Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Online knowledge networks”

The advent of Social Networking Systems (SNS) has introduced new possibilities for planners to refine and extend conventional engagement and data-gathering techniques by leveraging user-contributed, spatially-referenced content freely available online. This study examines the use of SNS content as community input, complementing input gathered through traditional participatory processes such as workshops, public comment hearings, and charrettes. Four case studies of recent community planning projects in the United States are analyzed, comparing the data gathered from traditional participatory processes with available SNS content related to each project study area, to determine to what extent the inclusion of SNS data would improve the overall data- gathering efforts of these projects. Three significant findings emerge from this analysis: (i) that SNS data analysis can positively complement data gathered from traditional participatory processes, (ii) that although SNS data analysis can provide useful data to planners, it is not a direct replacement for conventional engagement techniques, and (iii) that SNS data analysis is most effective for projects in neighborhoods with a well- defined identity. The study also examines the characteristics of effective SNS data analysis integration and discusses broader implications for planning practitioners and additional research needed.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the emergence of Web 2.0 (social network platforms) some Knowledge Management theorists saw the potential for incorporating its collaborative and networking features in Knowledge Management Systems. However, the consensus is that harnessing Web 2.0 features for Knowledge Management is still in its infancy and according to some it seems that Web 2.0 success in the social sphere is hard to translate to the work context. The thesis argues that Web 2.0 primarily facilitates Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) and in this way indirectly contributes to Organisational Knowledge Management. Furthermore not all Web 2.0 features are equally useful in facilitating Personal Knowledge Management. The thesis identifies the group features of social network platforms as the prime locations for networking and learning. The thesis is theoretically based on Cheong and Tsui's PKM 2.0 model, in particular the Interpersonal Knowledge Transferring phase that in turn is based on Nonaka's SECI model of knowledge conversion. The thesis starts out with considering the distinction and relationship between Organisational Knowledge Management (OKM) and Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). Thereafter Cheong and Tsui's PKM 2.0 model is described as well as Nonaka's SECI model. The Web 2.0 phenomenon is introduced through a literature review of various studies on the usefulness of social network platforms and the group features are specifically highlighted. A survey is conducted among users of a particular Web 2.0 group feature, based on questions developed from the SECI and PKM 2.0 models. The thesis comes to the conclusion that the group features of Web 2.0 social network platforms are useful for Knowledge Management, because it is indeed a component of users' Personal Knowledge Management.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sekere Kennisbestuursteoretici het met die opkoms van Web 2.0 (sosiale netwerk-platforms) die moontlikheid waargeneem om die samewerks- en netwerk-funksionaliteit van Web 2.0 platforms met bestaande Kennisbestuurstelsels te integreer. Die konsensus is egter dat sulke pogings nog veel tekortskiet en sommige waarnemers meen dat dit baie moeilik sal wees om Web 2.0 se sukses in die sosiale sfeer in die werksplek in te span. Die tesis argumenteer dat Web 2.0 hoofsaaklik Persoonlike Kennisbestuur (PKB) fasiliteer en langs hierdie ompad 'n bydrae lewer tot Organisatoriese Kennisbestuur (OKB). Verder lewer alle funksionaliteite van Web 2.0 nie 'n bruikbare bydra tot Kennisbestuur nie, maar is dit hoofsaaklik die groepsfunksies wat bruikbaar is in terme van netwerking en leer. Die tesis is teoreties gewortel in Cheong en Tsui se PKB 2.0 model, veral die Interpersoonlike Kennisoordragsfase wat weer op Nonaka se SEKI model gebaseer is. Die tesis oorweeg aanvanklik die onderskeid en verhouding tussen Organisatoriese Kennisbestuur (OKB) en Persoonlike Kennisbestuur (PKB). Daarna word Cheong en Tsui se PKB 2.0 model en Nonaka se SEKI model bespreek. Die Web 2.0 fenomeen word beskryf aan die hand van 'n literatuurstudie van navorsing oor die bruikbaarheid van Web 2.0 platforms en die groepsfunksionaliteit word spesifiek belig. 'n Vraelys, gebaseer op die SEKI en PKB 2.0 modelle, is onder gebruikers van 'n spesifieke Web 2.0 groepsfunksie geadministreer. Die tesis kom tot die konklusie dat die groepsfunksies van Web 2.0 sosiale netwerk-platforms bruikbaar is vir Kennisbestuur, want dit is inderdaad 'n komponent van gebruikers se Persoonlike Kennisbestuur (PKB).

Thesis (DTech (Informatics))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017.
The concept of virtual community of practice (VCoP) emanates from the need to create a new mode of learning and knowledge creation. It is found that highly structured forums are not necessarily the best way to assist people to learn and improve their knowledge. This then, requires organisations to seek alternative informal ways to share knowledge. The significance of optimising knowledge sharing results in VCoPs receiving considerable attention while searching for new ways to draw on expertise dispersed across global operations. This impacts organisations, thereby enabling them to respond more speedily to the demands of their stakeholders. The fast pace of change in their business environments is also a factor to contend with. Within this context, the use of VCoPs to optimise both, tacit and explicit knowledge sharing within stakeholders, is the central theme of this research. The findings from literature enables the researcher to explore scientific based models that may have the potential to enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise. The Life Cycle knowledge flow model is found to be the most comprehensive compared to two other models – namely, a Spiral knowledge flow model and Dynamic knowledge flow model. The outflow from the findings in literature is that the Life Cycle knowledge flow model is selected as the basis to conduct two surveys to determine if the model could be adapted to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs in particular, and in an enterprise in general. The result of the two surveys conducted (in 2011/2012 and 2016), leads to establishing an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model. The established model enhances knowledge sharing within VCoPs, and in turn, assists when optimising knowledge sharing in an enterprise. This extended model covers six phases of knowledge development to improve knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The first phase enhances the creation of both, tacit and explicit knowledge. The second phase enables to optimise the organisation of knowledge. The third phase enables the formalisation of tacit knowledge, that is, conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge. The fourth phase improves the distribution of knowledge. The fifth phase enables to optimise the application of knowledge and the final phase enables the evolution or continuous development of knowledge. The contribution of this research proposes that a comprehensive knowledge flow model, namely the Life Cycle knowledge flow model found in literature, served as the basis for this research. However, this model was never tested or verified if it indeed optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. The two surveys (Survey One 2011/12 and Survey Two 2016) were developed and distributed to respondents to verify the model’s suitability to VcoPs. As a result of responses received from the two surveys, the researcher was then able to develop an extended Life Cycle knowledge flow model that particularly, optimises knowledge sharing within VCoPs. This research further contributes in formulating a scientific based knowledge flow model that can be adapted to social networks. Therefore, this research also creates the foundation to further study to investigate the optimisation of knowledge sharing in social networks. In recent literature, social networks are established as one of the informal mechanisms to share and enhance knowledge sharing in an enterprise.

