How collaborative innovation and co-creation can deliver value: a stakeholder approach

This project explores how collaborative innovation and co-creation between stakeholders can deliver value for firms. In today’s increasingly competitive and fast-changing global marketplace, firms must seek to develop more frequent and higher quality innovations (Ngugi et al, 2010). In addition, customers, employees and other stakeholders are demanding opportunities to co-create and collaborate with businesses more and more. As Ramaswamy (2010) comments: “Providers of products and services are challenged by customers who are increasingly informed, connected, networked and empowered. Customers, employees and stakeholders are demanding higher quality interactions and experiences from businesses and a deeper engagement in the value-creation and service delivery processes” (Ramaswamy, 2010, pp. 22). Given this increasing need to collaborate, innovate and co-create, firms need a better understanding of how they can engage in these activities in a way that maximises the value created for all stakeholders; this project, through exploratory, qualitative research interviews and a wide-ranging literature review, seeks to make a contribution in this area

Anonymous: The Occupy Movement and the Failure of Representational Democracy

In this essay I try to make the case that the Occupy Movement can be thought through as a Post-Situationist art event which requires that it be thought of in terms of its pragmatic effects and what it can ‘do’ in relation to its viral spreading around major urban centers of the globe. I further try to make my case by utilizing the conceptual tool kit of Deleuze and Guattari; hence such ideas as sense-event, territory, virtual, and actual are part of this repertoire. I then try to further the complexity of Post-Situationism by including hacktivism and exploring the importance of being Anonymous in a society of control. The overall intent is to worry representation and to make the case for direct or participatory democracy

Moving Stronger: Needs of the Criminal Justice Reform Movement

Moving Stronger: Needs of the Criminal Justice Reform Movement presents the struggles, victories, strengths and challenges of grassroots groups organizing for criminal justice reform across the country. Drawn from a national survey and in-depth interviews with members and clients of these groups, the report offers the insights and analyses of long-time organizers and emerging leaders, in their own words.The project aimed to assess the state of grassroots organizing around a broad spectrum of criminal justice reform issues, with the goal of bringing critical information to funders and grassroots groups about the diverse needs, organizing approaches and campaigns of groups around the country. The report will be distributed and used among grassroots groups to support networking, information and resource sharing, collaborative work and coalition building

DevOps Implementation Roadmap for a Retail IT Company

O objetivo principal desta dissertação é criar um roadmap para a implementação de DevOps em projetos de Oracle Retail. Para tal, é necessário conhecer a metodologia usada na Empresa, a aplicação Oracle Retail para propor quais as ferramentas de DevOps e atividades que podem ser utilizadas.The main goal of this thesis is to design a roadmap to implement DevOps in Oracle Retail projects. It is necessary to learn the company methodology, the Oracle Retail application in order to propose what tasks should be done and which DevOps tools should be used

Equal gender analysis on the meaning of words animals’ applelation in Arabic

Gender is a social-cultural construct of the role of women, their nature and characters, in their particular society. Peculiar among its forms is the one that exists in the language used to express the concept. Language is a product of culture which in its turn colors our understanding of gender and vice-versa there occurs interchange of influence between culture and language. Core components of language are words and their meanings. Some words and meanings in Arabic which reveal the appellation of the animals are interesting to note as they are accompanied with specific gender. In a manner similar with their counterpart in being, i.e. human being, they possess gender (sex) and its inherent characteristics. So the animals designated on the word for the female gender is not the one intended for another particular gender i.e. a male one; Special character refers therefore only to a specific gender. It can be assumed that denoting certain animals to a specific gender could indicate a degree of inequality in aspects of language. Certain characters are determined to be owned by only certain types of animals

The Meme as Post-Political Communication Form: A Semiotic Analysis

The 2016 American Presidential Election was a point of great upheaval in the consciousness of many. To many it signified the defeat of the previous global liberal paradigm and a weakening of the traditional ways in which we organize ourselves politically and socially. While most of culture undergoes mediation through the internet- political processes are no exception. This paper aims to analyze how modern political discourses and organizing occur online, and how often politics occurs at the level of memetic communications. The analysis hinges upon studying the history of political memes such as Pepe and the relationship between the news and politics. But it ultimately culminates with the relationship between performing authenticity on the political field and subcultural signifiers such as memes

"The whole is greater than the sum of the parts". Metaphors of inclusion and exclusion in the British and Italian Fascist Discourse of the 1930s

The rationale behind this work lies in the current economic, political, and social turmoil and the crisis of modern democracies. Adopting a Cognitive Linguistics standpoint, the paper looks at metaphorical instantiations of nationalistic issues in the British and Italian Fascist press of the 1930s. More particularly, it explores what metaphors are employed in English and Italian to convey the notion of “totality” implied in the theory of totalitarianism. Furthermore, it investigates how metaphors contribute to the legitimation of inclusion and exclusion strategies which are at the basis of nationalism. Findings show the presence of universal conceptual framings across cultures such as PEOPLE ARE ANIMALS and NATIONS ARE LIVING ORGANISMS even though different lexicalizations were found due to cultural factors

“The whole is greater than the sum of the parts”. Metaphors of inclusion and exclusion in the British and Italian Fascist discourse of the 1930s

Abstract - The rationale behind this work lies in the current economic, political, and social turmoil and the crisis of modern democracies. Adopting a Cognitive Linguistics standpoint combined with Functional Grammar, the paper looks at metaphorical instantiations of nationalistic issues in the British Union Fascist press. The paper aims to ascertain what metaphorical frames are used to convey the totalitarian perspective typical of Fascist discourse. Being part of a wider project, a further aim is to look at similar metaphorical expressions in a less known magazine of the Italian Fascism called Legioni e Falangi. Findings show the presence of universal conceptual framings across cultures but through different lexicalizations as far as some metaphors are concerned

Vital Concerns and Vital Illusions

A consumer society that has embraced global capitalism while striving to preserve all the comforts and conveniences provided by technoscience is arguably fatally ill. Much support for this gloomy diagnosis is provided by, among others, Hannah Arendt, Northrop Frye, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Their reflections on the health of a human culture point up the urgency of the need to rethink the idea of good reasoning that predominates in the West. However, they also indicate that a healthier, more life-enhancing conception of good reasoning will arise only when a concern for justice and wisdom displaces the traditional ideals of pure and certain knowledge or eternal truths. To this end, Nietzsche recommends that philosophy ought now to concentrate on producing `cultural physicians' who would strive to fashion a philosophy of concern. This type of philosophical therapist requires a radically nonmodern approach to philosophy that must pivot on a vitalistic metaphysics capable of overcoming pervasive nihilistic ideologies which illustrate a globally spreading mythology of unconcern. Hence an effective and lasting cultural therapy will depend on the emergence of a general will/desire to broaden the conception of good reasoning beyond the narrow perspectives established by modern science. And this will depend in turn on the education of future educators who stress above all the importance of cultivating the mythopoeic imaginations of the young