bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Blogging for Effective Teacher Education Course in English as a Second Language
Authors: Bangou Francis , Fleming Douglas
Published: May 2010

Two years ago, as teacher educators, the authors decided to integrate the use of blogs into their practice in order to contribute to the development of an understanding of the knowledge base related to the processes of teaching and learning English as a Second Language (ESL) and provide their teacher candidates with a space to critically reflect collectively and individually on course content. In this chapter, the authors use discourse analysis (Johnston, 2008) of semi-structured interviews conducted with these teacher candidates to explore how they use and perceive blogs within a course specifically focused on ESL teaching methods. This allows the authors to problematize the notion of technological integration in teaching and learning and complexify the notion of blogs as democratic spaces (Kuzu, 2007). On the basis of this analysis, the authors formulate four recommendations to guide teacher educators who are working in similar contexts.
Blending Traditional and Technological Factors in Teacher Education in Jamaica
Authors: Josephs Aleric Joyce
Published: May 2010

This chapter highlights the challenges and opportunities in blending traditional and technological factors in teacher education. It examines the partnership between one Caribbean state and one campus of a regional institution to develop an ODL teacher upgrading program which has become the model for a regional Bachelor of Education distance program. The aim is to use the teaching of History to make the case for using a blended approach in transitioning to ODL and for careful consideration of the use of technology in the delivery of ODL programs. It discusses how a Bachelor of Education program articulates distance learning and face-to-face modalities and examines the skills needed and the challenges involved in developing a curriculum for teaching History to distant learners using a blended approach and incorporating available technology. It suggests that readiness of faculty and learner to adopt technology as well as careful consideration of the use of technology is crucial for the success of blended learning approach in traditional teaching environment.
Management Training in Higher Education through DVD
Authors: Laaser Wolfram
Published: May 2010

In the following chapter the author will discuss and report on the production and use of DVD-technology in management distance education. The applications and developments refer to development at one of the university in Germany, however the technical and didactic considerations are widely independent of the institutional environment. After discussing some general characteristics of DVDs and qualification profiles necessary for production, the author will report more in detail on concrete productions in the area of business administration and management training, namely the DVD-production “Looking for Charisma. ”The underlying pedagogical concepts will be explained, especially how real business applications are related to the theoretical knowledge background concepts gained from textbooks. Special attention is given to the aspect of producing bilingual versions (German/English). Finally some preliminary results from questionnaires will be reported.
Curriculum Development, Implementation and Evaluation of Project Integrated Online Training
Authors: Haber Peter , Herber Erich , Mayr Manfred
Published: May 2010

New project management skills and processes are prerequisites to meet the challenges of the globalization. Enterprises, companies and institutions that are operating in transnational and distributed ICT projects on global market need highly qualified project-managers for virtual collaboration. Most training organizations and certification programs focus only on classical soft and technical skills. Participants and most important managers of distributed projects however need training and practice in virtual collaboration and intercultural aspects to be able to consider international socio-cultural issues encountered in business. Therefore, the target of Pool2Business (P2B) was to establish on the one hand a modular online course to address certain specific requirements and qualifications of a company as well language and culture specific differences between participants and on the other hand to ensure with Project Integrated Training parts that the learning outcomes can be immediately used in practical application. By following an adapted and extended ADDIE Model, the P2B-Consortium was able to establish the whole Curriculum more effectively by having the same strategies, following the same procedures and knowing the next steps to fulfill the target of P2B.
Software Development Standardization "CMM/DSDM Case"
Authors: van Wessel Robert
Published: May 2010

Pijl et al. (1997) point out that strict adherence to software quality standards could be counterproductive if tailoring for specific types of systems is not possible. They also argue that current quality standards are focussed on standardization processes and procedures, whereas innovative projects require creativity. However, as has been pointed out in Chapter 2, standardization can be beneficial to creativity when one does not have to focus on basic quality issues. On the other hand standardization could impede creativity when it limits the number of possible solutions. Therefore one should not focus on standardization of processes alone. As Mintzberg (1984) argues there are other coordination mechanisms such as standardization of skills, outputs and communication. The second case study is about process standardization within a software development department. We will investigate how this process standard was chosen and implemented and what its effects were on business performance.
HR IS Standardization "CHRISP Case"
Authors: van Wessel Robert
Published: May 2010