Blogging is a recent phenomenon with research currently focusing on how it facilitates both personal and organisational knowledge exchange (Aimeur, Brassard & Paquet 2005; Hsu & Lin 2008). Social capital is shown to be a crucial factor facilitating knowledge transfer (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998). Blogging is a new social communication technology enabling individuals to collaborate and share knowledge. This research investigates how three dimensions of social capital affect individual knowledge sharing in weblog communities. In particular, it explores how individuals exploit weblogs as a tool for conversational knowledge management in educational institutions. Following Wasko & Faraj's (2005) study, the conceptual model is developed by setting eight independent variables from social capital dimensions and a dependent variable is set from individual behaviour in online knowledge sharing. Eight hypotheses are developed to test the relationship between these variables. A quantitative approach was applied for data collection and analysis. For data collection, an online survey was published in several Australian university weblog communities. An additional paper-based survey was distributed to the respondents in order to gain adequate sample size. For data analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied to eliminate measurement items that shared a significant residual value with other measurement items. Further, the models obtained from confirmatory factor analysis were used to test the hypotheses by multiple regression analysis. Results from multiple regression analysis on online knowledge sharing suggest that trust, personal reputation and enjoy helping are positively associated with individual online knowledge sharing. The stepwise estimation procedure was further adapted in the regression model. The results show that four independent variables became significant to the study. These four significant variables were individual expertise, trust, personal reputation and enjoy helping. Lastly, several limitations in this study such as the sample of university online setting and respondents' activities on weblogs are discussed. These limitations lead to the direction of future research provided in conclusion of this study.

Orientador: Fernando José Von Zuben
Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação
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Resumo: Com o surgimento e a popularização de Redes Sociais Online e de Serviços de Redes Sociais, pesquisadores da área de computação têm encontrado um campo fértil para o desenvolvimento de trabalhos com grande volume de dados, modelos envolvendo múltiplos agentes e dinâmicas espaço-temporais. Entretanto, mesmo com significativo elenco de pesquisas já publicadas no assunto, ainda existem aspectos das redes sociais cuja explicação é incipiente. Visando o aprofundamento do conhecimento da área, este trabalho investiga fenômenos de compartilhamento coletivo na rede, que caracterizam eventos de difusão de informação. A partir da observação de dados reais oriundos do serviço online Twitter, tais eventos são modelados, caracterizados e analisados. Com o uso de técnicas de aprendizado de máquina, são encontrados padrões nos processos espaço-temporais da rede, tornando possível a construção de classificadores de mensagens baseados em comportamento e a caracterização de comportamentos individuais, a partir de conexões sociais
Abstract: With the advent and popularization of Online Social Networks and Social Networking Services, computer science researchers have found fertile field for the development of studies using large volumes of data, multiple agents models and spatio-temporal dynamics. However, even with a significant amount of published research on the subject, there are still aspects of social networks whose explanation is incipient. In order to deepen the knowledge of the area, this work investigates phenomena of collective sharing on the network, characterizing information diffusion events. From the observation of real data obtained from the online service Twitter, we collect, model and characterize such events. Finally, using machine learning and computational data analysis, patterns are found on the network's spatio-temporal processes, making it possible to classify a message's topic from users behaviour and the characterization of individual behaviour, from social connections
Mestrado
Engenharia de Computação
Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

Unter dem gemeinsamen Dach „Wissensgemeinschaften“ werden nun zwei Tagungen mit sich gegenseitig ergänzenden thematischen Schwerpunkten zusammengebracht, die Lern- und Wissensprozesse im Spannungsfeld zwischen Organisation, Technologie und (Unternehmens-)Kultur verhandeln. Während die Konferenz „Gemeinschaften in neuen Medien (GeNeMe)“ organisationale und technische Perspektiven im Kontext von Virtual Enterprises, Communities & Social Networks thematisiert, liefert die zweijährlich stattfindende Konferenz „Professionelles Wissensmanagement (ProWM)“ der Fachgruppe Wissensmanagement in der Gesellschaft für Informatik (fgwm) einen breiten integrativen Überblick über die organisatorischen, kulturellen, sozialen und technischen Aspekte des Wissensmanagements.:1 Vorwort: Wissensgemeinschaften in Wirtschaft und Wissenschaft XII 2 Preface: Knowledge Communities in Busuness and Schience XVII Keynotes – eingeladene Vorträge 1 Knowledge Management – Advancements and Future Research Needs – Results from the Global Knowledge Research Network study 1 2 Leeds University Business School, Leeds, UK, 2 Beginnt die neue Arbeitswelt mit einer Abwesenheitsnotiz? 13 Hochschuldidaktik 2.0 1 Vernetztes Lernen an der Hochschule? Ergebnisse und Erfahrungen eines cMOOS 17 2 Smart communities in virtual reality. A comparison of design approaches for academic education 25 3 Flipped Classroom in der Hochschullehre der TU Dresden – Ein Work in Progress-Bericht 39 4 Konzepte für den Einsatz von E-Tutoren in komplexen E-Learning-Szenarien – Ein Erfahrungsbericht 45 Wissensmanagement I 1 Barrieren im interorganisationalen Wissensaustausch auf individueller Ebene – Ordnungsrahmen und Analysemethoden 55 2 GIS-based sales support by company knowledge reuse in the telecommunications sector 67 3 Praktische Entwicklung einer wissensorientierten Unternehmenskultur. Entwurf einer Zertifizierungsmethode 75 4 Supporting Knowledge Management Instruments with Composable Micro-Services 81 Communities 1 MeetingMirror – Unterstützung von Wissenschaftler-Communities auf Konferenzen 91 2 The SIFA community as a virtual learning space in OSH 101 3 Reflexion, Begleitung, Austausch – Die Online-Plattform StudentBodies-AN zur Prävention von Magersucht 107 Technologien, Methoden, Systeme 1 Gamification in der Hochschullehre. Herleitung von Handlungsempfehlungen für den Einsatz von Gamedesign-Elementen in der sächsischen Lernplattform OPAL 115 2 Gebrauchstauglichkeit und Nützlichkeit. Usability und wahrgenommener Nutzen digitaler Lernangebote S. 125 3 Barrierefreiheit im MOOC 135 4 Strukturierte Wikis – Konzept und Anwendungsbeispiel 141 Feedback, Austausch, Ideenfindung 1 Idea-Space: A Use Case of Collaborative Course Development in Higher Education 149 2 Onlinegestützte Audience Response Systeme: Förderung der kognitiven Aktivierung in Vorlesungen und Eröffnung neuer Evaluationsperspektiven 157 3 Mobiles Feedback – Praxisbericht zur Integration eines Audience Response Systems in eine Lehrveranstaltung als Instrument der Lehrevaluation 67 4 Jazz in der Stadt und Rock auf der Autobahn - von der kollaborativen zur kollaborativ-kontextorientierten Musikempfehlung 173 Education 1 Wissens- und Nachhaltigkeitsmanagement durch Kooperationen in Weiterbildungsprojekten 185 2 Lernen aus Erfahrung – vom agilen zum verteilten Präsenzteam 193 3 Development of an E-Learning instructional model for vocational training in Indonesia 203 4 A Survey of Teachers’ Media Literacy in Chinese Vocational Schools 209 Prozess 1 Welche Use Cases eignen sich für die Umsetzung in einem Enterprise Social Network? Eine Fallstudie bei der N-ERGIE Aktiengesellschaft 225 2 Kontextbezogene, workflowbasierte Assessmentverfahren auf der Grundlage semantischer Wissensbasen 237 3 Collaborative Knowledge Acquisition and Explorationin Technology Search 243 Wissensmanagement II 1 Assessing Informal Social Learning at the Workplace – A Revalidation Case from Healthcare 251 2 Wie Barrieren im Wissenstransfer überwunden werden können – Ergebnisse einer Studie zur Grundhaltung des Misstrauens oder Vertrauens 267 3 Integration von Topic Models und Netzwerkanalyse bei der Bestimmung des Kundenwertes 277 4 Wissensmanagement im Kontext öffentlich-rechtlicher Rahmenbedingungen: Praktische Erfahrungen aus einem Wasserverband 285 Adress- und Autorenverzeichnis 293

