1,120 research outputs found
Data protection in public sector: normative analysis of portuguese and brazilian legal orders
Considering that information technology penetrates all areas and domains of the public sector, it has to be considered the extension of the required regulation needed for warranting that this phenomenon becomes an advantage and not a threat. In this sense, this study has as aims to discuss certain aspects associated with fair use of emerging and disruptive technologies and (such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Big Data) in the public sector. The emphasis may fall upon the treatment of this subject by traditional regulatory instances, such as Data Protection Regulation-GDPR, in the sense of enhancing the capacity of Governments to ensure privacy, data protection, and the protection of citizens.This work has been supported by FCT Fundação para a CiĂȘncia e Tecnologia within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2019
Whose Side are Ethics Codes On? Power, Responsibility and the Social Good
The moral authority of ethics codes stems from an assumption that they serve
a unified society, yet this ignores the political aspects of any shared
resource. The sociologist Howard S. Becker challenged researchers to clarify
their power and responsibility in the classic essay: Whose Side Are We On.
Building on Becker's hierarchy of credibility, we report on a critical
discourse analysis of data ethics codes and emerging conceptualizations of
beneficence, or the "social good", of data technology. The analysis revealed
that ethics codes from corporations and professional associations conflated
consumers with society and were largely silent on agency. Interviews with
community organizers about social change in the digital era supplement the
analysis, surfacing the limits of technical solutions to concerns of
marginalized communities. Given evidence that highlights the gulf between the
documents and lived experiences, we argue that ethics codes that elevate
consumers may simultaneously subordinate the needs of vulnerable populations.
Understanding contested digital resources is central to the emerging field of
public interest technology. We introduce the concept of digital differential
vulnerability to explain disproportionate exposures to harm within data
technology and suggest recommendations for future ethics codes.Comment: Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAT* '20),
January 27-30, 2020, Barcelona, Spain. Correcte
Revealing the origin of the vertical hysteresis loop shifts in an exchange biased Co/YMnO bilayer
We have investigated exchange bias effects in bilayers composed by the
antiferromagnetic o-YMnO and ferromagnetic Co thin film by means of SQUID
magnetometry, magnetoresistance, anisotropic magnetoresistance and planar Hall
effect. The magnetization and magnetotransport properties show pronounced
asymmetries in the field and magnetization axes of the field hysteresis loops.
Both exchange bias parameters, the exchange bias field as well as
the magnetization shift , vanish around the N\'eel temperature K. We show that the magnetization shift is also measured by
a shift in the anisotropic magnetoresistance and planar Hall resistance having
those a similar temperature dependence as the one obtained from magnetization
measurements. Because the o-YMnO film is highly insulating, our results
demonstrate that the shift originates at the interface within the
ferromagnetic Co layer. To show that the main results obtained are general and
not because of some special characteristics of the o-YMO layer, similar
measurements were done in Co/CoO micro-wires. The transport and magnetization
characterization of the micro-wires supports the main conclusion that these
effects are related to the response of the ferromagnetic Co layer at the
interface.Comment: 16 Figures, in press at J. Phys.: Condensed Matter 201
Architectures of control in consumer product design
Copyright @ 2005 Social Services Research GroupThe idea of architectures of control is introduced through examples ranging from urban planning to digital rights management, and the intentions behind their use in consumer products are examined, with reference to case studies of printer cartridges and proposed 'optimum lifetime products.' The reactions of the technical community and consumers themselves are also explored, along with some wider implications for society
The architecture of a probation office: a reflection of policy and an impact on practice
This article illustrates how the physicality of a probation office can be considered both integral to, and representative of, several important changes in the probation serviceâs recent history through analysis of research conducted in a probation office. I suggest that the relationship between the âprotectedâ zone of the office and the âunprotectedâ zone of the waiting area and interview rooms is similar to Goffmanâs âfrontstageâ and âbackstageâ and expand on his theory of social action by describing how the architecture of probation represents and potentially perpetuates the rise of risk, punishment and managerialism in probation. The article then moves onto the exterior and location of the office to look at how these represent probationâs move away from the communities it serves as well as inadvertently increasing the amount of punishment certain offenders receive. This has significant consequences if the policy of probation moves towards modes of practice which no longer prioritise standardisation and punishment over professional judgment and the importance of the offender-officer relationship and the article concludes by looking to some examples of more inclusive forms of office design and architecture
Creating the collective: social media, the Occupy Movement and its constitution as a collective actor
This paper examines the process through which Occupy activists came to constitute themselves as a collective actor and the role of social media in this process. The theoretical framework combines Melucci's (1996) theory of collective identity with insights from the field of organizational communication and particularly from the âCCOâ strand â short for âCommunication is Constitutive of Organizingâ. This allows us to conceptualize collective identity as an open-ended and dynamic process that is constructed in conversations and codified in texts. Based on interviews with Occupy activists in New York, London and other cities, I then discuss the communication processes through which the movement was drawing the boundaries with its environment, creating codes and foundational documents, as well as speaking in a collective voice. The findings show that social media tended to blur the boundaries between the inside and the outside of the movement in a way that suited its values of inclusiveness and direct participation. Social media users could also follow remotely the meetings of the general assembly where the foundational documents were ratified, but their voices were not included in the process. The presence of the movement on social media also led to conflicts and negotiations around Occupy's collective voice as constructed on these platforms. Thus, viewing the movement as a phenomenon emerging in communication allows us an insight into the efforts of Occupy activists to create a collective that was both inclusive of the 99% and a distinctive actor with its own identity
Probation practice in the information age
This article analyses the implications of the greater use of technology and information
in probation practice. Using data generated via an ethnography of probation, the
article firstly argues that probation in England and Wales now exists in what scholars
would identify as âthe information ageâ (i.e. that computers and other technologies
work to define and create probation practice as we know it). The article goes on to
use actor-network theory to analyse two âheterogeneous networksâ to explore the
way in which probation practitioners and the technologies they use interact to create
particular forms of practice. The article argues that unless we understand the technology
that underpins practice we cannot fully understand practice. Finally, the
article considers the implications of this analysis for probation post-Transforming
Rehabilitation (TR)
Net neutrality discourses: comparing advocacy and regulatory arguments in the United States and the United Kingdom
Telecommunications policy issues rarely make news, much less mobilize thousands of people. Yet this has been occurring in the United States around efforts to introduce "Net neutrality" regulation. A similar grassroots mobilization has not developed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe. We develop a comparative analysis of U.S. and UK Net neutrality debates with an eye toward identifying the arguments for and against regulation, how those arguments differ between the countries, and what the implications of those differences are for the Internet. Drawing on mass media, advocacy, and regulatory discourses, we find that local regulatory precedents as well as cultural factors contribute to both agenda setting and framing of Net neutrality. The differences between national discourses provide a way to understand both the structural differences between regulatory cultures and the substantive differences between policy interpretations, both of which must be reconciled for the Internet to continue to thrive as a global medium
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