Locational wireless and social media-based surveillance

The number of smartphones and tablets as well as the volume of traffic generated by these devices has been growing constantly over the past decade and this growth is predicted to continue at an increasing rate over the next five years. Numerous native features built into contemporary smart devices enable highly accurate digital fingerprinting techniques. Furthermore, software developers have been taking advantage of locational capabilities of these devices by building applications and social media services that enable convenient sharing of information tied to geographical locations. Mass online sharing resulted in a large volume of locational and personal data being publicly available for extraction. A number of researchers have used this opportunity to design and build tools for a variety of uses – both respectable and nefarious. Furthermore, due to the peculiarities of the IEEE 802.11 specification, wireless-enabled smart devices disclose a number of attributes, which can be observed via passive monitoring. These attributes coupled with the information that can be extracted using social media APIs present an opportunity for research into locational surveillance, device fingerprinting and device user identification techniques. This paper presents an in-progress research study and details the findings to date

E-Commerce Audit Judgment Expertise: Does Expertise in System Change Management and Information Technology Auditing Mediate E-Commerce Audit Judgment Expertise?

A global survey of 203 E-commerce auditors was conducted to investigate the perceptions about the potential determinants of expertise in E-commerce audits. We hypothesize and find evidence indicating that information technology and communication expertise are positively related to expertise in E-commerce audit judgment. We also find that system change management expertise and information technology audit expertise mediate this relationship.E-commerce Audit Judgment, IT Audit, Structural Equations Modeling

The Geo-Doc: Remediating the Documentary Film as an Instrument of Social Change with Locative Theory and Technology

The documentary film has had a long history as an influential communications tool with the ability to effect social change. Its inherent claims to representing the truth provide a foundation of credibility that the filmmaker uses to inform and persuade their audience with a goal of causing them to take action that ideally leads to social change. This goal has been seen to be achieved when the documentary film employs certain methods and technologies. My research questions are these: What methods and technologies are most effective in bolstering the documentary films ability to effect social change and what new and emerging methods and technologies extend that ability? How can the documentary film be remediated to incorporate these attributes and would this new project experience some measure of success in effecting social change when tested in the field? These questions are answered through an investigation of various disciplines of study. The history of the documentary film as an instrument of social change is examined from its origins to the present day. This examination also identifies those methods and technologies that have advanced the documentarys ability to serve as a successful communication tool between filmmaker and changemaker. Focussed investigations into the theory and practice of the documentary film yield specific approaches and techniques that prove to be most successful, such as the Participatory Mode, Ecocinema and Semiotic Storytelling, the Multilinear and the Database Documentary, and the distinct digital affordances provided by Geomedia. Once identified and explained, the most effective theories and practices are combined in an altogether new and remediated documentary form: the geo-doc. The geo-doc is a term I have applied to a structure of the documentary film that is a multilinear, interactive, database documentary film project presented on a platform of a Geographic Information System map. The project was made specifically for an audience of changemakers with the general public in mind as a secondary audience. In collaboration with the changemaker, content and interface suggestions are made to the filmmaker to augment the projects effectiveness as a communications tool

GLADNET: Promise and Legacy

[Excerpt] The Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network on Employment and Training (GLADNET) was launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 1995, in cooperation with over 50 social policy research centres, governmental and non- governmental organizations involved in disability-related employment programmes from over thirty countries around the world. Major organizations of persons with disabilities were also represented – the World Blind Union, the World Federation of the Deaf, Inclusion International (formerly the International League of Societies for Persons with Mental Handicap (ILSMH)) and Disabled Peoples International (DPI). GLADNET’s lifespan was little more than a generation (1995 – 2018). What’s of interest is that it survived beyond its first few years of existence. It could easily have died early on, given a significant change in nature of support from its initiating body. That it didn’t speaks to the aspirational nature and relevance of the vision prompting its formation. It’s in pursuit of that vision where GLADNET left its mark. This document focuses on its legacy, beginning with a brief review of context within which it was initiated