As redes sociais se apoiam em conceitos como colaboração, cooperação, replicação, fluxo, agilidade, interação, engajamento, e têm por objetivo o contínuo compartilhamento e recompartilhamento de informações em prol da permanente interação social. O Facebook, a maior rede social do mundo, atingia, em maio de 2016, a marca de 1,09 bilhões de usuários ativos diariamente, drenando 161,7 milhões de horas por dia de atenção dos seus usuários para o website. São compartilhadas por esses usuários 4,75 bilhões de unidades de conteúdo diariamente. A pesquisa apresentada nesta dissertação tem por objetivo investigar a gestão de conhecimento e a inteligência coletiva, a partir da introdução de mecanismos que visam a possibilite aos usuários gerenciar e organizar as informações correntes em feeds de grupos dos quais participam, transformando o Facebook em um dispositivo de gestão de informação e conhecimento coletivos, além da mera interação e comunicação entre os usuários. Adotando a metodologia design science research pretendeu-se incutir no artefato computacional desenvolvido os "genes" da inteligência coletiva, conforme apresentados na literatura, para que tal inteligência pudesse ser gerenciada e utilizada para criar ainda mais conhecimento e inteligência para e a partir da interação do grupo. A principal contribuição teórica da pesquisa está em se discutir gestão do conhecimento e inteligência coletiva de maneira complementar e integrada, evidenciando a forma como esforços para a obtenção de uma contribuem para também alavancar a outra.
Social networks rely on concepts such as collaboration, cooperation, replication, flow, speed, interaction, engagement, and aim the continuous sharing and resharing of information in support of the permanent social interaction. Facebook, the largest social network in the world, reached, in May 2016, the mark of 1.09 billion active users daily, draining 161.7 million hours of users’ attention to the website every day. These users share 4.75 billion units of content daily. The research presented in this dissertation aims to investigate the management of knowledge and collective intelligence, from the introduction of mechanisms that aim to enable users to manage and organize current information in the feeds from Facebook groups in which they participate, turning Facebook into a collective knowledge and information management device that goes far beyond mere interaction and communication among people. The adoption of Design Science Research methodology is intended to instill the "genes" of collective intelligence, as presented in the literature, in the computational artifact being developed, so that intelligence can be managed and used to create even more knowledge and intelligence to and by the group. The main theoretical contribution of this dissertation is to discuss knowledge management and collective intelligence in a complementary and integrated manner, showing how efforts to obtain one also contribute to leveraging the other.

Online Knowledge Communities, also known as online forum, are popular web-based tools that allow members to seek and share knowledge. Documents to answer varieties of questions are associated with the process of knowledge exchange. The social network of members in an Online Knowledge Community is an important factor to improve search precision. However, prior ranking functions donâ t handle this kind of document with using this information. In this study, we try to resolve the problem of finding authoritative documents for a user query within an Online Knowledge Community. Unlike prior ranking functions which consider either content based feature, hyperlink based feature, or document structure based feature, we explored the Online Knowledge Community social network structure and members social interaction activities to design features that can gauge the two major factors affecting user knowledge adoption decision: argument quality and source credibility. We then design a customized Genetic Algorithm to adjust the weights for new features we proposed. We compared the performance of our ranking strategy with several others baselines on a real world data www.vbcity.com/forums/. The evaluation results demonstrated that our method could improve the user search satisfaction with an obviously percentage. At the end, we concluded that our approach based on knowledge adoption model and Genetic Algorithm is a better ranking strategy in the Online Knowledge Community.
Master of Science

La science citoyenne est la participation de personnes qui ne sont pas des scientifiques à des processus de recherche tels que la collecte et l'analyse de données. La science citoyenne offre de nombreux avantages, tels qu'une collecte de données plus rapide et plus facile, l'étude des défis environnementaux, de la biodiversité au changement climatique, ainsi que la contribution à la recherche en astronomie et la collaboration entre les scientifiques et le public.La réalisation des avantages potentiels de la science citoyenne dépend de la compréhension des perspectives des participants. Dans cette étude, j'examine les différents modes de participation à la science citoyenne et la manière dont les motivations des participants, la conception des plateformes et d'autres facteurs sont associés à ces modes de participation. La thèse contribue à notre compréhension des ingrédients clés dans la conception des programmes de science citoyenne afin d'accroître l'engagement du public.Dans la première partie, j'ai réalisé une étude bibliographique par le biais d'une analyse bibliométrique. Cette partie se concentre sur les défis, les facteurs de succès et les motivations de la science citoyenne. Le reste de la thèse est composé d'une étude qualitative et d'une étude quantitative portant sur trois plateformes de science citoyenne activement utilisées dans le domaine de l'ornithologie dans deux pays, la Turquie et la France, à savoir Faune-France en France, Trakuş et eKuşbank (eBird Turkey) en Turquie.Dans la partie qualitative, au moyen d'entretiens semi-structurés approfondis, j'examine les acteurs, les différents modes de participation, les motivations et les externalités négatives qui peuvent survenir en utilisant la littérature sur les plateformes multilatérales et les biens communs de la connaissance.Les résultats de cette partie nous ont permis d'identifier quatre rôles dans les plateformes : l'ornithologue, le photographe d'oiseaux, le scientifique et le chasseur, qui interagissent les uns avec les autres et créent des externalités.J'ai également constaté deux types de participation : active et passive. En ce qui concerne les motivations, nos résultats suggèrent des similitudes avec les études précédentes. Toutefois, à la différence des travaux précédents, nous avons souligné la nécessité de distinguer les motivations pour l'engagement dans la plateforme, d'une part, et les motivations pour le sujet (les oiseaux), d'autre part.Dans la deuxième partie, en menant une enquête à grande échelle auprès des participants des trois plateformes et une analyse économétrique, j'ai examiné comment les motivations sont associées à la participation, ainsi que les externalités négatives et les valeurs créées par la plateforme. Dans cette partie, je m'appuie sur la théorie de l'autodétermination, les plateformes multilatérales et le concept d'externalités négatives de la littérature sur les biens communs.Les résultats de la deuxième partie suggèrent que les deux types de motivations identifiés dans la première partie (motivation pour le sujet et motivation pour l'engagement sur la plateforme) sont positivement associés à la participation active et passive. En outre, les valeurs offertes par la plateforme et les moyens mis en œuvre par les plateformes pour remédier aux externalités négatives ont des effets différents sur la participation active et passive en fonction du contexte. Ainsi, l'importance perçue des concours par les participants a un effet positif sur leur participation active en France, alors qu'elle n'a pas d'impact significatif en Turquie. De même, l'importance perçue par les participants de la protection des données sensibles par la plateforme est associée négativement à la participation passive en France, alors qu'elle l'est positivement en Turquie. Ces résultats sont importants pour comprendre les participants et mieux concevoir des plateformes de science citoyenne efficaces
Citizen science is the participation of people who are not scientists in research processes such as data collection and analysis. Citizen science provides various benefits like faster and easier data collection, investigation of environmental challenges from biodiversity to climate change, as well as contributing to astronomy research and leading to collaboration between the scientists and the public.Realising the potential benefits of citizen science depends on understanding the perspectives of participants. In this study, I examine different ways of participation in citizen science and how the motivations of participants, the design of the platforms, and other factors are associated with these. The thesis contributes to our understanding of the key ingredients in designing citizen science programs so as to increase the engagement of the public.In the first part, I carried out a literature survey by bibliometric analysis. This part focuses on challenges, success factors, and motivations in citizen science. The rest of the thesis is composed of one qualitative and another quantitative study by focusing on three citizen science platforms that are actively used in the field of ornithology in two countries, Turkey and France, which are Faune-France from France, Trakuş and eKuşbank (eBird Turkey) from Turkey.In the qualitative part, through semi-structured in-depth interviews, I examine the actors, different ways of participation, motivations, and negative externalities that may arise using the Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs) and knowledge commons literature.The results of this part helped us identify four roles in the platforms: birdwatcher, bird photographer, scientist, and hunter, interacting with each other and creating externalities.I also found two types of participation: active and passive. Regarding motivations, the findings suggested similarities in the previous studies. However, as different from previous work, I highlighted the need to distinguish motivations for engagement in the platform on the one hand and motivations for the subject matter (birds in our case) on the other.In the second part, by conducting a large-scale survey targeted at the participants of the three platforms and an econometric analysis, I examined how motivations are associated with participation, as well as the negative externalities and values created by the platform. In this part, I draw upon the Self-Determination Theory (SDT), Multi-Sided Platforms (MSPs), and negative externalities concept from the commons literature.The findings in the second part suggest that the two types of motivations identified in the first part (motivation for the subject and motivation for platform engagement) are positively associated with active and passive participation. Also, values offered by the platform and platforms' ways of addressing negative externalities have different impacts on active and passive participation based on the context, such as the participants' perceived importance of competitions positively affecting their active participation in France, whereas not having a significant impact in Turkey. Similarly, participants' perceived importance of the protection of sensitive data by the platform has a negative association with passive participation in France while being positively associated with it in Turkey. These results are important to understand the participants and to better design successful citizen science platforms

