Towards a theory of digital media

This article puts forward a theory of the role of digital media in social change. It begins by criticizing three theories that currently dominate our understanding of digital media and of media generally: network theory, mediatization theory and actor-network theory. It also identifies a gap in current communication theory, namely, that digital media mostly do not fit the divide into mass and interpersonal communication. A further problem is that insufficient attention is given to the difference between political communication and popular culture or everyday life. The article develops an alternative, focusing on four countries that provide a range of relationships between media and society; the U.S., Sweden, India and China. In all four countries, despite their differences, digital media, in contrast to traditional broadcast and interpersonal media, have led to a more differentiated media landscape. Greater complexity in political communication nevertheless runs up against the continuing dominance of elite agenda-setting. In terms of popular culture, all four countries have experienced a proliferation of media offerings and greater tetheredness between people. Hence, new divides are emerging between more active and variegated as against more passive and restricted media uses. The article concludes with implications of digital media for understanding media generally: with new digital media, there is now a need to rethink media theory in terms of fundamental debates about how media transform or preserve the social order.     

Towards a typology of work-home interaction

In this paper the relationship of various types of work-home interaction (i.e. negative and positive influence from work to home, and the other way around) with demographic, family, and (perceived) work characteristics as well as with experienced health was explored in a sample of 751 postal employees. By using cluster analysis, we tried to uncover whether specific combinations of the various dimensions of work-home interaction (WHI) were more prevalent than others. Our results showed that employees did not simply experience negative work-home interaction or not, but that participants should be classified in five distinct clusters: (1) 239 employees experienced no interaction at all; (2) 74 employees experienced primarily negative interaction between both domains; (3) 113 employees experienced primarily positive influence from work; (4) 195 employees experienced primarily positive influence from home; and (5) 122 employees experienced negative and positive interaction simultaneously. Results further showed that the emerging WHI-clusters appeared to have distinct profiles with respect to demographic and family characteristics, perceived working conditions, and reported health and well-being. It was convincingly shown that workers who experienced negative interaction between work and home, perceived their working conditions as least favourable and experienced most psychological health complaints, while those with primarily positive influence from work had the most favourable perceptions of their working conditions and experienced better health than the other clusters. Employees who experienced virtually no interaction between both domains did not seem to enjoy a better quality of life than the other clusters. Implications of this exploratory study are discussed. Dans cet article nous avons exploré, dans un échantillon constitué par 751 employés de la poste, la relation entre les différents types d'interaction entre le travail et la vie domestique d'un côté (c'est à dire l'influence positive et negative du travail sur la vie domestique comme l'effet inverse), et de l'autre coté, les caractéristiques démographiques, familiales et de travail (perçu), et l'expérience de la santé. En utilisant des analyses agglomérées nous avons essayé de comprendre si les combinaisons spécifiques des différentes dimensions de l'interaction travail-domicile prévalaient sur d'autres. Nos résultats démontrent que non seulement les employés faisaient l'expérience positive ou negative de l'interaction travail-domicile, mais que en plus les participants pouvaient etre classés selon cinq agglomérats différents: (1) 239 employés ne montraient aucune forme d'interaction; (2) 74 employés percevaient seulement de l'interactions négative entre les deux domaines; (3) 113 employés ressentaient principalement de l'influence positive de leur travail; (4) 195 employées percevaient seulement l'influence positive de leur vie domestique; et (5) 122 ressentaient de l'interaction positive et négative simultanément. En outre, les résultats montrent que ces cinq groupes disposaient de profils différents en ce qui concerne les caractéristiques démographiques et familiales comme leur experiences de santé et de bien-être. Nous avons démontré de façon convaincante que les travailleurs qui ressentaient une interaction négative entre travail et domicile percevaient leurs conditions de travail comme les moins favorables et reportaient le plus de plaintes de santé psychologique, tandis que ceux qui ressentaient principalement une influence positive de leur travail reportaient les perceptions de conditions de travail les plus favorables et percevaient leur santé comme meilleur que les autres groupes. Les employées qui ne ressentaient pratiquement pas d'interaction entre les deux domaines ne donnaient pas l'impression d'avoir une meilleur qualité de vie que les autres agglomérats. Les implications de cette étude exploratoire sont discutées.     

