. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences was used to analyse the quantitative data by producing percentages, means, independent samples ttest and one-way analysis of variance. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.
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Meguieng, Sidze Sandrine. "Empowering Community Resilience to climate Change in Cameroon using Technology-enhanced Learning." Doctoral thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2017. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:14-qucosa-214501.
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Located in Central Africa, Cameroon is considered the driving force of the sub-region due to its strategic location in the center of the African continent. During the last five years, the country has been under the constant threat of a large range of disasters like floods, droughts, landslides, epidemics, etc. In such a context, the government is implementing several strategies for Disaster Risk Reduction in the country. Under the lead of the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, the Directorate of Civil Protection, coordinates Disaster Risk Reduction activities through a network of over 379 decentralized institutions and international partners (Ayanji, 2004). Despite a high level of deployment, these activities still prove to have a low level of efficiency on the field. Results from the literature review suggest that this may be due to strategies for public education and public awareness that do not mirror stakeholders’ needs, capacities, and background. There is a need to: (1) identify the failures of the pre-existing public education and public awareness strategy, (2) assess the educational needs and capacities of each category of actors, (3) select adequate instructional methods and tools and (4) ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the newly proposed strategy. The aim of this work, which is a three-year PhD project funded by the AXA Research Fund, is therefore to propose a public education and public awareness model adapted to the Cameroonian context, using Technology Enhanced Learning to strengthen capacities and competencies of stakeholders involved in the problem of climate change. The study makes use of a mixed method approach. From the literature review, four categories of actors involved into the climate change education process in the country have first been identified namely (1) government, (2) educational institutions, (3) Non-Governmental Organizations and (4) communities. A sample population has been driven from each category using the Respondent Driven Sampling method. Then data were collected during a six-month field trip in Cameroon, using semi-structured interviews (McNamara, 1999), qualitative survey (Fowler, 2009), direct observation (Bernard, 2006) and focus group discussion (Krueger & Casey, 2009). Findings from data analyses, performed using Epi info software for quantitative data and MAXQDA software for qualitative data show that: the educational strategy is not clearly defined; there is a lack of adequate infrastructures; technologies available are not properly used: either they are not evenly accessible, or when accessible they do not match learners’ capacities and competencies. Finally, quality criteria for the evaluation of the existing educational strategy are not met, thus failing to ensure it sustainability. The conceptual solution proposed in this work makes use of the concept of learning communities, especially Community of Practice as proposed by Lave and Wenger (1991) to develop an information and knowledge sharing community system to establish best practices for improving community resilience to climate change impact. This Community of Practice will operate essentially offline with a selected domain, a well-defined and structured community, and a practice that makes use of identified technologies already available among communities and, most importantly, that mirrors the Cameroonian socio-cultural context. One unexpected factor that had to be taken into consideration while determining adequate technology tools, is the actors’ perception, or rather say actors’ (un)acceptance of “new technologies”, which render the design of the instructional model quite challengingKamerun ist ein Land in Zentralafrika. Aufgrund seiner strategischen Lage in der Mitte des afrikanischen Kontinents, gilt das Land als die treibende Kraft der Sub-Region. Während der letzten fünf Jahre wurde Kamerun Opfer von ständigen Bedrohungen einer Vielzahl von Katastrophen wie Überschwemmungen, Dürren, Erdrutsche, Epidemien, usw. In diesem Kontext hat die Regierung eine Reihe von Strategien zur Verringerung der Katastrophenrisiken imstande gebracht. Dies wurde unter der Leitung vom Ministerium der territorialen Verwaltung und Dezentralisierung und vom Amt für Katastrophenschutz durchgeführt. Weiterhin nahmen mehr als 379 dezentrale Institutionen und internationale Partner an diese bedeutende Aktion teil (Ayanji, 2004). Die bei diesem Großeinsatz getroffenen Maßnahmen haben aber bisher eine sehr geringe Effizienz auf dem Feld gebracht. Eine nähere Betrachtung im Zusammenspiel mit entsprechender Literatur lassen folgendes vermuten: die Strategien zur Sensibilisierung sind auf die Bedürfnisse, Kapazitäten und Hintergründe der Akteure nicht angepasst. Demnach sind folgende Tatsachen in Betracht zu ziehen: (1) Identifikation der Ausfälle der bevorstehenden Awareness-Strategie; (2) Bewertung den pädagogischen Bedürfnissen und Kapazitäten der einzelnen Kategorien von Akteuren; (3) Auswahl geeigneter Unterrichtsmethoden und Tools; (4) Gewährleisten der Wirksamkeit und Nachhaltigkeit der neu vorgeschlagenen Strategie. Diese Arbeit stammt aus einem dreijährigen Promotionsprojekt finanziert von der AXA Research Fund. Das Ziel der Arbeit ist der Vorschlag eines Awareness-Modells, das an dem kamerunischen Kontext angepasst ist, und das die Bildungstechnologie zur Stärkung der Kapazitäten und Kompetenzen der beteiligten Akteure des Klimawandels nutzt. Aus der Literatur sind vier Kategorien von Akteuren identifiziert worden: Die Regierung, Bildungseinrichtungen, nationale und internationale Organisationen, Gemeinschaften. Die Studie folgt einer Mixed-Method Forschung. Eine Stichprobe wurde aus jeder Kategorie von Akteuren mit Schneeballauswahl-Methode gezogen. Dann wurden Daten während einer 6-monatigen Studienreise in Kamerun gesammelt. Diese wurde in Begleitung mit semi-strukturierten Interview (McNamara, 1999), qualitativen Erhebung (Fowler, 2009), direkter Beobachtung (Bernard, 2006) und Gruppendiskussion (Krueger & Casey, 2009). Die Daten wurden analysiert mit Epi-info Software für quantitative Daten und MAXQDA Software für