A co-designed social media intervention to satisfy information needs and improve outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease : a longitudinal study

Background The number of people living with a long-term condition is increasing worldwide. Social media offers opportunities for patients to exchange information and experiences with others with the same condition, potentially leading to better self-management and improved patient outcomes, at minimal costs to health service providers. Objective This paper describes how an online network with a range of social media platforms was created, with the help of a group of patients with chronic kidney disease, and specialist professionals. The project evaluation considered whether information needs and health-related and social outcomes were met. Methods Longitudinal in-depth evaluation of the creation of the moderated network; observation of the use of the platforms; self-efficacy surveys (baseline and 6 months); semistructured interviews (at baseline and 6 months). Results 15 patients and professionals participated in the co-design of the network (hub), initially launched with 50 patients. Several platforms were needed to engage patients at different levels, and encourage generation of information, with the support of moderators. 14 separate patients participated in the evaluation. Satisfaction of information needs through social engagement improved self-efficacy (in 13 participants) with better self-care and management of illness. Social outcomes included seeking employment and an increase in social capital. Conclusion: An online network (hub) with several social media platforms helped patients with chronic kidney disease to manage their condition. Careful design with users resulted in a sustainable network with wider applicability across health and social care

Teaching History in the Digital Age

Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as databases, hypertextualization, and networks, to create and share historical knowledge. Digital history complements other forms of history—indeed, it draws its strength and methodological rigor from this age-old form of human understanding while using the latest technology. Although many humanities scholars have been talking and writing about the transition to the digital age for more than a decade, only in the last few years have we seen a convergence of the factors that make this transition possible: the spread of sufficient infrastructure on our campuses, the creation of truly massive databases of humanities content, and a generation of students that has never known a world without easy Internet access. Teaching History in the Digital Age is intended to serve as a guide for practitioners on how to fruitfully employ the transformative changes of digital media in the research, writing, teaching of history

Critical point of view: a Wikipedia reader

For millions of internet users around the globe, the search for new knowledge begins with Wikipedia. The encyclopedia’s rapid rise, novel organization, and freely offered content have been marveled at and denounced by a host of commentators. Critical Point of View moves beyond unflagging praise, well-worn facts, and questions about its reliability and accuracy, to unveil the complex, messy, and controversial realities of a distributed knowledge platform. The essays, interviews and artworks brought together in this reader form part of the overarching Critical Point of View research initiative, which began with a conference in Bangalore (January 2010), followed by events in Amsterdam (March 2010) and Leipzig (September 2010). With an emphasis on theoretical reflection, cultural difference and indeed, critique, contributions to this collection ask: What values are embedded in Wikipedia’s software? On what basis are Wikipedia’s claims to neutrality made? How can Wikipedia give voice to those outside the Western tradition of Enlightenment, or even its own administrative hierarchies? Critical Point of View collects original insights on the next generation of wiki-related research, from radical artistic interventions and the significant role of bots to hidden trajectories of encyclopedic knowledge and the politics of agency and exclusion

Perceptions of Instructors on Using Web 2.0 Tools in Academic English Courses

It is impossible to imagine a university instructor who does not make use of the internet today. The internet provides not only quick access to reliable research data but also certain programs that teachers can tailor to use in their own specific contexts and to interact with their students in practical ways. There might still be resistance to learning new technologies and adapting to them even in the most ‘modern’ work environments even among the relatively younger teachers. The aim of this study was to explore the ELT instructors’ perspectives on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in university level academic English skills courses in an English-medium university, and to test whether a year-long regular training program made a difference in their perceptions and practice of the use of Web 2.0 tools in their teaching. 21 instructors from Middle East Technical University were offered regular training sessions on the practical uses of certain Web 2.0 tools such as, the Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Forms, Kahoot, Mysimpleshow, Poll Everywhere, Nearpod, Mentimeter, Edpuzzle, and QR codes. A pretest and posttest to explore the instructors’ knowledge of and attitudes towards Web 2.0 tools were administered before and after the series of training sessions to see if there were any significant changes. Also, follow-up interviews were carried out with the instructors who participated in the sessions to obtain a deeper insight into their perspectives. Both the questionnaire and the interview results revealed that there were significant changes in these instructors’ attitudes towards the use of Web 2.0 tools

New Mediums, Better Messages?

