Can environmental governance benefit from an ICT-social capital nexus in civil society?

Although the potential of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to foster social capital in civil society has been duly acknowledged, few studies have empirically explored the ICT-social capital nexus in the context of community organizations. Huysman and Wulf (2004) consider the lack of interest in the area of ‘ICT and social capital’ as worrisome in today’s increasingly network-centric society. Since the prospect of ICT furthering social capital is simply too significant to ignore, this paper responds to this gap by reporting on one aspect of a 2008 survey of environmental community organizations (ECOs) undertaken to develop a broader understanding of the linkages between organizational social capital and information and communication technologies in the Perth region of Western Australia. By exploring the trend of ICT uptake, pattern of intra-organizational as well as inter-organizational interactions, and the association between ICT uptake and organizational interactions, this paper critically engages in the ‘ICT and social capital’ debate and discusses the implications of ICT-social capital nexus in the context of environmental governance

"If they come they will build it" : managing and building e-democracy from the ground up

The possibilities for using online media to promote deliberative democracy and enhance civic participation have been identified by many. At the same time, the ‘e-democracy score card’ is decidedly mixed, with the tendency of established institutions in both government and the mainstream media to promote a ‘push’ model of communication and information provision, which fails to adapt to the decentralized, networked, interactive and many-to-many forms of communication enabled by the Internet. This paper will discuss the experience of the National Forum, which is building an Australian e-Democracy site of which is the first stage. It aims to be a combination of town-square, shopping centre of ideas, and producers’ co-operative which will allow citizens, talkers, agitators, researchers and legislators to interact with each other individually and through their organisations. Its aim will be to facilitate conversations, and where required, action. This project can be understood from a myriad of angles. At one level it is an open source journalism project, at another it deals with knowledge management. It can also be approached as a forum, an archive, an internet arketing initiative and an eCommerce resource for civil society. Central to the project is the development of feedback mechanisms so that participants can better understand the debates and where they stand in them as well as gauging the mood, desires and interests of the nation on a continuous basis. This paper deals with the practice, theories and economic models underlying the project, and considers the contribution of such sites to community formation and the development of social capital

Exploring Social Media Affordances in Natural Disaster: Case Study of 2015 Myanmar Flood

Consumers’ willingness to disclose and allow electronic storage of their personal health information (PHI) is critical to the successful digitization of healthcare. However, concern about privacy and potentially negative consequences of privacy loss (e.g., loss of jobs) can discourage PHI disclosure by consumers. It is thus imperative to identify and address key roadblocks from the perspective of consumers that may impede the progress of developing countries in digitizing healthcare. Toward this end, this research-in-progress integrates the privacy calculus model with procedural justice to investigate the willingness of individuals in developing countries to disclose PHI in order to receive care in contexts where the disclosed PHI is stored and used electronically. A comprehensive model is proposed to explain the determinants of consumer PHI privacy concerns and willingness to disclose PHI. We will test the proposed model using the survey method. Several theoretical contributions expected from the study are provided

Harnessing Social Media for Good: How Human Service Nonprofit Organizations Use Social Media to Connect to Stakeholders and Clients

This banded dissertation examines how human service nonprofit organizations use social media to connect to stakeholders and clients and makes suggestions for how nonprofits can best utilize this powerful medium in their practice. The first scholarly product was a qualitative systematic review that examined the existing literature regarding how human service nonprofit organizations use social media to enhance their provision of services for clients. Themes discovered included types of social media being used, levels of human service nonprofit organizations (HSO) social media engagement and reasons for use, and barriers to social media use. The second scholarly product was a case study of an exemplar nonprofit organization’s Facebook posts. A content analysis was conducted of the organization’s posts for four months to understand how they engaged with their community and to discuss some best practices for human service nonprofit organizations to consider. Themes that emerged were the HSO acknowledging stakeholders and collaborations, a call to action, empowering clients, and informative posts. The third scholarly product of this banded dissertation was a poster presentation entitled “Social Media for Social Good: Practical Lessons from the Current State of Literature for Nonprofit Human Service Organizations’ Use of Social Media” and was presented on July 6, 2018 at the Social Work, Education, and Social Development Conference in Dublin, Ireland. The poster highlighted findings from systematic review including prevalent themes found as well as implications for practice and a direction for future development. The first and second scholarly products found a need for practical policies to guide practitioners which consider confidentiality as well as the needs of the human service nonprofit organization. Future research is needed to help HSOs establish ethical social media policies and procedures

