7,410 research outputs found

    Redefining Community in the Age of the Internet: Will the Internet of Things (IoT) generate sustainable and equitable community development?

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    There is a problem so immense in our built world that it is often not fully realized. This problem is the disconnection between humanity and the physical world. In an era of limitless data and information at our fingertips, buildings, public spaces, and landscapes are divided from us due to their physical nature. Compared with the intense flow of information from our online world driven by the beating engine of the internet, our physical world is silent. This lack of connection not only has consequences for sustainability but also for how we perceive and communicate with our built environment in the modern age. A possible solution to bridge the gap between our physical and online worlds is a technology known as the Internet of Things (IoT). What is IoT? How does it work? Will IoT change the concept of the built environment for a participant within it, and in doing so enhance the dynamic link between humans and place? And what are the implications of IoT for privacy, security, and data for the public good? Lastly, we will identify the most pressing issues existing in the built environment by conducting and analyzing case studies from Pomona College and California State University, Northridge. By analyzing IoT in the context of case studies we can assess its viability and value as a tool for sustainability and equality in communities across the world

    TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF EFFORTFUL FUNDRAISING EXPERIENCES: USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS IN FUNDRAISING RESEARCH

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    Physical-activity oriented community fundraising has experienced an exponential growth in popularity over the past 15 years. The aim of this study was to explore the value of effortful fundraising experiences, from the point of view of participants, and explore the impact that these experiences have on people’s lives. This study used an IPA approach to interview 23 individuals, recognising the role of participants as proxy (nonprofessional) fundraisers for charitable organisations, and the unique organisation donor dynamic that this creates. It also bought together relevant psychological theory related to physical activity fundraising experiences (through a narrative literature review) and used primary interview data to substantiate these. Effortful fundraising experiences are examined in detail to understand their significance to participants, and how such experiences influence their connection with a charity or cause. This was done with an idiographic focus at first, before examining convergences and divergences across the sample. This study found that effortful fundraising experiences can have a profound positive impact upon community fundraisers in both the short and the long term. Additionally, it found that these experiences can be opportunities for charitable organisations to create lasting meaningful relationships with participants, and foster mutually beneficial lifetime relationships with them. Further research is needed to test specific psychological theory in this context, including self-esteem theory, self determination theory, and the martyrdom effect (among others)

    Management controls, government regulations, customer involvement: Evidence from a Chinese family-owned business

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    This research reports on a case study of a family-owned elevator manufacturing company in China, where management control was sandwiched between the state policies and global customer production requirements. By analysing the role of government and customer, this thesis aimed to illustrate how management control operated in a family-owned business and to see how and why they do management control differently. In particular, it focused on how international production standards and existing Chinese industry policies translated into a set of the management control practices through a local network within the family-owned business I studied. Based on an ethnographic approach to research, I spent six months in the field, conducted over 30 interviews, several conservations, and reviewed relevant internal documents to understand how management control (MC) techniques with humans cooperated in the company. I also understood how two layers of pressure have shaped company behaviour, and how a company located in a developing country is connecting with global network. I also found there is considerable tension among key actors and investigated how the company responded and managed it. Drawing on Actor Network Theory (ANT), I analysed the interviews from key actors, examined the role of government regulations and customer requirements to see how management control being managed under two layers of pressure, i.e., the government regulations (e.g., labour, tax, environment control) and customer requirement (e.g., quality and production control). Management controls were an obligatory passage point (OPP), and transformation of those elements of Western production requirements and government requirements arrived at the Chinese local factory and influenced management control and budgeting. The findings suggest that management control systems are not only a set of technical procedures, but it is also about managing tensions. This understanding shows a linear perspective on MC practices rather than a social perspective. However, when we use ANT as a theoretical perspective, we see those actors who, being obliged and sandwiched, and controlled by external forces for them to follow. Consequently, human actors must work in an unavoidable OPP. This is the tension they face which constructed mundane practices of MC. Hence, MCs are managing such tensions. This study contributes to management control research by analysing management controls in terms of OPP, extends our understanding by illustrating the role of the government and customers, and our understanding of family-owned business from a management controls perspective in a developing country

