Dissertations / Theses: 'Technology-social aspects'

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Levine, Diane Thembekile. "Adolescent girls, social cognition and technology." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/75499/.

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Technology is almost ubiquitous among adolescents in contemporary British society. Despite this, we do not have a meaningful understanding of the interplay between adolescent girls’ developing social cognition and their use of digital devices. This study aims to address this gap in understanding. Four pre-pubescent and eleven pubescent young women based in the Midlands and from across the socio-economic spectrum participated between 2012-2013. Participant completed six research tools and eleven of them participated in a face-to-face interview. Three tools were adapted from the existing psychology literature, and the remainder were developed specifically for this study. The tools explored technology-mediated attachment and relationships, self and identity, attribution and Theory of Mind. The findings suggest that the moral panics surrounding technology use in adolescence are misplaced; rather, adolescent girls with a good range of personal and situational resources are likely to exert considerable choice in their uses of technology, and social media in particular. Valsiner’s Zones and life course perspectives were used to conceptualise the emerging understanding of technology-mediated social cognition in adolescent girls. This theoretical framework made it possible to do four things. Firstly, to recognize adolescents’ active choice and agency. Secondly, to articulate development opportunities within individuals, relationships and technological environments. Thirdly to locate physiological and psychological development within the broader socio-technical realm. And finally, to see technology as neither positive nor negative but as shaping, rather than defining adolescent perspectives, behaviours and relationships. These possibilities suggest that, rather than attempting to shoehorn adolescent experience into a single paradigm or model we need to ask ourselves key questions about the interplay between the individual adolescent and the technology they choose to use.

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Young, Nora. "Mastery and enslavement as themes in modern discourses on technology." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=59822.

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The author calls into question the primacy of the optimism/pessimism split within modern discourses on technology and suggests rather that the dominant thematic division in these discourses is that between mastery over and enslavement to technology. Each of these is criticized with respect to the faulty conception of control it implies. The author concludes with a view of technology as a social practice in order to move beyond mastery or enslavement.

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Piccolo, Lara Schibelsky Godoy 1977. "Motivational aspects in the design of technology for social changes = Aspectos motivacionais no design de tecnologia para mudanças sociais." [s.n.], 2015. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/275540.

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Orientador: Maria Cecília Calani Baranauskas
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Computação
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Resumo: Conectando pessoas e presente em todos os aspectos da vida, quando projetadas para este fim, as tecnologias têm potencial de influenciar a forma com que pessoas em um grupo social percebem e se relacionam com as coisas no ambiente. Este estudo de doutorado em Interação Humano-Computador (IHC) investiga como elementos motivacionais da Psicologia podem ser aplicados para informar o design, explo- rando esse potencial da tecnologia em promover mudanças sociais. O estudo é instanciado no domínio de consumo de energia elétrica, lidando com o desafio contemporâneo de cons- cientizar a sociedade dos limites naturais do planeta no que diz respeito ao uso de recursos naturais. Informar o design com aspectos motivacionais é uma abordagem recente em IHC. Quando encontrada na literatura, comumente tem foco em aspectos individuais e intrín- secos da motivação. Contudo, como argumentado nessa pesquisa, o contexto sociocultural evidencia a importância de considerar também os fatores externos que motivam as pessoas a se engajarem com uma tecnologia e com uma determinada questão social. Por considerar tanto fontes intrínsecas quanto extrínsecas de motivação, a Teoria da Autodeterminação é então considerada o principal referencial teórico da Psicologia nessa investigação, e a Semiótica Organizacional é a base metodológica para analisar os elemen- tos socioculturais que influenciam a motivação extrínseca. A análise situada dos dados socioculturais por uma perspectiva motivacional levou ao design da Tecnologia Socialmente Informada para Eco-Feedback de Energia (sigla SEET, em inglês), uma arquitetura que tem por objetivo estabelecer um novo padrão de com- portamento, ou uma nova maneira de perceber o consumo de energia coletivamente. O SEET é composto por um sistema interativo que promove colaboração, e pela Árvore da Energia, um dispositivo de feedback tangível para locais onde há encontro de pessoas. O SEET é avaliado em dois cenários complementares: uma Escola de Ensino Funda- mental no Brasil, onde os dados socioculturais foram coletados, analisados e aplicados para informar o design; e no contexto de um departamento de uma universidade no Reino Unido. Aspectos motivacionais da arquitetura do SEET são então analisadas, assim como o impacto dessa tecnologia ao desencadear as esperadas mudanças sociais
Abstract: By connecting people and being present in almost all aspects of life, when properly de- signed for that, technology can potentially influence the way people in a social group perceive and relate with things in their environment. This PhD study in the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field investigates how motivational elements from Psychology can be applied to inform the design aiming at exploring this potential of technology for promoting a social change. The study is in- stantiated in the energy consumption domain, coping with the contemporary challenge of raising awareness among the society of the planet¿s natural resources usage and limits. Informing the design with motivational aspects is a recent approach in HCI. When found in literature, it is mostly focused on individual and intrinsic aspects of motivation. However, as argued in this research, the sociocultural context evidences the importance of considering also the external factors that motivate people to be engaged with technology and the social issue. By taking into account both intrinsic and extrinsic sources of motivation, the Self- Determination Theory is then considered the main theoretical background from Psychol- ogy in this investigation, and the Organisational Semiotics the methodological basis to analyse sociocultural elements that influence extrinsic motivation. The situated analysis of sociocultural data with motivational lenses has led to the de- sign of a Socially-informed Energy Eco-feedback Technology (SEET), an architecture that aims at establishing a "new pattern of behaviour", or a new way of perceiving collective energy consumption. The SEET is composed by an interactive system that promotes collaboration and The Energy Tree, a tangible and public feedback device for gathering places. The SEET is evaluated in two complementary scenarios: an elementary school in Brazil, where the sociocultural data was collected, analysed and applied to inform design; and in the context of an university department in the United Kingdom. Motivational as- pects of the SEET architecture are then analysed, as well as the impact of this technology to trigger the desired social change
Doutorado
Ciência da Computação
Doutora em Ciência da Computação

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Meiring, Natalie. "Factors impacting Tablet PC usage in low-income communities." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/4642.

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The purpose of this research was to identify factors that impact on tablet PC usage in low-income communities. In order to determine and identify these factors a main research question and sub-research questions were formulated. The primary research question of this study was "What factors impact on tablet PC usage in low-income communities?" This main research question was answered by creating three sub-research questions followed by triangulating the results from these questions. The first sub-research question was aimed at determining whether prior exposure to touch screen technology impacts the user experience. In order to reach this objective an extensive literature review was conducted on the tablet PC landscape in South Africa. This literature review, coupled with the case study helped answer this first research question. The second sub-research question was concerned with determining whether existing user experience guidelines are relevant to South African users. A thorough literature review was conducted on user experience guidelines and related studies. This literature review, together with the results from the case study helped answer this second research question. The third sub-research question involved identifying specific factors which help improve the user experience of tablet PC users in a specific context. This research question was addressed in the case study. Each sub-research question provided results which were analysed in order to answer the main research question. The factors which impact on tablet PC usage were thus identified and recommendations were proposed.

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Bennertz, Rafael 1984. "Completa ai ... com alcool! : o fechamento da controversia sobre combustivel automotivo brasileiro." [s.n.], 2009. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286871.

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Orientador: Lea Maria Leme Strini Velho
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências
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Resumo: Esta dissertação tem como objetivo geral contribuir para a compreensão do desenvolvimento da tecnologia do uso do álcool combustível no Brasil. Para tanto apresenta, no primeiro capítulo, uma extensa revisão teórica sobre os Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia, ênfase especial é dada à algumas das principais abordagens teóricas da Sociologia da Ciência e da Tecnologia. São discutidas: a Escola de Edimburgo, o Programa Empírico do Relativismo e os Estudos de Laboratório. São destacadas ainda algumas abordagens Sociológicas e Históricas sobre a Tecnologia, tais como a Construção Social da Tecnologia, os estudos sobre a emergência dos Sistemas Tecnológicos, e a Teoria Atore-rede (TAR). Guiado pelas propostas da TAR, e sustentado por dados primários, como entrevistas, e secundários como documentos, revistas, fotos e estudos específicos sobre o caso do Proálcool, o segundo capítulo descreve o caso do desenvolvimento da tecnologia de uso do álcool combustível. Neste sentido, apresenta as tentativas históricas de substituição da gasolina por álcool no Brasil, evidencia que já existiam controvérsias sobre o uso da gasolina ou do álcool e aponta a crise do petróleo de 1973 como a força propulsora que deu novas forças às tentativas de substituição da gasolina como combustível para automóveis particulares. Na seqüência, é problematizada a existência de alternativas ao uso do petróleo como, por exemplo, a possibilidade de uso de outras formas de transporte. Tendo estas reflexões por base, a pesquisa busca seguir os cientistas e os técnicos nas suas atividades estratégicas de promoção do álcool combustível enquanto objeto capaz de encerrar as controvérsias relativas ao combustível a ser utilizado no Brasil da década de 1970. O segundo capítulo se encerra com uma breve reflexão sobre como o referencial analítico ajudou a compreender a construção deste coletivo habitado por objetos técnicos e sociais. O texto conclui com uma síntese do trabalho, retomando os objetivos específicos, que foram trabalhados em cada capítulo, desenha conclusões a partir da análise do caso com base no referencial teórico e aponta para recomendações e possibilidade de aprofundamento da pesquisa.
Abstract: This dissertation has as objective to contribute to the understanding of the development of the technology for alcohol fuel consumption in Brazil. To do so it presents, in the first chapter, an extensive revision about the Social Studies of Science and Technology, a special emphasis is given on the comprehension of some school of thoughts in the sociology of science and Technology. Those are The Edinburg School, The Empirical Program of Relativism and The Laboratory Studies. Some approaches from the sociology and the history of technology as The Social Construction of Technology, Large Technological Systems and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) are emphasized as well. Under the guidance of ANT and with support from primary data as interviews, as well as from secondary data like documents, magazines, pictures and specific studies about the Proálcool case the second chapter describes the case of the development of the technology of alcohol fuel consumption. In doing so it presents the historical attempts to replace gas for alcohol fuel in Brazil, highlights the existence of controversies about the usage of gas or alcohol fuel and points the global petrol crises in 1973 as the main driving force which brought new energy to the attempts to the replacement of Gas as fuel for privately owned automobiles. In the sequence, the existence of alternatives to the usage of petro-fuel like the possibility to use other means of transportation is issued. Based on these conjectures the research tries to follow the scientists and technicians at their strategic activities to promote alcohol fuel as an object capable of closing the controversies about which fuel should be used in Brazil in the 1970's. The second chapter finishes with a brief consideration about how the analytical frame work helped to understand the construction of this collectivity populated by technical and social objects. The text concludes with a synthesis of the work, reassesses the precise objectives from each chapter, draws some conclusions from the case study and offers some hints on how to extend the research.
Mestrado
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Huthnance, Neil Peter School of Sociology UNSW. "Creativity in the bioglobal age: sociological prospects from seriality to contingency." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Sociology, 2006. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/25954.

