Privacy in the age of facebook : discourse, architecture, consequences

Most academic and journalistic discussions of privacy on Facebook have centred on users, rather than the company behind the site. The result is an overwhelming focus on the perceived shortcomings of users with respect to irresponsible privacy behaviours, rather than an examination of the potential role that Facebook Inc. may have in encouraging such behaviours. Aiming to counterbalance this common technologically deterministic perspective, this thesis deploys a multi-layered ethnographic approach in service of a deep and nuanced analysis of privacy on Facebook. This approach not only looks at both the users and creators of Facebook, it examines Facebook Inc. in the context of historical, cultural and discursive perspectives.Specifically, this thesis details how the company's privacy policy and design decisions are guided not simply by profit, but by a belief system which which encourages "radical transparency" (Kirkpatrick, 2010) and is at odds with conventional understandings of privacy. In turn, drawing on Fiske's model of popular culture, users "make do" with the limited privacy choices afforded them by the site, while at the same time attempting to maximise its social utility. As this dynamic demonstrates, Facebook Inc. plays a critical, yet often overlooked role in shaping privacy norms and behaviours through site policies and architecture. Taken together, the layers of this thesis provide greater insight into user behaviour with respect to privacy, and, more broadly, demonstrate the importance of including critical analyses of social media companies in examinations of privacy culture

A systems thinking assessment of project management.

Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2002.Is it possible to improve project management practice by incorporating systems thinking techniques and tools in the process? This is the simple premise on which this study is based. It is a premise that is not particularly ambitious, but one which potentially may assist project management in certain environments to become more effective in practice. Why is it that project management needs to become more effective in practice? This is owing to a growing body of knowledge that points to the difficulties encountered by the practice of project management in complex environments. In simple terms, the literature has it that since project management is a 'hard' approach to problem solving, it cannot respond adequately to change and/or unexpected phenomena thrown at it by an unsympathetic environment. The incorporation, therefore, of a 'soft' approach in project management practice, like for instance, systems thinking techniques and tools, should make project management as an approach more robust and effective in difficult and problematic environments. The testing of a hybrid project management/systems thinking model, therefore, is what is attempted in this study. In what way does this study seek to apportion value on this hybrid model? This study makes use of meta-learning to the degree that it tests its own hypothesis in the process of its writing. The idea here is that the study itself be treated as a 'project' and that it be completed by utilising this hybrid model which incorporates both traditional project management methodologies, and systems thinking techniques and tools. This may be viewed as a curious conceit, but it is hoped that the reader will not find it untenable, and thus an invalid assessment of how this hybrid approach can function. The outcomes should speak for themselves, whether positive or negative. Clearly, to pursue this line of questioning requires a working knowledge of both project management practice and systems thinking. These two approaches to problem solving are discussed at length in this study, with pointers to their strengths and weaknesses, and to their potential for useful interaction, and a hybrid model is mooted which, it is envisaged, should prove useful to project managers. How does one assess the success of the new hybrid model? There are various ways that one can check the hypothesis, but ideally one would need to closely observe the life-cycle of an actual project, a project that is implemented and completed using the hybrid model mooted earlier. This kind of project is not always particularly easy to come by, nor is it a simple procedure to convince a project manager to adopt such a hybrid approach. It is for this reason, therefore, that this study is treated as a 'project' and its efficacy as a project commented on during the course of and at the conclusion of the study

The list serves : the apparatuses of security and governmentality

Inspired by taxonomist Jack Goody's theorizing of 'ancient lists' as 'intellectual technologies,' this research analyzes listing practices in modern and contemporary formations of power, and how they operate in the installation and securing of the uncertain political economic milieus of circulation that characterize Michel Foucault's conception of governmentality. Propelling the list's critical operations in the delimitation and policing of 'threatening' movements from out of modern history, and into a contemporary analysis of power, this research demonstrates how the correlation of computer, statistical, and list technologies and techniques first installed under the Nazi regime , continues to factor significantly in the segmenting and constitution of a most critical classification of contemporary homo sapiens : the terrorist class, or homo sacer . Indeed, in this analysis of how lists serve formations of power, Foucault's populations and milieus of circulation installed through the apparatuses of security are reconciled with Giorgio Agamben's theorizing of 'bare life' as the fundamental political unit of modern and contemporary sovereignty. Investigating how lists served the emergence of modern computers , and continue to correlate power/knowledge in contemporary assemblages like no-fly lists ; as well as in a series of increasingly pervasive and ubiquitous watch-list conjunctures , this research characterizes the technoscientific cultural construction of the contemporary terrorist as a critical function of no-blank list culture . In this way, it is argued here that the list is not simply an innocuous tool of everyday life for administering the minutiae of mundane existence, but rather, operates as a security technology of contemporary governmentality--a critical support of juridical-disciplinary mechanisms and assemblages of police--with the dual role and double integration effect of self-elaborating and securing the classes of 'factual' knowledge it itself calls into 'truthful' reality