Effects of an evidence service on health-system policy makers' use of research evidence: A protocol for a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health-system policy makers need timely access to synthesised research evidence to inform the policy-making process. No efforts to address this need have been evaluated using an experimental quantitative design. We developed an evidence service that draws inputs from Health Systems Evidence, which is a database of policy-relevant systematic reviews. The reviews have been (a) categorised by topic and type of review; (b) coded by the last year searches for studies were conducted and by the countries in which included studies were conducted; (c) rated for quality; and (d) linked to available user-friendly summaries, scientific abstracts, and full-text reports. Our goal is to evaluate whether a "full-serve" evidence service increases the use of synthesized research evidence by policy analysts and advisors in the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) as compared to a "self-serve" evidence service.</p> <p>Methods/design</p> <p>We will conduct a two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT), along with a follow-up qualitative process study in order to explore the findings in greater depth. For the RCT, all policy analysts and policy advisors (n = 168) in a single division of the MOHLTC will be invited to participate. Using a stratified randomized design, participants will be randomized to receive either the "full-serve" evidence service (database access, monthly e-mail alerts, and full-text article availability) or the "self-serve" evidence service (database access only). The trial duration will be ten months (two-month baseline period, six-month intervention period, and two month cross-over period). The primary outcome will be the mean number of site visits/month/user between baseline and the end of the intervention period. The secondary outcome will be participants' intention to use research evidence. For the qualitative study, 15 participants from each trial arm (n = 30) will be purposively sampled. One-on-one semi-structured interviews will be conducted by telephone on their views about and their experiences with the evidence service they received, how helpful it was in their work, why it was helpful (or not helpful), what aspects were most and least helpful and why, and recommendations for next steps.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>To our knowledge, this will be the first RCT to evaluate the effects of an evidence service specifically designed to support health-system policy makers in finding and using research evidence.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01307228">NCT01307228</a></p

Coded Territories

This collection of essays provides a historical and contemporary context for Indigenous new media arts practice in Canada. The writers are established artists, scholars, and curators who cover thematic concepts and underlying approaches to new media from a distinctly Indigenous perspective. Through discourse and narrative analysis, the writers discuss a number of topics ranging from how Indigenous worldviews inform unique approaches to new media arts practice to their own work and specific contemporary works. Contributors include: Archer Pechawis, Jackson 2Bears, Jason Edward Lewis, Steven Foster, Candice Hopkins, and Cheryl L'Hirondelle

Is Canadian Literature Still “National”? Twenty-First-Century Canadian Literature in Spatial Perspective

Rethinking contemporary Anglo-Canadian literature from a spatial perspective suggests that it is not disappearing as a national literature; it is simply changing shape. Henri Lefebvre’s theory of abstract and absolute space developed in The Production of Space (1974) can be used to frame the concept of national literature in spatial terms. As demonstrated through interviews with active players in the publishing industry in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Canadian literature is being constituted by such diverse forces as the changing nature of bookselling, the internet, and dwindling funding opportunities, all within the context of neoliberal global capitalism. However, these changes have not fragmented Canadian literature to the point of erosion, as Stephen Henighan and others have suggested. Situated within a market- and consumer-driven cultural, political, and economic landscape shaped by localism and globalism more than by 1970s nationalistic fervour, the space of Canadian literature today is simultaneously centralized and decentralized

Multimodal Dissertations: Opportunities for Multimodality in Higher Education

multiliteracies, multimodality, higher education, technology, communication, dissertations, graduate education In an era when communication and higher education are rapidly changing, there is much to learn about multimodality and the dissertation. For example, how can multimodality be used to forward an argument or inform research in a dissertation? How is technology changing the format of the dissertation? And how might multimodality and technology change the experience of composing a dissertation? This study addresses dissertations and the problem of understanding how research can be argued, represented, and presented in multimodal ways, and considers the lived curriculum of Ph.D. graduate students. My work addresses the learning needs of contemporary graduate students so that they may present their dissertation in multimodal ways. The research questions explored in this study are: what are the lived experiences of Ph.D. Education graduate students who created multimodal dissertations? What is my lived experience as someone conducting a multimodal Ph.D. dissertation in Education? What do students understand to be the affordances and constraints of multimodal dissertations? What do I understand to be the affordances and constraints of my research process? And what are the implications of promoting multimodal dissertations in the social sciences? In this study, I define a multimodal dissertation as one that employs multiple modes in meaningful ways to communicate research. Using a multiliteracies theoretical framework, this exploratory case study includes five participants who have successfully defended a multimodal dissertation in a Faculty of Education in North America. Data collection methods include a personal journal, interviews, and a multimodal analysis of the participants’ dissertations. The findings reveal my participants’ lived curriculum (the stories they had as individuals, with their scholarly community, and with their dissertation) was very important to the creation of their dissertation. Further, my participants’ multimodal dissertations have resulted in accolades such as winning awards and receiving SSHRC grants; however, these positive experiences have been tempered by challenges such as technical difficulties and institutional requirements. Recommendations for further research include how to best support students who want to use a multimodal format for their dissertation, how supervisors and examiners assess these dissertations, and how the lived experiences of the graduate students currently completing multimodal dissertations impacts their work. This study contributes to the body of knowledge in my field by creating new opportunities for alternative dissertation formats for future graduate students. It also contributes to the literature on multiliteracies and multimodality in higher education and the ways technology and communication are changing how students research, learn, and disseminate their findings