The Mundane Computer: Non-Technical Design Challenges Facing Ubiquitous Computing and Ambient Intelligence

Interdisciplinary collaboration, to include those who are not natural scientists, engineers and computer scientists, is inherent in the idea of ubiquitous computing, as formulated by Mark Weiser in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, ubiquitous computing has remained largely a computer science and engineering concept, and its non-technical side remains relatively underdeveloped. The aim of the article is, first, to clarify the kind of interdisciplinary collaboration envisaged by Weiser. Second, the difficulties of understanding the everyday and weaving ubiquitous technologies into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it, as conceived by Weiser, are explored. The contributions of Anne Galloway, Paul Dourish and Philip Agre to creating an understanding of everyday life relevant to the development of ubiquitous computing are discussed, focusing on the notions of performative practice, embodied interaction and contextualisation. Third, it is argued that with the shift to the notion of ambient intelligence, the larger scale socio-economic and socio-political dimensions of context become more explicit, in contrast to the focus on the smaller scale anthropological study of social (mainly workplace) practices inherent in the concept of ubiquitous computing. This can be seen in the adoption of the concept of ambient intelligence within the European Union and in the focus on rebalancing (personal) privacy protection and (state) security in the wake of 11 September 2001. Fourth, the importance of adopting a futures-oriented approach to discussing the issues arising from the notions of ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence is stressed, while the difficulty of trying to achieve societal foresight is acknowledged

Adapting to new challenges: extension theory and practice for the 21st century

Twenty first century challenges facing agriculture include climate change, threats to food security for a growing population and downward economic pressures on rural livelihoods. Addressing these challenges will require innovation in extension theory, policy and education, at a time when the dominance of the state in the provision of knowledge and information services to farmers and rural entrepreneurs continues to decline. This paper suggests that extension theory is catching up with and helping us to understand innovative extension practice, and therefore provides a platform for improving rural development policies and strategies. Innovation is now less likely to be spoken of as something to be passed on to farmers, than as a continuing process of creativity and adaptation that can be nurtured and sustained. Innovation systems and innovation platforms are concepts that recognise the multiple factors that lead to farmers’ developing, adapting and applying new ideas and the importance of linking all actors in the value chain to ensure producers can access appropriate information and advice for decision making at all stages in the production process. Concepts of social learning, group development and solidarity, social capital, collective action and empowerment all help to explain and therefore to apply more effectively group extension approaches in building confidence and sustaining innovation. A challenge facing educators is to ensure the curricula for aspiring extension professionals in our higher education institutions are regularly reviewed and keep up with current and future developments in theory, policy and practice

Rockefeller Foundation 2010 Annual Report

Contains president's letter; 2010 program highlights, including support for Africa's green revolution, sustainable and equitable transportation policy, and healthy communities; grants list; financial report; and lists of trustees and staff

Redefining Human Security The Case of Albania

This paper offers a critical study of the concept and issues of human security. Its usage, definition and applicability may differ since different authors explain issues related to security differently. Although there is still no common definition on what human security is, most authors agree that human security is related to individuals in terms of theirwellbeing. For too long, human security has been focused on the protection of state territory, regarded as the traditional perception of security. This kind of interpretation refers to a narrow security concept, not well constructed and incapable of addressing most of the important issues related to the security of the individual. The issue of security for a nation is quite different to the issue of security for individuals, because the first tends to protect the boundaries of the state where people live while the second aims to protect all human being from insecurities. Human security is a new challenge in today’s world; it presents new threats which are far away from the threats generated by the traditional concept of human security. The new concept of human security should be analysed in people’s daily lives, not in a country’s guns and weapons. To protect people’s lives means respecting all human rights prescribed in domestic law and international conventions; violating them means causing human insecurities and the failure of the state to fulfil its own responsibilities towards the law. Therefore, the protection and the welfare of the people should become first goal of the government. In cooperation with international organizations and NGOs, governments should find and promote appropriate policies to establish a political, economic and social security environment for all the people as citizens of that country

Risk and Social Democracy

‘Risk’ has become a central theme in 21st-century policy thinking. The fact that individuals and families are vulnerable to a wide range of social, economic and other risks, and that collective action is needed to help reduce and manage these risks, has long been important in social democratic thinking. The aim of this paper is to show how an improved understanding of risk can contribute to the development of a modernised social democratic model.

Reimagining WHO: Leadership and Action for a New Director-General

Three candidates to be the next WHO Director-General remain: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, David Nabarro, and Sania Nishtar. The World Health Assembly’s ultimate choice will lead an Organization facing daunting internal and external challenges, from its own funding shortfalls to antimicrobial resistance and immense health inequities. The new Director-General must transform WHO into a 21st century institution guided by the right to health. Topping the incoming Director-General’s agenda will be a host of growing threats—risks to global health security, antimicrobial resistance, non-communicable diseases, and climate change—but also the transformative potential of the Sustainable Development Goals, including their universal health coverage target. Throughout, the next Director-General should emphasize equality, including through national health equity strategies and, more boldly still, advancing the Framework Convention on Global Health. Success in these areas will require a reinvigorated WHO, with sustainable financing, greater multi-sector engagement, enhanced accountability and transparency, and strengthened normative leadership. WHO must also evolves its governance to become far more welcoming of civil society and communities. To build the political support for these transformative changes, the Director-General will need to focus first on gaining political support. This entails improving accountability and transparency to gain member state trust, and enabling meaningful civil society participation in WHO’s governance and standing up for the right to health to gain civil society support. Ultimately, in the face of a global environment marked by heightened nationalism and xenophobia, member states must empower the next Director-General to enable WHO to be a bulwark for health and human rights, serving as an inspiring contra-example to today’s destructive politics, demonstrating that the community of nations are indeed stronger together

Health informatics domain knowledge analysis: An information technology perspective

Health Informatics is an intersection of information technology, several disciplines of medicine and health care. It sits at the common frontiers of health care services including patient centric, processes driven and procedural centric care. From the information technology perspective it can be viewed as computer application in medical and/or health processes for delivering better health care solutions. In spite of the exaggerated hype, this field is having a major impact in health care solutions, in particular health care deliveries, decision making, medical devices and allied health care industries. It also affords enormous research opportunities for new methodological development. Despite the obvious connections between Medical Informatics, Nursing Informatics and Health Informatics, most of the methodologies and approaches used in Health Informatics have so far originated from health system management, care aspects and medical diagnostic. This paper explores reasoning for domain knowledge analysis that would establish Health Informatics as a domain and recognised as an intellectual discipline in its own right

Illinois' Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs

Countering assumptions that a college education will be the only ticket to a stable economic future in Illinois, nearly one million openings in middle-skill jobs are projected for the state by 2014, according to a new study by the Skills2Compete-Illinois campaign. While the openings signal new opportunities for Illinois' workforce, the report cites the growing concern that there will not be an adequate number of skilled Illinois workers to fill these positions. The report also finds that two-thirds of the people who will be in Illinois' workforce in the year 2020 were already working adults in 2005 -- long past the traditional high school to college pipeline. The Skills2Compete-Illinois campaign calls for a new vision: every working Illinoisan should have access to at least two years of education or training past high school