    A productive response to legacy system petrification

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    Requirements change. The requirements of a legacy information system change, often in unanticipated ways, and at a more rapid pace than the rate at which the information system itself can be evolved to support them. The capabilities of a legacy system progressively fall further and further behind their evolving requirements, in a degrading process termed petrification. As systems petrify, they deliver diminishing business value, hamper business effectiveness, and drain organisational resources. To address legacy systems, the first challenge is to understand how to shed their resistance to tracking requirements change. The second challenge is to ensure that a newly adaptable system never again petrifies into a change resistant legacy system. This thesis addresses both challenges. The approach outlined herein is underpinned by an agile migration process - termed Productive Migration - that homes in upon the specific causes of petrification within each particular legacy system and provides guidance upon how to address them. That guidance comes in part from a personalised catalogue of petrifying patterns, which capture recurring themes underlying petrification. These steer us to the problems actually present in a given legacy system, and lead us to suitable antidote productive patterns via which we can deal with those problems one by one. To prevent newly adaptable systems from again degrading into legacy systems, we appeal to a follow-on process, termed Productive Evolution, which embraces and keeps pace with change rather than resisting and falling behind it. Productive Evolution teaches us to be vigilant against signs of system petrification and helps us to nip them in the bud. The aim is to nurture systems that remain supportive of the business, that are adaptable in step with ongoing requirements change, and that continue to retain their value as significant business assets

    Chinese Benteng Women’s Participation in Local Development Affairs in Indonesia: Appropriate means for struggle and a pathway to claim citizen’ right?

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    It had been more than two decades passing by aftermath the devastating Asia’s Financial Crisis in 1997, subsequently followed by Suharto’s step down from his presidential throne which he occupied for more than three decades. The financial turmoil turned to a political disaster furthermore has led to massive looting that severely impacted Indonesians of Chinese descendant, including unresolved mystery of the most atrocious sexual violation against women and covert killings of students and democracy activists in this country. Since then, precisely aftermath May 1998, which publicly known as “Reformasi”1, Indonesia underwent political reform that eventually corresponded positively to its macroeconomic growth. Twenty years later, in 2018, Indonesia captured worldwide attention because it has successfully hosted two internationally renowned events, namely the Asian Games 2018 – the most prestigious sport events in Asia – conducted in Jakarta and Palembang; and the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting 2018 in Bali. Particularly in the IMF/World Bank Annual Meeting, this event has significantly elevated Indonesia’s credibility and international prestige in the global economic powerplay as one of the nations with promising growth and openness. However, the narrative about poverty and inequality, including increasing racial tension, religious conservatism, and sexual violation against women are superseded by friendly climate for foreign investment and eventually excessive glorification of the nation’s economic growth. By portraying the image of promising new economic power, as rhetorically promised by President Joko Widodo during his presidential terms, Indonesia has swept the growing inequality in this highly stratified society that historically compounded with religious and racial tension under the carpet of digital economy.Arte y Humanidade

    Managing global virtual teams in the London FinTech industry

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    Today, the number of organisations that are adopting virtual working arrangements has exploded, and the London FinTech industry is no exception. During recent years, FinTech companies have increasingly developed virtual teams as a means of connecting and engaging geographically dispersed workers, lowering costs, and enabling greater speed and adaptability. As the first study in the United Kingdom regarding global virtual team management in the FinTech industry, this DBA research seeks answers to the question, “What makes for the successful management of a global virtual team in the London FinTech industry?”. Straussian grounded-theory method was chosen as this qualitative approach lets participants have their own voice and offers some flexibility. It also allows the researcher to have preconceived ideas about the research undertaking. The research work makes the case for appreciating the voice of people with lived experiences. Ten London-based FinTech Managers with considerable experience running virtual teams agreed to take part in this study. These Managers had spent time working at large, household-name firms with significant global reach, and one had recently become founder and CEO of his own firm, taking on clients and hiring contract staff from around the world. At least eight of the other participants were senior ‘Heads’ of various technology teams and one was a Managing Director working at a ‘Big Four’ consultancy. They had all (and many still did) spent years running geographically distributed teams with members as far away as Pacific Asia and they were all keen to discuss that breadth of experience and the challenges they faced. Results from these in-depth interviews suggested that there are myriad reasons for a global virtual team, from providing 24 hour, follow-the-sun service to locating the most cost-effective resources with the highest skills. It also confirmed that there are unique challenges to virtual management and new techniques are required to help navigate virtual managers through them. Managing a global virtual team requires much more than the traditional management competencies. Based on discussion with the respondents, a set of practical recommendations for global virtual team management was developed and covered a wide range of issues related to recruitment and selection, team building, developing standard operating procedures, communication, motivation, performance management, and building trust

