3,652 research outputs found
Mobile heritage practices. Implications for scholarly research, user experience design, and evaluation methods using mobile apps.
Mobile heritage apps have become one of the most popular means for audience
engagement and curation of museum collections and heritage contexts. This
raises practical and ethical questions for both researchers and practitioners, such
as: what kind of audience engagement can be built using mobile apps? what are
the current approaches? how can audience engagement with these experience
be evaluated? how can those experiences be made more resilient, and in turn
sustainable? In this thesis I explore experience design scholarships together with
personal professional insights to analyse digital heritage practices with a view to
accelerating thinking about and critique of mobile apps in particular. As a result,
the chapters that follow here look at the evolution of digital heritage practices,
examining the cultural, societal, and technological contexts in which mobile
heritage apps are developed by the creative media industry, the academic
institutions, and how these forces are shaping the user experience design
methods. Drawing from studies in digital (critical) heritage, Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI), and design thinking, this thesis provides a critical analysis of
the development and use of mobile practices for the heritage. Furthermore,
through an empirical and embedded approach to research, the thesis also
presents auto-ethnographic case studies in order to show evidence that mobile
experiences conceptualised by more organic design approaches, can result in
more resilient and sustainable heritage practices. By doing so, this thesis
encourages a renewed understanding of the pivotal role of these practices in the
broader sociocultural, political and environmental changes.AHRC REAC
An integrated climate and water resource climate service prototype for long term water allocation in the Upper Yellow River Region of China
Water Resourcing in China has historically been a complex issue requiring the ability to deal with regular floods, droughts and diverse water needs. Climate change represents another challenge to this sector, albeit one that is not traditionally considered by water managers. In this sector in China water management is predominantly based on historic, seasonal and annual forecast data while multi-annual and (multi-)decadal data are seldom used. In this paper, we present the co-development of a climate service prototype designed to provide water managers with insights into the impacts of climate change on the Upper Yellow River region for the next century. The paper is an outcome from our project that encouraged water resource planners and water resource managers to utilise long-term climate information to understand the uncertainties and the challenges our changing climate is likely to have in the region. Using an interdisciplinary team and adopting a user-centred, co-production approach, a prototype web-based data visualisation tool was developed. The development of the prototype was based on a design specification constructed from the findings of detailed interviews that allowed it to be developed and tested under SARS-CoV-2 pandemic restrictions that prevented the typical development process to be undertaken. The developed prototype presents climate information and communicates uncertainties regarding climate change in the remainder of the century through data sets that are typically used by the water sector in China in a simple, easy to understand style. Models that estimate river levels under different extraction scenarios and results about estimated river level and flow, and flood risk are also presented. The prototype was shown to be successful, as key messages relating to the impact of climate change and the challenges for water resource management could be effectively communicated through the tool interface.
Practical implications
Understanding the impacts of climate change on water resourcing is complicated and multifaceted. There is a need for better data about what water there is and how it is moving around between and within catchments. Estimates of past, present and future climate variables along with historical measurements of river flow can be used to help visualise some of the uncertainties and changes that may happen in the next 50 years. In addition, there is a need to understand changing water demands and water resource management practices. Current water resource management practices are based on historical conditions and assumptions that are less likely to hold true in a more variable and warmer climate. Communicating how future changes will impact future water resourcing is critical to water resources in a changing climate (Belcher et al. 2018).
