Exploring sustainability research in computing:where we are and where we go next

This paper develops a holistic framework of questions mo- tivating sustainability research in computing in order to en- able new opportunities for critique. Analysis of systemat- ically selected corpora of computing publications demon- strates that several of these question areas are well covered, while others are ripe for further exploration. It also pro- vides insight into which of these questions tend to be ad- dressed by different communities within sustainable com- puting. The framework itself reveals discursive similarities between other existing environmental discourses, enabling reflection and participation with the broader sustainability debate. It is argued that the current computing discourse on sustainability is reformist and premised in a Triple Bottom Line construction of sustainability, and a radical, Quadruple Bottom Line alternative is explored as a new vista for com- puting research

Green of Another Color: Building Effective Relationships Between Foundations and the Environmental Justice Movement

The aim of this report is to help forge more effective partnerships between and within the environmental justice movement and the philanthropic community. In particular, the report should serve as an important educational tool for current and potential funders by: (1) providing information regarding the importance and accomplishments of the environmental justice movement over the last ten years, including those of the strategic networks; (2) demonstrating the gross underfunding the movement by the philanthropic community in general, and the Environmental Grantmakers Association membership in particular, in relation to other segments of the environmental movement; (3) providing recommendations as to which grantmaking practices would be most appropriate given the structure and needs of the movement, (4) discussing the importance of diversity and inclusive practices in foundation settings for improving environmental grantmaking practices and for overcoming the funding barriers currently confronting the environmental justice movement; and (5) evaluating the manner in which grantmakers can better utilize their institutional clout to support the work of the environmental justice movement beyond the disbursement of grants by undertaking mission-related investing strategies and mission-related shareholder actions against socially and ecologically irresponsible companies. We envision this document as being a valuable resource for foundation staff, officers, and board members, as well as individual donors and participants in the environmental justice movement

Get yourself connected: conceptualising the role of digital technologies in Norwegian career guidance

This report outlines the role of digital technologies in the provision of career guidance. It was commissioned by the c ommittee on career guidance which is advising the Norwegian Government following a review of the countries skills system by the OECD. In this report we argue that career guidance and online career guidance in particular can support the development of Norwa y’s skills system to help meet the economic challenges that it faces.The expert committee advising Norway’s Career Guidance Initiativ

Knowledge extraction from unstructured data and classification through distributed ontologies