A cybernetic perspective on policy-making and planning in local government

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This thesis explores some of the central problems confronting policymakers and planners in local government. These problems are seen to stem from a view of planning which is characterised as top-down. Previous attempts to apply cybernetic ideas to these problems - characterised as the 'systems approach' - have failed partly on account of their failure to question this view. Cybernetics, it is argued, offers a fundamentally different perspective on planning, which emphasises the importance of processes, whereby the plans and policies of different organisations are mutually adjusted to each other - from the bottom up. The dynamics of this process are examined and cybernetics, most notably the work of Ashby, is shown to offer a number of insights into how it can be facilitated. Such a radical re-assessment of the nature of planning requires, at the same time, a much wider conception of the role of policy. Policies, it is suggested, are all too often thought of as purely prescriptive. A policy framework must instead be regarded as incorporating also a complex hierarchy of values, aims, goals and objectives, whose inter-relationships can be compared to that between the various components of a body of scientific knowledge. Such a perspective on planning and policy-making points towards a novel conception of government. Instead of imposing order from above, its primary function would become that of facilitating and encouraging the mutual adjustment process and collaboration between local organisations

A Systemic Approach for Evaluating Stakeholder Collaboration within Requirement Collection

The involvement of Stakeholders in requirement collection of software projects is essential, and that is evident in the diverse methodologies available that emphasise stakeholder collaboration. However these processes scarcely provide further understanding of the social interaction, and its effect into forming collaboration had not been sufficiently addressed by software development research. It is challenging to identify dominating factors that affect collaboration due to the complexity of stakeholder interaction. This thesis addresses such a challenge. It discusses a systems approach to the evaluation of stakeholder collaboration within requirement collection of software projects. A generic approach has been developed to contribute to our understanding of the problem and support stakeholders’ collaborative involvement. Based on understanding the nature of collaboration between stakeholders in requirement collection, and the concept of perception and its contribution into forming collaboration, the EStaC (Evaluation of Stakeholder Collaboration) approach is developed. EStaC is presented here to describe an integration of multi-methodologies that supports capturing stakeholders' perspectives, and therefore systemically it captures the essence of collaboration within its context. EStaC contributes to the crucial phase of requirement collection with the ultimate objective of extending it to include means of improvement of stakeholder collaboration. It promotes the development of two modes of analysis, the design and diagnosis, which both involves using the principles of the Viable System Model. The novelty of this work is specifically considered with the development of the EStaC approach because unlike other approaches, it focuses on the social act of interaction from a stakeholders viewpoint, by applying systemic strategies and cybernetic driven principles with concepts of fourth generation evaluation. The research recognises evaluation of stakeholder collaboration as an important aspect in the requirement collection process in any software development. It concludes and supports the incorporation of such activities throughout various phases of requirement collection

Glossarium BITri 2016 : Interdisciplinary Elucidation of Concepts, Metaphors, Theories and Problems Concerning Information

222 p.Terms included in this glossary recap some of the main concepts, theories, problems and metaphors concerning INFORMATION in all spheres of knowledge. This is the first edition of an ambitious enterprise covering at its completion all relevant notions relating to INFORMATION in any scientific context. As such, this glossariumBITri is part of the broader project BITrum, which is committed to the mutual understanding of all disciplines devoted to information across fields of knowledge and practic

A systems approach to the development of large Geographic Information Systems

Includes bibliography.Large computer-based information systems seldom achieve unqualified success. The major problem is organisational rather than technical, hence to achieve greater success in system implementation greater emphasis must be given to organisational issues than to technology. Current practise, however, tends to focus on technical issues. The aim of this research was to investigate whether a systems-based approach would lead to better understanding of the system development process, and hence form the basis of a methodology which would lead to greater success in computer-based information system implementation. The thesis comprises four parts. In the first part (Chapters 1 - 5) the literature on systems theory in sociology with particular reference to business organisations is reviewed. This review focuses on the historical development of systems thinking, particularly in business management. Beer's Viable System Model, Checkland' s Soft Systems Methodology, and Hoebeke' s ideas on the adoption of new technology provided the main ideas for developing a conceptual model for the information system development process. In the second part (Chapters 6-9) this model is applied to the information system development process to identify the strengths and weaknesses of current methods. Each stage of system development from planning to implementation is considered from a systems perspective. This involves identifying the key stakeholders, and understanding their role in the development process. In the next part three case studies are examined in the light of the theoretical material. The impact of inter-cultural communication is highlighted in these studies as the developers and customers were from· several different cultures. The author was personally involved as project manager and chief consultant in the development of two of the systems described. He was also fully aware of the progress of the other case because that development was being undertaken in the same office. Regular exchanges of views on the progress of each project took place. In the final chapter the conclusions are presented. The main conclusion is that information system implementation must be undertaken within the overall context of the organisation, must be closely aligned with the organisational business processes, and must address the conflicting needs of the different stakeholders. Effective Communication between system developers and system users is crucial to success. A focussed effort is required to achieve effective communication in a multi-cultural environment