Online and offline social participation of Spanish graduate students

El objetivo fundamental del trabajo es conocer si la participación social online favorece la participación social offline de los jóvenes universitarios. 1502 estudiantes universitarios respondieron la encuesta latinoamericana de participación cívica, a la que se añadieron ítems de participación online. Los resultados mostraron que los jóvenes más activos en la vida online respecto a una temática lo son también en la vida offline en esa misma temática. Se discute que el mundo online es una ampliación del offline tan real como este último. Potenciar la participación online redundará en la mejora social y en la tarea de convertirse en ciudadano.The main aim of this paper is to check if offline social participation is fostered by online undergraduates social participation. 1502 undergraduate students are fulfilled Latin American social participation questionnaire. Two new specific items were added to evaluate the online social participation. Result showed the most networking active graduates are the most active ones in face to face on the very same topic. The online world is an extension as real as the offline. The enhancement of the online social participation will promote both social improvement, and the achievement of civic responsibility as an individual developmental task.El presente artículo ha sido posible gracias a financiación del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad del Gobierno de España (Referencia: EDU2013-45687-R)

People’s Diplomacy: Australian travel, tourism and relations with Asia, 1941-2009

This thesis examines the role of travel and personal experience in Australian relations with Asia, from the Pacific War to the present day. Taking a broad range of travel experiences as its subject, it traces the way in which ‘being there’ has impacted on Australian views of Asian societies. It examines the rumours that have informed conceptions of Asia before travellers’ departures, the complex negotiations between rumour and experience while in Asia, and the way in which travellers have represented Asia to a broader audience upon return. In doing so, it argues that personal travel experiences have influenced broader conceptual shifts. Whilst a national archive of personal experience of Asia has served to demystify the ‘Other,’ the structural inequalities inherent to the majority7 of Australian experiences of Asia have also led to the perpetuation of neocolonial meanings. By probing at the ways in which travel and personal experiences have influenced broader understandings of Asia, and how these have gone on to shape the sphere of diplomatic and official relations, this thesis traces the social and political ramifications of travel experiences. In doing so, it positions travel as an overtly political action, underpinning social attitudes as well as official relations

Digital colonialism: South Africa’s education transformation in the shadow of Silicon Valley

This dissertation investigates the social implications of technology choices for the emerging education transformation of the South African basic education sector. In October 2015, then President Jacob Zuma launched Operation Phakisa Education (OPE), an initiative designed behind closed doors to fast-track digital education into all South African public schools. This study identifies and analyses policy choices and perspectives regarding the technology considered and deployed for the national education rollout. It documents the OPE proposal, and examines how e-education policy choices relate to humanitarian objectives. Theoretically, this study draws upon libertarian socialist theory (anarchism) to examine the sociology of education technology policy. Using anarchist theory, it assesses the perspective, aims, and choices of e-education policy at the national level. It also draws on the Free Software philosophy for society as articulated by Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen. Finally, it compares classic colonialism with global power in the digital era, and posits a theory of digital colonialism. Synthesizing anarchism and the Free Software philosophy into a single theoretical framework – placed into the context of colonial relations – it is the first work to apply anarchist sociological theory to education technology policy, and the first doctoral study on digital colonialism. For its methodology, this dissertation utilizes two qualitative methods: document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Interview subjects include high-level e-education policymakers and administrators in government, key stakeholders, and experts at the intersection of technology innovation and human rights. These methods were used to both identify and interrogate e-education policy as it relates to the humanitarian objectives of education policy at the national level. The findings demonstrate that South African education policy is beholden to largely United States-based corporations and models for e-education. The study found that the types of technologies for consideration in education are rooted in surveillance capitalism, which is spreading across the world. It contends that current e-education policy choices will entrench the power and exploitation of US state-corporate power in South African education, economy, and society. It argues that an alternative set of choices, People’s Technology for People’s Power, is consistent with the spirit of South African technology policy, and should be chosen for South African schools in order to counter the power of foreign power and resist surveillance capitalism. This dissertation is the first publication to document and analyze what the new government education policy is about and how it relates to equality and human rights. It argues that present South African e-education policy constitutes a new form of digitally-driven technocratic neoliberalism which ultimately favors ruling class interests in the United States and South Africa. It also argues that OPE violates South Africa’s Free and Open Source policy and the spirit of democracy outlined in the Phakisa methodology and the Batho Pele principles. This study found that OPE replicates the latest trends in e-education implementation popular in Silicon Valley. Tech multinationals are providing both the products and models for use in South Africa. The dissertation concludes that US technological and conceptual dominance in South African education constitutes digital colonialism. It emphasizes the need for public inclusion in the policy process, and proposes alternative policies and technologies for e-education based on the idea of People’s Technology for People’s Power. It also argues that current scholarship on education technology neglects the political and sociological importance of People’s Technology to education, economy, and society, as well as the global significance of Big Tech dominance vis-a-vis digital colonialism, and that subsequent literature would be enriched by addressing these issues

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse