Knowledge Sharing, Maintenance, and Use in Online Support Communities.

Widespread adoption of information technologies has fostered new social arrangements and opportunities for large-scale collaboration. Many of these new collaborations occur in online support communities where members help each other make sense of, and deal with, a particular topic (e.g., website design, cancer treatment). Many of these communities struggle with meeting the divergent needs of novices, experts, and those who overhear their conversations. A few communities have recently augmented their existing threaded conversations (e.g., email list discussions) with a wiki repository which serves a similar purpose as an FAQ document. I demonstrate how a threaded conversation and wiki repository can complement each other by describing in detail a technical support community (css-d) where they do. Using a mixed method approach I empirically examine how activity is organized to leverage both resources through an analysis of the governance structure, social roles and norms, information genres, participation patterns, and technical features. I also use an action research methodology to help 3 online medical support communities implement a wiki repository. I first the limitations of using a community conversation for reuse by arguing that the very same characteristics that make community conversations useful to their participants (e.g., their personalized, immediate, and social nature) make their reuse by onlookers problematic. I then describe how a wiki repository was used by the css-d community to create reusable content that complements the discussion. I characterize the wiki genres most useful to the community (e.g., Annotated Links, Debate summaries, How To pages, Articles) and describe the processes important to their creation, and how they lead to content that fills information gaps, is reusable, and relevant to the masses. I describe how the synergistic relationship between community conversation and wiki repositories helps overcome some of the information sharing and maintenance challenges common to help-based communities, as well as how it helps overcome some of the common social maintenance challenges of online communities such as keeping the discussion on topic and avoiding contentious debates. Finally, I characterize some of the challenges of implementing wiki repositories and collaborative authoring, such as the hesitancy of members to edit others’ work.Ph.D.InformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57608/2/shakmatt_1.pd

ICT (WEB.DESIGN)AND JAVANESE LANGUAGE LEARNING IN INDONESIA: REVITALIZATION INDIGENOUS LANGUGES

In this paper, I would like to focus on Javanese language as indigenous language in Indonesia that needs to preserve and develop especially Javanese letters and naturalness conversation. This paper also describes important areas in which technology plays a role in language and culture revitalization and explores efforts made by Indigenous communities to preserve, maintain and revitalize their Indigenous language with the help of computer technology. Why Javanese language?, The Javanese language is becoming endangered, even though it is one of the compulsory subjects taught at Javanese schools. Students become unmotivated when they learn the language at school because of boring and irrelevant teaching and learning materials. Furthermore, their closest mentors such as teachers, parents and relatives cannot provide motivating conditions to learn the Javanese language. In order to preserve the Javanese language through education at schools, ICT-Web Design is an approach proposed for Javanese language learning. The students can learn the usage of Javanese language at a proper Javanese letters, level of politeness through a natural dialogue with ICT. An approach that is not new, but which has been under-utilized and has yet to be proven useful in Indigenous communities is the integration of technology to supplement efforts in Indigenous language education, revitalization and maintenance programs. Many Indigenous communities have embraced technologies, such as audio, video, multimedia, Internet and etc as a means to revitalize their language. However, the language revitalization employs the following categories: Indigenous language preservation; documentation and material development; and building communicative community can be applied to other Indigenous languages as well

Using ICT to support public and private community memories: case studies and lessons learned

Information communication technologies (ICTs) enable the development of memories across a variety of communities. We identify a spectrum of deployment from private through to open public spaces. As we move along this spectrum key variables change including mechanisms of trust and accountability and the definition of ownership, authorship and readership. Some challenges however, remain constant such as designing for sustainability and the need to align research and community goals. Private spaces can be created to enhance existing interactions, develop bonding capital and build shared memory. Such spaces allow a defined membership the opportunity to explore new ideas away from the public gaze, using language which may not be intelligible to outsiders. ICTs may be used to bridge internal and external audiences, repurposing content for a wider public. The original content may require alternative presentation, organisation or navigation methods to support its effective use by an external audience. Increasingly, community memories are being developed using social software within the public sphere, however this raises issues of authority, reputation management, and conflict resolution. Unexpected innovation may occur, and issues of sustainability must be addressed. In our analysis we will draw on three ICT initiatives in which we have participated: Bletchley Park Guides’ Forum, Bletchley Park Text and Milton Keynes Open Guide

Enhancing Ontario’s Rural Infrastructure Preparedness: Inter-Community Service Sharing in a Changing Climate — Environmental Scan

