Technology,Social Inclusion and Poverty: An Exploratory Investigation of a Community Technology Center

ABSTRACT

Community technology centers (CTCs) are advanced as a major part of the solution to the so-called digital divide. It is believed that in the knowledge economy access to computing resources should level the playing field for low income people. Faced with a growing population that cannot afford computers or the Internet, government policy makers have been turning to technology community access points. This article presents a brief overview of the digital divide and whether or not CTCs can effectively address the problem. A CTC located at the Debra Dynes Family House in Ottawa, Canada–a center that has been highlighted in newspapers and government reports as a success story in bridging the digital divide-is reviewed. The concept of social inclusion is explored to determine how CTCs are addressing poverty and social exclusion.     

WEB PAGES, AUTHORS AND AUDIENCES: The meaning of a mouse click

One popular framework for analysing web pages has been to think of them as identity performances on the part of the author. This framework opens up possibilities for analysis of the ways in which identity performances are composed. The personal web pages to which this perspective is most immediately applicable, are, however, now only a small proportion of the overall amount of information available on the World Wide Web. It would be possible, by extension, to analyse institutional web pages as performances of the institutional identity. It is the contention of this paper that to do so is to miss out on some important aspects of web page design: namely that the production of a web page involves understandings not only of the audience for the page but also of the capacities of the technology. In addition, web page production has to become a socially meaningful act for the individual web page developer and the institution concerned. It is, therefore, argued that the analysis of web pages can usefully learn from media studies and the sociology of technology in this respect. An interview-based study of the developers of web pages for the service departments of a UK university is described. The ideas of audience which the authors use are far from homogeneous: they include an institutional offline audience for the page, a pre-existing imagined audience, developers themselves as audience, and the technology of the browser as a stand-in audience. The audience and the capacities of the technology are developed in context through the practices of designers.     

Protest leadership in the age of social media

This article challenges the idea that social media protest mobilization and communication are primarily propelled by the self-motivated sharing of ideas, plans, images, and resources. It shows that leadership plays a vital role in steering popular contention on key social platforms. This argument is developed through a detailed case study on the interaction between the administrators and users of the Kullena Khaled Said Facebook page, the most popular online platform during the Egyptian revolution of early 2011. The analysis specifically focuses on the period from 1 January until 15 February 2011. It draws from 1629 admin posts and 1,465,696 user comments, extracted via a customized version of Netvizz. For each day during this period, the three most engaged with posts, as well as the 10 most engaged with comments, have been translated and coded, making it possible to systematically examine how the administrators tried to shape the communication on the page, and how users responded to these efforts. This analysis is pursued from a sociotechnical perspective. It traces how the exchanges on the page are simultaneously shaped by the admins’ marketing strategies and the technological architecture of the Facebook page. On the basis of this exploration, we argue that the page administrators should be understood as ‘connective leaders’. Rather than directing protest activity through formal organizations and collective identity frames, as social movement leaders have traditionally done, connective leaders invite and steer user participation by employing sophisticated marketing strategies to connect users in online communication streams and networks.     

The unaccountable risks of LIBOR

One of the on‐going consequences of recent financial crises seems to be that the conventional ‘anchor’ measures of global finance (such as the US dollar, treasury bonds and AAA rated securities) are no longer playing the anchoring role once believed of them. LIBOR now needs to be added to this list and not just because it has been tarnished by illegal practices, but because it is looking increasingly surpassed by financial market practices. LIBOR was believed to provide a risk‐free rate of interest, but has been revealed to be risk‐laden. Moreover, LIBOR is a measure of the costs of borrowing, whilst market concern is increasingly with measures of interest rate volatility. This paper looks at why, in the context of crisis, financial market focus on interest rates is turning towards other benchmarks, notably the overnight indexed swap (OIS) market, and what this shift might be telling us about the anchoring requirements of global financial markets.     

