Proxy of democracy? : metaphors of connection as arguments against representation

This paper aims to assess the arguments that claim representative democracy may be enhanced or replaced by an updated electronic version. Focusing on the dimension of elections and electioneering as the core mechanism of representative democracy I will discuss: (1) the proximity argument used to claim the necessity of filling the gap between decision-makers and stakeholders; (2) the transparency argument, which claims to remove obstacles to the publicity of power; (3) the bottom-up argument, which calls for a new form of legitimacy that goes beyond classical mediation of parties or unions; (4) the public sphere argument, referred to the problem of hierarchical relation between voters and their representatives; (5) the disintermediation argument, used to describe the (supposed) new form of democracy following the massive use of ICTs. The first way of conceptualizing e-democracy as different from mainstream 20th century representative democracy regimes is to imagine it as a new form direct democracy: this conception is often underlying contemporary studies of e-voting. To avoid some of the ingenuousness of this conception of e-democracy, we should take a step back and consider a broader range of issues than mere gerrymandering around the electoral moment. Therefore I shall problematize the abovementioned approach by analyzing a wider range of problems connected to election and electioneering in their relation with ICTs

Analysis of Carbon Tax on Selected European Countries: Does Carbon Tax Reduce Emissions?

Since the first days of its existence, the humanity had been using natural resources to meet its needs. Especially along with the globalization period as a result of the Industrial Revolution and the rapid development of communication technologies within the last fifty years, the production has increased significantly in the world and has created negative effects on the environment. The leading adverse effects involve the emission of greenhouse gases and the global warming, which stem from the energy supply of fossil fuels as the main inputs of production. The global warming can be described as an increase in temperature worldwide. Irreversibility is the most important feature of the global warming. Therefore, in the absence of objective measures, the future costs would be much higher than the current ones. For this reason, governments need to take various measures to reduce the volume of emissions. The most important of these measures is carbon taxes. Carbon taxation encourages individuals to use fewer fossil fuels and to find new sources of energy by increasing the cost of using fossil fuels that cause carbon dioxide emissions through the price mechanism. To this end, the impacts of carbon tax levied in 18 selected European countries on economic growth, urbanization, natural gas and petroleum usage, and CO2 emissions are examined by panel data analysis for the 1995-2015 period. The analysis results indicate that a 1% increase in environmental taxes reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9%. Furthermore, it is reported that a 1% increase in natural gas and petroleum consumption among the variables included in the analysis increased carbon dioxide emissions by 0.1% and 0.7%, respectively; while a 1% increase in urbanization reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 0.9%

Learning HCI Across Institutions, Disciplines and Countries: A Field Study of Cognitive Styles in Analytical and Creative Tasks

Human-computer interaction (HCI) is increasingly becoming a subject taught in universities around the world. However, little is known of the interactions of the HCI curriculum with students in different types of institutions and disciplines internationally. In order to explore these interactions, we studied the performance of HCI students in design, technology and business faculties in universities in UK, India, Namibia, Mexico and China who participated in a common set of design and evaluation tasks. We obtained participants’ cognitive style profiles based on Allinson and Hayes scale in order to gain further insights into their learning styles and explore any relation between these and performance. We found participants’ cognitive style preferences to be predominantly in the adaptive range, i.e. with combined analytical and intuitive traits, compared to normative data for software engineering, psychology and design professionals. We further identified significant relations between students’ cognitive styles and performance in analytical and creative tasks of a HCI professional individual. We discuss the findings in the context of the distinct backgrounds of the students and universities that participated in this study and the value of research that explores and promotes diversity in HCI education

Changing requirements to HCI funding: a global perspective.

