Duska Rosenberg

Co-operative work practices and knowledge sharing issues: A comparison of viewpoints

In this paper, we set out to explore the organisational knowledge that evolves from virtual co-operative work experiences. Through case narratives we demonstrate issues that can arise and using the four theoretical viewpoints of sociotechnology, knowledge management, organisational communication theory, and Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) we develop practical insights into the organisational complexity of computer-supported and virtual teamwork. This complexity, we argue, requires a novel combination of work design factors including participation-related design and computer-supported tools. The outcome is improved communication and a fuller application of organisational knowledge that enhances the design and operation of co-operative work.

An analytic network process-mixed integer multi-objective programming model for partner selection in agile supply chains

This article proposes a two-stage approach, based on the application of an analytic network process-mixed integer multi-objective programming (ANP-MIMOP) model, to solve the problem of partner selection in agile supply chains (ASCs). A key requirement of an ASC is that its constituents (suppliers, producers, distributors, etc.) can combine and react to fast-changing customer demand as efficiently and effectively as possible. An ASC needs to adopt the most appropriate supply chain structure and assign the most suitable order quantities to the most appropriate supply partners in any given circumstance. In the first stage, an ANP methodology is applied to calculate the priorities of different criteria for partner selection. Secondly, using these priorities, a MIMOP method is used to determine the supply chain structure and optimise the allocation of order quantities. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the approach, obtain insights into its application and identify issues for future research.

Understanding mediated communication: the social intelligence design (SID) approach

In the information society, new technologies have a huge impact on the way people work, interact, and communicate. New technologies such as social intelligent agents, collaborative virtual and information environments, personalized information tools, and interactive community media, are rapidly changing our language, the way we work together, and our lifestyle in general. The papers in this special issue are focused on the significance of such technologies in our lives, the way we work, learn, and play at home, office, school, or on the move, and, in particular, on the ways new technologies mediate human communication and collaboration across geographical and cultural divides. These technologies help people to:

Mediated communication in action: a social intelligence design approach

This AI and Society special issue contains a selection of papers presented at the 4th SID2005 social intelligence design workshop held at Stanford University, California, USA, in March 2005. Social intelligence design (SID) as a research field is at the intersection of multiple disciplines that include design, engineering, computer science, human computer interaction, communication, social science, cognitive science, social psychology. It aims to address the interaction, communication, knowledge transfer, and behavioral challenges faced by human or artificial agents. As stated at the first SID workshop held in Matsue, Shimane, Japan, in 2001 (Nishida 2001). SID involves systematic approaches concerning design and implementation of systems and environments. These range from team-based collaboration systems that facilitate common ground building, goal-oriented interaction among participants to community-centered systems that support largescale online dialogue. The SID scientific approaches address cognitive and social psychological understanding of social intelligence. They provide a means for predicting and evaluating the effect of a given communication medium on the nature of discourse, interaction dynamics, and conclusions, or the effects of a given

Using a game controller for relaying deictic gestures in computer-mediated communication

In computer-mediated communication, participants often experience a loss of information that would have been conveyed by non-verbal means in a face-to-face communication. They need to compensate for this loss by being more verbose which may have a negative impact on the efficiency of communication or give rise to misunderstandings. In this paper, we present a computer system that augments the imagery perceived from the remote site with additional visual information and that can be controlled by using a Nintendo Wiimote game controller. Our prototype illustrates our approach how a system might be able to partially compensate for the information typically lost in conventional video conferencing where deictic gestures cannot be relayed properly to the remote site. Concerning user acceptance, our user tests also show that the visualization technique is crucial which is used for highlighting the objects or persons that are being pointed at. Adequate visualization techniques based on non-photorealistic rendering are proposed.

INFORMATION IN THE STUDY OF HUMAN INTERACTION

This chapter describes one way that information — as a conceptual entity — may be used (by an analyst, as a tool) in a study of human interaction. (Actually, most of what we say will apply to interaction in general, for instance human–machine interaction, but our examples will be taken from human interaction.) The “analyst” here may be a professional social scientist (as is the case for our main technical example), or could be an ordinary person trying to make sense of a particular interaction. When applied to such latter cases, our article also provides insight into much of the common talk about “information” that takes place in today’s “information society”, and in that way our essay can be viewed as an analysis of the rational structure that lies behind (and is implicit in) the modern, information-oriented view of the world.

Three steps to ethnography: A discussion of interdisciplinary contributions

In this paper recent research involving interdisciplinary ethnography is presented as an exploration of its contribution to studies of people and technology in the workplace. Three main patterns of interaction between ethnography and ‘the others’ are examined. First, the influence of ethnography in promoting people-oriented perspectives of technology is discussed with reference to workplace studies in manufacturing. Second, ethnography contribution to the development of hybrid methods for the design and implementation of technology for use in the workplace is illustrated by several examples of such frameworks. Third, the influence of ethnographic research to providing a theoretical basis for computer-mediated communication is explored and documented by analyses of design teams working together as part of construction projects. From a practical point of view, this exploration has resulted in a brief discussion of the broad range of ‘users’ in the real-life workplace who benefit from ethnographic research. Future work in this area will rely on a reflexive stance on the part of the ethnographer in relation to both users of technology and users of ethnography.

Image super-resolution for outdoor digital forensics. Usability and legal aspects

Abstract Digital Forensics encompasses the recovery and investigation of data, images, and recordings found in digital devices in order to provide evidence in the court of law. This paper is devoted to the assessment of digital evidence which requires not only an understanding of the scientific technique that leads to improved quality of surveillance video recordings, but also of the legal principles behind it. Emphasis is given on the special treatment of image processing in terms of its handling and explanation that would be acceptable in a court of law. In this context, we propose a variational Bayesian approach to multiple-image super-resolution based on Super-Gaussian prior models that automatically enhances the quality of outdoor video recordings and estimates all the model parameters while preserving the authenticity, credibility and reliability of video data as digital evidence. The proposed methodology is validated both quantitatively and visually on synthetic videos generated from single images and real-life videos and applied to a real-life case of damages and stealing in a private property.

The role of natural language in social information engineering

In this paper we present work-in-progress - a technology platform for Social Collaboration in the context of Personalized Information Extraction. In particular, we consider elements of user-centered software engineering as it converges on the development of folksonomies. Results from our work-in-progress demonstrate to what extent non-IT users can apply natural language when managing their IT-based processes addressing information integration. We concentrate on the language model that supports the development of process-related folksonomies in the context of retrieving and merging textual information from different sources concerning legal documents. Findings in our work-in-progress underpin the conjecture that the computational nature of natural language overcomes the inherent problem of ambiguity when applied in a collaboration context that the users are aware of.