Public-private partnerships: A multidimensional model for contracting

This paper considers the relationships between public and private organizations entering into public-private partnerships (PPPs) within the context of New Public Management (NPM). After offering a brief discussion of similarities and differences between public and private organizations and their relationships, it provides a short overview of how PPPs are organized in practice. Through elaborating on three dimensions of differentiation between public and private organizations -ownership, funding and control- it proposes a matrix model for identifying a suitable "dimensional mix" for PPP contracts.Public-private partnerships; hybrid organizations; contractual choices; qualitative comparative analysis;

The production of digital public spaces

Digital media are noticeably changing the qualities of urban public spaces, which can no longer be considered a purely physical construct. Yet, the extent to which contemporary digital media can be used to promote other forms of spatial agency remains a critical issue. Whereas the impact of technology from a macro perspective offers a globalizing and homogenizing image, its role in the production of space at a local scale is less clear (Kirsch 1995). The aim of this study is to argue for digital public spaces as a concrete programme to support the articulation of a third notion of public space that emerges at the interface of physical–digital hybrid spaces (Stikker 2013). The project for digital public spaces is posed as one that pursues enabling citizens’ rights to participation and appropriation (Purcell 2002) of physical–digital hybrid spaces. It is argued that while physical and digital spaces do not stand in opposition, their operational models do not fit seamlessly either. Therefore, the research is particularly concerned with how to design for the conditions that allow a dialogical relation between physical and digital features of space, and enable citizens to actively participate in the production of physical–digital hybrid spaces, and for which a dialectical mode of analysis is required. Following a cumulative narrative, the study explores different characterizations of digital public spaces, which have been articulated through design-led action research projects conducted in collaboration with academia, creative industries, citizens and public authorities. The study accomplishes a novel application of the unitary theory of space proposed by the Marxist French philosopher and sociologist, Henri Lefebvre (1992), which is revisited to develop a novel framework to reveal the social production of physical–digital hybrid spaces. The framework is developed through practice, and extensively applied throughout the thesis illustrating three distinctive dominating perspectives of physical–digital hybrid spaces: substitution, co-evolution and recombination (Graham 1998). The framework has proved to be a flexible and insightful method of analysis that: enables approaching the social production of physical and digital spaces individually and in relation to one another; to understand how different spatial configurations allow for participation and appropriation; and in turn, to re-contextualize the right to the city (Lefebvre 1996) in digital public spaces

Getting Out of the Basement: Space, Performance, and the Oscillation of DIY Punk Publics

This thesis takes the example of two scenes of activity—a punk house in Huntington, West Virginia and a 2016 DIY punk rock festival—to investigate the material-spatial influences that play out across the worldmaking performances of DIY Punk counterpublics as they oscillate across spaces that range from the intimate underground to the public writ large. Drawing on a mass of data including field interviews from punk house residents and fragments gathered from the festival and the internet, I render these scenes as radical activist worldmaking spaces that organize and prepare the international DIY punk community to do instrumental activist work. This work intervenes in counterpublic theory (Asen; Brouwer, Squires; Fraser) through an interface with geography (Blomley; Harvey; Mitchell; Staeheli) and performance studies (McKenzie; Taylor) by emphasizing space and mobility’s importance for the development of counterpublics and by pointing out the role of performance for understanding stylistically shared knowledges and counterpublic efficacies in general. Finally, this thesis draws on Lester Bangs to introduce a new counterpublic modality for thinking about enclaves that are primarily art communities and secondarily activist ones: the DIY punk party

Accounting for (Public) Value(s): Reconsidering Publicness in Accounting Research and Practice

Purpose – This paper highlights the importance of (public) value(s) and publicness in accounting and accountability research. It pinpoints a range of issues that scholars need to contemplate when reconsider publicness in accounting research and practice Design/methodology/approach – The paper adopts an interdisciplinary literature review associated with a conceptual discussion of the actual and future challenges of public service accounting and accountability in considering public value(s). Findings – The paper illustrates the centrality of (public) value(s) at the individual, organizational, and societal levels, in shaping and being shaped by calculative practices and show that looking at the interconnections between values and accounting is a fruitful research avenue. Moreover, it highlights the power of embracing interdisciplinary approaches to illuminate these interconnections and relate them to complex and current phenomena. Originality/value – The paper’s originality lays in the reconsideration of (public) value(s) for public service accounting scholar, providing a critical reflection and setting new research avenues

