bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
#BuyNothingDay: investigating consumer restraint using hybrid content analysis of Twitter data
Authors: Paschen Jeannette , Wilson Matthew , Robson Karen
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This study aims to investigate motivations and human values of everyday consumers who participate in the annual day of consumption restraint known as Buy Nothing Day (BND). In addition, this study demonstrates a hybrid content analysis method in which artificial intelligence and human contributions are used in the data analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

This research uses a hybrid method of content analysis of a large Twitter data set spanning three years.

Findings

Consumer motivations are categorized as relating to consumerism, personal welfare, wastefulness, environment, inequality, anti-capitalism, financial responsibility, financial necessity, health, ethics and resistance to American culture. Of these, consumerism and personal welfare are the most common. Moreover, human values related to “openness to change” and “self-transcendence” were prominent in the BND tweets.

Research limitations/implications

This research demonstrates the effectiveness of a hybrid content analysis methodology and uncovers the motivations and human values that average consumers (as opposed to consumer activists) have to restrain their consumption. This research also provides insight for firms wishing to better understand and respond to consumption restraint.

Practical implications

This research provides insight for firms wishing to better understand and respond to consumption restraint.

Originality/value

The question of why everyday consumers engage in consumption restraint has received little attention in the scholarly discourse; this research provides insight into “everyday” consumer motivations for engaging in restraint using a hybrid content analysis of a large data set spanning over three years.
The impact of mobile health monitoring on the evolution of patient-pharmacist relationships
Authors: Ake Anaïs , Arcand Manon
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Increasingly popular mobile health technology is creating a new paradigm for the delivery of care to patients involving a role of the pharmacist. This study aims to propose a renewed patient–pharmacist relationship in this environment and present an empirical case study investigating the influence of key variables, including the consumer’s attitude toward personalized monitoring performed by the pharmacist, on the intention to adopt a mobile health app. Other drivers identified were ease of use and perceived usefulness of the app, individual and health-related factors (perceived vulnerability and severity of health condition, social norms and innovativeness with technology) and quality of relationship with the pharmacist.

Design/methodology/approach

A self-administered online survey was completed by 356 Canadian mobile device owners of more than 40 of age. Analyses were performed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The main factor driving adoption intentions was perceived usefulness followed by the respondent’s innovativeness with technology and perceived vulnerability of his/her health condition. Attitude toward personalized monitoring depends primarily on the relationship with the pharmacist. No relationship was found between adoption intentions and attitude toward personalized monitoring.

Originality/value

This research features a multidisciplinary approach by using variables from relational marketing, information technology and health and inclusion of the pharmacist (vs physician) as a health consultant, offering relevant marketing avenues for pharmacists.
Knowledge management, customer satisfaction and organizational image discriminating certified from non-certified (ISO 9001) municipalities
Authors: Brito Elisabeth , Pais Leonor , dos Santos Nuno Rebelo , Figueiredo Cláudia
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the extent to which knowledge management (KM), customer satisfaction (CS) and organizational image (OI) discriminate quality-certified municipalities from non-certified ones (ISO 9001).

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical study was carried out involving 81 Portuguese municipalities (40 certified, 41 non-certified), paired in a random sampling procedure. The Knowledge Management Questionnaire (n=1,372 municipality employees), the Customer Satisfaction Questionnaire and the Organizational Image Questionnaire (n=3,096 residents) were applied. Multiple discriminant analysis was performed.

Findings

The results indicate that certified and non-certified municipalities are distinct based on a function that considers KM (competitive orientation and formal KM practices), CS (intangible and tangible factors) and OI (favorable image).

Research limitations/implications

The findings need further validation in other countries. However, the results highlight the importance of quality certification for both employees and residents.

Practical implications

The results encourage local public administration organizations to introduce and maintain quality certification.

Originality/value

This research is the only one, to the authors’ knowledge, that simultaneously explores organizational processes of KM, CS and OI in local public administration. The sampling procedure and the information from diverse data sources are unique contributions. The conclusions may aid practitioners and scholars in understanding these organizational phenomena in the context of quality-certified and quality non-certified municipalities.
International marketing and the internet: a research overview and the path forward
Authors: Samiee Saeed
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the intersection of research into international marketing (IM) and the internet, seeking areas where knowledge is developing, and where further research is required.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilizes an integrative review of the extant literature.

Findings

The study identifies the role of the internet as a tool for competitive advantage and internationalization. In considering these aspects of the internet within IM, the necessity for establishing a foreign market presence is also examined. Further, it is asserted that the internet’s influence on internationalization is largely through exporting of products and digital services.