Commons and Cooperatives

In the last decade, the commons has become a prevalent theme in discussions about collective but decentralized control over resources. This paper is a preliminary exploration of the potential linkages between commons and cooperatives through a discussion of the worker cooperative as one example of a labour commons. We view the worker coop as a response at once antagonistic and accommodative to capitalism. This perspective is amplified through a consideration of five aspects of an ideal-type worker cooperativism: associated labour, workplace democracy, surplus distribution, cooperation among cooperatives, and, controversially, links between worker cooperatives and socialist states. We conclude by suggesting that the radical potential of worker cooperatives might be extended, theoretically and practically, by elaborating connections with other commons struggles in a process we term the circulation of the common

Sisyphus & the Labor of Imagination: Autonomy, Cultural Production and the Antinomies of Worker Self-Management

Is there any radical potential left in the notion and practices of worker self-management? What I want do in this essay is to try and see if it is possible to distill something of a radical kernel from the many difficulties and complications that confront it, particularly within fields of cultural production. How can self-management contribute to what Jacques Ranciere describes as a movement not of slaves filled with ressentiment, but of people living and embodying a new time of sociability and cooperation, creating resources and skills that can spread out from this, rather than being caught and contained by the conditions of is own creation? Drawing from my own experiences working in Ever Reviled Records, a worker owned and run record label, I want to ferret out--conducting something akin to an organizational autoethnography--hints as to whether or not self-management could be useful for radical social struggles today

Ahead of the Curve: Insights for the International NGO of the Future

International NGOs have a unique and important role to play in addressing today's complex global challenges. But few of them are living up to their full potential. With support from the Hewlett Foundation, FSG researched how the most innovative INGOs are adapting to the disruptions in the global development sector and embracing four approaches to create greater impact

Using Case Work as a Pretest to Measure Crisis Leadership Preparedness

Today’s leaders must thrive in a world of turbulence and constant change. Unstable conditions frequently generate crises, emphasizing the need for crisis leadership preparedness, which is missing from many business curricula. Thus, the purpose of this work was to develop a learning module in crisis leadership preparedness. As a baseline measure or pretest, 217 graduate students were asked to analyze two crisis leadership cases during the first week of an entry leadership class. Content analysis provided the method to identify where student analyses fell short. These gaps in learning then informed the creation of student learning objectives. Applying inquiry-based learning, I then suggest instructional methods that I incorporated into an active learning module to better prepare today’s leaders for crisis leadership

Siren songs or path to salvation? Interpreting the visions of web technology at a UK regional newspaper in crisis, 2006-11

A 5-year case study of an established regional newspaper in Britain investigates journalists about their perceptions of convergence in digital technologies. This research is the first ethnographic longitudinal case study of a UK regional newspaper. Although conforming to some trends observed in the wider field of scholarship, the analysis adds to skepticism about any linear or directional views of innovation and adoption: the Northern Echo newspaper journalists were observed to have revised their opinions of optimum Web practices, and sometimes radically reversed policies. Technology is seen in the period as a fluid, amorphous entity. Central corporate authority appeared to diminish in the period as part of a wider reduction in formalism. Questioning functionalist notions of the market, the study suggests cause and effect models of change are often subverted by contradictory perceptions of particular actions. Meanwhile, during technological evolution, the ‘professional imagination’ can be understood as strongly reflecting the parent print culture and its routines, despite pioneering a new convergence partnership with an independent television company

Digital Resilience: A Conceptual Framework for Information Systems Research

In this editorial, we explore the role of IS in shaping the capacity to recover from exogenous shocks. Based on a synthesis of existing literature, we discuss the interplay between IS and resilience, as examined by various streams of research, and consolidate these insights under the banner of “digital resilience.” Our exploration culminates in a new conceptual framework of digital resilience from which we formulate avenues for future research. Through this work, we aim to encourage and support further research and practical strategies focused on digital resilience, ultimately strengthening our collective capacity to navigate the diverse disruptions of our shared future