The Mobile Generation: Global Transformations at the Cellular Level

Every year we see a new dimension of the ongoing Digital Revolution, which is enabling an abundance of information to move faster, cheaper, in more intelligible forms, in more directions, and across borders of every kind. The exciting new dimension on which the Aspen Institute focused its 2006 Roundtable on Information Technology was mobility, which is making the Digital Revolution ubiquitous. As of this writing, there are over two billion wireless subscribers worldwide and that number is growing rapidly. People are constantly innovating in the use of mobile technologies to allow them to be more interconnected. Almost a half century ago, Ralph Lee Smith conjured up "The Wired Nation," foretelling a world of interactive communication to and from the home that seems commonplace in developed countries today. Now we have a "Wireless World" of communications potentially connecting two billion people to each other with interactive personal communications devices. Widespead adoption of wireless handsets, the increasing use of wireless internet, and the new, on-the-go content that characterizes the new generation of users are changing behaviors in social, political and economic spheres. The devices are easy to use, pervasive and personal. The affordable cell phone has the potential to break down the barriers of poverty and accessibility previously posed by other communications devices. An entire generation that is dependant on ubiquitous mobile technologies is changing the way it works, plays and thinks. Businesses, governments, educational institutions, religious and other organizations in turn are adapting to reach out to this mobile generation via wireless technologies -- from SMS-enabled vending machines in Finland to tech-savvy priests in India willing to conduct prayers transmitted via cell phones. Cellular devices are providing developing economies with opportunities unlike any others previously available. By opening the lines of communication, previously disenfranchised groups can have access to information relating to markets, economic opportunities, jobs, and weather to name just a few. When poor village farmers from Bangladesh can auction their crops on a craigslist-type service over the mobile phone, or government officials gain instantaneous information on contagious diseases via text message, the miracles of mobile connectivity move us from luxury to necessity. And we are only in the early stages of what the mobile electronic communications will mean for mankind. We are now "The Mobile Generation." Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology. To explore the implications of these phenomena, the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program convened 27 leaders from business, academia, government and the non-profit sector to engage in three days of dialogue on related topics. Some are experts in information and communications technologies, others are leaders in the broader society affected by these innovations. Together, they examined the profound changes ahead as a result of the convergence of wireless technologies and the Internet. In the following report of the Roundtable meeting held August 1-4, 2006, J. D. Lasica, author of Darknet and co-founder of Ourmedia.org, deftly sets up, contextualizes, and captures the dialogue on the impact of the new mobility on economic models for businesses and governments, social services, economic development, and personal identity

Mediating skills on risk management for improving the resilience of Supply Networks by developing and using a serious game

Given their importance, the need for resilience and the management of risk within Supply Networks, means that engineering students need a solid under-standing of these issues. An innovative way of meeting this need is through the use of serious games. Serious games allow an active experience on how differ-ent factors influencethe flexibility, vulnerability and capabilities in Supply Networks and allow the students to apply knowledge and methods acquired from theory. This supports their ability to understand, analyse and evaluate how different factors contribute to the resilience. The experience gained within the game will contribute to the studentsâ abilities to construct new knowledge based on their active observation and reflection of the environment when they later work in a dynamic environment in industry. This game, Beware, was developed for use in a blended learning environment. It is a part of a course for engineering master students at the University of Bremen. It was found that the game was effective in mediating the topic of risk management to the students espscially in supporting their ability of applying methods, analyse the different interactions and the game play as well as to support the assessment of how their decision-making affected the simulated network

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThis dissertation argues that an element of classical Confucianism, the notion of ritual (li 禮), can make substantial contributions to contemporary work in moral education. Specifically, I argue that one of the most plausible contemporary theories of learning and development, that of Lev Vygotsky, is insufficient to provide an approach to moral education on its own. It is, however, a viable starting point for developing such an approach and also helpful for conceptualizing the role that ritual plays in the Confucianism. In turn, this understanding of ritual can supplement the basic Vygotskyan account and assist with design of moral education programs

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Premio extraordinario de Trabajo Fin de Máster curso 2021/2022. Máster en Profesorado de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria, Bachillerato, Formación Profesional y Enseñanza de Idioma

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Ubiquitous Integration and Temporal Synchronisation (UbilTS) framework : a solution for building complex multimodal data capture and interactive systems

