Organising self-referential taxi work with mICT: the case of the London black cab drivers

London Black Cab Drivers have a rich and documented history of mobile work practices that are geographically distributed and driven by situated choices for everyday work. To date mobile studies researchers have not made a close examination of these mobile working practices, hence there is a gap in mobile studies concerning this type of worker. This dissertation aims to study the evolution of Black Cab drivers' work practices since the introduction of mobile Information and Communication Technology (mICT) in their everyday work. The theoretical framework for the research is based on studies of taxi drivers' work practices, mobility research, computer supported co-operative work and organisational change promoted by IS interventions. The ontology of this research pinpoints the factors influencing the situated and idiosyncratic choice associated with the use of mICTs when carrying out planned and unplanned work. The case study references a 420-year history of "old", established work practices as a comparison framework. When compared with the "new" and situated choice of mICT-supported work, it becomes apparent that there has been a change in the dynamics of how this type of work is actually completed. Embedding and mixing elements of self-referenced work - as discretionary and independent - with working practices in which mutual interdependencies are supported by the use of mICT aids seems to provide the case for a re-negotiation of the working practices model as well as its associated organisational forms, together with a social shift in the definition of the role and skills required to perform this type of mobile work. The empirical data have been sourced from one-to-one interviews and video recordings using a combination of ethnographic methods and interpretative approaches for the data analysis. This dissertation makes a theoretical and practical contribution to mobile studies by understanding the changing of working practices; it further offers methodological insights for studying mICT-supported work. Finally, it provides a formative evaluation of the new organisational forms emerging as mICT has been introduced to everyday Black Cab work

Dry Bean Pest Scouting Report

A survey of dry bean pests was conducted on farms in Vermont during the 2015 season. Pests were scouted on four Vermont farm locations in the towns of Alburgh, North Hero, Glover, and Danby. Disease and insect samples were taken and identified with assistance from the UVM Plant Diagnostic Laboratory. The primary and secondary fungal and bacterial diseases documented on dry beans in Vermont are listed in Table 1

Hop Pest Scouting Report

During the 2015 growing season, the major pest challenges we encountered at the hopyard at the Borderview Research Farm in Alburgh, Vermont were potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae), and hop downy mildew (Pseudoperonospora humuli), as well as a few secondary plant diseases

Crowning and Training: Early Season Hop Yard Maintenance in the Northeast

Early season hop yard maintenance includes several critical tasks including crowning and training. These are essential agronomic practices that influence hop plant growth and, therefore, hop yield and quality

Small Grain Disease and Insect Pest Scouting Report

A survey of small grain diseases and insect pests were conducted in Vermont and Massachusetts during the 2015 growing season. Pests were scouted at six Vermont farm locations in the towns of Alburgh, Berlin, Bridport, North Troy, Shelburne, and Shoreham, as well as in Northfield, Massachusetts

Turning people into couch potatoes is not the cure for sports concussion

No abstract available

William Savage Johnson

This is a portrait of William Savage Johnson by Natalie Calderwood, presented on the occasion of the opening of the William Savage Johnson Memorial Reading Room of the Department of Special Collections of the University of Kansas Libraries