Women\u27s experiences of privacy, publicness and place in mediated space

This mixed-method study explored the experiences and understandings of the notions of privacy, publicness and place in mediated space among women who use the internet daily. Mediated space is experienced at the intersection of mass media, including the internet, and the physical environment. In this two-phased study, fourteen women were interviewed and sixty-one completed an online survey. Participants were asked about the physical places they preferred and the activities they undertook, whether for paid work, domestic work or entertainment, such as sending e-mails and gathering information, posting or reading posts on social network sites, shopping, banking, web browsing, watching TV shows and playing games. Women in this study used the locational flexibility afforded by the internet to remain mostly anchored to a preferred location and to create portable private territories in public spaces when necessary. They also maintained a strong awareness of body and physical place, noting that they generally did not see their virtual identity as separate from their physical one, and remained connected to their immediate physical environment, including their location, ambient conditions and changes, and the presence of others. They also found the boundaries between private and public ambiguous, particularly because the privacy or publicness of their physical experience while on the internet was often at odds with their virtual experience. Participants also highlighted the challenge of managing attention and anonymity in mediated space. Whenever possible, participants paired less demanding physical environments with more challenging internet tasks and vice versa. Anonymity was viewed as protective but questionable on the internet. Tied to affective connections, previous experiences and identifiability, privacy and anonymity were described as internal and personal notions rather than tangible or fixed aspects of a location or situation. Finally, participants experienced privacy and publicness as a continuum with multiple levels. Whether in a virtual or physical location, these levels were defined by the type and amount of personal information revealed, and by the relationship maintained with those to whom the information was disclosed

Literature and the Public Sphere in the Internet Age

This thesis explores the relationship between literature and the public sphere in the internet age. The introduction identifies gaps on these three topics in current academic work, and outlines the need for clarification of the links between them. The chapters go on to explicate these links with reference to the work of four contemporary authors, namely Jonathan Franzen, Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith, and David Foster Wallace. In their writing, these authors all identify different challenges to the public sphere in the internet age and, in response, ‘model’ alternative modes of being in the public sphere. These modes of being emerge from the particular formal affordances of literature, and are described here as forms of ‘literary publicness.’ The thesis situates these authors on a spectrum of discursive agency, ranging from a view of the public sphere in which writers are seen as authoritative, to a view in which reading processes are prioritised. Each chapter also addresses how these authors have themselves been considered as figures in the public sphere. As such, the story that this thesis tells both helps to clarify the role that culture plays in the public sphere, and reveals the concept of the public sphere itself as a key locus of the relationship between contemporary literature and the internet

Meanings of Public and the Future of Public Services

Critically assessing meanings of the term "public", this book situates the emergence and expansion of "public services" within market-based forms of production and consumption. It highlights the potential for making public services more progressive within market societies, but underscores their ongoing capture by private interests and emphasises the inherent limits of reform within a ""bourgeois public sphere"". The author explores opportunities for more expansive forms of non-marketized public services, examining emerging debates on the theory and practice of equitable, participatory and sustainable forms of publicness that go beyond mere ownership. The book then asks how we can build a robust international ""pro-public"" movement that juggles universal needs with local context. With a focus on essential public services such as water, electricity and health, the text is global in its scope and written for a broad audience. It will be useful for those interested in social and public policy, public services and public administration, political theory, economic geography, social movements, sustainability and development

