Social Informatics Education in I-Schools

This essay focuses on the philosophical and conceptual underpinnings of a program of study in Social Informatics. We examine foundational concepts and analytical tools, ideas worked out by Rob Kling and others about the key components of an ICToriented education (even when the intent of their discussion was not pedagogical). Our intention is to assay Kling’s program of critical inquiry for a Social Informatics education that prepares information professionals to respond appropriately and ethically in their future careers. We do not to recommend the adoption of specific courses for a Social Informatics education. We had also planned to identify those components of a Social Informatics education that I-schools and library and information science schools have incorporated in their program offerings to determine how much progress has been made to adopt a critical perspective on the relationship between technology and people. However, this proved to be nearly impossible; we discuss our limited findings based on our initial exploration. Our concluding remarks address additions to the Kling perspective on a Social Informatics education that we would like to see and offer some thoughts on ways to support a Social Informatics education for information professionals.Indiana Universit

Metaphor : Library

Includes bibliographical references.This literature review identifies and examines metaphorical concepts that have been associated with the word 'library' historically in an attempt to identify the possible role and function of libraries and librarians in the twenty-first century. Drawing on contemporary theories of metaphor, the various ways in which libraries have been represented metaphorically within literature are considered as external perspectives of the institution and profession. These images are compared and contrasted to those library metaphors evident in the professional literature - that is, internal perspectives of the library. Examples of other professions adopting the concept 'library' as a metaphor, most notably within the online environment, are also discussed in order to hone in on those concepts perceived to be represented by the label 'library' by those choosing to employ the term. The cross-cu!tural applicability of library metaphors is also considered, drawing on examples from African librarianship, and a cluster of metaphorical concepts likely to inform future library development are identified

The design of retirement schemes: possibilities and imperatives

ABSTRACT South Africa has a sophisticated and developed retirement fund industry and an extensive social security system. While the objective of the latter is wider, both are concerned with financial security: particularly in the face of risks of death, disability and old age. It is widely recognised that there are many gaps in coverage. The chapters in this thesis address these gaps and administrative and benefit structures that could be developed to provide a truly comprehensive social security system. In particular, the thesis discusses the retirement and old age recommendations of the Taylor Committee, on which the author served. The vision is of universal coverage for the current state benefits augmented by mandatory employer based group schemes that offer disability, retirement and orphans' pensions. Means tests, the Road Accident Fund and workers' compensation arrangements would be abolished. The chapters of the thesis are each self-contained, having all been published in – or submitted to – journals, books or conferences. In each, an attempt has been made to review a broader literature than is normally used to discover the impact of some element of the benefit structure, governance or investment policies of retirement schemes on their members. In this context, it is considered to be particularly appropriate to test policies and governance against the standard of justic

Towards a critical approach to knowledge management : framing a new paradigm

This thesis seeks to make a contribution to the critical literature on management, and, particularly, to the critique of knowledge management (KM). It suggests that the mainstream understanding of KM has some important problems, but we cannot see them as a disease curable by new managerial techniques. Rather, it is argued that management to a certain extent may be part of the problem of which it is purported to be the solution. The mainstream approach to KM has its roots in the predominant view of knowledge which assumes that the application of knowledge contributes to societal progress, within the context of the common social good. This view may be in some sense axiomatic and universal, but it might pose a problem insofar as it relies on a human-centred belief that knowledge endows man with the superior ability to dominant his environment. This belief is further strengthened by a neo-classical economic understanding of the world which presumes that we can see knowledge as a resource to serve our economic interest. However, from some poststructuralist perspectives, knowledge is inseparable from power, and this means that knowledge may contain uncontrollable dimensions and may generate unwarranted consequences beyond economic concerns. Moreover, from a deep ecological view, our industrial activity has become one of the major causes of environmental crisis, and the process is itself accelerated by the efficient application of knowledge in the production system. The limits of the application of knowledge are illustrated through a consideration of issues raised in mainstream KM because it seems to be an epitome of the predominant understanding of both knowledge and management. Via a theoretical excursion, it is suggested that the orthodox concept of KM has some intrinsic problems. On the one hand it embraces the age-old belief that, with modern techniques, we have ultimate control over our environment, and on the other it assumes that knowledge can be used to meet a sectional requirement - economic efficiency, while ignoring the dark side of economic growth in relation to non-monetary social and ecological costs. An additional element is the view that sees management as a (conceptual or practical) too] to serve the purpose of managing knowledge. However, it is not our business to discuss these problems except insofar as the current state of KM offers a weak response to them. One of the main reasons is that mainstream KM is often mired in a framework in which economic values have attained the highest regard and economic goals have somewhat displaced other social objectives. Nevertheless the, dilemma is that knowledge is too powerful and too indispensable for modem society; that is, we cannot simply abandon tile concept of KM, because the application of knowledge has already become an integral part of modem life, and business organisations are becoming more demanding in terms of the use of functionally specialised knowledge. Faced with these difficulties, it is argued that we need to articulate an alternative understanding of KM, and this work suggests that such a project can be grounded on what can be termed 'ecological consciousness'. However, this requires two major things. First, we suggest that since mainstream KM has its roots in the predominant, economic understanding of knowledge and management, we need to re-examine these two components and the relationships between them. Second, we shall illustrate an alternative set of worldviews and decision criteria for KM which escapes the eco-systematic problems and is emancipatory in essence. That is to say, the ultimate intention is to construct some alternative, thought tentative, possibilities of KM.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo