Building Online Platforms for Peer Support Groups as a Persuasive Behavioural Change Technique

Online peer group approach is inherently a persuasive technique as it is centered on peer pressure and surveillance. They are persuasive social net- works equipped with tools and facilities that enable behaviour change. This paper presents the case for domain-specific persuasive social networks and provides insights on problematic and addictive behaviour change. A 4-month study was conducted in an addiction rehab centre in the UK, followed by 2-month study in an online peer group system. The study adopted qualitative methods to under- stand the broad parameters of peer groups including the sessions' environment, norms, interaction styles occurring between groups' members and how such in- teractions are governed. The qualitative techniques used were (1) observations, (2) form and document analysis, and (3) semi-structured interviews. The findings concern governing such groups in addition to the roles to be enabled and tasks to be performed. The Honeycomb framework was revisited to comment on its build- ing blocks with the purpose of highlighting points to consider when building do- main-specific social networks for such domain, i.e. online peer groups to combat addictive behaviour

What Do Computer Scientists Tweet? Analyzing the Link-Sharing Practice on Twitter

Twitter communication has permeated every sphere of society. To highlight and share small pieces of information with possibly vast audiences or small circles of the interested has some value in almost any aspect of social life. But what is the value exactly for a scientific field? We perform a comprehensive study of computer scientists using Twitter and their tweeting behavior concerning the sharing of web links. Discerning the domains, hosts and individual web pages being tweeted and the differences between computer scientists and a Twitter sample enables us to look in depth at the Twitter-based information sharing practices of a scientific community. Additionally, we aim at providing a deeper understanding of the role and impact of altmetrics in computer science and give a glance at the publications mentioned on Twitter that are most relevant for the computer science community. Our results show a link sharing culture that concentrates more heavily on public and professional quality information than the Twitter sample does. The results also show a broad variety in linked sources and especially in linked publications with some publications clearly related to community-specific interests of computer scientists, while others with a strong relation to attention mechanisms in social media. This refers to the observation that Twitter is a hybrid form of social media between an information service and a social network service. Overall the computer scientists’ style of usage seems to be more on the information-oriented side and to some degree also on professional usage. Therefore, altmetrics are of considerable use in analyzing computer science

A Crisis of Identity? Contradictions and New Opportunities

Drawing on the previous chapters, this chapter explores four tensions that characterise MOOCs. Although MOOCs are seen as an attempt to democratise education, they often privilege the elite, rather than acting as an equaliser. MOOCS are also considered a way to radically open access to education, yet they tend to offer education to people who are already able to learn rather than providing opportunities for everyone. While MOOCs are positioned as a disrupting force, often they replicate the customs and values associated with formal education, rather than unsettling educational norms.MOOCs are conceived as social networks that allow learners to learn through dialogue with others, yet many learners have limited interactions with others. Even when learners have the ability to learn autonomously, they often are expected to conform to course rules, rather than deciding their own learning strategies. These problems may be accentuated whereMOOCs are viewed as a set of products (content and credentials) on sale to student consumers, rather than as a transformational educational experience for learners. The view of MOOCs as a product for the consumer learner may overly simplify the complex, transformational processes that underscore learning. Particularly where underlying automated systems try to improve progression by quantifying learners’ behaviours and ‘correcting’ these to fit an ‘ideal’ learner profile or where algorithms and metrics are based on convectional education, rather than on future-facing forms of learning. This chapter examines these problems with MOOCs, offering promising future directions

Leggere e scrivere organizzazioni: umanesimo, estetica e conoscenze manageriali

“Leggere e scrivere organizzazioni” considera l’alfabetizzazione non solo nel significato letterale, ma come abilità simbolica che differenzia gli esseri umani da altri animali. “Leggere e scrivere organizzazioni” si rivolge a studenti (specie della Laurea Magistrale e di Dottorato) di Organizzazione delle Risorse Umane, di Comportamento Organizzativo e, in generale, di Economia e management. “Leggere e scrivere organizzazioni” cattura l’interesse di studiosi, manager e professionisti d’impresa (quelli colti) che vogliano soffermarsi a riflettere su quel che vivono ogni giorno, uscendo dalla pressione del quotidiano. “Leggere e scrivere organizzazioni” tornerà molto utile a quanti vogliano scorgere – attraverso gli occhi dell’altro – una nuova prospettiva sui modi in cui si formano i saperi manageriali, lontano dalle urgenze quotidiane, che scippano tempo e spazio al gusto dell’approfondimento. Il lettore scoprirà che studiare le organizzazioni come campi simbolici significa considerare le “organizzazioni come testi” da leggere ed interpretare, alla stregua di qualunque altro testo. Il lettore scoprirà la grande attenzione che gli Studi Organizzativi rivolgono alle discipline umanistiche, secondo un approccio di critical management. E capirà come “leggere” le organizzazioni (come studiarle), ma anche come “scriverle” (come costruirle o farle sviluppare). Il lettore potrà superare l’ingenuità degli slogan tipici di certa comunicazione aziendalese, grazie alla propria capacità di “interpretare”: estetica, umanesimo e conoscenze manageriali sono le parole-chiave del sottotitolo di questa piccola antologia che consentono di accedere ad un modo di fare management education con un approccio non dogmatico, guidato da solide tradizioni millenarie, nel solco del migliore pensiero critical

Non-equilibrium quantum dynamics and formation of the Bose polaron

Advancing our understanding of non-equilibrium phenomena in quantum many-body systems remains one of the greatest challenges in physics. Here we report on the experimental observation of a paradigmatic many-body problem, namely the non-equilibrium dynamics of a quantum impurity immersed in a bosonic environment1,2. We use an interferometric technique to prepare coherent superposition states of atoms in a Bose–Einstein condensate with a small impurity-state component, and monitor the evolution of such quantum superpositions into polaronic quasiparticles. These results offer a systematic picture of polaron formation3–7 from weak to strong impurity interactions. They reveal three distinct regimes of evolution with dynamical transitions that provide a link between few-body processes and many-body dynamics. Our measurements reveal universal dynamical behaviour in interacting many-body systems and demonstrate new pathways to study non-equilibrium quantum phenomena