Colin F Smith

Understanding the “e‐petitioner”

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider the ways in which large‐scale e‐participation projects can be evaluated. It argues that existing evaluation approaches can be improved upon by taking a closer look at the characteristics of the users of such systems, by estimating their self‐efficacy.Design/methodology/approach – Literature review is followed by the development of relevant research questions, and an assessment of points at which relevant and useful data can be collected in a petitioning process.Findings – It is found that data relating to self‐efficacy, while not simple to collect, can add much to the evaluation process, and have the potential to result in more effective projects and systems.Research limitations/implications – The findings are specific to one project, EuroPetition, which will allow the co‐ordination and submission of cross‐border pan‐European petitions.Originality/value – The paper represents the first attempt to integrate perspectives derived from social cognitive theory...

Can pay, should pay? Exploring employer and student perceptions of paid and unpaid placements:

Students can benefit from applying their emerging skillsets through a work placement, both in terms of consolidating their learning and in gaining a better appreciation of their subject area. However, the main motivation for students in completing a work placement is in their increased employability skills. The aim of this study is to identify the core issues underpinning the ‘paid versus unpaid’ student work debate through a unique opportunity to access student and employer experiences. The study explores motivations, experiences and outcomes from different placement models – both paid and unpaid – for students and employers. Using separate surveys for students and employers, drivers, motivations and experiences were explored. Employers from large multi-nationals to small- and medium-sized enterprises, from profit-making organisations to the third sector, took part in the study. Overall, the data support the argument that placements should be paid, highlighting the benefits accruing both to students and to employers from payment being a component of the placement experience. This is particularly the case when a placement is for an extended period of time and the work being undertaken is equivalent to that of a regular employee. However, the value of work experience to students, paid or unpaid, emerges strongly from the study, and so, finally, the article highlights issues and questions arising for the higher education sector.

Delivering public services through digital television.

Digital television (DTV) is central to the future electronic delivery of public services in the UK. Central government has been actively promoting the use of DTV in the public sector, for example in policy statements and by funding pilot schemes to be implemented at the local level. Although DTV technology is at an early stage, this article provides an important opportunity to assess the nature of the platform as a state–of–the–art mechanism for delivering services and the factors that are likely to be central to its success.

Visualising the future: surfacing student perspectives on post-graduation prospects using rich pictures

ABSTRACT The gradual commodification of higher education in the context of an increased focus on graduate employability attributes together with evolving labour markets is creating challenges for universities and students alike. For universities, there has been significant investment in careers services and, through institution-wide initiatives, employability or graduate attribute development established to support graduate transitions into work. Meanwhile, for students, experience of part-time work together with pessimistic post-recession employment discourses are challenging the notion that a good degree guarantees their future career prospects. Simultaneously, decreasing financial support from the state has resulted in worrying levels of debt for new graduates. This pilot study was designed to gain a fresh perspective of how students imagine themselves following graduation. The study used rich pictures (RP) as a methodology to explore student views of life beyond university in the UK and Canada. Content analysis of the RPs provided insights into their thoughts and anxieties about potential challenges for the future. Students presented both positive and negative visions of their future, with success in achieving a respectable performance in their final degree as the key differentiator. The insights gained are discussed in the context of related research into students’ concerns and university initiatives to support students throughout higher education and then into graduate employment. The findings revealed student motivations, hopes and fears which can inform the development of impactful university interventions.

Non-public eParticipation in Social Media Spaces

This paper focuses on the importance of non-public social media spaces in contemporary democratic participation at the grassroots level, based on case studies of citizen-led, community and activist groups. The research pilots the concept of participation spaces to reify online and offline contexts where people participate in democracy. Participation spaces include social media presences, websites, blogs, email, paper media, and physical spaces. This approach enables the parallel study of diverse spaces (more or less public; on and offline). Participation spaces were investigated across three local groups, through interviews and participant observation; then modelled as Socio-Technical Interaction Networks (STINs) [1]. This research provides an alternative and richer picture of social media use, within eParticipation, to studies solely based on public Internet content, such as data sets of tweets. In the participation spaces studies most communication takes place in non-public contexts, such as closed Facebook groups, email, and face-to-face meetings. Non-public social media spaces are particularly effective in supporting collaboration between people from diverse social groups. These spaces can be understood as boundary objects [2] and play strong roles in democracy.