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This thesis is the first dedicated sociological attempt to offer a critical response to cultural studies and allied discourses that concern themselves with the relationship between technology and violence. A critical reconstruction is necessary because these cultural theorists have failed to adequately contextualize their arguments in relation to both the globally ascendant neoliberal policy outlook and its associated social Darwinian technoculture: the combined pernicious effects of which could be described as the logic of ???social constructionism as social psychosis???. The most prominent manifestation of this theoretical psychosis has to do with an interest in biotechnology in particular. The problem I identify in the treatment of this theme is how easily it can be used to support a technologically determinist position. One undesirable side effect is that these determinists are able to project from present trends a dystopian exhaustion of all critique through their focus on violence. In the thesis of ???bioglobalism??? this state of affairs is also deployed to take sociologists to task for insufficient recognition of processual ???network??? forms of distributed agency in technological processes. At stake therefore is the recovery of sociological critique. It follows that the core of my thesis is the radical reworking of two related heuristic devices: seriality and contingency. Seriality is taken to refer to social practices as diverse as the possible relationships between the social problem of rationality, case studies of individuals who have run amok, and the functioning of network characteristics. I use contingency to eschew seriality???s deterministic accounting of the social. Here I propose a new conceptual relationship between creativity and action. Emphasis is accordingly placed upon two related normative projects: Raymond Williams???s cultural materialism, and three of the ???problematiques??? Peter Wagner has identified as inescapable for theorizing modernity: the continuity of the acting person, the certainty of knowledge, and the viability of the political order. I conclude with a renewed conception of the role of normative critique as a form of conceptual therapy for bioglobal projections of seriality.

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Campbell, Kurt (Kurt Denver). "The tensions in technology : influences of technology in the modern age." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/16268.

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Thesis (MA(BK))--University of Stellenbosch, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Technology as a formal structure has been given pride of place in many developing countries because of its association with modernity and social development. It has been grouped with Science as a force that operates beyond reproach because of its perceived rational and instrumental nature. By surveying current theories of technology, philosophy and technology development modules, I investigate the implications that modern technology and technological artifacts have beyond merely their instrumental role. I will question the current conceptions of technology as a rational, objective force by arguing that technology operates as a force that more often than not produces a variety of unintended consequences as part of its impact on society.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In menige ontwikkelende lande geniet tegnologie voorrang as ‘n formele struktuur weens die verbintenis daarvan met moderniteit en sosiale ontwikkeling. Tegnologie word saam met wetenskap gegroepeer omdat dit, weens die waarneembare rasionele en instrumentele aard daarvan, onberispelik funksioneer. Deur huidige teoriee van tegnologie, filosofie en tegnologiese ontwikkelingsmodules te bestudeer, ondersoek ek dié aanduidinge wat moderne tegnologie en tegnologiese artefakte bo en behalwe hul blote instrumentele rolle besit. Ek sal die huidige opvattings van tegnologie as ‘n rasionele, objektiewe krag bevraagteken deur te argumenteer dat tegnologie eerder ‘n verskeidenheid van onopsetlike voortvloeisels as deel van sy impak op die samelewing tot gevolg het.

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Feltrin, Rebeca Buzzo 1984. "O processo de construção social da tecnologia : o caso do projeto habitacional Jardim dos Lirios." [s.n.], 2008. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286848.

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Orientador: Lea Maria Leme Strini Velho
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias
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Resumo: Os programas habitacionais brasileiros, embora apresentem facilidades às famílias de baixa renda, tendem a excluir os futuros moradores da participação nas decisões sobre sua própria casa. O projeto da casa popular ou ¿habitação social¿ apresenta uma arquitetura padrão e fechada que não leva em consideração as necessidades individuais das famílias moradoras, gerando frustrações com relação ao produto final. Os futuros moradores, excluídos da fase de elaboração do desenho de suas casas, acabam encarando uma segunda luta pela moradia adequada: a adaptação da casa padrão de forma a transformá-la em uma moradia que realmente atenda às necessidades de sua família. No entanto, o processo de transformação das casas populares passa a ser uma batalha individual para essas famílias, sem o apoio do Estado. O presente trabalho analisa o processo de planejamento, negociação, construção e transformação de casas populares em um Projeto Habitacional brasileiro, destacando a participação das famílias mutirantes ¿ futuros moradores ¿ nesses processos. Utiliza-se o referencial teórico do Construtivismo Social da Tecnologia, com destaque para as relações entre gêneros. Desta forma, alguns aspectos foram observados, como: os grupos sociais relevantes, os conflitos de interesses entre os grupos, a influência dos moradores no processo de decisão e implementação dos acordos entre grupos, fechamento das situações de conflito, além da participação das mulheres na construção física e social das casas populares. A análise se baseia, principalmente, na observação direta da atuação do grupo de moradores e representantes da Prefeitura durante reuniões para discussão dos rumos do Projeto Habitacional no bairro Jardim dos Lírios, em Americana/SP. Algumas entrevistas com os principais atores envolvidos no caso estudado contribuíram para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa. A organização dos futuros moradores ¿ em especial das mulheres ¿ com o objetivo de criar estratégias para influenciar o processo de desenvolvimento do artefato, conquistando alterações no desenho inicial das casas tem-se mostrado um grande avanço na busca por projetos habitacionais mais participativos e democráticos
Abstract: Although the Brazilian housing programs presents some facilities to low-income families, they tend to exclude future residents from the participation in the decision-making process about their own houses. The ¿social housing¿ project presents a standard and closed design, which does not take into consideration the residents¿ needs and life styles.The tenants, after receiving the standard houses, have to struggle again, by rebuilding and transforming the received units, in order to achieve what they consider as adequate housing. At this stage, however, the process of transformation of the popular houses becomes an individual battle for these families, without State support. The present work analyzes the process of planning, negotiation, construction and transformation of popular houses in a Brazilian Housing Project, with a special focus on the participation of the future residents in these processes. The research is undertaken in line with the framework of the social construction of technology (SCOT). As such, it is concerned with the social process of building of popular houses in a Brazilian Housing Project, identifying all relevant social groups involved, their interests and views about the final artefact (the house unit), as well as their strategies to shape the artefact. The analysis has also identified situations of conflict among social actors, negotiation processes and agreements reached. Special attention was given to the women¿s role in the whole process. The analysis is based, mainly, on direct observation of the performance of the participants during the meetings between the group of future residents and representatives of the City Hall. Interviews with key actors in the housing project contributed to the development of the research. The organization of the group of residents - in special of the women - to influence the construction process and to search alterations in the initial design of the house has proved to be a new and successful route to more participative and democratic housing projects
Mestrado
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Conlon, Jane-Louise. "Technology and power : a case study of the meanings of technology in an organisation and their relationship with structures of power." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1999. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/36325/1/36325_Conlon_1999.pdf.

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This thesis used Giddens' (1984) theory of structuration and MacKenzie and Wacjman's (1985) notion of "social shaping", as the basis for exploring the ways in which social actors create meanings of technology to develop and reinforce structures of power within an organisational setting. Using the organisation in which the researcher worked as a casestudy, this thesis employed an ethnographic approach to interpreting how organisational actors created meanings of technology and then used these meanings as the basis for their actions. While this thesis focussed on issues relating to technology, power, and organisations, it also contributed to the broader social science debate about the role structure and agency have in determining social action.

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Stober, JoAnne. "That's not what I heard, synchronized sound cinema in Montreal, 1926-1931." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp05/MQ64013.pdf.

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Twigg, Gianni Gurshwin. "Using mobile information visualisation to support the analysis of telecommunication service ultilisation." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020831.

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Telecommunication service utilisation (TSU) focuses on how customers make use of telecommunication services and can provide valuable information for decision making for improved customer service delivery. When a telecommunication service provider consults with customers, large amounts of static documentation on TSU data are compiled. Compiling this documentation for in-field investigation is manually intensive and the documentation does not effectively support decision making. Existing systems for visualising TSU data do not efficiently support in-field investigation of TSU and lack dynamic interaction. This highlights the need to investigate a solution to better support in-field investigation of TSU. This research followed a Design Science Research methodology to develop and evaluate a solution to solve the problem identified. The use of tablet devices for in-field investigation of TSU was identified as a suitable solution. Mobile information visualisation (MIV) techniques were investigated to determine appropriate display and interaction techniques for the visualisation of TSU data on a tablet device. An existing visualisation framework for TSU was identified and extended to incorporate touch-based interactions. Three service usage views were identified for visualising TSU, namely a Trend, Network and Detail Usage View. A Dashboard View was also identified to provide a quick reference view of the different views. A prototype called MobiTel was developed on a tablet device. MobiTel incorporated the identified information visualisation techniques. MobiTel was evaluated using an expert review and a user study to determine its usability and usefulness. The results indicated that MobiTel was perceived as being useful for in-field investigation and that the participants perceived the prototype to be easy to use and learn. The user study also indicated that the participants were satisfied with MobiTel. This research has determined that MIV techniques can be used for in-field investigation of TSU. Design recommendations were devised for designing an interactive mobile prototype for visualising service usage information. Future work will involve using map-based visualisation for visualising TSU data on different customer sites.

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Hutchinson, William B. "Technology, community, and the self." Thesis, McGill University, 1993. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=104334.

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But suppose now that technology were no means, how would it stand with the will to master it? Martin Heidegger
Mais supposez maintenant que Ia technologie ne soit pas en moyen,comment ~a se comparerait avec Ie desir de la connaitre au fond? Martin Heidegger

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Marse, Michael Eugene, and Nicholas Negroponte. "A metaphoric cluster analysis of the rhetoric of digital technology." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2928.

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This thesis seeks to identify and explain some technology in order to more fully understand modern communication. This study makes use of metaphoric cluster analysis to examine the technological rhetoric of Nicholas Negroponte.

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Brokensha, Steven. "Psychosocial discourse and the "new" reproductive technologies : a critical analysis." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14320.

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Bibliography: leaves 47-53.
The "new" reproductive technologies (NRTs) have gathered substantial momentum in recent years. 'Psychological' discourse on these techniques has tended towards uncritical preoccupation with intra-individual, constitutional factors, and has ignored the sociocultural, political and economic contexts of these practices. Within an inter-disciplinary, social-constructionist framework, this study presents a feminist critique of the NRTs in which they are argued to be biopsychosocially noxious to women. Modern biomedicine's appropriation and ownership of infertility as "disease" is argued to be consistent with the agendas of capitalism and patriarchy. Results of fieldwork within a particular medical setting are presented to develop a hermeneutic of the discursive interface between medical gatekeepers and the applicant 'patients' with whom they negotiate treatment. In a concluding section a dominant theme in gatekeepers' talk, "the well-being of the child", is ideologically analyzed; women-centered strategies are briefly discussed; and implications for the interface between psychology and reproductive technology are drawn.

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Shade, Leslie Regan 1957. "Gender and community in the social constitution of the internet." Thesis, McGill University, 1997. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=34451.