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, School of Architecture and Planning, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, 2003.
Pages 103-104 blank. "September 2003."
Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-88).
Invention is largely information driven. Everyone in a community of inventors is an aggregator of information relevant to invention. Sharing some of this information across a community of inventors will result in greater invention effectiveness at the individual and community levels. Sharing this information via an electronic database is an attractive proposition, but gaining attention and participation is difficult. Networked display devices can help foster awareness and participation in a community information sharing system.
Michael Rosenblatt.
S.M.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior
Pedagogical mediation in distance education is addressed within the context of increasing use of digital technologies in education, either as a support for onsite education at all levels, or as a support for online learning environments for undergraduate courses, including continuing education for teachers, which is the focus of this research. The research was carried out between 2005 and 2007 as part of a graduate course entitled Contemporary Reading and Writing Practices offered online for technical-pedagogical assistants (ATPs), learning supervisors, coordinators and teacher of Secondary and High schools of the São Paulo, Brazil, state school system. The aim of the study was to show that the arrhythmia among mediation, learning and literacies, perceived as lack of time, had its origin in non-systemic, fragmented conceptual theories that became an important factor of exclusion in relation to social practices for knowledge production, as reflected in the significant dropout rate (61.5%) of in practice mediators. The methodology used was based on action-research. Data was registered in a digital field journal that became a set of digital documents that stored the emerging observations as the course unfolded. Results showed that online mediation, learning and different types of literacies actually constitute a single, complex process, which, if not considered as a systemic relation among its components, can produce an arrhythmia among its elements, leading to drop-outs/exclusion. Hence the arrhythmia among mediation, learning and literacies appears as an important analytical category to measure the quality of social practices in distance education
Este trabalho tem como tema a mediação pedagógica em educação a distância e insere-se no contexto de uso crescente das tecnologias digitais na educação, seja como suporte ao ensino presencial, em qualquer nível, seja passando pela graduação a distância e se estendendo à formação continuada dos educadores, foco desta investigação. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida entre os anos de 2005 e 2007 como parte do curso de aperfeiçoamento Práticas de Leitura e Escrita na Contemporaneidade, oferecido a distância para assistentes técnico-pedagógicos (ATPs), supervisores de ensino, professores coordenadores e professores de Ensino Fundamental II e do Ensino Médio da rede pública estadual de São Paulo. Ela teve como objetivo mostrar que o processo de arritmia entre a mediação, a aprendizagem e os letramentos, apontado pelo sintoma da falta de tempo, foi originado por concepções teóricas fragmentadas e não sistêmicas, e constituiu em um importante fator de exclusão em relação às práticas sociais de produção do conhecimento, fato ocorrido no curso quando uma parcela significativa dos mediadores em formação (61,5%) abandou suas turmas. O referencial metodológico baseou-se na pesquisa-ação, e os dados foram registrados no diário digital de campo que se constituiu em um conjunto de documentos digitais que armazenavam as observações emergentes no desenvolvimento do curso. Com os resultados obtidos foi possível verificar que a mediação on-line, aprendizagem e letramentos se constituem, de fato, como um único e complexo processo e que, por não ser considerado globalmente enquanto relações sistêmicas entre seus componentes, pode introduzir elementos de arritmia e levar à desistência/exclusão. Assim, a arritmia entre mediação, aprendizagem e letramentos surge como uma categoria de análise importante para se aferir a qualidade das práticas sociais de educação a distância

This master thesis deals with design and implementation of betting agent. It covers issues such as theoretical background of an online betting, probability and statistics. In its first part it is focused on data mining and explains the principle of knowledge mining form data warehouses and certain methods suitable for different types of tasks. Second, it is concerned with neural networks and algorithm of back-propagation. All the findings are demonstrated on and supported by graphs and histograms of data analysis, made via SAS Enterprise Miner program. In conclusion, the thesis summarizes all the results and offers specific methods of extension of the agent.

Social Tagging und soziale Netzwerke sind zentrale Bausteine des Web 2.0 und Enterprise 2.0. In diesem Beitrag werden die sozialen Aspekte von Social Tagging beleuchtet und ein Ansatz aufgeführt, um in Folksonomies Personen mit ähnlichen Interessen zu finden. Ferner wird ein Tagging-Framework beschrieben, das im Use Case Alexandria im Rahmen des BMWi-Projekts Theseus entstanden ist.