The notion of development influences and is influenced by all aspects of human life. Social science is but one representational option among many for conveying the myriad ways in which development is conceived, encountered, experienced, justified, courted, and/or resisted by different groups at particular times and places. This wide-ranging collection from a diverse group of academic and non-academic authors engages with the broad field of development through twelve chapters that deal with music, theatre, fiction, photography, festivals, computer games, the arts, blogging, and other media. It explores three broad areas of alternative forms of knowledge about development, organized around the three themes of ‘translation’, ‘advocacy’, and ‘engagement’. The first of these is concerned with how popular representations of development can successfully compete with and complement formal social scientific representations; the second relates to the politics of popular representations of development, and the way that popular productions shape debates; and the third asks whether popular representations of development can generate alternative critiques that allow for the articulation of views that would be unacceptable to more orthodox means

New Mediums, Better Messages?

The notion of development influences and is influenced by all aspects of human life. Social science is but one representational option among many for conveying the myriad ways in which development is conceived, encountered, experienced, justified, courted, and/or resisted by different groups at particular times and places. This wide-ranging collection from a diverse group of academic and non-academic authors engages with the broad field of development through twelve chapters that deal with music, theatre, fiction, photography, festivals, computer games, the arts, blogging, and other media. It explores three broad areas of alternative forms of knowledge about development, organized around the three themes of ‘translation’, ‘advocacy’, and ‘engagement’. The first of these is concerned with how popular representations of development can successfully compete with and complement formal social scientific representations; the second relates to the politics of popular representations of development, and the way that popular productions shape debates; and the third asks whether popular representations of development can generate alternative critiques that allow for the articulation of views that would be unacceptable to more orthodox means

2015 Working Papers

Constructive Pathways: Stimulating and Safeguarding Components of WPShttps://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/wps/1001/thumbnail.jp

Shadow Administrative Constitutionalism and the Creation of Surveillance Culture

Article published in the Michigan State Law Review

Reproductive Health: A Literature Review on Reducing Maternal Mortality Rates Among Afghan Women Using a Tiered Process of Interventions

This literature review examines the risk factors associated with pregnancy that contribute to high maternal mortality rates in Afghanistan and women’s limited access to adequate health services and education. Some of the factors contributing to high maternal mortality rates are political instability/civil conflict, current policies and legislation, workforce shortages in the healthcare field, as well as socioeconomic levels. The underlying theme which influences each of these factors are Afghanistan’s culture and religion. To reduce the rising maternal mortality rates for Afghan women and girls, there must be a shift in mindset from within the culture. A three-layered tiered intervention which first targets rural Afghan communities through a community-based intervention highlighting passages from the Quran that speak to the importance of women and girls in their society. Following this would be the facilitation of diplomatic immersion trips to other Islamic countries for Taliban and community leaders to expose Afghan leaders to how women’s rights can be aligned with Islamic law. The United States and the international community can also enlist sanctions against Afghanistan unless they were to meet specified benchmarks before receiving economic aid. This three-tiered intervention will help set the groundwork and build the foundation for reconstructing Afghanistan’s healthcare workforce, increasing access to reproductive healthcare services, increasing education rates amongst girls and women, reducing the rate of unwanted pregnancy, while subsequently lowering the maternal mortality rates

Preserving Virtual Worlds Final Report

The Preserving Virtual Worlds project is a collaborative research venture of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Stanford University, the University of Maryland, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Linden Lab, conducted as part of Preserving Creative America, an initiative of the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program at the Library of Congress. The primary goals of our project have been to investigate issues surrounding the preservation of video games and interactive fiction through a series of case studies of games and literature from various periods in computing history, and to develop basic standards for metadata and content representation of these digital artifacts for long-term archival storage