Always Articulating: Theorizing on Mobile and Wireless Technologies

Through this article we theorize on the nature and effects of articulation work relative to the take-up and use of information and communications technologies (ICT). Articulation work is “work that enables other work”: that which links people, processes, and technologies within organizations. Articulation work in organizations is both common and too often invisible from a managerial or budgetary perspective. Drawing on data from a study of the introduction and implementation of mobile computing technologies into criminal justice organizations, we highlight two findings: (1) There exist ongoing but unmet articulation needs present in any organization or work system. (2) Articulation is cumulative. We find, that as work becomes more complex (such as adding new work tasks and using new technologies), there is more articulation needed. These findings raise issues with assessing the costs of articulation on individuals, and making arrangements to accommodate explicit and implicit articulation in organizational work, particularly around the take-up and ongoing use of ICT-based systems.     

Information seeking,technology use,and vulnerability among migrants at the United States–Mexico border

Through interviews with migrants and migrant aid-workers at a shelter in the border town of Nogales, Mexico, we examine how undocumented migrants are seeking, acquiring, understanding, and using information prior to, and during, migration across the United States–Mexico border. Our study examines migrants' perceptions of humanitarian service and the use of so-called “border disturbance technologies” by activists to help prevent the death of migrants in the desert, finding that migrants appreciate water-caching efforts but generally distrust technologies they feel could subject them to surveillance by border agents. Exploratory in nature and based on a small sample, our findings are not necessarily representative of the broader population, but provide rich evidence of the prevalence of word-of-mouth information seeking and use of cell phones over other information technologies, and explore the ambivalent nature of information technology use in the vulnerable setting of life at the border. In particular, we find that mobile phones help migrants meet their communication needs, but also increase their exposure to crime and abuse.     

Automatic identification of eyewitness messages on twitter during disasters

Social media platforms such as Twitter provide convenient ways to share and consume important information during disasters and emergencies. Information from bystanders and eyewitnesses can be useful for law enforcement agencies and humanitarian organizations to get firsthand and credible information about an ongoing situation to gain situational awareness among other potential uses. However, the identification of eyewitness reports on Twitter is a challenging task. This work investigates different types of sources on tweets related to eyewitnesses and classifies them into three types (i) direct eyewitnesses, (ii) indirect eyewitnesses, and (iii) vulnerable eyewitnesses. Moreover, we investigate various characteristics associated with each kind of eyewitness type. We observe that words related to perceptual senses (feeling, seeing, hearing) tend to be present in direct eyewitness messages, whereas emotions, thoughts, and prayers are more common in indirect witnesses. We use these characteristics and labeled data to train several machine learning classifiers. Our results performed on several real-world Twitter datasets reveal that textual features (bag-of-words) when combined with domain-expert features achieve better classification performance. Our approach contributes a successful example for combining crowdsourced and machine learning analysis, and increases our understanding and capability of identifying valuable eyewitness reports during disasters.     

Reinforcing data bias in crisis information management: The case of the Yemen humanitarian response

The complex and uncertain environment of the humanitarian response to crises can lead to data bias, which can affect decision-making. Evidence of data bias in crisis information management (CIM) remains scattered despite its potentially significant impact on crisis response. To understand what biases emerge in complex crises and how they affect CIM, we conducted a combined interview and document analysis study. Focusing on the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, i.e., the conflict in Yemen, we conducted 25 interviews with managers and analysts of response organizations, and assessed 47 reports and datasets created by response organizations in Yemen. We find evidence of a cycle of bias reinforcement through which bias cascades between field, headquarters and donor levels of crisis response. Researchers, as well as practitioners, need to consider these underlying biases and reinforcement loops because they influence what data can be collected when, by whom, from whom, and how the data is shared and used. To the CIM literature, we contribute an in-depth understanding of how four types of data bias emerge in crises: political, accessibility, topical, and sampling bias.     

