Using Technology Enabled Qualitative Research to Develop Products for the Social Good, An Overview

This paper discusses the potential benefits of the convergence of three recent trends for the design of socially beneficial products and services: the increasing application of qualitative research techniques in a wide range of disciplines, the rapid mainstreaming of social media and mobile technologies, and the emergence of software as a service. Presented is a scenario facilitating the complex data collection, analysis, storage, and reporting required for the qualitative research recommended for the task of designing relevant solutions to address needs of the underserved. A pilot study is used as a basis for describing the infrastructure and services required to realize this scenario. Implications for innovation of enhanced forms of qualitative research are presented

Interactive Newsprint: The Future of Newspapers? Printed electronics meets hyperlocal and community co-design

The news industry is currently in a well-documented state of flux, with publishers from across the developed world examining new business models, reinterpreting existing relationships between their income streams and readers, while maintaining their ability to generate editorial output that is relevant and interesting to the communities they cover. Interactive Newsprint seeks to add a new and revolutionary dimension to this media evolution by asking: can printed electronics and internet-enabled paper (technologies that utilise standard paper and printing processes and through conductive ink and battery power offer capacitive touch interactions similar to smartphones and tablets) create a new way of transmitting community-based news and information? Utilising co-design techniques and practices, the project seeks to produce community- relevant hyperlocal text and audio content and place it on a centuries-old platform: the newspaper. As a result of the paper's internet connectivity, the project is also examining potential benefits of transplanting some online features such as analytic data on user interactions. Led by the School of Journalism, Media and Communication (JoMeC) at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), the 18-month, EPRSC-funded project is therefore examining the potential for community co-design and printed electronics to transform paper- based news and information for the 21st Century, along with revenue and data generation that is unique to digital formats such as websites, social networks, smartphones and tablets. Building on work carried out on the EPSRC-funded Bespoke project, researchers from UCLan, University of Dundee, University of Surrey and commercial printed electronics firm Novalia are prototyping a series of paper-based community news platforms that are populated by content produced by community reporters and generated through an iterative co-design process. This paper will outline the methodology, technological potential of interactive newsprint and how the project is looking to embed analytic data into traditional printed-paper formats. It will also focus on how members of the Preston community are shaping both the news and platform over the 18-month process. As the project is mid-way through, the paper will present an overview of the project to date, outline the design methodology and describe and demonstrate the early-stage prototypes. The paper will also hint at new editorial construction practices as community and professional reporters all contribute to the hyperlocally-themed editorial output. The authors will present a discussion of the theoretical framework that underpins the project as a whole. In addition to the practical illustrations, the paper will outline the authors' initial thoughts on how interactive newsprint – through its internet connectivity and potential for data transfer – could revolutionise editorial and advertorial relationships

Making 'The Daily Me': Technology, economics and habit in the mainstream assimilation of personalized news

The mechanisms of personalization deployed by news websites are resulting in an increasing number of editorial decisions being taken by computer algorithms — many of which are under the control of external companies — and by end users. Despite its prevalence, personalization has yet to be addressed fully by the journalism studies literature. This study defines personalization as a distinct form of interactivity and classifies its explicit and implicit forms. Using this taxonomy, it surveys the use of personalization at 11 national news websites in the UK and USA. Research interviews bring a qualitative dimension to the analysis, acknowledging the influence that institutional contexts and journalists’ attitudes have on the adoption of technology. The study shows how: personalization informs debates on news consumption, content diversity, and the economic context for journalism; and how it challenges the continuing relevance of established theories of journalistic gate-keeping

Special Libraries, September 1959

Volume 50, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1959/1006/thumbnail.jp

Special Libraries, September 1961

Volume 52, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1961/1006/thumbnail.jp

Opening new dimensions for e-Tourism

In this paper we describe an e-Tourism environment that takes a community-driven approach to foster a lively society of travelers who exchange travel experiences, recommend tourism destinations or just listen to catch some interesting gossip. Moreover, business transactions such as booking a trip or getting assistance from travel advisors or community members are constituent parts of this environment. All these happen in an integrated, game-like e-Business application where each e-Tourist is impersonated as an avatar. More precisely, we apply 3D Electronic Institutions, a framework developed and employed in the area of multi-agent systems, to the tourism domain. The system interface is realized by means of a 3D game engine that provides sophisticated 3D visualization and enables humans to interact with the environment. We present "itchy feet", a prototype implementing this 3D e-Tourism environment to showcase first visual impressions. This new environment is a perfect research playground for examining heterogeneous societies comprising humans and software agents, and their relationship in e-Tourism. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2006

Social Capital Mobilization in Social Networking Services

The advent of internet-enabled mobile devices has ushered in a new era of online social networking. Recently, there has been an increase in the use of mobile internet and rise in social media access via mobile phones. Many social networking services (SNS) have introduced mobile apps for users to access them “on the fly” via smartphones. Our study contributes to the literature by uncovering the relationships between SNS use and social capital mobilization. The results show that SNS intensity and SNS network size influence social capital mobilization both directly and indirectly by increasing social participation. Furthermore, use of mobile applications for social networking significantly increases SNS intensity. Finally, SNS network size is an important predictor of use of SNS mobile applications

Big Data and Analytics: Issues, Solutions, and ROI

Recently, the topic of big data and analytics has received renewed attention from academia and practitioners. There has been an increase in demand for skills in big data and analytics due to the increasing speed, variety, and volume of information. Several research reports have shown that big data and analytics remain top priority for CIOs. A recent study shows how a company accurately predicted a teen girl’s pregnancy via the company’s big data algorithm. However, there are dark sides to big data and analytics. A panel discussion addressed topics concerning how companies ensure that big data projects clearly define measurable goals up front, methods that companies use to ensure maximum return and most effectively, and ways that companies evolve culture, processes, and technology to simultaneously maximize return. Most companies are looking at how they can effectively manage their business more through using their data assets. Companies today target an average return of $3.50 dollars for every dollar spent on big data projects. However, most are only returning a fraction of that today, which leaves room for improvement and the possibility that organizations will push back against new analytic technologies. In this paper, we cover these topics that a panel of researchers at AMCIS 2014 in Savannah, GA, discussed