Originality/value

The paper offers a new perspective on the issues emerging in the literature in terms of IM and the internet, and identifies new avenues for future research.
Deactivating economic motives in green consumption through social and moral salience
Authors: Johansson Lars-Olof , Barbopoulos Isak , Olsson Lars E.
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how social and moral salience influences the activation/deactivation of consumer motives and how this in turn affects costly pro-environmental consumer behavior.

Design/methodology/approach

In two experiments involving real purchases, it was tested whether social salience (private vs public choice) and moral salience (recall of neutral vs immoral action) lead to the activation of normative motives, and/or the deactivation of economic motives, and whether this facilitated the purchase of a costlier green product.

Findings

Participants were motivated by both economic and normative motives, and they actively made trade-offs between these motives as the choice environment changed. Green consumption was positively influenced by social and moral salience but only when both salience conditions were present simultaneously. However, salience did not lead to the activation of normative motives, as was expected, but to a deactivation of the motive to save money. This may suggest that while the importance of norms was not altered by salience, the perceived value of the green option likely changed in such a way that participants became more inclined to choose the costlier green option.

Originality/value

The present research sheds light on how and why social and moral salience influences green consumption. It was demonstrated that social and moral salience influences the tendency to purchase costlier green products, however, only when both are combined. Also, the effects of social and moral salience may not rely on the activation of facilitating social and moral motives but rather on the deactivation of conflicting economic motives.
Blockchain and the Industrial Internet of Things
Authors: Siegfried Nils , Rosenthal Tobias , Benlian Alexander
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the suitability of Blockchain technology for applications in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT). It provides a taxonomy of system requirements for such applications and maps these requirements against the Blockchain’s technological idiosyncrasies.

Design/methodology/approach

A requirement taxonomy is built in an iterative process based on a descriptive literature review. In total, 223 studies have been screened leading to a relevant sample of 48 publications that were analyzed in detail regarding posed system requirements. Subsequently, Blockchain’s capabilities are discussed for each requirement dimension.

Findings

The paper presents a taxonomy of six requirement dimensions. In the mapping process, areas of greater fit (e.g., reliability, nonrepudiation and adaptability) were identified. However, there are also several constraints (e.g., scalability, confidentiality and performance) that limit the use of Blockchain.

Research limitations/implications

Due to the limited amount of studies and the vibrant development of Blockchain technology, the results may benefit from practical evidence. Researchers are encouraged to validate the results in qualitative practitioner interviews. Focusing on literature-backed public Blockchain, idiosyncrasies of private implementations and specific distributed ledger technologies may be discussed in future studies.

Practical implications

The paper includes use cases for Blockchain in manufacturing and IIOT applications. Potential caveats for practitioners are presented.

Originality/value

This paper addresses the need to understand to which degree Blockchain is a suitable technology in manufacturing, especially in context of the IIOT. It contributes a requirement taxonomy which serves as the foundation for a systematic fit assessment.
CEO characteristics and earnings management: empirical evidence from France
Authors: Bouaziz Dhouha , Salhi Bassem , Jarboui Anis
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of chief executive officer (CEO) characteristics on the earnings management examined by the discretionary accruals.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample includes 151 French firms listed on the CAC ALL shares index from 2006 to 2015. The paper uses the feasible generalized least square regression technique to test the relationship between CEO characteristics and earnings management.

Findings

Using discretionary accruals as a proxy for earnings management, the results obtained from the three models (Jones modified 1995; Kothariet al., 2005; Raman and Shahrur, 2008) indicated that there is a positive and significant relationship between CEO duality, CEO nationality and the quality of financial communication. However, no significant relationship was found between CEO board member, CEO turnover and earnings management.

Originality/value

A literature review finds that fewer studies have investigated the relationship between earnings management practices and personal CEO characteristics in the French context. Furthermore, no study yet has examined the influence of CEO nationality and CEO age on earnings management practices. This study provides empirical data about the impact of CEO’s characteristics on earnings management and how these different characteristics can facilitate the transition to manipulate and influence the quality of financial communication.
Asset-based recognition criteria: a comprehensive view
Authors: El-Tawy Nevine
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to present a comprehensive view of the assets recognition criteria by providing a coherent set of pre-measurement themes that should be taken into consideration to be a candidate asset.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is a conceptual review paper.

