Human-Machine Communication: Complete Volume. Volume 6

his is the complete volume of HMC Volume 6

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

What is it about humanity that we can't give away to intelligent machines? A European perspective

One of the most significant recent technological developments concerns the development and implementation of ‘intelligent machines’ that draw on recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics. However, there are growing tensions between human freedoms and machine controls. This article reports the findings of a workshop that investigated the application of the principles of human freedom throughout intelligent machine develop- ment and use. Forty IS researchers from ten different countries discussed four contemporary AI and humanity issues and the most relevant IS domain challenges. This article summarizes their experiences and opinions regarding four AI and humanity themes: Crime & conflict, Jobs, Attention, and Wellbeing. The outcomes of the workshop discussions identify three attributes of humanity that need preservation: a critique of the design and application of AI, and the intelligent machines it can create; human involvement in the loop of intelligent ma- chine decision-making processes; and the ability to interpret and explain intelligent machine decision-making processes. The article provides an agenda for future AI and humanity researchpublishedVersio

A state of emergency in crisis communication: An intercultural crisis communication research agenda

This article seeks to provide an evidence-based set of recommendations for the development of an intercultural crisis communication research agenda with three goals. First, to provide an advancement in our understanding of the state of crisis communication research in general. Second, to offer a grounded introduction to crisis communication for intercultural scholars who may not be as familiar with the field. Finally to identify three broad evidence-based areas for developing intercultural crisis communication research -- (1) representing different cultural perspectives in crisis communication research, (2) placing American crisis research in a global context, and (3) developing cross-cultural comparisons

Toward a Better Understanding of Complex Emergency Response Systems: An Event-Driven Lens for Integrating Formal and Volunteer-Based, Participatory Emergency Responses

abstract: Traditionally, emergency response is in large part the role and responsibility of formal organizations. Advances in information technology enable amateurs or concerned publics to play a meaningful role in emergency response. Indeed, in recent catastrophic disasters or crises such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the 2011 Japan earthquake and nuclear crisis, participatory online groups of the general public from both across the globe and the affected areas made significant contributions to the effective response through crowdsourcing vital information and assisting with the allocation of needed resources. Thus, a more integrative lens is needed to understand the responses of various actors to catastrophic crises or disasters by taking into account not only formal organizations with legal responsibilities, but also volunteer-based, participatory groups who actively participate in emergency response. In this dissertation, I first developed an “event-driven” lens for integrating both formal and volunteer-based, participatory emergency responses on the basis of a comprehensive literature review (chapter 1). Then I conducted a deeper analysis of one aspect of the event-driven lens: relationships between participatory online groups and formal organizations in crisis or disaster situations. Specifically, I explored organizational and technical determinants and outcomes of forming such relationships (chapter 2). As a consequence, I found out three determinants (resource dependence, shared understanding, and information technology) and two outcomes (inter-organizational alignment and the effectiveness of coordinated emergency response) of the relationship between participatory online groups and formal organizations and suggested seven hypotheses. Furthermore, I empirically tested these hypotheses, focusing on the 2015 Nepal earthquake case (chapter 3). As a result, I found empirical evidence that supports that shared understanding and information technology improve the development of the relationship between participatory online groups and formal organizations. Moreover, research findings support that the development of the relationship enhances inter-organizational coordination. Lastly, I provide implications for future research (chapter 4). This dissertation is expected to contribute to bridging the disconnect between the emergency management literature and the crisis informatics literature. The theoretical insight from inter-organizational relations (IOR) theory provides another contribution.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Public Administration 201

Employees on social media: A multi-spokespeople model of CSR communication

Increasing societal and stakeholder expectations, along with easy access to information through social media, means corporations are asked for more information. The traditional approach to CSR communication, with corporations controlling what and how much to share with stakeholders has been restructured by social media, with stakeholders taking control. As legitimacy on social media is created through the positive and negative judgements of stakeholders, corporations must plan how to meet stakeholder demands for information effectively and legitimately, and this includes choosing appropriate spokespeople. Corporations in India have now turned towards their employees as CSR spokespeople. By encouraging employee activity on social media, these corporations are attempting to meet stakeholder demands and generate legitimacy through spokespeople whom stakeholders perceive as equals. This article examines that strategy and discusses its viability of using employees as spokespeople for CSR communication and engagement with stakeholder

