Research note: Measuring the globalization of knowledge: The case of community informatics

Freely accessible online, with a wide set of authors and a wider readership, First Monday can be seen as striving for global knowledge on the social aspects of the Internet. In a meta–analysis now underway, we found First Monday to be the third most prolific journal on a particular subject: local communities’ uses of information technology. Our study also sheds some light on what constitutes global knowledge. The data suggests that a synthesis of English–language published knowledge is a first step. It points to a bigger agenda: reaching into the world’s local settings in a proportionate and representative way. That would mean publishers outside the U.S. and U.K.; scholars in other countries; and, studies in other languages. This is what it would take to learn from all our cultures and countries

Software, architecture, and participatory design

Much work in software architecture has been inspired by work in physical architecture, in particular Alexander's work on `design patterns'. By contrast, Alexander's work is little-used in town planning and architecture. In this paper, we examine some of the reasons that this is so, describe some parallels and differences between the fields of physical and software architecture, and identify areas in which future collaboration may be fruitful. The notion of `participatory design' is important in software engineering and in urban regeneration, but the participatory mechanisms in each field are quite different

Lyceum: internet voice groupware for distance learning

This paper describes the design, implementation and deployment of Lyceum, a groupware system providing students and tutors with real time voice conferencing and visual workspace tools, over the standard internet. Lyceum uses a Java client/server architecture to tackle a formidable set of networking requirements: multi-way voice communication with synchronous shared displays, scalable to hundreds of simultaneous users, running over normal modem connections via unknown internet service providers, on home PCs. Additionally, the design had to support multiple courses with different requirements. We describe the interdisciplinary requirements analysis, and iterative design process, by which an academic course team was able to specify and evaluate prototypes. We present the systemís architecture, describe the technical successes and failures from Lyceumís first large scale deployment, and summarise its affordances for interaction and learning

Annual Report, 2017

The Tech Policy Lab at the University of Washington has emerged as a leading resource for policymakers interested in wiser and more inclusive technology policy. This year the Lab built on its reputation for excellence in interdisciplinary research, published scholarship and tools to benefit tech policy, and had direct input into policymaking at multiple levels of government.https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/techlab/1010/thumbnail.jp

Designing library tools: the (un)importance of employee involvement

The growing trend of public institutions to open up data and information to citizens encouraged archives and libraries to enhance the disclosure of their content towards end-users. This implies technical challenges as more and more information is exchanged not only between people, but also between different databases and applications which are consulted by different user groups through different devices and entry points. For libraries, the challenge lies in constructing a properly functioning catalogue which is able to combine a huge amount of information from various sources and is consultable by a large group of end-users in a user friendly manner. Based on the User Centred Design paradigm and Kaulio’s (1998) degrees of user involvement in innovation, this paper wants to consider whether involving users during the creation of metadata tools can result in more motivated library co-workers and a more appreciated tool and (hopefully) in a permanent tagging tool

The internet worm

In November 1988 a worm program invaded several thousand UNIX-operated Sun workstations and VAX computers attached to the Research Internet, seriously disrupting service for several days but damaging no files. An analysis of the work's decompiled code revealed a battery of attacks by a knowledgeable insider, and demonstrated a number of security weaknesses. The attack occurred in an open network, and little can be inferred about the vulnerabilities of closed networks used for critical operations. The attack showed that passwork protection procedures need review and strengthening. It showed that sets of mutually trusting computers need to be carefully controlled. Sharp public reaction crystalized into a demand for user awareness and accountability in a networked world

INFO1010 Ethics in Practice

Slides with associated activities and reading list to Introduce in Practice to Computer Science and IT undergraduate

The Development Of A Code Of Ethics: An Online Classroom Approach To Making Connections Between Ethical Foundations And The Challenges Presented By Information Technology

In today's organizations, ethical challenges relate to areas like fraud, right to privacy for consumers, social responsibility, and trade restrictions.  For Information Technology (IT) specifically, these can translate to considerations on how technology is used to violate people’s privacy, how automation leads to job reductions, or how management information and its corresponding systems are used and abused for personal gain.  In the last 25 years, we have seen an overwhelming technology infusion affecting business, education, and society.  Virtually all areas of our society have been transformed by the usage of technology.  The change is important from an ethical perspective in terms of who Information Technology (IT) workers are today and what their tasks are.  In the 1980s, IT workers were mainly limited to technical fields, such as programming, data processing, server administration, and phone services.  Today, IT workers are integrated into every department of organizations, they function globally, and they have access to a wealth of knowledge and information (Payne & Landry, 2006).  With the power and the skills to access such large amounts of data comes the need for ethical employees.  Morality of respect doesn’t appear, fully formed, at a particular age.  Instead it develops slowly and higher education needs to take a role in this.  Higher education, specifically in business schools, needs to take some responsibility in preparing students for the ethical usage of information technology and the underlying information within those systems.  In this research investigation, an assignment was provided to students in an online course entitled Ethics and Technology in which they were given the opportunity to develop a code of ethics that focused on key challenge areas in the usage of information technology while at the same time making connections to ethical leaders