Eurolanguages-2010: Innovations and Development

Збірник наукових студентських робіт по підсумкам 8 Міжнародної конференції "Євромови-2010

Pics or it didn't happen: Instagram in Prosumer Capitalism and Reflexive Modernity

Drawing on practice centered approaches to consumption, this study situates a cultural analysis of Instagram, a smartphone-­‐based image sharing application used by over 80 million people worldwide, within wider discourses on reflexive modernity, critical media studies, prosumption, and late-­‐modern consumer culture. A seven-­‐day diary study with 25 international participants, supplemented by participant observation, helps tie these theoretical engagements to specific lived experiences illustrating what it means to live with a networked camera almost permanently on-­‐hand to record and share images of daily life. I focus on the reflexive framing and composition of moments of consumption within practice, arguing that the material culture and affordances of networked mobile imaging, as represented by Instagram, reflect a divergence in photographic practice that expands the realm of the photographable. As the ‘mobile web’ extends networked communication into new spatial contexts, the already overstated dichotomy between the real and the virtual breaks down. This expansion of imaging and communication into new spaces and routines occurs in conjunction with the twin shifts toward an “experience” and “informational” economy, within a social media ecology that enables, and demands, ever more sharing of experiences. While imaging is experienced by many simply as an enjoyable way to fill time or be creative, I explore the multiple agencies that structure enjoyment and explicate the workings of imaginative pleasure using an adapted reading of Colin Campbell’s account of modern hedonism, coupled with Jodi Dean’s account of drive, or the pleasure that emerges from the failure to achieve satisfaction, and its role in prosumer capitalism. I conclude by arguing that social media platforms like Instagram, and its new parent, Facebook, challenge reflexive modernity theorists’ views of empowered, individuated modern subjectivity. Social media slide readily into the institutional gap, as hidden quasi-­‐ institutions, constituting powerful limits to reflexivity through new disciplining mechanisms, even as they afford the potential for radically transformative reflexivity

Data-Driven Evaluation of In-Vehicle Information Systems

Today’s In-Vehicle Information Systems (IVISs) are featurerich systems that provide the driver with numerous options for entertainment, information, comfort, and communication. Drivers can stream their favorite songs, read reviews of nearby restaurants, or change the ambient lighting to their liking. To do so, they interact with large center stack touchscreens that have become the main interface between the driver and IVISs. To interact with these systems, drivers must take their eyes off the road which can impair their driving performance. This makes IVIS evaluation critical not only to meet customer needs but also to ensure road safety. The growing number of features, the distraction caused by large touchscreens, and the impact of driving automation on driver behavior pose significant challenges for the design and evaluation of IVISs. Traditionally, IVISs are evaluated qualitatively or through small-scale user studies using driving simulators. However, these methods are not scalable to the growing number of features and the variety of driving scenarios that influence driver interaction behavior. We argue that data-driven methods can be a viable solution to these challenges and can assist automotive User Experience (UX) experts in evaluating IVISs. Therefore, we need to understand how data-driven methods can facilitate the design and evaluation of IVISs, how large amounts of usage data need to be visualized, and how drivers allocate their visual attention when interacting with center stack touchscreens. In Part I, we present the results of two empirical studies and create a comprehensive understanding of the role that data-driven methods currently play in the automotive UX design process. We found that automotive UX experts face two main conflicts: First, results from qualitative or small-scale empirical studies are often not valued in the decision-making process. Second, UX experts often do not have access to customer data and lack the means and tools to analyze it appropriately. As a result, design decisions are often not user-centered and are based on subjective judgments rather than evidence-based customer insights. Our results show that automotive UX experts need data-driven methods that leverage large amounts of telematics data collected from customer vehicles. They need tools to help them visualize and analyze customer usage data and computational methods to automatically evaluate IVIS designs. In Part II, we present ICEBOAT, an interactive user behavior analysis tool for automotive user interfaces. ICEBOAT processes interaction data, driving data, and glance data, collected over-the-air from customer vehicles and visualizes it on different levels of granularity. Leveraging our multi-level user behavior analysis framework, it enables UX experts to effectively and efficiently evaluate driver interactions with touchscreen-based IVISs concerning performance and safety-related metrics. In Part III, we investigate drivers’ multitasking behavior and visual attention allocation when interacting with center stack touchscreens while driving. We present the first naturalistic driving study to assess drivers’ tactical and operational self-regulation with center stack touchscreens. Our results show significant differences in drivers’ interaction and glance behavior in response to different levels of driving automation, vehicle speed, and road curvature. During automated driving, drivers perform more interactions per touchscreen sequence and increase the time spent looking at the center stack touchscreen. These results emphasize the importance of context-dependent driver distraction assessment of driver interactions with IVISs. Motivated by this we present a machine learning-based approach to predict and explain the visual demand of in-vehicle touchscreen interactions based on customer data. By predicting the visual demand of yet unseen touchscreen interactions, our method lays the foundation for automated data-driven evaluation of early-stage IVIS prototypes. The local and global explanations provide additional insights into how design artifacts and driving context affect drivers’ glance behavior. Overall, this thesis identifies current shortcomings in the evaluation of IVISs and proposes novel solutions based on visual analytics and statistical and computational modeling that generate insights into driver interaction behavior and assist UX experts in making user-centered design decisions

