Manifestations of Culture in Website Design

The web is a global phenomenon and its reach and influence ignores political and cultural boundaries. However, the web’s global presence and easy accessibility does not also mean there are no issues related to the understanding and interpretations of its content. Of particular interest to us is to find out whether there is any effect of culture on web design. In this paper, we report on our research into the identification of elements that can be attributed to culture on website design. We examined and compared South Korean and UK’s charity websites and identified these elements of the websites. The findings suggest that there are some differences and preferences in the website design that are mostly related to whether the websites employ multimedia and provide facilities for user input. <!--EndFragment--

Manifestations of Culture in Website Design

The web is a global phenomenon and its reach and influence ignores political and cultural boundaries. However, the web’s global presence and easy accessibility does not also mean there are no issues related to the understanding and interpretations of its content. Of particular interest to us is to find out whether there is any effect of culture on web design. In this paper, we report on our research into the identification of elements that can be attributed to culture on website design. We examined and compared South Korean and UK’s charity websites and identified these elements of the websites. The findings suggest that there are some differences and preferences in the website design that are mostly related to whether the websites employ multimedia and provide facilities for user input. <!--EndFragment--

The multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management

The evolution of the internet, including developments such as Web 2.0, has led to new relationship realities between organizations and their stakeholders. One manifestation of these complex new realities has been the emergence of an internet-based democratization of brand management. Research about this phenomenon has so far mainly focused on investigating just one or more individual themes and thereby disregarded the inherent multi-layered nature of the internet-based democratization of brand management as a holistic, socio-technological phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to address this limitation through an investigation of the various socio-technological democratization developments of the phenomenon. To achieve this aim, a balanced and stakeholder-oriented perspective on brand management has been adopted to conduct an integrative literature review. The review reveals three key developments, which together form the essential parts of the phenomenon: (I) the democratization of internet technology, (II) the democratization of information, and (III) the democratization of social capital. The insights gained help to clarify the basic structures of the multi-layered phenomenon. The findings contribute also to the substantiation of a call for a new brand management paradigm: one that takes not only company-initiated but also stakeholder-initiated brand management activities into accoun

The effects of absorber attachment location on vibration response of simply supported plate

Vibration analysis of thin walled structure has been an active research in engineering fields. This paper proposed to investigate the application of vibration absorber (VA) attached to the simply supported plate (SSP) in order to suppress the structural vibration. Two major factors influence on vibration reduction of late are investigated in term of the attachment location of vibration absorber and the number of absorber applied on structural dynamic of the plate. Finite element software of ANSYS APDL was performed to measure the dynamic response of plate. The results found that the best positioning vibration absorber are at the location of 0.35 m of x-axis and 0.40 m of y-axis which can attenuate the vibration along the frequency band. Numerical result also presented that when attached multiple absorber, the vibration reduction of plate provide larger suppression to SSP which average reduction almost 80% over the frequency modes. This study conclude that right position and number of absorber can be the major contribute to suppress vibration on a plate structure more effectively

A Stitch in Time: Changing Cultural Constructions of Craft and Mending

Over the course of the twentieth century, the availability of cheap, mass-produced fashion has contributed to a decline in everyday domestic mending skills. Indeed, as mass-manufactured goods have become cheaper for the global population it has become normative consumer behaviour to dispose of any item that is less than per-fect, even when the damage is entirely superficial, leading Clark to claim that: ‘mending has died out’ (2008: 435). However, in recent years there has been an apparent revival in domestic mending, aided and evidenced by the emergence of sewing and mending groups in the UK, mainland Europe and North America. This has coincided with a growing interest in more sustainable material goods (McDonough & Braungart 2002; Fletcher 2008), and a small body of academic work around the notion of craftsmanship (e.g. Sennett 2008; Crawford 2009). Of particular interest here is the history of mending of clothing and household goods, as well as recent incarnations of mending as both an individual and group activity. In the past year, researchers from diverse theoretical backgrounds have also highlighted the role of mending in everyday material goods providing further insights into the subject (Laitala & Boks 2012; Middleton 2012; Portwood-Stacer 2012). An examination of mending reveals a complex picture in which gender, class, aesthetics and social motivations interweave with the imperatives of consumer culture. Whilst historically it is generally constructed as a feminine activity, and carried connotations of material deprivation, contemporary mending is often motivated by environmental concerns and a desire to reduce consumption. Ultimately, mending is demonstrated to be an under-researched subject loaded with cultural meaning, and ultimately, is shown to be anything but a trivial activity

Fluid leadership in a multi-user virtual environment educational project with teenagers: Schome Park

