Designing for e-Social Action An Application Taxonomy

In this paper, we present a taxonomy for understanding designs and designing of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) in the field of ‘Social Action’. We use the term ‘Social Action’ to refer to activities of individuals and organisations in civil society, which are oriented towards social (rather than primarily economic) goals. We then apply the term e-Social Action to refer to the application of ICT in these activities. This definition incorporates a wide range of initiatives, varying from: trade-unions logging safety inspections on ships, Age Concern York organising volunteers to place on-line supermarket orders on behalf of housebound elderly people; the International Red Cross using logistics software to deliver emergency aid; and Martus.org providing technology to enable victims of human-rights abuse to report their experience whilst protecting their anonymity and thus avoiding reprisals. To study designing in this broad space, it is necessary to understand key dimensions of the settings where designing takes place. The aim of this paper is to examine how information and communication technologies in social action can be understood, classified and distinguished, to allow for more refined explorations of designing in this space. Keywords: e-SocialAction, Taxonomy, design and society</p

Influence of a Civil Society on Political Strategy? Evidence from Pakistan

The aim of this paper is to find the role of civil society on designing the political strategy. Without a strong and effective political strategy, a political party will lose its popularity among the people. It is found that civil society gives, information security, governance, information risk management and political competitive advantage to a political party if consulted properly. The research is based on quantitative method and SPSS was used for the analysis of data. The result is applicable to all political party strategies. Keywords: Civil Society (CS), Information Security (IS), Information Governance (IG), Information Risk Management (IRM), Political Competition (PC) and Political Strategy (PS)

Designing knowledge-matching facilities for scaling climate-smart agriculture: A proposal for accelerating food systems’ transformation in a changing climate

The brief talks about designing knowledge-matching facilities for scaling climate-smart agriculture. This is a priority discussed in the International Workshop on Scaling up and out of Climate-smart Technologies and Practices for Sustainable Agriculture (an initiative initiating from 2019-MACSG20), as well as of numerous CCAFS partners in the governments, research, donor, financial and policy institutions, civil society and private sectors. CCAFS proposes to join efforts, and outlines a way forward to develop and/or shape knowledge matching facilities for accelerating food systems transformation in a changing climate. This document is intended to be a living document that informs members and interested stakeholders about intermediate results and the planned or next steps

Pillars for Progress on the Right to Health: Harnessing the Potential of Human Rights Through a Framework Convention on Global Health

Ever more constitutions incorporate the right to health, courts continue to expand their right to health jurisprudence, and communities and civil society increasingly turn to the right to health in their advocacy. Yet the right remains far from being realized. Even with steady progress on numerous fronts of global health, vast inequities at the global and national levels persist, and are responsible for millions of deaths annually. We propose a four-part approach to accelerating progress towards fulfilling the right to health: 1) national legal and policy reform, incorporating right to health obligations and principles including equity, participation, and accountability in designing, implementing, and monitoring the health sector, as well as an all-of-government approach in advancing the public\u27s health; 2) litigation, using creative legal strategies, enhanced training, and promotion of progressive judgments to increase courts\u27 effectiveness in advancing the right to health; 3) civil society and community engagement, empowering communities to understand and claim this right and building the capacity of right to health organizations; and 4) innovative global governance for health, strengthening World Health Organization leadership on health and human rights, further clarifying the international right to health, ensuring sustained and scalable development assistance, and conforming other international legal regimes (e.g., trade, intellectual property, and finance) to health and human rights norms. We offer specific steps to advance each of these areas, including how a new global health treaty, a Framework Convention on Global Health, could help construct these four pillars

Healthy Organizations and the Link to Peaceful Societies: Strategies for Implementing Organizational Change

When designing and implementing an organizational change process, we are intentionally and oftentimes significantly impacting the lives of the human beings who make up the organization. Individuals who work in organizations spend a majority of their time, usually at least five days each week, in an organizational setting or framework. If the organization is structured in a way that recognizes the needs of the employees; has a code of behavior—oftentimes referred to as the organizational values— that is civil and caring; uses the code of behavior to give developmental feedback to employees; and, creates opportunities for a variety of networks between people, the environment is very likely to be conducive for things such as positive conflict resolution and healthy organizational growth. If people are expected to behave respectfully and in a civil fashion, and if the organization intentionally promotes such behavior, the continuous, daily reinforcement of “a respectful way of working together” will often spill out into behavior outside of the organization. If we hope to change the world, it means we have to consider how to positively impact the thinking and the behavior of people at all ages. Families, schools, religious organizations, social groups and business organizations all have the potential of contributing to a more peaceful society by creating “rules of the game” that require respectful, civil and peaceful behaviors of their members.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39921/3/wp536.pd