Gambling Involvement and Increased Risk of Gambling Problems

The opportunity to gamble has undergone rapid expansion with technology allowing for access to gambling products 24 h a day. This increased online availability challenges governments’ abilities to restrict access to gambling. Indeed, the ready access to multiple forms of gambling may potentially contribute to impaired control over urges for problem gamblers. The present study considered whether problem gamblers manifested a tendency to engage in multiple forms of gambling and identified forms of gambling which were more strongly related to problem gambling. In reanalyses of two surveys (Sample 1, N = 464, Sample 2, N = 1141), significant relationships accounting for between 11.3 and 13.5 % of the variance were found between the numbers of forms of gambling accessed and degree of problem. Participation in online poker, playing cards and sports wagering were linked to problem gambling. Access to multiple forms of gambling may pose difficulties for the tracking and control of gambling.     

Risk Factors in Adolescence: The Case of Gambling, Videogame Playing, and the Internet

It has been noted that adolescents may be more susceptible to pathological gambling. Not only is it usually illegal, but it appears to be related to high levels of problem gambling and other delinquent activities such as illicit drug taking and alcohol abuse. This paper examines risk factors not only in adolescent gambling but also in videogame playing (which shares many similarities with gambling). There appear to be three main forms of adolescent gambling that have been widely researched. Adolescent gambling activities and general risk factors in adolescent gambling are provided. As well, the influence of technology on adolescents in the form of both videogames and the Internet are examined. It is argued that technologically advanced forms of gambling may be highly appealing to adolescents.     

Current bibliography of immigrants and minorities: Monographs,periodical articles and theses, 1979–1980: Part II,USA (1)

The Manchester Jewish Museum has now been open for more than two years. The success of this venture raises issues about other Jewish Museums in Britain and also the possibility of projects linked to more recent immigrant groups in this country. Some of the problems in setting up the Manchester Jewish Museum and the more recent Museum of the Jewish East End are highlighted, but the article concludes that these have not been insurmountable. The recent Jewish Museums have not become ‘dreary repositories for nostalgia’, but are playing their part in reinforcing Jewish ethnic identity and preparing Britain for a successful multi‐cultural future.     

Demonstrability,difficulty and persuasion: An experimental study of advice taking

Self-interested paid advisors should try to sell their solutions no matter how they came about. However, we present evidence that advisor persuasiveness depends on two dimensions of their prior problem solving: solution difficulty and demonstrability. We report a laboratory experiment with repeated advisor-client interactions where both these dimensions are independently varied. Persuasion rises in solution demonstrability and falls in difficulty. The reason is non-optimising behaviour: Advisors lacking in confidence fail to conceal difficult problem solving and those receiving their advice baulk when the proposed solution lacks objective success criteria irrespective of its promise. Our findings suggest differential prospects for persuasion and selling of different kinds of products, services and ideas.     

MEDIA AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT: CAN VIDEO GAME PLAYING MAKE YOU SMARTER?

According to the literature, video game playing can improve such cognitive skills as problem solving, abstract reasoning, and spatial logic. I test this hypothesis using the data from the Child Development Supplement to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The endogeneity of video game playing is addressed by using panel data methods and controlling for an extensive list of child and family characteristics. To address the measurement error in video game playing, I instrument children's weekday time use with their weekend time use. After taking into account the endogeneity and measurement error, video game playing is found to positively affect children's problem solving ability. The effect of video game playing on problem solving ability is comparable to the effect of educational activities. (JEL I2, J13, J24)     

Are elderly drivers a road hazard?: Problem definition and political impact

Elderly drivers are increasing in number and some statistics show they are more likely to be involved in fatal accidents than all other age groups but those under 25. States have attempted to address the problem in various ways, but very few have required mandatory retesting at license renewal for those beyond a particular age. Why have so few states chosen to act? The key is how the issue is framed for the public and decision makers. Several phases of problem definition are explored to explain the political dynamics of the older driver issue: incidence, causality, severity, crisis labeling, problem population characteristics, and linkage of values to the issue and solutions. Based upon this analysis, it is not surprising that elder interest groups have been successful in containing policy initiatives designed to restrict elderly driving.     