Given the research that has been done in this environmental scan and the gaps found in this research, it is our aim to find out: What types of service sharing are going on in Ontario municipalities, particularly in rural/remote areas? How can inter-community service sharing (ICSS) benefit the asset management planning process in these rural/remote areas to enhance capacities for climate change resilience? Climate change (CC) will exacerbate deterioration to existing infrastructure and increase replacement costs. Improved preparedness reduces risks and increases efficiency, readiness and coping capacity. To increase the preparedness of Ontario rural communities, this project develops CC-Prepared Inter-Community Service Sharing (ICSS) as an innovative strategy that expands cost-effective solutions within Ontario’s standardized Asset Management Planning (AMP) process. Overseen by a Project Advisory Board (PAB), it identifies a suite of best practice ICSS processes and principles and a range of factors and indicators that influence the uptake of ICSS as a viable and practical opportunity targeted to enhance rural infrastructure preparedness for CC. It utilizes a multimethod, interdisciplinary approach involving an environmental scan, interviews, a survey and case studies and develops an ICSS Toolkit consisting of reports, workbook, policy brief and media kit. Knowledge translation and transfer (KTT) includes blogs, teleconferences, articles, presentations and a workshop. For small rural Ontario communities, this study enhances management of CC impacts on infrastructure through the development of a CC-Prepared ICSS strategy, increasing anticipatory, collective actions that reduce dam age and increase efficiencies. It informs sound municipal/provincial level programs and policies about innovative ICSS that benefit rural communities through the identification of Ontario-wide trends, case study best practises and action-oriented recommendations

Proposal for an IMLS Collection Registry and Metadata Repository

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign proposes to design, implement, and research a collection-level registry and item-level metadata repository service that will aggregate information about digital collections and items of digital content created using funds from Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) National Leadership Grants. This work will be a collaboration by the University Library and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. All extant digital collections initiated or augmented under IMLS aegis from 1998 through September 30, 2005 will be included in the proposed collection registry. Item-level metadata will be harvested from collections making such content available using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI PMH). As part of this work, project personnel, in cooperation with IMLS staff and grantees, will define and document appropriate metadata schemas, help create and maintain collection-level metadata records, assist in implementing OAI compliant metadata provider services for dissemination of item-level metadata records, and research potential benefits and issues associated with these activities. The immediate outcomes of this work will be the practical demonstration of technologies that have the potential to enhance the visibility of IMLS funded online exhibits and digital library collections and improve discoverability of items contained in these resources. Experience gained and research conducted during this project will make clearer both the costs and the potential benefits associated with such services. Metadata provider and harvesting service implementations will be appropriately instrumented (e.g., customized anonymous transaction logs, online questionnaires for targeted user groups, performance monitors). At the conclusion of this project we will submit a final report that discusses tasks performed and lessons learned, presents business plans for sustaining registry and repository services, enumerates and summarizes potential benefits of these services, and makes recommendations regarding future implementations of these and related intermediary and end user interoperability services by IMLS projects.unpublishednot peer reviewe

Competency-driven benefits realization model for minimization of post-contract transaction costs in design-build (d&b) delivery systems

The construction industry has been struggling with the issue of inconsistent performance with respect to cost of projects, completion time and the delivery of a quality product. In an attempt to address this issue the Design-Build (D&B) project delivery system was initiated primarily to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional procurement strategies. Although, traditionally D&B delivery system was aimed to greatly enhance client‘s benefits, this has not significantly been achieved. It lacks clear benefits realization management process to deliver the planned client‘s benefits. In particular, the Transaction Costs (TCs) incurred at the post-contract phase (PTCs) through D&B system has been the subject of criticism, wherein it has been unable to achieve the expected resounding success of a total shift away from the issues attributed to the traditional systems. This research aims to establish the importance of leveraging on D&B project team-competency and commitment structured within a strategic Benefits Realization Management framework to optimize client‘s benefits in terms of minimizing PTCs. The focus is on the aspect of competencies of key project participants and their project team commitment with respect to minimizing TCs that is structured within a Benefits Realization Management (BRM) practice. Questionnaire survey data was obtained from 231 respondents out of 357 administered questionnaires to G7 contractors registered under CIDB Malaysia that was based on a systematic sampling of the existing CIDB contractor database. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to test the relationships being hypothesized and to validate and confirm the developed Competency Driven Benefits Realization Model (CD-BREM). Exploratory preliminary research findings reveal that post-contract TCs for D&B projects range from 3.5% to 13.5% of the project value. The primary research findings reveal that D&B team commitment has partial mediating effect between team competency and post-contract TCs. Whilst, BRM was found to have a partial mediating effect between team competency and post-contract TCs and no moderating effect as initially hypothesized. In general the research findings indicate that team competency, commitment and BRM have significant positive influences on post-contract TCs. This research provides a multi-dimensional perspective of the D&B project benefits realization concept and has the potential to address the issue of minimizing PTCs, which is seen as a social waste of wealth. Using CD-BREM it is possible to identify key human factors that can contribute to high project performance that also serves as an enabling mechanism for realizing the full potential of the D&B method for delivering successful projects. This research is timely to help reverse the trend of poor performance within the construction industry as a whole. Further work on the implementation of this CD-BREM model on construction projects and the consideration of including additional independent variables in the research theoretical framework can be explored to strengthen the credibility of the outcome of this research which is aimed at minimizing PTCs

How to promote informal learning in the workplace? The need for incremental design methods

Informal Learning in the Workplace (ILW) is ensured by the everyday work activities in which workers are engaged. It accounts for over 75 per cent of learning in the workplace. Enterprise Social Media (ESM) are increasingly used as informal learning environments. According to the results of an implementation we have conducted in real context, we show that ESM are appropriate to promote ILW. Nevertheless, social aspects must be reconsidered to address users' needs regarding content and access, quality information indicators, moderation and control