Would You Share? Examining How Knowledge Type and Communication Channel Influence Knowledge Sharing

Due to recent advances in computer-mediated communication technologies, individuals are able to communicate through a variety of channels to exchange knowledge. This paper extends prior research to include a comparison of knowledge exchange through face-to-face and computer-mediated communication environments (e-mail, electronic community, and electronic knowledge repository) for different knowledge types (computer program and expertise). Using social exchange theory, hypotheses are proposed based on the degree of an individual’s expectations of reciprocity and how this influences an individual’s knowledge sharing decision. Using vignettes adapted from prior empirical research, this study determines whether individuals adjust their knowledge sharing behaviors based on the different types of knowledge and the communication channel used. Results suggest that electronic knowledge repository and face-to-face are the preferred environments for sharing expertise and electronic knowledge repositories are preferred for sharing a computer program

The Co-Creation of Value: Exploring User Engagement in User-Generated Content Websites

Organizational interest in user-generated content (UGC) websites is growing, as organizations face highly competitive markets, uncertain economic environments, and a growing user base accustomed to active engagement rather than passive acceptance of products and services. Organizations are now exploring ways to provide a platform (website) through which users generate and contribute content, resulting in a co-created experience between users and organizations. However, organizations interested in leveraging UGC websites are facing a new challenge – getting users to actively engage through content contribution, retrieval, and exploration. Thus, the research questions guiding this manuscript are: what factors influence an individual’s user experience in UGC websites and how does the user experience impact individual engagement behavior? This manuscript develops a theory of co-created value to examine how social interactions, operationalized as perceived dialogue, social accessibility, transparency, and risk, and technical features, operationalized as the perceived granularity, extensibility, integration, and evolvability, of a UGC website influence an individual’s user experience and subsequent engagement behaviors. A theoretical model is proposed and propositions are presented for the individual relationships. Implications and future directions for research are also discussed

Leadership in MMOGS: Emergent and Transformational Leadership Candidates

Player-founded organizations, or guilds, within massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) are complex social entities with organizational forms that mirror real-world companies. These guilds require leaders who possess a diverse array of skills. Examples of the skills required read like the introductory course of a business management degree – mediating conflict, planning, controlling, motivating. These skills are important - just as with real-world companies, failures on the part of leaders may explain the high degree of guild failures witnessed. Within popular MMOGs, the game mechanics allow the promotion of regular guild members to officer status. This begs the question, how might potential leaders be identified? Drawing from the emergent leadership literature, we discuss a mixed-methods study which attempts to identify potential leaders and their attributes by examining a multi-year database which represents one guild’s activities within the MMOG Everquest. Follow-up interviews with guild leadership provides a rich understanding of skills and attributes potential leaders require in coordinating a heterogeneous workforce within synchronous, non-collocated, entirely computer-mediated environments where the workforce serves on a voluntary basis. These interviews suggest these characteristics related to transformational leadership are highly sought after

The numerical and experimental study of the aeroacoustic noise of motor vehicle alternators

The aeroacoustics of a simplified alternator are analysed within the framework of this thesis, with the objective being the development of a tool capable of numerically predicting aeroacoustic noise. Focus has been placed on tonal noise and only dipole, rotating noise sources have been modelled. Input for these dipole sources are calculated using instationary CFD computations using the SST turbulence model. The acoustic tool developed is based on Lowson's equation, derived from the Ffowcs-Williams and Hawkings equation. Modifications to the formulation are included in order to model the reflective plane present during measurements and to ensure that sound propagates solely away from source surfaces (a half-dipole propagation). Numerical results are compared with experimental measurements, and show discrepancies in total sound power level. This is due to the inability of the methods used to model broadband noise sources that produce energy between the main orders (harmonics) of the alternator. Determining the total energetic content of the sound orders numerically calculated and comparing this to the energetic content of the measured orders yielded positive results; sound power level results were within 2 dB(A) of measurement. Dominant frequencies/orders were calculated generally within an accuracy of 6 dB(A); issues with the periodic boundary conditions and the rotor/stator interface produced spurious fluctuations that, for one tested case, produced strong 8th order noise. The developed tool was used successfully in a real alternator model, and once again showed very promising results. Fan orders were calculated within very good accuracy, while clawpole orders showed too much energy at higher orders due to the simplified CFD modelling of the casing holes. Total sound power level was computed too low due, once again, to the lack of broadband noise computation. Total energy from the computed orders was however calculated well within the range of the measured samples. The modelling of the casing using the BEM LMS Sysnoise was not possible due to the inability within the software to specify both pressure gradient and pressure boundary conditions, however models simulated using the FEM tool COMSOL Multiphysics showed that the in uence of the casing on most orders, with the exception of the 40th and those above the 60th, was low, in addition to a low effect on the total sound energy

Reducing pesticide use in Iowa vineyards: Alternatives to herbicides for vineyard weed management

Mulches can play a role in vineyard management. This project explored the optimum uses and practices for applying various mulches to grape agroecosystems

Going to the exclusive show : exhibition strategies and moviegoing memories of Disneys animated feature films in Ghent (1937-1982)

This is a case study of the exploitation and experience of Disney's animated feature films from the 1930s to the 1980s in Ghent (Belgium). It is a historical study of programming practices and financial strategies which constructed childhood memories on watching Disney. The study is a contribution to a historical understanding of the implications of global distribution of film as cultural products and the counter pull of localism. Using a multi-method approach, the argument is made that the scarce screenings were strategically programmed to uplift the moviegoing experience into something out of the ordinary in everyday life. Programming and revenue data characterize the screenings as exclusive and generating high intakes. Consequently, the remembered screenings did not exhale an easy accessible social status nor an image of pervasiveness of popular childhood film, contradictory to conventional accounts of Disney's ubiquity in popular culture

‘The Use of Social Media to Foster Trust, Mentorship, and Collaboration in Scientific Organizations

Many domains are well known for their resistance to social media. Currently, there is a dearth of literature that explores social media use in these contexts. This study seeks to help address this gap by evaluating the use of social media within a scientific organization (anonymized as SciCity) that has a strong virtual presence and quarterly face-to-face meet-ups. We evaluated SciCity’s use of social media to foster trust, collaboration, and mentorship. We found that the prominent social media platform Twitter fosters trust among organizational members and plays a role in creating and maintaining lightweight collaborative relationships. Additionally, Twitter-based relationships often act as precursors to collaborations that occur face-to-face. However, Twitter, by itself, was not found to be successful in promoting formal collaborations. Though the medium did facilitate sporadic mentoring, supplementary non-social media-based communication was needed to form mentorship relationships. Twitter was also found to serve as a “social lubricant,” making contact easier and faster, thereby helping foster a scientific social network. Though minor in its role in specifically fostering scientific collaboration, the use of social media by SciCity indicates a shift toward acceptable uses of social media for scientific organizations that have traditionally been hesitant to use social media