Aqueduct construction in the late-antique east : an agent-based modeling and geoarchaeological approach to building evidence for the water supply of Constantinople

The result of recent research (Snyder, 2013 - PhD thesis) on construction materials and workforce has shown that the Water Supply of Constantinople was one of the largest construction projects undertaken in the ancient world, requiring as much stone as the Great Pyramid of Giza and five times more manpower than of the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. However, with lacking archaeological and textual evidence, many vital questions remain about macro-­-level outcomes of this massive undertaking and the organisation of the labourers involved. This project provides the unique opportunity to explore one of the most under-­-appreciated aspects of modern classical scholarship: the spectrum of large-­-scale construction from the role of the individual to the function of the empire in the late antiquity

Agent-based modelling and construction – reconstructing antiquity’s largest infrastructure project

Archaeological remains around the world are testament that large-scale construction projects have been successfully carried out for millennia. This success is particularly evident through the great infrastructural works of the Roman Empire. Yet, it was when the capital was moved from Rome to Constantinople that the largest of these projects was undertaken. This megaproject of the fourth- and fifth-century water supply was made of hundreds of kilometres aqueduct channels and bridges that brought fresh water to the city’s complex system of reservoirs and cisterns. Unlike projects of the previous centuries, we are left with no written record of how this titanic project was undertaken and existing archaeological and historical commentaries on structures of this period do not provide details of organization of construction. We explore the nature of building Constantinople’s water supply through diverse sources of knowledge and the application of agent-based modelling – a method for simulating the actions, interactions and behaviours of autonomous agents and the resulting emergent properties of the system in which they are a part. This paper demonstrates the ability of ABM to develop and test richer hypotheses about historical construction organization and management than physical and historical evidence on their own

Making sense of the Internet of Things: A critical review of Internet of Things definitions between 2005 and 2019

Purpose: This paper aims to study the evolution of definitions of internet of things (IoT) through time, critically assess the knowledge these definitions contain and facilitate sensemaking by providing those unfamiliar with IoT with a theoretical definition and an extended framework. Design/methodology/approach: 164 articles published between 2005 and 2019 are collected using snowball sampling. Further, 100 unique definitions are identified in the sample. Definitions are examined using content analysis and applying a theoretical framework of five knowledge dimensions. Findings: In declarative/relational dimensions of knowledge, increasing levels of agreement are observed in the sample. Sources of tautological reasoning are identified. In conditional and causal dimensions, definitions of IoT remain underdeveloped. In the former, potential limitations of IoT related to resource scarcity, privacy and security are overlooked. In the latter, three main loci of agreement are identified. Research limitations/implications: This study does not cover all published definitions of IoT. Some narratives may be omitted by our selection criteria and process. Practical implications: This study supports sensemaking of IoT. Main loci of agreement in definitions of IoT are identified. Avenues for further clarification and consensus are explored. A new framework that can facilitate further investigation and agreement is introduced. Originality/value: This is, to the authors’ knowledge, the first study that examines the historical evolution of definitions of IoT vis-à-vis its technological features. This study introduces an updated framework to critically assess and compare definitions, identify ambiguities and resolve conflicts among different interpretations. The framework can be used to compare past and future definitions and help actors unfamiliar with IoT to make sense of it in a way to reduce adoption costs. It can also support researchers in studying early discussions of IoT

From Participants to Agents: Grounded Simulation as a Mixed-Method Research Design

This paper introduces a mixed-method research design for investigating complexity of social reality. The research design integrates grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and social simulation and is therefore called grounded simulation (GS). GS starts with in-depth investigations of complex social phenomena from perspectives of people who experience them. These investigations follow principles of grounded theory and enquire into contexts that research participants describe and the way they make sense of action in these contexts. Data analysis progresses inductively and outwards, from narratives of people who are at the centre of the phenomena to emerging constructs and theories. While the grounded theory fieldwork would have its own research outputs, its selected findings can be then carried to agent-based models for further investigation of social complexity. By representing social and economic agents, their contexts and actions as closely as possible, GS shortens the distance between research participants, who have real life experiences of the subject being modelled, and the virtual agents. Knowledge production in social simulation progresses generatively and upwards, moving from interactions at the individual level to emergent properties at the macro-level. GS experiments are thus suitable for studying the societal implications of meanings that emerge from the data collected in grounded theory. The paper illustrates how this research design can be used, by referring to a GS study on diffusion of innovations

mobile phones Making sense of innovations: A comparison of personal computers and Making sense of innovations: A comparison of personal computers and mobile phones

Abstract Despite revolutionary expectations about information and communication technologies (ICT), the academic understanding of what exactly these technologies bring to individual lives remains incomplete. We know very little about how individuals perceive the value of ICT products, and even less about the process by which these value perspectives are built. This paper contributes to addressing these gaps. It presents an empirical study comparing the perceived use-value of personal computers and mobile phones. The findings show that the day-to-day value of innovations is deeply embedded in the existing and newly emerging social contexts. Thus, societal transformations, such as becoming an information society, cannot be reduced to matters of technological possibilities. The paper also builds a construct for the sense-making process that clarifies that compared to mobile phones, computers are more difficult to position in mind, purchase and use, require more support from social contacts and are only meaningful in selective contexts

Placing Gezi Park in Time

The protests and civil resistance events that started initially against plans and attempts to demolish Gezi Park in Taksim, Istanbul in June 2013 quickly spread in various dimensions. Simultaneous occurrence of these events at many cities and their over a month-long duration was both unprecedented and unexpected. This chapter aims to shed light on the complexity of Gezi events from the perspective of individuals who took part in them. It reports findings of a fieldwork with short interviews with 123 protestors in Ankara. Through detailed analyses of the participants’ narratives, the chapter explores how different individuals made sense of Gezi events and placed them in the history of Turkey. It also sheds light to the effects of this intense period of political activity on individuals’ conception of and attachments to the society. In this regard, the narratives analysed in this chapter indicate that Gezi events helped re-establishing the street as a political sphere that does not necessarily subscribe to explicit ideologies but to new discourses and practices of engagement, and as a place of exchange, where those, whose interests are excluded from institutionalised politics, meet and claim access together

From Participants to Agents: Grounded Simulation as a Mixed-Method Research Design

This paper introduces a mixed-method research design for investigating complexity of social reality. The research design integrates grounded theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) and social simulation and is therefore called grounded simulation (GS). GS starts with in-depth investigations of complex social phenomena from perspectives of people who experience them. These investigations follow principles of grounded theory and enquire into contexts that research participants describe and the way they make sense of action in these contexts. Data analysis progresses inductively and outwards, from narratives of people who are at the centre of the phenomena to emerging constructs and theories. While the grounded theory fieldwork would have its own research outputs, its selected findings can be then carried to agent-based models for further investigation of social complexity. By representing social and economic agents, their contexts and actions as closely as possible, GS shortens the distance between research participants, who have real life experiences of the subject being modelled, and the virtual agents. Knowledge production in social simulation progresses generatively and upwards, moving from interactions at the individual level to emergent properties at the macro-level. GS experiments are thus suitable for studying the societal implications of meanings that emerge from the data collected in grounded theory. The paper illustrates how this research design can be used, by referring to a GS study on diffusion of innovations

Competition and co-operation : four studies on consumer interdependencies during diffusion of innovations

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