204 research outputs found
Cultural Heritage on line
The 2nd International Conference "Cultural Heritage online – Empowering users: an active role for user communities" was held in Florence on 15-16 December 2009. It was organised by the Fondazione Rinascimento Digitale, the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and the Library of Congress, through the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program - NDIIP partners. The conference topics were related to digital libraries, digital preservation and the changing paradigms, focussing on user needs and expectations, analysing how to involve users and the cultural heritage community in creating and sharing digital resources. The sessions investigated also new organisational issues and roles, and cultural and economic limits from an international perspective
LookBook: pioneering Inclusive beauty with artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms
Technology's imperfections and biases inherited from historical norms are crucial to acknowledge. Rapid perpetuation and amplification of these biases necessitate transparency and proactive measures to mitigate their impact. The online visual culture reinforces Eurocentric beauty ideals through prioritized algorithms and augmented reality filters, distorting reality and perpetuating unrealistic standards of beauty.
Narrow beauty standards in technology pose a significant challenge to overcome. Algorithms personalize content, creating "filter bubbles" that reinforce these ideals and limit exposure to diverse representations of beauty. This cycle compels individuals to conform, hindering the embrace of their unique features and alternative definitions of beauty.
LookBook counters prevalent narrow beauty standards in technology. It promotes inclusivity and representation through self-expression, community engagement, and diverse visibility. LookBook comprises three core sections: Dash, Books, and Community. In Dash, users curate their experience through personalization algorithms. Books allow users to collect curated content for inspiration and creativity, while Community fosters connections with like-minded individuals.
Through LookBook, users create a reality aligned with their unique vision. They control consumed content, nurturing individualism through preferences and creativity. This personalization empowers individuals to break free from narrow beauty standards and embrace their distinctiveness.
LookBook stands out with its algorithmic training and data representation. It offers transparency on how personalization algorithms operate and ensures a balanced and diverse representation of physicalities and ethnicities. By addressing biases and embracing a wide range of identities, LookBook sparks a conversation for a technology landscape that amplifies all voices, fostering an environment celebrating diversity and prioritizing inclusivity
An institutional analysis of the implementation of integrated water resources management in Nigeria
Many studies have investigated Nigeria’s experiences of river basin management.
Despite the acceptance of IWRM by the Nigerian Government, findings from the
literature demonstrate that there remain significant water management challenges in
Nigeria. However, reported research which exposes the forces influencing the
implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in Nigeria
remains sparse. This thesis exposes these forces, and most importantly, the
environments within which they are embedded by drawing upon theoretical and
empirical evidence on the processes required to transfer IWRM from theory to practice.
The retroductive logic of enquiry was adopted as a guide and a conceptual framework
was developed to illustrate the forces influencing IWRM implementation at the river
basin level in Nigeria and the environments within which they are embedded. The
conceptual framework formed the basis for the development of the research questions
and also informed the choice of neo-institutional theory as a guide to proffer answers to
the research questions. The research process employed a qualitative social science
approach to provide answers to the research questions and realise the study’s main aim.
The study’s theoretical framework followed a string of hermeneutics, phenomenology,
and interpretivists philosophies and a case study research strategy to explore issues
related to IWRM implementation in both Ogun-Oshun River Basin and Benin-Owena
River Basin from different perspectives using multiple sources of evidence –
documents, semi-structured interviews, and direct observations. Interviews were
conducted with the staff of the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) and
other water-related national and international organisations in the selected case river
basins in Nigeria. The data obtained were first analysed using textual approach and then followed by variance institutional approach. Findings clearly illustrate that: (i)
there were weaknesses in IWRM implementation in Nigeria, and (ii) both institutional
(that is, regulative, normative, cognitive, and cultural) and technical (that is, water
infrastructure) elements which are located within the macro and the operational
environments were the forces that contributed to the weaknesses in IWRM
implementation at the river basin level in Nigeria. Consistent with the institutional
analysis perspective, to improve IWRM implementation in practice in Nigeria, the study
proposed improvements to the regulative institutions to serve as a shock. This study
contributes to IWRM and reinforces the importance of institutional and technical
elements as potent forces that can enable or constrain the implementation of a water
management approach, IWRM
A Model-Driven Approach for Mobile Business Intelligence
The concept of Mobile Business Intelligence is nowadays gaining prominence in business markets. With the emergence and evolution of mobile technologies such as smartphones and tablets, the users gain the opportunity to analyze the corporate information, anywhere and anytime, based on charts, tables and dashboards. However, there is also the question of how to provide the freedom to the user to build its own analytical components.
