Social Web Communities

Blogs, Wikis, and Social Bookmark Tools have rapidly emerged onthe Web. The reasons for their immediate success are that people are happy to share information, and that these tools provide an infrastructure for doing so without requiring any specific skills. At the moment, there exists no foundational research for these systems, and they provide only very simple structures for organising knowledge. Individual users create their own structures, but these can currently not be exploited for knowledge sharing. The objective of the seminar was to provide theoretical foundations for upcoming Web 2.0 applications and to investigate further applications that go beyond bookmark- and file-sharing. The main research question can be summarized as follows: How will current and emerging resource sharing systems support users to leverage more knowledge and power from the information they share on Web 2.0 applications? Research areas like Semantic Web, Machine Learning, Information Retrieval, Information Extraction, Social Network Analysis, Natural Language Processing, Library and Information Sciences, and Hypermedia Systems have been working for a while on these questions. In the workshop, researchers from these areas came together to assess the state of the art and to set up a road map describing the next steps towards the next generation of social software

Newsletter new technologies and innovation policy. Special Issue. September 1985. 46A.

Title changed to Innovation and technology transfer Newsletter in 198

Succession in ministry in the Assemblies of God USA: what psychographic variables shape the belief system of the AG USA millennial Christian leaders and what is its impact on leadership?

The religious beliefs and practices among the Millennial generational cohort in America continue to change. Conservative, mainline denominations are primarily in decline. As a conservative Evangelical, Pentecostal denomination, comprised of approximately 13,000 churches, the Assemblies of God USA finds itself at the juxtaposition of change. The purpose of this study is to understand the current AG USA Millennial Christian leadership psychography and identify variables impacting leadership succession within the denomination. Variables were identified from two data sets emerging from a mixed-methods research approach. Qualitative research, comprised of semi-structured focus groups, were comprised of twelve unique groups across the United States with a total of 79 individuals, whom were AG USA Millennial Christian leaders, participating. Quantitative research was comprised of a survey distributed to AG USA credentialed ministers. In total, 5324 credentialed AG USA ministers opened the survey and 3625 completed every item. This study extends the research on the evolving religious landscape in America and identifies, from the research analysis and literature review, dialectical tensions between AG USA Millennial leaders and both their secular and religious cohorts. These nine dialectics frame the cohort’s positionalities and extend the research on an American sociology of religion. This research can: 1) Equip AG USA to negotiate change and leadership succession with its Millennial Christian leaders; 2) Contribute to discussions within American religion of the rich, liminal space the AG USA Millennial cohort inhabits; and, 3) Introduce a theological nuance within AG USA’s religious tradition which can create generational symbiosis and religious tolerance within conservative, Evangelical, Pentecostal spheres

Constrangimentos, nostalgia e as visitas dos norte-americanos à Europa rural

Doutoramento em TurismoAs Américas constituem a mais relevante fonte inter-regional de turistas vindos para a Europa, sendo os EUA de longe o maior mercado de long haul para a Europa. Mas, apesar da relevância deste mercado nas estatísticas, há uma carência de estudos sobre o mesmo. A maioria dos Norte-Americanos que visitam a Europa mantéem-se em áreas urbanas, limitando o potencial efeito do turismo para equilibrar o crescimento económico na Europa, principalmente em áreas rurais que têm vindo cada vez mais a atrair turistas nas últimas décadas, contando sobretudo da EU. Para o turismo ser realmente uma força positiva de desenvolvimento equilibrado na Europa, os pesquisadores do comportamento do consumidor devem tentar entender por que os viajantes Norte-Americanos não arriscam ir para zonas rurais que supostamente têm o capital tradicional e cultural autêntico que sobretudo os turistas nostálgicos procuram. Esta dissertação pretende contribuir para o conhecimento do mercado Norte-Americano que viaja para a Europa. O objectivo deste estudo centra-se na examinação do papel dos constrangimentos, da nostalgia, e da experiência de viagem para as intenções dos turistas Norte-Americanos de revisitar em destinos rurais Europeus. Apesar de existirem referências à nostalgia em pesquisas de turismo, estas centram-se essencialmente em estudos de carácter qualitativo e tem sido dada pouca relevância à construção de ferramentas quantitativas para o estudo da nostalgia a nível do turismo. Neste estudo, é desenvolvida uma escala de nostalgia para o turismo (NOSTOUR). Os resultados mostram que a nostalgia, relacionada com as viagens pode ser concebida e operacionalizada em quatro dimensões: individual, interpessoal, cultural e virtual. A nostalgia, por si só, não tem um efeito mediador nos constrangimentos para viajar a nível da intenção de regressar e visitar destinos rurais na Europa mas com a adição, do determinante experiência de viagem esse efeito existe.Americas are the most important source of inter-regional tourists for Europe and USA remains by far Europe’s largest single long-haul market. But despite the market and its behaviour is still not well understood. But despite these references of the relevance from this market in statistics there is a lack of studies about this subject. Most of the North Americans that visit Europe stay in urban areas which limit the potential effect of tourism to balance the economic growth in the European region, particularly in rural areas. If tourism is to truly be a positive force of equitable and balance development in Europe, then consumer behaviour researchers must try to understand why they don’t venture to the rural areas that allegedly have the traditional and authentic cultural capital that the nostalgic tourists want. This dissertation intends to contribute to the knowledge of the understudied North-American market to Europe. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of travel constraints, nostalgia and travel experience in shaping North American tourists’ intentions to revisit rural European destinations. Despite of the references to nostalgia in the tourism research, mainly in qualitative studies, relatively very little attention has been paid to the development of research tools of nostalgia for quantitative research on travel. In this study it is created a scale of nostalgia for tourism (NOSTOUR). Results showed that nostalgia triggered by travel has four dimensions, individual, interpersonal, cultural and virtual. Nostalgia by itself does not mediate the effects of travel constraints on the intention to return to Europe and visit rural places but with the addiction of the determinant experience in travel that effect exists

An explorative study on the development of a framework for the measurement of performance and trust

Based on literature, a theoretical model was developed for viable performance consisting of eight constructs whilst the trust model of Martins (2000) was used to measure four organisational trust constructs. Exploratory factor analysis was used to extract the constructs, and structural equation modelling was employed to validate the models against the data. An empirical model for viable performance resulted in a solution with seven constructs and organisational trust with five constructs. The two empirical models were unified into a model of viable performance and trust resulting in a measurement model where all 12 constructs were shown. Significant levels of internal consistency were measured. The resulting measurement model was tested for group differences, and no significant differences were found, indicating that the assessment can be used across different groups. It was concluded that the aim to construct and test an integrated and comprehensive theoretical framework of viable performance and trust was achieved and the resulting Viable Performances and Trust Indicator (VPTI) was validated as an assessment to be used across groups. Organisations can thus use the framework and VPTI assessment tool with confidence to assess performance and trust across different biographical groups. Future researchers can build on this exploratory study to refine the scales and apply the measurement model within the wider context of South Africa or as a globally accepted model.IndustriaI and Organisational PsychologyD. Litt. et Phil. (IndustriaI and Organisational Psychology

Newsletter new technologies and innovation policy. Special Issue. September 1985. 46A.

Title changed to Innovation and technology transfer Newsletter in 198