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This thesis has a three-fold goal: (1) it aims to contribute to studies which analyze the gender dimension in social shaping studies of technology; (2) in its emphasis on the Internet and the new information infrastructure it is a complement to the literature in communication studies on the gendering of communication technologies; and (3) it adds to emergent theories of virtual communities by positing how gendered practices and gender-related activities have influenced the emergence of social policy mores in the evolving information infrastructure.
In emphasizing the social factors that shape technological change the thesis departs from dominant approaches towards technology that typically study the "affects" or "impact" of technology on society. This thesis similarly responds to the gender-perspective gap that exists in sociotechnical studies, and enlarges the scope of gender studies through its consideration of emergent information and communication technologies, notably the Internet. How the social mores of virtual communities have been influenced and affected by and through a consideration of gender and gendered practices on the Internet forms a core component of the thesis, based upon case studies.
As this thesis argues, new information and communication technologies must be considered in relation to other communication technologies, as well as in relation to the social context in which they are designed, developed and used, including the often unarticulated social assumptions of various groups, and the unanticipated consequences of the new information infrastructure. In this sense, social scientists are now at a key turning point in their explorations of new information and communication technologies.
This thesis should be of significance to communication scholars interested in the history and theory of gender and communication technologies; social historians of technology, and feminist scholars, with an interest in a gendered perspective on new communication technologies; and public policy officials interested in how different groups of individuals will interact with, influence, and be affected by new communication and information technologies.

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Cheida, Rodrigo Saraiva 1984. "Análise sociológica da"biologização" do TDA/H na psiquiatria brasileira." [s.n.], 2013. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/287020.

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Orientador: Marko Synesio Alves Monteiro
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências
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Resumo: Esta dissertação tem como objetivo investigar a "biologização" do Transtorno de Déficit de Atenção/Hiperatividade (TDA/H) na vertente organicista de doença mental da psiquiatria no Brasil, a partir do recorte metodológico dos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e Tecnologia (ESCT), especificamente os aportes teóricos da construção social da doença. O objetivo do estudo é investigar histórica e sociologicamente a forma pela qual o transtorno veio a ser investigado como uma patologia de origens biológicas pelas práticas psiquiátricas brasileiras. Para identificar os sentidos históricos pelos quais as fronteiras diagnósticas do transtorno possuem bases biológicas, foi feito um levantamento histórico para retomar as principais tradições da vertente organicista de pesquisa das doenças mentais da Psiquiatria no Brasil. Outro levantamento histórico buscou identificar, a partir do próprio conhecimento biológico do TDA/H, as contingências sociais do transtorno. A proposta de ambas as historiografias é investigar quais atores sociais mobilizaram técnicas e conhecimentos científicos oriundos da neurologia e da biologia até a sua atual classificação no Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Distúrbios Mentais em sua quarta versão revisada - Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - DSM-IV/RT - e a Classificação Internacional de Doenças - CID-10. Em seguida, foi realizada uma investigação em artigos coletados na base científica SCIELO para identificar quais os principais atores sociais, as técnicas e o conhecimento científico que são mobilizados para investigar o TDA/H, entre os anos de 2007 e 2012, no Brasil. Foi possível verificar que, em sua maioria, o conhecimento da patologia é produzido por pesquisadores das áreas da Psiquiatria e das Neurociências que utilizam técnicas baseadas em paradigmas neurocientíficos para a investigação de doenças mentais. Interpreta-se que o conhecimento neurológico do transtorno, por sua vez, licencia que a prática médico-psiquiátrica trate determinados fenômenos sociais como problemas médicos e faça o controle social dos indivíduos desatentos "anormais" para recuperá-los em sua condição "normal". Acredita-se que investigações que utilizam o metilfenidato, principal fármaco da terapia da patologia, pode ser uma forma de controle social pela ciência psiquiátrica brasileira, quando definem os comportamentos através do conhecimento neurocientífico como TDA/H. Também foi possível constatar que os estudos sobre o TDA/H, em sua maioria, foram financiados por indústrias farmacêuticas, ator social hegemônico na produção do conhecimento científico do TDA/H. A relação entre indústria farmacêutica e produção científica é um meio de legitimar a administração do psicofármaco metilfenidato como terapia principal no tratamento do transtorno. Desta forma, a relação entre indústria e doença é um fenômeno social no qual a ciência possui papel preponderante na aferição das categorias que podem ser consideradas "doença"
Abstract: This dissertation aims to investigate the development of research on Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the organicist dimension of mental illness of psychiatry in Brazil, with the methodological approach of the Social Studies of Science and Technology (SSST), specifically the theoretical contribution of the social construction of illness. The objective of the study is to investigate historically and sociologically how the disorder came to be investigating with biological causes by Brazilian psychiatric practices. To identify the historical by which the boundaries of the disorder has a biological basis, a historical survey is done to resume the main research traditions of organicist shed of mental illness of Psychiatry in Brazil. Another historical survey seeks to identify the social contingences from the biological knowledge of ADHD. The proposal to investigate both historiographies is to analyses which social actors mobilized technical and scientific knowledge from neurology and biology to its current classification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - DSM-IV/RT and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). Then an investigation is carried out on the basis of scientific articles collected in SCIELO to identify the main social actors, the technical and scientific knowledge that are mobilized to investigate the ADHD, between 2007 and 2012, in Brazil. It was possible to verify, in most of the articles, that the knowledge of the pathology is done by researchers from the fields of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, which uses techniques based on neuroscientific paradigms for mental illness researches. It is interpreted that the neurological knowledge of the disorder, in turn, licenses the medical-psychiatric practices to treat certain social phenomenon as medical problems, under a social control of the individuals with the disorder treated as "abnormal" to get them back into their "normal" condition. It is proposed as an analysis that methylphenidate, the main drug therapy to the pathology, is a form of social control by Brazilian Psychiatry when they define the behaviors as ADHD. It also appeared that the studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies, the hegemonic social actor in the production of the scientific knowledge of ADHD. The relationship by the pharmaceutical industry and the scientific production is a way of legitimizing the administration of psychotropic drug methylphenidate as primary therapy in the treatment of the disorder. Thus, the relationship between industry and disease is a social phenomenon in which science has leading role in gauging the categories that can be considered disease
Mestrado
Politica Cientifica e Tecnologica
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Xu, Huaidong. "A "Bayesian" theory of cross-impact analysis for technology forecasting and impact assesstment." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/31001.

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Jesus, Vanessa Maria Brito de 1979. "Para além da "apropriação" : disputa entre racionalidades e construção de novos códigos técnicos em uma experiência de tecnologia social." [s.n.], 2014. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/287738.

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Orientador: Renato Peixoto Dagnino
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências
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Resumo: O objetivo desta tese é analisar como uma Tecnologia Social (TS) é mediada pelo o que identificamos como uma "contradição epistemológica" entre racionalidades, isto é, uma contradição entre o modo como a política pública entende TS, como é reproduzida por agências de capacitação profissional e o como é vivenciada por agricultores familiares. Para tal, tomamos como referência o Sistema Produção Agroecológica, Integrada e Sustentável (SPAIS) que ganhou escala no período 2005 a 2012 e que alia "soluções de curto prazo em grande escala" para um problema historicamente mal resolvido no Brasil: a pobreza e êxodo rural. Esse sistema integra um conjunto de ações intersetoriais voltadas para a inclusão social produtiva e se alinha às ações previstas pelos programas do governo federal desde 2002. Partindo da percepção da pesquisadora, que compreende que esses grupos sociais são influenciados ¿ em maior ou menor grau ¿ por uma racionalidade tecnocientífica, isto é, com um modo de pensar e agir orientado pela exacerbação do valor mercantil outorgado à tecnociência, verificou-se uma contradição em torno de três categorias principais de divergência epistêmica: 1) utilização do termo tecnologia social, que no plano teórico compartilha absolutamente nada com a racionalidade tecnocientífica que orienta esta política pública, 2) o conceito de Agroecologia, que se opõe radicalmente ao modelo de desenvolvimento rural reproduzido no país e, 3) uma prática social agrícola que não se relaciona com essas perspectivas. A luz dos aportes teóricos da Abordagem Sociotécnica e Filosofia da Tecnologia, averiguamos por meio da pesquisa de campo que três aspectos interpenetraram a interação entre o técnico e os agricultores, mediando a TS: cultura como "desorganizadora" da normatização, a regionalidade como facilitadora da interação técnico/agricultor e a intersubjetividade como fator constituinte da apropriação da tecnologia pelo agricultor. Esses elementos anulam a perspectiva da pesquisadora, pois a racionalidade tecnocientífica exerce nenhuma influência sobre os agricultores, que são orientados mais pelo critério de "manutenção da vida" (alimento e saúde) do que qualquer outro critério. Ocorre o fenômeno de subversão da TS, que é ressignificada ao ponto de tornar-se uma outra tecnologia, que não a reaplicada inicialmente. Este fenômeno influi na "dissolução" da contradição epistemológica, pois, ao adentrar o mundo da vida dos agricultores, é esvaziada por processos de ressignificação e intersubjetividade, gerando códigos técnicos próprios, que permitem ao agricultor se apropriar da tecnologia, para além de qualquer tipo de "disputa" entre racionalidades
Abstract: This thesis analyzes the ways in which Social Technology (ST) is mediated by what is identified here as an "epistemological contradiction" between rationalities, that is, a contradiction between how public policy understands ST, as it is reproduced by expertise, and how ST are experienced by family-based farmers. The ST at the center of the analysis is known as "Agroecological, Integrated and Sustainable Production System" (SPAIS, in Portuguese). It combines "short-term solutions on a large scale" for a historically unresolved problem in Brazil: poverty and rural exodus. This system integrates a set of intersectoral actions in the field of productive social inclusion and aligns the actions planned by federal government programs since 2002. Assuming that social groups are influenced ¿ in varying degrees ¿ by a techno-scientific rationality, that is, a way of thinking and acting driven by the exacerbation of market values, a contradiction is established based on three main categories of epistemic divergence: 1) use of the term "social technology", which theoretically shares absolutely nothing with the techno-scientific rationality that guides this policy; 2) the concept of Agroecology, which is radically opposed to the rural development model in the country; and 3) an agricultural social practice that is not related to these perspectives. In light of the theoretical contributions of the Sociotechnical Approach (Social Construction of Technology?) and the Philosophy of Technology, the fieldwork presented here examines three aspects of the interaction between expert knowledge and the farmers: culture as the "disruption" of normalization, regionality as a facilitator of expertise/farmer interaction, and intersubjectivity as a constituent factor of the appropriation of technology by farmers. These elements evidence the way techno-scientific rationality exerts no influence on farmers, whose practices are geared more towards "sustaining life" (food and health). Additionally, the thesis identifies the way ST are subverted and re-signified. However, this phenomenon does not resolve the contradiction noted above, which is only "dissolved", since intersubjectivity allows farmers to appropriate technology through the establishment of their own "technical code" that originates from processes of re-signification of the ST as a whole
Doutorado
Politica Cientifica e Tecnologica
Doutora em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Alder, Simone. "CoMIC : an exploration into computer-mediated intercultural communication." Scholarly Commons, 2001. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/682.