Findings

This synthesis review results in seven themes; the social constructionist nature of the conceptual framework (CF), the nature of assets, the changing nature of asset recognition, asset measurement bases, entity-specific vs market-specific recognition, the economic resource comprising “rights”, and finally, the role of “separability” in asset recognition.

Originality/value

With the increasing importance of internally created assets and their implications on the financial position of the business entity, and with coinciding of revisiting the CF for financial reporting (at the time of writing this paper), this paper shows a synthesis and comprehensive themes of asset-based recognition criteria for tangible and intangibles assets.
Navigating rocky terrain: a thematic analysis of mental health clinician experiences of family-focused practice
Authors: Leenman Genevieve , Arblaster Karen
Published: January 2020

Purpose

Approximately 20 per cent of Australian children live with a parent who experiences mental illness. These children have poorer health and psychosocial outcomes than their peers. While family-focused practice (FFP) can improve these outcomes, family-focused service provision is inconsistent. The purpose of this paper is to understand clinicians’ experiences of FFP and associated workplace factors.

Design/methodology/approach

In-depth interviews were conducted with ten community mental health clinicians. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

Findings

A global theme of “navigating rocky terrain” captured clinicians’ experiences of working with families. The rocky terrain encompassed both family complexity and workplace barriers to FFP. Clinicians navigated this terrain by using multiple strategies to support families, working in partnership with families and other clinicians and services, and drawing on personal resources. Interactive approaches to enhancing knowledge and skills were preferred over paper-based information. While an organisation-wide approach to support FFP was beneficial, clinicians continued to feel challenged in implementing FFP.

Research limitations/implications

Working with families in which parents experience mental illness is affected by systemic issues at the family and organisational levels. Systemic approaches to both delivering and supporting this work are required. Partnership working and organisation-wide capacity building strategies emphasising interactive approaches to learning appear to have positive effects.

Originality/value

This study explores the challenges of FFP in a real-world multidisciplinary context where there has been a systemic approach to enabling this work. It highlights the challenges clinicians face in family-focused practice in spite of substantial organisational supports and suggests some approaches that might be effective. This is a topic which has received minimal attention in the literature.
Strategic action fields of digital transformation
Authors: Peter Marc K. , Kraft Corin , Lindeque Johan
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to capture the collective understanding of digital transformation (DT) across Swiss businesses and establish a reference framework based on the strategic action field (SAF) theory.

Design/methodology/approach

A number of Swiss associations provided their databases for an online survey. The large sample includes 2,590 participants from 1,854 organisations and delivered over 4,200 descriptions of DT, categorised into seven SAFs. A cross tabulation of SAF combinations by firm size identified 127 possible SAF combinations which constitute the common understanding of DT.

Findings

The data set allowed the identification of SAFs and the conceptualisation of DT based on a shared understanding. Drivers of digital transformation are: process engineering, new technologies and digital business development, supported by digital leadership and culture, the cloud and data, customer centricity and digital marketing.

Research limitations/implications

For practitioners, the study provides the SAFs that should be considered for DT strategies. For academic scholars, a unique data set has allowed the study of DT by analysing action field combinations, revealing a nuanced constellation of SAFs. Limitations are the focus on Swiss organisations and a convenience sample for collecting the analysed data.

Originality/value

For the first time, the shared understanding of DT in Swiss businesses – based on SAFs – has allowed a conceptualisation of DT in order to provide guidance to businesses managers and employees.
Information sharing in a green supply chain with promotional effort
Authors: Ding Junfei , Wang Wenbin
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the retailer’s strategy of information sharing in a green supply chain with promotional effort, and the impact of information sharing on the decisions and profits of the manufacturer and the retailer.

Design/methodology/approach

The developed models aim to maximize the profits of the manufacturer, the retailer and the green supply chain system. The game theory is used to obtain the equilibrium solutions of both the manufacturer and the retailer. A two-part compensation (TPC) contract is designed to motivate the retailer to share information with the retailer. Numerical examples are used to show the impact of parameters on decisions by Matlab 2014.

Findings

The results show that the green degree increases while the promotional effort level decreases when the manufacturer receives the larger demand information from the retailer; information sharing leads to a profit increase to the manufacturer and a profit loss to the retailer, but can increase the profit of supply chain under a certain condition; information sharing reduces the expected consumer surplus. The TPC contract designed in this paper can not only motivate the retailer to share information but also increases the consumer surplus.

Research limitations/implications

The study has been done in a monopoly environment where only a retailer can forecast demand information. It is an interesting direction of future research when considering there are more retailers who can forecast such information in a supply chain.

