Understanding Black Males' IT Career Choices

The under-representation of Blacks in the information technology (IT) profession is a longstanding issue. The purpose of this study is to understand the factors that influence Black male college students to pursue IT careers. This paper presents the results of interviews with 27 Black males majoring in IT at a historically black university. Four themes (community encouragement, exposure to computing, hustler’s ambition, “New Black”) emerged as particularly useful for understanding IT career choice. These findings have practical implications for designing effective interventions that broaden the participation of under-represented groups in the IT workforce, as well as scholarly implications for the conduct of research on academic achievement and IT career choice of successful Black males.ye

Preparedness for eHealth: Health sciences students' knowledge, skills, and confidence

There is increasing recognition of the role eHealth will play in the effective and efficient delivery of healthcare. This research challenges the assumption that students enter university as digital natives, able to confidently and competently adapt their use of information and communication technology (ICT) to new contexts. This study explored health sciences students' preparedness for working, and leading change, in eHealth-enabled environments. Using a cross-sectional study design, 420 undergraduate and postgraduate students participated in an online survey investigating their understanding of and attitude towards eHealth, frequency of online activities and software usage, confidence learning and using ICTs, and perceived learning needs. Although students reported that they regularly engaged with a wide range of online activities and software and were confident learning new ICT skills especially where they have sufficient time or support, their understanding of eHealth was uncertain or limited. Poor understanding of and difficulty translating skills learned in personal contexts to the professional context may impair graduates ability to confidently engage in the eHealth-enabled workplace. These results suggest educators need to scaf-fold the learning experience to ensure students build on their ICT knowledge to transfer this to their future workplaces

Undergraduate Student Attitudes Toward MIS: Instrument Development and Changing Perceptions of the Field Across Gender and Time

The MIS field suffers from two pressing workforce issues, underrepresentation of women and inadequate supply of entry level talent. To examine these issues, this study develops an instrument to measure attitudes toward MIS (Attitude toward success, usefulness, confidence in learning, and effectance motivation) and perceptions of both MIS and MIS professionals. Data from 1102 college students collected over a five-year period were then used to test gender differences within and across time periods. In spite of recent efforts, little progress has been made to improve attitudes and perceptions. However, in contrast to expectations, views appear not so different across gender

An exploration into people’s perception and intention on using cryptocurrencies

The cryptocurrency market has been described as revolutionary due to the constant technological evolution and innovation that the blockchain technology provides. Leading many to believe that this could be the next step for the human race, just like how fiat currency replaced gold. Cryptocurrencies were originally created to be a form of savings or income for the unbanked, reduce costs and energy consumption, for a means of data transparency and to remove financial intermediaries. It is undeniable that the cryptocurrency market has created a divide of opinions, as some look to explore the market further while others reject the thought of adopting this innovative technology completely. This study focuses on the perception and intention to use cryptocurrencies. Diving into previous literature about the adoption of cryptocurrencies and new technologies. Highlighting key factors that can affect an individual’s perception and gaps in the literature that need to be explored further. A quantitative approach was used to gather data from 102 participants. The findings indicated that performance and effort expectancy as the most influential variables for cryptocurrency adoption, as people seek understanding as what benefits cryptocurrencies can provide for them when they feel incapable of using the innovative technology

Online Communities and Participatory Cycles: Exploring Paths to Empowerment

Online communities have long represented a space where people gather and participate in social activities they might not otherwise have the physical space or means to participate in their offline lives. These communities offer many of the same joys someone might get from connecting to their offline counterparts, but there are usually hidden benefits and harms that present unique opportunities as well as challenges to the people occupying them. In this dissertation, I explore the characteristics of a specific online community, transformative fandom (also known as &ldquo;fandom&rdquo;). This community is home to multiple marginalized groups who participate in a range of collaborative activities. Focusing on these marginalized groups, I track the social practices in fandom through which people find support, learn new skills ranging from video editing to computer programming, and participate in collective action that extends beyond their community. I argue that these processes take the form of a participatory cycle that encourages and empowers community members to transform their own community and effect broader societal change. Through a series of research projects, including multiple semi-structured interview studies, qualitative analysis of trace data, and a large-scale survey, I observe and analyze different social and technical mechanisms that people leverage within and outside of fandom to transform media, their communities, and other spaces. The findings from this work present the following: 1) provide a deeper understanding into non-obvious benefits people draw from online communities; 2) detail the everyday learning practices of fan community members and compare them to formal learning situations; 3) discuss examples of online communities effecting change outside of their community; and, 4) introduce and discuss the concept of a cycle of participation that online communities follow, specifically focusing on a cycle of participation within fandom.</p