A tale of two e-citizens: a consideration of engagement in the e-society in two contexts

The purpose of this paper is to widen the debate surrounding participation in the eSociety, shifting the focus from access and economic power to skills and knowledge. It will present empirical research which, whilst not starting out as research into skills for the eSociety, revealed some relevant and enlightening issues. Focusing on two diverse contexts of activity (shopping and health care support) I will illustrate how the status quo (that the educated and economically rich have privileged, unfettered access to the services of the e-society) is flawed, misleading to stakeholders, and detrimental to both service providers and consumers. From a Critical Social Theory (CST) perspective this paper critiques assumptions that the internet brings about citizen empowerment through increased access to information, and opportunities to communicate and share knowledge with service providers and other consumers. It demonstrates that this assumption derives from the myth that technology per se brings huge benefits, including wealth and empowerment. Concludes that access to ICTs alone does not bring about effective engagement in the eSociety. “Digital” or “e” citizens need not only skills and knowledge, but responsive and supportive service provision currently lacking in both public and private spheres of e-citizenship

Social networks, football fans, fantasy and reality: how corporate and media interests are invading our lifeworld

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the digital culture on football supporters through analysis of official and unofficial websites and media reports. At first glance it would appear that technology has brought about greater opportunities to communicate, to share views which previously could not be widely published, and to organise against the commercial power of the large football clubs. However, surveillance, censorship and control continue to impact on supporters to restrict and ultimately prevent the ideal speech situation that is necessary to empower fans and promote greater participation in their clubs. Current media manipulation and corporate interests restrict and alienate fans who often have more of a historically constituted (over generations) sense of ownership and culture within their local clubs. Design/methodology/approach A critical social theory approach is adopted to examine structures and processes related to communication between fans, the media, football clubs and the public. Habermas' theory is draw upon using the concepts of “colonization of the Lifeworld” and “communicative action” to inform a theme and discourse analysis of official and independent football club websites and media reports. How corporate interests (the system) are manipulating public opinion and freedom to speak openly within an overall goal of profit maximization for club owners and the large media corporations are explored. Findings Although steps to enable free communication have been made we are still a long way off supporters having a powerful enough voice to organise against the commercial power of the large football clubs and media conglomerates. The ideal speech situation remains elusive and the hegemonic state remains unchallenged. Football supporters are increasingly constructed as “consumers” and the ultimate power remains in mass media and broadcast rather than personal “narrowcast”. Originality/value This paper extends debate on the impact of the developing “digital culture” focusing on football supporters, a specific and prevalent community within British society. It raises issues for further research in this area

Confidence and performance in objective structured clinical examination

Introduction: The objective structured clinical examination (OSCE )is commonly used as a standard assessment approach in midwifery education. Student’s confidence may impact on the OSCE performancebut the evidence on this is very limited. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between confidence and OSCE performance in midwifery students. Methods: 103 pre-registration midwifery students (42 year one students: 61 year three students) from Sheffield Hallam University took part in this study as part of their routine OSCE assessment. They completed pre- and post-exam questionnaires, which asked them to rate their confidence in the clinical skills being assessed on a scale from 1 to 10 (1=not confident; 10 =totally confident). Results: The results showed significant increases in mean confidence levels from before to after OSCE for both first and third year students (5.52 (1.25) to 6.49 (1.19); P=0.001 and 7.49(0.87) to 8.01(0.73); P<0.001, respectively). However, there was no significant correlation between confidence levels before undertaking the OSCE and the final OSCE test scores (r= 0.12; P=0.315). Conclusions: The increased level of confidence after the OSCE is important but how thisis transformed into improved clinical skills in practical settings requires further investigation. The lack of significant correlation between OSCEresults and student’s confidence, may indicate additional evidence for the objectivity of the OSCE . This, however, may be due to the inherent complexity of assessing such relationships. Larger studies with mixed methodology are required for further investigation of this important area of education and assessment research

SRF or Soverign? eCommerce and the Promise of Consumer Empowerment

This paper will attempt to deconstruct the belief that eCommerce in its current format is empowering customers. It focuses on five of the most prevalent myths surrounding eCommerce (namely that it: will revolutionise retailing, offers greater choice and convenience, offers greater access to information, enables better C2B and C2C communication, and brings about personalisation of services to consumers). The paper demonstrates that these assumptions derive from the technologically determinist school of Information Systems (IS) thinking (grounded in the myth that technology per se brings huge benefits, including wealth and empowerment), and thus merits more sophisticated consideration of the technology, providers and users. A critical epistemology is adopted, and through a series of semi-structured interviews with consumers and consideration of the wider empirical evidence the myths are deconstructed. The paper proposes that there is incongruence in online retail provision and the needs or requirements of customers. It argues that a greater sense of “audience” is required by retailers who adopt eCommerce. The conclusion raises the question ‘how far can commercial enterprises afford to empower consumers?’ Buyer power continues to be regarded as a threat to competitive advantage and as such needs to be managed effectively. This paper offers a contribution to e-commerce literature by demonstrating that the assumption that the consumer is empowered through internet retail is not grounded in reality. It provides a practical contribution to businesses by heightening awareness of the extent to which current internet-based retail fails to fulfill consumer needs

Future of the music industries: Empowering the DIY artist through ICTs. A Habermasian view