Towards a design of consumer durables

In the context of developing future technology options, a method is outlined to identify the mixes of attributes that consumers would be prepared to acquire and their relative importance. A way of assessing distance between consumers is proposed in terms of the importances of attributes, to cluster the consumers in terms of these distances, and to determine the attribute mixes that correspond to these clusters. The output is a consumer-oriented set of product options. An application to telecommunication services for a sample of organisations is used to illustrate the real-world relevance of the approach.     

Phenomenography: the development and application of an innovative research design in higher education research

This article considers the application of phenomenography, as arguably the only research design (so far) to have been developed substantially within higher education research by higher education researchers. It considers its origins, meaning and application, and the issues and critiques that it has raised. It concludes that, while phenomenography has both acknowledged limitations and undoubted achievements, it still appears to have much to offer to higher education research, and its usage might be extended to other fields.     

标志设计中平面构成基本形式的应用研究

平面构成的基本形式是传统标志设计的创作方法之一,在现代标志设计的视觉语汇环境下,平面构成基本形式在标志设计中传统的运用也面临着挑战。对此,本文主要从现代标志设计中平面构成基本形式的发展方面进行详细阐述。     

Using words to network images: indexing and interaction strategies in a digital archive

Visual access to the content in digital archives extends the classical text search and list view of graphical user interfaces. Currently, there are several strategies employed to correlate images in the user interface of digital archives for semantic purposes. Some of the most useful strategies explore innovative techniques used to gain and execute metadata in a suitable manner. These approaches are elaborated on primarily in the context of scientific questions. Amidst these models, this article proposes a very simple strategy of networking images using only words. At present, this concept is realised at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) through utilisation of the ‘Media Archive of the Arts’, an in-house, open source software product. It responds to user heterogeneity, the variety of intellectual genres and the multiplicity of media formats that are distinctive of an art academy such as ZHdK.     

Infant feeding: the interfaces between interaction design and cognitive ergonomics in user-centered design

This text presents a discussion on the process of developing interactive products focused on infant behavior, which result was an interactive game for encouraging infant feeding. For that, it describes the use of cognitive psychology concepts added to interaction design methodology. Through this project, this article sustains how the cooperative use of these concepts provides adherent solutions to users' needs, whichever they are. Besides that, it verifies the closeness of those methodologies to boundary areas of knowledge, such as design focused on user and ergonomics.     

谋划发展 规划未来 兼谈天津职业技术师范学院"修建性详细规划"的制定和实施

一、校园规划背景 校园规划是一门科学,有其自身的科学规律.从学术上讲,可以说是一个边缘学科,是介于城市规划与单体建筑设计之间的综合学科.科技、社会、经济的进步,推动了教育事业的大发展,校园建设不断扩大,高校学生人数急剧增加,现有校园规模,无法满足发展的需求,迫使学校面临着扩大、调整、改建、新建等项任务.     

Constructing the digital patient: Patient organizations and the development of health websites

In order to understand the constraints and challenges of realizing the democratic potentials of the Internet, this paper focuses on the attempts of three Dutch patient organizations to develop health websites. The authors describe how these patient organizations had to overcome specific barriers to develop their digital services. All three organizations faced certain constraints that had negative consequences for the plans they wanted to realize. Lack of financial resources and manpower were the main reasons why these patient organizations could not develop interactive parts of their website or provide personal advice services. Other barriers the patient organizations had to overcome were getting access to digital expertise to build the websites. The paper shows that the development of a website is a very demanding task, even for patient organizations that have in-house expertise with computers and Internet. Moreover, the paper shows that patient organizations do not consider the involvement of patients as crucial for the design of health websites. This research thus confirms previous research findings that users, in this case patients, are largely absent from the design process of information and communication technologies Finally, the paper shows how patient organizations' websites contribute to a redefinition of the patient from being a passive actor towards one who is an active participant in his or her care.     