Originality/value

There exist two main aspects that are different from the existing literature. The stochastic demand function related to the retail price, the green degree and the promotional effort have never appeared in previous literature. This paper considers a green product supply chain with a manufacturer who produces green products and a retailer who has an information advantage because of her promotional effort; this paper investigates the impact of information sharing on the consumer surplus and designs a contract to coordinate the green supply chain.
Linking transformational leadership and continuous improvement
Authors: Khattak Mohammad Nisar , Zolin Roxanne , Muhammad Noor
Published: January 2020

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate employee trust in the leader as the underlying mechanism between transformational leadership and employees’ organizational identification and their continuous improvement efforts.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 282 employees, working in 8 different private and public sector organizations from the banking, higher education, telecommunications and health sectors in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling was used to test the study hypotheses.

Findings

The results support the hypothesized relationships showing that trust in the leader partially mediates the relationship of transformational leadership with organizational identification and continuous improvement efforts.

Research limitations/implications

This study relied upon cross-sectional data, which does not satisfy the conditions to establish causality.

Practical implications

The results of this study will help organizations and practitioners to understand the importance of trust between transformational leaders and followers, which ultimately results in higher organizational identification and continuous improvement.

Originality/value

Using the broader framework of social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), this study contributes to the extant employee – organization relationship literature by proposing and testing trust in the leader as an underlying psychological mechanism that can explain the impact of transformational leadership on employees’ organizational identification and their continuous improvement efforts.
Effect of laser power on formability, microstructure and mechanical properties of selective laser melted Mg-Al-Zn alloy
Authors: Wang Xingcheng , Chen Changjun , Zhang Min
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to study the effect of laser energy on the formability, microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ61D alloy to assist systematic study of laser additive manufacturing of magnesium alloys.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, porous magnesium alloy samples were prepared by using different laser parameters. The changes of the formability and microstructure were observed by SEM, and the mechanical properties were tested. The above results were analyzed to obtain optimized laser parameters.

Findings

When the laser power is between 85 and 95 W (pulse width 3.0 ms, frequency 40 Hz), the surface morphology of the selective laser-melted (SLMed) porous samples are smooth and even. At 80 W, SLMed porous samples have a maximum relative density of 99.2 per cent. Because of the “solute capture” effect and the evaporization of magnesium, the fraction of ß-Mg17Al12 increases from 42.1 to 52.1 per cent when power rises from 80 to 105 W. The ultimate compressive strength of SLMed porous magnesium alloys is strengthened with the increase of laser power.

Originality/value

The effect of laser parameters on microstructure and mechanical properties of porous magnesium alloys prepared by SLM has not been reported.
Robotic additive manufacturing system for dynamic build orientations
Authors: Fry Nicholas R. , Richardson Robert C. , Boyle Jordan H.
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to present a multi-axis additive robot manufacturing system (ARMS) and demonstrate its beneficial capabilities.

Design/methodology/approach

ARMS was constructed around two robot arms and a fused filament fabrication (FFF) extruder. Quantitative experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of printing at different orientations with respect to gravity, the effect of dynamically changing build orientation with respect to the build tray when printing overhanging features, the effect of printing curved parts using curved, conformal layers. These capabilities are combined to print an integrated demonstrator showing potential practical benefits of the system.

Findings

Orientation with respect to gravity has no effect on print quality; dynamically changing build orientation allows overhangs up to 90° to be cleanly printed without support structures; printing an arch with conformal layers significantly increases its strength compared to conventional printing.

Research limitations/implications

The challenge of automatic slicing algorithms has not been addressed for multi-axis printing. It is shown that ARMS could eventually enable printing of fully-functional prototypes with embedded components.

Originality/value

This work is the first to prove that the surface roughness of an FFF part is independent of print orientation with respect to gravity. The use of two arms creates a novel system with more degrees of freedom than existing multi-axis printers, enabling studies on printing orientation relationships and printing around inserts. It also adds to the emerging body of multi-axis literature by verifying that curved layers improve the strength of an arch which is steeply curved and printed with the nozzle remaining normal to the curvature.
The proof is in the process
Authors: Albert Amanda B. , Emery Jamie L. , Hyde Rebecca C.
Published: January 2020

Purpose

This paper aims to apply the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education frame Information Creation as a Process to encourage student confidence in government information. This approach will also help librarians address the continued erosion of trust in government exacerbated by campaigns of mis- and disinformation waged by the 45th President.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors examined recent literature on the public’s increased distrust of government under the 45th President, the impact of extreme skepticism on students, and the role instruction and government information librarians can play in addressing these issues. The authors used the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education frame Information Creation as a Process as a guide for teaching students about the complexities of government information creation processes and addressing student apprehension about utilizing government information in their academic research.