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to examine the impact of the digital culture on the music industry through an analysis of official and unofficial websites, media reports and discussions with musicians. Research Design - A critical social theory approach is adopted to examine structures and processes related to communication between artists, fans, the media, as well as commercial and independent labels. We draw upon Habermas’ theory using the concept of ‘communicative action’ to inform an analysis of three vignettes or short case studies. Findings - At first glance it would appear that technology has brought about greater opportunities for independent musicians to communicate, network, promote and distribute, which previously could not be widely published, and to organise against the commercial power of major labels (Majors). Limitations of the study - In many spheres of the music industries this “empowerment” does not appear to be realised. For example, previous studies have shown that the domination of the Majors continues to impact on local music scenes to restrict and ultimately prevent the creative ideal deliver a situation that is necessary to empower independent musicians. Current media manipulation and corporate interests restrict and alienate independent musicians who often have more of an intellectual ownership and culture within their local music communities. Practical Implications - Although steps to enable improved visibility and cooperation have been made we are still a long way off musicians having a powerful enough voice to organise against the commercial power of the large labels and media conglomerates (e.g. Apple i-Tunes). The ideal speech situation remains elusive and the hegemonic state remains unchallenged. Social Implications - Music continues to be commodified and fans are increasingly constructed as “consumers”; the ultimate power remains in mass media and broadcasting rather than independent “narrowcast” and DIY artistry. Originality/value – This paper extends debate on the impact of the developing “digital culture” focusing on independent musicians and the music industries. It raises issues for further research in this area

Use of the Internet by Health Professionals and Consumer Support Groups: a case analysis

This paper outlines case study research with Eye Believe a support group for patients who have had an eye removed usually (but not exclusively) due to ocular melanoma (cancer of the eye). It is a participative action research (PAR) project. The aim is to adopt a user-centric socio-technical approach to developing an online community to offer information and support to the group. The project will draw upon theories of knowledge creation and management through socialization, user participation in a health service context and the sociology of technology. In its initial stages the research was explorative. However, a conflict of interests immediately arose between the support group members and the health service representatives. Through this conflict it is anticipated that the research will now adopt a Critical Social Theory (CST) approach in aiming to empower the member\u27s of Eye Believe through their online community

The Effects of Shoulder and Knee Angular Velocity on the Performance of a Volleyball Forearm Pass

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The extent of Welshness amongst the exiled Welsh living in England, Scotland and Ireland.

There appears to have been an upsurge of interest in ‘Welshness’ among Welsh people living in Wales during the last two or three decades. This is evidenced by the reversal, if only slight, of the decline in the number of Welsh speakers as indicated by the census figures and by the setting up of the Welsh Assembly Government. The purpose of this dissertation was to find out if there has been a similar upward trend amongst the exiled Welsh living in the British Isles. To begin with it was important to isolate what characteristics define a Welsh person apart from being born in the geographical area of Wales. Language is of paramount importance in defining a national identity, although not exclusively so. The Welsh have a tendency towards non-conformity in religion and radicalism in politics. They appears to be musical and enjoy sports particularly rugby. Also of interest was to determine the time when and why migration from Wales occurred. There appeared to have been three well defined periods. Migration from the rural areas occurred during the nineteenth century. The industrial depression of the 1920s and 30s hit the Welsh valleys in particular. Again in the 1950s to the 1970s there was an exodus of graduates predominately. To begin the survey, Welsh Societies were contacted through the website ww.taffia.org which unfortunately ceased to function. It soon transpired that there were Welsh learner and conversation groups out with the Societies; therefore the search had to be extended to include these. Disappointingly a number of the Welsh Societies are reliant on elderly members and seem unable to attract newer and younger members. Some Societies though are resisting this trend and an attempt is made to try and understand why this is so. There is, however, considerable enthusiasm for learning Welsh in England in particular. In the main though, this appears to be dependent on a few enthusiastic individuals

Optimal Wildlife Smuggling Interdiction

The illegal trade of wildlife is one of the greatest threats to the survival of many species. Pangolins are claimed to be the most heavily trafficked wild mammals in the world. There is a huge demand for their scales and meat in traditional medicines and food. Wildlife products are trafficked across the world to meet such demands. Smugglers are able to choose the route they take to move these commodities across international borders. Biosecurity resources are placed at ports of entry to intercept smugglers. In this thesis, we describe a model of the relationship between smugglers and biosecurity forces. We begin by assuming that the smuggler picks a path that either minimises travel time, maximises the probability of going undetected, or some combination of these two objectives. Biosecurity agencies allocate resources to ports of entry to maximise their probability of catching the smuggler. However, we assume that the smuggler fully observes any resource changes and thus may alter their path to avoid detection. This results in a dynamic game between the two players. We aim to find the optimal biosecurity resource allocation. However assuming all traffic is sent along a single path from each source is unrealistic. Thus we develop an extension to the model, where the illegal traffic is distributed across the possible paths and only some proportion of the traffic is sent along the optimal path. We describe implementations of two algorithms that find the optimal resource allocation. These solutions lead to insights about the best approaches to interdict illegal trade across ports of entry. We apply our model to a real world network to investigate it in a practical setting. We look at the trafficking of pangolins from Asian and African sources into Vietnam. Resources are allocated at five entry points into Vietnam. We determine the optimal allocations for different smuggler objectives. We consider robust allocations that are good for a majority of the assumed objectives. Spreading resources evenly between three specific ports of entry, out of the five, appears best when we just consider single paths from sources. When we consider multiple paths from the same source, the most robust allocation across smuggler objectives is to spread resources between two specific ports of entry. The ports of entry that are assigned resources in the robust allocations have many more paths into them compared to the other entry points. Thus this robust allocation makes logical sense, and perhaps may apply to situations other than the trafficking of pangolins from Asian and African sources into Vietnam.Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Adelaide, School of Mathematical Sciences, 201