    Empowering People Living with Dementia Through Designing

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    The ‘wicked problem’ (Rittel and Webber, 1973) of dementia is a leading global healthcare concern. The prevalence of diagnosis is increasing significantly and correlats with longer life expectancy (Spijker and Macinnes, 2013). In the UK has an estimated 850,000 people living with dementia (PLWD). For whom the greatest burden of care is placed on loved ones and privately funded approaches (Alzheimer Society, 2015). The result can be hugely challenging for the person diagnosed with dementia and their loved ones, leading to further issues of ill-health (Marriot, 2009). The Prime Minister’s challenge on dementia (2012) has encouraged development of multi-faceted responses and interventions to deliver improvements in care and research. As a result, designers have been encouraged to become skilled specialists engaged in thinking differently around dementia and the associated problems. This research explores co-design (Scrivener, 2005) with people living with dementia in order to understand their complex problems, and to propose and to shape interventions or solutions that can alleviate pressures which include, social isolation, stress, infantilisation and a sense of hopelessness (Kitwood, 1990). Through fifteen projects achieved within series of co-design workshops, the research explores empowerment of PLWD through their own advocacy. The research shares how co-design can be an enduring process that stimulates new behaviours and memories whilst building resilience and keeping people active in society. Which, ultimately asks questions as to how common practices of co-design can change hierarchy and ownership in order to transform practices of design done ‘to’or ‘for’ PLWD to integrated projects ‘with’ and ‘by’ them. The results propose that people living with dementia can maintain highly significant efficacy in shaping lived experiences, making decisions, building relationships, and producing impactful designs. The resultant projects and proceses supports their right to make decisions and to develop their own prowess through meaningful, deeply involved, and astutely delivered designs

    The nature of entrepreneurship for people with learning difficulties: a narrative inquiry

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    This thesis considers the nature of entrepreneurship in the lives of people with learning difficulties in the UK using the narratives of experience constructed in collaboration with three disabled entrepreneurs who run their own business. It offers an exploration of self-employment as an alternative route to work and considers the relevance of specialist employment support structures to the development of small business opportunities. Working collaboratively with people who are so often framed as marginalised, the study embraces disability studies and critical pedagogy as its theoretical mooring and weaves together personal experience, practice and scholarship to explore ways in which enterprise becomes a site of resistance to the social, cultural, political and structural barriers faced by many disabled people. The study reveals that although entrepreneurial activity aligns well with wider efforts to create more employment opportunities, employment support is frequently conceptualised, arranged and funded in ways that are incompatible with the broader benefits of pursuing entrepreneurial aspirations beyond the narrow confines of job creation. Furthermore, it proffers a reconceptualization of self-employment that considers the confluence of disability, enterprise and support as a ternary of hope, capable of subverting and disrupting notions of disability, independence and autonomy and replacing them with generosity, reciprocity and humility. Rather than analysing employment education, training and support as an isolated intervention “delivered” to disabled people, the study concludes that, central to the support mechanisms found helpful by people with learning difficulties pursuing their entrepreneurial ideas, it is this ternary of hope that transfers vitality to the communal vision of an alternative future. This thesis notes the significance of self-employment and recommends further reflexive empirical research regarding self-employment for and with people with learning difficulties in the UK

    COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS AND LIBRARY TECHNOLOGY: EVALUATING STUDENTS’ CAREER GOALS TO CREATE STRATEGIES THAT INCREASE INTEREST IN LIBRARY EMPLOYMENT

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    Academic libraries in the United States often have difficulty recruiting for technology-focused positions. This mixed-methods study examines what technology skills libraries are seeking in entry-level technology positions and explores ways to increase interest in library employment. Utilizing Lent’s (2013) social cognitive career theory (SCCT) framework, this study seeks to understand why students study computer science, how computer science students seek future employment, and explores how a large university in the southeastern United States can facilitate interest in applying for library technology positions. Quantitative data was determined through an examination of library technology positions to explore trends and what skills employers are seeking. Qualitative data was gathered from recorded interviews with current junior and senior level undergraduate computer science majors. Combined with an in-depth look at the literature and recruitment needs of libraries, possible solutions to the problem of practice are offered in the form of practical internships, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a potential graduate certificate with the goal of connecting computer science students to software development positions in libraries
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