To gain further experience with the conceptual model, as part of the theory testing phase, a third in-depth case study was carried out at FINCORP. The IS product standardization in this study relates to ERP HR modules of PeopleSoft®1, which include the accompanying HR processes. These modules were selected as company IT standard. As discussed in Chapter 3, measuring the real costs and benefits of IT investments is a notoriously complex problem (Brynjolfsson and Hitt, 1998). Asif and Schuff (2005) acknowledge that this becomes even more complicated when considering ERP technologies that impact on a variety of processes across the value chain. Chand et al. (2005, p.560) also acknowledge the problem of assessing the benefits of ERP systems is less well studied and understood, and illustrate the applicability of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to ERP systems. They list various reasons that motivate organizations to implement ERP systems, which can be split into financial and non-financial benefits (Table 1). Anticipated benefits related to company IT standardization can be clearly identified. Furthermore, they integrate the four Kaplan and Nortons’ Balanced Scorecard perspectives with Zuboff’s automate, informate and transformate goals of information systems (Zuboff, 1985) in an attempt to measure the contributions and impacts of ERP systems at operational, tactical and strategic levels. However, in this case study we will use the original perspectives to make comparison with the other case studies possible.
Factors Facing Mobile Commerce Deployment in United Kingdom
Authors: Hunaiti Ziad , Tairo Daniel , Sedoyeka Eliamani , Elgazzar Sammi
Published: May 2010

This chapter discuss the challenges facing mobile commerce deployment in the United Kingdom. Although the number of mobile phone users is increasing and the technology is available for successful implementation of m-commerce, only a small number of users utilise m-commerce services. At the same time, mobile phones are becoming smarter, and most of latest phones are capable of connecting to the Internet. This chapter looks at the background of m-commerce as well as the technological development of mobile phones to their current stage. Also, technical and non technical issues which hinder the adoption of m-commerce are discussed and solutions and recommendations are given.
Mobile and Handheld Security
Authors: Chen Lei , Wu Shaoen , Ji Yiming , Yang Ming
Published: May 2010

Mobile and handheld devices are becoming an integral part of people’s work, life and entertainment. These lightweight pocket-sized devices offer great mobility, acceptable computation power and friendly user interfaces. As people are making business transactions and managing their online bank accounts via handheld devices, they are concerned with the security level that mobile devices and systems provide. In this chapter we will discuss whether these devices, equipped with very limited computation power compared to full-sized computers, can make equivalent security services available to users. We focus on the security designs and technologies of hardware, operating systems and applications for mobile and handheld devices.
Accessibility and Usability of Web Content and Applications
Authors: Buzzi Maria Claudia , Buzzi Marina , Leporini Barbara
Published: May 2010

Accessibility is essential for every system or product in order to guarantee equal opportunity for access and use to all, including the differently-abled. Thus it is crucial to remove any technological barriers for special needs users, who explore the Internet by assistive technologies. However, ensuring efficient and satisfactory (in other words, usable) interaction with user interfaces (UIs) of products or services must occur in the design phase, in order to produce UIs that are universally simple to understand, rapid and easy to use. Applying accessibility and usability criteria from the very beginning of the design phase is much less costly than introducing it later, so specific guidelines should be followed from the earliest stages of the design process. In the long run, creating accessible and usable Web UIs will improve overall efficiency and effectiveness of interaction for any individual and organization.
An Integrated Process for Aspect Mining and Refactoring
Authors: Abait Esteban S. , Vidal Santiago A. , Marcos Claudia A. , Casas Sandra I. , Sofia Albert A. Osiris
Published: May 2010

Aspect-Oriented Software Development (AOSD) aims at solving the problem of encapsulating crosscutting concerns, which orthogonally crosscut the components of a system, in units called aspects. This encapsulation improves the modularization of a system and in consequence its maintenance and evolution. In this work, the authors propose a systematic process for the migration of object-oriented systems to aspect-oriented ones. This migration is achieved in two main phases: crosscutting concern identification (aspect mining) and code transformation (aspect refactoring). The aspect mining phase is based on dynamic analysis and association rules to identify potential crosscutting concerns. The aspect refactoring phase, on the other hand, uses inference rules to identify the refactoring that can be applied. The whole process is described and its application on a real system is assessed.
The Imaginary 20th Century
Authors: Kratky Andreas
Published: May 2010

To understand historic developments of the past the authors normally turn to facts: Archival records, testimonies or remains from the past – they are looking for tangible evidence to reconstruct the past. In particular in respect to the technological development that originated at the turn from the 19th to the 20th century the role of deterministic interpretations has been very strong. The focus is on technologies and how they improved along an inevitable time line towards technical perfection (Marvin, 1988). Another historic perspective that takes the social aspects into account mainly traces how people negotiated the old and the new and how technologies changed the social fabric. What stays out of the focus of most research is what people in the past felt and thought and how their imagination of what is possible and desirable influenced the development of technologies and the society. The following will use the example of the interactive media art piece The Imaginary 20th Century to discuss an approach to turn the attention to the re-construction of historical imagination with a particular focus on the imaginative processes and their communication to a current audience.
Digitisation
Authors: Arora Jagdish
Published: May 2010