This work will address the problem of developing a hybrid mobile solution towards
the Business Intelligence domain, offering monitoring services and simultaneously addressing the problem of user empowerment, with easy configuration and semi-automatic generation of analytical widgets. To provide such capacity to the user, the proposed solution is based on the design of a Domain Specific Modeling Language, aligned with the Model-Driven Development approach and inspired by the Product Lines principles.
The last part of this work is dedicated to evaluate the language usability based on
an empirical test, executed by a set of subjects with different backgrounds of specialization.
In this sense, we define two groups: end users and domain experts. The goal is
to determine the extent to which the prototype can be used to empower the end users.
As support for the analysis we have extracted a set of measures, alongside with the final appreciation from the domain experts group, composed by people currently working on Business Intelligence
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Representing the user: a sociological study of the discourse of human computer interaction
The discipline of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) was established in the early 1980's on the foundations of cognitive psychology, computer science and ergonomics. In recent years however, claims have been made for the relevance of forms of sociology to this avowedly multidisciplinary field, and a number of sociologists have attempted to contribute to the general enterprise of developing a deeper understanding of the computer user and thereby informing, and improving, software design. This thesis is, in one sense, a continuation of this emerging body of work. However, my contention is that little, if any, critical attention has been given within this work to questions that would seem to be of fundamental importance to attempts at collaboration between disciplines: how is the disciplinary organization of knowledge to be understood, and more specifically, can HCI be adequately described in the simple pluralist terms in which it tends to characterise itself? The primary focus then is on the discipline of HCI. Utilising a theoretical model which considers disciplines as distinctive discourses which constitute their own domains of objects, I analyse the discourse and practice of HCI in order to explicate some of its underlying premises and assumptions, and to argue that it has, unavoidably, set many of the parameters within which contributing disciplines must operate. Texts, audio and video tapes, and ethnographic observation of instances of HCI practice form the empirical basis of the thesis. In addition, an analysis of some recorded human-computer interactions, which like the study as a whole, exemplifies an approach that differs from the prevailing sociological models within the field, is used to support the argument
Measures of Privacy Protection on Social Environments
Tesis por compendio[EN] Nowadays, online social networks (OSNs) have become a mainstream cultural phenomenon for millions of Internet users. Social networks are an ideal environment for
generating all kinds of social benefits for users. Users share experiences, keep in touch
with their family, friends and acquaintances, and earn economic benefits from the
power of their influence (which is translated into new job opportunities). However,
the use of social networks and the action of sharing information imply the loss of the
users’ privacy.
Recently, a great interest in protecting the privacy of users has emerged. This situation
has been due to documented cases of regrets in users’ actions, company scandals produced by misuse of personal information, and the biases introduced by privacy mechanisms. Social network providers have included improvements in their systems to reduce
users’ privacy risks; for example, restricting privacy policies by default, adding new privacy settings, and designing quick and easy shortcuts to configure user privacy settings.
In the privacy researcher area, new advances are proposed to improve privacy mechanisms, most of them focused on automation, fine-grained systems, and the usage of
features extracted from the user’s profile information and interactions to recommend
the best privacy policy for the user. Despite these advances, many studies have shown
that users’ concern for privacy does not match the decisions they ultimately make in
social networks. This misalignment in the users’ behavior might be due to the complexity of the privacy concept itself. This drawback causes users to disregard privacy risks,
or perceive them as temporarily distant. Another cause of users’ behavior misalignment might be due to the complexity of the privacy decision-making process. This is
because users should consider all possible scenarios and the factors involved (e.g., the
number of friends, the relationship type, the context of the information, etc.) to make
an appropriate privacy decision.
