The experience as a document: designing for the future of collaborative remembering in digital archives

How does it feel when we remember together on-line? Who gets to say what it is worth to be remembered? To understand how the user experience of participation is affecting the formation of collective memories in the context of online environments, first it is important to take into consideration how the notion of memory has been transformed under the influence of the digital revolution. I aim to contribute to the field of User Experience (UX) research theorizing on the felt experience of users from a memory perspective, taking into consideration aspects linked to both personal and collective memories in the context of connected environments.Harassment and hate speech in connected conversational environments are specially targeted to women and underprivileged communities, which has become a problem for digital archives of vernacular creativity (Burgess, J. E. 2007) such as YouTube, Twitter, Reddit and Wikipedia. An evaluation of the user experience of underprivileged communities in creative archives such as Wikipedia indicates the urgency for building a feminist space where women and queer folks can focus on knowledge production and learning without being harassed. The theoretical models and designs that I propose are a result of a series of prototype testing and case studies focused on cognitive tools for a mediated human memory operating inside transactive memory systems. With them, aims to imagine the means by which feminist protocols for UX design and research can assist in the building and maintenance of the archive as a safe/brave space.Working with perspectives from media theory, memory theory and gender studies and centering the user experience of participation for women, queer folks, people of colour (POC) and other vulnerable and underrepresented communities as the main focus of inquiring, my research takes an interdisciplinary approach to interrogate how online misogyny and other forms of abuse are perceived by communities placed outside the center of the hegemonic normativity, and how the user experience of online abuse is affecting the formation of collective memories in the context of online environments

A theoretical model for the application of Web 2.0 in e-Government

Government organisations in many countries have started embracing modern technologies such as second generation web (Web 2.0) in an attempt to maximize on the benefits of these technologies as well as keeping up with the current trend. Nevertheless, the advancement and the adoption of these of technologies is in its initial stages in the public sector. Therefore, the research problem is that the literature surrounding the application of Web 2.0 is still highly tentative and exploratory. In particular, there is a lack of research exploring the application of Web 2.0 technologies in the context of local e-Government. This study aims to address this research problem by presenting a comprehensive decision-making tool to aid the effective application of Web 2.0 technologies amongst local government authorities (LGAs). In doing so, resulting in the development of a theoretical model that is underpinned by information systems evaluation criteria and impact factors of Web 2.0 from an internal organizational perspective. By addressing the research problem, this study will make a significant contribution to the normative literature by providing new insights of Web 2.0 technologies within the public sector. This will be of specific relevance to scholars, policy makers, LGAs and practitioners who are interested in the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in an e-Government context. This paper presents the proposed theoretical model and is largely devoted to an explanation on the development of the model

Building communities for the exchange of learning objects: theoretical foundations and requirements

In order to reduce overall costs of developing high-quality digital courses (including both the content, and the learning and teaching activities), the exchange of learning objects has been recognized as a promising solution. This article makes an inventory of the issues involved in the exchange of learning objects within a community. It explores some basic theories, models and specifications and provides a theoretical framework containing the functional and non-functional requirements to establish an exchange system in the educational field. Three levels of requirements are discussed. First, the non-functional requirements that deal with the technical conditions to make learning objects interoperable. Second, some basic use cases (activities) are identified that must be facilitated to enable the technical exchange of learning objects, e.g. searching and adapting the objects. Third, some basic use cases are identified that are required to establish the exchange of learning objects in a community, e.g. policy management, information and training. The implications of this framework are then discussed, including recommendations concerning the identification of reward systems, role changes and evaluation instruments

Integration and implementation sciences: building a new specialization

Developing a new specialization—Integration and Implementation Sciences—may be an effective way to draw together and significantly strengthen the theory and methods necessary to tackle complex societal issues and problems. This paper presents an argument for such a specialization, beginning with a brief review of calls for new research approaches that combine disciplines and interact more closely with policy and practice. It posits that the core elements of Integration and Implementation Sciences already exist, but that the field is currently characterized by fragmentation and marginalization. The paper then outlines three sets of characteristics that will delineate Integration and Implementation Sciences. First is that the specialization will aim to find better ways to deal with the defining elements of many current societal issues and problems: namely complexity, uncertainty, change, and imperfection. Second is that there will be three theoretical and methodological pillars for doing this: 1) systems thinking and complexity science, 2) participatory methods, and 3) knowledge management, exchange, and implementation. Third, operationally, Integration and Implementation Sciences will be grounded in practical application, and generally involve large-scale collaboration. The paper concludes by examining where Integration and Implementation Sciences would sit in universities, and outlines a program for further development of the field. An appendix provides examples of Integration and Implementation Sciences in action

Three Research Essays on the Effects of Culture Across IT Diffusion Within Social Networks, Organizations, and Hospitals

