A-Lib 2.0: New Avatar Academic Libraries with Web 2.0 Applications

The web has seen the explosion of social networking tools, which are empowering ordinary people to connect, collaborate and contribute in a global collaboration. These social software applications are now the hottest properties of the Internet users. This article explains the how Web 2.0 tools could be applied in academic libraries to convert them as A-Lib 2.0 or Academic Library 2.0. The paper further includes a few cases from different libraries which have already adopted these new services. One recent survey found that 34.41% of total academic libraries in New York State are using Web 2.0 Services; the major ones include IM, Blogs, RSS, Book marking, Wiki, Social Networks, etc. Library 2.0 has changed the traditional way of thinking about the profession where library only engage in creating the content and services for user shifted to the side of user where librarian will enable user to create them for themselves

Evaluating service supply in conditional cash transfers

textConditional cash transfers are poverty reduction mechanisms that seek to increase demand of social services by combining an income effect with a health or education requirement. This demand-side strategy relies on a tacit assumption about the quality of and access to those services as a path to improve human capital outcomes. Some conditional cash transfers have included supply-side complementary incentives to ensure that services are suitable to deliver a good education and better health. This study reviews the existing evidence on the impact of supply-side incentives in the context of conditional cash transfers. The review finds that a limited number of studies estimate effects of supply in human capital outcomes and only a few impact evaluations consider the role of schools or health centers in enabling access. The evaluations revised find no evidence that supply side interventions coupled with conditional cash transfers directly improve program outcomes. Nonetheless, several studies highlight the relevance of school organization, in terms of school modalities and student/teacher ratios in school enrollment and attendance. Impact estimations as well as the implementation of the supply-side programs also signal the need for a more nuanced understanding of how school management influences a variety of schooling outcomes. In general, the small number of impact estimations and the restricted set of variables used limits the generalizability of the results. For this reason, a principal conclusion of the review is the need for further research on the topic, as well as consistency across impact measures and a more in-depth analysis of school supply and their influence on learning outcomes.Global Policy Studie

Combining Supply and Demand Estimates for Ecosystem Services from Cropland

Payment-for-Ecosystem-Services (PES) programs are gaining appeal as flexible approaches to inducing the voluntary provision of ecosystem services (ES). Farmers, who manage agricultural ecosystems, provide important nonmarket ecosystem services to the public by their choice of production inputs and management practices. Although there exist various PES programs in the United States and Europe, we are aware of none that was designed based on a comprehensive understanding of the underlying supply and demand of ecosystem services. Taking advantage of unique, coupled datasets of stated preferences, this paper combines a supply-side cost function of farmers’ willingness to adopt practices that provide increased ES with a demand-side social benefit function of residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for these ES. The result is an empirically based, welfare-maximizing price and quantity of ES that can inform the design of future PES programs.Payment-for-Ecosystem-Services (PES), Contingent valuation, Aggregate supply and demand, Cropland, Eutrophication, Greenhouse gas, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q11, Q51, Q57, Q58,

Exploring the experience of insured UK homeowners in flood disasters

The frequency of flooding and the number of properties at risk of flooding in the UK are forecast to increase. Costs associated with flooding are usually significant and include for the provision of adequate flood defences, emergency services as well as for the repair of flood-damaged property. Although floods are known for their devastating effects often manifested in visible physical damage to property, the ‘human side’ of the impact of floods is often overlooked. At present there is a dearth of research with regards to the experience of homeowners following flood damage to their property. Findings of exploratory in-depth interviews with homeowners who have recently experienced a flood event to their insured property are presented and classified into five dimensions, namely: economic aspects, emotional aspects, service-related aspects, social aspects and physical characteristics. It is argued that a greater understanding of the ‘human side’ of flood disasters would be beneficial to all stakeholders involved in the damage management supply chain and should lead to improved services for insured flood victims thereby minimising the impact of flooding events on households

Exposing Real World Philanthropy to the Next Generation of Social Work Leaders

· This article describes a method for instructing social work students in the art of enhanced collaboration with foundations, shifting the focus from “writing a winning proposal” and “finding alternative funding sources” to “developing collaborative partnerships for sustainable community development and social change.” · The program consists of four major steps: charitable foundation review and case presentation, self-guided review of real-world proposals, mock grant proposal development, and side-by-side proposal review. · Student proposals were rated similarly by the instructor and the foundation program officer, even though different criteria were used, suggesting that well-written proposals are also likely to clearly address foundation information needs. · The instructional approach helped give students a real sense of what is going on in the human services, health care, and mental health care fields, as well as how to work effectively in partnership with foundations to address needs

