Information technologies as instruments of social transformation : the computerization of classical scholarship

Computer-based technologies are often seen as instruments that effect radical transformation within workplaces; these transformations are expressed through utopian or dystopian visions of empowered knowledge workers or electronic sweatshops. Visions, however, do little to examine the evidence for and the nature of such transformations. In what ways do new computer-based technologies re-form and reshape the nature, stucture, and organization of work? In particular, how do these technologies affect a domain of work which is abstract in nature and consists of the evaluation and amalgamation of many diverse information sources?This dissertation reports on an empirical study of the impact of information technologies on a specific class of knowledge workers, classical scholars. My goal is to understand the phenomenon of change due to increased use of information technologies from the point of view of the members of this social world. In order to do this, I will follow the procedures for data collection and analysis of the grounded theory approach as developed by Anselm Strauss and his associates. I employ the social worlds perspective as an organizing framework.In subsequent chapters, I consider the diffusion of a particular set of computer-based research tools within the discipline and subsequent changes to individuals' work patterns, task definition and interactions within and without the discipline. I further evaluate changes in the accessibility of information and the attendent impact on social and organizational, structures. Finally, I describe the emergence of electronic communities and new domains of work as information and communication technologies become more prevalent

The Care Work of Access

Current approaches to AI and Assistive Technology (AT) often foreground task completion over other encounters such as expressions of care. Our paper challenges and complements such task-completion approaches by attending to the care work of access—the continual affective and emotional adjustments that people make by noticing and attending to one another. We explore how this work impacts encounters among people with and without vision impairments who complete tasks together. We find that bound up in attempts to get things done are concerns for one another and how well people are doing together. Reading this work through emerging disability studies and feminist STS scholarship, we account for two important forms of work that give rise to access: (1) mundane attunements and (2) noninnocent authorizations. Together these processes work as sensitizing concepts to help HCI scholars account for the ways that intelligent ATs both produce access while sometimes subverting people with disabilities

Distant Voices: Learners' Stories About the Affective Side of Learning a Language at a Distance

Learning a language at a distance has its own special challenges. The remoteness of the learning context can mean isolation for the learner, communication difficulties for the teacher and problems of access for the researcher. Yet distance language learners are likely to be no more skilled in self-regulation than classroom learners, and to require high levels of support. Research tools are needed, therefore, which allow them to talk freely about their learning in order to help distance educators target support appropriately. This paper draws on data from two pilot ethnographic studies of distance language learners using think-aloud protocols to access their thought processes as they tackled two designated language tasks. They were carried out as part of a wider study in each case to investigate aspects of affect including beliefs, motivation and anxiety. The audio-taped voices provided rich insights into the advantages and disadvantages, pleasures and frustrations, comforts and anxieties of learning a language at a distance, and the strategies learners use to manage in a distance environment. The studies underlined the importance of listening to students and using their voices as a basis for discussion on improving aspects of the design and delivery of distance language courses

Information technologies as instruments of social transformation : the computerization of classical scholarship

Computer-based technologies are often seen as instruments that effect radical transformation within workplaces; these transformations are expressed through utopian or dystopian visions of empowered knowledge workers or electronic sweatshops. Visions, however, do little to examine the evidence for and the nature of such transformations. In what ways do new computer-based technologies re-form and reshape the nature, stucture, and organization of work? In particular, how do these technologies affect a domain of work which is abstract in nature and consists of the evaluation and amalgamation of many diverse information sources?This dissertation reports on an empirical study of the impact of information technologies on a specific class of knowledge workers, classical scholars. My goal is to understand the phenomenon of change due to increased use of information technologies from the point of view of the members of this social world. In order to do this, I will follow the procedures for data collection and analysis of the grounded theory approach as developed by Anselm Strauss and his associates. I employ the social worlds perspective as an organizing framework.In subsequent chapters, I consider the diffusion of a particular set of computer-based research tools within the discipline and subsequent changes to individuals' work patterns, task definition and interactions within and without the discipline. I further evaluate changes in the accessibility of information and the attendent impact on social and organizational, structures. Finally, I describe the emergence of electronic communities and new domains of work as information and communication technologies become more prevalent