Social Tagging und soziale Netzwerke sind zentrale Bausteine des Web 2.0 und Enterprise 2.0. In diesem Beitrag werden die sozialen Aspekte von Social Tagging beleuchtet und ein Ansatz aufgeführt, um in Folksonomies Personen mit ähnlichen Interessen zu finden. Ferner wird ein Tagging-Framework beschrieben, das im Use Case Alexandria im Rahmen des BMWi-Projekts Theseus entstanden ist.

This case study examined the spread of ideas in a Gr. 5/6 classroom in which the teacher was attempting to foster a knowledge building community. The goal of the research was to explore the relationship between the social network of the classroom (in terms of face-to-face and computer-mediated interactions), the teacher’s role, and the spread of ideas. Further, the thesis examined how social network tools may help teachers better understand the pedagogical implications of Scardamalia and Bereiter’s (1991) Teacher A, B, C models. Analyses of videotaped lessons revealed the teacher used a complex mix of traditional instructional methods and knowledge building strategies while trying to shift the locus of control of learning to students. Critical teacher-driven processes included the class-wide adoption of knowledge building vocabulary and practices, and efforts to foster higher levels of student-student discourse. Analyses of online interactions provided strong evidence of highly interconnected student-student online networks, with the note reading network being especially dense. Longitudinal studies revealed these network established themselves early in the unit, and persisted during the course of the inquiry. There was evidence that idea improvement was present in addition to idea spread. In face-to-face classroom communication, the teacher’s role was more central, particularly in "Knowledge Building Talk" sessions. However, here too, the teacher made efforts to shift the locus of control. Overall the analyses suggest that social network tools are potentially useful for helping teachers make the difficult transition from "Teacher A" and "Teacher B" strategies, in which the locus of control is with the teacher, to "Teacher C" strategies, in which strategic cognitive processes are turned over to students. This dissertation proposes that movement toward Teacher C practices may be illustrated, in part, by a shift in classroom network topologies from that of a star-shaped network, centered on the teacher, to a highly interconnected student-student network. Finally, the thesis recounts a number of ways in which the use of social network tools uncovered discourse patterns of which the teacher was unaware, including gender differences in reading, building-on, and contribution patterns.

現代信息技術，以其多元、快速的優勢使人們對中國的民主抱以樂觀的態度。公民參與是一個健康的民主制度的核心要素，如何促進公民的政治參與一直是政治參與研究領域的焦點問題。在互聯網時代，尤其是社交媒體的出現，其廉價、方便、互動性的技術優勢大大增加了政治參與的可行性。大學學生是“互聯網一代“和中國知識分子的代表。因此，了解他們的社會媒體使用行為如何影響其政治知識、政治感知和政治行為、對於認識未來中國的政治變革是重要的。本研究提出“社交媒體使用“及“在線新聞使用“兩個概念，並以此視作政治參與和民主實踐研究範疇下的新討論焦點。
本研究主要探討以下問題：（1）大學生通過何種渠道在線獲取新聞;（2）大學生使用不同的媒體平台獲取新聞的情況如何；（3）在線新聞使用同傳統新聞媒體使用之間的關係如何;（4）計算機能力，互聯網自我效能感，在線和離線新聞使用，社交媒體使用，政治知識，政治效能，政治信任和政治參與等核心變量之間的關係； 以及（5）計算機能力，互聯網自我效能感，在線和離線新聞使用，社交媒體使用之於政治知識、政治感知和政治參與的相對重要性。
本研究採用定量的研究方法。研究的主體是對中國大陸在校大學本科及研究生進行問卷調查；調查前，焦點小組輔助研究結構建立與問卷設計。問卷調查採用多階層整群抽樣的方法，在北京抽取了兩所“elite工程“大學，在長春及杭州各抽取一所非“elite工程“大學的學生參與，樣本數量為624人。研究結果顯示，當中97.4% 的受訪者均使用互聯網獲取新聞。因子分析結果顯示，中國內地大學生主要經由三種信息渠道在線獲取新聞，分別是海外新聞渠道、社交媒體渠道，以及官方新聞渠道。不同信息渠道的使用者其政治常識、政治效能和政治信任亦有所區別。同時，本研究還發現傳統新聞同網絡新聞的使用之間存在互補的關係。
研究結果顯示，人口學變量超越社交媒體和在線新聞使用兩個變量對中國內地大學生的政治認知及政治知識的形成發揮最重要的作用。研究還發現社交媒體和在線新聞在促進線上和線下政治參與方面具有很大潛力。結論部分將詳述本研究的貢獻與實踐意義。
Citizen participation is a core element of a healthy democracy, and what facilitates citizens’ political activities has long been a central interest in political participation research. In the age of the Internet, especially with the appearance of social media, political participation is greatly facilitated by technology that makes information inexpensive, accessible, and interactive. Modern information technology, with its pluralism and fast speed, has made people optimistic about democracy. University students represent the Net generation and intellectuals in China; therefore, understanding how their social media use affects political knowledge, perception, and participation is valuable, to bring political change to China in the future.
Expanding the line of previous research, this study aims to address the question of the democratic implications of social media use and online news seeking from the vantage point of how individuals seek news online and how such use may be related to several key indications of individuals’ engagement in political life as citizens. Specifically, this study examines (a) the sources through which university students seek news online; (b) to what degree university students in China use different media platforms to seek news; (c) how online news seeking is related to its offline counterpart; (d) the relationships among computer competence, Internet efficacy, online and offline news seeking, social media use, political knowledge, political efficacy, political trust, and political participation; and (e) the relative influence of technological attributes, social media use, and online and offline news seeking on political attributes and political participation.
In this study, we used quantitative questionnaire surveys among university students. The questionnaire surveys were based on a stratified cluster sampling of two elite universities in Beijing and two ordinary universities in Changchun and Hangzhou. The final sample consisted of 624 university students, of whom 97.2% had used online news. Factor analysis identified three major sources of online news seeking among university students: official sources, overseas sources, and social media sources. Adopting these sources seems to affect students’ political knowledge, perception, and participation differently. Also, the supplement effect was found between online and offline news seeking.
Results also showed that demographics, rather than social media use and online news seeking, have the most power to predict political perception and knowledge among Chinese university students, and online news seeking and social media use have great potential in facilitating political engagement online and offline. How the social media use and online news seeking change the mode of state-society interactions and expands forms of political engagement are also discussed.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Zheng, Pei.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012.
Includes bibliographical references.
Abstracts also in Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
摘要 --- p.iii
致謝 --- p.iv
List of Tables and Figures --- p.4
Chapter Chapter 1 --- : Introduction --- p.1
Research Methods --- p.9
Main Contents of Each Chapter --- p.10
Chapter Chapter 2 --- : Literature Review --- p.12
Internet as a Public Sphere --- p.13
Technology between State and Society --- p.15
History of Technology Empowerment Since Modern China --- p.15
Political Control over the Internet --- p.16
Internet Empowerment of Society --- p.20
Political Participation --- p.23
Offline Political Participation --- p.24
Online Political Participation --- p.25
Social Media Use, and Offline and Online News Seeking --- p.27
Social Media Use and Political Participation --- p.27
Online News Seeking --- p.29
Offline News Seeking vs. Online News Seeking --- p.32
Computer Competence and Internet Efficacy --- p.33
Computer Competence --- p.33
Internet Efficacy --- p.35
Political Knowledge --- p.37
Political Efficacy --- p.38
Political Trust --- p.42
Chapter Chapter 3 --- : Research Methods --- p.57
Questionnaire Survey --- p.57
Sampling procedure and survey participants --- p.57
Final sample profiles --- p.62
Pilot tests --- p.64
Measures --- p.64
Internet efficacy. --- p.64
Computer competence. --- p.65
Social media use. --- p.65
Online news seeking. --- p.66
Offline news seeking. --- p.67
Political efficacy. --- p.68
Political knowledge. --- p.69
Political trust. --- p.70
Political participation. --- p.70
Demographics. --- p.71
Analytical Procedure --- p.72
Chapter Chapter 4 --- : News Seeking Behaviors --- p.73
Online News Seeking --- p.73
News Consumption Online vs. Offline --- p.76
Relationship Between Online and Offline News Seeking --- p.76
Chapter Chapter 5 --- : Assessing Factors Influencing Political Participation --- p.79
Linking Social Media Use and Online News Seeking to Political Attributes. --- p.79
Linking Computer Competence, and Internet Efficacy to Social Media Use 1.1 and Online News Seeking --- p.84
Computer competence --- p.84
Internet efficacy --- p.85
Linking Online News Seeking, Political Knowledge, Political Efficacy, 1.1 Political Trust and Political Participation --- p.87
Political knowledge --- p.87
Political efficacy --- p.88
Political trust --- p.89
Research questions --- p.90
Predicting Political Knowledge, Efficacy and Trust --- p.91
Predicting Political Participation --- p.97
Chapter Chapter 6 --- : Discussion and Conclusion --- p.102
Contributions of This Study --- p.102
Complementary effect of offline and online news --- p.102
Three sources of online news seeking --- p.104
Potential of social media use and online news seeking to promote 1.1.1 online political participation --- p.107
Political attributes: Demographic determined. --- p.108
Offline political participation: After the Internet, before democracy --- p.110
Limitation and Suggestions for Future Research --- p.114
Reference --- p.117
Glossary --- p.135