Traversing the swampy terrain of postmodern communities: Towards theoretical revisionings of community development

This paper engages with recent theoretical explorations of 'community' and situates community development within a futures framework which emphasizes creative possibilities for traversing the often contested, paradoxical terrain of postmodernism. Such an engagement is posited as important given that practice traditions such as community development have continued to rely predominantly on modernist reference points, which are increasingly showing signs of inadequacy in relation to contemporary issues and contexts. Some recent arguments have suggested that the material base of 'community' (and therefore of 'community practice') is under attack from both political and ideological processes such as globalization and postmodernism. Paradoxically, in social theory more generally, there is a simultaneous renewed interest in notions of 'community', and potentials for the development of new local sites of resistance in relation to these very same processes. Primarily a theoretical contribution to the creation of possibilities for re-visioning community development under conditions of globalization and postmodernity, this paper presents and explores three signposts which signal a range of challenges for the futures of community development: interpreting 'community' as a VERB--not a NOUN--and thereby bringing meaning, context and relationality to the centre; integrating the personal, the local and the global and thereby placing community development in a wholistic framework; and, accepting different ways of knowing, doing and being in community development, and thereby opening spaces for difference and mystery in praxis.     

Narrative interaction and the development of client autonomy in clinical practice

Data from a psychoanalytic case are used to explore the development of client autonomy in clinical treatment. The client's narratives and the talk about them in which narrative meaning is formulated and reformulated are selected as one series of interactions in which the development of client autonomy can be studied. Discourse analysis methods are adapted to document and describe specific shifts in the structure of client narratives and talk about them which reflect the development of client autonomy over the course of treatment. Implications for casework treatment are discussed.     

Towards the professionalisation of public relations in Malaysia: Perception management and strategy development

The aim of this study is to explore how the status and standards of public relations as a profession are perceived by the three main groups involved in public relations: academics, practitioners, and business leaders. It is concluded that public relations can be a ‘true’ profession if all parties involved are united and committed to developing standardised, universal forms of public relations practise.     

Towards an effective strategy to cope with housing land scarcity in the Gaza Strip as a sustainable development priority

Consistent with the global trends towards the adoption and implementation of sustainable urban planning strategies, this study discusses the problem of housing land shortage, considering the ever rapidly growing human population. Urban land is one of the most precious resources that need to be consumed and developed wisely. In this context, housing density is a widely used tool to control housing land consumption and ensure acceptable housing environments. With reference to the Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories), the main aim of this study is to highlight the role of increasing housing density in order to face the problem of housing land scarcity. Within this scope, building legislation implemented in Gaza has been reviewed with reference to housing density. A questionnaire and a case study have been analyzed to propose recommendations related to housing planning and design. It has been concluded that rationalising urban land consumption in Gaza can be achieved by a dual strategy approach that increases housing density above the currently specified limit, and reduces the area of the typical Palestinian housing unit. This has to be done without sacrificing the limited open spaces available in the local housing environment. Thus, solutions that strike a balance between dense housing patterns and adequate urban environment, are essentially required here.     

Technology and cognitive ability: the use of new technologies and the design of digital interfaces

This study is guided by the principle that there is no technology detached from an ideology. This ideology appears in the interfaces conditioning the relationship between people and digital artifacts. This article adopts as theoretical reference the User-Centered Design (UCD). Under the UCD principles it is presented a key to understand how technology is a vehicle of ideological content that affects the design practices.     

Adolescent and family development: Autonomy and identity in the digital age

Adolescence is a time when youth are faced with multiple tasks that intersect and influence one another, e.g., increased desire for autonomy, salience of identity issues, peer orientation, self-focus and self-consciousness, and a continuing need for a safe environment in which to explore autonomy and identity. These all occur in a dynamic ecosystemic environment, which in the past would have mostly included family, peers, and school, but today also includes cyberspace as both a system, and a means to interact with many other systems through the use of multiple forms of information technology (IT). This paper uses the voices and experiences of 128 adolescents, captured in qualitative interviews, to look at autonomy and identity in the digital age as they talk about their parents vis à vis their use of IT. Thematic analysis revealed two major themes: 1) Adolescents spoke of their expertise. In particular they commented on their knowledge to repair equipment, ability to use IT well, their sense of pride in their own ability and their parents' acknowledgement of this ability. 2) Subjects perceived little need for their own supervision, but assessed that other adolescents and younger children needed to be watched closely by their parents. Implications of this work are discussed.     

