Digital Publishing in Ghana: A Focus on Children's Ebooks

Adopting a mixed methods approach consisting of interviews, focus group discussions and surveys, this thesis investigates the state of digital publishing in Ghana within the context of Rogers’ diffusion of innovation theory. With a focus on children’s ebooks, it examines publishers’, authors’ and readers’ levels of adoption of ebooks, and their motivations for, perceptions of, and challenges or barriers to, going digital or otherwise. It also assesses the state of digital infrastructure and human resource capacity in Ghana to support the growing ebook sector, and identifies the knowledge and skills deficit in the industry in order to inform the development of courses that will be incorporated into the BA Publishing Studies programme at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). This thesis reveals that the level of adoption of ebook publishing among publishers and authors was relatively low given the interest demonstrated by young readers. The latter were very interested in ebooks and read mainly foreign content because it was freely available and accessible online. Publishers’ and authors’ motivations for publishing ebooks include visibility, the opportunity to reach a much wider audience, and the novelty of publishing digitally to keep abreast of current trends so as to transform the local industry. Some barriers to adoption identified were the cost associated with acquiring infrastructure, the security of online content, inadequate information about ebooks, non-use of ebooks, and infrastructural challenges such as inconsistent electricity supply and poor Internet penetration. The thesis also identified an awareness disconnect between publishers and their local readers: publishers perceive ebooks to be for the international market and, as such, do not focus on promoting them in the local market; thus, local readers are not aware of the existence of ebooks. Expanding on Rogers’ adoption categories, two new categories were created, incidental adopters and perceptual late adopters, to accommodate individuals who do not fall within Rogers’ established adopter categories. To increase the spread of digital publishing and the uptake of ebooks in the Ghanaian book market, the thesis recommends the elimination of the barriers to adoption and, most importantly, advocates training and skills development to reduce the knowledge and skills deficit gap among publishers and authors

Στάσεις εκπαιδευτικών Πρωτοβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης σχετικά με την αξιοποίηση του Raspberry pi στην εκπαιδευτική διαδικασία

Το Raspberry pi είναι ένας υπολογιστής μικρού μεγέθους και χαμηλού κόστους, ο οποίος χρησιμοποιείται στο πλαίσιο της εκπαίδευσης. Η εν λόγω τεχνολογική καινοτομία παρέχει τη δυνατότητα εξοπλισμού ολόκληρων τάξεων λόγω του χαμηλού κόστους του, την εύκολη μεταφορά του λόγω του μικρού μεγέθους και πλήθος δυνατοτήτων στον μαθητή κατά τη διδασκαλία, όπως αλληλεπίδραση με γλώσσες προγραμματισμού και παρέμβαση στο λογισμικό. Πολλές έρευνες έχουν εντοπίσει τα πλεονεκτήματα της χρήσης του στην εκπαίδευση, όπως παρακίνηση των μαθητών, διατήρηση του ενδιαφέροντος τους, καλύτερα μαθησιακά αποτελέσματα και υψηλότερη παραγωγικότητα και αποτελεσματικότητα του εκπαιδευτικού. Καθώς, αντίθετα με το εξωτερικό, στην Ελλάδα δεν έχει χρησιμοποιηθεί η εν λόγω τεχνολογία, πραγματοποιήθηκε πρωτογενής ποσοτική έρευνα με σκοπό τη διερεύνηση των στάσεων και των πεποιθήσεων των εκπαιδευτικών πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης της Ελλάδας σχετικά με τη χρήση του Raspberry pi στην εκπαίδευση. Διαμοιράστηκε δομημένο ερωτηματολόγιο, το οποίο δημιουργήθηκε με βάση 1) τη Θεωρία Προσχεδιασμένης Συμπεριφοράς, η οποία αποτελεί μια προσέγγιση της κοινωνικής ψυχολογίας για την πρόβλεψη της ορθολογικής συμπεριφοράς των ανθρώπων σχετικά με τη λήψη αποφάσεων και 2) το Μοντέλο Αποδοχής της Τεχνολογίας, το οποίο χρησιμοποιείται για να προβλέψει αν μια νέα τεχνολογία θα υιοθετηθεί από άτομα, ομάδες ή οργανισμούς. Το δείγμα αποτέλεσαν 105 εκπαιδευτικοί πρωτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης που εργάζονται σε σχολεία του νομού Αττικής. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν πως το δείγμα είναι θετικό απέναντι στη χρήση του Raspberry pi, πιστεύει ότι είναι χρήσιμο και εύκολο στη χρήση, ωστόσο το οικονομικό κόστος είναι ένα στοιχείο που δυσκολεύει τη χρήση του. Επίσης, οι συμμετέχοντες προτίθενται να το χρησιμοποιήσουν μελλοντικά στο πλαίσιο της διδασκαλίας τους. Οι μεγαλύτερης ηλικίας συμμετέχοντες είναι πιο αρνητικοί απέναντι στο Raspberry pi από ότι οι νεότεροι. Τέλος, οι άνδρες έχουν περισσότερους ενδοιασμούς από τις γυναίκες σχετικά με τη δυνατότητα αξιοποίησης του από όλες τις ειδικότητες εκπαιδευτικών και την ευκολία μετακίνησης του από αίθουσα σε αίθουσα.The Raspberry pi is a small, low-cost computer used in education. This technological innovation provides the ability to equip entire classrooms due to its low cost, easy portability due to its small size and many possibilities for the student during teaching, such as interaction with programming languages and software intervention. Many studies have identified the benefits of using it in education, such as motivating students, keeping them interested, better learning outcomes, and higher teacher productivity and efficiency. As, unlike abroad, this technology has not been used in Greece, a primary quantitative survey was conducted to investigate the attitudes and beliefs of Greek primary school teachers regarding the use of Raspberry pi in education. A structured questionnaire was distributed, based on 1) the Theory of Pre-planned Behavior, which is a social psychology approach to predicting people's rational decision-making behavior, and 2) the Technology Acceptance Model, which is used for predict whether a new technology will be adopted by individuals, groups or organizations. The sample consisted of 105 primary school teachers working in schools in the prefecture of Attica. The results showed that the sample is positive for the use of Raspberry pi, he believes that it is useful and easy to use, however the financial cost makes it difficult to provide. Also, the participants intend to use it in their teaching in the future. Older participants are more negative about Raspberry pi than younger ones. Finally, men have more doubts than women about the possibility of using it by all specialties of teachers and the ease of moving it between classrooms