Findings

Research indicates that in the midst of a decline in public trust in government, librarians are fighting an uphill battle to encourage wary students to use government information for academic research. Librarians can combat this via targeted Framework-aligned instruction. An example of how the frame Information Creation as a Process can be applied to government information is presented.

Practical implications

For easy implementation of the ideas presented in this paper, learning outcomes and a sample lesson plan are provided.

Originality/value

This paper contributes to the library literature on government information literacy and instruction as well as the Framework. It is the only paper that addresses the application of the frame Information Creation as a Process to government information.
Escape responses of terrestrial and aquatic birds to drones: Towards a code of practice to minimize disturbance
Authors: Weston Michael A. , O’Brien Curtis , Kostoglou Kristal N. , Symonds Matthew R. E.
Published: January 2020

Advances in human technology can lead to widespread and rapid increases in interactions between wildlife and potentially disturbing stimuli. The recreational use of drones is widespread and increasing, yet laws and codes of practice which aim to manage deleterious impacts (e.g. negative interactions with wildlife) are reactionary, unscientific and inadequate.

One prominent potential negative effect of drones interacting with birds is disturbance; the disruption of normal states caused by responses such as escape. We measure avian escape responses to an approaching drone (n = 561 across 22 species) to inform the development of a code of practice to manage drone‐induced disturbance. Approaches were made at a relatively high and low altitude (10 and 4 m), and at different take‐off distances, both of which are candidate prescriptions for a code of practice.

Flight‐initiation distance varied between species, but not between the altitudes tested. The probability of eliciting an escape response was high, and 14.6% higher at the lower altitude (at which 88.4% of overflies resulted in an escape response). Our response rates (from terrestrial and aquatic species) are higher than those reported for different birds in other places, most of which were water or seabirds.

The probability of a drone take‐off in itself eliciting a response was low (<20%) when the drone take‐off was >40 m away, and decreased further with increasing distance from birds, with no escapes occurring >120 m.

Policy implications. For our sample, no drone take‐off closer than 100 m, and no flight within 100 m would eliminate the vast majority of escape responses by birds. Required separation distances between drones and wildlife may exceed those required for other human activities, such as for walkers.
Dryness, wetness and temporary flooding reduce floral resources of plant communities with adverse consequences for pollinator attraction
Authors: Walter Julia
Published: January 2020

Climate change alters precipitation regimes world‐wide and is regarded as a major threat for pollinators and pollination services. Yet, not much is known on how wetter as well as drier conditions affect food resources for pollinators and pollinator attraction in a multi‐species community context. It is unclear how community shifts under changed hydrological conditions might affect pollinators.

This mesocosm study addresses existing research gaps by investigating effects of drought, wetness and temporary flooding on floral resources and pollinator attraction within a plant community, initially including nine insect‐pollinated and six wind‐pollinated species. Floral resources were assessed over three growing seasons. I monitored community descriptors (percentage of herbs and herbaceous species richness, presence of flowering insect‐pollinated individuals), floral traits (flower height, size and weight, floral sugar content of one key species) and proxies for plant fitness (pollinator attraction, seed and flower weight of one key species).

Wetness and especially dryness decreased the species richness and biomass proportion of insect‐pollinated herbaceous species and flowering herbaceous plant individuals occurred less frequently. Permanent wetness decreased the floral sugar content of the key species Trifolium pratense. Wet, temporary flooded and especially dry communities were visited by pollinators less often. Active pollinators spent less time within wet and flooded communities, while not at all visiting dry communities. Seed and flower weight of the obligate xenogamous T. pratense in flooded and dry communities decreased, indicating negative consequences for plant fitness caused by a lack of pollination.