Is Interactive Digital Television the Future of E-Government Services? A Critical Assessment of UK Initiatives

Abstract This article presents a critical assessment of the use of interactive Digital Television (iDTV) to deliver electronic government and public services in the UK. It considers the organisational and institutional context for innovation in service delivery, explores iDTV policy and practice in the UK, and draws on recent empirical research around three of the UKs most significant iDTV initiatives. This emerging evidence base suggests that although the provision of public services via iDTV is still in its infancy, with current initiatives not yet sufficiently advanced to support widespread provision and use, it has the potential to become an increasingly important complementary service platform.

Tacit knowledge sharing in online environments: Locating ‘Ba’ within a platform for public sector professionals:

This article presents preliminary findings from a larger doctoral study which investigates tacit knowledge sharing and social media use. The results reported here are from a survey completed by members of an online platform that incorporates social media features and enables knowledge sharing amongst public sector professionals in Scotland. There are two main findings from the study explored in this paper. The first relates to the various roles that an online platform may play in the facilitation of tacit knowledge sharing, apparent around learning processes, expertise sharing, problem solving and innovation. The second relates to how social interactions are supported online, allowing discussions among experts to be initiated, fostering collective intelligence and enabling tacit and personal knowledge to become visible, and accessible, while decreasing the time and the effort required. The outcomes of the research additionally suggest that three aspects of the concept of Ba (or space), as proposed by Nonaka and Konno (1998), can be found in online environments. These aspects are Dialoguing/Interacting Ba, Cyber Ba and Exercising Ba.

Youth digital participation: Measuring social impact

Current scholarly debate around digital participatory youth projects and approaches to their evaluation are examined in this article. The analysis of the literature presented here reveals (1) an over-reliance on traditional evaluation techniques for such initiatives, and (2) a scarcity of models for the assessment of the social impact of digital participatory youth projects. It is concluded that the challenges and limitations of social impact evaluation practice in digital participatory youth projects should be addressed through the adoption of alternative, participant-centred approaches. These issues are discussed in reference to a current ongoing study that seeks to identify solutions for enhancing social impact evaluations of participatory digital initiatives by young people.

Investigating the online and offline contexts of day-to-day democracy as participation spaces

ABSTRACT Citizen-led participation in democracy is explored through studying the online and offline spaces where people work together to influence those in power and improve their communities. The concept of a participation space is introduced to describe these contexts. The spatial theme guides the research, from literature, through methodology, to findings. Case studies of three community/activist groups provide the data to identify participation spaces and model these as Socio-Technical Interaction Networks (STINs) (Kling, McKim, & King, 2003). These participation spaces include social media, email, and blogs, as well as paper media and offline spaces, such as rooms. The STIN models of these participation spaces reveal that the characteristics which influence their use for participation are the same for online and offline spaces. These can be understood in terms of spatial characteristics: the spaces’ perceived boundaries and inhabitants, combined with ownership and access, including costs. As well as recording the roles of these spatial characteristics, the participation space models map the day-to-day activities of participation. Collating these activities reveals that participation primarily takes the form of communication: organising and increasing solidarity, sharing information, encouraging involvement, and trying to influence events. The models also reveal that most of these activities are non-public. This sociotechnical study describes the relationship between the activities of local, grassroots democracy and the characteristics of the online and offline spaces where it takes place.

Towards graduate employment: exploring student identity through a university-wide employability project

Abstract Students have expectations of their university education leading to graduate careers, with universities investing considerable resources in institution-wide initiatives designed to enhance opportunities for student work placements and work-related learning. However, there are large variations between courses and disciplines in student uptake of these opportunities, with limited evidence explaining why this might be the case. Recognising recent approaches which consider student identity in transitions, this study explored student attitudes to work-related learning across a range of subject disciplines. The first phase of the study used in-class surveys (N = 199) to focus on students’ self-identification and perceptions of employability initiatives. Follow-up interviews were conducted to further explore themes emerging in the survey data. The study found that, while some students drew on resources for identity work in their recognition of and approach to work-related learning, access was limited, and university resources were not always recognised or effective. The findings have implications for the design of effective graduate employability initiatives.