The Media Life of Cryptocurrencies: From Libertarian Dreams to Institutional Control

This project’s central research question is: ‘What are the key cryptocurrency discourses that exist in the crypto space, and by whom are they created?’. This thesis focuses on the historical trajectory of the media life of cryptocurrency. Specifically, it identifies cryptocurrency discourses in international news media and explores how they are socially constructed from a Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) perspective. Utilising computational topic modelling, a text analysis of cryptocurrency articles (N=4200) published from 60 countries in international news media, identified key topics associated with cryptocurrency from 2018 to 2020. The thesis presents a theoretical STS deconstruction of how cryptocurrency has been conceptually understood by media actors, accompanied by empirical evidence of the key finding that there are two major discourses which characterise news media communication about cryptocurrency: the ‘Crypto-Crime’ discourse and the ‘Financial Governance’ discourse. The main argument held in this thesis is that these two macro discourses are appropriated by international media but often emanate and are echoed from institutional positions. Vitally, this study is the first to demonstrate both theoretically and empirically, how news media in different countries ascribe diverging meaning to cryptocurrency technology, offering audiences varied images of what cryptocurrency is through discourse appropriation. Results showed that the co-constitution of discourse was strong across the UK and US whose news media appropriated the crypto-crime and crypto- governance discourses to different degrees. The thesis reveals how institutional positions are channelled through skewed news media narratives, from corporate economic and governmental control rationales. This control is demonstrated as being enacted through the state regulation of cryptocurrency, or complete bans, as in the case of China. Sometimes control is exerted through the innovation of state Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), as in many countries including the US, UK, Venezuela some EU countries. This is important because a new monetary form of digital currency can transform state macro-economic and micro-economic structures, affecting the social, economic, and political lives of global citizens

Planting Trees with Digital Media: Reimagining Ecological Care

In the last decade, planting trees through the internet, social media, and web and mobile applications has become popularised as a means to express care and consideration for the earth and distant others. The advent of digital tree planting coincides with the rise of environmental marketing and agendas for sustainable development that stress the good of trees for addressing environmental change, alongside swelling interest in everyday digital technologies and consumption as mediums for environmental action. Against this backdrop, the thesis critiques how digital tree planting campaigns are promoting ecological care at a distance. It explores how such campaigns represent trees as valuable and situate them in relations of care for others and the environment. This critical exploration develops through an investigation of how particular uses of digital media technologies are framed as facilitating planting and care. Three empirical cases are chosen, which shed light on the three overarching digital strategies that companies and organisations are employing for this purpose: (i) online shopping; (ii) apps, games, and crowdfunding sites; and (iii) cryptocurrencies, credit cards, e-cards, and e-donations. A set of corresponding campaigns is analysed for each case using multimodal ecocritical discourse analysis, which attends to trees as subjects of environmental discourse and practice. The resulting case discussions illustrate how the promotion of various kinds of digital consumption affects the kinds of relations with, and regard for, trees that can be imagined. In so doing, it is argued, the campaigns also draw selective lines of ecological connection between contributing individuals and distant others and environments, provoking productive questions about the terms of caring that are being forged. Intellectually, the critique unfolds through a conversation between ecological ethics and media and cultural studies, and is variously inflected by environmental anthropology, critical studies in marketing and consumption, and geography

Sense and Respond

Over the past century, the manufacturing industry has undergone a number of paradigm shifts: from the Ford assembly line (1900s) and its focus on efficiency to the Toyota production system (1960s) and its focus on effectiveness and JIDOKA; from flexible manufacturing (1980s) to reconfigurable manufacturing (1990s) (both following the trend of mass customization); and from agent-based manufacturing (2000s) to cloud manufacturing (2010s) (both deploying the value stream complexity into the material and information flow, respectively). The next natural evolutionary step is to provide value by creating industrial cyber-physical assets with human-like intelligence. This will only be possible by further integrating strategic smart sensor technology into the manufacturing cyber-physical value creating processes in which industrial equipment is monitored and controlled for analyzing compression, temperature, moisture, vibrations, and performance. For instance, in the new wave of the ‘Industrial Internet of Things’ (IIoT), smart sensors will enable the development of new applications by interconnecting software, machines, and humans throughout the manufacturing process, thus enabling suppliers and manufacturers to rapidly respond to changing standards. This reprint of “Sense and Respond” aims to cover recent developments in the field of industrial applications, especially smart sensor technologies that increase the productivity, quality, reliability, and safety of industrial cyber-physical value-creating processes

What is behind the brand? Social and environmental sustainability in the upstream phases of the denim value chain

The thesis aims to contribute to the literature of sustainability by undertaking a value chain perspective which asses the environmental and social sustainability practices and approaches adopted by the upstream suppliers within the italian denim value chian, the drivers in the industry and supplier' contribution in trasforming the denim industry in a more sustainable , traceable and transparent one. To achieve this aim, both a quantitative and explorative approach have been followed

Corporate strategies for sustainable development and adoption of new technologies