This research outlines the construction of a tool to visualise the impacts of climate change on water availability in part of China that is typically water scarce, using models developed using the Soil Water Assessment Toolkit (SWAT). A model of the Upper Yellow River (UYR) was developed to demonstrate the impact of climate change on river levels in the catchment based on climate variables. The rainfall-runoff model was based on climate predictions from the CMIP5 assessment HadGEM3-GC3.05 climate model and incorporated information about water resource allocations for different administrative regions of the catchment The general climate trend for the region is that it is expected to become significantly warmer. The total amount of precipitation is likely to be about the same, and yet it is expected that overall, the catchment will become significantly drier over time as winter shortens and summer lengthens. The outputs from the model reflect the changes in climate variables. The uncertainties were communicated via a Web based tool. Water resource managers in China helped to coproduce the tool by participating in workshops and providing feedback on prototypes. The workshops helped scientists and water resource managers to communicate about climate change impacts on water resources and water resource management
On the real world practice of Behaviour Driven Development
Surveys of industry practice over the last decade suggest that Behaviour Driven Development is a popular Agile practice. For example, 19% of respondents to the 14th State of Agile annual survey reported using BDD, placing it in the top 13 practices reported. As well as potential benefits, the adoption of BDD necessarily involves an additional cost of writing and maintaining Gherkin features and scenarios, and (if used for acceptance testing,) the associated step functions. Yet there is a lack of published literature exploring how BDD is used in practice and the challenges experienced by real world software development efforts. This gap is significant because without understanding current real world practice, it is hard to identify opportunities to address and mitigate challenges. In order to address this research gap concerning the challenges of using BDD, this thesis reports on a research project which explored: (a) the challenges of applying agile and undertaking requirements engineering in a real world context; (b) the challenges of applying BDD specifically and (c) the application of BDD in open-source projects to understand challenges in this different context.
For this purpose, we progressively conducted two case studies, two series of interviews, four iterations of action research, and an empirical study. The first case study was conducted in an avionics company to discover the challenges of using an agile process in a large scale safety critical project environment. Since requirements management was found to be one of the biggest challenges during the case study, we decided to investigate BDD because of its reputation for requirements management. The second case study was conducted in the company with an aim to discover the challenges of using BDD in real life. The case study was complemented with an empirical study of the practice of BDD in open source projects, taking a study sample from the GitHub open source collaboration site.
As a result of this Ph.D research, we were able to discover: (i) challenges of using an agile process in a large scale safety-critical organisation, (ii) current state of BDD in practice, (iii) technical limitations of Gherkin (i.e., the language for writing requirements in BDD), (iv) challenges of using BDD in a real project, (v) bad smells in the Gherkin specifications of open source projects on GitHub. We also presented a brief comparison between the theoretical description of BDD and BDD in practice. This research, therefore, presents the results of lessons learned from BDD in practice, and serves as a guide for software practitioners planning on using BDD in their projects
Multidisciplinary perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and the law
This open access book presents an interdisciplinary, multi-authored, edited collection of chapters on Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and the Law. AI technology has come to play a central role in the modern data economy. Through a combination of increased computing power, the growing availability of data and the advancement of algorithms, AI has now become an umbrella term for some of the most transformational technological breakthroughs of this age. The importance of AI stems from both the opportunities that it offers and the challenges that it entails. While AI applications hold the promise of economic growth and efficiency gains, they also create significant risks and uncertainty. The potential and perils of AI have thus come to dominate modern discussions of technology and ethics – and although AI was initially allowed to largely develop without guidelines or rules, few would deny that the law is set to play a fundamental role in shaping the future of AI. As the debate over AI is far from over, the need for rigorous analysis has never been greater. This book thus brings together contributors from different fields and backgrounds to explore how the law might provide answers to some of the most pressing questions raised by AI. An outcome of the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law and its interdisciplinary working group on Law and Artificial Intelligence, it includes contributions by leading scholars in the fields of technology, ethics and the law.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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Cancer Care in Pandemic Times: Building Inclusive Local Health Security in Africa and India