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Keyser, Nicolet. "The transition from an object-oriented to a systems-oriented approach in art, leading to a redefinition of the concept of sculpture." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52031.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I look at the impact of technology on the concept of sculpture. However, I am more concerned with the principles behind technological change as influence, than looking at high-technology advances. A key issue that I address is the consideration of changes in society and art, and I ask the question, to what extent does three-dimensional art remain in any traditional sense 'sculpture'? It is my objective to show these changes, indicated by the transition from an object-oriented to a systems-oriented approach in art leading to a redefinition of the concept of sculpture. Although I deal with my practical work as a separate part in the thesis, there is a close integration and mutual objectives between the practical and theoretical components. The transition occurring in sculpture can directly be traced to the technological advances in society. Scientific knowledge in any period of history reflects the way people understand their world, thus affecting human perceptions of the natural world and in turn influencing artistic creation. In Chapter One, attention is given in general to some of these scientific discoveries, for example the shift from classical science to an organismic approach with its focus on the interconnectedness of all things. Also of importance is the beginning of Chaos Theory, introducing the element of chance. In Chapter Two, more specific changes in the concept of art and sculpture are dealt with. Referring to some important predecessors earlier in the zo" century. I look at art becoming an interactive system, and find the interrelationship between sculpture and architecture useful in illustrating this, because of the foregrounding of the concept of space. In Chapter Three, I examine the different way that artists deal with the issues of urbanity', for example, the Minimalists putting emphasis on the idea of sculpture as an infinitely malleable category. Shifting definitions of urbanity were responses to specific new conditions in the environment, for example, as seen in the changing features of the city. Chapter Four deals with contemporary artists' response to these conditions, starting with examples of an object-oriented approach to sculpture, moving step by step towards a different systems-oriented approach. To conclude, I speculate on all the possibilities that the virtual environments that modern computers allow us to create may for the first time open up. We are at the beginning of a new century full of promise to artists in all fields.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis kyk ek na die impak van tegnologie op die konsep van beeldhou. Maar, ek is egter meer geintereseerd in die invloed van die beginsels agter tegnologiese verandering as in die gebruik van uiters gevorderde tegnologiese instrumente. 'n Belangrike aspek vir my is die wyse waarop die veranderinge in die samelewing afgedruk work op kuns. Derhalwe vra ek tot watter mate drie-dimensionele kuns op enige tradisionele wyse steed as 'beeldhou' beskou kan word? Dit is my doelwit om hierdie veranderinge uit te wys, soos gesien kan word in die transformasie vanaf 'n objek-gerigte benadering na 'n sisteem-gerigte benadering tot die konsep van beeldhou. Hoewel ek die praktiese werk as 'n aparte deel van die tesis hanteer, is daar in nabye integrasie met gemeenskaplike doelwitte tussen die praktiese en teoretiese komponente. Die transformasie in beeldhou kan direk verbind word met die tegnologiese vooruitgang in die samelewing. Wetenskaplike kennis van enige tydperk, is 'n indikasie van die wyse waarop die mense hulomgewing verstaan. Dus affekteer dit mense se persepsie van die natuur, en in reaksie die persepsie van die kunstenaar. In hoofstuk een, word aandag gegee in die algemeen aan sommige van hierdie wetenskaplike ontdekkings, byvoorbeeld die skuif vanaf klassieke wetenskap na 'n organismiese benadering met sy fokus op die integrasie van alle dinge. Ook belangrik is die onstaan van Chaos Teorie wat klem plaas op die onvoorspelbaarheid van dinge. In hoofstuk twee kyk ek na meer spesifieke veranderinge in die konsep van kuns in die algemeen, asook beeldbou. Daar word terugverwys na sommige belangrike kunstenaars aan die begin van die 20ste eeu. Klem word geplaas op kuns as interaktiewe sisteem, en ek vind die interverhouding tussen beeldhou en argitektuur as 'n belangrike voorbeeld, as gevolg van die benadering tot die konsep van ruimte. Hoofstuk drie ondersoek die verskeie wyses waarop beeldhouers kyk na kwessies soos verstedeliking, byvoorbeeld die Minimaliste met hul beklemtoning van die idee van beeldhou as manipuleerbare kategorie. AI hierdie veranderinge is 'n reaksie op spesifieke nuwe kondisies binne die samelewing, byvoorbeeld soos gesien in die veranderende kenmerke van stede. Hoostuk vier deel dan spesifiek met hedendaagse beeldhouers se reaksie op hierdie kondisies, met die doelom voorbeelde te bespreek van van 'n objek-gerigte benadering tot beeldhou asook 'n sisteem-gerigte benadering tot beeldhou. Om af te sluit, spekuleer ek oor al die nuwe moontlikhede wat 'virtuele realiteif, daar gestel deur die moderne rekenaars, aan beeldhou kan bied. Ons staan aan die begin van 'n nuwe eeu vol potensiaal vir kunstenaars op alle gebiede.

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Wauters, Brennan Murray. "Four orders of human subjectivity as determined by body technique, technology, and objectification." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0005/MQ43973.pdf.

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Odendaal, Willem Adriaan. "Exploring adolescents perceptions of the impact of information and communication technologies on parent-adolescent relationships." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2004. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&amp.

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This study aimed to explore adolescents perceptions of how their use of information and communication technologies may impact on the quality of the parent-adolescent relationship. Obtaining information from adolescents on how they experience their parents interaction with them when they engage with theses technologies, can provide insight into adolescents perceptions of whether information and communication technologies impact on this relationship. This research therefore aimed to explore the way that parents interact with their adolescents on their use of the Internet, gaming activities, or regulating their use of a cell phone, and how this is perceived by adolescents.

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Law, Pui Man. "Fostering knowledge contribution in online communities : and examination of social capital, social capital building, and the role of IT artifacts." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2012. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1395.

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McGlynn, Joseph. "More connections, less connection: An examination of the effects of computer-mediated communication on relationships." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2006. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5449/.

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The impact of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on relational behavior is a topic of increasing interest to communication scholars (McQuillen, 2003; Tidwell & Walther, 2002). One of the most interesting issues that CMC raises concerns the impact of CMC on relational maintenance and development. Using dialectical theory, social exchange theory, social information processing theory, and the hyperpersonal perspective as theoretical frameworks, this study used quantitative and qualitative analyses to identity potential effects of CMC on relationships. Study 1 (n=317) examined the effects of CMC on relational closeness, satisfaction, and social support. Study 2 (n=196) explored the reasons individuals provide for privileging computer-mediated forms of communication, and the perceived effects of using CMC in relational communication. Results indicated that quality of CMC predicted increased perceptions of social support and relationship satisfaction. Results further suggested that CMC enabled participants to manage more effectively relational tensions of autonomy-connection and openness-closedness. Specifically, individuals used CMC to retain higher levels of conversational control, and to maintain greater numbers of relationships with decreased levels of investment. This paper concludes with a discussion of implications and directions for future research.

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Hutchinson, Ronelle. "The symbolic construction of online community." Monash University, School of Political and Social Inquiry, 2002. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/9377.

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Richardson, Ingrid, University of Western Sydney, and of Arts Education and Social Sciences College. "Telebodies and televisions : corporeality and agency in technoculture." THESIS_CAESS_XXX_Richardson_I.xml, 2003. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/651.

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In this work, the author aims to trace some of the transformative effects of televisual technologies in contemporary post-industrial culture, and to critically assess their impact on the way knowledge is produced, and experience a sense of embodiment and social agency. The relation between humans and tools is questioned, and the hybridity of words such as technoculture and biotechnology is investigated, arguing that the separation of human and technology,and body and tool, at the level of both existence and knowledge is a synthetic distinction. Specifically, the author concentrates on some of the medium specific effects of postclassical visualising technologies, from high-end ensembles such as virtual reality and medical imaging apparatuses, to the mundane apparatus of television and the remote control device. Such ways of seeing, it is argued, collaborate in producing an emergent tele-body, or a telesomatic mode of perception and knowing which exceeds standard epistemologies of vision in both science and the everyday. This work thus aims to develop a theoretical and conceptual framework for understanding the variable effects of postclassical technovision and televisuality upon our modes of embodiment.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Chen, Weidong. "Discovering communities by information diffusion and link density propagation." HKBU Institutional Repository, 2012. https://repository.hkbu.edu.hk/etd_ra/1422.

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Du, Preez Creswell. "Addressing the digital divide through the implementation of a wireless school network." Thesis, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1298.

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Societal trends have changed more in the last decade than they have in the last century. This is particularly prevalent in the education environment. Concepts such as Lifelong Learning (the continued learning/educating of an individual throughout his/her lifetime), New Competencies (technology that is now part of almost every skill in the workplace) and Telecommuting (more people working from home rather than traditional offices) have become common-place today (Twigg, 1996, pp. 1-2). Education delivery needs to provide for these societal changes in order to ensure competent individuals pass on to the next level of education and ultimately to the work force. With key trends in technology such as Digitization, Maturation and Disintermediation becoming common in the workplace, education delivery must address the ―Digital Divide. (Twigg, 1996, pp. 2-3). Historically, schools in South Africa have used traditional teaching methods that have stayed the same for the last century. Educational institutions in South Africa, in particular, the previously disadvantaged schools of the Eastern Cape, face various challenges such as the dwindling ability to collect school fees from parents of scholars and declining financial support from the government. In Chapter Seven of the Draft White Paper on e-Education, which was gazetted on 26 August, 2004, the DoE, as part of its implementation strategies, urged the private sector to respond by implementing ICT initiatives nationwide. Phase 1 of the strategy advocated that ―Institutions are connected, access the internet and communicate electronically. (Department of Education, 2004, pp. 37-40). This dissertation shows that it is feasible to create a communications’ network among South African schools. It is believed that such a network can add great value to the education system in South Africa. The potential for this network to address the gap in the Digital Divide is enormous. This dissertation examines various ICT communications’ technologies and isolates wireless communications’ technology as best suited for this purpose, due to the speeds offered by the technology and the cost structure associated with it. A case study examines a pilot installation of the network and endeavours to prove the concept.

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Stroobants, Marcelle. "De l'organisation du travail à la formation des compétences: prégnance de la technologie dans l'approche des processus de différenciation des savoirs." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/213066.

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Uys, Cornelia Susanna. "Framework for evaluating information technology benefits in local communities." Thesis, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/2283.

