Leadership of Humanitarian Organizations Working in Less Developed Countries: A Best Practices Analysis

Many people from the developed world, who intend to help the poor in less developed countries, actually end up doing harm by creating more dependence, demonstrating ignorance of the local culture, not understanding the importance of long-term relationships, and offering solutions to problems without ever getting input and buy-in from those they intend to help. There is very little published research in scholarly journals regarding how those from the developed world can best approach humanitarian relief and development work in the developing world. In this qualitative analysis using a collective case study design, humanitarian relief and development organizational leaders share best-practices that focus on the following recommendations: 1) Empower and develop the indigenous people, 2) Focus on long-term relationships and partnerships with the indigenous people, and 3) Work on understanding the local culture

Uplift mobilisation resistance of subsea pipelines in loose sand

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Social justice research in library and information sciences: a case for discourse analysis

Scholars have employed a variety of research methodologies and methods to explore, probe, and uncover ways in which social justice is enacted, embodied, supported, or not supported by researchers, educators, and practitioners in library and information science and services (LIS). Discursive psychology as developed by social psychologist Jonathan Potter and critical discourse analysis as developed by Norman Fairclough are introduced as fruitful approaches to investigate the critical intersections of LIS and social justice. The theoretical development of social justice in LIS is discussed. Next, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology are examined and then analyzed for goodness of fit with Kevin Rioux’s (2010) five underlying assumptions of social justice metatheory: (1) All human beings have an inherent worth and deserve information services that help address those needs; (2) People perceive reality and information in different ways, often within cultural or life role contexts; (3) There are many different types of information and knowledge, and these are societal resources; (4) Theory and research are pursued with the ultimate goal of bringing positive change to service constituencies; (5) The provision of information services is an inherently powerful activity. Drawing on the findings of the goodness of fit of Rioux’s metatheory and examples of discourse analytic studies in LIS, this article offers practical strategies for social justice researchers wanting to use critical discourse analysis or discursive psychology.published or submitted for publicationpublished or submitted for publicatio

Greek and Latin Affixes and the Generation Effect

This action research study was conducted in 2012 at a private high school in Antalya, Turkey. The research focus was on Greek and Latin affixes and vocabulary along with the robust vocabulary discovery- the generation effect. The results of the study were significant in terms of recall and the application methodology. This paper is an abbreviated version of the complete study. The paper discussesbackground, literature review and cultural factors unique to Turkey. The project testing and data collection involved academic quiz bowls, unique classroom instruction, a survey, and visual mapping tools. The paper ends with limitations and areas of future study

Ethically aware IT design for emergency response:from co-design to ELSI co-design

The latest EU funding framework, ‘Horizon 2020’, has moved consideration of ethical and societal implications of technology development to the fore. Yet, there is little guidance on how to do such research in practice, let alone how to innovate in ethically and socially sound ways. This paper addresses these issues in the context of a large scale EU funded project developing system of system innovations in IT supported emergency response. Building on collaborative design and a range of other approaches, the paper argues that just like ‘usability’, ethics cannot be invented or decided by experts, but has to be the product of engagement with the technology by directly or indirectly implicated publics. Facilitating such publics is a central element of what we call ‘ELSI Co-Design’. The paper outlines the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of this approach

With enough women, majority based decision making rules can help foster communication processes that support women’s authority

Recent years have seen growing calls for the greater representation of women in political bodies and corporate boards. But does greater representation for women lead to more power in decision making? Using data from an empirical study of group interaction around deliberation, J. Baxter Oliphant, Tali Mendelberg, and Christopher F. Karpowitz find that the rules around how decisions are made matter; when decisions are majority-based, and there are enough women to control the decision, then men begin to treat women with more respect. When decisions need to be unanimous, minority men are empowered and do not modify their behavior towards women