Technological advancements might have positive or negative impacts on sustainability. It’s essential to understand the adoption of these technologies to achieve better sustainability. The United Nations 2030 Agenda and the associated SDGs have been promoted as tools suitable to alleviate poverty, protect Planet Earth, and contribute to worldwide prosperity (UN, 2015; Tsalis, 2020). But governments alone cannot achieve sustainable development; they must be supported by the private sector, which plays a colossal role in advancing and achieving the SDGs. Specifically, the private sector can integrate the ‘green’ principles into their corporate strategies. This integration depends on, and requires, an effective approach to green development and the knowledge generation of SDGs as embedded in the companies’ functions, values, and day-to-day operations. The papers in this special issue investigate the role of corporate strategies for sustainable green development and knowledge generation in the implementation of the SDGs or principles by Asian and Eastern European companies from Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Emirates, Zimbabwe and Russia. Hence, there is a need to expand the research in further studies to gauge the contribution of corporate strategies towards the achievement of the SDGs in a wider group of countries. These further studies could also focus on a comparative cross-country analysis to provide insights into how institutional differences among countries influence the implementation and achievement of the SDGs. In addition, there is also a need to understand the role of other corporate strategies, including integrated reporting and long-term value, in the achievement of the SDGs. It is a matter of great importance for companies to explain how businesses create value for their key stakeholders in the long term by implementing the SDGs. The insights drawn from this special issue contribute to the existing literature and provide valuable practical information for practitioners, policymakers, and developers. Practitioners can rely on the insights provided in this special issue to make informed decisions that consider both the short-term and long-term impacts of technology solutions and their adoption in organizations. They need to consider the opportunities and challenges associated with technology adoption and develop plans to mitigate the negative impacts and maximize the positive effects of technology adoption. Additionally, policymakers can use the findings of the eight papers to establish policies and regulations that encourage the adoption of sustainable technologies that serve society while minimizing the negative impacts on the environment, economy, and the general public. Further, developers can consider the barriers identified in the analysis to develop more effective solutions. They can also incorporate sustainable practices into the development process to ensure their technologies align with sustainable development principles

Affordances of Learning Analytics for Mediating Learning

Learning analytics acceptance and adoption is a socio-technological endeavour. Understanding how learning analytics impact practice is an important part of demonstrating their value. In the study presented in this thesis, "Mediated Learning" provides a framework through which to describe how learning analytics can impact psychological, social and material aspects of learning, from the perspective of educators and learners. It also offers a structure through which to make recommendations for improving the mediatory effects of learning analytics. A qualitative research design, based on "Grounded Theory" was implemented and 10 educators from 3 European universities were recruited through convenience and purposive sampling for exploratory interviews. A subsequent case study of the Open University provided critical perspectives from both educators (n=18) and learners (n=22) about the institutional, departmental, domain-related and epistemological factors that broadly influence perceptions of learning analytics. The study applied "Affordance Theory" to identify what participants were most easily able to recognise as beneficial to their own practice. Participant contributions were open-coded to uncover emerging themes and then organised into thematic categories and subcategories. Respondent validation, as well as triangulation of data between the exploratory interviews and focus groups support the validity of the study. Findings suggested that domain-related epistemological assumptions and previous experience influence how and why an individual could make use of learning analytics insights. Gaining stakeholder acceptance involves targeting the right training and opportunities at the appropriate disciplines. Findings also indicate that learning analytics has the strongest mediatory effect for learners when the technology is capable of exposing them to other learners' strategies, or when it assists them personally, and continually in goal orientation adoption. The implications of the study are important for higher education institutions looking to implement large-scale learning analytics initiatives, in particular, those with a diverse student body

Coolest Student Papers at Finland Futures Research Centre 2017–2018 : Tulevaisuuden tutkimuskeskuksen valittuja opiskelijatöitä 2017–2018.

This eBook contains the inspired and inspiring picks from the student essays written by students and student groups in the courses organised by Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC). This year’s selection shows that brilliant new students arrive our courses. The topics range from sustainability transitions to corporate foresight, from ethics to methodology, from data business to geoengineering. Independent, constructively critical open deliberation of how futures studies should be carried out is one of the core goals of our education and a key to further development of the courses and the whole field of futures studies

The Derivative Condition: A Present Inquiry into the History of Futures

The thesis revisits the innovations that have reshaped financial markets since the 1970s in order to access their contemporary efficacy in shaping the space-time of the market as well as those of politics and social relations. The future emerges today within a derivative paradigm – the implementation of data-intensive, algorithmic processes based on scientific modelling and mathematical equations that allow the dynamic recalibration of contingent claims at present. Financial markets are exposed to volatility, which corresponds to uncertainty. Risk, defined as “measurable uncertainty” (Knight, 10921), is the powerful tool that keeps the complex circulation of leveraged capital operating (primarily by applying probability calculus to random or historic data). The promise of history succumbs to a quantitative archive of data whose “sense” is to produce claims on probable futures at present. The thesis argues that the derivative paradigm by the power given to financial markets has effectively been re-orienting not only market relations but social relations as well. As this derivative condition includes every underlying and derivative (all expectations traded) in their complex and volatile interrelation, the market regime – both embodying and exceeding the neoliberal framework– expands the derivative paradigm into society and the contingent becoming of subjectivities. While the thesis proposes a critique of the derivative condition, the practice part explores the “aesthetics of resolution.” This postdisciplinary project works through the semantic field of the term – from visualization technologies to knowledge-production to decision-making – in order to propose an expanded and radical form of artistic engagement. The question for both the theoretical and the practice part is whether derivatives are a technology and ultimately not confined to capitalism. Can they serve the needs and desires within complex societies? Can they help us decide which risks we should avoid and which risks we can embrace for the common good