The main contributions of this thesis are the development of metrics to assess privacy
risks, and the proposal of explainable privacy mechanisms (using the developed metrics) to assist and raise awareness among users during the privacy decision process.
Based on the definition of the concept of privacy, the dimensions of information scope
and information sensitivity have been considered in this thesis to assess privacy risks.
For explainable privacy mechanisms, soft paternalism techniques and gamification elements that make use of the proposed metrics have been designed. These mechanisms
have been integrated into the social network PESEDIA and evaluated in experiments
with real users. PESEDIA is a social network developed in the framework of the Master’s
thesis of the Ph.D. student [15], this thesis, and the national projects “Privacy in Social Educational Environments during Childhood and Adolescence” (TIN2014-55206-
R) and “Intelligent Agents for Privacy Advice in Social Networks” (TIN2017-89156-R).
The findings confirm the validity of the proposed metrics for computing the users’ scope
and the sensitivity of social network publications. For the scope metric, the results also
showed the possibility of estimating it through local and social centrality metrics for
scenarios with limited information access. For the sensitivity metric, the results also
remarked the users’ misalignment for some information types and the consensus for a
majority of them. The usage of these metrics as part of messages about potential consequences of privacy policy choices and information sharing actions to users showed
positive effects on users’ behavior regarding privacy. Furthermore, the findings of exploring the users’ trade-off between costs and benefits during disclosure actions of personal information showed significant relationships with the usual social circles (family
members, friends, coworkers, and unknown users) and their properties. This allowed
designing better privacy mechanisms that appropriately restrict access to information and reduce regrets. Finally, gamification elements applied to social networks and
users’ privacy showed a positive effect on the users’ behavior towards privacy and safe
practices in social networks.[ES] En la actualidad, las redes sociales se han convertido en un fenómeno cultural dominante para millones de usuarios de Internet. Las redes sociales son un entorno ideal
para la generación de todo tipo de beneficios sociales para los usuarios. Los usuarios
comparten experiencias, mantienen el contacto con sus familiares, amigos y conocidos,
y obtienen beneficios económicos gracias al poder de su influencia (lo que se traduce en
nuevas oportunidades de trabajo). Sin embargo, el uso de las redes sociales y la acción
de compartir información implica la perdida de la privacidad de los usuarios.
Recientemente ha emergido un gran interés en proteger la privacidad de los usuarios. Esta situación se ha debido a los casos de arrepentimientos documentados en las
acciones de los usuarios, escándalos empresariales producidos por usos indebidos de
la información personal, y a los sesgos que introducen los mecanismos de privacidad.
Los proveedores de redes sociales han incluido mejoras en sus sistemas para reducir los
riesgos en privacidad de los usuarios; por ejemplo, restringiendo las políticas de privacidad por defecto, añadiendo nuevos elementos de configuración de la privacidad, y
diseñando accesos fáciles y directos para configurar la privacidad de los usuarios. En el
campo de la investigación de la privacidad, nuevos avances se proponen para mejorar
los mecanismos de privacidad la mayoría centrados en la automatización, selección de
grano fino, y uso de características extraídas de la información y sus interacciones para
recomendar la mejor política de privacidad para el usuario. A pesar de estos avances,
muchos estudios han demostrado que la preocupación de los usuarios por la privacidad no se corresponde con las decisiones que finalmente toman en las redes sociales.
