Becoming Artifacts: Medieval Seals, Passports and the Future of Digital Identity

What does a digital identity token have to do with medieval seals? Is the history of passports of any use for enabling the discovery of Internet users\u27 identity when crossing virtual domain boundaries during their digital browsing and transactions? The agility of the Internet architecture and its simplicity of use have been the engines of its growth and success with the users worldwide. As it turns out, there lies also its crux. In effect, Internet industry participants have argued that the critical problem business is faced with on the Internet is the absence of an identity layer from the core protocols of its logical infrastructure. As a result, the cyberspace parallels a global territory without any identification mechanism that is reliable, consistent and interoperable across domains. This dissertation is an investigation of the steps being taken by Internet stakeholders in order to resolve its identity problems, through the lenses of historical instances where similar challenges were tackled by social actors. Social science research addressing the Internet identity issues is barely nascent. Research on identification systems in general is either characterized by a paucity of historical perspective, or scantily references digital technology and online identification processes. This research is designed to bridge that gap. The general question at its core is: How do social actors, events or processes enable the historical emergence of authoritative identity credentials for the public at large? This work is guided by that line of inquiry through three broad historical case studies: first, the medieval experience with seals used as identity tokens in the signing of deeds that resulted in transfers of rights, particularly estate rights; second, comes the modern, national state with its claim to the right to know all individuals on its territory through credentials such as the passport or the national identity card; and finally, viewed from the United States, the case of ongoing efforts to build an online digital identity infrastructure. Following a process-tracing approach to historical case study, this inquiry presents enlightening connections between the three identity frameworks while further characterizing each. We understand how the medieval doctrines of the Trinity and the Eucharist developed by schoolmen within the Church accommodated seals as markers of identity, and we understand how the modern state seized on the term `nationality\u27 - which emerged as late as in the 19th century - to make it into a legal fiction that was critical for its identification project. Furthermore, this investigation brings analytical insights which enable us to locate the dynamics driving the emergence of those identity systems. An ordering of the contributing factors in sequential categories is proposed in a sociohistorical approach to explain the causal mechanisms at work across these large phenomena. Finally this research also proposes historically informed projections of scenarios as possible pathways to the realization of authoritative digital identity. But that is the beginning of yet another story of identity

Insights on innovation management practices at T-Systems. Analysis of a new business model for identity services on public computer network systems

Projecte final de carrera fet en col.laboració amb T-Systems International GmbHCatalà: Aquesta monografia identifica elements de gestió de la innovació en una coneguda companyia alemanya del sector TIC (T-Systems International GmbH) i exerceix un anàlisi crític sobre ells a partir de l'estudi d'una iniciativa de negoci denominada Projecte CifraH (Citizen Interoperability Folder for Relationships based on Avatar Hosting per les seves sigles en anglès) originada en T-Systems ITC Iberia SAU, una unitat internacional de la companyia.Castellà: Esta monografía identifica elementos de gestión de la innovación en una conocida compañía alemana del sector TIC (T-Systems International GmbH) y los somete a un análisis crítico a partir del estudio de una iniciativa de negocio denominada Proyecto CifraH (Citizen Interoperability Folder for Relationships based on Avatar Hosting por sus siglas en inglés) llevada a cabo en T-Systems ITC Iberia SAU, una unidad internacional de la compañía.English: This monographic identifies innovation management elements at a major German IT services firm (T-Systems International GmbH) and subjects them to critical analysis through the study of a corporate business initiative known as Project CifraH (Citizen Interoperability Folder for Relationships based on Avatar Hosting) undertaken at an international subsidiary of the company

Insights on innovation management practices at T-Systems. Analysis of a new business model for identity services on public computer network systems

Projecte final de carrera fet en col.laboració amb T-Systems International GmbHCatalà: Aquesta monografia identifica elements de gestió de la innovació en una coneguda companyia alemanya del sector TIC (T-Systems International GmbH) i exerceix un anàlisi crític sobre ells a partir de l'estudi d'una iniciativa de negoci denominada Projecte CifraH (Citizen Interoperability Folder for Relationships based on Avatar Hosting per les seves sigles en anglès) originada en T-Systems ITC Iberia SAU, una unitat internacional de la companyia.Castellà: Esta monografía identifica elementos de gestión de la innovación en una conocida compañía alemana del sector TIC (T-Systems International GmbH) y los somete a un análisis crítico a partir del estudio de una iniciativa de negocio denominada Proyecto CifraH (Citizen Interoperability Folder for Relationships based on Avatar Hosting por sus siglas en inglés) llevada a cabo en T-Systems ITC Iberia SAU, una unidad internacional de la compañía.English: This monographic identifies innovation management elements at a major German IT services firm (T-Systems International GmbH) and subjects them to critical analysis through the study of a corporate business initiative known as Project CifraH (Citizen Interoperability Folder for Relationships based on Avatar Hosting) undertaken at an international subsidiary of the company

Shocked, Exhausted, and Injured: The Canadian Military and Veteran's Experience of Trauma from 1914 to 2014

The Canadian military and veterans have a long history of dealing with psychological trauma caused by war and peacekeeping. Over the past century views about trauma among physicians, military leaders, society, and veterans’ themselves have been shaped by medical theories, predominant views about the ideal soldier and man, and the nation’s role in international affairs. Since the First World War, major conflicts and peacekeeping operations have been responsible for distinct shifts in how trauma is conceptualized, named, and experienced by Canadian soldiers and the public. Canadian historians have examined this subject by looking at particular wars, most notably the First World War, but no attempt has been made to provide a monograph-length study of military trauma over the past century. This thesis utilizes several lenses – medical, social, and cultural – to explore how conceptions of trauma changed from 1914 to 2014, how such changes affected veterans in their civilian life, and the interactions between medical and popular knowledge, military culture, and veterans’ lived experiences. With a particular emphasis on the latter, it uses oral interviews with veterans of the post-Cold War, government reports, medical literature, and national newspapers to track shifts in consciousness about trauma and its social and medical treatment. It argues that despite numerous changes in medical thought and popular understandings of trauma, stigmas about psychological illness persisted, and that masculine ideals inherent in 1914 were still present, albeit in an altered form, one-hundred years later. It also argues that the Canadian veteran’s experience demonstrates that from 1914 to 2014, trauma consistently oscillated between being a medical entity and a metaphorical representation of war, peacekeeping, veterans’ socio-economic struggles, and national identity. This thesis takes advantage of a historically unique openness in the Canadian military since the year 2000 to contribute to a growing literature about trauma in Canadian military history and society

Strengths perspective in social work practice with older adults

No abstract available.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b128875

The Critique of Digital Capitalism: An Analysis of the Political Economy of Digital Culture and Technology

Anything that can be automated, will be. The “magic” that digital technology has brought us — self-driving cars, Bitcoin, high frequency trading, internet of things, social networking, mass surveillance, the 2009 housing bubble — has not been considered ideologically. The Critique of Digital Capitalism identifies how digital technology has captured contemporary society in a reification of capitalist priorities. The theory proposed in this book is the description of how digital capitalism as an ideologically “invisible” framework is realized in technology. Written as a series of articles between 2003 and 2015, it provides a broad critical scope for understanding the inherent demands of capitalist protocols for expansion without constraint (regardless of social, legal or ethical limits) that are increasingly being realized as autonomous systems no longer dependent on human labor or oversight and implemented without social discussion of their impacts. The digital illusion of infinite resources, infinite production, and no costs appears as an “end to scarcity,” whereby digital production supposedly eliminates costs and makes everything equally available to everyone. This fantasy of production without consumption hides the physical costs and real-world impacts of these technologies

Women's experiences of miscarriage and termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly in Thailand: a phenomenological study

Background: Pregnancy is a major life event and the loss of pregnancy is an event with potential for adverse psychological outcomes. Although the understanding of grief after perinatal loss has progressed, there has been relatively little work specifically addressing the loss after miscarriage and termination of pregnancy due to fetal anomaly. Objectives: This study aimed to gain an understanding of experiences of miscarriage and termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly among a group of Thai women Study design: An interpretive phenomenology approach was taken using unstructured interviews with 12 women who had undergone termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly and 11 women who had experienced miscarriage in Chiang Mai province, Thailand. To gain the perspective of care the women received in the hospital, focus groups with 10 doctors and 10 nurse-midwives were conducted. Results: The data were analysed and interpreted using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The loss of hope is the essence of the women’s experiences of miscarriage and therapeutic termination. Three themes emerged from both groups: 1) facing the loss of hope, 2) gaining emotional balance, and 3) the need for intervention. Although the main findings are similar, significant difference between them is the context of pregnancy loss. While miscarriage is an inevitable event and needs urgent treatment, the diagnosis of fetal anomaly leads the women to have a feeling of ambivalence around the decision to terminate the pregnancy. Conclusions: This study reinforces the difficulties that women have from the traumatic events of miscarriage and termination of pregnancy for fetal anomaly. The women need more in-depth knowledge and empathetic care from health professionals. Involving family members to support women in the labour unit can reduce the feelings of loneliness and insecurity. Recommendations: Health care professionals need to be educated to provide emotionally sensitive support for these women