This paper examines leadership practices in a virtual community, the Schome Park project. Schome Park, based at the Open University, UK, was the first European closed (i.e. protected) island in Teen Second Life, a multi-user 3D virtual environment. This fully realised, complex interactive 3D environment has no imposed narrative and offers significant engagement for educational projects. The Schome (‘not school not home’) third space community – i.e. not placed in the first space of home or second space of work/school (Oldenburg, 1989) - was set up with the explicit aim of challenging the instructional models and pedagogic practices of the formal, state educational system. In this disembodied environment identities, represented in the virtual world by personalised avatars, possess usefully ambivalent valences. Often adults will join ‘inworld’ educational events organised and delivered by the younger members of the community. Schome makes flexible use of a wiki (collaboratively designed website), asynchronous discussion fora and other communicative media to support learning processes and enhance the development of a physically distanced yet authentic learning community. The authors propose that the community design in these new spaces created an opportunity for leaders to emerge regardless of contextual hierarchy and to forge a developing culture. The paper makes use of evidence from varied datasets to examine manifestations of leadership in the community and issues arising. Young people have been engaged in proposing, planning, executing and reflecting on teaching and learning and governance without deference to adults. Our analysis contributes to understandings of the development of leadership within carefully designed educational online communities and some of the challenges involved for adults in facilitating an appropriately supportive environment for young people. While aware that this innovative experiment continues to face many challenges, we propose that the design of the project offers much to encourage an approach to education in which collaborative, situated engagement in learning and teaching is perceived as a more fruitful model for the twenty-first century than reproduction of traditional hierarchies of teachers and the taught of conventional classrooms

Clinical manifestations of human brucellosis : a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: The objectives of this systematic review, commissioned by WHO, were to assess the frequency and severity of clinical manifestations of human brucellosis, in view of specifying a disability weight for a DALY calculation. METHODS/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Thirty three databases were searched, with 2,385 articles published between January 1990-June 2010 identified as relating to human brucellosis. Fifty-seven studies were of sufficient quality for data extraction. Pooled proportions of cases with specific clinical manifestations were stratified by age category and sex and analysed using generalized linear mixed models. Data relating to duration of illness and risk factors were also extracted. Severe complications of brucellosis infection were not rare, with 1 case of endocarditis and 4 neurological cases per 100 patients. One in 10 men suffered from epididymo-orchitis. Debilitating conditions such as arthralgia, myalgia and back pain affected around half of the patients (65%, 47% and 45%, respectively). Given that 78% patients had fever, brucellosis poses a diagnostic challenge in malaria-endemic areas. Significant delays in appropriate diagnosis and treatment were the result of health service inadequacies and socioeconomic factors. Based on disability weights from the 2004 Global Burden of Disease Study, a disability weight of 0.150 is proposed as the first informed estimate for chronic, localised brucellosis and 0.190 for acute brucellosis. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review adds to the understanding of the global burden of brucellosis, one of the most common zoonoses worldwide. The severe, debilitating, and chronic impact of brucellosis is highlighted. Well designed epidemiological studies from regions lacking in data would allow a more complete understanding of the clinical manifestations of disease and exposure risks, and provide further evidence for policy-makers. As this is the first informed estimate of a disability weight for brucellosis, there need for further debate amongst brucellosis experts and a consensus to be reache

Form follows experience: the revitalization of postindustrial sites by carnivalesque

Recent decades are the times for intense socio-economic changes that have significantly influenced the forms of modern shaped public spaces. Freed brownfield sites, prior to transformation are spatial barriers by not integrated communication systems and are deprived of the existing functionality. This brings a risk of devastation and escalation of difficulties with the implementation of the new use. Over the years we have grown accustomed to the program that changes in the areas abandoned by the industry mainly due to the preferences and priorities of their managers and is a consequence of property rights. Models of revitalization strategy are based on the designation of the subject who rules, establishing core groups of beneficiaries to form planning regulations that are less strict than usual1. Significantly, this has a direct impact on the style of architectural intervention, the type of key investments and their functional program.Peer Reviewe

Seeing the light – finding the poetic content of design objects

This paper presents the process and initial results of a research through design project attempting to understand the poetic qualities of design objects. This exploration forms part of a PhD study addressing design artefacts as poetic objects - objects that both embed and conjure memory, association and imagination. The research examines the ways in which design objects can be poetic and how designers actively and knowingly use objects to poetic effect. It is proposed that the poetic content of design artefacts can be located on a continuum ranging from the experiential - relating to how we perceive things - to the reflective and cultural. What unites these levels is the capacity of design objects to reveal and change our way of looking at things. The practice uses the design of lighting as a vehicle for exploring the poetic meaning of designed objects more generally. Starting with the notion that lights do more than provide light, the current phase of practice examines the ways in which luminaires can mediate how we perceive and experience light and explores, in particular, the more nuanced and ephemeral qualities of light that escape conscious attention