Contemporary Data Capture and Interactive Systems (DCIS) systems are tied in with various technical complexities such as multimodal data types, diverse hardware and software components, time synchronisation issues and distributed deployment configurations. Building these systems is inherently difficult and requires addressing of these complexities before the intended and purposeful functionalities can be attained. The technical issues are often common and similar among diverse applications. This thesis presents the Ubiquitous Integration and Temporal Synchronisation (UbiITS) framework, a generic solution to address the technical complexities in building DCISs. The proposed solution is an abstract software framework that can be extended and customised to any application requirements. UbiITS includes all fundamental software components, techniques, system level layer abstractions and reference architecture as a collection to enable the systematic construction of complex DCISs. This work details four case studies to showcase the versatility and extensibility of UbiITS framework’s functionalities and demonstrate how it was employed to successfully solve a range of technical requirements. In each case UbiITS operated as the core element of each application. Additionally, these case studies are novel systems by themselves in each of their domains. Longstanding technical issues such as flexibly integrating and interoperating multimodal tools, precise time synchronisation, etc., were resolved in each application by employing UbiITS. The framework enabled establishing a functional system infrastructure in these cases, essentially opening up new lines of research in each discipline where these research approaches would not have been possible without the infrastructure provided by the framework. The thesis further presents a sample implementation of the framework on a device firmware exhibiting its capability to be directly implemented on a hardware platform. Summary metrics are also produced to establish the complexity, reusability, extendibility, implementation and maintainability characteristics of the framework.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grants - EP/F02553X/1, 114433 and 11394

MATERIALIZING MAKERSPACES: QUEERLY COMPOSING SPACE, TIME, AND (WHAT) MATTERS

This dissertation project explores makerspaces as non-traditional composing networks where makers work with (and against) unconventional digital and physical materials such as vinyl, cut paper, plastic filament, insects, Xacto blades, pipe cleaners, reclaimed wicker baskets, DNA, Python code, memes, and Raspberry Pi’s. Choosing materiality over multimodality as the best frame for understanding the material-discursive composing practices of makers, I build a queer- and feminist-inflected new materialist research methodology that orients attention toward embodiment, affect, and the production of difference in composing networks. Using playful, game-based data collection protocols, in conjunction with more traditional data sources, as well as three-dimensional analysis models crafted from foam board, yarn, safety pins, and paper, I document and analyze the material and affective dimensions of composing to build case studies around two diverse maker networks. The first case details participants’ making and composing experiences as part of a connectivist MOOC designed to increase STEM/STEAM literacies for underserved youth and youth educators. The second explores high school students’ experiences in “pop-up� makerspaces that are oriented toward 3D fabrication and prototyping; circuitry, robotics, and computer coding; and upcycling discarded objects and everyday waste for new audiences, purposes, and contexts. Both case studies address the following research questions: Who and what gets to make? Who and what gets made? What drives composition (as process and product) in the network? These questions are essential for understandings issues of representation, access, and equity in contemporary maker networks. The findings of this dissertation materialize “making� as more than a boot-strapping rhetoric that sponsors middle class white male literacies. They underscore the collective values, stances, and practices that are necessary for composing networks to become networkings which are capable of materializing a diversity of bodies and objects. This project turns Writing Studies toward a more material, embodied, and affective understanding of composing, and points to the need to rethink normative composition pedagogies that work to foreclose diversity, creativity, and experimentation. I conclude this project by articulating a queer material rhetoric I call composing sideways: this rhetoric makes space for lateral thinking, feeling, and composing practices which focus on composing the here and the now, and resisting vertical transfer as the most important pedagogical outcome for a writing classroom

A ceaseless becoming : narratives of adolescence across media

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Comparative Media Studies, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-105).Thesis explores the broad appeal of narratives with adolescent protagonists across a variety of media, including literature, film, and video games. An analysis of key texts within their historical contexts reveals affinities between disparate genres and strong connections between fiction and the discourse of adolescence in psychology, anthropology, and sociology. Adolescence narratives illuminate both the transgressive boundaries of a given culture and the normative center, and make explicit what is usually considered natural or implicit. To discover the roots of contemporary adolescence narratives, prototypes for the picaresque novel, the school story, and the Bildungsroman are examined, and each are shown to contain narrative conventions that survive in recent works. A contemporary case study looks at the trilogy of female coming of age films by Sofia Coppola to show how they embody the ambiguities and contradictions of third wave feminism. Finally, the author explores the affinity between video games and adolescence, the implications of translating literary genres into an interactive medium, and uses examples from both science fiction literature and recent games to theorize how games might better address the themes of adolescence in both story and play mechanics.by Neal A. Grigsby.S.M