An electronic advice network provides employees opportunities to tap diverse experts within the organization at an unprecedented speed and scale. It is formed when an advice seeker initiates an online discussion thread joined by members of various communities, each specializing in a specific domain. This dissertation recognizes the substantial gap in our understanding of how to best harness the performance potential of expertise diversity provided through an electronic advice network within a firm. It thus investigates the process by and conditions under which expertise diversity in an electronic advice network promotes the advice seeker’s learning and performance. A field study was conducted via multi-methods including observation, interviews, and survey at a global company running discussion forums spanning internal virtual communities. The unit of analysis was at the discussion thread level. 190 discussion threads comprising 1,200 participants and associated outcomes (rated by their respective advice seekers) were analyzed. Findings suggest that, for the seeker to realize the performance potential of diverse inputs, discussion participants should facilitate the seeker’s learning by engaging in collective elaboration—articulating the differences and relevance of their diverse inputs. The seeker learned and performed the least when discussion participants were highly diverse but did not engage in collective elaboration. Discussion participants engaged in collective elaboration to the extent that they had previously established shared syntactic and semantic understanding of each other’s expertise domains through participation in each other’s communities. This dissertation contributes to the virtual communities literature by unearthing the relationships between expertise diversity and the advice seeker’s learning and performance and explaining when and how the seeker benefits from the diverse knowledge shared through an electronic advice network. The moderating role of collective elaboration explains why prior research may have found no or even a negative relationship between expertise diversity and discussion outcomes. It also contributes to the team literature by offering boundary conditions for the previous findings on expertise diversity and common ground. The collective elaboration construct can be also adopted by team diversity researchers to better understand where a disruption in the chain of group-level information processing may occur in some diverse teams.
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Relatório de estágio de mestrado em Ciências da Comunicação (área de especialização Publicidade e Relações Públicas)
As redes sociais têm vindo a tornar-se um fenómeno de grande popularidade devido à sua utilização diária em todo o mundo. Revolucionaram tanto a forma como se utilizava a Internet, como as diferentes opções de comunicar e interagir, primeiramente, entre indivíduos e seguidamente entre marcas e os seus consumidores. Assim, e segundo Conrado (2012), o Marketing Digital, atualmente, está a passar por uma fase de consolidação, em que só as empresas e os profissionais que tenham um conceito sólido do que representa a Internet na atual economia e um domínio prático sobre as táticas deste novo mundo online, vão conseguir ter sucesso. Desta forma, é importante que as marcas/empresas percebam o que leva os consumidores a partilharem a sua opinião sobre novos produtos e/ou serviços nos seus perfis pessoais, ou seja, devem conhecer os utilizadores das diferentes ferramentas de social media e qual o seu papel ativo na construção da imagem de uma marca. É também fundamental conhecer, por um lado, qual o nível de influência que as diferentes redes sociais têm no consumidor e por outro lado, saber qual o papel influenciador de um utilizador, ao partilhar e opinar, na perceção que os outros têm da mesma marca. Por isso, uma das componentes fundamentais para uma boa gestão da rede social é conhecer o valor da marca e até que ponto o utilizador tem influência nesta construção e na opinião dos outros. Desta forma, o presente relatório teve como objetivo principal perceber a importância, necessidade e papel da utilização dos social media na Comunicação Empresarial, por parte das marcas/empresas, dando resposta a uma problemática que se evidenciou ao longo dos três meses em estágio na agência de comunicação, “qual a importância dos social media para a comunicação das empresas?”. Para obter uma resposta concreta, foi fundamental averiguar como é que as marcas avaliam os comportamentos de compra e pós-compra dos seus consumidores, o porquê de sentirem necessidade de comunicar com eles nas redes sociais (como é que esta utilização os ajuda a promover e, posteriormente, a vender), entre outros fatores.
Social networks have become a very popular phenomenon due to its daily use throughout the world. They have revolutionized not only the way the Internet is used, but also the different options to communicate and interact, first, between individuals but also between brands and their consumers. Thus, according to Conrado (2012), Digital Marketing currently is going through a consolidation phase, in which only the companies and professionals that have a solid concept of what Internet is in the current economy and have a practical domain of the tactics of this new online world will. Thus, it is important that brands/companies understand what drives consumers to share their opinion on new products and/or services in their personal profiles, i.e. must know about the users of the different tool in social media and what its active role in building the image of a brand is. However, it is important to know on the one hand, what level of influence different social networks have on the consumer, and on the other hand, the influential role of the user shares and comments on the perception that others have about the same brand. Therefore, a key component for the successful management of social networking is to know the brand value and the extent to which the user has influence in this construction and in the opinion of others. That being said, this report had as main objective perceiving the importance, necessity and role of the use of social media in Corporate Communication, by brands/companies, responding to a problem that was evident throughout the three-month internship at the communication agency: "How important is social media for corporate communication?". In order to respond, it was fundamental to determine how the brands evaluated the purchase and post-purchase behaviors of their consumers, why they need to communicate with them on social networks (how this usage helps promoting and, after, selling), among other factors.