Data and the city – accessibility and openness. a cybersalon paper on open data

This paper showcases examples of bottom–up open data and smart city applications and identifies lessons for future such efforts. Examples include Changify, a neighbourhood-based platform for residents, businesses, and companies; Open Sensors, which provides APIs to help businesses, startups, and individuals develop applications for the Internet of Things; and Cybersalon’s Hackney Treasures. a location-based mobile app that uses Wikipedia entries geolocated in Hackney borough to map notable local residents. Other experiments with sensors and open data by Cybersalon members include Ilze Black and Nanda Khaorapapong's The Breather, a "breathing" balloon that uses high-end, sophisticated sensors to make air quality visible; and James Moulding's AirPublic, which measures pollution levels. Based on Cybersalon's experience to date, getting data to the people is difficult, circuitous, and slow, requiring an intricate process of leadership, public relations, and perseverance. Although there are myriad tools and initiatives, there is no one solution for the actual transfer of that data

Sensing and Signal Processing in Smart Healthcare

In the last decade, we have witnessed the rapid development of electronic technologies that are transforming our daily lives. Such technologies are often integrated with various sensors that facilitate the collection of human motion and physiological data and are equipped with wireless communication modules such as Bluetooth, radio frequency identification, and near-field communication. In smart healthcare applications, designing ergonomic and intuitive human–computer interfaces is crucial because a system that is not easy to use will create a huge obstacle to adoption and may significantly reduce the efficacy of the solution. Signal and data processing is another important consideration in smart healthcare applications because it must ensure high accuracy with a high level of confidence in order for the applications to be useful for clinicians in making diagnosis and treatment decisions. This Special Issue is a collection of 10 articles selected from a total of 26 contributions. These contributions span the areas of signal processing and smart healthcare systems mostly contributed by authors from Europe, including Italy, Spain, France, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, and Netherlands. Authors from China, Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Ecuador are also included

Report on IOT Living Labs Continuous Exploration and Evaluation (final)

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Challenges to Pedagogical Content Knowledge in lesson planning during curriculum transition: a multiple case study of teachers of ICT and Computing in England.

In September 2014 the new National Curriculum programmes of study for Computing became mandatory in England, replacing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as a school subject and introducing Computer Science into schools. This posed a challenge for in-service ICT teachers without Computer Science subject knowledge: teachers needed to develop both subject and pedagogical knowledge to make the transition from teaching ICT to teaching Computing. This multiple case study explores teachers’ perceptions of the curriculum change and how they have responded in practical and pedagogical terms to planning lessons aligning with the new programmes of study. Nine teachers participated, each of whom had been teaching ICT pre-2014. The study used semi-structured interview questions while teachers engaged in lesson-planning activities, captured mostly using desktop-sharing via internet telephony. A modified version of Shulman’s pedagogical reasoning framework and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) facilitated analysis of teachers’ pedagogic practices in lesson planning. The study shows teachers’ concerns about the lack of clarity surrounding the curriculum change, and the lack of access to suitable professional development (CPD). Most highlighted the primacy of programming and Computer Science at the expense of Information Technology and Digital Literacy, the other two strands of the new curriculum. The study also shows the dynamic nature of lesson planning. Knowledge deficits slowed down the fluency of teachers’ lesson-planning processes, but the use of lesson materials created by others helped them to develop PCK. The term transitional pedagogical reasoning has been used to describe the process by which unfamiliar but necessary concepts are assimilated into the pedagogical reasoning process while the teacher develops sufficient subject knowledge and PCK. Recommendations have been made for Computing curriculum policies to recognise and promote Computing pedagogy. This understanding should underpin initial teacher education in Computing, CPD for in-service teachers, and strategic development of the subject in the longer term

Smart Sensing Technologies for Personalised Coaching

People living in both developed and developing countries face serious health challenges related to sedentary lifestyles. It is therefore essential to find new ways to improve health so that people can live longer and can age well. With an ever-growing number of smart sensing systems developed and deployed across the globe, experts are primed to help coach people toward healthier behaviors. The increasing accountability associated with app- and device-based behavior tracking not only provides timely and personalized information and support but also gives us an incentive to set goals and to do more. This book presents some of the recent efforts made towards automatic and autonomous identification and coaching of troublesome behaviors to procure lasting, beneficial behavioral changes