Understanding on-line community: the affordances of virtual space

Increasing numbers of on-line venues for learning are emerging as virtual communities become more accessible and commonplace. This paper looks at one particular virtual community, an on-line degree programme at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which offers an M.S. in Library and Information Science (called LEEP). It draws on a framework presented by Mynatt, et al. (1998), which provides a lens for talking about on-line community as a set of affordances. This framework is applied to illustrate the interactions, artefacts, and expectations that shape this community

Visuo-spatial navigation performance and parietal cortex volumes in schizophrenic patients using the "virtual-reality" paradigma

Erst wenige Arbeiten haben sich mit parietalen Dysfunktionen im Rahmen der Schizophrenie beschäftigt. Daher zielt die vorliegende Studie darauf ab, Defizite in klassischen "parietalen" Hirnfunktionen mit Hilfe einer virtuellen Navigationsaufgabe zu erfassen sowie eine diesbezügliche Involvierung parietaler Cortexareale zu bestätigen. Zur Erfassung der ego- und allozentrische Navigationsleistung durchliefen Patienten sowie Kontrollpersonen mit dem "virtuellen Labyrinth" und dem "virtuellen Park" zwei unterschiedliche dreidimensionale Testumgebungen. Um diese neuropsychologischen Variablen mit neuronanatomischen Variablen - dem Parietallappen - assoziieren zu können, wurden zudem die Cortices der Probanden mit Hilfe eines Magnetresonanztomographen erfasst. Explorativ wurde zum einen die Beteiligung hippocampaler Areale untersucht, zum anderen wurde innerhalb einer Subgruppenanalyse geprüft, ob sich differentielle neuropsychologische und hirnanatomische Profile bei den verschiedenen schizophrenen Subtypen beobachten ließen. Zudem kamen zur Erzielung einer besseren Vergleichbarkeit zwei klassische neuropsychologische Testinstrumente zum Einsatz, in denen schizophrene Patienten typischerweise Defizite aufweisen: Die Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised sowie der Trail Making Test A und B. Die zentralen Versuchshypothesen konnten bestätigt werden: Schizophrene Patienten wiesen sowohl im ego-, als auch im allozentrischen Raum eine defizitäre Navigationsleistung auf, die der von gesunden Kontrollpersonen unterlegen war. Darüber hinaus ließen sich in der Patientengruppe Volumenreduktionen im globalen und superioren Parietalcortex nachweisen. Die (reduzierten) parietalen Cortexvolumina der schizophrenen Probandengruppe standen des Weiteren in einem funktionalen Zusammenhang zu den beobachteten Navigationsdefiziten: Je kleiner die parietalen Cortexvoluminae waren, desto schlechter war auch die Navigationsleistung im ego- und allozentrischen Raum. Innerhalb der explorativen Analyse zeigte sich bei den schizophrenen Probanden eine deutlich bilaterale Volumenreduktion der Hippocampi. Zusammenhänge zu (defizitären) ego- oder allozentrischen Navigationsleistungen ließen sich allerdings nicht feststellen. Die Subtypenanalyse wies des Weiteren darauf hin, dass paranoide Patienten vor allem Navigationsdefizite im egozentrischen Raum aufwiesen, während desorganisierte Patienten eher durch Schwierigkeiten im allozentrischen Raum charakterisiert waren. Die parietalen Volumina unterschieden sich zwischen den schizophrenen Subgruppen nicht signifikant. Schließlich zeigte sich im Rahmen der klassischen neuropsychologischen Testung, dass schizophrene Patienten starke Defizite in mnestischen und psychomotorischen Funktionen aufwiesen. Insgesamt liefert die vorliegende Arbeit Belege für defizitäre ego- und allozentrische Navigationsleistungen bei der Schizophrenie sowie eine diesbezügliche pathologische Involvierung parietaler Cortexareale