‘Who’s on My Side?’ In what ways can creativity be used to discover what young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties think of the multi-agency services they receive? (Sharing our experience, Practitioner-led research 2008-2009; PLR0809/056)

In what ways can creativity be used to discover what young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties think of the multi-agency services they receive? The research investigates the effectiveness of using creativity as a catalyst for successful consultation with young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties. The aims of the research were to explore what the sample group thought of the integrated workings of the multi-agency services they received. The sample group consisted of eight young people from CYCES and the research encompassed the following areas: boundaries and clarity of purpose; confidentiality and organizational limitations; and informed consent. CYCES is a service delivered and maintained by The Together Trust and is for eight to 16 year olds with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. The Together Trust is a charitable organization (established in 1870) that schools and homes young people in the care service. Each pupil received a pack of toy soldiers. One soldier represented the pupil and the rest represented the professional adults involved in their lives, both past and present. They were asked to choose which soldiers they felt were on their side and which were not. They were then asked to discuss their choices. Film was used as my method of recording and presenting data and involved recording the sessions with the young people and analysing the information obtained. The research discovered several important findings: • Having a physical representation of services allowed pupils to make and challenge connections in a way conversation alone would not. • There is a need for appropriate youth activities and recreational services for young people. The integration of home and school services at CYCES is successful. Giving young people responsibility for other young people promotes greater understanding and betterment of children’s services. In times of change, children need services the most

The elicitation of key performance indicators of e-government providers: A bottom-up approach

Copyright @ 2013 EMCIS.Delivering an adequate e-Government service (e-service) is becoming more of a necessity in today's digital world. In order to improve e-services and increase the engagement of both users' and providers' side, studies on the performance evaluation of such provided e-services are taking places. However a clear identification of the key performance indicators from the e-Government providers’ side is not well explored. This shortcoming hampers the conduct of a holistic evaluation of an e-service provision from the perspective of its stakeholders in order to improve e-services as well as to increase e-services take-ups. In this paper, a systematic process to identify indicators is implemented based on a bottom-up approach. The process used three focus-group meetings with providers, users, and academics in Qatar, Lebanon and UK to collect, identify and validate key indicators from the perspective of e-services’ providers. The approach resulted in the identification of five factors levels (service, technology, employees, policy and management and social responsibilities) with fifteen sub-categories of SMART variables. Hence, leading to the development of a new model, STEPS, that can fully explain and predict e-government success from the providers’ point of view. It will work as a strategic management tool to align various stakeholders on common goal and values based on evidence based evaluation of e-services using smart measurable indicators for the improvement of an e-service at the engagement level in the field of e-government. In addition, other fields can benefit from the outcome of this work, such as logistics service providers, who make their services available across new and existing relationships between the Internet commerce firms, their customers, and their vendors

A qualitative exploration of perceptions and experiences of contraceptive use, abortion and post-abortion family planning services (PAFP) in three provinces in China

Background: The INPAC project aims to evaluate the effectiveness of integrated post-abortion family planning (PAFP) services into existing hospital based abortion services in China. A qualitative study was conducted in three provinces to contribute to developing effective PAFP services through understanding influences on contraceptive use, experiences of abortion and existing PAFP, and their effect on future contraceptive practices from the perspective of users, in the context of social and institutional change. Methods: Twenty-nine in-depth interviews (IDIs) were undertaken with women who had experienced abortion between 1 and 6 months prior to interview, recruited from three urban and two rural facilities in each province. Thirteen IDIs were also conducted with male partners. Six focus group discussions (FGDs) were carried out with community members from different social groups, including unmarried and married women and men, urban residents and rural-to-urban migrants. Results: Social networks and norms are important in shaping attitudes and behaviour towards abortion and contraception. Widespread concerns were expressed about side-effects, reliability and effects on future fertility of some modern contraceptives. The combination of limited information and choices and a lack of person-centred counselling in PAFP with anxieties about side effects underlies the widespread use of unreliable methods. Gendered power relations significantly influence contraceptive (non) use, with several examples illustrating women's relative lack of power to decide on a method, particularly in the case of condoms. Although the availability of contraceptive information from respected providers can offer impetus for individual behaviour change, social distance from providers reduces opportunities for clients to discuss their difficulties regarding contraceptive use; particularly, but not exclusively for young, unmarried clients. Conclusions: Increased access to non-commercial, reliable information on contraceptive methods is needed. PAFP services must go beyond simple information provision to ensure that providers take a more personcentred approach, which considers the most appropriate method for individual clients and probes for the underlying influences on contraceptive (non) use. More sensitive reflection on gender norms and relationships is required during counselling and, where women choose this, efforts should be made to include their male partners. Specific attention to provider positionality and skills for counselling young, unmarried clients is needed