qualitative Daten. Die Ergebnisse zeigen Folgendes: - Die pädagogische Strategie ist nicht klar definiert - Mangel an angemessenen Infrastrukturen - Die verfügbaren Technologien sind nicht vorhanden und teilweise falsch eingesetzt. Sie sind entweder nicht gleichmäßig verwendet oder sie stimmen mit den Fähigkeiten der Lernenden nicht überein. - Qualitätskriterien für die Bewertung der bestehenden Ausbildungsstrategie sind nicht erfüllt Die vorgeschlagene konzeptionelle Lösung, die in dieser Arbeit verwendet wird, benutzt das Konzept der Learning Communities, insbesondere "Community of Practice" wie von Lave und Wenger (1991) beschrieben. Ziel ist es, ein Informations- und Wissensaustausch Community-System zur Förderung bewährter Verfahren im Sinne der Verbesserung der Gemeinschaft gegenüber Auswirkungen des Klimawandels zu schaffen. Diese Community of Practice wird offline mit einer ausgewählten Domäne, eine gut definierte und strukturierte Gemeinschaft, und eine gut gestaltete Praxis funktionieren. Ein unerwarteter Faktor, der bei der Bestimmung der angemessenen Technologie-Tools berücksichtigt werden müsste, ist die Wahrnehmung der Akteure oder besser gesagt die (Un-)Akzeptanz der "Neuen Technologien" durch die Akteure. Dies macht das Design des Instruktionsmodells zu einer richtigen Herausforderung
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Dhakal, Subas Prasad. "Strengthening environmental stewardship in Perth, Western Australia: An investigation of linkages between organisational social capital and Information and Communication Technologies in Environmental Community Organisations." Thesis, Dhakal, Subas Prasad (2010) Strengthening environmental stewardship in Perth, Western Australia: An investigation of linkages between organisational social capital and Information and Communication Technologies in Environmental Community Organisations. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2010. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/3012/.
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Environmental Community Organisations (ECOs) play an important role in the ongoing stewardship of the natural environment in Australia. This ranges from managing urban nature reserves to the mounting of public campaigns in order to curtail further environmental degradation. Many of these organisations, however, operate in challenging circumstances in which access to human and financial resources are scarce. The utility of social capital to overcome resource scarcities coupled with the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for fostering social capital have been increasingly acknowledged. Yet little research exists on the appraisal of social capital in ECOs and the implications of the association between social capital and ICT.
It is the contention of this thesis that by providing additional means to harness social capital, ICT uptake in ECOs can benefit environmental stewardship strategies. The aim of this thesis is twofold. Firstly, it aims to assess social capital in ECOs in the Perth region of Western Australia. Secondly, it aims to investigate the extent to which ECOs are making use of ICTs to enhance social capital. I propose a research framework that recognises intra-organisational and inter-organisational interactions as a basis to conceptualise and ascertain social capital in ECOs. Then, I use a combination of quantitative and qualitative data (including a survey of 81 organisational leaders, interviews, and website content analysis) in order to explore the level of social capital, the trend of ICT uptake, and the implications of the interplay between ICT and social capital.
The results show that having a higher level of social capital (greater intensity of organisational interactions) places ECOs in a better position to acquire funding and volunteers. Moreover, in spite of ICT uptake being mostly limited to email and websites, findings indicate that not only ICT supplements social capital, but also that social capital influences ICT uptake. The research also demonstrates the usefulness of the adopted framework to empirically ascertain social capital and gauge an association between ICT and social capital in the context of community organisations.
These findings are consistent with the view that social capital is a necessary ingredient of community organisations that often have to do ‘more with less’. While it might be the case that not every ECO requires high level of social capital or needs to adopt ICT, as ICTs become increasingly ubiquitous in an organisational context, ECOs that are either unable or unwilling to adopt ICTs can be disadvantaged because of reduced opportunities to harness social capital. Although my focus is on ECOs in Perth, the implications of findings of this thesis are equally pertinent to similar community organisations across Australia and abroad.
Key words: Community organisations, Community informatics, Environmental stewardship, Perth region, Social capital
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Abu, Al Shaikh Ahmed. "A summary of and a phenomenological study on ethics within the project management practitioner community." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Industriell teknik, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-448761.
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Project managers typically work under constant and strict time, money and quality pressures which can, alongside other factors, lead to professional ethics within the project environment taking a backseat. This paper provides an overview on ethics; project management and ethics within project management with focus on the conventional vs. alternative deliberations taking place in this field of study. Fixed codes of ethics; rationalist-derived standards which are imposed on the field vs. Aristotelian (and other accounts of) virtue ethics are covered. The paper also provides an account of the epistemological shift that has been deemed necessary due to the existential disruptions being caused by the rising rates of failure in projects across multiple industries under the conventional metalanguage: from a natural sciences perspective toward a more existentially-derived phenomenological attitude in the hopes of coming to a better theoretical and practical understanding of project management. The paper finally utilizes a phenomenological analysis methodology after interviewing seven experienced project managers working in different fields while summarizing the two splits present throughout the paper in a Dreyfusian-helped Coeckelberghian framework: with the ultimate aim of seeing how the phenomena of ethics are being experienced from within the project management practitioner world.