This chapter provides a practical approach to digital libraries. The authors present a comprehensive picture of digitization and explains the process of digitization in a step-by-step approach. The chapter also describes different file formats and alternatives to digitization.
Managing Change in Reference and Information Services in Digital Environment
Authors: Ganguly Shantanu , Pandey Shweta
Published: May 2010

Libraries and librarians are no longer the sole providers of reference and information services. Reference services have traditionally played a crucial role in the delivery of library services both in the public and academic spheres. However, developments in Web technologies have seen the emergence of online or digital reference services, which many initially feared sought to replace the traditional library-based personalized service. A digital library is not merely a means of access to information over the network. As long as “library” word is attached to the concept, a digital library does and should care about users and communities that are in need of information and services just like conventional libraries. “Services”, therefore, should be one of the crucial aspects of digital libraries. In the recent trend, reference services have taken a central place in library and information services. Sometimes, they are also regarded as personalized services since in most cases a personal discussion takes place between a user and a reference librarian. The librarian point to the sources that are considered to be most appropriate to meet the specific information needs of the user. Since the Web and digital libraries are meant for providing direct access to information sources and services without the intervention of human intermediaries, the pertinent question that appears is whether we need reference services in digital environment, and, if so, how best to offer such services. This chapter looks at the inevitable change taking place in the platform of reference services.
Challenges of Sensor Discovery
Authors: Jirka Simon
Published: May 2010

This chapter addresses the challenges of sensor discovery on the background of the Sensor Web Enablement architecture of the Open Geospatial Consortium. In the first part of the chapter two kinds of sensor discovery are introduced: sensor instance discovery and sensor service discovery. After this, four key challenges are presented: the dynamic structure of sensor networks, the integration of sensor status information, the semantics of the observed phenomena and sensor metadata models as well as metadata harvesting mechanisms. Additionally, a practical solution for sensor discovery is introduced. This solution is integrated into the Sensor Web Enablement architecture and aims at addressing the challenges of sensor discovery.
Setting the Stage for the Integration of Demand Responsive Transport and Location-Based Services
Authors: van der Hoeven Frank
Published: May 2010

Demand responsive transport systems such as paratransit could deliver services that collective transport simply cannot provide. Location-based services may be capable of bridging the divide between transport services without fixed routes, stops or schedules and their potential users. This chapter outlines how the integration of demand responsive transport and location-based services may help to deliver a flexible transport system that is sensitive to the needs of individual users in urban and rural areas. Such a system would have the potential to liberate urbanism from the need to orient spatial development on rigid transit lines.
Developing an Interactions Ontology for Characterising Pedestrian Movement Behaviour
Authors: Orellana Daniel , Renso Chiara
Published: May 2010

Since the introduction of Time Geography, the literature has witness a growing interest in representing and understanding human movement and its relationship with the environment. Although recent technology in personal tracking devices brought new potentialities in collecting and representing individual movements, methods to deal with the complexity and dynamism of collective movements are still lacking. This chapter introduces a spatial knowledge representation for the conceptualisation of pedestrian movement as a complex system based on the interactions. Movement interactions are defined and classified to represented global characteristics of the movement as emergent properties other than as a set of individual properties. The devised approach is exemplified through a case study on characterizing visitor behaviour in the Dwingelderveld National Park in The Netherlands.
Revealing Taxi Driver's Mobility Intelligence through His Trace
Authors: Liu Liang , Andris Clio , Biderman Assaf , Ratti Carlo
Published: May 2010

This study develops a methodology for the analysis of taxi drivers’ operation behavior in a real urban environment. The research objective is to spatially and temporally quantify, visualize, and examine taxi drivers’ operational behavior and skill (as measured by income), which the authors call ‘mobility intelligence’. For the first time, taxi drivers’ different operation strategies were systematically analyzed through their daily activity traces. Routes and economic behavior data were collected with the use of Global Positioning System (GPS) and a set of spatiotemporal analysis tools were developed. Drivers are categorized by their daily income into top drivers and ordinary drivers. A 3D clustering technique is used to quantitatively analyze the spatiotemporal patterns for top driver and ordinary driver. Also, fractal analysis is employed to quantify tortuosity of movement paths and to explore how top and ordinary drivers operate on different spatial scales at different times, where the primary focus is to reveal top driver mobility intelligence.
Show Me My Way
Authors: Millonig Alexandra , Gartner Georg
Published: May 2010