Strategies for supporting the online publishing activities of adults with learning difficulties

This paper reports on a study that explored the online publishing activities of adults with learning difficulties, the strategies that carers and professionals have used to support these activities and the implications these strategies may have for empowerment and self-advocacy. Content analysis of 15 home pages revealed that despite having a certain degree of information and communication technology literacy, many of the authors were being supported in their online publishing activities. For, the majority, their family provided this support. The supportive strategies that were used involved including the home page as part of a bigger family web site and taking sole or joint responsibility for writing the narrative of the home page. These strategies raise interesting questions about the validity of online publishing activities as vehicles for self-advocacy and the power relationships that such activities expose.     

The fun factor: marketing recreation to the disabled

Consumers with physical disabilities are a growing market for travel, sports, and other leisure-oriented products and services. Many in the forefront of serving this market have been inspired by personal circumstances and assisted by technology. Two keys to their success are: careful attention to design and a positive attitude.     

Prevalence studies and the development of services for problem gamblers and their families

Where funded by government, prevalence studies have typically led to the development of services for problem gamblers and their families. Such assessments of the need for services have been seen as the appropriate political response to growing expressions of concern about problem gambling that often follow moves to legislate for an increasing range of gambling products. This theme is apparent for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. In this paper, initiatives in these different jurisdictions are briefly summarized and tabulated.     

Reducing Child Protection Error in Social Work: Towards a Holistic-Rational Perspective

Social work in the UK remains embroiled in concerns about child protection error. The serious injury or death of vulnerable children continues to evince much consternation in the public and private spheres. Governmental responses to these concerns invariably draw on technocratic solutions involving more procedures, case management systems, information technology and bureaucratic regulation. Such solutions flow from an implicit use of instrumental rationality based on a ‘means-end’ logic. While bringing an important perspective to the problem of child protection error, instrumental rationality has been overused limiting discretion and other modes of rational inquiry. This paper argues that the social work profession should apply an enlarged form of rationality comprising not only the instrumental-rational mode but also the critical-rational, affective-rational and communicative-rational forms. It is suggested that this combined, conceptual arsenal of rational inquiry leads to a gestalt that has been termed the holistic-rational perspective. It is also argued that embracing a more rounded perspective such as this might offer greater opportunities for reducing child protection error.     

Domesticating technology for shared success: collective enactments of World of Warcraft

In this paper, we analyse processes of domestication as collective enactments, using online game playing of World of Warcraft as a case. We study how groups of players – guilds – develop practices and sense-making with respect to the technologies they use in their shared endeavours in raids to battle monsters. Previous studies of domestication have mainly focused on single-actor strategies and relatively little attention have been given to the impact of concerns for particular domestication outcomes, for example in competitive situations or with goals related to efficiency. This paper contributes to domestication theory by analysing what we call collective domestication in a performance-oriented setting, to see how domestication may produce compatible outcomes for individuals that need to act together. The paper is based on a one-year participant observation and qualitative interviews with players. Three types of players were identified – hardcore, casual and moderate – representing three rationales of play: a high level of performance, social benefits, or a combination of the first two. In the analysis, we compare how these three types of player groups’ domesticated the game. A main finding is that collective enactments of technology need extensive managerial efforts unless the group share a coherent and uncontested rationale for playing, thus being a moral community.     

Competing demands,competing solutions,differing constructions of the problem of recruitment and retention of frontline rural child protection staff

Abstract

This article reports on a study conducted in rural Victoria. It examines the problem of recruitment and retention of frontline staff in the Victorian Child Protection program. The article delineates those factors identified by managers and supervisors as influencing workers to enter, stay and leave the program. Managers and supervisors have collective responsibility for recruiting and retaining staff. It is for this reason that their viewpoints are considered crucial in responding to the problem. What this study found was that, while managers and supervisors recognise that the problem is complex, they differ in the emphasis placed on facets of the problem, thus their approaches to solving it. As solutions are contested the problem is exacerbated. The argument advanced is that any response should recognise the complexity of the problem and solutions be considered in a coordinated way.     

Transition from playing with simulated gambling games to gambling with real money: a longitudinal study in adolescence

Digital technology advances have supported an expansion of gambling activities, which is notable via the advent of simulated gambling games. Simulated gambling reproduces ‘real’ gambling activities, which enables the users to gamble without investing money. According to research evidence, a certain number of adolescents are playing with these games, but until now little has been known about how they could facilitate the migration to gambling with real money. Using a longitudinal design with a one-year interval period, the goal of this study was to assess the potential transition between playing with simulated gambling and the initiation to gambling with real money. The final sample was constituted of 1220 adolescents (age range = 14 to 18 y.o.) who had never played with real money at the first measurement time. At the second measurement time, 28.8% of the participants had gambled for the first time with real money. Logistic regressions revealed that the predictive association between simulated gambling and gambling with real money only holds for adolescents who transitioned from simulated poker to poker with real money. These findings highlight the need for regulation and monitoring on Internet gambling poker sites, as well as further research to assess the mechanisms at work.     

Direct blockmodeling of valued and binary networks: a dichotomization-free approach

A long-standing open problem with direct blockmodeling is that it is explicitly intended for binary, not valued, networks. The underlying dilemma is how empirical valued blocks can be compared with ideal binary blocks, an intrinsic problem in the direct approach where partitions are solely determined through such comparisons. Addressing this dilemma, valued networks have either been dichotomized into binary versions, or novel types of ideal valued blocks have been introduced. Both these workarounds are problematic in terms of interpretability, unwanted data reduction, and the often arbitrary setting of model parameters.This paper proposes a direct blockmodeling approach that effectively bypasses the dilemma with blockmodeling of valued networks. By introducing an adaptive weighted correlation-based criteria function, the proposed approach is directly applicable to both binary and valued networks, without any form of dichotomization or transformation of the valued (or binary) data at any point in the analysis, while still using the conventional set of ideal binary blocks from structural, regular and generalized blockmodeling.The proposed approach seemingly solves two other open problems with direct blockmodeling. First, its standardized goodness-of-fit measure allows for direct comparisons across solutions, within and between networks of different sizes, value types, and notions of equivalence. Secondly, through an inherent bias of point-biserial correlations, the approach puts a premium on solutions that are closer to the mid-point density of blockmodels. This, it is argued, translates into solutions that are more intuitive and easier to interpret.The approach is demonstrated by structural, regular and generalized blockmodeling applications of six classical binary and valued networks. Finding feasible and intuitive optimal solutions in both the binary and valued examples, the approach is proposed not only as a practical, dichotomization-free heuristic for blockmodeling of valued networks but also, through its additional benefits, as an alternative to the conventional direct approach to blockmodeling.     

Musicians' social representations of health and illness: a qualitative case study about focal dystonia

Musicians are artists who use the entire body when playing their instruments. Since over-practicing may lead to physical problems, musicians might encounter focal dystonia, a hand's motor disorder. The cause seems to be the brain's confusion between afferent and efferent information transfer provoking a disharmony with the instrument. Although focal dystonia may have serious consequences for a musician's career, it is unclear how musicians perceive this trouble. This case study describes two musicians with focal dystonia. Qualitative research was used to study their social representations of health and illness. The results show the central role of the hand during music playing, the passion for music and the understanding for focal dystonia as "brain panic". Therapists should account for those specific features inherent to this population in order to better help them in their quest for art through music. Giving a voice to musicians may improve their quality of care.     

All the News That Fits to Print: Desk Competition for Front‐Page Space at The New York Times1

Where sociologists find resources, they infer power or status. However, sometimes resources are fleetingly held rather than enduringly controlled, and then status only translates into resources given impetus, or the motivation and momentary capacity to make resource claims. Status then rests on relations of impingement, whereby one actor gains resources and another loses them when the former’s impetus surges. These ideas are developed through an analysis of desk competition for front‐page space at The New York Times (1980–2005), where impetus is operationalized as the total number of newsworthy articles at each desk’s disposal on a given day. Statistical analysis reveals that all desks impinge and are impinged upon, though not equally, but also that a desk’s ability to impinge (efficacy) and susceptibility to impingement (vulnerability) are subject to change through time. This helps explain the most striking change in front‐page composition during this period: the sharp increase in national front‐page articles, and a corresponding decline in foreign front‐page articles, in the early 1990s.