The entanglement of trust and knowledge on the Web

In this paper I use philosophical accounts on the relationship between trust and knowledge in science to apprehend this relationship on the Web. I argue that trust and knowledge are fundamentally entangled in our epistemic practices. Yet despite this fundamental entanglement, we do not trust blindly. Instead we make use of knowledge to rationally place or withdraw trust. We use knowledge about the sources of epistemic content as well as general background knowledge to assess epistemic claims. Hence, although we may have a default to trust, we remain and should remain epistemically vigilant; we look out and need to look out for signs of insincerity and dishonesty in our attempts to know. A fundamental requirement for such vigilance is transparency: in order to critically assess epistemic agents, content and processes, we need to be able to access and address them. On the Web, this request for transparency becomes particularly pressing if (a) trust is placed in unknown human epistemic agents and (b) if it is placed in non-human agents, such as algorithms. I give examples of the entanglement between knowledge and trust on the Web and draw conclusions about the forms of transparency needed in such systems to support epistemically vigilant behaviour, which empowers users to become responsible and accountable knowers.     

Social Characteristics of Belgian Primary Teachers in the Twentieth Century

It is often claimed, both in the literature and by public opinion, that the status of teachers has declined sharply compared with the situation in the past. This article takes a more detailed look at the complex phenomenon of the ‘status’ of teachers. It does so on the basis of seven variables which ‘operatiohalise’ the process of social approval: the level of feminisation of the teaching corps, its social background, education, legal position and salary, the degree to which control has been obtained over the profession and its degree of social integration. Although a certain loss of prestige has undeniably occurred in comparison with other professions, it is evident that the status issue is not as clear cut as sometimes implied. In the first place, several contradictory trends were detected amongst the factors studied, indicating that the process of status acquisition and/or loss has not developed in a uniform manner. Moreover, statements concerning the relative status of this particular professional group always have to be related to other professions, regarding which the necessary basic data is not always present. It is evident, nonetheless, that the old (and not always very realistic) image of the ‘schoolmaster’ or ‘mistress’ with a ‘noble vocation’ to fulfil has faded nowadays, without the new ideal of the ‘education specialist’ yet establishing itself in the social context.     

“Along the road to learn”: Children and adults in the picture books of John Burningham

She has published two children's books and a number of articles on chldren's literature. She is particularly interested in the picture book.     

语言·文化·习惯

我们学习英语时.应多了解一些西方人的文化和习俗,熟知不同国家之间的文化差异和语言表达习惯,才能学到地道的英语.下面举一些实例说明在学习英语中摆脱汉语影响的重要性.题外话:美女子的梦,只会使吏自己美好     

The PRET A Rapporter framework: Evaluating digital libraries from the perspective of information work

The strongest tradition of IR systems evaluation has focused on system effectiveness; more recently, there has been a growing interest in evaluation of Interactive IR systems, balancing system and user-oriented evaluation criteria. In this paper we shift the focus to considering how IR systems, and particularly digital libraries, can be evaluated to assess (and improve) their fit with users’ broader work activities. Taking this focus, we answer a different set of evaluation questions that reveal more about the design of interfaces, user–system interactions and how systems may be deployed in the information working context. The planning and conduct of such evaluation studies share some features with the established methods for conducting IR evaluation studies, but come with a shift in emphasis; for example, a greater range of ethical considerations may be pertinent. We present the PRET A Rapporter framework for structuring user-centred evaluation studies and illustrate its application to three evaluation studies of digital library systems.     

Identification of beneficial mass-included inerter-based vibration suppression configurations

Vibration suppression capabilities of linear passive vibration absorbers, such as traditional tuned mass damper (TMD), and recently proposed inerter-based vibration absorbers, have been studied for multiple mechanical systems. In particular, significant performance advantages have been obtained with a specific device making use of both inerter and mass elements, namely the tuned mass damper inerter (TMDI). However, there are still countless mass-included inerter-based configurations that have not been studied, which can potentially provide more preferred dynamic properties. In this paper, an immittance-function-layout (IFL) is introduced, which can cover a large range of topological connection possibilities with both mass and inerter elements. With the recently proposed structural immittance format, a systematic approach is established to identify the most beneficial IFL type mass-included inerter-based configurations with pre-determined number of each element type. Vibration suppression performance with single-IFL type device and two parallel-connected IFLs (i.e. dual-IFL) type devices are investigated in this paper. Three optimal configurations are identified for mitigating the maximum inter-storey drift of an example 3-storey building model subjected to base excitation. With this 3-storey building model, results show that, for the optimum single-IFL configuration, the performance improvement is 7.3% compared with the optimum TMDI, and with identified beneficial dual-IFL configurations, up to 34.9% performance advantages are obtained. Furthermore, consistent performance gains are shown under real-life earthquake inputs and with a 10-storey building model using identified absorber configurations.     

“We power democracy”: Exploring the promises of the political data analytics industry

Data-driven campaigning has been in the spotlight over several years. Yet, we still have a limited understanding of political data analytics companies: how they envision data analytics and voter targeting, their role in electoral processes and what promises they make to their clients. This article focuses on the way in which such issues are conceived of in the marketing rhetoric of the political data analytics industry. Drawing on a sample of 19 political data analytics companies it systematically explores the ways in which data analytics is envisioned and marketed as a powerful tool in electoral processes, exposing a fundamental disconnect between scholarly discourse on the one hand – often critical of the claims of these companies about the efficacy of their methods – and a highly functionary data imaginary on the other hand, actively fostered by the political data-analytics industry and the media.