The growing amount of ubiquitously available location based information offers great chances for the development of mobile pedestrian navigation services. Yet, providing spot-on real-time adequate information remains challenging, as relevant information needs to be filtered and group-related behaviour patterns and preferences are still insufficiently known. In this chapter, the authors focus on two aspects. Firstly, they consider the issue of how to comprehensively investigate human spatio-temporal behaviour patterns in order to enable the provision of customised navigation information, and secondly, they discuss potential impacts of ubiquitous wayfinding systems on human perception of space and possible resulting navigation behaviour modifications.
Hybrid Approach to Integrated QoS Capable Protocols for Wireless LANs
Authors: Lagkas Thomas D.
Published: May 2010

The recent evolution of wireless networking has led the market to increased service demands. Thus, the emerged necessity is to develop specialized mechanisms that provide efficient QoS (Quality of Service) for both traditional and modern network applications in the challenging wireless environment. The respective IEEE proposal comes from the 802.11e workgroup which has developed the Hybrid Coordination Function (HCF). HCF is definitely capable of providing QoS, however, it exhibits significant limitations. This work presents an alternative protocol with improved behavior and performance. The Priority Oriented Hybrid Access (POHA) is a complete channel access mechanism able to provide integrated QoS for all types of traffic and network applications. POHA combines a polling based and a TDMA access scheme, adapts to the dynamic conditions of modern WLANs, improves channel utilization and station feedback, provides medium contention fairness, eliminates collisions, differentiates traffic based on priorities, supports dynamic resource assignment, and instantly negotiates the quality levels of the offered traffic streams trying to support multiple streams with best possible quality. POHA, compared with HCF, exhibits generally superior performance.
Cross-Layer Scheduling with QoS Support over a Near-Optimum Distributed Queueing Protocol for Wireless LANS
Authors: Kartsakli E. , Alonso-Zárate J. , Alonso L. , Verikoukis C.
Published: May 2010

Distributed Queueing Collision Avoidance (DQCA) is an efficient MAC protocol designed for infrastructure Wireless LANs. In this chapter, a thorough description of the protocol is given, along with a set of protocol rules and an example of its operation. In continuation, four algorithms are proposed that alter the FIFO scheduling order of DQCA in order to meet specific network requirements. The proposed schemes combine the efficiency of opportunistic scheduling with the QoS provisioning through service differentiation. The opportunistic policy encourages transmissions at higher rates when the channel condition is good and is implemented through a cross-layer dialogue between the PHY and the MAC layers. The key idea of service differentiation is to assign priorities to traffic flows with different requirements in order to provide QoS guarantees. The throughput, delay and jitter performance of the proposed schemes have been evaluated through simulations for a scenario with heterogeneous traffic of voice, video, best-effort and background data traffic flows.
Cross-Layer Optimization for Energy-efficient QoS Support of Multimedia Streams
Authors: Perez del Notario Carolina Blanch , Pollin Sofie , Gan Tong , Desset Claude , Dejonghe Antoine , Masschelein Bart
Published: May 2010

A major limitation for wireless video communication on portable devices is the limited energy budget. For this reason, efficient usage of the scarce energy becomes a critical design constraint, in addition to meeting the Quality of Service constraints related to the video quality. In this chapter the authors focus on minimizing the energy cost of the two main energy consumers in the handheld wireless video device: the video encoding and wireless communication tasks. For this purpose, they present a cross-layer approach that explores the tradeoff between coding and communication energies. They then exploit the Rate-Distortion-Complexity tradeoffs and flexibility of the Scalable Video Codec. The results show that by adapting the codec configuration at runtime to the specific scenarios up to 50% of the total energy can be saved with marginal video quality loss. Moreover, the approach presented is of low complexity and easily deployable in practical systems.
Mobility Management and QoS Support in Wireless Environments
Authors: Kaloxylos Alexandros , Paskalis Sarantis , Vali Dimitra , Boucouvalas Anthony
Published: May 2010

Researchers are trying to find viable means to support the quality of services for fixed IP users for quite some time. This is a difficult task and even up until today there is no universally accepted mechanism to assure the quality of an operational service from the one end to the other. As years were passing, the need of IP users to keep their network connectivity while on the move, introduced a family of mobility management protocols. However, it was soon noted that these mobility management protocols were inter-working rather inefficiently with the protocols for the quality of services’ support. Thus, new protocols are under design to tackle this issue. However, even with these new protocols there are important issues left unchallenged. This chapter provides all the necessary information for this research area and its current status.
QoS Support Mechanisms in WiMAX
Authors: Ma Maode , Lu Jinchang
Published: May 2010

