title: Usability processes in open source projects

authors: Nichols, David M.

subjects: computer science

abstract: We explore how some open source projects address issues of usability. We describe the mechanisms, techniques and technology used by open source communities to design and refine the interfaces to their programs. In particular we consider how these developers cope with their distributed community, lack of domain expertise, limited resources and separation from their users. We also discuss how bug reporting and discussion systems can be improved to better support bug reporters and open source developers.

text: Usability processes in open source projects We explore how some open source projects address issues of usability. We describe the mechanisms, techniques and technology used by open source communities to design and refine the interfaces to their programs. In particular we consider how these developers cope with their distributed community, lack of domain expertise, limited resources and separation from their users. We also discuss how bug reporting and discussion systems can be improved to better support bug reporters and open source developers.

year: 2006

title: The digital horizons: Laptops for teachers' policy initiative: Impacts and consequences

authors: Cowie, Bronwen

abstract: This article draws from the findings of the secondary school Digital Horizons: Laptops for Teachers research study, to discuss the impact of a policy tool intended to assist teachers use information and communication technologies (ICT) for administration, communication, collaboration, lesson planning and preparation, as well as for classroom lessons themselves.

The results from a national questionnaire, focus group and case study evaluation indicate that secondary teachers are making more use of the laptops for communication with colleagues, reporting to parents, and the development of classroom materials than for use in the classroom for teaching and learning. Teacher commentary indicates that school technological infrastructure and access to professional development both constrain and enable their use of their laptops.

Drawing on Engelbart’s notion of improvement infrastructure we discuss factors that have the potential to accelerate the integration of the laptop into teachers’ professional lives. Analysis suggests that these factors include school and departmental leadership as well as the nature of the professional development that teachers experience. Engelbart (1992) argued that it was the factors at this level that were most important if the benefits of policy initiatives were to be maximized for teachers, schools and governments.

text: The digital horizons: Laptops for teachers' policy initiative: Impacts and consequences This article draws from the findings of the secondary school Digital Horizons: Laptops for Teachers research study, to discuss the impact of a policy tool intended to assist teachers use information and communication technologies (ICT) for administration, communication, collaboration, lesson planning and preparation, as well as for classroom lessons themselves.

The results from a national questionnaire, focus group and case study evaluation indicate that secondary teachers are making more use of the laptops for communication with colleagues, reporting to parents, and the development of classroom materials than for use in the classroom for teaching and learning. Teacher commentary indicates that school technological infrastructure and access to professional development both constrain and enable their use of their laptops.

Drawing on Engelbart’s notion of improvement infrastructure we discuss factors that have the potential to accelerate the integration of the laptop into teachers’ professional lives. Analysis suggests that these factors include school and departmental leadership as well as the nature of the professional development that teachers experience. Engelbart (1992) argued that it was the factors at this level that were most important if the benefits of policy initiatives were to be maximized for teachers, schools and governments.

year: 2005

title: My responsibility in the face of mass extinction

authors: Gray-Sharp, Katarina

subjects: autoethnography

abstract: Extinction is the “irreversible condition of a species or other group of organisms having no living representatives in the wild, which follows the death of the last surviving individual of that species or group” (Hine and Martin 2015g, para. 1). Mass extinctions are extinctions of the greatest magnitude, occurring “when many diverse groups of organisms become extinct over short periods of time” (Condie 2011, 250). These “are not step-events but rather a step into a prolonged alternative global ecosystem state” (Hull 2015, R941). Five mass extinctions have previously been recorded. A sixth has begun. Humans are the cause of the latest episode.

This thesis develops an Indigenous, non-agential conception of responsibility for considering an ethical problem of wide consequence. Founded in mātauranga Māori and recalling the work of Emmanuel Levinas, it applies Kaupapa Māori autoethnography, narrative, and conceptual analyses alongside exegeses and a replication study. Investigations of responsibility across various positions are encountered: those found in place and polity, those made as visitor and the commanded, those gifted as inherited erudition and in the suffering-with. Now facing the last structural violence, what is my responsibility?

text: My responsibility in the face of mass extinction Extinction is the “irreversible condition of a species or other group of organisms having no living representatives in the wild, which follows the death of the last surviving individual of that species or group” (Hine and Martin 2015g, para. 1). Mass extinctions are extinctions of the greatest magnitude, occurring “when many diverse groups of organisms become extinct over short periods of time” (Condie 2011, 250). These “are not step-events but rather a step into a prolonged alternative global ecosystem state” (Hull 2015, R941). Five mass extinctions have previously been recorded. A sixth has begun. Humans are the cause of the latest episode.

This thesis develops an Indigenous, non-agential conception of responsibility for considering an ethical problem of wide consequence. Founded in mātauranga Māori and recalling the work of Emmanuel Levinas, it applies Kaupapa Māori autoethnography, narrative, and conceptual analyses alongside exegeses and a replication study. Investigations of responsibility across various positions are encountered: those found in place and polity, those made as visitor and the commanded, those gifted as inherited erudition and in the suffering-with. Now facing the last structural violence, what is my responsibility?

year: 2021