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Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2015.
Governments of the developing world, including South Africa, have a strong commitment and resolve to accelerate the rollout of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to achieve developmental benefits in communities. Consequently both government and the private sector are delivering a number of interventions in South Africa based on Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D). Hard evidence regarding the development benefits of ICT4D interventions is lacking and there is little agreement on measures to evaluate the benefits of such projects. One possible reason for this is that there are no established evaluation frameworks to assess the benefits. Frameworks used in ICT4D evaluation are investigated in this study to ascertain their usefulness to identify benefits of ICT4D initiatives. Sen’s Capability Approach defines development as freedom. An example of such development can be the process of providing opportunities through ICT and meaningful ways to use these opportunities to realise various benefits. Tangible benefits are simple to identify (e.g. number of people using the public access centre, or number of people finding employment). Intangible benefits include the real ‘wins’—capabilities garnered through access and meaningful use of ICT, leading to the recognition of new opportunities for the users of the public access centres. Sen’s Capability Approach is operationalised, demonstrating the inclusion of a person’s agency and conversion factors that inhibit or enhance utilisation of opportunities and choices in realising benefits. The SmartCape initiative is a 2002 ICT4D intervention established in the libraries of Cape Town, South Africa, and is used as a case in this research study. The libraries act as public access centres that provide free ICT and Internet access to library members in the community. Surveys completed by users of these centres provided useful quantitative data. A broad spectrum of qualitative data was gleaned from interviews and focus groups with users of the ICT centre at a recently established library and with focus groups from other centres in two underserved areas of Cape Town. Quantitative data analysis techniques applied to qualitative content data was used to investigate users’ diverse perceptions. An initial framework guided the analysis of data to identify the benefits realised by the users of the public access centre. Perceptions of a changed life, aspirations for a better life, and ‘hope’ emerged as intangible benefits. On the intangible side, the effect of keyboard proficiency, greater ease in finding information, and a preference for accessing the Internet at a public access centre emerged as having a significant effect on the hopefulness of PAC users. Two theme-groups were identified through using co- occurrences of themes and the statistical techniques of cluster analysis and multidimensional scaling. The Benefits-framework, produced by this study, based on Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach, represents the relationship between all the themes, includes emergent intangible benefits and can be used to identify the benefits of ICT4D interventions in public access centres. This study also produces empirical evidence of the developmental impact of the SmartCape ICT4D programme in Cape Town and thus provides evidence of its value.

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Antalffy, Nikó. "Antimonies of science studies: towards a critical theory of science and technology." Australia : Macquarie University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/27367.

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Thesis (PhD) -- Macquarie University, Division of Society, Culture, Media and Philosophy, Dept. of Sociology, 2008.
Bibliography: p. 233-248.
Academic vessels: STS and HPS -- SSK : scientism as empirical relativism -- Latour and actor-network-theory -- Tensions and dilemmas in science studies -- Kuhn - paradigm of an uncritical turn -- Critical theory of technology: Andrew Feenberg -- Critical theory and science studies: Jürgen Habermas -- Concluding remarks: normativity and synthesis.
Science Studies is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship comprising two different traditions, the philosophical History and Philosophy of Science (HPS) and the sociological Science and Technology Studies (STS). The elementary tension between the two is based on their differing scholarly values, one based on philosophy, the other on sociology. This tension has been both animating the field of Science Studies and complicating its internal self-understanding. --This thesis sets out to reconstruct the main episodes in the history of Science Studies that have come to formulate competing constructions of the cultural value and meaning of science and technology. It tells a story of various failed efforts to resolve existing antimonies and suggests that the best way to grapple with the complexity of the issues at stake is to work towards establishing a common ground and dialogue between the rival disciplinary formations: HPS and STS. --First I examine two recent theories in Science Studies, Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Both of them are found to be inadequate as they share a distorted view of the HPS-STS divide and both try to colonise the sociology of science with the tools of HPS. The genesis of this colonizing impulse is then traced back to the Science Wars which again is underpinned by a lack of clarity about the HPS-STS relationship. This finding further highlights the responsibility of currently fashionable theories such as ANT that have contributed to this deficit of understanding and dialogue.
This same trend is then traced to the work of Thomas Kuhn. He is credited with moderate achievements but recent re-evaluations of his work point to his culpability in closing the field to critical possibilities, stifling the sociological side and giving rise to a distorted view of the HPS-STS relationship as seen in SSK and ANT. Now that the origins of the confused and politically divided state of Science Studies is understood, there is the urgent task of re-establishing a balance and dialogue between the HPS and the STS sides. --I use two important theoretical threads in critical theory of science and technology to bring clarity to the study of these interrelated yet culturally distinct practices. Firstly I look at the solid line of research established by Andrew Feenberg in the critical theory of technology that uses social constructivism to subvert the embedded values in the technical code and hence democratize technology. --Secondly I look at the work of Jürgen Habermas's formidable Critical Theory of science that sheds light on the basic human interests inside science and technology and establishes both the limits and extent to which social constructivism can be used to study them. --Together Feenberg and Habermas show the way forward for Science Studies, a way to establish a common ground that enables close scholarly dialogue between HPS and STS yet understands and maintains the critical difference between the philosophical and the sociological approaches that prevents them from being collapsed into one indistinguishable entity. Together they can restore the HPS-STS balance and through their shared emancipatory vision for society facilitate the bringing of science and technology into a democratic societal oversight, correcting the deficits and shortcomings of recent theories in the field of Science Studies.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
vii, 248 p

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Spiess, Maiko Rafael 1981. "Abrindo o código = a rede tecno-econômica do BrOffice.org." [s.n.], 2010. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286940.

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Orientador: Maria Conceição da Costa
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências
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Resumo: As Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs) estão cada vez mais presentes no cotidiano de uma grande parcela da população, influenciando em diversas áreas da vida social. Estas tecnologias são constantemente aprimoradas, recebendo novos usos e funcionalidades, tornando-se cada vez mais flexíveis e interativas. Com isso, se alteram também a relação entre o usuário e o produto, e a delimitação de papéis entre produtores e consumidores. Um dos maiores exemplos deste fenômeno é a produção de software livre/aberto: desde meados dos anos 1980, sua cultura colaborativa de elaboração de sistemas operacionais e programas aplicativos possibilitou o surgimento de novos modelos de distribuição e novas tecnologias de software, de certo modo antecipando a produção colaborativa dos tempos atuais, das plataformas wiki e da web 2.0. O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar uma parcela deste fenômeno, através do estudo de caso do BrOffice.org e do emprego de referenciais teóricos dos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia (ESCT). Em um sentido estrito, o termo BrOffice.org refere-se a um pacote de programas para a automação de escritório, derivado de uma iniciativa de software livre/aberto internacional (o OpenOffice.org). No entanto, o termo é também empregado para identificar uma comunidade de desenvolvedores, usuários e ativistas, e uma Organização Não-Governamental, associados ao produto. Para analisar estas duas dimensões do objeto, o trabalho está dividido em quatro capítulos. O primeiro capítulo procura familiarizar o leitor com o tema do software livre/aberto, apresentando uma contextualização geral sobre este movimento, procurando evidenciar alguns elementos históricos, seu estado e importância atuais. O capítulo dois é destinado aos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia, destacando a emergência e estabelecimento deste campo multidisciplinar e algumas de suas principais vertentes teóricas e metodológicas, como a Teoria Ator-Rede. Sobretudo, procura apresentar os elementos conceituais que possibilitaram a realização do estudo de caso do BrOffice.org, descrito no terceiro capítulo. Neste sentido, o terceiro capítulo apresenta os procedimentos metodológicos empregados no estudo de caso, uma revisão histórica sobre o produto e sobre o coletivo e, finalmente, a aplicação do referencial da Teoria Ator-Rede. Mais especificamente, descreve o objeto e o coletivo BrOffice.org como sendo componentes de uma rede tecnoeconômica, composta por diversos elementos heterogêneos. Por um lado, descreve o processo de constituição do artefato técnico, através do arranjo simultâneo de elementos técnicos e sociais, e sua importância na definição do relacionamento entre os diversos atores envolvidos na rede, através de um processo de tradução de interesses. Por outro lado, o estudo de caso procura descrever a dinâmica desta rede, através da análise de alguns de seus processos de convergência e irreversibilidade. Por fim, o quarto capítulo procura sistematizar algumas das conclusões do estudo de caso, apontando algumas de suas especificidades e indicações para estudos futuros
Abstract: The Information and Communication Technologies are constantly becoming more present in the everyday lives of a great part of the population, influencing many different aspects of social life. These Technologies are being constantly modified, receiving new usages and functionalities, becoming more and more flexible and interactive. As a result, the user and artifact relation and also the roles imputed to producers and consumers are changed as well. One of the most expressive examples of this phenomenon is the production of free/open source softwares: since mid 1980's, its collaborative culture of operational systems and application softwares development made possible the outspring of new models of distribution and new software technologies, in a certain way foretelling the collaborative production currently know from wiki platforms and web 2.0. The objective of this work is to analyze one aspect of this phenomenon throughout the case study of the BrOffice.org and the application of frameworks from the Social Studies of Science and Technology. In a strict sense, the BrOffice.org is a software package for office automation, derived from a international free/open source software initiative. However, this term is also used to identify a community of developers, users and activists, and a Non Governmental Organization associated to the software. In order to analyze these two dimensions of the object the work is divided in four chapters. The first chapter searches to familiarize the reader with the free/open source software subject. It shows a general contextualization of this movement trying to highlight some historical elements, its state of art and current importance. Chapter two is devoted to the Social Studies of Science and Technology (SSST), highlighting the emergence and establishment of this multidisciplinary field as well as its main theoretical and methodological approaches, like the Actor Network Theory. Above all, it tries to present the conceptual elements which guided the case study of BrOffice.org, described in the third chapter. The third chapter presents the methodological procedures used in the case study, a historical revision of the product and the collective and, finally, the application of the Actor Network Theory. It describes the object and the BrOffice's collective as components of a Techno-Economic Network, constituted from heterogeneous elements. On the one hand, it describes the process of constitution of the technical artifact from the simultaneous assemblage of technical and social elements, its importance for the definition of the relation among the many actors involved in the network by a translation of interests process. On the other hand, the case study tries to describe the dynamics of the network throughout the analysis of its convergence and irreversibility processes. In the end, the fourth chapter tries to summarize a few conclusions from the case study, pointing some of its specificities and indicating some possibilities of future studies
Mestrado
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Silva, Rafael Alves da. "O trabalhador do futuro ou o futuro do humano." [s.n.], 2014. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/281174.

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Orientador: Laymert Garcia dos Santos
Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
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Resumo: Através de sinais captados a partir da mídia, da arte contemporânea e de uma experiência pessoal de atuação em empresas, problematiza-se a sociedade do trabalho, seu mal estar e contradições político-econômicas, passando por autores como Foucault e Robert Kurz. A partir daí, são discutidos os conceitos de trabalho e trabalhador, considerando a relação destes com o desenvolvimento tecnológico. Com a intenção de perscrutar em Marx uma análise sobre a técnica e reflexões sobre o trabalho, o trabalhador e o humano, é feita uma leitura desse autor privilegiando textos como os Manuscritos de 1844, A ideologia Alemã, os Grundrisse e os Manuscritos de 1861-1863, em que há cadernos de estudos de Marx sobre a ciência e as máquinas. E buscando uma reflexão que permita pensar uma outra relação do humano com a técnica e o trabalho, recorre-se à leitura de Gilbert Simondon, especificamente sua tese sobre o modo de existência dos objetos técnicos e seu conceito de individuação. A preocupação geral é problematizar o trabalho e o trabalhador como limitadores das potências do humano, além das linhas de fuga possíveis a partir de uma relação positiva com as tecnologias
Abstract: Through signals from the media, contemporary art and personal experience working in companies, we discusses the labour society, its uneasiness and the political and economic contradictions, passing by authors such as Foucault and Robert Kurz. Thereafter, concepts of work and worker are discussed considering their relationships with technological development. Intending to make a careful investigation in Marx regarding techniques and the labour, the worker and the human, we perform a reading of this author privileging texts such as the 1844 Manuscripts, The German Ideology, the Grundrisse and 1861-1863 Manuscripts, wherein we can find Marx¿s study books on science and machines. Searching for a new kind of thinking the relationship of human with the technique and the work, we resort to Gilbert Simondon, specifically his thesis on the mode of existence of technical objects and the concept of individuation. The general concern is to discuss the work and the worker as constraints to human potentials, beyond the possible lines of flight towards a positive relationship with technologies
Doutorado
Ciencias Sociais
Doutor em Ciências Sociais

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34

Tang, Shiu-wai, and 鄧紹偉. "Reproduction has never been natural: the social construction of reproduction in the age of new reproductivetechnologies." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2000. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31225202.