Synthesis. While dryness had negative effects for floral resources both in terms of community descriptors and floral traits, negative effects of wetness and temporary flooding were mostly caused by a decrease of insect‐pollinated herbaceous species. The study thus indicates that shifts in plant community composition are decisive for a predictive understanding of plant–pollinator interactions under environmental change, but these have been neglected in past research. Changing precipitation patterns will adversely affect floral resources and pollinator attraction in agriculturally used temperate grassland, which might have widespread negative consequences for pollination services and food security in the coming decades.
The Learning Library: Using Ethnographic Film as an Organizational Change Tool by Scaling Human Insights across a National Preschool System
Authors: PHILLIPS HAL , KINNEY MEG
Published: January 2020

Attracting and retaining teaching talent was a significant problem for Primrose Schools – a premium priced leader in early education with 375+ franchised schools. Despite all of the enthusiasm and growth around early education, teacher wages have remained stagnant at a national average of $10.60/hr. Healthcare is rarely covered, hours are long, and the job is demanding. Unsurprisingly, there is a 30% turnover rate for preschool teachers industry‐wide. This challenge became the basis of a generative study designed to understand the lives of preschool teachers in and outside of the classroom. In‐depth interviews were filmed and edited into “insight sequences” that revealed deep misperceptions between school owners and teachers. The findings found their way beyond corporate. They were turned into a system‐wide “Learning Library” seen by over 11,500 employees, compelling a Franchisee‐led task force to address pay and benefits.
The Ethno‐Graphic Sensibility
Authors: McPIKE JAMIE , GRAIZBORD DIANA , LeBER ANNA
Published: January 2020

Ethnography is both a set of tools and a way of approaching the world, but ethnographic methods texts tend to reduce ethnography to its tools, minimizing the humanistic elements of our work and ignoring how these tools interact with the social world. Recent work on “ethnographic thinking” helps us shift from an instrumental focus on tools, but we believe that if “the medium we think in defines what we can see”, then textual, linear narratives limit our ability to see and learn about the sensory, embodied, aesthetic, and emotive dimensions of ethnography. We, therefore, ask: how might we reimagine how we teach and learn about ethnography and the ethnographic sensibility? How can we teach beyond the tools? Comics as a medium affords multiple possibilities for expressing the complex dimensions of ethnography. Comics, like ethnography, allows for the simultaneous representation of multiple ideas, perspectives, and experiences. It requires the reader to participate and grapple with the setting, the emotions of the process, the visual feel and mood of a place, and enables a “you are there” sense of place due to the juxtaposition of visual and textual forms. We believe comics can help aspiring ethnographers explore the dynamism inherent in this work.
Vær: On Place, Weather, Being, and Agency
Authors: KOWSZ ERICA , STYLES HUNTER
Published: January 2020

This photo installation is a side‐product of ethnographic research in Troms⊘, a city of 75,000 tucked along the Norwegian coast above the Arctic Circle. The main research addressed longer timeframes—examining Sami ethnopolitics, institution‐building, and social change since the 1970s, a time that marked increased engagement of indigenous peoples with national powers in many countries around the world, including in Norway. That project entailed time on‐the‐ground in Norway's far north observing the social diacritics of ethnicity in daily life, public events, and local media. Once we arrived, we found that weather and the changing of the light played a dominant role in our daily experience of life above the Arctic Circle, leading us toward this photo exhibit and contemplation. We had to develop techniquess for paying attention to the backdrop—not the microsocial processes of the main research, but rather the steady, shifting hum of the natural world. As a supplement to fieldnotes, shooting quick digital photos and videos became a sensorially‐rich means to capture the moment.

In this photo installation, we present images of the environment. We use the visual vocabulary of the changing of the light in the arctic to consider the ways in which the natural world's rhythms act as the original, powerful “automated” force, challenging humans' sense of agency, creating the context—and certain limits—for their ability to exert their desired outcomes in the world. How can new technologies of automation be built to suit human life where society is already tailored to rhythms of nature that defy assumptions held by many of us living at lower latitudes? Among these 52 tiles, one for each week of the year, we include black tiles representing the time periods that we have never spent in Troms⊘, the gaps in our witnessing of the flow of annual natural cycles and annualized events in the collective social calendar of the Norwegian north. These visual and sensorial “gaps” raise questions about the constraints of ethnographers' knowledge, the reach of technologists' innovations into the world's peripheries, and embodied realities of place. Intermittency isn't inherently a disadvantage in ethnographic work, but it must be accounted for. How do ethnographers admit, adjust for, and overcome the intermittency of their presence at a fieldwork site? This question is especially pressing for those working in industry environments that demand short timeframes for moving from fieldwork to findings. For technologists, there is a related challenge: how to anticipate the ambient and embodied feeling of life where it is lived when they design products that travel across geographies. We hope this photo display provides a fruitful space for EPIC attendees to consider the strengths and limitations of their own methods.
Robots and the Fallacy of Agency
Authors: ALLEN STEWART
Published: January 2020