The aim of this research is to shed more light on an aspect identified as a gap in knowledge in the literature; the use of a social networking service as knowledge sharing platform. More specifically, this research sets out to establish if the social networking service Twitter could be used as knowledge-sharing platform in small South African businesses in the Western Cape. A mixed method research design is used. This includes gathering data through questionnaires as well as conducting semi-structured interviews for case study participants. The sample comprises 122 questionnaire participants together with 14 semi-structured interview participants across three small businesses located in the Western Cape Province. Although it is apparent from the study conducted that small businesses are not yet willing to forego traditional platforms such as Email to use Twitter exclusively as a knowledge sharing tool, the researcher proposes a case for using Twitter, which he believes, could take the most advantage of the functions Twitter brings to a small business operation.
School of Computing
M. Sc. (Computing)

Unter dem gemeinsamen Dach „Wissensgemeinschaften“ werden nun zwei Tagungen mit sich gegenseitig ergänzenden thematischen Schwerpunkten zusammengebracht, die Lern- und Wissensprozesse im Spannungsfeld zwischen Organisation, Technologie und (Unternehmens-)Kultur verhandeln. Während die Konferenz „Gemeinschaften in neuen Medien (GeNeMe)“ organisationale und technische Perspektiven im Kontext von Virtual Enterprises, Communities & Social Networks thematisiert, liefert die zweijährlich stattfindende Konferenz „Professionelles Wissensmanagement (ProWM)“ der Fachgruppe Wissensmanagement in der Gesellschaft für Informatik (fgwm) einen breiten integrativen Überblick über die organisatorischen, kulturellen, sozialen und technischen Aspekte des Wissensmanagements.

JEL Classification System: M31 – Marketing, M37 – Advertising
Com o desenvolvimento da internet, as redes sociais online apresentam-se como um novo meio de comunicação entre as organizações e os consumidores. Estas plataformas fomentaram ainda o aparecimento de um novo tipo de celebridade – os influencers. Com a constante partilha de conteúdos, surgiu assim uma nova forma de comunicação com os consumidores, pela associação das marcas a uma celebridade que as publicita nas suas redes sociais. O objetivo do presente estudo é compreender as perceções e opiniões dos consumidores perante publicações publicitárias online, nas redes sociais. Em particular, averiguar se existem diferenças na perceção e aceitação das marcas quando são publicadas por celebridades convencionais (por ex., atores, apresentadores, desportistas) ou por influencers (por ex. bloggers, instagrammers); e aferir ainda essas diferenças perante uma publicação sobre um produto/serviço ou uma campanha de sensibilização usando como base teórica o Persuasion Knowledge Model. Através de um estudo experimental com formato 2 (fonte de persuasão: atriz, blogger) x 2 (conteúdo publicitário: produto, campanha de sensibilização) para tentar medir essas diferenças. Os resultados permitiram concluir que os consumidores têm maior perceção da intenção persuasiva das publicações sobre produtos (do que campanhas) e consideram que nestes casos é mais legítimo que o autor seja recompensado pela sua publicação. Por outro lado, a campanha apresenta atitudes mais positivas, a moralidade da associação entre o autor e a organização é tida como superior, e o dever de informar que a publicação é publicidade considerado maior quando se trata de uma campanha de sensibilização. Este dever de informar o leitor é também considerado superior quando a publicação é feita por influencers, do que celebridades convencionais mas a legitimidade de ser recompensado é considerada superior para as celebridades convencionais.
With the development of the internet, online social networks have emerged as a new way of communication between organizations and their customers. These platforms have brought with them a new kind of celebrity – the so-called “influencers". The continuous sharing of content on social networks has also presented organizations with a new way of communicating with consumers; namely, by associating their brands with celebrities who them endorse them on their personal social network pipes. The purpose of this study is to understand the consumers’ perceptions and opinions with regard to social media posts containing advertising. In particular, we are interested to know whether there are differences in consumers’ perceptions and acceptance of posts when these are written by conventional celebrities (e.g.: actors, presenters, sportsmen, and so on) vs. influencers (e.g.: bloggers, instagrammers, and so on); and when the posts are about products vs. public service announcements. This is done in light of the Persuasion Knowledge Model, using a 2 (persuasion source: actress, blogger) x 2 (advertisement type: product, public service announcement) experimental design to examine these differences. The results show that consumers perceive greater persuasive intent and find it more legitimate that the author should be rewarded for a post it advertises a product (rather than a social issue). In contrast, consumer attitudes are more positive; the perceived morality of the association between the author and the advertisement type is superior; and the perceived duty to inform the readers that the post is an advert are all higher when a public service announcement is posted. The duty to inform the reader that a post is paid is also considered superior when the post is written by an influencer, but the legitimacy of such a reward is considered higher when the author is a conventional celebrity.

碩士
國立聯合大學
資訊與社會研究所
98
With the development of information technology, information technology led the world's rapidly society changing. The most basic function of human is “communication”. Internet technology is booming in the background and make a huge and efficient change. However, the rapid communication generated excessive information and resources, that spread in the social network. The information of the networks kept the value, should be properly stored, and can be at the right time to give the appropriate knowledge for right user. This study used the online social network with the concept. And through the virtual community to be present and confirmed the concept. Using social network analysis describes the complex patterns of online social networks. In the rich social resources, the social cognition of users and the functions of communication to produces a variety of social capital. The users of online social network can exchange information, knowledge, expertise and to renew the resources. Then meet the needs of the users. In this study use knowledge base system management the sources of online social networks. And created better knowledge sharing of social networks. In Web2.0 the open source software is popular, and this study combining with the “Discuz” and “facebook” platform build “facecus” knowledge platform. The research sample incloud facecus members and facebook groups total of 353 valid questionnaires, and through LISREL for structural equation analysis. in this study use the knowledge system success model to explore the social capital about the success of the system affect the nature of knowledge.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)
In today's fast paced world, people have become increasingly interested in online communication to facilitate their lives and make it faster. This goes on from simple social interactions to more advanced actions like shopping on the internet. The presence of such activities makes it crucial for people to use their common sense and judgment to process all this information and evaluate what/who they trust and what/whom they do not. This process would have been much easier if the number of people in such networks is really small and manageable. However, there are millions of users who are hooked online every day. This makes the person very overwhelmed with his trusting decision, especially when it comes to interacting with strangers over the internet, and/or buying personal items, especially expensive ones. Therefore, many trust models have been proposed by computer scientists trying to evaluate and manage the trust between users using different techniques and combining many factors. What these computer scientists basically do is coming up with mathematical formulas and models to express trust in online networks and capture its parameters. However, social scientists are the people better trained to deal with concepts related to human behaviors and their cognitive thinking such as trust. Thus, in order for computer scientists to support their ideas and get a better insight about how to direct their research, people like social scientists should contribute. With this in mind, we realized in our group work the importance of such contribution, so we came up with the idea of my research work. In my search, I tried to find how these social scientists think and tackle a dynamic notion like trust, so we can use their findings in order to enhance our work and trust model. Through the chapters, I will discuss an already developed trust model that uses measurement theory in modeling trust. I will refer back to this model and see how other social scientists dealt with some of the issues encountered by the model and its functionality. Some small experiments have been done to show and compare our results with social scientists results for the same matter. One of the most important and controversial points to be discussed from social scientists' point of view is whether trust is transitive or not. Other points to be discussed and supported by social scientists' research include aggregation, reputation, timing effects on trust, reciprocity, and experience effects on trust. Some of these points are classified into trust mapping categories and others are related to trust management or decision making stages. In sum, this work is a multidisciplinary study of trust whose overall goal is to enhance our work and results, as computer scientists.