Este desajuste en el comportamiento de los usuarios podría deberse a la complejidad
del propio concepto de privacidad. Este inconveniente hace que los usuarios ignoren
los riesgos de privacidad, o los perciban como temporalmente distantes. Otra causa
del desajuste en el comportamiento de los usuarios podría deberse a la complejidad
del proceso de toma de decisiones sobre la privacidad. Esto se debe a que los usuarios
deben considerar todos los escenarios posibles y los factores involucrados (por ejemplo, el número de amigos, el tipo de relación, el contexto de la información, etc.) para
tomar una decisión apropiada sobre la privacidad.
Las principales contribuciones de esta tesis son el desarrollo de métricas para evaluar los riesgos de privacidad, y la propuesta de mecanismos de privacidad explicables
(haciendo uso de las métricas desarrolladas) para asistir y concienciar a los usuarios
durante el proceso de decisión sobre la privacidad. Atendiendo a la definición del
concepto de la privacidad, las dimensiones del alcance de la información y la sensibilidad de la información se han considerado en esta tesis para evaluar los riesgos de privacidad. En cuanto a los mecanismos de privacidad explicables, se han diseñado utilizando técnicas de paternalismo blando y elementos de gamificación que hacen uso de
las métricas propuestas. Estos mecanismos se han integrado en la red social PESEDIA
y evaluado en experimentos con usuarios reales. PESEDIA es una red social desarrollada en el marco de la tesina de Master del doctorando [15], esta tesis y los proyectos
nacionales “Privacidad en Entornos Sociales Educativos durante la Infancia y la Adolescencia” (TIN2014-55206-R) y “Agentes inteligentes para asesorar en privacidad en
redes sociales” (TIN2017-89156-R).
Los resultados confirman la validez de las métricas propuestas para calcular el alcance
de los usuarios y la sensibilidad de las publicaciones de las redes sociales. En cuanto
a la métrica del alcance, los resultados también mostraron la posibilidad de estimarla
mediante métricas de centralidad local y social para escenarios con acceso limitado a
la información. En cuanto a la métrica de sensibilidad, los resultados también pusieron
de manifiesto la falta de concordancia de los usuarios en el caso de algunos tipos de información y el consenso en el caso de la mayoría de ellos. El uso de estas métricas como
parte de los mensajes sobre las posibles consecuencias de las opciones de política de
privacidad y las acciones de intercambio de información a los usuarios mostró efectos
positivos en el comportamiento de los usuarios con respecto a la privacidad. Además,
los resultados de la exploración de la compensación de los usuarios entre los costos y
los beneficios durante las acciones de divulgación de información personal mostraron
relaciones significativas con los círculos sociales habituales (familiares, amigos, compañeros de trabajo y usuarios desconocidos) y sus propiedades. Esto permitió diseñar
mejores mecanismos de privacidad que restringen adecuadamente el acceso a la información y reducen los arrepentimientos. Por último, los elementos de gamificación
aplicados a las redes sociales y a la privacidad de los usuarios mostraron un efecto positivo en el comportamiento de los usuarios hacia la privacidad y las prácticas seguras
en las redes sociales.[CA] En l’actualitat, les xarxes socials s’han convertit en un fenomen cultural dominant per
a milions d’usuaris d’Internet. Les xarxes socials són un entorn ideal per a la generació
de tota mena de beneficis socials per als usuaris. Els usuaris comparteixen experiències, mantenen el contacte amb els seus familiars, amics i coneguts, i obtenen beneficis
econòmics gràcies al poder de la seva influència (el que es tradueix en noves oportunitats de treball). No obstant això, l’ús de les xarxes socials i l’acció de compartir
informació implica la perduda de la privacitat dels usuaris.