What if I told you, that humans are not very special? That the very qualities that make us human are not pre‐given features but are rather properties generated by our participation in the world at large. In this view, humans are not mere expressions of blueprints. Rather, we are shaped and fashioned in the course of our lives by many different environments. This presentation challenges the notion of agency itself through an exploration of a recent project we conducted on service robots and human interaction. I raise questions on the nature of our humanness and the idea of ‘humanity’ as a special, protected class. If we set aside humans as special and unique, we tend to then dehumanise and downscale everything that is non‐human, setting the stage for our current malaise where our environment is objectified as a resource to be used up as quickly as possible. I conclude that a shared and sustainable world is one where the qualities of life are accorded to all things, human and non‐human alike.
Calibrating Agency: Human‐Autonomy Teaming and the Future of Work amid Highly Automated Systems
Authors: CESAFSKY LAURA , STAYTON ERIK , CEFKIN MELISSA
Published: January 2020

This paper explores how the design of everyday interactions with artificial intelligence in work systems relates to broader issues of interest to social scientists and ethicists: namely human well‐being and social inequality. The paper uses experience designing human interactions with highly automated systems as a lens for looking at the social implications of work design, and argues that what human and automation each do is less important than how human and automation are structured to interact. TheHuman‐Autonomy Teaming (HAT)paradigm, explored in the paper, has been a promising alternative way to think about human interactions with automation in our laboratory's research and development work. We argue that the notion of teaming is particularly useful in that it encourages designers to consider human well‐being as central to the operational success of the overall human‐machine system that is being designed.
Self Ethnography: Or, How I Earned My Berkeley Citizenship in an Ethnographic Journey through the Crunchy Granola and the Scientific
Authors: SCHWINDT BETH
Published: January 2020

A researcher who used to combine “thinking + feeling” lines on a journey map found herself on the feelings frontier by widely exploring new innovations in neuroscience, psychology, and mind‐body connection, alongside the resurgence in popularity of “old” ways of healing – Chinese medicine, crystals, tarot cards. Through her self‐ethnographic journey, she found that by stripping back ethnography from the measurable, the scientific, the business cases she rediscovered its foundational backbone to carefully tune into and interpret feelings. She redefines ethnography as about finding truth and not judging it — even the parts that don't make sense right away and asserts that believing the tiny fragments of feelings and glimmers of intuition is the future of our practice. The new science and the old wisdom revealed that feelings are the root of agency, or “the feelings we have a say in the world we live in and experience, and it is our new frontier to help people articulate the wealth of their feelings to make a world where we have a say — even before we may have words.
Nangi Village: A Story of Collective Agency in the Mountains of Nepal
Authors: RALLAPALLI EMELIA
Published: January 2020

What can a remote Himalayan community teach us about innovation? Emelia's Silicon‐Valley ‐first‐world frame of reference is the dominant lens of her work. It's the place where we buy into technology's promise to help solve the world's problems. But it's also ground zero for a dystopian future where humans are automated out of relevance.

In this PechaKucha Emelia will explore the ways Nangi Village, with the help and leadership of one member in particular, is using technology and innovation to increase its collective power for its own goals of educating its young, connecting to the world, and driving its own economic development. This talk will also be a personal meditation on Nangi's impact on her own perspectives regarding human agency, problem solving, and innovation.
The Change before Behaviour: Closing the Value‐Action Gap Using a Digital Social Companion
Authors: GALIK GYORGYI
Published: January 2020

This paper describes an experiment, designed and developed with the ultimate aim of fostering low‐pollution and low‐carbon social innovation. It offers an evidence‐based practical alternative to conventional, technological approaches and narratives of smart cities aimed at sensing air pollution and mitigating the effects of climate change.

In this experiment a new voice user interface is designed, developed and tested with input from participants – to explore the potential of a new, more socially minded adaptation to current AI assistant devices in the home and enhance the field of smart technology design. The experiment is developed with a group of participants to demonstrate how design research can raise novel questions and inform disciplines with an interest in behaviour change, environmental pollution and smart homes. This work demonstrates the potential for technologies to increase the degree of participation in reducing pollution in cities and facilitate the articulation of agency in complex environmental matters.