The hashtag #phdchat is used by doctoral students all over the world to engage with their peers, share information, and commiserate over their experiences in academia. Anyone can join the conversation simply by typing the tag and publishing a tweet, but many regularly contribute to what has become a vibrant emergent social network community. Using an analysis of the discourse that was labeled with the hashtag over about a one-month period, this paper draws conclusions about who belongs to this community and what the network achieves for the users and as an entity of its own. The researcher makes conclusions about this network by drawing on the attributes of communities of practice and knowledge building communities in order to ground it as its own permutation of a learning community.
text

Establishing online communities of practice is an important part of the knowledge translation process in the modern healthcare system, but these online communities are new entity that is inherently different from traditional communities of practice that are dependent on existing social structures. The objective of this thesis is to combine communication analysis and content analysis to delve deeper into the communications within an online community to try and determine how online communities exist, and how that information can be leveraged to improve online knowledge translation. Using a novel approach this project will map the contents of online conversations to a structured medical lexicon (MeSH), and then use the inherent relationships of that lexicon to calculate term, user and thread similarities within an online community. These similarities, combined with connection analysis results, will provide a much deeper understanding of how online communities function. The methods developed here will then be tested on two separate mailing lists, the Pediatric Pain Mailing List (PPML) and SURGINET, a mailing list of general surgeons.

Aim: The overall aim of this thesis was to undertake and report the findings of a health technology assessment (HTA) on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and acceptability of online and LAN-based eLearning, and blended learning, among post-registration healthcare professionals. Methods: This HTA comprised three studies. The first study was a systematic review of 93 randomised controlled trials evaluating the effectiveness of online and LAN-based eLearning on physicians' knowledge, skills, attitude and satisfaction. The second study compared the cost, cost-savings and return on investment between a blended and a face-to-face advanced cardiac life support course for physicians in Singapore. The third study was an online survey that assessed the acceptability of the technology among a sample of optometrists and opticians in Singapore and their scope of practice, primary eye care knowledge, views on extended roles in primary eye care, preferred mode of learning for continuing professional education, and referral behaviour. Results: The systematic review showed that online and LAN-based eLearning or blended learning compared with self-directed or face-to-face learning resulted in higher post-intervention knowledge scores (21 studies; small to large effect size; very poor quality); higher post-intervention skills scores (seven studies; large effect size; low quality); higher attitude scores (one study; very low quality); higher post-intervention satisfaction (four studies; large effect size; low quality); and higher post-intervention practice or behaviour changes (eight studies; large effect size; low quality) among physicians in the intervention groups. Fourteen studies compared eLearning with other forms of eLearning. Among these, four studies reported higher post-intervention knowledge scores (large effect size; very low quality) for participants in the intervention group. Unintended or adverse effects of the intervention were not reported among the included studies. Ninety-three studies (N=16,895) were included of which seventy-six studies compared ODE (including blended) vs self-directed/face-to-face learning. Overall the effect of ODE (including blended) on post-intervention knowledge, skills, attitude, satisfaction, practice or behaviour change and patient outcomes was inconsistent and ranged mostly from no difference between the groups to higher post-intervention score in the intervention group (small to large effect size, very low to low quality evidence). Twenty-one studies reported higher knowledge score (small to large effect size; very low quality) for the intervention while 20 studies reported no difference in knowledge between the groups. Seven studies reported higher skill score in the intervention (large effect size; low quality) while thirteen studies reported no difference in skill score between the groups. One study reported higher attitude score for the intervention (very low quality), while 4 studies reported no difference in attitude score between the groups. Four studies reported higher post-intervention physician satisfaction with the intervention (large effect size; low quality), while six studies reported no difference in satisfaction between the groups. Eight studies reported higher post-intervention practice or behaviour change for the ODE group (small to moderate effect size; low quality) while five studies reported no difference in practice or behaviour change between the groups. One study reported higher improvement in patient outcome, while three others reported no difference in patient outcome between the groups. None of the included studies reported any unintended/adverse effects, cost-effectiveness of the interventions. Although the review only focused on post-registration medical doctors, the technology could be used for the interprofessional education of post-registration medical doctors and other healthcare professionals. Such an initiative would encourage collaborative learning and facilitate task-shifting, which could address the problem of fragmentation in health care. Although eLearning and blended learning technology interventions have been implemented, primary studies have not assessed their cost-effectiveness. Hence, to ascertain the technology’s cost-saving potential, we used a blended advanced cardiac life support (B-ACLS) course as an exemplar and compared its cost to face-to-face advanced life support (F-ACLS) training. The analysis showed that the annual cost of F-ACLS training (USD$72,793) was 1.7 times higher than B-ACLS training (USD$43,467). The discounted total cost of training over the life of the course (5-years) was SGD $107,960 for B-ACLS and S$280,162 for F-ACLS. The cost of productivity loss accounted for 52% and 23% of the costs for F-ACLS and B-ACLS, respectively. B-ACLS yielded a 160% return on the money invested, yielding $1.60 for every dollar spent. There would be a 61% saving for course providers if they delivered a B-ACLS instead of F-ACLS course. The effectiveness component of the HTA showed that online eLearning and blended learning is as effective as traditional learning and has cost-saving potential. We also sought to determine if this technology could be used to train and equip optometrists and opticians in Singapore to take on an extended role in primary care, which would allow some simple primary eye care tasks to be shifted from ophthalmologists to optometrists and ease healthcare access issues at specialist hospital outpatient clinics. The survey of optometrists showed that the current roles of opticians and optometrists in Singapore were limited to diagnostic refraction (92%); colour vision assessment (65%); contact lens fitting and dispensing (62%) amongst others. The average self-rated primary eye care knowledge score was 8.2 ± 1.4; (score range 1-10; 1 = very poor, 10 = excellent). Average self-rated confidence scores for screening for cataract, diabetic retinopathy, chronic glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration were 2.7 ± 1.5; 3.7 ± 1.9; 4.0 ± 1.0 and 2.7 ± 1.5, respectively. Three fourths of the optometrists surveyed felt that they should undertake regular continuing professional education (CPE) to improve their primary eye care knowledge. Blended learning (eLearning and traditional face-to-face lectures) was the most preferred mode (46.8%) for CPE delivery. Conclusions: Overall, the findings from the HTA provide evidence of effectiveness, cost-saving of online eLearning and blended learning for training medical doctors and the acceptance of the technology in a local context to facilitate its wider adoption for training post-registration healthcare professionals’. These research outputs would have direct impact on the adoption of online eLearning, blended learning technologies in universities and educational institutes across the region with consequent impacts on post-registration health professionals’ education and policy. The results of learning will serve as a guide for policy makers to decide on investment in the learning technology and to learn about the associated factors, which would influence its adoption. This thesis resulted in three papers, of which one has been accepted for publication, the two other papers are under review.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Adelaide Medical School, 2018