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Pan, Fu-chun Nicol, and 潘輔君. "IT in context: a social critique of the IT ineducation discourse of Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B40040094.

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Alves, Bruno Oliveira. "Olhares em construção: modos de vida representados nas fotorreportagens de o cruzeiro." Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, 2015. http://repositorio.utfpr.edu.br/jspui/handle/1/1321.

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Esta pesquisa investiga como a fotografia, a partir das fotorreportagens de Jean Manzon e José Medeiros presentes na revista O Cruzeiro, contribuiu para a representação de modos de vida urbanos no Brasil na passagem dos anos 1940 para os 1950. Busco compreender quais conceitos são destacados através da produção desses fotógrafos no período de 1947 a 1951. Assim, foram analisadas 11 reportagens publicadas dentro do período escolhido. A partir dos Estudos Sociais da Ciência e da Tecnologia propõe-se que os modos de ver são componentes essenciais do sistema tecnológico fotográfico, porque os modos particulares e coletivos de interpretar o mundo, nos quais fotógrafos e editores estão embebidos, se cristalizam em fotografias durante a produção das mesmas. A associação da fotografia à imprensa, especialmente no início do século XX, ampliou o acesso às representações de cidades, pessoas e modos de vida de lugares que muitas pessoas não veriam com os próprios olhos. O Cruzeiro foi uma revista ilustrada semanal que circulou a partir de 1928 e, na década de 1940 se tornou vetor da modernização do fotojornalismo brasileiro ao aplicar modelos inspirados em revistas europeias. Com grande variedade temática e distribuição nacional, O Cruzeiro atingiu um grande número de leitores e se tornou um importante veículo de comunicação no país. Eu entendo que a fotografia influencia na relação entre as pessoas e o mundo quando a percepção de objetos, lugares, conceitos é mediada pelas representações presentes nas imagens. Através das análises, foi possível perceber que as reportagens constroem conceitos pelas representações a partir de binômios como feminilidade e masculinidade, lazer e trabalho, civilizado e selvagem, classes baixas e altas, entre outros. Porém, esses temas se articulam entre si, entrecruzam-se: por exemplo, as representações de feminilidade ou masculinidade são atravessadas por marcadores de classe social, geração e etnia. As escolhas dos fotógrafos e da revista na produção e circulação de fotografias, ao se repetirem ao longo dos anos, funcionam como proposições de modelos de vida.
This research investigates how photography, present in photo reportages made by Jean Manzon and José Medeiros in the magazine O Cruzeiro, contributed to representation of urban ways of life in Brazil during the passage of the 1940s to 1950s. I seek to understand which concepts were highlighted through the production of these photographers in the period 1947-1951. Therefore, 11 reportages published during the chosen period were analyzed. Based on the Science and Technology Studies, I propose that the ways of seeing are essential components of photographic technological system. Because the private and collective ways of interpreting the world in which photographers and editors are embedded are crystallized in photos during production. The association of photography to the press, especially in the early twentieth century, expanded the access to representations of cities, people and lifestyles from places that many people would not be able to see with their own eyes. O Cruzeiro was a weekly illustrated magazine started in 1928. In the 1940s, inspired by European magazines, it became a modernization's vector of Brazilian photojournalism. With thematic variety and national distribution, O Cruzeiro reached a wide audience and became an important media in Brazil. I understand that photography influences the relationship between people and the world when the perception of objects, places, concepts is mediated by representations. Throughout the analysis was observed that the reportages build concepts by representations using dichotomies as femininity and masculinity, leisure and work, civilized and savage, lower and upper classes, among others. However, these themes are articulated to each other: for example, femininity or masculinity representations are crossed by social class, generation and ethnicity markers. The choices made by photographers and magazine, during photographic production and circulation, work like proposals of life models when representations are repeated over the years.

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Dean, Mary Therese. "Leveling the playing field reassessing gender and socio-economic disparities in online spaces /." Thesis, Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2006. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B38728333.

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Misri, Anita P. "A feminist interpretation of the implications and consequences of new reproductive technologies /." Thesis, McGill University, 1996. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=28032.

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The development of pre-conception and post-conception reproductive technologies has substantial implications and consequences for women. To better establish the impact of the eugenic and sexist traditions which support the elimination of disability/defect and the propagation of "designer babies," a survey of literature outlining the scientific, feminist, legal, cultural, and social perspectives regarding new reproductive technologies was undertaken. Three conclusions of this review are that while new reproductive technologies are not responsible for the environment which fosters bias and intolerance towards oppressed members of society, they have created eugenic demands by supporting genetic perfection; they have informally displaced women's rights to bodily autonomy in favour of the fetus' or potential future person's rights by supporting fetal personhood; and they have perpetuated sexism within the Indian community in Canada by supporting patriarchal institutions.

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Iacono, Carol Sue. "New technologies and transformations of work in postindustrial society: Toward a framework for meta-analysis." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/185974.

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While most scholars agree that the development of increasingly sophisticated computer-based technologies over the past thirty years and their ubiquitous use in work settings are important technological transformations, it is still question whether they constitute large-scale and meaningful social transformations. In this dissertation, it is argued that transformations cannot be understood by studying technologies in isolated and circumscribed analyses, rather they must be understood in the historical and socio-political context of their development and use. Several important questions are being asked: Will social relations in work settings be transformed so that they are more collaborative and less hierarchical, as many proponents of new group support systems predict? Will workers in computer-using organizations share equally in the production and control of skills and knowledge? Or will the use of new technologies reinforce and reproduce the current distribution of power, authority and knowledge in organizations? In order to answer these questions, a meta-analytic framework is developed. It comprises a continuum from micro- to macro-social interaction contexts, including six key fields of action surrounding the use of new technologies: (1) design; (2) use; (3) infrastructure of support; (4) work group governance; (5) organizational contexts; and (6) organizational fields. Four field studies are conducted with in vivo, ongoing organizational work groups using three new computer-based information technologies. There is little indication that hierarchical forms of work group governance are being restructured along the lines of more flexible and collaborative forms of work organization. There is, however, some evidence for power shifts among relatively disenfranchised high status participants in ongoing project teams. In addition, distinctive cultures emerged in ongoing groups that used group collaboration systems. In the desktop computing and desktop group support system work groups, skills and knowledge about their own computing environment were differentially distributed, so that lower status workers were less knowledgeable. Thus, the routine use of new technologies is most likely to reinforce the current distribution of authority and power in organizations.

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Tomc, Maria Elizabeth. "PV+Storage-Based Community Renewable Energy Networks: Assessment of Technology and Social Aspects for Implementation in New Urban Developments in Australia." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/19727.

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Despite a ubiquitous interest in community energy, a review of the literature reveals a fragmented approach in which the technology elements that need to be considered for the effective existence of a Community Renewable Energy Network (CREN) are well understood but the social aspects have not yet been addressed to the same degree. Thus, while technology is no longer the limiting factor it used to be and there are mechanisms that can be used to deal with the social requirements, the fragmentation remains a challenge. The next necessary step in the exploration of community renewable energy lies in crafting a holistic approach that brings it all together to foster successful implementations. The aim of this research is to define an urban CREN within this holistic outlook, reconceptualising community energy into new business models in which the technology and social aspects are approached in a transdisciplinary manner to inform the process of creation and ongoing operation of such networks. It introduces a tool for developers to assess the potential of CREN implementations in new urban developments and demonstrates its application by modelling consumption, energy generation and storage for real-world proposed developments in Melbourne and Sydney. The analysis of technology opportunities, followed by the investigation of cost and revenue structures, ownership and management models, as well as the study of the implications of the multilayered and intricate regulatory environment produce results that show that, while public policy is a major hindrance, utilising a Community Title ownership model that allows centralised management and sharing of resources optimises the performance of the system thus providing major benefits in the reduction of grid dependence and lowering of energy bills. This transdisciplinary study provides a real-world approach for developers assessing the viability of CREN in Australian urban environments.

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Fraga, Lais Silveira 1980. "O curso de graduação da Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos da UNICAMP : uma analise a partir da Educação em Ciencia, Tecnologia e Sociedade." [s.n.], 2007. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286693.