This is a book about improving cancer care in Africa and India that is a child of its pandemic times. It has been collaboratively researched and written by colleagues in Kenya, Tanzania, India and the UK, working within a cross-country, multidisciplinary research project, Innovation for Cancer Care in Africa (ICCA). Since this was a health-focused research project, ICCA researchers during the pandemic not only continued to work on the cancer research project but were also called upon by their governments to respond to immediate pandemic needs. In combining these two concerns, for improving cancer care and responding to pandemic needs, our original project aims have been challenged, deepened and reworked. ICCA’s initial collaborative research focus included—against the grain of most global health literature—the potential role of enhanced local production of essential healthcare supplies for improving cancer care in African countries. The pandemic experience has strikingly validated these earlier findings on the importance of industrial development for health care. The pandemic crystallised for researchers and policymakers an often overlooked phenomenon: global health security is built on the foundations of strong local health security. We argue in this book that new analytical thinking from social scientists and others is required on how to build local health security. We use the “lens” of original research on cancer care in East Africa and India to build up an understanding of the scope for the development of stronger synergies between local health industries and health care, in order to strengthen local health security and develop tools for policy making. The rethinking and reimagining presented here is required for different African countries, for India and the wider world, and this research on cancer care has taught us that this imperative goes much wider than infectious diseases
1st Design Factory Global Network Research Conference ‘Designing the Future’ 5-6 October 2022
DFGN.R 2022 -Designing the Future - is the first research conference organised by the Design Factory Global Network. The open event offers the opportunity for all like-minded educators, designers and researchers to share their insights and inspire others on education, methods, practices and ecosystems of co-creation and innovation. The DFGN.R conference is a two-day event hosted on-site in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. The conference is organized alongside International Design Factory Week 2022, the annual gathering of DFGN members. This year's conference is organized in collaboration with Aalto University from Helsinki Finland and hosted by the NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences
The Diffusion of Dynamic Capability in Organizations in Digitalizing Operating Environments
Digitalisaation myötä erilaiset teknologiat yleistyvät muuttaen organisaatioita, toimialoja ja liiketoimintaympäristöjä. Organisaatioissa tarvitaan uusia kyvykkyyksiä ja osaamista, kun niin arvontuotto ja toimintamallit kuin yhteistyön tekeminen ja päivittäiset toiminnot muuttuvat. Usein dynaamiset kyvykkyydet nähdään ensi sijassa johdon kykynä havaita organisaatioon vaikuttavia mahdollisuuksia ja uhkia, tarttua niihin ja muuttaa organisaatiota tarvittavalla tavalla. Tarve monipuolisemmalle ymmärrykselle dynaamisista kyvykkyyksistä digitalisaation kontekstissa on tunnistettu huomioiden myös muun henkilöstön tärkeä rooli organisaation muutoskyvykkyyden luomisessa. Tämän väitöskirjan tavoitteena on tuottaa uutta tietämystä siitä, kuinka dynaaminen kyvykkyys kehittyy ja levittäytyy organisaatioissa yli erilaisten työroolien. Tutkimusongelmana on, kuinka dynaaminen kyvykkyys leviää organisaatioissa, jotka toimivat digitalisoituvissa toimintaympäristöissä.
Tutkimusongelmaa tarkasteltiin tulkitsevan laadullisen monitapaustutkimuksen menetelmällä kolmen case-organisaation kanssa. Case-organisaatiot edustavat tutkimuskentästä teknologian käyttäjäorganisaation, teknologian kehittäjäorganisaation sekä teknologian ja prosessien integraattoriorganisaation näkökulmia. Pääasiallinen aineiston keruumenetelmä oli laadulliset teemahaastattelut. Yhteensä tutkimuksessa toteutettiin 59 yksilöhaastattelua 36 haastateltavan kanssa. Lisäksi tutkimuksen aikana toteutettiin useita keskusteluita organisaatioiden yhteyshenkilöiden kanssa. Aineisto kerättiin ja analysoitiin vuosina 2018–2022 induktiivisesti ja abduktiivisesti laadullisella sisällönanalyysilla tulkitsevan kenttätutkimuksen ja grounded theory -lähestymistavan oppeja hyödyntäen. Tutkimuksen luotettavuuden arviointiin käytettiin laadullisen, tulkitsevan ja tapaustutkimuksen kriteereitä.
Tutkimuksen keskeisenä tuloksena tuotettiin malli siitä, kuinka nykypäivän digitalisoituvissa toimintaympäristöissä dynaaminen kyvykkyys näyttäytyy monitasoisena ilmiönä siten, että operatiivinen dynaaminen kyvykkyys ja johdon dynaaminen kyvykkyys ovat erillisiä toisistaan. Johdon tason ja operatiivisen tason dynaamiset kyvykkyydet ilmenevät eri tavoin eri työrooleissa vaikuttaen näin organisaation kehitykseen vastavuoroisten johdon ja henkilöstön toimien kautta. Väitöskirjassa tuotetaan seuraavat suositukset johdolle siitä, kuinka monitasoisen dynaamisen
kyvykkyyden leviämistä organisaatioissa voitaisiin tukea: (1) jatkuva ja aito sidosryhmien osallistuminen, (2) muutoksen tavoitteiden, vaikutusten, saavuttamiskeinojen ja hyötyjen selkeyden varmistaminen, (3) henkilökohtaisen työssä kehittymisen resurssien turvaaminen, (4) taustalla vaikuttavien yhteistyötä haittaavien jännitteiden käsitteleminen ja (5) ihmistenvälistä dynaamista kyvykkyyttä tukevien käytäntöjen hyödyntäminen.
