Troublesome youth groups, gangs and knife carrying in Scotland

"... the research reported here set out to: Provide an overview of what is known about the nature and extent of youth gang activity and knife carrying in a set of case study locations; Provide an in-depth account of the structures and activities of youth gangs in these settings; Provide an in-depth account of the knife carrying in these settings; Offer a series of recommendations for interventions in these behaviours based on this evidence." - exec. summary

Culture-based artefacts to inform ICT design: foundations and practice

Cultural aspects frame our perception of the world and direct the many different ways people interact with things in it. For this reason, these aspects should be considered when designing technology with the purpose to positively impact people in a community. In this paper, we revisit the foundations of culture aiming to bring this concept in dialogue with design. To inform design with cultural aspects, we model reality in three levels of formality: informal, formal, and technical, and subscribe to a systemic vision that considers the technical solution as part of a more complex social system in which people live and interact. In this paper, we instantiate this theoretical and methodological view by presenting two case studies of technology design in which culture-based artefacts were employed to inform the design process. We claim that as important as including issues related to culture in the ICT design agenda—from the conception to the development, evaluation, and adoption of a technology—is the need to support the design process with adequate artefacts that help identifying cultural aspects within communities and translating them into sociotechnical requirements. We argue that a culturally informed perspective on design can go beyond an informative analysis, and can be integrated with the theoretical and methodological framework used to support design, throughout the entire design process

Performing the Digital Self: Understanding Location-Based Social Networking, Territory, Space, and Identity in the City

Expressions of territoriality have been positioned as one of the main reasons users alter their behaviors and perceptions of spatiality and sociality while engaging with location-based social networks (LBSN). Despite the potential for this interplay to further our understanding of LBSN usage in the context of identity, very little work has actually been done towards this. Addressing this gap in the literature is one the chief aims of the article. Drawing on an original six-week study with 42 participants utilizing a bespoke LBSN entitled ‘GeoMoments’, our research explores: (1) the way that territoriality is linked to self-identity; and (2) how this interplay affects the interactions between users as well as the environments they inhabit. Our findings suggest that participants affirmed their self-identity by selectively posting and claiming ownership of their neighborhood through the LBSN. Here, the locative decisions made related to risk, hierarchies, and the users’ relationship to the area. This practice then led participants to discover and interact with the digital information overlaying their physical environments in a playful manner. These interactions demonstrate the perceived power structures that are facilitated by identity claims over a virtual area. In the main, our results reaffirm that territoriality is a central concept in understanding LBSN use, while also drawing attention to the temporality involved in user-to-user and user-to-place interactions pertaining to physical place mediated by LBSN

Landlords of the Digital World: How Territoriality and Social Identity Predict Playing Intensity in Location-based Games

Popular location-based games (LBGs) such as Pokémon GO have been downloaded hundreds of millions of times and have been shown to have a positive impact on mild exercise and social well-being of their players. Several currently popular LBGs introduce a gamified implementation of territorial conflict, where players are divided into teams that battle for the ownership of geographically distributed points of interest. We investigate how social factors and territoriality influence playing intensity in the context of Pokémon GO. Using reasoning from social identity theory, we propose a structural model connecting territoriality, sociality and playing intensity. To test the model, we analyze data collected from a global sample of Pokémon GO players (N=515). Our results show social self-efficacy, territorial self-efficacy and altruism to influence players\u27 identification with their team. Team identification in turn predicts both in-game territorial control behavior and playing intensity

Como consomem os turistas um destino de enoturismo no Centro de Portugal? Uma análise espaciotemporal

Space-time tourist behaviour is influenced by numerous factors related both to tourists and the destination. Yet, however complex it may be, understanding and to some extent managing the way tourists move in space and time is crucial to ensuring the quality of their experience, as well as the effective and sustainable management of destinations and attractions. In the rural wine tourism context, studies on space-time behaviour are rare. The present study uses empirical data collected from tourists staying in hotels of the Bairrada Wine Route territory (N = 116), combining a GPS tracking study with a questionnaire survey. Using a time-geographical analytical approach, the GPS tracking data were mapped for a more detailed analysis of the tourists’ movements in the Bairrada terroir. The findings highlight specificities of tourist consumption in the context of rural wine regions and provide valuable insights for destination planning, service design and marketing of the Bairrada Wine Route.O comportamento turístico espaciotemporal é influenciado por diversos fatores relacionados tanto com os turistas como com o destino. No entanto, por complexo que seja, compreender e, em certa medida, gerir a forma como os turistas se movem no espaço e no tempo é crucial para assegurar a qualidade da sua experiência, bem como a gestão eficaz e sustentável de destinos e atrações. No contexto do enoturismo, são raros os estudos sobre o comportamento espaciotemporal. O presente estudo utiliza dados empíricos recolhidos junto de turistas alojados em hotéis do território da Rota do Vinho da Bairrada (N= 116), combinando um estudo de rastreamento por GPS com um inquérito por questionário. Utilizando uma perspetiva temporal de análise, os dados de rastreamento por GPS foram mapeados para o estudo mais aprofundado dos movimentos dos turistas no terroir da Bairrada. Os resultados destacam as especificidades do consumo turístico no contexto das regiões vitivinícolas e fornecem informações relevantes para o planeamento do destino, conceção do serviço e marketing da Rota do Vinho da Bairrada.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Establishing the design knowledge for emerging interaction platforms