The World Wide Web has changed the way humans use and share any kind of information. The Web removed several access barriers to the information published and has became an enormous space where users can easily navigate through heterogeneous resources (such as linked documents) and can easily edit, modify, or produce them. Documents implicitly enclose information and relationships among them which become only accessible to human beings. Indeed, the Web of documents evolved towards a space of data silos, linked each other only through untyped references (such as hypertext references) where only humans were able to understand. A growing desire to programmatically access to pieces of data implicitly enclosed in documents has characterized the last efforts of the Web research community. Direct access means structured data, thus enabling computing machinery to easily exploit the linking of different data sources. It has became crucial for the Web community to provide a technology stack for easing data integration at large scale, first structuring the data using standard ontologies and afterwards linking them to external data. Ontologies became the best practices to define axioms and relationships among classes and the Resource Description Framework (RDF) became the basic data model chosen to represent the ontology instances (i.e. an instance is a value of an axiom, class or attribute). Data becomes the new oil, in particular, extracting information from semi-structured textual documents on the Web is key to realize the Linked Data vision. In the literature these problems have been addressed with several proposals and standards, that mainly focus on technologies to access the data and on formats to represent the semantics of the data and their relationships. With the increasing of the volume of interconnected and serialized RDF data, RDF repositories may suffer from data overloading and may become a single point of failure for the overall Linked Data vision. One of the goals of this dissertation is to propose a thorough approach to manage the large scale RDF repositories, and to distribute them in a redundant and reliable peer-to-peer RDF architecture. The architecture consists of a logic to distribute and mine the knowledge and of a set of physical peer nodes organized in a ring topology based on a Distributed Hash Table (DHT). Each node shares the same logic and provides an entry point that enables clients to query the knowledge base using atomic, disjunctive and conjunctive SPARQL queries. The consistency of the results is increased using data redundancy algorithm that replicates each RDF triple in multiple nodes so that, in the case of peer failure, other peers can retrieve the data needed to resolve the queries. Additionally, a distributed load balancing algorithm is used to maintain a uniform distribution of the data among the participating peers by dynamically changing the key space assigned to each node in the DHT. Recently, the process of data structuring has gained more and more attention when applied to the large volume of text information spread on the Web, such as legacy data, news papers, scientific papers or (micro-)blog posts. This process mainly consists in three steps: \emph{i)} the extraction from the text of atomic pieces of information, called named entities; \emph{ii)} the classification of these pieces of information through ontologies; \emph{iii)} the disambigation of them through Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) identifying real world objects. As a step towards interconnecting the web to real world objects via named entities, different techniques have been proposed. The second objective of this work is to propose a comparison of these approaches in order to highlight strengths and weaknesses in different scenarios such as scientific and news papers, or user generated contents. We created the Named Entity Recognition and Disambiguation (NERD) web framework, publicly accessible on the Web (through REST API and web User Interface), which unifies several named entity extraction technologies. Moreover, we proposed the NERD ontology, a reference ontology for comparing the results of these technologies. Recently, the NERD ontology has been included in the NIF (Natural language processing Interchange Format) specification, part of the Creating Knowledge out of Interlinked Data (LOD2) project. Summarizing, this dissertation defines a framework for the extraction of knowledge from unstructured data and its classification via distributed ontologies. A detailed study of the Semantic Web and knowledge extraction fields is proposed to define the issues taken under investigation in this work. Then, it proposes an architecture to tackle the single point of failure issue introduced by the RDF repositories spread within the Web. Although the use of ontologies enables a Web where data is structured and comprehensible by computing machinery, human users may take advantage of it especially for the annotation task. Hence, this work describes an annotation tool for web editing, audio and video annotation in a web front end User Interface powered on the top of a distributed ontology. Furthermore, this dissertation details a thorough comparison of the state of the art of named entity technologies. The NERD framework is presented as technology to encompass existing solutions in the named entity extraction field and the NERD ontology is presented as reference ontology in the field. Finally, this work highlights three use cases with the purpose to reduce the amount of data silos spread within the Web: a Linked Data approach to augment the automatic classification task in a Systematic Literature Review, an application to lift educational data stored in Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) data silos to the Web of data and a scientific conference venue enhancer plug on the top of several data live collectors. Significant research efforts have been devoted to combine the efficiency of a reliable data structure and the importance of data extraction techniques. This dissertation opens different research doors which mainly join two different research communities: the Semantic Web and the Natural Language Processing community. The Web provides a considerable amount of data where NLP techniques may shed the light within it. The use of the URI as a unique identifier may provide one milestone for the materialization of entities lifted from a raw text to real world object

Player agency in interactive narrative: audience, actor & author

The question motivating this review paper is, how can computer-based interactive narrative be used as a constructivist learn- ing activity? The paper proposes that player agency can be used to link interactive narrative to learner agency in constructivist theory, and to classify approaches to interactive narrative. The traditional question driving research in interactive narrative is, ‘how can an in- teractive narrative deal with a high degree of player agency, while maintaining a coherent and well-formed narrative?’ This question derives from an Aristotelian approach to interactive narrative that, as the question shows, is inherently antagonistic to player agency. Within this approach, player agency must be restricted and manip- ulated to maintain the narrative. Two alternative approaches based on Brecht’s Epic Theatre and Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed are reviewed. If a Boalian approach to interactive narrative is taken the conflict between narrative and player agency dissolves. The question that emerges from this approach is quite different from the traditional question above, and presents a more useful approach to applying in- teractive narrative as a constructivist learning activity

Increasing citizen and association involvement in government decision-making by implementing civic engagement platforms: Valencia city case study