Quality of service (QoS) provisioning is an important issue in the deployment of broadband wireless access networks e.g. WiMAX (IEEE Std 802.16-2004, 2004) networks with real-time and non-real-time traffic integrated. To design a QoS support framework tailored for WiMAX networks is more challenge as wireless channel has unique characteristics such as time-varying channel and limited channel capacity. This chapter presents various QoS support mechanisms in WiMAX networks. Existing proposals with the state-of-the-art technology have been classified into three main categories: QoS support architecture, bandwidth management mechanism, and packet scheduling schemes. Representative schemes from each of the categories have been evaluated with respect to major distinguishing characteristics of the WiMAX MAC layer and PHY layer as specified in the IEEE 802.16d standard. Suggestions and research trends on QoS support in WiMAX networks are highlighted.
Enhanced QoS through Cooperating Schemes in Next Generation Wireless Networks
Authors: Charilas Dimitris E. , Panagopoulos Athanasios D. , Constantinou Philip
Published: May 2010

This chapter addresses the critical issue of Quality of Service (QoS) provisioning in next generation wireless networks. While the QoS offered to users may be enhanced through innovative protocols and new technologies, future trends should take into account the efficiency of the resource allocation strategies and the network/terminal cooperation as well. 4G networks will be characterized by an heterogeneous environment where several access networks will be available. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize techniques that enable efficient distribution of resources exploiting the existing infrastructure. Such techniques may involve either smart selection mechanisms or cooperating schemes among network entities. Since decision-making processes are examined, the use of game theory is considered as a valuable asset in the authors’ work. To this end, the chapter also collects applications of both non-cooperative and cooperative game theory applications in wireless networks. The main aspects of both game types are presented and several games are modeled.
"Pathfinding" Discourses of Self in Social Network Sites
Authors: Georgalou Mariza
Published: May 2010

It has been argued that social network sites (SNSs) constitute a cultural arena which gives rise to the processes of self-presentation, impression management and friendship performance (boyd & Ellison, 2007). Based on the tenets of discourse-centered online ethnography, this study investigates how identity can be discursively generated, reproduced and co-constructed within the genre of SNSs, taking as a case in point Pathfinder, a Greek portal which incorporates social networking features. The tendencies suggested by interviewing a Pathfinder web developer as well as by a pilot survey on social networking are traced in a popular Pathfinder networker’s profile. Adopting Zhao et al.’s (2008) sociological model of implicit and explicit identity claims on SNSs and leaning on critical discourse analytical tools (Fairclough, 2003; Reisigl & Wodak, 2001), the chapter explores how the online self can be cemented and disseminated in narrative, enumerative and visual terms via an armory of linguistic and multimodal strategies. In this fashion, SNSs should not be approached as a sheer technological artefact, but as a “space for growth” (Turkle, 1997) that encourages users to have agency shaping collaboratively their own linguistic, social and psychological development.
Constructing a Diaspora Anglophone Cameroonian Identity Online
Authors: Anchimbe Eric A.
Published: May 2010

The chapter illustrates how Cameroonians living in the diaspora discursively construct their identity as anglophones, i.e., as coming from the anglophone part of the country (the North West and South West Regions) in online interactions. In order to do so, they draw from several sources: the colonial history and heritage of the country, the geographical origins of the anglophones, and the linguistic factor: the use of English. Emphasising certain traits that make them different and superior, the anglophones create an in-group almost on par with ethnicity. This in-group is recreated discursively in the data used here. The data were collected from the interactive feature of The Post Newspaper, online version. The chapter concludes that virtual identity construction follows similar strategies as real identities in non-virtual communities albeit differences imposed by the medium.
Gender Consciousness in Computer-Mediated Discourse in Nigeria
Authors: Onadeko Tunde
Published: May 2010

The main preoccupation of this paper is the examination of language used in computer-mediated discourse and the extent to which it mirrors the society and how far women are involved or still discriminated against in Nigerian social world. To achieve this purpose, Discourse Analysis and Hymes’ Ethnography of s.p.e.a.k.i.n.g theory is adopted due to its adequate provision for various variables in communication. Corpus from “NaijaWorld” chat forum was used. From the analysis, it is realised that online language is used for many purposes. In addition, the norms of a chatroom and the Nigerian sociolinguistic variables converge to influence the participants. Some modifications to Nigerian social status-quo were discovered, that is, man-the-norm syndrome is being eroded in Nigerian social life with some recognition accorded the rights of women.
Thematic Organization and the Analysis of Selected Online Academic Scientific Journals' Site
Authors: Olayinka Foluke
Published: May 2010