The requirements for funding for HCI research are changing globally. In this SIG meeting, we will review with panel members and high-level grant decision makers from different continents and countries how the requirements are changing and discuss how this affects HCI research and its impact

Geopolitical issues in human computer interaction

This workshop will explore and discuss geopolitical issues in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) as a field of knowledge and practice. These issues are mainly seen at two levels: (1) on discourses surrounding motivations and value of HCI as a sociotechnical field, and (2) on discourses surrounding concepts of HCI diffusion, maturity and diversity as articulated by global and local knowledge networks. Since the beginning of HCI, discussions of democracy have been around. It may even be fair to say that the key notion of usability aims to support the citizens of a democratic society. Obviously, exactly how HCI should do this remains open for discussion. HCI has several roots deep in military needs from the world wars of the 20th century. It was also born out of the sociotechnical traditions with its emancipatory ambitions, aiming at creating conditions for supporting human agency that facilitates the realization of people’s needs and potential. There’s an inherent contradiction between these traditions. Thus, we’re interested in exploring the following question: how to reconcile such diverse discourses as military power and emancipatory ambitions in a geopolitical analysis of HCI research and associated discourses? Moreover, the diffusion of HCI as field of knowledge and practice is dominated by political and post-colonial discourses that pervade local and global knowledge networks shaping what is considered useful and relevant research and practice. In this workshop we understand these issues as geopolitical in nature and aim to trace the cultural and sociotechnical dynamics that construct the field of HCI

Redesign of an air quality monitoring website for Chinese users

In this thesis an air quality monitoring website that was made by a Finnish company was redesigned for Chinese users. The website was redesigned based on feedback from user-centered design (UCD) process that was conducted as a part of the thesis. Used UCD methods include, task based user testing, interviews, competitive analysis and paper prototyping The study consisted of 3 UCD rounds and total of 21 participants, 7 Finnish and 14 Chinese. Two of the rounds were conducted in Finland and one in China. The results of this thesis include the redesigned website which was optimized for the Chinese users group. The users of the original website that were part of the study, were pleased with the new design. The thesis proposes guidelines for designing products targeted for Chinese people and guidelines for conducting UCD research in China

Redesign of an air quality monitoring website for Chinese users

In this thesis an air quality monitoring website that was made by a Finnish company was redesigned for Chinese users. The website was redesigned based on feedback from user-centered design (UCD) process that was conducted as a part of the thesis. Used UCD methods include, task based user testing, interviews, competitive analysis and paper prototyping The study consisted of 3 UCD rounds and total of 21 participants, 7 Finnish and 14 Chinese. Two of the rounds were conducted in Finland and one in China. The results of this thesis include the redesigned website which was optimized for the Chinese users group. The users of the original website that were part of the study, were pleased with the new design. The thesis proposes guidelines for designing products targeted for Chinese people and guidelines for conducting UCD research in China

Towards Sustainability: Environmental Education in China - A German Strategy for Chinese Schools?

In the last years China has recognized the environment as an economically valuable good, thus promoting sustainable economic development. Among the young people, this principle is spread by creating awareness through Environmental Education (EE) in schools. Although high on the agenda, the implementation of EE is restricted by a lack of finance and know-how so that Chinese schools benefit from foreign assistance. The focus of this paper is to evaluate the situation of EE in Chinese schools and to test the adaptability of a German EE strategy in China. For this purpose, the need patterns of different categories of schools concerning the contents and the implementation of EE are analyzed. These need patterns are then contrasted with the contents and concept of the German EE strategy. The restrictions in adaptability as well as the necessary adaptations of the German strategy are concluded and laid down accordingly. Together with an outline of possible project partners, these findings are put together to form four different project proposals for EE projects in Chinese schools. --Sustainability,China,Environmental Education,Feasibility Study

Interaction design & Usability from an Indian perspective - Talks with: Apala Chavan, Anirudha Joshi, Dinesh Katre, Devashish Pandya, Sammeer Chabukswar, Pradeep Yammiyavar

This is a collection of talks on usability and culture with prominent researchers and practitioners on the Indian interaction design and usability scene: Apala Chavan, Anirudha Joshi, Dinesh Katre, Devashish Pandya, Sammeer Chabukswar, and Pradeep Yammiyavar. I did these talks because for several years I have been the coordinator of a cross cultural research project in India, China and Denmark that aims at investigating the impact of culture on the results of established methods of usability testing. During these years I gradually have come to realize the need for letting the prominent researchers and practitioners in the Indian software industry and university world speak about the big questions in the field. Without this grand context, it is in fact impossible to understand what research experiments will tell us about interaction design and usability in India and abroad. Therefore I first give an introduction to cultural usability and then present the six talks