Cultivating Literacies among the Youth

Although in the Western world illiteracy hasn’t been a major problem for a long time, there are still concerns related to the literacy skills of today’s youth, especially boys. Mobile technology can potentially contribute to the literacies of young people. We examine the current position and potential of mobile technology in the literacies of a challenging group of youth: junior ice hockey players, who due to the lack of free time, do not read almost at all. The study invites this group to ideate future learning environments as regards their literacy practices. The study reports on their usage practices and design ideas as regards mobile technology and reading. The study shows that new literacies were thoroughly embedded in the everyday life of these youth. They also identified opportunities for using mobile technology for fostering their literacy practices. Implications for the design of future learning environments for the youth are discussed

Encouraging for Enculturation – An Enquiry on the Effort of Usability Specialists Entering OSS Projects

Open source software (OSS) has increased its importance during recent years. The significance of OSS usability has been acknowledged; however, usability work, albeit carried out, doesn’t necessarily have any impact on the OSS under development. This paper examines how the impact of usability work can be increased in OSS projects. Through cross-case analysis, seven OSS development cases including usability work were examined and characteristics contributing to usability work having an impact identified. The analysis indicates that for increasing the impact of usability work, enculturation of usability specialists is important. Enculturation happens naturally when usability specialists take part in the project from the very beginning, but in OSS development this is uncommon. Otherwise, usability specialists need to place extra effort on enculturation, which in our data involved various kinds of practices relating to 1) understanding the product under development, 2) finding motivation for usability and 3) locating and targeting the decision-makers

Is media just noise? The link between media factors and stock performance

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Interest towards media analytics has increased significantly by both practitioners and academia alike. The hot topic is whether or not qualitative texts contain information relevant to stock financials, and if they do, whether the impact can be used to earn abnormal returns. In order to answer this, we study the impact media factors have on financial metrics in a novel specification that combines all the major media factors in a holistic media model. To transform qualitative texts information into a "sentiment score", we develop a new methodology to estimate sentiment more accurately than currently prevailing methods. DATA AND METHODOLOGY Our study focuses on the S&P 100 constituents between the time period of 2006 and 2011. As a source of qualitative texts, we use major news publications and earnings announcements retrieved from LexisNexis -database using a web scraper program developed for the purpose of this study. We retrieve the financials data for our study using Thomson Reuters Datastream -database. In order to estimate investor sentiment, we employ both the customary word count, as well as our novel Linearized Phrase-Structure -methodology. For word count, we test the Harvard Psychological -dictionary and a finance-specific dictionary by Loughran and McDonald (2011). As our data is panel in nature, we analyze the correlations in our error terms in line with Petersen (2009), first without clustering and then clustering by firm and by time. We find time-effect in our error terms, and therefore employ a Fama-Macbeth (1973) methodology with clustering done in quarters. To mitigate a methodological choice driving our results, we run our specifications with a multitude of alternative specifications. RESULTS We find that Linearized Phrase-Structure (LPS) outperforms the predominant naïve word count methodology. Also, we find that if employing word counts, researchers should employ context dependent dictionaries, such as Loughran and McDonald's (2011). In terms of our main variables, we find that the existing media factors are not mutually exclusive, and impact financial metrics in chorus. Alas, we do not find statistically significant relationship between sentiment and abnormal returns. However, we find a relationship between aggregate market news volume and abnormal returns, and also between sentiment and abnormal volatility. We infer that our findings support limited attention -theory, and provide evidence against market efficiency

Systems development methods and usability in Norway: An industrial perspective

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 Springer Berlin HeidelbergThis paper investigates the relationship between traditional systems development methodologies and usability, through a survey of 78 Norwegian IT companies. Building on previous research we proposed two hypotheses; (1) that software companies will generally pay lip service to usability, but do not prioritize it in industrial projects, and (2) that systems development methods and usability are perceived as not being integrated. We find support for both hypotheses. Thus, the use of systems development methods is fairly stable, confirming earlier research. Most companies do not use a formal method, and of those who do, the majority use their own method. Generally, the use of methods is rather pragmatic: Companies that do not use formal methods report that they use elements from such methods. Further, companies that use their own method import elements from standardised methods into their own