Using AI and Social Media Multimodal Content for Disaster Response and Management: Opportunities,Challenges, and Future Directions

People increasingly use Social Media (SM) platforms such as Twitter and Facebook during disasters and emergencies to post situational updates including reports of injured or dead people, infrastructure damage, requests of urgent needs, and the like. Information on SM comes in many forms, such as textual messages, images, and videos. Several studies have shown the utility of SM information for disaster response and management, which encouraged humanitarian organizations to start incorporating SM data sources into their workflows. However, several challenges prevent these organizations from using SM data for response efforts. These challenges include near-real-time information processing, information overload, information extraction, summarization, and verification of both textual and visual content. We highlight various applications and opportunities of SM multimodal data, latest advancements, current challenges, and future directions for the crisis informatics and other related research fields.     

Access to Public-Sector Information in Europe: Policy,Rights, and Obligations

The article reviews the debates and policies on access to public-sector information (PSI) in Europe in relation to the contests between policies of open access, rights of access to PSI by citizens and business, and the assessment of the cost benefits of PSI to the economy and society. The political dimension of these debates within the European Union is highlighted to demonstrate the complexities of the governance of information within a pan-European regulatory framework.     

The Persistence of Information Structures in Nordic Countries

This article examines to what extent the Nordic countries, which have been characterized as the world's leading information societies, show similar patterns of Internet use. The data consists of the Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish sections of the European Social Survey 2002 ( n = 7539) and 2004 ( n = 7211). The similarities and differences in the Internet use are analyzed using sociodemographic and economic information. Temporal changes in the distribution of use between population groups and between countries are also examined. The findings indicate that there are clear disparities in the Internet use patterns, which have not evened out in the early 21st century.     

基于信息立法视角的政府信息公开制度研究

我国正在起草制定政府信息公开条例和法律制度。许多国家和地区、国际机构和组织都以各种法律形式将信息公开制度法律化,并赋予公民以法定的获取信息的权利。本文在探讨世界信息公开立法现状和发展趋势基础上,总结了信息公开制度的基本要素,并在借鉴国外司法经验基础上对我国信息公开立法提出建议。     

基于信息质量理论的编辑初审方法

[目的]根据论文的特点,从信息质量理论中提炼出有助于提高编辑初审工作质量的有效方法。[方法]根据Strong D M等人提出的信息质量定义,演绎推理论文信息质量的定义;根据信息质量的PSP/IQ模型,结合论文的特点和初审实践,从中归纳概括论文信息质量的维度,从而形成编辑初审的"论文信息质量5维法"。[结果]提出了学术期刊论文信息质量的概念,并探究了它的5个维度,形成了相应的论文信息质量5维法作为编辑初审的一种新方法。[结论]论文信息质量5维法在事实上和理论上都为编辑初审工作提供了一种可资借鉴的新思路和新方法。     

User interfaces

Abstract

The technology of electronic information processing favors the eventual existence of large numbers of information publishers, rather than the creation of large central data banks. Publicity and billing are functions that may be assumed by large organizations, but database creation is likely to be highly pluralistic, and access to the data, wherever there are systems of universal electronic access to dispersed databases, raises problems with regard to copyright and to standards for interconnection.     

Always Articulating: Theorizing on Mobile and Wireless Technologies

Through this article we theorize on the nature and effects of articulation work relative to the take-up and use of information and communications technologies (ICT). Articulation work is “work that enables other work”: that which links people, processes, and technologies within organizations. Articulation work in organizations is both common and too often invisible from a managerial or budgetary perspective. Drawing on data from a study of the introduction and implementation of mobile computing technologies into criminal justice organizations, we highlight two findings: (1) There exist ongoing but unmet articulation needs present in any organization or work system. (2) Articulation is cumulative. We find, that as work becomes more complex (such as adding new work tasks and using new technologies), there is more articulation needed. These findings raise issues with assessing the costs of articulation on individuals, and making arrangements to accommodate explicit and implicit articulation in organizational work, particularly around the take-up and ongoing use of ICT-based systems.     