From Creating Spaces for Civic Discourse to Creating Resources for Action

In this paper, we investigate the role of technology to address the concerns of a civil society group carrying out community-level consultation on the allocation of £1 million of community funds. We explore issues of devolved decision-making through the evaluation of a sociodigital system designed to foster deliberative virtues. We describe the ways in which this group used our system in their consultation practices. Our findings highlight how they adopted our technology to privilege specific forms of expression, ascertain issues in their community, make use of and make sense of community data, and create resources for action within their existing practices. Based on related fieldwork we discuss the impacts of structuring and configuring tools for ‘talk-based’ consultation in order to turn attention to the potential pitfalls and prospects for designing civic technologies that create resources for action for civil society

Leonardo's Civil Bridges

Within both aesthetic and history fields, civil engineering occupies a privileged place among arts whose manifestations are based on drawing. In this work, Leonardo’s creativity concerned with civil bridges proyects, have been studied. Leonardo designed ten bridges: eight of them intended for military porposes and only two were purely planned for civil functionaly - “Ponte sul corno d’oro”, infolio 66, manuscript L; and “Ponte a due piani”, represented in the Manuscript B at the Institute of France, infolio 23. There can be no doubt about Leonardo’s intentions when he started on designing these two bridges: his genious for creativy focused on providing both singulary and functionaly to the structures: they should be admired and utilized at the same time, a monument for civil society to be used.The work presented here attemps to make an scientist-historical trip along these Leonardo’s bridges, highlighting their technical, geometrical and aesthetic characteristics, as well as emphasizing Leonardo’s human, scientist and artistic nature

Designing Integrated Conflict Management Systems: Guidelines for Practitioners and Decision Makers in Organizations

A committee of the ADR (alternative dispute resolution) in the Workplace Initiative of the Society of Professionals in Dispute Resolution (SPIDR) prepared this document for employers, managers, labor representatives, employees, civil and human rights organizations, and others who interact with organizations. In this document we explain why organizations should consider developing integrated conflict management systems to prevent and resolve conflict, and we provide practical guidelines for designing and implementing such systems. The principles identified in this document can also be used to manage external conflict with customers, clients, and the public. Indeed, we recommend that organizations focus simultaneously on preventing and managing both internal and external conflict. SPIDR recognizes that an integrated conflict management system will work only if designed with input from users and decision makers at all levels of the organization. Each system must be tailored to fit the organization\u27s needs, circumstances, and culture. In developing these systems, experimentation is both necessary and healthy. We hope that this document will provide guidance, encourage experimentation, and contribute to the evolving understanding of how best to design and implement these systems

Healthy Organizations and the Link to Peaceful Societies: Strategies for Implementing Organizational Change

When designing and implementing an organizational change process, we are intentionally and oftentimes significantly impacting the lives of the human beings who make up the organization. Individuals who work in organizations spend a majority of their time, usually at least five days each week, in an organizational setting or framework. If the organization is structured in a way that recognizes the needs of the employees; has a code of behavior—oftentimes referred to as the organizational values— that is civil and caring; uses the code of behavior to give developmental feedback to employees; and, creates opportunities for a variety of networks between people, the environment is very likely to be conducive for things such as positive conflict resolution and healthy organizational growth. If people are expected to behave respectfully and in a civil fashion, and if the organization intentionally promotes such behavior, the continuous, daily reinforcement of “a respectful way of working together” will often spill out into behavior outside of the organization. If we hope to change the world, it means we have to consider how to positively impact the thinking and the behavior of people at all ages. Families, schools, religious organizations, social groups and business organizations all have the potential of contributing to a more peaceful society by creating “rules of the game” that require respectful, civil and peaceful behaviors of their members.organizational behavior, leadership, leadership development, management, human resources, organizational development, change, values