The work has value for designers, ethnographers and researchers working in design for behaviour change and participatory design, as well as practitioners and organisations who are interested in enabling low‐pollution lifestyles, developing smart homes and/or emerging AI technologies.
Educating the Educators: An Entire Franchise Preschool System Embraces Ethnographic Insights to Improve Brand Experience and Drive Growth
Authors: KINNEY MEG , PHILLIPS HAL
Published: January 2020

This case study demonstrates the radius of influence that ethnographic insight can have throughout an organization as well as how it can be tied to business outcomes. This case also represents the power of video ethnography as a robust and enduring data set that provides a visceral, contextual, human record capable of aligning and galvanizing cross functional teams. At the cusp of aggressive expansion, Primrose Schools needed to address cascading business issues: low brand awareness relative to key competitors in new markets, brand engagement (vis a vis online content), and disappointing conversion rates for Parent enrollment. The first half of the case describes the design and key findings from our Parent Enrollment Study. Early education in present day America is contextualized against a backdrop of new parenting philosophies, socio‐cultural relationships with smartphones and social media, and wage stagnation. The second half of the case illuminates how broadly the ethnography‐inspired insights were embraced, orchestrated, and manifested across the entire organization and their strategic partners to drive results. In the end, this is a story of the measurable business impact that is possible when ethnographic insights are socialized and operationalized at scale, in large part due to skilled video analysis and editing that ingrained a realistic depiction of today's Parents in the hearts and minds of everyone at Primrose Schools.
Creative Photography through Ethnographic Research
Authors: OLIVEIRA GABRIELA
Published: January 2020

This is a short story of when my sides of researcher and photographer met during a trip to the rural countryside of Brazil, where I went to research about internet connectivity, but ended up learning more about human relations. Photography creates connection between people, much like ethnography, and they interlace in a deeper level than just registering of fieldwork. Visual registration of research can be as valuable as the content gathered from the conversation, and photography can enable both analysis and creativity in a researcher, by prompting him or her to train an observing eye to both content and surroundings. Thinking of photography as a tool as valuable as interviewing activates new ways for researchers to use their humanity to face ethnographic research.
Ecology rather than people restrict gene flow in Okavango‐Kalahari lions
Authors: Dures S. G. , Carbone C. , Savolainen V. , Maude G. , Gottelli D.
Published: January 2020

Reduced gene exchange between animal populations may be an indicator of the effects of anthropogenic fragmentation or it may reflect natural gradients in the landscape that can also result in population fragmentation. It can be difficult, therefore, to disentangle the role of local ecology from anthropogenic factors, creating a risk of attributing a lack of gene flow as being due to human activities, leading to ill‐informed management decisions. Here, we test the ecological and anthropogenic factors driving population differentiation and show how the relative influence of such effects can be identified. Using Bayesian clustering and a causal modelling approach, we combine genetic and remote sensing data to disentangle the confounding influences of ecological and anthropogenic fragmentation. We investigate a region where such confusion may arise; in and around the Okavango Delta in northern Botswana. Specifically, we used 20 microsatellites to investigate the genetic structuring of African lions Panthera leo occupying a landscape dominated by two very different environments, the wetland Okavango and the surrounding Kalahari Desert. We find that differences in ecology, rather than anthropogenic barriers, are driving genetic differences in the population and that despite their ability to disperse long distances these lion populations are differentiated into two distinct genetic groups, one inhabiting the wetland Okavango Delta and the other one inhabiting the surrounding dryland Kalahari, divided by an apparently unobstructed boundary. The genetic structure observed could easily have been misinterpreted as a response to anthropogenic disturbance reducing gene flow. This reinforces the need to consider non‐anthropogenic hypotheses, such as ecological differences between habitats, when assessing possible mechanisms of gene flow and their implications for population management. As anthropogenic pressure increases in this region, we recommend conservation managers consider the Okavango population as a separate conservation unit, but also recognize the importance of maintaining the current structural landscape connectivity.
Cancer during HIV infection
Authors: da Silva Neto Marinho Marques , Brites Carlos , Borges Álvaro H.
Published: January 2020

HIV+ persons have a significantly increased risk of cancer when compared to the general population. The excess cancer risk observed during HIV infection is particularly higher for infection‐related malignancies. Mechanisms underlying this remain unclear, but both HIV‐related and HIV‐unrelated factors have been postulated to play a role. Here, we (i) review newly published data on cancer burden in the setting of HIV infection with a focus on HIV‐related risk factors for cancer; (ii) discuss emerging data on cancer among HIV+ persons living in low‐ and middle‐income countries; and (iii) review guideline recommendations for cancer screening among HIV+ persons and discuss ongoing studies investigating strategies for cancer screening among HIV+ patients.