Violin improvisation in Afro-Cuban religious ceremonies

In this dissertation, I study the violin improvisations performed during Violín a Ochún events, one of the collective celebrations of Santería, a religion practiced in Cuba. The study focuses on different structural organizational models at the basis of improvisation and their attendant cultural meanings and associations. The research aims to expand the study of cognitive and music analytic model-based improvisation into a culture-sensitive direction. Furthermore, I comprehensively present the social, historical and cultural context in which improvisations emerge: one of the main chapters of the research focuses on the phenomenon of the Violín a Ochún, its formation process, content and structure . The study has been carried out using ethnographic methods. A special method of participant observation, the idea of bi-musicality, has been emphasized. The research is a field study, consisting of several phases of fieldwork and analysis. The research material includes forty video-recorded improvisations (and transcriptions of them) from 2007 to 2010, the work of twelve violinists who lived in Havana when the fieldwork phases were carried out. Additionally, the research material contains forty-two interviews, the most recent of which is from 2022. The study indicates that there are both similarities and generation-based differences in the manner in which the violinists exploit the models. The similarities appear especially in relation to the guiding role of the clave pattern. However, its significance is emphasized particularly on son-based improvisations that stress the anticipated harmony. Furthermore, the collectively shared rhythmic-melodic vocabulary is similar in many ways, and it is learned partly when performing on these occasions. On the other hand, there are differences based on the violinist’s generation. The violinists of the older generation more clearly follow the traditional típico style, while the improvisations of the younger violinists reflect more modern currents. This has been influenced by the emergence of systematic music education in post-revolutionary society and new role models among the violinists. However, violinists, regardless of what generation they represent, emphasize the importance of local tradition and the role of improvisation as part of the collective occasion in which interaction with the audience – which participates in several ways in the progress of improvisation – is essential. In addition to guiding musicians, musical models interplay with cultural models and include different cultural meanings and associations that both guide the behaviour of the participants of the Violín a Ochún event and underline commonly shared cultural knowledge.--- Tutkin väitöskirjassani Kuubassa harjoitettavan santería-uskonnon Violín a Ochún -tilaisuuksissa esitettyjä viuluimprovisaatioita. Tutkimus keskittyy viulistia improvisaation aikana ohjaaviin musiikillisiin rakenteisiin, niin sanottuihin malleihin, sekä niihin liittyviin laajempiin kulttuurisiin merkityksiin ja assosiaatioihin. Tutkimus pyrkii laajentamaan kognitiivista ja musiikkianalyyttista mallipohjaista improvisaatiotutkimusta kulttuurisensitiiviseen suuntaan. Lisäksi yksi tutkimuksen luvuista käsittelee laajemmin esityskontekstia, Violín a Ochún -juhlaa. Tutkimus on useasta Havannaan suuntautuneesta kenttätyömatkasta koostuva etnografinen tutkimus, jossa painottuu bi-musikaalisuuden ajatus osallistuvan havainnoinnin muotona. Tutkimusaineisto kattaa 40 videoitua improvisaatiota (ja niistä tehdyt transkriptiot) yhteensä 12:lta tilaisuuksissa soittaneelta viulistilta. Lisäksi aineistoon sisältyy 42 haastattelua. Tutkimus osoittaa, että viulistien tavoissa hyödyntää musiikillisia malleja on sekä yhtäläisyyksiä että sukupolvien välisiä eroja. Yhtäläisyydet liittyvät clave-rytmisolun huomioimiseen erityisesti son-pohjaisessa musiikissa. Lisäksi viulistien improvisaatioissaan hyödyntämä rytmismelodinen sanavarasto, joka opitaan osittain tilaisuuksissa soittamisen seurauksena, on monilta osin samankaltainen. Toisaalta vanhempaa sukupolvea edustavat viulistit seuraavat selvemmin perinteistä típico-tyyliä, kun puolestaan nuorempien viulistien improvisaatioista heijastuvat vallankumousta seuranneen systemaattisen musiikkikoulutuksen sekä nuorempien viulisti-roolimallien vaikutus. Kaikki viulistit painottavat paikallisen perinteen tärkeyttä ja improvisaation roolia osana kollektiivista tilaisuutta, jonka aikana vuorovaikutus yleisön kanssa on keskeistä. Sen lisäksi, että musiikilliset mallit ohjaavat muusikoita, niiden voidaan nähdä olevan vuorovaikutuksessa kulttuuristen mallien kanssa. Ne sisältävät erilaisia kulttuurisia merkityksiä ja assosiaatioita, jotka ohjaavat tilaisuuteen osallistuvien ihmisten käyttäytymistä ja korostavat yhteisesti jaettua kulttuurista tieto

The Role of Organizational Culture in Organizational Change - Identifying a Realistic Position for Prospective IS Research

Organizational culture – a popular but also a very complex concept – has been identified as an influential factor affecting the successes and failures of organizational change efforts. Many empirical organizational culture studies have been carried out in information systems (IS) research. However, culture is a very versatile concept, and there are many controversies in both defining and applying it. Therefore, this paper reviews different conceptions of organizational culture in the existing literature – in anthropology, organizational studies and in IS research. Also recent criticism on the existing conceptions is presented. Furthermore, organizational change is also a complex concept, due to which this paper discusses also differing conceptions of organizational change and conceptions of change employed in the empirical IS literature. Finally, a framework for the analysis of organizational culture and change is developed. The framework identifies three positions on organizational culture and change: optimist, pessimist and relativist, and discusses their implications. The optimist position is criticized of relying on very naïve notions of culture and change. The pessimist position can be criticized of lacking relevance to practice. Finally, the relativist position is recommended as the most realistic position for the prospective IS research on organizational culture and change

Inductive Empiricism, Theory Specialization and Scientific Idealization in IS Theory Building

This paper distinguishes and discusses three strategies for theory building in Information Systems (IS) - inductive empiricism, theory specialization and scientific idealization - and contrasts them in terms of three desiderata of theories - realism, generality and precision - and tradeoffs between them. Inductive empiricism, emphasizing realism and generality, represents the received view with the classic Grounded Theory Methodology as a prime example. The paper argues for openness to theory specialization in practical disciplines such as IS. Theory specialization implies sacrificing generality of theories for their realism and precision. The distinctive attention of the paper lies in scientific idealization, sacrificing realism of theories for their precision and generality. It has been almost completely omitted in in the literature on IS theory building. The special focus of the paper lies in IT applications as a category of IT artifacts and in design-oriented theories which provide knowledge of how to design “better” IT applications. The paper illustrates its points using TAM/UTAUT research as an example

Iivari’s Response to the Rejoinders on How to Improve Peer Reviewing

In this paper, I respond to the six rejoinders to my original paper. I categorize the rejoinders into three groups depending on whether they largely disagree with my suggestions, whether they mostly agree with them, or whether they suggest largely complementary ideas to my own. In line with my own paper (Iivari, 2016), I specifically focus on the concrete proposals how to improve the situation