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesCivic engagement is believed to be one principle requirement in successful governmental decision making and in turn in realizing deliberation and democracy (Peña-Lopez, 2017; Irvin and Stansbury, 2004). In this study, a state-of-the-art investigation was executed among five civic engagement platforms to decide on the most suitable platform to start building the prototype for the use case of Valencia. The selection was based on the comparison matrix of the specifications elicited from technical project requirements, user suggestions through a survey and a participatory workshop; and adaptability criteria. The selected platform “Communecter” was developed, implemented and deployed on the internet for the validation part for which evaluators from the students of the international master of peace, conflicts and development studies were invited for a validation participatory workshop. Results from the first survey and participatory workshop emphasised the importance of the discussion availability through the platform, possibility of displaying volunteering opportunities and organizing events among a bigger set of functions that are available in the selected platform. The results of the validation show that the current civic engagement platform is a good environment for pursuing civic activities by citizens and associations despite the technical improvements needed and the usability issues. The platform furthermore should be supplemented with other non-technological procedures that will tackle other concerns raised during the study’s participatory workshops including motivation and social & age divide

Challenges of rapid migration to fully virtual education in the age of the Corona virus pandemic: experiences from across the world

The social disruption caused by the sudden eruption of the Corona Virus pandemic has shaken the whole world, influencing all levels of education immensely. Notwithstanding there was a lack of preparedness for this global public health emergency which continues to affect all aspects of work and life. The problem is, naturally, multifaceted, fast evolving and complex, affecting everyone, threatening our well-being, the global economy, the environment and all societal and cultural norms and our everyday activities. In a recent UNESCO report it is noted that nearly a billion and a quarter (which is 67,7 % of the total number) of learners have been affected by the Corona Virus pandemic worldwide. The education sector at all levels has been one of the hardest hit sectors particularly as the academic/school year was in full swing. The impact of the pandemic is widespread, representing a health hazard worldwide. Being such, it profoundly affects society as a whole, and its members that are, in particular, i) individuals (the learners, their parents, educators, support staff), ii) schools, training organisations, pedagogical institutions and education systems, iii) quickly transformed policies, methods and pedagogies to serve the newly appeared needs of the latter. Lengthy developments of such scale usually take years of consultation, strategic planning and implementation. In addition to raising awareness across the population of the dangers of the virus transmission and instigating total lockdown, it has been necessary to develop mechanisms for continuing the delivery of education as well as demanding mechanisms for assuring the quality of the educational experience and educational results. There is often scepticism about securing quality standards in such a fast moving situation. Often in the recent past, the perception was that courses and degrees leading to an award are inferior if the course modules (and sometimes its assessment components) were wholly online. Over the last three decades most Higher Education institutions developed both considerable infrastructure and knowhow enabling distance mode delivery schools (Primary and Secondary) had hardly any necessary infrastructure nor adequate knowhow for enabling virtual education. In addition, community education and various training providers were mainly delivered face-to-face and that had to either stop altogether or rapidly convert materials, exercises and tests for online delivery and testing. A high degree of flexibility and commitment was demanded of all involved and particularly from the educators, who undertook to produce new educational materials in order to provide online support to pupils and students. Apart from the delivery mode of education, which is serving for certificated programmes, it is essential to ensure that learners’ needs are thoroughly and continuously addressed and are efficiently supported throughout the Coronavirus or any other future lockdown. The latter can be originated by various causes and reasons that vary in nature, such as natural or socioeconomical. Readiness, thus, in addition to preparedness, is the primary key question and solution when it comes to quality education for any lockdown. In most countries, the compulsory primary and secondary education sectors have been facing a more difficult challenge than that faced by Higher Education. The poor or in many cases non-existent technological infrastructure and low technological expertise of the teachers, instructors and parents, make the delivery of virtual education difficult or even impossible. The latter, coupled with phenomena such as social exclusion and digital divide where thousands of households do not have adequate access to broadband Internet, Wi-Fi infrastructure and personal computers hamper the promising and strenuous virtual solutions. The shockwaves of the sudden demands on all sectors of society and on individuals required rapid decisions and actions. We will not attempt to answer the question “Why was the world unprepared for the onslaught of the Coronavirus pandemic” but need to ascertain the level of preparedness and readiness particularly of the education sector, to effect the required rapid transition. We aimed to identify the challenges, and problems faced by the educators and their institutions. Through first-hand experiences we also identify best practices and solutions reached. Thus we constructed a questionnaire to gather our own responses but also experiences from colleagues and members of our environment, family, friends, and colleagues. This paper reports the first-hand experiences and knowledge of 33 co-authors from 27 institutions and from 13 different countries from Europe, Asia, and Africa. The communication technologies and development platforms used are identified; the challenges faced as well as solutions and best practices are reported. The findings are consolidated into the four areas explored i.e. Development Platforms, Communications Technologies, Challenges/Problems and Solutions/Best Practices. The conclusion summarises the findings into emerging themes and similarities. Reflections on the lasting impact of the effect of Coronavirus on education, limitations of study, and indications of future work complete the paper