Kujutletavate auditooriumite tajumine sotsiaalmeediapädevuste osana

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneDoktoritöö eesmärk on uurida, kuidas inimesed tajuvad ja konstrueerivad sotsiaalmeediasuhtluses oma kujutletavaid auditooriume ning millised kesksed sotsiaalmeediapädevused auditooriumi tajumisega seonduvad. Lisaks käsitletakse töös loovuurimismeetodi metodoloogilisi võimalusi ning uurija rolli tundlike teemade uurimisel. Sotsiaalmeedias toimub pidev ja massiline tehnoloogia poolt vahendatud ühisjälgimine, kus kõik kasutajad jälgivad kõiki. Väär ettekujutus enda sotsiaalvõrgustikus tehtud postituste auditooriumist on põhjustanud mitmeid kurikuulsaks saanud nn. avaliku häbistamise juhtumeid, mis on toonud postitajale kaasa eraelulisi või tööalaseid probleeme. Sotsiaalvõrgustikes infot jagades keskendutakse reeglina kujutletava auditooriumi „ideaalsete lugejate“ ootustele ja eeldatavatele reaktsioonidele, st vastuvõtjatele, kes jagavad sõnumi saatja poolt tajutud norme ja väärtusi. Sageli omavad infole ligipääsu ka „košmaarsed lugejad“, kes ei pruugi maailma mõtestada sarnasel viisil ja seega tõlgendavad saadetud sõnumeid ka oodatust erineval viisil. Kvalitatiivseid meetodeid kasutades uurisin teemat noorte ning nende košmaarsete lugejate, õpetajate kaudu. Noorte jaoks on tehnoloogia poolt vahendatud sotsiaalsus normaalsus, mille juurde kuulub ka enda kohta kõikvõimaliku info jagamine ning vigade tegemine. Ootuspäraselt ei mõista õpetajad nooremate eagruppide poolt omaks võetud uusi norme täiel määral ning sildistavad noori üheltpoolt „võimekateks diginoorteks“, kelle oskustega võistelda ei suudeta, kuid samaaegselt ka „hukkaläinud nooruseks“, kelle online-käitumine tekitab hämmingut. Kui õpetajad eelistavad eelkõige privaatsust kaitsvaid strateegiaid, mis põhinevad enesetsensuuril ja info leviku kontrollimise püüdel, siis noorte praktikad on mitmekesisemad ning kohati eelistatakse info peitmise asemel peita hoopis sõnumi tähendust või andmeid hägustada. Doktoritöös on välja toodud alapädevusteks jagunevad laiemad sotsiaalmeediapädevused, mis hõlmavad endas nii teadlikkust auditooriumite erinäolisusest, infole ligipääsu võimaldavaid ja piiravaid strateegiaid kui ka iseenda rolli mõtestamist erinevate massilise ühisjälgimise osalisena, oskust teatud hetkedel astuda auditooriumi liikme rollist teadlikult väljaThe aim of this thesis is to explore how people perceive and construct their imagined audiences on social media and which social media literacies are central to the process. In addition, the methodological approach of creative research methods and researcher’s role in studying sensitive topic is analysed. Due to living in technologically mediated continuous mutual surveillance we have witnessed the rise of problematic cases that have sprouted from situations where one has misjudged the size and expectations of their online audience, ending in massive online public shaming and negative consequences in private or professional sphere. When sharing information on social networking sites, people tend to focus on the expectations and anticipated reactions of the „ideal readers“ of their imagined audiences, those perceived to be similar to ourselves. However, „nightmare readers“ who usually decode the messages significantly differently, will also have access to this information. Two groups’ perceptions – the young and their nightmare readers, the teachers – are at the heart of this thesis. For the young, technologically saturated sociality is the new norm, including the disclosure of various types of information about themselves and inevitability of making mistakes online. Interviewed teachers have difficulties in understanding these new norms and label the youth as a „digital generation“ with superior digital skills. At the same time they express juvenoia, the classic „youth is doomed“, based on young people’s online behavior. When teachers have mostly made use of privacy protecting strategies that are based on self-censorship, moderate use and trying to control the spread of the information, the repertoire of strategies for the youth is noticeably wider, often aiming to hide the meaning of the information (e.g. social steganography, shift of responsibility, data obfuscation) rather than information itself. The social media literacies necessary for successful navigation of imagined audiences include being aware of different audiences and their shifting norms, the knowledge and use of audience management strategies and the reaction and restriction of self as audience

Trans Time: Safety, Privacy, and Content Warnings on a Transgender-Specific Social Media Site

Trans people often use social media to connect with others, find and share resources, and post transition-related content. However, because most social media platforms are not built with trans people in mind and because online networks include people who may not accept one’s trans identity, sharing trans content can be difficult. We studied Trans Time, a social media site developed particularly for trans people to document transition and build community. We interviewed early Trans Time users (n = 6) and conducted focus groups with potential users (n = 21) to understand how a trans-specific site uniquely supports its users. We found that Trans Time has the potential to be a safe space, encourages privacy, and effectively enables its users to selectively view content using content warnings. Together, safety, privacy, and content warnings create an online space where trans people can simultaneously build community, find support, and express both the mundanity and excitement of trans life. Yet in each of these areas, we also learned ways that the site can improve. We provide implications for how social media sites may better support trans users, as well as insular communities of people from other marginalized groups.Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG)Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162569/1/HaimsonTransTime.pdfDescription of HaimsonTransTime.pdf : Main articleSEL