Responsible practices in the wild: an actor-network perspective on mobile apps in learning as translation(s)

Competence to enact responsible practices, such as recycling waste or boycotting irresponsible companies, is core to learning for responsibility. We explore the role of apps in learning such responsible practices ‘in the wild,’ outside formal educational environments over a 3-week period. Learners maintained a daily diary in which they reflected on their learning of responsible practices with apps. Through a thematic analysis of 557 app mentions in the diaries, we identified five types of app-agency: cognitive, action, interpersonal, personal development, and material. Findings were interpreted from an actor-network perspective using the lens of ‘translation.’ To understand how apps enabled the learning of responsible practices, we analyzed app agency throughout four moments of translation: problematization, interessement, enrolment, and mobilization. Based on our analysis of how students’ app mentions changed over time, we further theorize learning as a sequence of subtranslations that form the larger translation process: learning as translation(s). Each subtranslation cycle is centered on enrolling a different set of human and nonhuman actors, with their competence, into the network. We contribute to the learning for responsibility field by showcasing how app-enabled learning may create real-life actor networks enacting responsibility, and by priming an actor-network pedagogy for ‘learning in the wild.’ We also contribute to the actor-network learning discussion by conceptualizing heterogeneous human–nonhuman competence and the first processual model of learning as translation(s)

IT governance in small and medium enterprise post Sarbanes Oxley

The history of IT governance research has been dichotomous in that research either focused on the IT governance structural arrangements or the contingencies that affect IT organizational decisions. Weill and Ross’s (2004) seminal text on IT governance represents a synthesis of these two streams of research and thus establishes a new trajectory in the discourse related to IT governance. Their study included analysis from both survey data and case studies. However, the case study sites included were of large capitalized companies. Moreover, the cases were conducted prior to the mandated implementation of Section 404 of Sarbanes Oxley (SOX), which oversees the requirements for companies to ensure they have adequate controls in place to safeguard financial data and reporting. Compliance efforts with SOX have disproportionately impacted the finances of small publicly traded companies; consequently, the compliance efforts of small and medium publicly traded companies may differ from that of large companies. Most small companies have taken SOX seriously and complied with the requirements mandated by the legislation by implementing the controls that demonstrate that the organization has reasonable assurance of governance over the company’s IT function. Still other small companies have chosen to use SOX as a catalyst for systemic change throughout the company’s IT function. While the latter may seem the logical progression of a company’s IT governance effort, that is not always the case. This study seeks to understand the reasons behind why some companies extend compliance efforts to invoke positive systemic change while others only do enough to comply with regulatory requirements. Using a multiple-case methodology, this study attempts to build upon the existing body of IT governance research by examining how the aforementioned IT governance concepts discussed by Weill and Ross are manifest in small and medium publicly traded companies. Additionally, the reason(s) why or why not those concepts may be present is examined using the theoretical lens of institutional theory. Findings of the study include an identification of differences small and medium publicly traded companies and large publicly traded companies in establishing enterprise-wide IT governance

The social construction of human-robot co-work by means of prototype work settings

Whether we look at Europe, the USA or Japan, in many areas in the world new possibilities of employing robotic systems in work settings essentially rely on direct collaborative interaction be-tween human workers and collaborative robots leading to new distributions of agency between them and making available robotic operations as resources for performing different forms of work, work which otherwise would remain out of reach for robotic automation for the time being. In this paper we introduce our concepts of studying the social construction of these collaborative work settings and the distribution of agency, accordingly. Referring to the basic idea of actor-network theory that technology in use should be analysed in a symmetrical manner, treating all the human and nonhuman entities involved as actors, our concept of distributed agency goes beyond actor-network theory in that it introduces the notion of gradualised action, which allows distinguishing between different levels of distributed agency. Therefore, we can precisely describe, in which way and to what extent activities and actor positions are delegated to robot co-workers or remain with its human counterpart. For analysing how the distribution of agency between human and robot co-workers is socially constructed in different stages, first in laboratory settings and then in increas-ingly realistic real-world settings, we interpret the spectrum of manifestations of human-robot col-laboration as prototypically realised scenarios at different stages of elaboration. In doing so we introduce the current state of collaborative robots in the areas of industrial production and care work as they represent contrastive cases: In industrial production collaborative robots are the next step in a long-standing history of robotic automation whereas in care work the new robots are also the first robots to be employed there. We believe that in both fields a perspective on collaborative work between humans and robots as a socio-technical constellation is helpful in order to be able to identify new distributions of work tasks