Teorian näkökulmasta tulokset tarjoavat lisäymmärrystä dynaamisten kyvykkyyksien vuorovaikutteisesta luonteesta johdon ja muun henkilöstön välillä. Käytännön näkökulmasta tulokset auttavat johtoa organisaation ja sen kyvykkyyksien kehittämisessä. Kiihtyvän digitalisaation ja jatkuvan muutosvaatimuksen myötä vaikuttaa ratkaisevalta, että organisaatiot kykenevät täydellä potentiaalillaan hyödyntämään kykynsä havaita mahdollisuuksia ja uhkia, tarttua niihin sekä muuntautua tarvittavalla tavalla. Tässä väitöskirjassa esitetyt tulokset tukevat osaltaan näitä pyrkimyksiä. Jatkotutkimuksena suositellaan monimenetelmällisiä lähestymistapoja, operatiivisen dynaamisen kyvykkyyden olemukseen tarkempaa pureutumista, organisaatioiden kontekstuaalisten tekijöiden kattavampaa sisällyttämistä, pitkittäisiä johdon ja henkilöstön näkökulmia huomioivia tarkasteluita sekä tutkimusta siitä, kuinka esitettyjä johdon suosituksia voidaan hyödyntää organisaatioissa käytännössä.Digitalization introduces new technologies changing organizations, industries, and operating environments. New capabilities and expertise are required, as organizations need to rethink their value offerings, operating models, and ways of collaborating and conducting day-to-day tasks. While dynamic capabilities are often viewed as managerial capacities of sensing, seizing and transforming, recently the focus on employees in creating organizational capacity for change has increased. Likewise, the need for a more nuanced understanding of the development of dynamic capabilities in digitalization has been noted. The aim of this dissertation is to better understand, how dynamic capability develops and spreads in organizations across different work roles. The research problem is how dynamic capability diffuses in organizations in digitalizing operating environments.
The research problem was studied by an interpretive qualitative multiple-case study with three case organizations representing the perspectives of a technology user, technology creator, and technology and process integrator. The main data collection method was semi-structured, theme-based interviews. In total 59 individual interviews with 36 informants were conducted, and additionally several discussions were held with company representatives. The data were collected and analysed over the period of 2018–2022 by inductive and abductive approaches, qualitative thematic analysis, and drawing from the guidelines of interpretive field research and grounded theory methodology. The reliability and validity were evaluated by utilizing the criteria of qualitative, interpretive, and case-study research.
As findings, a model of how dynamic capability in today’s digitalizing operating environments appears as a multilevel phenomenon comprising of operative dynamic capability and managerial dynamic capability is presented. The managerial- and operative level dynamic capabilities manifest differently in different work roles and contribute to organizational development through reciprocal actions of the management and employees. Additionally, the following managerial propositions are given on how the diffusion of dynamic capability could be supported in organizations: (1) exercising continuous and genuine stakeholder participation, (2) ensuring clear goals, implications, way to, and benefits of change, (3) securing resources for individual development at work, (4) addressing underlying tensions hindering collaboration, and (5) deploying organizational practices enabling interpersonal dynamic capability.
As theoretical contributions, the findings provide new understanding on dynamic capabilities as reciprocal phenomena between the management and employees. As practical implications, the findings help management in their organizational and capability development efforts. As digitalization accelerates pace invoking requirements of continuous adaptation, it seems vital for organizations to utilize their full potential of sensing, seizing, and renewing capacities. The findings presented in this dissertation aim to support these endeavours. As future research, mixed methods approaches, closer investigations on the essence of operative dynamic capability, more comprehensive considerations on organizational contextual factors, further longitudinal study incorporating both employee and managerial views, and examinations on utilizing the presented propositions in practice in organizations are suggested
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