This dissertation focuses on two research streams: IT diffusion and culture, and each can be examined in various contexts. Specifically, this study investigates IT diffusion through online social network use, knowledge sharing towards the general organizational information systems, and hospital information systems usage. In terms of culture, espoused national cultural values, IT occupational subculture, and organizational cultural variables are examined in the following essays. Essay1: Espoused National Cultural Values and Online Social Network Use: Towards an Extension of UTAUT Prior research has developed a number of models for examining the acceptance and use of technology. This paper extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) beyond the established demographic and contextual variables. Building upon research from social psychology and technology adoption, our proposed model incorporated three constructs into UTAUT: information privacy concerns, hedonic motivation, and relationship expectancy. Motivated by research where individual differences were shown to moderate the relationships of the UTAUT model, this paper investigated the effect of espoused national culture values on social network adoption. Integrating these findings into UTAUT, we formulated a model to examine the individual use of social network sites. Using data from 379 respondents, the model explained over seventy percent of the variance in intentions to use online social networks. Overall, all hypotheses were supported. The findings from this research generated both theoretical and practical implications. Essay2: Development and Testing of a Scale to Measure the Effect of IT Occupational Subculture on Knowledge Sharing within Organization Personnel Based on an existing conceptual framework in culture, this study developed a scale to measure IT occupational subculture. The relationship between the occupational subculture of information technology personnel and knowledge sharing in organizations was investigated. It was suggested that knowledge sharing among IT personnel and business end-users was positively affected by some elements of IT occupational subculture. Overtime, IT occupational subculture is positively affected by knowledge sharing among IT personnel and business end-users. Drawing upon cross-cultural psychology, the study presented one possible approach through which occupational subculture manifests at the organizational level of analysis and impacts the knowledge sharing process. In doing so, behaviors related to knowledge sharing and IT diffusion at the organizational level were better understood beyond the limitations of previous IT diffusion studies. Essay3: Differentiating Eustress from Distress: An Examination of Stress Associated with HIS Use across Organizational Culture An interesting but not yet investigated research issue is why some users complain that they are tired of using information systems while some other users actively embrace the use of such systems in their daily routine, and that this taste and associated behavior varies from person to person. Based on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, a framework was developed to explore the antecedents of distress (negative stress) and eustress (positive stress). This study was based within the context of using hospital information systems (HIS) and we investigated two different psychological processes that played a role in the development of HIS-use strain and motivation. Additionally, espoused organizational cultural values were found to be antecedents of perceived HIS-enabled job resources (literacy support, technical support provision, technology involvement facilitation, and innovation support). While HIS-enabled job resources were positively related to eustress, HIS-enabled job demands (HIS-complexity, HIS-overload, and HIS-uncertainty) were positively related to distress. Furthermore, HIS-enabled job resource (literacy support) was found to buffer the intensity and outcome of HIS-enabled use demands - distress

The Collective Building of Knowledge in Collaborative Learning Environments

The intention of this chapter is to investigate how collaborative learning environments (CLEs) can be used to elicit the collective building of knowledge. This work discusses CLEs as lively cognitive systems and looks at some strategies that might contribute to the improvement of significant pedagogical practices. The study is supported by rhizome principles, whose characteristics allow us to understand the process of selecting and connecting what is relevant and meaningful for the collective building of knowledge. A brief theoretical and conceptual approach is presented and major contributions and difficulties about collaborative learning environments are discussed. New questions and future trends about the collective building of knowledge are suggested

Building the HIVe: disrupting biomedical HIV and AIDS research with gay men, other men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgenders

Networked and digital technologies now mediate the sexual behaviors of many gay men, other men that have sex with men and transgenders, challenging the effectiveness of biomedical HIV/AIDS research and prevention practices. Driven by the normative positivist philosophy of science, these approaches—while paramount to fighting the epidemic—have neglected to rethink their ontological and epistemological assumptions when confronting the social drivers of HIV. Building the HIVe responds by forefronting community-based and led sociological HIV/AIDS research and prevention that addresses digitally mediated and driven sexual behaviors. The HIVe disrupts biomedical approaches by building an accessible and dynamic social science research community engaged in reflexive performativity to improve the health and human rights of marginalized communities disproportionately at risk of HIV/AIDS

Contextual Sensitivity in Grounded Theory: The Role of Pilot Studies

Grounded Theory is an established methodological approach for context specific inductive theory building. The grounded nature of the methodology refers to these specific contexts from which emergent propositions are drawn. Thus, any grounded theory study requires not only theoretical sensitivity, but also a good insight on how to design the research in the human activity systems to be studied. The lack of this insight may result in inefficient theoretical sampling or even erroneous purposeful sampling. These problems would not necessarily be critical, as it could be argued that through the elliptical process that characterizes grounded theory, remedial loops would always bring the researcher to the core of the theory. However, these elliptical remedial processes can take very long periods of time and result in catastrophic delays in research projects. As a strategy, this paper discusses, contrasts and compares the use of pilot studies in four different grounded theory projects. Each pilot brought different insights about the context, resulting in changes of focus, guidance to improve data collection instruments and informing theoretical sampling. Additionally, as all four projects were undertaken by researchers with little experience of inductive approaches in general and grounded theory in particular, the pilot studies also served the purpose of training in interviewing, relating to interviewees, memoing, constant comparison and coding. This last outcome of the pilot study was actually not planned initially, but revealed itself to be a crucial success factor in the running of the projects. The paper concludes with a theoretical proposition for the concept of contextual sensitivity and for the inclusion of the pilot study in grounded theory research designs