Macroergonomic aspects in the design of development programs in IDCs

This paper revisits three reports on ergonomic aspects of development initiatives taking place in Industrially Developing Countries (IDCs). These include a macro-ergonomics intervention in a habitation community in Cape Verde (aimed at designing solutions contributing to sustainable development), the evolution of poultry growers' control strategies as an integrative broiler operation is introduced in Mozambique, and a set of macro-ergonomic considerations related to the Agro Forestry Village Project in Mozambique. The paper seeks to set the reviewed development endeavors against the backdrop of the goals of ergonomics interventions. This reflection may inform development agents in future processes of design and implementation of integrated community and work systems transformation.     

Consolidated findings from 6 years research on the age-differentiated design of human-computer interaction

The fast aging of many western and eastern societies and their increasing reliance on information technology create a compelling need to reconsider older users' interactions with computers. This paper summarizes the results of 6 years of research on the age-differentiated design of human-computer interaction. The well-known model of human information processing served as the theoretical framework. The model components 'sensory processing', 'perception', 'working memory', 'decision and response selection' and 'response execution' were analyzed exemplarily in task settings on project management. In seven empirical studies with a total number of 405 participants between 20 and 77 years the human-computer interaction was analyzed regarding effectiveness, efficiency and user satisfaction. For most but not all studies the results reveal that age-induced differences in human-computer interaction can best be compensated by an ergonomic 'design for all'. In some cases however an age-specific approach is favorable.     

The use of affective interaction design in car user interfaces

Recent developments in the car industry have put Human Machine Interfaces under the spotlight. Developing gratifying human-car interactions has become one of the more prominent areas that car manufacturers want to invest in. However, concepts like emotional design remain foreign to the industry. In this study 12 experts on the field of automobile HMI design were interviewed in order to investigate their needs and opinions of emotional design. Results show that emotional design has yet to be introduced for this context of use. Designers need a tool customized for the intricacies of the car HMI field that can provide them with support and guidance so that they can create emotionally attractive experiences for drivers and passengers alike.     

Exclusion by design: intersections of social,digital and data exclusion

ABSTRACT

As smart technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), automation and Internet of Things (IoT) are increasingly embedded into commercial and government services, we are faced with new challenges in digital inclusion to ensure that existing inequalities are not reinforced and new gaps that are created can be addressed. Digital exclusion is often compounded by existing social disadvantage, and new systems run the risk of creating new barriers and harms. Adopting a case study approach, this paper examines the exclusionary practices embedded in the design and implementation of social welfare services in Australia. We examined Centrelink’s automated Online Compliance Intervention system (‘Robodebt’) and the National Disability Insurance Agency’s intelligent avatar interface ‘Nadia’. The two cases show how the introduction of automated systems can reinforce the punitive policies of an existing service regime at the design stage and how innovative AI systems that have the potential to enhance user participation and inclusion can be hindered at implementation so that digital benefits are left unrealised.     

An interdisciplinary approach to the development of professional identity through digital storytelling in health and social care and teacher education

The present article presents a study based on an interdisciplinary approach to research into reflection on identity construction. This multiple case study explores the narrative of professional identities in digital artefacts. It is aimed at exploring in what way digital storytelling can be used as a suitable pedagogical strategy for the construction of professional identity. The students involved in the innovative learning activity comprise two groups of Health and Social Care students in the UK, two groups of Primary Education student-teachers and one group of Secondary Education student-teachers in Spain. Thematic analysis is used to identify the topics addressed by students in exploring their professional identities, including values and the process of learning itself. Finally, the lessons learned from this interdisciplinary approach to reflection on identity and the implications these have not only for teaching and learning design but also for future collaborative research projects are set out in the discussion and conclusions.