Brokering between heads and hearts: an analysis of designing for social change

This paper describes a fluid and responsive design process identified among certain practitioners involved in solving social problems or inspiring social change. Their practice is both user-centred and participative in its approach and addresses the shortcomings of many top-down initiatives. These people work tactically to weave together policy knowledge, funding opportunities, local initiative and ideas for improving social and environmental conditions, acting as connectors, activists and facilitators in different contexts at different times. Although their activities are recognisably related to more conventional designing practices, the materials they use in finding solutions are unusual in that they may include the beneficiaries themselves and other features of the social structure in which they are effecting change. We present an ethnographic study of practices in designing that focuses on social initiatives rather than the tangible products or systems that might support them. We explore the how design practices map to the process of winning local people's commitment to projects with a social flavour. To situate the discussion in a political context we draw on de Certeau’s distinction between strategic and tactical behaviour and look at how our informants occupy a space as mediators between groups with power and a sense of agency and those without. Keywords: Social Change; Ethnographic Action Research; Discourse Analysis; Designing In The Wild</p

Beyond enterprise resource planning projects: innovative strategies for competitive advantage

ABSTRACT A rapidly changing business environment and legacy IT problems has resulted in many organisations implementing standard package solutions. This 'common systems' approach establishes a common IT and business process infrastructure within organisations and its increasing dominance raises several important strategic issues. These are to what extent do common systems impose common business processes and management systems on competing firms, and what is the source of competitive advantage if the majority of firms employ almost identical information systems and business processes? A theoretical framework based on research into legacy systems and earlier IT strategy literature is used to analyse three case studies in the manufacturing, chemical and IT industries. It is shown that the organisations are treating common systems as the core of their organisations' abilities to manage business transactions. To achieve competitive advantage they are clothing these common systems with information systems designed to capture information about competitors, customers and suppliers, and to provide a basis for sharing knowledge within the organisation and ultimately with economic partners. The importance of these approaches to other organisations and industries is analysed and an attempt is made at outlining the strategic options open to firms beyond the implementation of common business systems

Many-Body effects and resonances in universal quantum sticking of cold atoms to surfaces

The role of shape resonances and many-body effects on universal quantum sticking of ultra cold atoms onto solid surfaces is examined analytically and computationally using an exactly solvable representation of the Dyson equation. We derive the self-energy renormalization of the the transition amplitude between an ultra cold scattering atom and the bound states on the surface in order to elucidate the role of virtual phonon exchanges in the limiting behavior of the sticking probability. We demonstrate that, to first order in the interactions for finite ranged atom-surface potentials, virtual phonons can only rescale the strength of the atom-surface coupling and do not rescale the range of the coupling. Thus, universal sticking behaviour at ultra-low energies is to be expected for all finite ranged potentials. We demonstrate that the onset of the universal sticking behavior depends greatly on the position of the shape resonance of the renormalized potential and for sufficiently low energy shape resonances, deviations from the universal $s(E)\propto\sqrt{E}$ can occur near these energies. We believe that this accounts for many of the low energy sticking trends observed in the scattering of sub-millikelvin H atoms from superfluid $^4$He films.Comment: To appear in 08-Feb-95 issue of The Journal of Chemical Physic

Urban space, political identity and the unwanted legacies of state socialism: Bucharest's problematic Centru Civic in the post-socialist era

This paper explores the relationship between the urban cultural landscape of Bucharest and the making of post-socialist Romanian national identity. As the capital of socialist Romania, central Bucharest was extensively remodelled by Nicolae Ceauşescu into the Centru Civic in order to materialize Romania's socialist identity. After the Romanian "Revolution" of 1989, the national and local state had to deal with a significant "left-over" socialist urban landscape which was highly discordant with the orientation of post-socialist Romania and its search for a new identity. Ceauşescu's vast socialist showpiece left a difficult legacy which challenges the material and representational reshaping of Bucharest and constructions of post-socialist Romanian national identity more broadly. The paper analyzes four attempts to deal with the Centru Civic: developments in the immediate post-1989 period; the international architectural competition Bucureşti 2000; proposals for building a Cathedral of National Salvation; and the Esplanada project. Despite over 20 years of proposals central Bucharest remains largely unchanged. The paper thus deals with a failed attempt to re-shape the built environment in support of national goals. © 2013 Copyright Association for the Study of Nationalities

The Nonprofit Quarterly Study on Nonprofit and Philanthropic Infrastructure

Examines trends in the nonprofit sector's support network and financing system and their capacity to address the impact of the financial crisis on small and midsize nonprofits, share organizational survival strategies, and connect them to resources

Access to Mobile Resources: How Does It Affect the Clerkship Experience?

Objectives: To evaluate the perceived benefits of access to library-licensed mobile clinical decision support resources in clinical medical education. Methods: A cohort of medical students was surveyed midway through the clerkship year. Dana Medical Library offered instruction on clinical mobile resources at the beginning of the year. Students were offered a subject guide and assistance with authentication. Assessment methods included web analytics measuring the utility of the subject guide and a survey. Survey questions gathered data on access to mobile devices, relevance of instruction, use of library-licensed mobile resources, and benefits and barriers to their use in the clinical setting. Students were also asked whether access to mobile resources facilitated comparable educational experiences across clerkship sites. Results: The survey was sent to all 111 students from the University of Vermont College of Medicine class of 2014; 31 completed the survey, with a completion rate of 28%. All respondents owned a mobile device, despite efforts to recruit both users and non-users. Nearly 75% of respondents reported using an iPhone. About 90% of respondents brought their mobile device on rotation. Generally, the wireless access at each clerkship site was rated good or excellent. Of the 60% of respondents who attended the instruction session on mobile resources, 94% found the class helpful. Half of the respondents looked at the Mobile Apps subject guide; 70% of those who did found it helpful. A significant increase in page views was reflected in subject guide usage statistics immediately following the instruction session. Approximately 25% of respondents sought out individual assistance at the library. Conclusions: Respondents suggested improvements to library instruction such as distributing access codes during the class and demonstrating installation of an app. A large number of students did not seek additional assistance from the library, citing they did not have any questions. While that may be because they found the subject guide and/or class sufficiently helpful, a significant number of respondents indicated they were unaware of the subject guide. This suggests a need for further promotion and marketing efforts. Researchers were surprised that nonlibrary licensed apps (ePocrates or Medscape) were valued over resources such as DynaMed, and that the most common barrier cited was not having access to appropriate apps. Finally, almost all of the participants who reported taking a mobile device on a rotation agreed it facilitated access to clinical information and improved the clerkship experience