Information Systems And Employment: From Idealization To Understanding As Stepping Stone To Action

Information Systems (IS), nowadays often focusing on digitization, and their effect on employment have been discussed for a long time. The net effect resulting from job creation and job loss has never been clear. However, it seems obvious that today\u27s information systems the accompanying digitization of data and processes may destroy jobs among knowledge workers just as automation did in the class of manufacturing workers. In this position paper, we outline the effects and mechanisms underlying digitization-driven job destruction and propose a research program to also take into account and prepare for the detrimental side of digitization

Designed and user-generated activity in the mobile age

The paper addresses the question of how to design for learning taking place on mobile and wireless devices. The authors argue that learning activity designers need to consider the characteristics of mobile learning; at the same time, it is vital to realise that learners are already creating mobile learning experiences for themselves. Profound changes in computer usage brought about by social networking and user-generated content are challenging the idea that educators are in charge of designing learning. The authors make a distinction between designed activity, carefully crafted in advance, and user-generated activity arising from learners’ own spontaneous requirements. The paper illustrates what each approach has to offer and it draws out what they have in common, the opportunities and constraints they represent. The paper concludes that user-generated mobile activity will not replace designed activity but it will influence the ways in which designed activity develops

Making It Pay to be a Fan: The Political Economy of Digital Sports Fandom and the Sports Media Industry

This dissertation is a series of case studies and sociological examinations of the role that the sports media industry and mediated sport fandom plays in the political economy of the Internet. The Internet has structurally changed the way that sport fans access sport and accelerated the processes through which the capitalist actors in the sports media industry have been able to subsume them. The three case studies examined in this dissertation are examples of how digital media technologies have both helped fans become more active producers and consumers of sports and made the sports media industry an integral and vanguard component of the cultural industry. The first case study is of Bleacher Report, a fan blogging platform turned major digital sports journalism company. Bleacher Report’s journey from an industry-reviled content farm to major player in digital sports journalism is traced to argue that Bleacher Report’s business model relied on the desperation of aspiring writers only as long as those writers were unpaid. The second case study is of DraftKings and Fanduel, the industry leaders in the fantasy sports genre of daily fantasy sports (DFS). These two companies have seemingly overnight taken over the new field but just as quickly thrust themselves into legal scrutiny that threatened to shut down the entire field of DFS. The proximity to gambling that threatened their legal status also, whoever, belies their relationship to the financialized understanding of that all of fantasy sports represents. The third and final case study is of ESPN. By far the oldest and most powerful of the three cases, ESPN, the self-proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” has made the majority of its money off its innovation of the per subscriber fee, or the fee that ESPN charges cable companies to carry it that is then passed onto individual subscribers whether they watch ESPN or not. As digital technologies have revolutionized the delivery of visual images of sport and the cable bundle that ESPN is the most expensive part of loses market share, ESPN’s ability to monetize both attention and non-attention greatly decreases. The concluding chapter takes these case studies and attempts to synthesize them into a theory of what is termed “contentification,” or the tendency of digital technologies to take disparate forms of records (text, numbers, images) and treat them as “content” to be paid attention to. Sports are particularly prone to contentification and have helped drive the exponential expansion of content to be paid attention to that has resulted in a crisis of attention where the amount of content outstrips the human capacity to take it in. The reconfiguration of capital that finds its expression in the ending of net neutrality is the response to this crisis

Beyond control : will blended learning subvert national curricula?

Blended Learning seems to entail a relatively innocuous set of techniques, but closer examination reveals some of these carry implicit assumptions – of constructivist philosophy, peer collaboration and situative learning – which may make their export to other countries and national cultures problematic. They also provide a route to the Internet: a storehouse of Westernised, unauthorised and anarchic content. So will Blended Learning subvert national curricula? This paper contributes to the debate by examining the milieu of national educational policy, relating it to forms of knowledge. Web 2.0 applications and Open Educational Resources are discussed in relation to the growing gap between traditional curricula and the digitally-enabled communities of mass collectivism and direct action. Blended Learning is shown to pose cultural threats, but also open opportunities, and whether these threats can be turned to advantage depends crucially upon how national policies are formulated and implemented. The conclusion poses key questions for policy-makers and practitioners. Publisher: Information Science Reference Peer-reviewed In: Ng (ed.) Comparative Blended Learning Practices and Environments. (2010

Intelligent Technologies Shaping Business Models for Journalistic Content Provision: A Concept Matrix

There has been much discussion about how intelligent technologies shape journalistic content provision. Common buzz words are data-driven and automated journalism. To address this issue, we conduct on a two-phase, systemic literature review in order to develop an integrated Concept Matrix (Webster & Watson 2002) on how intelligent technologies - here natural language generation, predictive intelligence algorithms, and latent semantic indexing - shape the business models of journalistic content provision. We offer insights regarding \u27roles of\u27 intelligent technologies and how they drive for\u27 business models as we find that they, will make the difference also in journalism as in many other already or soon digital industries