Bridging the gap between communities at risk of flooding and flood risk communication agencies : developing effective flood risk communication strategies

form of governance which is built through a multi-layered web of horizontally and vertically aligned stakeholders and has been termed as Sustainable Flood Risk Management (SFRM) in Scotland. SFRM in Scotland aims to promote community empowerment to build resilience against flooding, including through flood risk communication. Flood risk communication involves raising awareness of flood risk among communities and issuing flood warnings to them when needed. Although flood risk communication between agencies of the government and communities living in the areas identified to be at risk of flooding has long been a subject of policies and legislation, literature on flood risk communication indicates that a substantial gap in perspectives on flood risk remains between these social actors. Similarly, although media hold a central position in flood risk communication as conveyers of messages, literature indicates that the role of media has not been appraised satisfactorily so that it can inform media selection for flood risk communication. This thesis presents research which was aimed at addressing both these needs. Accordingly, the aim of this thesis was to identify gaps in flood risk perspectives between ‘communicating agencies’ and ‘communities at risk of flooding’, and to evaluate the suitability of various media types for flood risk communication. Correspondingly, the objectives of the research were: i)to understand community knowledge, expectations, and media usage and preferences related to flood risk communication; ii) to review communication objectives and efforts of the responsible agencies; iii) to identify differences between community knowledge, expectations, media usage and preferences, and the communication efforts of the responsible agencies; iv) to appraise the role of Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action and Media Synchronicity Theory in supporting the development of flood risk communication strategies; and iv) to consider the implications of the findings for developing effective flood risk communication strategies by the relevant agencies and make appropriate recommendations. The research entailed investigations into flood risk perspectives of the communities living in areas identified to be at risk of flooding (termed as ‘emic’ perspective) and that of the agencies responsible for flood risk communication (termed as ‘etic’ perspective) in order to generate shared understanding on flood risk, especially on community knowledge, expectations, media usage and preferences, and the communication efforts of the responsible agencies. Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action and Media Synchronicity Theory proposed by Dennis et al. were selected for investigating their applicability in supporting development of flood risk communication strategies and formulating policy recommendations. The research adopted an inductive research stance, with interpretivism as the epistemological paradigmatic position and constructionism as the ontological paradigmatic position. Data relating to the perspectives, experiences and communication needs of members of the communities living in areas identified to be at risk of flooding were collected through postal surveys, one-to-one interviews and focus groups in three locations in Scotland: Edinburgh, Stirling and Callander. The research also carried out interviews with representatives of government agencies which were endowed with statutory responsibilities for flood risk communication with the communities, including the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), The City of Edinburgh Council, Stirling Council, Central Scotland Police, Lothian and Borders Police and Central Scotland Fire & Rescue Services. The research found substantial gaps in terms of knowledge, levels of preparedness, understanding of responsibilities and sources of information in the field of flood risk communication in Scotland at the levels of legislation, policy and practice; and these contrasted sharply with the societal goal of SFRM. Furthermore, the expectations of the communities on flood risk communication differed significantly from the understandings of the communicating agencies. The research also found serious gaps in terms of media use and preferences between communicating agencies and the concerned communities at risk of flooding. These gaps in communication appeared to have contributed to loss of trust and credibility of the agencies amongst the communities. The research also found that practicing ‘communicative action’ proposed by the Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action, which entails stakeholder engagement to reach agreements on issues of concern, contributes to development of understanding and generation of strategies which are oriented towards reducing gaps between agencies and the communities at risk of flooding. However, it was found that none of the agencies practiced ‘communicative action’. It was also found that Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action has limited applicability for addressing flood risk communication, principally pertaining to its inability to fulfil the subtask of flood warning. Other limitation of the theory relates to inability of the theory to account for the need for ‘audience segmenting’ for flood warning to ensure reach to all members of the communities who may belong to different segments, such as, based on age, language and disabilities. The principal limitation of this theory, which is related to the subtask of flood warning, was found to be similar to the limitation of the Media Synchronicity Theory. It was found that Media Synchronicity Theory, in its current form, has only partial or limited applicability in informing media selection for flood risk communication, especially flood warning. It was also found that it relies only on capability of media and fails to account for the factors influencing media preference and choice of institutions and communities. Based on the findings of the research, the thesis makes many recommendations to the agencies and Scottish Government for changes in flood risk communication policies and strategies, specifically aimed at improving flood risk communication in Scotland. Among these are an amendment to The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 to include a requirement to hold dialogue with communities, to review and monitor communication activities of the agencies and empower agencies by capacity building. Other policy recommendations relate to development of agency-specific flood risk communication strategies, building up of trust, emphasis on raising awareness, and most importantly, tailoring of messages for media and audience and usage of the most appropriate media

Fourth Industrial Revolution: Opportunities, Challenges, and Proposed Policies

In this paper, key elements about the Fourth Industrial Revolution are set under examination. Concerns, challenges, and opportunities related to the Industry 4.0 are analyzed, and specific policies to deal with the challenges and take advantage from the opportunities are proposed. Other issues that are set under consideration in this paper are the rate at which the human labor is threatened by the technological achievements, the main factors that increase workers’ exposure to the risk of automation, the jobs that are more at risk due to automation, and the basic factors that make political intervention necessary in order to deal with the unpredictable consequences of the technological progress such as the threat of a nuclear disaster and a possible income and social inequality gap widening. Finally, a special reference is done for the case of Greece