This chapter analyses the thematic organization of the instruction to authors’ section of selected online academic scientific journals’ sites. Fifteen scientific journals were selected randomly from different fields in the sciences. The theoretical framework for the study is provided by Systemic Functional Linguistics. The results showed that the marked theme had a higher occurrence than the unmarked theme. The marked themes were realized by adverbials and grammatical subjects. The unmarked themes were realized by subjects and predicates. Simple themes had a higher occurrence than multiple themes while interpersonal themes had more frequency than textual themes. The editors observed the given-new information structure as there was a low occurrence of entirely new information. The derived theme pattern was mostly used while the split-theme pattern had the least occurrence. The results show that the editors of these journals made use of these structures to organize their message logically and coherently.
Visualization of Communication in Some Mobile Phone Directory and Call Log Icons
Authors: Olaosun Ibrahim Esan
Published: May 2010

In contemporary world, visual communication is fast growing in importance. In the internet, computer, digital media, Artificial Intelligent Programming Languages, etc, communication is dominated by visual resources. Most people, particularly in the third-world countries, face some difficulties in understanding this phenomenon of language. This study applies Eco-semiotic theory on the analysis of some mobile phone directory and call log icons. The study indicates that some of these visual codes do not constitute a new/esoteric language but that they are familiar resources appropriated and spray-painted to have novel semantic values. It therefore proposes that the reading and interpretation of mobile phone visual discourse can best be done through dependence on the general community and individuals’ knowledge of natural phenomena and material world from which these codes are generated. The study also indicates that the communication system is limited in its operation only at the primary level of signification and therefore proposes the exploration of both the primary and secondary level of signification so that audience, particularly those who can only read non linguistic signs would be adequately served by the emerging system of communication. On the whole, the study stresses the need for mobile phone technologists to orient their iconic designs towards meeting the needs of the illiterate audience by drawing iconic signs from their eco-semiotic environment.
Tracing the Non-Debatable Topic in Online Discussion
Authors: Bechtel Gabriele
Published: May 2010

This chapter discusses a phenomenon frequently observed in online discussions: “hard-to-discuss” topics. Using Bakhtin’s concepts of monologue and dialogue along with his idea of the subject as shaping variable in discourse, the author offers a close discourse analysis highlighting the intertextual dynamics involved in the discussions under scrutiny. The latter are taken from a well established German-American discussion board and center on Moore’s film Bowling for Columbine. Bringing a rhetorical perspective to the debate, which seeks a connection between actual discussions and ongoing debates on the (inter)cultural level, this chapter offers insights affecting both theory and practice of participatory online communication: Conceptually, it complicates the position of the participant in online contexts by showing the limits of the much-vaunted concept of interactivity. On a practical level, it informs the work of all those involved in the creation, administration and moderation of online discussion venues.
Computational and Engineering Issues in Human Computer Interaction Systems for Supporting Communication in African Languages
Authors: Odejobi Tunji , Adegbola Tunde
Published: May 2010

The computational and engineering issues surrounding the development of computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies for supporting African language discourse is the focus of this presentation. The thesis of this presentation is that, to obtain acceptable results, services for supporting CMC intended for use in African environment should exploit and implement language technologies developed around African languages and cultures. We discuss the key issues relevant to achieving this as well as the technicalities and strategies for its realisation. The aim of this presentation is to motivate and impel a robust, well articulated, research and development agenda on African language technologies relevant to CMC.
Sustainable Water Provision
Authors: Lee Shinyi , Yigitcanlar Tan , Egodawatta Prasanna , Goonetilleke Ashantha
Published: May 2010

As a result of rapid urbanisation, population growth, changes in lifestyle, pollution and the impacts of climate change, water provision has become a critical challenge for planners and policy-makers. In the wake of increasingly difficult water provision and drought, the notion that freshwater is a finite and vulnerable resource is increasingly being realised. Many city administrations around the world are struggling to provide water security for their residents to maintain lifestyle and economic growth. This chapter reviews the global challenge of providing freshwater to sustain lifestyles and economic growth, and the contributing challenges of climate change, urbanisation, population growth and problems in rainfall distribution. The chapter proceeds to evaluate major alternatives to current water sources such as conservation, recycling and reclamation, and desalination. Integrated water resource management is briefly looked at to explore its role in complementing water provision. A comparative study on alternative resources is undertaken to evaluate their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and constraints, and the results are discussed.
The Urban Water Cycle
Authors: Dawes Les , Reeves Jim
Published: May 2010