Handmade and DIY: The Cultural Economy in the Digital Age

@font-face { font-family: Cambria Math ; }@font-face { font-family: Palatino Linotype ; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Times New Roman ; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; } In recent years there has been growing consensus among academics and policy makers that cultural industries are key drivers of contemporary economic growth. For geographers and economists, the roles of agglomeration and knowledge flows are important factors that sustain the cultural industries. However, existing research focuses overwhelmingly on elite cultural industries in global cities. In addition, there has been little effort to account for new technologies that create a more complex landscape for the cultural economy by allowing cultural producers to collaborate, communicate, and operate from remote locations. This dissertation uses the independent (indie) crafting phenomenon to examine a grassroots, technologically driven alternative to elite cultural industries. In particular, the research employs mixed methods to examine agglomeration tendencies and networking in the digital age. The results of quantitative inquiry demonstrate that clustering and agglomeration are still defining features of the cultural industries in the digital age, but not in ways that are previously acknowledged. Independent cultural production clusters in second- and third-tier cities, suggesting that those places can use online resources to overcome geographic constraints to some extent. Following up with qualitative methods, this research finds that local support mechanisms such as business groups and small business resources reinforce clustering. Online communications tools also reinforce clustering. The Internet’s most important function is to help cultural producers find and organize information relevant to a local community. Although it is possible to make contacts on the other side of the world or access non-local information, the utility of those contacts and information is limited. The prevailing notion in current cultural economic literature is that technology decentralizes cultural production and increases the physical distance of market and social interactions. The dissertation argues, however, that the Internet provides a quicker, more efficient way for individuals to make contacts virtually, which then leads local connections and collaborations in “the real world.

The New Visual Testimonial: Narrative, Authenticity, and Subjectivity in Emerging Commercial Photographic Practice

By studying the cultural and aesthetic impact of increasingly pervasive digital technologies and mass amateurization, this paper examines the ramifications of the networked information economy on professional photographic practice and considers the concomitant implications for the photographic classroom. Using the framework of convergence culture as per the writings of Yochai Benkler, Henry Jenkins, Mark Deuze, and Axel Bruns, the impact of accessible and instantaneous image creation and dispersal are explored. Given the rise of consumer engagement in brand co-creation on social media platforms, we can observe massive changes to professional practice in areas such as aesthetics, and the erosion of previous sustainable business models. Indeed, as traditional notions of “expertise” shift from technological prowess to narrative and disseminative abilities, the effects on commercial practice and photographic education need to be addressed. This paper argues that there are three emerging priorities for commercial image use: narrative ability, authenticity, and subjectivity and suggests initial steps in their pedagogical application. By acknowledging these transformations, this paper explores the idea that students need to harness technique, social media influence, adaptability, subjectivity, and storytelling power in order to better serve emerging image-based needs in commercial spaces

Cinephilia and online communities

The accelerated development of digital media over the past few decades has led to a theoretical overhaul of media classification. The rise of the Internet has been designated as a historical dividing point between the age of ‘old’ media and that of ‘new’ media. Old media are unified objects of transmission, and new media are digitally converted and integrated media experiences enabled by the Internet and other digital technology. A debate currently wages over new media’s potential for meaningful positive change. Advocates argue that the transition to digital media signals a force for globalism and democracy, whereas skeptics see little evidence for these claims. However, the progressivism of new media comes into clearer focus when applied to a narrow field of study. The proposed research integrates new media and film studies, focusing on cinephilia, a mode of film consumption that has blended a lofty passion for cinema with intellectual engagement with film history and scholarship. Drawing on the new media concepts of the online knowledge community, weak-tie activism, and peer production, this paper argues that online interactivity, the diminishment of costs for mass organization, and the ease with which films can be digitally circulated have had a substantial progressive impact on cinephilia. The research also touches on the overlooked communal and organizational capabilities of online file sharing, a practice which remains simplistically assessed in terms of its legality.Faculty Mentor: Navarro, Vinicius; Dalle Vacche, Angela - Committee Member/Second Reader; Reilly, J.C. - Committee Member/Second Reade

Horizon Report 2009

El informe anual Horizon investiga, identifica y clasifica las tecnologías emergentes que los expertos que lo elaboran prevén tendrán un impacto en la enseñanza aprendizaje, la investigación y la producción creativa en el contexto educativo de la enseñanza superior. También estudia las tendencias clave que permiten prever el uso que se hará de las mismas y los retos que ellos suponen para las aulas. Cada edición identifica seis tecnologías o prácticas. Dos cuyo uso se prevé emergerá en un futuro inmediato (un año o menos) dos que emergerán a medio plazo (en dos o tres años) y dos previstas a más largo plazo (5 años)

Re-Imagining Journalism: Local News for a Networked World

Details strategies for realizing healthy local information ecologies through for-profit and nonprofit media; higher education and community institutions; emphasis on relevance, research, and revenues; and government support. Includes case summaries