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Orientador: Renato Peixoto Dagnino
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociencias
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Resumo: A necessidade de repensar o processo de formação nas engenharias tem sido ressaltada por autores que centram sua crítica na concentração dos currículos em aspectos técnicos em detrimento dos aspectos sociais e políticos. O que levaria engenheiros e engenheiras a atuar de forma limitada e, principalmente, alienada diante da complexidade das relações entre ciência, tecnologia e sociedade. Partindo desse entendimento, a pesquisa que originou este trabalho analisou o currículo do curso de graduação da Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos da UNICAMP (FEA) à luz do campo da Educação em Ciência, Tecnologia e Sociedade (CTS). Na primeira etapa, as disciplinas foram classificadas segundo uma taxonomia elaborada a partir de três critérios: ênfase nos aspectos técnicos, aplicabilidade do conteúdo e flexibilidade da disciplina. O que sugere a existência de quatro tipos de disciplina que foram denominados: básica, aplicada, múltiplos aspectos e fechada. A seguir, observou-se o modo como esses tipos de disciplina se distribuem ao longo do curso. Essa primeira etapa apontou que o currículo possui as seguintes características: tecnicista, fechado, com clara separação entre teoria e prática e com foco na indústria. A segunda etapa da pesquisa consistiu numa interpretação desse resultado à luz das críticas que a Educação CTS faz à educação tecnocientífica convencional. Foram utilizadas as contribuições de Gordillo e Galbarte (2002), que apresentam sete ¿visões distorcidas¿ presentes na educação convencional; de Gordillo, Osório e Lopéz Cerezo (2000), que apresentam cinco ¿dicotomias¿ nela presentes; e Dagnino (2006), que organiza sua crítica em quatro possíveis visões da tecnociência. As duas primeiras críticas permitem evidenciar que o currículo da FEA apresenta ¿visões distorcidas¿ e ¿dicotomias¿. A terceira mostra que ele está fortemente influenciado pela ¿concepção instrumentalista da tecnociência¿. A conclusão indica que as críticas feitas pela Educação CTS são pertinentes ao curso da FEA: que ele traz implícita uma visão neutra de tecnociência e que, por ter como foco a indústria, não é plural. O contraste do resultado alcançado com a idéia de onde se partiu, de que a ausência de uma formação humanística não prepara o engenheiro para a crítica do sistema socioeconômico e político em que está inserido, levou a outra conclusão: não parece que a introdução de humanidades no currículo seja capaz de torná-lo mais plural. Isto é, de proporcionar ao engenheiro a capacidade de conceber formas tecnológicas que atendam a outros atores que não os que formam a ¿indústria¿ (leia-se a empresa privada). Alavancar uma sociedade alternativa, baseada em outros valores, interesses e atores, exige do engenheiro(a) uma reflexão sobre o caráter da tecnociência e de sua relação de coorganização com as forças que estruturam a sociedade
Abstract: The necessity of rethinking the formation process in the engineering courses has been pointed out by authors that focus their criticism on the emphasis given on the curriculum to technical aspects compared to the social and political aspects. What would take engineers to act in a limited way and, mainly, alienated before the complexity of the relations between science, technology and society. Based on this understanding, the research that originated this project analyzed the curriculum of the undergraduate course from the Food Engineering Faculty of UNICAMP (FEA) enlighten by Science, Technology and Society Education field (STS). On the first stage, the disciplines were classified according to a taxonomy elaborated based on three criterions: emphasis on technical aspects, applicability of contents and disciplines flexibility. Which suggests the existence of four kinds of disciplines that were denominated: basic, applied multiple aspects and closed. After that, the way these kinds of discipline are distributed along the course was observed. This first stage indicated that the curriculum has the following characteristics: emphasis on technical aspects, closed, with clear segregation between theory and practice and focused in the industry. The second stage of the research consisted on an interpretation of these results enlighten by the criticism STS Education makes to conventional technoscientific education. For this propos we used contributions from Gordillo and Galbarte (2002), which bring seven ¿distorted visions¿ present in conventional education; from Gordillo, Osório and Lopéz Cerezo (2000), who present five ¿dichotomies¿ within this education; and Dagnino (2006), who organizes its criticism in four possible visions of technoscience. The two first criticisms make it evident that FEA's curriculum presents ¿distorted visions¿ and ¿dichotomies¿. The third shows that it is strongly influenced by the ¿instrumentalist conception of technoscience¿. The conclusion indicates that the criticism made by STS Education is pertinent to FEA's course: that it brings implied a neutral vision of technoscience and that, for being focused on industries, is not plural. The contrast of the results achieved with the initial idea, that the absence of a humanistic formation doesn't prepare the engineer to criticize the socioeconomic and political system in which he is inserted, led to another conclusion: it doesn't seem that the introduction of humanities in the curriculum is capable of making it plural. That is, making the engineer capable of conceiving technological forms that answer to the need of other actors besides the ¿industry¿ (meaning private companies). To stimulate an alternative society, based on other values, interests and actors, demands from the engineer a reflection on the character of technoscience and on its coorganizational relations with the forces that give structure to society
Mestrado
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Lemons, Kenneth Elvert. "A comparative study of technology assessment, social impact assessment and environmental impact assessment in developed and less developed countries : 1980-1994." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/28952.

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Domingo, Brian-Alexander T. "Why is MySpace the place for friends? : An ethnographic study on the effects of social-networking site use on socialization." Scholarly Commons, 2006. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/639.

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This ethnographic study investigated the underlying motivations behind college-aged students ' use of the popular social-networking site, MySpace. It also examined how MySpace influences online and offline relationships as well as impacts individuals' self concept. The research method included an initial unobtrusive observation of 50 random MySpace pages, participant-observation of informants' sites and 18 interviews with the study's participants. Each component of this ethnographic design helps reveal various patterns associated with relational and self motivations using MySpace. Following transcription analysis and multi-tiered triangulation among interview, participant-observation and lurking data, the information was compiled in a matrix to help break down and to evaluate data in manageable pieces. Two key findings related to concepts of self and relationships resulted from this study. The first discovery suggested that participants engage in a number of relational maintenance strategies, particularly activities associated with alleviating dialectical tensions, such as autonomy and togetherness. Secondly, the study revealed that MySpace members constantly negotiate their ideal and actual selves through computer-mediated communication, based on reflective appraisals from significant others on MySpace. Taken together, relational maintenance strategies and self-concept activities are engineered by the users' need to necessarily learn the values, norms and culture associated with life in MySpace. The study builds upon previous literature on ethnographical methods, computer-mediated communication, relational maintenance, self-concepts and socialization practices. This thesis contributes to burgeoning research in virtual ethnography as well as to emerging, yet underrepresented academic research investigating social networking sites use motivations.

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Marais, Deidre. "ICT as an enabler for socio-economic development in South Africa." Thesis, Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/988.

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Thesis (MBA (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims to investigate the enabling role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool to develop the South African economy, taking into account the change in the economy from a primary to a secondary economy and tertiary economy. It also analyses the impact of apartheid on the social and economic conditions in South Africa (SA). The legacy of apartheid is still evident if we look at the underdevelopment of basic infrastructure in the rural areas. The report studies ICT development within seven provinces and reveals that major gaps exist in the development of the rural versus the urban areas. SA has come a long way fifteen years into democracy, having developed in various areas. However, structural challenges, race, gender and economic inequalities are problems that cannot be resolved in the short term but need long term planning to see desired results. The high poverty rate, inadequately skilled workforce and high unemployment rate in SA makes it difficult to convince local communities that there is a need for ICT. Introducing the internet in rural areas for example is also a major challenge due to the poor infrastructural development and the low penetration of fixed line telecommunication services. The generation of ICT infrastructure and access to this technology is a priority for the development of the South African economy. For SA to achieve their development goals, ICT infrastructure needs to be distributed equally. This is one of the goals of the South African government, more specifically of the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA). In order for the South African government to create a competitive ICT sector, changes to the regulations and framework strategies in the telecommunications sector was necessary. The Telecommunication Act of 1996 was extensively criticized because the Telkom monopoly was viewed as a major restraint to competition for ICT development. In 2001, the Telecommunication Act of 1996 was modified to address the inequity in the ICT sector and to make telecommunications more affordable. Furthermore, SA signed the World Trade Organization Telecommunication Agreement to liberalise trade by opening up the world market to competition. There exists a lack of clear national strategy in SA that includes the input of all the stakeholders such as Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMME), government departments, private sector etc. The Information Technology (IT) strategy should have timelines with clear guidelines on where the IT industry is going. There is also a need for the identification of focus areas where high growth and development are required. South Africa has the capacity to develop into an ICT leader, but for this to happen the culture must change from being dependent on innovations of developing countries to becoming independent. ICT will not necessarily alleviate poverty, but it is merely an accelerator to develop people by changing information into valuable knowledge to empower communities. Poverty does not only refer to the lack of basic needs like water, shelter and food, but it is also prevalent when people are: • Unable to access property and credit to do business. • Vulnerable and powerless in situations like crime, economic downturns and recessions. • Socially and economically excluded from society. The ICT Charter was developed to address issues such as employment equity, skills development and socio-economic development, as well as to clarify treatment of multinational enterprises. The charter is the Code of Good Practice for the ICT sector. The automation of work processes, machinery and the use of technology has further led to obsolete positions in the workplace. The change in the structure of the South African economy and the emergence of the digital economy has brought about fundamental economic changes. For SA to keep abreast with global developments it must embrace the transformational stages and exploit the market opportunities of the digital economy. The conditions for creating an environment that is conducive to socio-economic growth include investment in ICTs, policies, human resources and a clear IT strategy. These conditions form the pillars on which the framework of this research report is built.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek die bemagtigingsrol van inligting- en kommunikasietegnologie (IKT) in die ontwikkeling van die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie. Die oorgang in die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie van ‘n primêre ekonomie na ‘n sekondêre en tersiêre ekonomie word in ag geneem, en die impak van apartheid op die sosio-ekonomiese omstandighede word geanaliseer. Die nalatenskap van apartheid is nog steeds sigbaar as ons kyk hoe onderontwikkel die basiese infrastruktuur in landelike gebiede is. Hierdie studie ontleed die ontwikkeling van IKT in sewe provinsies, en dit is duidelik dat daar groot verskille bestaan ten opsigte van IKT-ontwikkeling in landelike gebiede vergeleke met dié in stedelike gebiede. Die Suid-Afrikaanse demokrasie het in die afgelope vyftien jaar baie ontwikkel in verskeie areas. Die resultate van die planne wat geïmplementeer word ten opsigte van strukturele probleme, rasseverdeling en ekonomiese ongelykhede sal egter eers oor die langtermyn sigbaar wees. Die hoë armoedesyfer en die oorwegend onvoldoende geskoolde bevolking, tesame met die hoë persentasie werkloosheid in veral landelike gebiede, maak dit moeilik om hierdie gemeenskappe te oortuig dat daar ‘n behoefte aan IKT bestaan. Dis ook moeilik om tegnologie soos die internet in dié gebiede te vestig weens die agterstand in die ontwikkeling van die nodige infrastruktuur en die klein aantal telefoonlyne wat beskikbaar is. Die ontwikkeling van IKT en toegang daartoe is ’n voorvereiste vir die groei van die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie. Een van die vereistes om dit te bereik is die eweredige verspreiding van IKT-infrastruktuur. Die Suid-Afrikaanse regering, en meer spesifiek USAASA (Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa), stel dit gevolglik as een van hulle doelwitte. Die Suid-Afrikaanse regering het besef dat veranderinge aan die wetgewing rakende die telekommunikasiesektor nodig was om ’n mededingende IKT-sektor te vestig. Die Telekommunikasiewet van 1996 het wye kritiek ontlok, aangesien die monopolie van Telkom geïdentifiseer is as ’n struikelblok in die ontwikkeling van IKT. Die wet is in 2001 hersien, waartydens die ongelykhede in die IKT-sektor aangespreek is, om sodoende telekommunikasie meer bekostigbaar te maak. Suid-Afrika (SA) het ook die World Trade Organisation Telecommunication-ooreenkoms onderteken, wat blootstelling aan internasionale markte en wêreldwye kompetisie verseker. Daar bestaan tans geen duidelike nasionale IKT-strategie wat insette van al die rolspelers, soos Klein- en Medium-Sakeondernemings, regeringsdepartemente en die private sektor, bevat nie. So ’n strategie sal tydroosters met duidelike riglyne aan die IKT-bedryf moet verskaf. Die identifisering van fokusareas waar vinnige groei en ontwikkeling noodsaaklik is, is ’n prioriteit. Suid-Afrika het die vermoë om ’n leier op die gebied van IKT te word, maar die kultuur van afhankliheid van die ontwikkelende lande moet omgeswaai word na ’n kultuur van onafhanklikheid. IKT sal nie noodwendig armoede in SA direk verlig nie, maar dit sal sorg vir die sneller ontwikkeling van mense wanneer inligting getransformeer word na kennis waardeur gemeenskappe bemagtig kan word. Die definisie van armoede is nie beperk tot die gebrek aan basiese lewensmiddele soos water, voedsel en huisvesting nie, maar kom ook voor wanneer mense: • Nie toegang het tot eiendom en krediet om handel te dryf nie. • Weerloos is teen geweld, ekonomiese insinkings en resessies. • Sosiaal en ekonomies afgesny is van die breër samelewing. Die IKT Handves is ontwikkel om ongelykheid op die gebied van indiensneming, vaardigheidsontwikkeling en sosio-ekonomiese ontwikkeling aan te spreek, en om riglyne vir multinasionale projekte te verskaf. Hierdie ooreenkoms vorm ook die gedragskode van die IKT-bedryf. Outomatisering in die werkplek het gelei tot die afskaffing van talle poste. Strukturele veranderinge sowel as die ontwikkeling van die digitale ekonomie het die Suid-Afrikaanse ekonomie fundamenteel verander. SA moet hierdie transformasietydperk omarm en in pas met die wêreld bly, en in die proses leer om geleenthede in die digitale ekonomie ten volle te benut. Hierdie ondersoek kyk na die voorvereistes om ’n omgewing te skep waarin sosio-ekonomiese groei kan plaasvind, insluitend beleggings in IKT, menslike hulpbronne, beleidsraamwerke en ’n duidelike IKT-strategie. Die genoemde vorm die fondament waarop die raamwerk van hierdie navorsingstudie rus.

