Anne-Marie Oostveen

A case study of non-adoption: the values of location tracking in the family

A number of commercial location tracking systems exist which enable parents to monitor where their children are when outdoors. The adoption of these services and whether, through their design, they reflect parental values has not been investigated. This question was pursued with a large-scale survey of 920 parents from the UK. The use of location tracking was not prevalent amongst parents and only a minority had considered using these technologies. Parents favoring location tracking described it in the context of security, peace of mind and the need to reduce uncertainty. Parents who were against location tracking described a general lack of need as they had established reliable mechanisms for security and valued trust in the family as well as childrens self-direction. Our findings show that location tracking concurrently supports and threatens parental values. By focusing on the values it undermines, we are able to suggest new directions for location systems.

Outsourcing Democracy: Losing Control of E-Voting in the Netherlands

Outsourcing IT services is a common practice for many governments. This case study shows that outsourcing of elections is not without risk. Studying electronic voting in the Netherlands through documents obtained with Freedom of Information requests, we see that government agencies at both local and national level lacked the necessary knowledge and capability to identify appropriate voting technology, to develop and enforce proper security requirements, and to monitor performance. Furthermore, over the 20 years that e-voting was used in the Netherlands, the public sector became so dependent on the private sector that a situation evolved where Dutch government lost ownership and control over both the e-voting system and the election process.

Cross-Disciplinary lessons for the future internet

There are many societal concerns that emerge as a consequence of Future Internet (FI) research and development. A survey identified six key social and economic issues deemed most relevant to European FI projects. During a SESERV-organized workshop, experts in Future Internet technology engaged with social scientists (including economists), policy experts and other stakeholders in analyzing the socio-economic barriers and challenges that affect the Future Internet, and conversely, how the Future Internet will affect society, government, and business. The workshop aimed to bridge the gap between thosewho study andthose who build the Internet. This chapter describes the socio-economic barriers seen by the community itself related to the Future Internet and suggests their resolution, as well as investigating how relevant the EU Digital Agenda is to Future Internet technologists.

Citizens and Activists: Analysing the Reasons, Impact and Benefits of Civic Emails Directed at a Grassroots Campaign

Much has been said about the use of email and other information and communication technologies by online activists to communicate their message to the general public, to recruit and mobilize fellow advocates, and to reach the mass media. However, largely absent from the literature are studies exploring the use of email by the public to communicate and interact with campaigners. This paper investigates why citizens email campaigners and whether email exchanges between the public and activists inform campaigning tactics. The data used in this article include the results of content analysis of the archive of an email list, participant observation, and informal interviews with the grassroots activists of a Dutch single-issue campaign against black box electronic voting. The research shows that the possibility for citizens to communicate with a grassroots campaign has been beneficial for both the civic writer and the activists.

User Involvement in Future Internet Projects

To determine actual attitudes and practices of those in the Future Internet industry towards user involvement, delegates at the 2012 FIA participated in a focus group and a survey. Continuous user involvement is highly valued and expected to maximise the societal benefits of FI applications. However, just over half of the FI projects apply a user-centred approach, and a large number of survey respondents admitted to being not very knowledgeable about standard user-centred design tools or techniques.