Decoding Privacy – An Anthropological Study of the Privacy Concept in Mobile Software Development

Despite it's ubiquitous social importance, the concept of privacy is challenged in unprecedented ways by the emergence of mobile technologies. Previous research has shed some light onto user concerns regarding privacy in a mobile context, however, only little attention has been paid to the attitudes and practices of mobile developers. To close this gap, this study presents an empirical account for the role of privacy within mobile software development from the perspective of developers. The study is comprised of two samples of unstructured interviews with developers from the United States of America and Germany; it applies an anthropological method in an engineering context and uses ATLAS.ti to implement a grounded theory approach. ATLAS.ti is used to analyze developer’s conceptualization of privacy as well as country specific aspects of user privacy. The code system generated with ATLAS.ti further represents developer's awareness of privacy relevant conflicts, their assessment of the different stakeholders involved in the user privacy debate and their knowledge of and experience with privacy measures. Based upon this code system a framework is derived that structures crucial factors for the understanding and implementation of privacy strategies in mobile software development

Byzantine perceptions of the West in John Kinnamos account on the reign of Manuel Komnenos (1143-1180)

The Epitome composed by John Kinnamos constitutes one of the few historical accounts contemporary to the reign of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). This period has often been approached as one of relative prosperity for the Byzantines, in contrast to the more troublesome decades at the end of the century, characterised by the rising tensions with the Latin polities from Western Christianity leading to the Fourth Crusade. Researchers have approached twelfth century Byzantine history precisely from the viewpoint of later disaster involving the relation between Byzantines and Latins. This article aims to bring evidence regarding Kinnamos’ approach to these relations, particularly those sections where the author seems to praise or at least tolerate Latin deviations from the Roman «normality»

Thought experiments and philosophy in organizational research

Organization theory seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place: on the one hand, there are arguments that the field is too preoccupied with theory, leaving its work abstract and practically irrelevant. On the other hand, there are arguments that the field is overly empirical and too methods-driven, which hampers the creation of ideas that resonate with constituencies beyond the organization studies community. How to resolve this apparent conundrum? In this essay we argue that neither more theorizing nor more forensic data-driven work might address the problem; rather, and perhaps surprisingly, we propose that a philosophical stance might offer a remedy. The aim of this essay is (1) to explore thought experiments as a genuine philosophical method that is designed to develop promising ideas and concepts and (2) to reflect on how such conceptual work can help shape organization theory to be conceptually more stimulating and practically more relevant. We argue that this particular kind of conceptual work has been and should continue to be one of the hallmarks of organization theory. Thus thought experiments represent a valuable methodological extension of our toolkit as they provide crucial devices triggering transformations in thought and practice

Desperately seeking legitimacy: Organizational identity and emerging industries

In this article we examine the process of organizational identity formation in emerging industries. We argue that organizational identity is best understood in terms of the relationship between temporal difference (i.e. the performance of a stable identity over time) and spatial difference (i.e. by locating organizational identity in relation to other firms, both similar and different). It is the relationship between these two forms of difference that enables the construction of a legitimate sense of organizational identity. Our discussion is illustrated using empirical material from a study of the emerging industry of business coaching in Australia. Copyright © 2007 SAGE Publications

The Poem of Mio Cid and the Diyenís Akrites (El Escorial manuscript). A comparative study from the perspective of classic legacy

El Cantar de Mio Cid y el Diyenís Akritas son dos ejemplos de poesía épica medieval prestigiosos, respectivamente, en el mundo hispanoparlante y en el grecoparlante. No solo ambas tradiciones han sido objeto de estudios comparativos por sus numerosos paralelismos, sino que ambos han sido estudiados de forma parecida, surgiendo de su lectura crítica debates similares. Nuestro interés aquí será el de ofrecer un nuevo punto de vista en su comparación: el de la presencia del legado clásico en los dos poemas a través de una nueva lectura de las fuentes y del estudio de algunos de los mayores debates que se han producido en el estudio de estas obras. Confiamos en que esta nueva perspectiva aporte nuevas herramientas para la concreción de la problemática de ambas fuentes, así como de los límites y posibilidades de una comparación entre ellasThe Poem of Mio Cid and the Diyenes Akrites are two examples of medieval epic poetry. They have been prestigious, respectively, in the Hispanic and in the Greek communities. Not only both traditions have been compared due to their numerous parallelisms, but academic debates about each of the poems have become similar as well. This work attempts to offer a new point of view in their comparison: that of the presence of Classic legacy in the two poems. It will include a new reading of the sources and the development of study on the major discursions which arose concerning their study among scholars. Through this study, we expect to bring new tools for the study of both texts, as well as to study the limits and possibilities of their compariso