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Costa, Elaine Hipólito dos Santos. "Fluxos de informação em empreendimentos solidários = a Coopernatuz de Osasco/SP." [s.n.], 2010. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/286684.

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Orientador: Renato Peixoto Dagnino
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Geociências
Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T03:45:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Costa_ElaineHipolitodosSantos_M.pdf: 1755167 bytes, checksum: 772c8d5e0777f9be9449aaddf8874a14 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010
Resumo: Esta dissertação analisa a criação e conversão do conhecimento em uma cooperativa. Seu objetivo é identificar os fluxos de informação e contribuir para as conversões do conhecimento capazes de auxiliar no processo de autogestão. Seu foco é o processo de distribuição de atividades, os relatos das reuniões, o aprendizado das tarefas, e a forma como ocorre a troca de conhecimento adquirido com a prática das atividades. O caso escolhido para análise foi o da Cooperativa de Catadores Cooperando com a Natureza (Coopernatuz), que se dedica à triagem e venda de materiais recicláveis, localizada em Osasco/SP. Foi utilizada, adotando a pesquisa de campo, a Metodologia de Identificação de Fluxos de Informação. A observação do trabalho no âmbito da cooperativa e a realização de entrevistas permitiram a avaliação do conhecimento - técnicas e habilidades - adquirido pelos cooperados em sua prática cotidiana e a identificação de falhas concernentes à administração e à produção relativas às atividades das quatro equipes de trabalho, da diretoria e do conselho fiscal. A realização da pesquisa mostrou ser possível avançar num caminho ainda pouco trilhado, mas imprescindível para aumentar a efetividade das ações em curso no País nos campos da Economia Solidária e da Tecnologia Social. Ao ajudar na compreensão de como se dá a comunicação no interior da cooperativa, se espera que sua sustentabilidade - econômica, cultural, social e ambiental - possa ser ampliada. Num plano mais restrito, se acredita que os resultados alcançados podem contribuir para organização e incubação da cooperativa.
Abstract: This thesis analyzes the creation and conversion of knowledge in a Solidarity Economy Initiative. Its objective is to identify information fluxes and to contribute to knowledge conversions capable of assisting workers selfmanagement. Its focus is the process of activities distribution, the meetings reports, the learning of the workers' taks and the ways trough which knowledge is acquired in practical activities. The case chosen to analysis was the "Cooperativa de Catadores Cooperando com a Natureza (Coopernatuz)", that is dedicated to sorting out and selling recyclable materials, located in Osasco/SP. The identification of information fluxes methodology was adopted throughout field research. The observation of the work at the cooperative shop floor together with the interviews allowed the measurement of the knowledge - techniques and abilities - acquired by the cooperative workers during their daily practices and also allowed to identify the malpractices related to the management and the production of the four work teams, their board of directors and their financial council. The research showed to be possible to advance in this less travelled path but indispensable to improve the effectiveness of the Solidarity and Economy and Social Technology actions in the country. By helping to understand how communication happens inside the cooperative it is expected to enhance its economic, cultural, social and environmental sustainability. Specifically it is expected that the achieved results may contribute to the organization and start up of the cooperative.
Mestrado
Politica Cientifica e Tecnologica
Mestre em Política Científica e Tecnológica

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Wong, Mei Ling Emily. "Insights into the social ecology of information and communication technology (ICT) implementation in schools a quantitative approach /." online access from Digital Dissertation Consortium, 2006. http://libweb.cityu.edu.hk/cgi-bin/er/db/ddcdiss.pl?3251841.

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Gaspar, Vitor Tavares 1986. "Estudos sobre tecnologia social e educação ambiental crítica = possíveis caminhos para construção de outra sociedade." [s.n.], 2012. http://repositorio.unicamp.br/jspui/handle/REPOSIP/267787.

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Orientador: Sandro Tonso
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Tecnologia
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Resumo: O presente trabalho se propõe a verificar quais são as possibilidades de diálogo entre Tecnologia Social (TS) e Educação Ambiental (EA) Crítica. Partindo de um ensaio teórico sobre EA e uma revisão da bibliografia sobre TS, utilizou-se de um processo de EA realizado pelo Coletivo Educador Ambiental de Campinas (COEDUCA) para refletir sobre possibilidades de diálogo Entre TS e EA. Essa EA entende que a crise socioambiental surge devido a um modelo civilizatório gerador de exclusões e desigualdades, legitimado por formas de construir conhecimento que não dão conta de compreender a complexidade da sociedade e suas relações. Essa EA se propõe a criar espaços de diálogo nos quais pessoas se reconhecem como sujeitos políticos capazes de refletir sobre seus conflitos e buscar alternativas. A TS, por sua vez, se constitui a partir da necessidade tecnológica de empreendimentos cujos objetivos sejam a inclusão social. Pode-se entender a TS como uma tecnologia com valores adequados à produção solidária, bem como pode-se entendê-la como processos (chamados de Adequação Sociotécnica - AST) de empoderamento de atores envolvidos com produção solidária, que levam esses atores a criar suas próprias soluções tecnológicas. O diálogo entre TS e EA pode ser identificado principalmente nas seguintes formas: 1) Reconhecer que processos de EA podem contribuir com AST em empreendimentos solidários; 2) reconhecer que processos de desenvolvimento de TS podem constituir sujeitos políticos, tal qual a EA; 3) Reconhecer a TS como uma abordagem temática para processos de EA, considerando-a como um tema relevante para instrumentalizar educadores ambientais
Abstract: This work intends to investigate which are the possibilities of dialog between the fields of Critical Environmental Education (EE) and Social Technology (ST). To get these goals it was made a bibliographic research about ST and EE and an essay analyzing the dialog between EE and ST having as a background the observation of an environmental educators training process. This EE understands that the environmental crisis is a consequence of a civilizatory model that generates social inequality and exclusion and legitimate itself using a way to build knowledge that doesn't understand the complexity of social and environmental relationships. This EE seeks to create dialogue places which people can recognize themselves as being capable to understand their problems and create solutions concerning these problems. The ST seeks to make possible, for people on solidary production processes, to produce with collective values and, for this, it proposes that only a technology with these values can make it work properly and bring social inclusion. The ST can be understood in two ways, as an adequate technology to produce with solidary values, or as all the processes in which the users of technology are empowered and starts to recognize themselves as being to capable of build their own technology as their production process demand (this process of creating ST is named Sociotechnical Adequation - STA). The dialog between ST an EE can be mostly identified in three forms: 1) Recognizing that EE processes can contribute with STA in solidary works; 2) Recognizing that the process of development of ST can lead to social emancipation, as EE does; 3) Recognizing the ST as a thematic approach on EE processes
Mestrado
Tecnologia e Inovação
Mestre em Tecnologia

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Goecks, Jeremy. "Understanding the social navigation user experience." Diss., Atlanta, Ga. : Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/29750.

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Thesis (Ph.D)--Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010.
Committee Chair: Mynatt, Elizabeth D.; Committee Member: Edwards, W. Keith; Committee Member: Grinter, Rebecca E.; Committee Member: McDonald, David W.; Committee Member: Potts, Colin. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

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Vo, Jacqueline H. "Check-In Frequency with Friends on Location-Based Social Networks: A Look at Homophily and Relational Closeness." PDXScholar, 2015. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/2630.

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This study examines factors associated with the frequency with which users of location-based social networks (LBSNs) "check-in" with their "friends." In addition to a variety of control factors (i.e., sex homophily, race homophily, geographic proximity, length of friendship, and "friendship" type, including non-romantic friend, romantic partner, and family), the central factors of interest were users' background and attitude homophily with, and relational closeness to, their "friends." Results demonstrate that relational closeness and "friendship" type (i.e., romantic partner) were significantly, positively associated with "check-in" frequency.

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Wyngaard, Richard Clive. "Understanding Generation Y : an investigation of how Hilton College can use technology for communication." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004332.

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Background to the academic research. Hilton College is an all boys private school in the Kwa-Zulu Natal Midlands. Since the beginning of 2012 boys have been permitted to carry their phones during the school day, (Thomson, 2012). Wireless internet access was also extended across the campus to allow boys and staff to bring their own devices to class and have access to the internet (Machlachlan, 2012). In the past, communication between staff and boys was either verbal or through the use of a daily notice, called the Daily Routine Order (DRO). The DRO is placed at the dining room tables each day and boys are expected to check for any notices that may pertain to them. These notices are emailed to a secretary who prints them out and places them in the dining room each day at lunch. 2. Objectives to the research. This research sought to establish whether current communication methods were effective or whether the prevalence of mobile phones and wireless devices had presented the school with a more effective method. It was important therefore, to investigate what devices were on campus, how those devices were used and when they were used. In addition to this, the research sought to establish communication preference among staff and boys. 3. Research Methodology. The research was conducted through the use of a qualitative survey that was conducted among both staff and boys. Staff and boys were surveyed to establish generation, device prevalence, device usage and device preference. This data was collected using an anonymous qualitative survey that was administered through the use of Google docs in the school labs. 187 Boys in 3 grades 8 and 9 participated in the survey along with 18 staff members. The data was then analysed and compared to data from similar research that had been conducted elsewhere in the world. Because of significant age differences between boys and staff it was critical to establish whether device usage among staff and boys was tied to their generation. Of particular interest were the device behaviours associated with the Millennial generation, who were born between 1982-2002 (Strauss 2005:10). This generational ‘benchmark’ allowed the researcher to compare the Hilton College cohort to those whose device behaviours and usage had occurred and been discussed in generational research elsewhere. It also allowed for certain assumptions to be made about staff and boys based on their generational profile. 4. Findings It was found that staff and boys exhibited communication traits that were consistent with their generation and consistent with other research in this field. It was also found that staff and boys preferred mobile and digital forms of communication over verbal announcements and the DRO system. For this reason, it was recommended that the Hilton College establish a system that took advantage of technology to improve on communication. Various recommendations were given by the researcher that took advantage of current technologies. These included the use of SMS, Instant Messaging, Social Networks and email. It was also recommended that the school consider prescribing devices that allow for communication between staff and boys.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Technology-social aspects'

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