While awaiting a variety of innovative interactive products and services to appear in the market in the near future such as interactive tabletops, interactive TVs, public multi-touch walls, and other embedded appliances, this paper calls for preparation for the arrival of such interactive platforms based on their interactivity. We advocate studying, understanding and establishing the foundation for interaction characteristics and affordances and design implications for these platforms which we know will soon emerge and penetrate our everyday lives. We review some of the archetypal interaction platform categories of the future and highlight the current status of the design knowledge-base accumulated to date and the current rate of growth for each of these. We use example designs illustrating design issues and considerations based on the authors’ 12-year experience in pioneering novel applications in various forms and styles

Locating Identities in Time: An examination of the Impact of Temporality on Presentations of the Self through Location-based Social networks

Studies of identity and location-based social networks (LBSN) have tended to focus on the performative aspects associated with marking one’s location. Yet, these studies often present this practice as being an a priori aspect of locative media. What is missing from this research is a more granular understanding of how this process develops over time. Accordingly, we focus on the first six weeks of 42 users beginning to use an LBSN we designed and named GeoMoments. Through our analysis of our users\u27 activities, we contribute to understanding identity and LBSN in two distinct ways. First, we show how LBSN users develop and perform self-identity over time. Second, we highlight the extent these temporal processes reshape the behaviors of users. Overall, our results illustrate that while a performative use of GeoMoments does evolve, this development does not occur in a vacuum. Rather, it occurs within the dynamic context of everyday life, which is prompted, conditioned, and mediated by the way the affordances of GeoMoments digitally organize and archive past locational traces

Creating UGC Areas of Official Destination Websites: Is there a Recipe for Success? An Insight through Netnographic Research

An analysis of the existing literature has demonstrated the importance of word of mouth as a source of information for potential tourists and service consumers. The growth of the Internet and interactive websites has lead to the creation of online communities that serve as points of reference for word of mouth and in particular for independent, personal and experiential information. Recent articles have noted the growing interest of tourism companies and destinations to include UGC areas in their official websites to provide their users with these types of information and interactivity among each others. However, so far little research has been performed on the success factors of online communities. This paper wants to create a platform for further research on the topic. If destinations want to boost visits to their websites through UGS areas and create a “buzz” through positive word of mouth, it is necessary to know the correct ingredients for success. Some of these ingredients have been discovered through a netnographic analysis of an Italian virtual mountaineering community. The analysis has shown that some of the most important issues when creating online communities are the reliability of information, the ease of finding information and creating threads and posts, the constant appearance of interesting threads and discussions, the respect for other members, the passion of all of the active users for the same topics and a certain homogeneity within the users.virtual communities, netnography, electronic word of mouth, forums, information search

Designing Crime Precipitators in Northbridge after dark: Urban Governance in Slumber

Entertainment districts play a significant role in the post-industrial place-making for the night-time economies of many Western cities, and they are significant contributors to these economies. However, many cities are experiencing increased levels of crime in their alcohol-oriented entertainment districts. This paper explores crime in Northbridge entertainment district in Perth, Western Australia and highlights how the legacy of governance can operate counter-intuitively, to foster crime precipitators (Wortley, 2008), which can increase opportunities for crime. Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) are briefly discussed and the authors argued that SCP is a more appropriate strategy to use in the dynamic and complex environmental setting of Northbridge. Based on several years of scientific observation, land-use surveys and pedestrian surveys, the authors provide a critical narrative of Northbridge and crime precipitators after dark. This narrative is expressed from the perspective of environmental criminology and SCP. This exploratory study concludes that Northbridge is in part, a legacy of previous single-issue governance, which has inadvertently created crime precipitators, which exacerbate the problems of crime in the entertainment district after dark. The need for further research is identified and the adoption of a more strategic, multi-issue and multi-agency approach is recommended