The increasing scarcity of water in the world, along with rapid population increase in urban areas, gives reason for concern and highlights the need for integrating water and wastewater management practices. The uncontrolled growth in urban areas has made planning, management and expansion of water and wastewater infrastructure systems very difficult and expensive. In order to achieve sustainable wastewater treatment and promote the conservation of water and nutrient resources, this chapter advocates the need for a closed-loop treatment system approach, and the transformation of the traditional linear treatment systems into integrated cyclical treatment systems. The recent increased understanding of integrated resource management and a shift towards sustainable management and planning of water and wastewater infrastructure are also discussed.
Planning Infrastructure
Authors: Heywood Phil
Published: May 2010

Current rapid increases in the scope of regional development and the reach of technology have combined with the expanding scale of modern settlements to focus growing attention on infrastructure needs. This has included organizational and funding systems, the management of new technologies and regional scale social provisions. In this chapter, the evolution of urban and regional infrastructure is traced from its earliest origins in the growth of organized societies 5,000 years ago. Infrastructure needs and provision are illustrated for the arenas of metropolitan, provincial and rural regions. Rural infrastructure examples and lessons are drawn from global case studies. Recent expansions of the scope of infrastructure are examined and issues of governance and process discussed. Phased planning processes are related to cycles of program adoption, objective formulation, option evaluation and program budgeting. Issues of privatization and public interest are considered. Matters of contemporary global significance are explored, including the current economic contraction and the effects of global climate change. Conclusions are drawn about the role and importance of linking regional planning to coherent regional infrastructure programs and budgets.
Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Development in South East Asia
Authors: Teriman Suharto , Yigitcanlar Tan , Mayere Severine
Published: May 2010

Many South East Asian cities have experienced substantial physical, economic and social transformations during the past several decades. The rapid pace of globalization and economic restructuring has resulted in these cities receiving the full impact of urbanization pressures. In an attempt to ease these pressures, cities such as Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur have advocated growth management approaches focusing especially on urban infrastructure sustainability. These approaches aim to achieve triple bottom line sustainability by balancing economic and social development, and environmental protection. This chapter evaluates three Asia-Pacific city cases, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, and assesses their experiences in managing their urban forms and infrastructure whilst promoting sustainable patterns of urban development.
A Framework for Privacy Assurance and Ubiquitous Knowledge Discovery in Health 2.0 Data Mashups
Authors: Hu Jun , Peyton Liam
Published: May 2010

Knowledge discovery is a critical component in improving health care. Health 2.0 leverages Web 2.0 technologies to integrate and share data from a wide variety of sources on the Internet. There are a number of issues which must be addressed before knowledge discovery can be leveraged effectively and ubiquitously in Health 2.0. Health care data is very sensitive in nature so privacy and security of personal data must be protected. Regulatory compliance must also be addressed if cooperative sharing of data is to be facilitated to ensure that relevant legislation and policies of individual health care organizations are respected. Finally, interoperability and data quality must be addressed in any framework for knowledge discovery on the Internet. In this chapter, we lay out a framework for ubiquitous knowledge discovery in Health 2.0 based on a combination of architecture and process. Emerging Internet standards and specifications for defining a Circle of Trust, in which data is shared but identity and personal information protected, are used to define an enabling architecture for knowledge discovery. Within that context, a step-by-step process for knowledge discovery is defined and illustrated using a scenario related to analyzing the correlation between emergency room visits and adverse effects of prescription drugs. The process we define is arrived at by reviewing an existing standards-based process, CRISP-DM, and extending it to address the new context of Health 2.0.
Use of Clinical Simulations to Evaluate the Impact of Health Information Systems and Ubiquitous Computing Devices Upon Health Professional Work
Authors: Borycki Elizabeth M. , Kushniruk Andre W.
Published: May 2010

Health information systems, and in particular ubiquitous computing devices (UCD), promise to revolutionize healthcare. However, before this can be widely achieved UCD need to be adapted to fit the information, workflow and cognitive needs of users of such devices. Indeed systems and devices that are not developed appropriately may inadvertently introduce error in healthcare (“technology-induced error”). This chapter describes an approach to applying clinical simulations to evaluate the impact of health information systems and ubiquitous computing devices on health professional work. The approach allows for an assessment of “cognitive-socio-technical fit” and the ability to modify and improve systems and devices before they are released into widespread use. The application of realistic clinical simulations is detailed, including the stages of development of such simulations (from the creation of representative clinical environments to subject selection and data collection approaches). In order to ensure the success and widespread adoption of UCD, it is argued that greater emphasis will need to be placed on ensuring such systems and devices have a high degree of fit with user’s cognitive and work processes.
Enabling Technologies and Challenges for the Future of Ubiquitous Health The Interoperability Framework
Authors: Juzwishin Donald W. M.
Published: May 2010

Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 emerge at a time when health care reforms are stymied. Current barriers to an effectively functioning health care system are linked to the historical, political and social institutions and processes that are preventing health system interoperability causing issues with access (to service and information), continuity of care, safety and the assessment of program delivery. An interoperability framework, identifying citizens, providers, policy makers and researchers is developed and related to the improvement of understanding, access, trust, discourse, and practice for the purpose of moving toward a high performing health care system. Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 offer great promise as an eHealth platform to synergistically catalyze significant improvements to health care delivery, however, caution is advised about uncritical adoption. Barriers to progress and opportunities for advancement are identified and questions for future research are posited.
Online Teaching Partnerships in Diverse Socio-Cultural Institutions
Authors: Scheinbuks Julian , Piña Anthony A.
Published: May 2010

In this chapter, the authors present the case of an inter-institutional online teaching partnership. The partnership has allowed faculty and students from racially and socio-economically diverse institutions to interact with each other through synchronous and asynchronous distance learning technologies. Courses were developed and team-taught by faculty from the three partner institutions. Faculty who were new to the online teaching environment collaborated with and were mentored by experienced online instructors. These instructors became more experienced in teaching a diverse student population and more comfortable and competent within technology-mediated teaching environments. Students from diverse socio-economic, racial and experiential backgrounds engaged in a more heterogeneous learning environment and learned how to be more effective online learners. Cross-discipline partnerships resulted in new courses being added to the curriculum. The inter-institutional online teaching partnership is a way to provide teaching and learning that is socially accessible, technologically adaptable, economically viable, and politically agreeable.
Using Email as a Cultural Bridge in the Learning Process for Transnational Students
Authors: Smith Sandra Wilson
Published: May 2010

Today many American composition and rhetoric courses are theme-based and have an embedded focus on social, political, and/or popular cultural issues. This kind of course can be especially challenging for transnational students who are less conversant with this cultural information than many of their native-born peers. In these classes, writing assignments that incorporate interviewing as a part of the information gathering process often allow transnational students to build a kind of cultural bridge between their native country and the U.S. Email can be used to help facilitate this process. What the author focuses on in this case is how email discussion can be incorporated organically into a learning/writing task, and how this discussion can be student-framed. The fact that the students initiate the email communication of their own volition taps into the positive qualities that computer-mediated communication (CMC) has. The students are empowered to act autonomously and construct their own learning activity.
Live Interactive Virtual Explorations via the High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network
Authors: Bruch Kimberly Mann , Braun Hans-Werner , Teel Susan
Published: May 2010

Researchers affiliated with the National Science Foundation funded High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN), are conducting case studies and facilitating technology transfer activities that enable Live Interactive Virtual Explorations (LIVE) between hard-to-reach science sites and an array of education communities. This chapter discusses lessons learned – both technological and pedagogical – during a longitudinal study of HPWREN LIVE case studies and technology transfer activities.
The Dynamics of Video Gaming
Authors: Abrams Sandra Schamroth
Published: May 2010

The idea of bridging literacies has been a topic of much research and theory, and educators continue to struggle to help students understand how their learning transcends the classroom walls. Contributing to the discussion, this chapter focuses on factors influencing video game learning, examining the decisions and game play of eight academically struggling eleventh-grade males. Data from two related qualitative studies suggest that direct and peripheral factors influenced students’ game play. Findings from these two studies are important to the discussion of educational gaming because they can inform educators of students’ struggles and successes in learning outside the classroom. Overall, the evaluation of students’ video gaming can provide educators insight into the affordances of this digital literacy and issues affecting student learning outside the classroom.
The Learning Toolkit
Authors: Abrami Philip C. , Savage Robert S. , Deleveaux Gia , Wade Anne , Meyer Elizabeth , LeBel Catherine
Published: May 2010

In this chapter the authors summarize the design, development, testing, and dissemination of the Learning Toolkit—currently a suite of three highly interactive, multimedia tools for learning. ABRACADABRA is early literacy software designed to encourage the development of reading and writing skills of emerging readers, especially students at-risk of school failure. The authors highlight the important modular design considerations underlying ABRACADABRA; how it scaffolds and supports both teachers and students; the evidence on which it is based; the results of field experiments done to date; and directions for future research, development, and applications. They also present ePEARL and explain how it can be used with ABRACADABRA to promote self-regulation, comprehension and writing. They briefly discuss ISIS-21 the prototype of a tool designed to enhance student inquiry skills and promote information literacy. As an evidence-based toolkit available without charge to educators, the authors believe the suite of tools comprising the Learning Toolkit breaks new ground in bringing research evidence to practice in ways that promote wide scale and sustainable changes in teaching and learning using technology.