An Investigation of the Marketing Practices of Local Food Businesses in Southwestern Ontario

This thesis presents research from two interrelated studies examining the marketing practices of local food businesses in Southwestern Ontario. Focus groups were held with food system stakeholders to examine their attitudes and insights toward developing new technologies (i.e., smartphone and web-based tools) to promote local food. A survey of direct-market farmers sought to uncover their marketing practices and motivations. A combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed that although technology already plays a prominent role in marketing, there is a strong desire for more metrics to measure the efficacy of marketing efforts. Further, new technologies should facilitate producer-consumer connections, as this practice plays an important role in marketing local food. This research will help to inform future efforts to ‘scale-up’ local food systems by examining the preferences and perspectives of local food businesses. This ensures the needs of these businesses are addressed in the pursuit of sustainable, resilient local food systems

Modern Socio-Technical Perspectives on Privacy

This open access book provides researchers and professionals with a foundational understanding of online privacy as well as insight into the socio-technical privacy issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems, covering several modern topics (e.g., privacy in social media, IoT) and underexplored areas (e.g., privacy accessibility, privacy for vulnerable populations, cross-cultural privacy). The book is structured in four parts, which follow after an introduction to privacy on both a technical and social level: Privacy Theory and Methods covers a range of theoretical lenses through which one can view the concept of privacy. The chapters in this part relate to modern privacy phenomena, thus emphasizing its relevance to our digital, networked lives. Next, Domains covers a number of areas in which privacy concerns and implications are particularly salient, including among others social media, healthcare, smart cities, wearable IT, and trackers. The Audiences section then highlights audiences that have traditionally been ignored when creating privacy-preserving experiences: people from other (non-Western) cultures, people with accessibility needs, adolescents, and people who are underrepresented in terms of their race, class, gender or sexual identity, religion or some combination. Finally, the chapters in Moving Forward outline approaches to privacy that move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions, explore ethical considerations, and describe the regulatory landscape that governs privacy through laws and policies. Perhaps even more so than the other chapters in this book, these chapters are forward-looking by using current personalized, ethical and legal approaches as a starting point for re-conceptualizations of privacy to serve the modern technological landscape. The book’s primary goal is to inform IT students, researchers, and professionals about both the fundamentals of online privacy and the issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems. Lecturers or teacherscan assign (parts of) the book for a “professional issues” course. IT professionals may select chapters covering domains and audiences relevant to their field of work, as well as the Moving Forward chapters that cover ethical and legal aspects. Academicswho are interested in studying privacy or privacy-related topics will find a broad introduction in both technical and social aspects

Industry and Public Sector Cooperation for Information Sharing Ports of Puget Sound

(MIST Puget Sound)This report presents the findings of the Maritime Information Sharing Taskforce (MIST) research effort for the Washington State Puget Sound ports. Using a participatory design approach, the researchers partnered with federal and commercial stakeholders to assess the information sharing needs of security personnel in this port region. The research design included an issues workshop, field studies of port personnel, and local networking events. The findings indicate the need for increased interagency collaboration in maritime domain awareness (MDA) and highlight local recommended practices and incentives for information sharing with the private sector. In addition, we gathered usability data on two federal policies/programs. The Maritime Information Sharing Taskforce (MIST) is an interagency effort to capture best practices in information sharing, create a structure for collaborative problem solving, and convey unique local issues to national policy makers. The MIST team is led by the Maritime Defense and Security Research Program (MDSRP) at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in partnership with several federal agencies: the Maritime Administration (MARAD), the Office of Global Maritime Situational Awareness (OGMSA), Global Maritime and Air Intelligence Integration (GMAII), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping (NCAGS). The MIST process consists of a series of activities that are designed to help us surface issues important to private sector shipping. Each local event builds upon lessons learned from earlier events and invites participants to join in on the design of specific activities

Modern Socio-Technical Perspectives on Privacy

This open access book provides researchers and professionals with a foundational understanding of online privacy as well as insight into the socio-technical privacy issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems, covering several modern topics (e.g., privacy in social media, IoT) and underexplored areas (e.g., privacy accessibility, privacy for vulnerable populations, cross-cultural privacy). The book is structured in four parts, which follow after an introduction to privacy on both a technical and social level: Privacy Theory and Methods covers a range of theoretical lenses through which one can view the concept of privacy. The chapters in this part relate to modern privacy phenomena, thus emphasizing its relevance to our digital, networked lives. Next, Domains covers a number of areas in which privacy concerns and implications are particularly salient, including among others social media, healthcare, smart cities, wearable IT, and trackers. The Audiences section then highlights audiences that have traditionally been ignored when creating privacy-preserving experiences: people from other (non-Western) cultures, people with accessibility needs, adolescents, and people who are underrepresented in terms of their race, class, gender or sexual identity, religion or some combination. Finally, the chapters in Moving Forward outline approaches to privacy that move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions, explore ethical considerations, and describe the regulatory landscape that governs privacy through laws and policies. Perhaps even more so than the other chapters in this book, these chapters are forward-looking by using current personalized, ethical and legal approaches as a starting point for re-conceptualizations of privacy to serve the modern technological landscape. The book’s primary goal is to inform IT students, researchers, and professionals about both the fundamentals of online privacy and the issues that are most pertinent to modern information systems. Lecturers or teacherscan assign (parts of) the book for a “professional issues” course. IT professionals may select chapters covering domains and audiences relevant to their field of work, as well as the Moving Forward chapters that cover ethical and legal aspects. Academicswho are interested in studying privacy or privacy-related topics will find a broad introduction in both technical and social aspects

Ecology-based planning. Italian and French experimentations

This paper examines some French and Italian experimentations of green infrastructures’ (GI) construction in relation to their techniques and methodologies. The construction of a multifunctional green infrastructure can lead to the generation of a number of relevant bene fi ts able to face the increasing challenges of climate change and resilience (for example, social, ecological and environmental through the recognition of the concept of ecosystem services) and could ease the achievement of a performance-based approach. This approach, differently from the traditional prescriptive one, helps to attain a better and more fl exible land-use integration. In both countries, GI play an important role in contrasting land take and, for their adaptive and cross-scale nature, they help to generate a res ilient approach to urban plans and projects. Due to their fl exible and site-based nature, GI can be adapted, even if through different methodologies and approaches, both to urban and extra-urban contexts. On one hand, France, through its strong national policy on ecological networks, recognizes them as one of the major planning strategies toward a more sustainable development of territories; on the other hand, Italy has no national policy and Regions still have a hard time integrating them in already existing planning tools. In this perspective, Italian experimentations on GI construction appear to be a simple and sporadic add-on of urban and regional plans