MOSAIC roadmap for mobile collaborative work related to health and wellbeing.

The objective of the MOSAIC project is to accelerate innovation in Mobile Worker Support Environments. For that purpose MOSAIC develops visions and illustrative scenarios for future collaborative workspaces involving mobile and location-aware working. Analysis of the scenarios is input to the process of road mapping with the purpose of developing strategies for R&D leading to deployment of innovative mobile work technologies and applications across different domains. One of the application domains where MOSAIC is active is health and wellbeing. This paper builds on another paper submitted to this same conference, which presents and discusses health care and wellbeing specific scenarios. The aim is to present an early form of a roadmap for validation

DEVELOPING ACADEMIC WRITING IN A BUSINESS ORIENTED UNIVERSITY

Abstract: This research investigated the development of language choices in the Academic writing of students at an English medium university in Thailand. The first part involved looking at the writing in the first semester of their English program at the university. representing the level of the students’ writing on entry into the university. Seventy two samples of first year students’ writing were collected, but only 12 were randomly selected for this study in order to compare their progress over a period of 14 weeks (first semester). The second part of the research looked at the writing of students’ journals at the end of their second semester of their first year after the implementation of a writing program based on research originally developed in Australia (Derewianka, 2003). A third part of the research investigated the development of students’ writing towards the third year in university with specific reference to their academic writing in the business English program. The focus on Business English was mainly because the university was well known in this field of study. The framework for the analysis of the students’ writing was based on a systemic functional approach (Halliday and  Matthiessen, 2004). In order to provide insights into the meaning and effectiveness of the text, a discourse grammar needs to be functional and semantic in its orientation. This paper discusses the development of the Nominal Group (NG) in the students’ writing in THEME position, as this was felt to be a major issue in the development of academic discourse. However NGs in the RHEME would also be looked, as this was a part of the text structure, where complex nominal groups would be expected as part of the NEW information.  The resulting analysis showed that initially the students had a limited knowledge of the different genres and used an equally limited range of lexical and grammatical choices. After the implementation of a new teaching approach in the second semester of the first year, some improvement could be observed. During the third year of the English program, improvement in the writing of genres used in “business” writing, such as Reports, was clearly evident

"Kuinka itsekkäitä voitte oikein olla?" : kasvomaskeihin suhtautuminen uutisartikkelin kommenttiosiossa

COVID-19-pandemian myötä vuotta 2020 on varjostanut epävarmuus ja pelko, mikä on havaittavissa sekä perinteisessä että sosiaalisessa mediassa käytävässä keskustelussa. Sosiaalisen median käytössä korostuu eri kanavien rooli sekä tiedon lähteenä että käyttäjien omien näkemysten ilmaisemisen välineenä. Lisäksi sosiaalisessa mediassa korostuu käyttäjien välinen vuorovaikutus. Sosiaalisen median käyttäminen terveyteen liittyvän tiedon lähteenä voi kuitenkin olla ongelmallista, erityisesti jos tieto erkaantuu tieteellisesti todistetusta faktasta. Sosiaalisessa mediassa esiintyvän diskurssin tarkasteleminen voi kuitenkin laajentaa ymmärrystämme käyttäjien suhtautumisesta ja asenteista uhkaavien infektiosairauksien vaaroihin sekä leviämisen estämiseen liittyviin toimenpiteisiin. Tämän tutkimuksen osalta COVID-19-pandemiaa lähestytään kasvomaskien käyttöön liittyvän diskurssin tarkastelulla suhtautumisen näkökulmasta. Analyysissa sovelletaan Martinin ja Whiten suhtautumisen teoriaa (Appraisal theory), jonka avulla voidaan havainnoida puhujien asennoitumista kasvomaskien käyttöön tarkastelemalla kielessä ilmenevää evaluaatiota. Teorian viitekehys koostuu kolmesta järjestelmästä: asennoituminen (attitude), sitoutuminen (engagement) ja asteittaisuus (graduation). Tämä tutkimus on rajattu asennoitumisen järjestelmään, joka jakautuu edelleen kolmeen alajärjestelmään: tunteiden ilmaisuun (affect), toiminnan arvosteluun (judgement) sekä esineiden ja asioiden arvottamiseen (appreciation). Suhtautumisen teoriassa kieli mielletään systeemis-funktionaalisesta kieliteoriasta lainaten merkitysten viestittämisen järjestelmänä, jossa evaluaatio toteutuu puhujan valitessa lukuisien mahdollisten merkitysten välillä. Tutkimuksen aineistona käytetään yhdysvaltalaisessa Washington Post -lehdessä julkaistua kasvomaskien oikeaoppiseen käyttöön ohjeistavan uutisartikkelin kommenttiosiota. Kommenttiosio koostuu yhteensä 137 kommentista, joista 114 sisältää kasvomaskien käyttöön liittyvää asennoitumista. Näissä 114 kommentissa ilmenee asennoitumista yhteensä 147 kertaa. Kommenttien analysoinnissa sovelletaan kvalitatiivista analyysia, jonka avulla kommenteista ensin täsmennetään asennoitumisen esiintymät. Tämän jälkeen analyysissa määritellään tarkemmin mitä kasvomaskeihin liittyvää aspektia arvioidaan, mikä on asennoitumisen polariteetti ja mihin arviointi sijoittuu asennoitumisen alajärjestelmissä. Tulokset osoittavat, että kasvomaskeihin liittyvässä diskurssissa korostuu ihmistoiminnan arvostelu, mikä ilmenee kasvomaskien käyttämättä jättämisen kielteisenä arvosteluna. Myös kasvomaskien sääntöihin sekä sääntöjen toteutumiseen ja valvontaan liittyvät epäjohdonmukaisuudet saavat osakseen kielteistä arvottamista. Tuloksissa ilmenee myös negatiivista asennoitumista poliittisia johtajia ja instituutioita kohtaan sekä näkyvää poliittista vastakkainasettelua, jossa kasvomaskien käyttämättömyys mielletään oikeistolaisen ideologian seuraukseksi. Tulokset viittaavat siihen, että kasvomaskeihin suhtaudutaan myönteisesti ja niiden tärkeys sairauden leviämisen estämiseksi tiedostetaan