信息沟通、管理控制与战略变化速度的关系研究

综合考虑组织沟通与管理控制方式对战略变化速度的潜在影响,以及组织沟通对企业管理控制方式的影响,研究了通过信息沟通与控制措施来管理战略变化速度问题。基于组织理论和战略管理理论,提出了信息沟通、管理控制与战略变化速度之间关系的概念模型与相关假设,并通过585家国内企业调查数据进行了实证检验。结果表明,信息沟通有利于战略变化的快速实施,重视信息沟通的企业往往会同时采用战略控制与财务控制;而官僚型企业则更倾向于采用财务控制;战略控制会妨碍战略变化的快速实施,而财务控制会促进战略变化的快速实施。     

Communication Gone Wired: Working Toward a "Practiced" Cyberfeminism

Abstract

Numerous environmental forces exist today that contribute to changing industry and market segments. The least studied of these is the impact of information systems which transcend traditional company boundaries. One of the subtle impacts of contemporary developments in information systems technology is the redefinition of traditional organizational and industrial boundaries. Examples of these interorganizational systems (referred to as IOS), reviewed by the author, imply that a wide range of organizations may have an opportunity to use these systems to improve their operations, services to their customers, and their competitive position.

Some of these systems raise public policy issues that are not well understood, nor are they being addressed in a comprehensive manner. This article is designed to provide a conceptual framework for thinking about these systems.     

Public information systems

Abstract

Public information systems are described and contrasted to commercial information systems. Three generations of public information systems are identified in close correspondence to the three generations of commercial information systems. Each generation is characterized in terms of the technology and the infrastructure required, the problems it alleviates, and the impact on society. Examples are given both of the traditional and the automated public information systems and the social problems they attack.     

Civic Actions after September 11: Exploring the Role of Multi-level Storytelling

Interpersonal and media storytelling were crucial to information dissemination about the September 11 tragedies. The storytelling processes through which urban residents are transformed into members of a broader community are illustrated by their connections to media and their participation in neighborhood discussions and community organizations after September 11. This study demonstrates how a communication infrastructure approach contributes to understanding participation in civil society after September 11.     

Student privacy in learning analytics: An information ethics perspective

ABSTRACT

Higher education institutions have started using big data analytics tools. By gathering information about students as they navigate information systems, learning analytics employs techniques to understand student behaviors and to improve instructional, curricular, and support resources and learning environments. However, learning analytics presents important moral and policy issues surrounding student privacy. We argue that there are five crucial questions about student privacy that we must address in order to ensure that whatever the laudable goals and gains of learning analytics, they are commensurate with respecting students' privacy and associated rights, including (but not limited to) autonomy interests. We address information access concerns, the intrusive nature of information-gathering practices, whether or not learning analytics is justified given the potential distribution of consequences and benefits, and issues related to student autonomy. Finally, we question whether learning analytics advances the aims of higher education or runs counter to those goals.     

Business teams in an information age

Abstract

A critical success factor for businesses in the twenty‐first century will be their ability to meet the environmental demands for complex coordination of action and rapid adjustments to volatile markets and global competition. Business teams are effective mechanisms for addressing the need for dynamic, flexible organizations that can effectively cope with complexity and turbulence.

Business teams are not a new phenomenon, but there is a new element in the equation: the use of information technologies (IT) to leverage team effort. Information technologies can enhance team performance through support of interaction processes by providing two types of functionality: coordination support and task execution support.

An agenda for action for moving forward a team‐based organization and use of information technologies for support of business teams is provided.     

招录体制改革下学生公正执法意识培养路径探析

公正执法是公安工作的生命线,执法不公,严重影响社会稳定。警察院校作为人民警察的摇篮,在教学过程中对树立学生公正执法的意识具有义不容辞的责任。在政法干警招录体制改革后,培养公正执法意识的难度增大。文章分析了公正执法对执法者素质的需求,并讨论了招录体制改革后学生的现状,最后重点阐明了学生公正执法意识培养的路径。     

中美公共信息资源管理比较及启示

通过对中美公共信息资源管理体制、管理机构、信息政策法规的比较研究,得出一些针对我国公共信息资源管理存在问题的启示。