The Making of Good Citizens: Participation Policies, the Internet and Youth Political Identities in Australia and the United Kingdom

Collin, P. (2009) The Making of Good Citizens: Participation policies, the internet and youth political identities in Australia and the United Kingdom. PhD Thesis, University of Sydney. Abstract This thesis examines the relationship between youth participation policies, the internet and young people’s political participation. In recent times youth participation policies have become an increasingly popular solution to a range of perceived ‘issues’ related to young people: either problems of youth disengagement from democracy or their exclusion from democratic processes. At the same time, young people’s lives are increasingly mediated by information communication technologies: identity, social relationships, learning and cultural, political and economic practices are embedded in the internet and mobile usage. Consequently, the internet is being increasingly utilised to promote and implement the aims of these youth participation policies. Despite the need to understand the relationship between policy and practice, research rarely considers the relationship between policy, practice and young people’s views and experiences. This thesis addresses this gap in the literature by looking at what participation means in youth policy, in the practice of non-government organisations and for young people themselves. It engages directly with young people’s experiences and in doing so moves beyond questions of mobilisation and reinforcement. Instead it examines the diversity of ways in which young people conceptualise and practice participation, both online and offline. It also relates their views and actions to broader changes in governance and democracy and draws on contemporary theories of political identity and citizenship to make sense of the way that young people view, and exercise, citizenship. This study draws on original qualitative research generated in a comparative study of Australia and the United Kingdom. The experiences of young people in two national non-government organisations are studied and explored in relation to the policy discourses on youth and participation in each country setting. This study has drawn on participant observation, document analysis and in-depth interviews with twenty four young people and eight executive staff and board members across the two country settings. This thesis provides an in-depth account of how young people conceptualise and practice politics. In doing so, it argues, firstly, that the political identities of young people are shaped by dominant discourses of youth and participation and that youth participation policies are transforming the ways that young people conceptualise participation and engage in participatory activities. Although participation policies are often intended to connect young people to government policy making processes, young people remain cynical about the interest and ability of governments to recognise and respond to their views. They see governments and politicians as remote from their lives and the issues they cared about. Comparatively, they demonstrate a passionate commitment to causes, to personally defined acts incorporated in their everyday lives through local volunteering and contributing to national initiatives. Furthermore, these young people reject traditional hierarchies, show significant commitment to action over ideology and value the cultural and interpersonal dimensions of participation. They often conceptualise participation as everyday acts through networks that transcend traditional models of membership-based organisations, of state-oriented politics, of locally-based action and of formal and informal policy making processes. Secondly, young people use the Internet for a diverse range of participation activities. The internet facilitates activities which bring together the political, cultural, social and economic dimensions of young people’s lives. For instance, participatory activities, friendships, study, hobbies and consumer activities were often interwoven as young people discussed participation. However, the picture that emerged in this thesis is that the agency and autonomy that young people value in online participation contrasts starkly with government policies which favour structured, managed, prescribed processes for youth participation both on and offline. Thirdly, whilst participation policies have opened up new access points to policy-making from which young people have traditionally been excluded, they tend to legitimise managed forms of participation and de-legitimise others. Consequently, participation policies, in their present form, tend to exacerbate, rather than remedy problems of elitism and can further alienate young people from political elites. Furthermore, as discourses of participation are becoming more prevalent in the non-government sector, young people are increasingly oriented away from government towards other actors. This thesis finds that young people are becoming more, not less, alienated from formal politics as they find more resonance in non-government processes and feel more excluded from the processes of government