An aesthetics of touch: investigating the language of design relating to form

How well can designers communicate qualities of touch? This paper presents evidence that they have some capability to do so, much of which appears to have been learned, but at present make limited use of such language. Interviews with graduate designer-makers suggest that they are aware of and value the importance of touch and materiality in their work, but lack a vocabulary to fully relate to their detailed explanations of other aspects such as their intent or selection of materials. We believe that more attention should be paid to the verbal dialogue that happens in the design process, particularly as other researchers show that even making-based learning also has a strong verbal element to it. However, verbal language alone does not appear to be adequate for a comprehensive language of touch. Graduate designers-makers’ descriptive practices combined non-verbal manipulation within verbal accounts. We thus argue that haptic vocabularies do not simply describe material qualities, but rather are situated competences that physically demonstrate the presence of haptic qualities. Such competencies are more important than groups of verbal vocabularies in isolation. Design support for developing and extending haptic competences must take this wide range of considerations into account to comprehensively improve designers’ capabilities

Design and semantics of form and movement (DeSForM 2006)

Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM) grew from applied research exploring emerging design methods and practices to support new generation product and interface design. The products and interfaces are concerned with: the context of ubiquitous computing and ambient technologies and the need for greater empathy in the pre-programmed behaviour of the ‘machines’ that populate our lives. Such explorative research in the CfDR has been led by Young, supported by Kyffin, Visiting Professor from Philips Design and sponsored by Philips Design over a period of four years (research funding £87k). DeSForM1 was the first of a series of three conferences that enable the presentation and debate of international work within this field: • 1st European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM1), Baltic, Gateshead, 2005, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 2nd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM2), Evoluon, Eindhoven, 2006, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. • 3rd European conference on Design and Semantics of Form and Movement (DeSForM3), New Design School Building, Newcastle, 2007, Feijs L., Kyffin S. & Young R.A. eds. Philips sponsorship of practice-based enquiry led to research by three teams of research students over three years and on-going sponsorship of research through the Northumbria University Design and Innovation Laboratory (nuDIL). Young has been invited on the steering panel of the UK Thinking Digital Conference concerning the latest developments in digital and media technologies. Informed by this research is the work of PhD student Yukie Nakano who examines new technologies in relation to eco-design textiles

Strategic Themes for Balanced Scorecard Construction Based on Fuzzy Logic

Balanced Scorecard is a methodology for strategic management with emphasis in strategic, tactic, and operational control. If you don’t measure something, you don’t manage it. Last statement is a way to emphasizes one of the most important assumptions of this methodology that is very well implemented by it. However, BSC can’t express strategy in actions, nor translate verbalization of strategic planning, important topics to build an effective Balance Scorecard. This paper defines priorities of topics about strategic planning considering the SWOT analysis - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats – (Andrews, 1971). SWOT analysis is completed considering actions and objectives through Fuzzy Logic theory. The Fuzzy Logic based methodology is an intelligent information system expressed by Espin and Vanti (2005) and completed by Espin, Becker and Vanti (2005). The system, expressed by mathematic formulas, is based in Complexity Theory principles with emphasis in non linearity and is applied here to the tourism industry (a travel agency)

Literacy for digital futures : Mind, body, text

The unprecedented rate of global, technological, and societal change calls for a radical, new understanding of literacy. This book offers a nuanced framework for making sense of literacy by addressing knowledge as contextualised, embodied, multimodal, and digitally mediated. In today’s world of technological breakthroughs, social shifts, and rapid changes to the educational landscape, literacy can no longer be understood through established curriculum and static text structures. To prepare teachers, scholars, and researchers for the digital future, the book is organised around three themes – Mind and Materiality; Body and Senses; and Texts and Digital Semiotics – to shape readers’ understanding of literacy. Opening up new interdisciplinary themes, Mills, Unsworth, and Scholes confront emerging issues for next-generation digital literacy practices. The volume helps new and established researchers rethink dynamic changes in the materiality of texts and their implications for the mind and body, and features recommendations for educational and professional practice