Recentment ha emergit un gran interès per protegir la privacitat dels usuaris. Aquesta
situació s’ha degut als casos de penediments documentats en les accions dels usuaris,
escàndols empresarials produïts per usos indeguts de la informació personal, i als caires
que introdueixen els mecanismes de privacitat. Els proveïdors de xarxes socials han inclòs millores en els seus sistemes per a reduir els riscos en privacitat dels usuaris; per exemple, restringint les polítiques de privacitat per defecte, afegint nous elements de configuració de la privacitat, i dissenyant accessos fàcils i directes per a configurar la privacitat dels usuaris. En el camp de la recerca de la privacitat, nous avanços es proposen
per a millorar els mecanismes de privacitat la majoria centrats en l’automatització,
selecció de gra fi, i ús de característiques extretes de la informació i les seues interaccions per a recomanar la millor política de privacitat per a l’usuari. Malgrat aquests
avanços, molts estudis han demostrat que la preocupació dels usuaris per la privacitat
no es correspon amb les decisions que finalment prenen en les xarxes socials. Aquesta
desalineació en el comportament dels usuaris podria deure’s a la complexitat del propi
concepte de privacitat. Aquest inconvenient fa que els usuaris ignorin els riscos de privacitat, o els percebin com temporalment distants. Una altra causa de la desalineació
en el comportament dels usuaris podria deure’s a la complexitat del procés de presa de
decisions sobre la privacitat. Això es deu al fet que els usuaris han de considerar tots
els escenaris possibles i els factors involucrats (per exemple, el nombre d’amics, el tipus
de relació, el context de la informació, etc.) per a prendre una decisió apropiada sobre
la privacitat.
Les principals contribucions d’aquesta tesi són el desenvolupament de mètriques per a
avaluar els riscos de privacitat, i la proposta de mecanismes de privacitat explicables
(fent ús de les mètriques desenvolupades) per a assistir i conscienciar als usuaris durant
el procés de decisió sobre la privacitat. Atesa la definició del concepte de la privacitat,
les dimensions de l’abast de la informació i la sensibilitat de la informació s’han considerat en aquesta tesi per a avaluar els riscos de privacitat. Respecte als mecanismes
de privacitat explicables, aquests s’han dissenyat utilitzant tècniques de paternalisme bla i elements de gamificació que fan ús de les mètriques propostes. Aquests mecanismes s’han integrat en la xarxa social PESEDIA i avaluat en experiments amb usuaris
reals. PESEDIA és una xarxa social desenvolupada en el marc de la tesina de Màster del
doctorant [15], aquesta tesi i els projectes nacionals “Privacitat en Entorns Socials Educatius durant la Infància i l’Adolescència” (TIN2014-55206-R) i “Agents Intel·ligents
per a assessorar en Privacitat en xarxes socials” (TIN2017-89156-R).
Els resultats confirmen la validesa de les mètriques propostes per a calcular l’abast de
les accions dels usuaris i la sensibilitat de les publicacions de les xarxes socials. Respecte a la mètrica de l’abast, els resultats també van mostrar la possibilitat d’estimarla mitjançant mètriques de centralitat local i social per a escenaris amb accés limitat
a la informació. Respecte a la mètrica de sensibilitat, els resultats també van posar
de manifest la falta de concordança dels usuaris en el cas d’alguns tipus d’informació
i el consens en el cas de la majoria d’ells. L’ús d’aquestes mètriques com a part dels
missatges sobre les possibles conseqüències de les opcions de política de privacitat i les
accions d’intercanvi d’informació als usuaris va mostrar efectes positius en el comportament dels usuaris respecte a la privacitat. A més, els resultats de l’exploració de la
compensació dels usuaris entre els costos i els beneficis durant les accions de divulgació
d’informació personal van mostrar relacions significatives amb els cercles socials habituals (familiars, amics, companys de treball i usuaris desconeguts) i les seves propietats. Això ha permés dissenyar millors mecanismes de privacitat que restringeixen
adequadament l’accés a la informació i redueixen els penediments. Finalment, els elements de gamificació aplicats a les xarxes socials i a la privacitat dels usuaris van
mostrar un efecte positiu en el comportament dels usuaris cap a la privacitat i les pràctiques segures en les xarxes socials.Alemany Bordera, J. (2020). Measures of Privacy Protection on Social Environments [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/151456TESISCompendi
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