Young Children (0-8) and Digital Technology - A qualitative study across Europe

It only takes witnessing a few interactions within modern western families to realize how much the experience of childhood has changed. The change comes from different winds blowing on today’s families’ time but certainly, the use of digital technologies peaks out and its impacts on childhood, education, learning and safety has been at question over the last years. Since a very early age, video watching and gaming on a variety of internet-connected devices are among children's favourite activities. Parents see digital technologies as positive and unavoidable, if not necessary, but at the same time, find managing their use challenging. They perceive digital technologies as something that needs to be carefully regulated and controlled. They would appreciate advice on fostering children’s online skills and safety. The document reports on results of a cross-national analysis building on data coming from 234 family interviews with both children and parents, carried out from September 2014 until April 2017 in 21 countries. It exposes the key findings regarding first children’s usage, perceptions of the digital technologies and their digital skills in the home context but also on parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and strategies. Beside the cross-national analysis, a dedicated section provides contextualized snapshots of the study results at national level. It then takes a close up on 38 families in seven countries in which researchers came for a second interview distant of one year in which they focused on monitoring change of context, children and parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and strategies over time. Conclusion reflect on the potential benefits, risks and consequences associated with their (online) interactions with digital technologies and provide recommendations to policymakers, industry, parents and carers.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Derogatory, Racist, and Discriminatory Speech (DRDS) in Video Gaming

Video games have been examined for their effects on cognition, learning, health, and physiological arousal, yet research on social dynamics within video gaming is limited. Studies have documented the presence of derogation, racism, and discrimination in this anonymous medium. However, gamers‟ firsthand experiences are typically examined qualitatively. Thus, this study aimed to establish a quantitative baseline for the frequency of derogatory, racist, and discriminatory speech (DRDS) in gaming. DRDS frequency, sexual harassment, and hate speech measures were administered to 150 individuals from online forums and social media groups. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used to gauge which factors affected DRDS rates. Sex, intergroup and fast-paced game types, time played with others, and identity portrayal showed positive correlations with DRDS. Results indicate an array of complex social and developmental factors contribute to experiencing, perceiving, and personally using DRDS. Implications include psychosocial health impacts similar to everyday harassment, with women being at a higher risk and age as a contributing factor

The performative resistancy of digital technologies

Die vorliegende kumulative Arbeit befasst sich mit den digitalen Technologieverhältnissen als einem wesentlichen Gegenstand (medien-)pädagogischer und bildungstheoretischer Diskurse. Im Mittelpunkt steht dabei die Suche nach einem analytischen Zugang, der es erlaubt, sowohl der konstitutiven Verwicklung von Mensch und Technik wie auch dem Eigensinn und der Widerständigkeit digitaler Technologien Rechnung zu tragen. Obwohl im pädagogischen Diskurs die soziale und materielle Bedingtheit von Lern-, Enkulturations- und Bildungsprozessen vermehrt betont wird, können aktuelle Theorieangebote jedoch weder das Spezifische des Digitalen noch die Genese digitaler Technologien adäquat erfassen. Vor diesem Hintergrund rekonstruiert die Arbeit digitale Technologien, unter Rückgriff auf das Konzept der autooperationalen Form, als offene Prozesse, die in reflexiver Weise an soziale Praktiken gekoppelt sind und infolgedessen einer permanenten Veränderung unterliegen. Die Arbeit gibt zunächst einen Überblick über die aktuelle Diskussion um die digitalen Technologieverhältnisse sowie die sich aus den vorliegenden Theorieangeboten ergebenden konzeptuellen Herausforderungen. Im Anschluss wird das Konzept der autooperationalen Form eingeführt und um praxistheoretische Erwägungen erweitert. Die nachfolgenden fünf Aufsätze vertiefen dann die vorangestellten theoretischen Überlegungen mit Blick auf die Fragen nach dem Verhältnis von sozialer Praktik und technologischen Prozessen, der Materialität digitaler Technologien sowie dem Verhältnis von Herstellung und Gebrauch. Insgesamt ergänzt die Arbeit die kulturtheoretische Betrachtung des Verhältnisses von Mensch und Technik um eine technikgenetische Perspektive, die es ermöglicht, die kulturelle Kontingenz digitaler Technologieverhältnisse für (medien-)pädagogische Analysen zu erschließen.This cumulative study deals with digital technology relations as an essential object of (media) educational discourses. It is focused on the search for an analytical approach that allows to take into account both the constitutive entanglement of humans and technology as well as the independency and resistancy of digital technologies. Although the social and material mediation of learning, enculturation, and educational processes is increasingly emphasized in the (media) educational discourse, current theories cannot adequalty account for the specificity of ›the digital‹ as well as the genesis of digital technologies. Against this background, this work draws on the concept of ›autooperational form‹ to reconstruct digital technologies as open processes that are reflexively coupled to social practices and consequently subject to permanent change. It first provides an overview of the current discussion on digital technology relations as well as the conceptual challenges arising from the available theoretical offerings. Subsequently, the concept of autooperational form is introduced and linked to the theory of social practices. The following five articles then deepen the preceding theoretical considerations with regard to questions about the relationship between social practice and technological processes, the materiality of digital technologies, as well as the relationship between production and use. All in all, the work complements current culture-theoretical understandings of the relationship between humans and technology with a technogenetic perspective. In doing so it provides new analytical means for (media) educational analyses of cultural contingencies of digital transformations