Qualitative interpretive research is useful for understanding the meaning and context of social constructions
"The strengths of qualitative research methods lie in their usefulness for understanding the meaning and context of the phenomena studied, and the particular events and processes that make up these phenomena over time, in real-life, natural settings [5].When evaluating computer information systems, these contextual issues include social, cultural, organizational, and political concerns surrounding an information technology; the processes of information systems development, installation, and use (or lack of use); and how all these are conceptualized and perceived by the participants in the setting where the study is being conducted [6]."
(Bonnie Kaplan and Joseph A. Maxwell, p.31, 2005)
Kaplan, B. and J. Maxwell (2005). Qualitative Research Methods for Evaluating Computer Information Systems. Evaluating the Organizational Impact of Healthcare Information Systems. J. Anderson and C. Aydin. New York, Springer: 30-55.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
The International Visual Sociology Association
"The International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) is a nonprofit, democratic, and academically oriented professional organization devoted to the visual study of society, culture, and social relationships. IVSA membership is open to any person regardless of occupation, citizenship, or residence. The organizational membership represents a wide spectrum of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, education, visual communication, photography, art, journalism, and related fields."
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
MediaCity 4: reflecting on pluralities and globalities of MediaCities
International Conference, Workshops and Exhibition University at Buffalo, The State University of New York
3-5 May 2013 Call for Paper Abstracts DEADLINE: 12 November 2012
"What new lines of inquiry and emergent relations between urbanity and digital media are found in non-Western cities, in post-Capitalist cities, in cities hosting civic turbulence or crossing international boundaries? What urban-medial relations are taking shape differently in urban milieux that may have been heretofore overlooked? These cities are deserving of more attention than ever before, as sites of population growth, of new cultural and social formations, of new entanglements between urban life and contemporary media, communications and information technologies, and more. MediaCities promises to expand our understanding of both media and the city today, and to articulate new sites of practice and working methods for an expanding field. ...
Areas of interest may fall broadly into several themes, with the assumption that others will appear in the process of proposals and discussion leading up to the event, always expanding our lexicon and mental maps of MediaCities globally. These themes are: Other Urbans, Uncommons, Zero Growth Cities, Media Geographies and Bordervilles."
(Jordan Geiger)
Fig.1 Reuters/Sheng Li (2011), "ethnic Dong minority woman uses her mobile phone to take a picture of herself after a Kam Grand Choir gathering in Tongguan village of Liping county, Guizhou province". [http://pixtale.net/2011/10/21st-century-china/#img33]
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Design Principles and Practices: a knowledge community
SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES, Japan
Proposals for In-Person Presentations Due: 6 December 2012
"The International Conference on Design Principles and Practices, its associated design journals, the On Design Book Series and the Design News Blog are sites of discussion which explore the meaning and purpose of design. Participants in these forums also speaking in grounded ways about the task of design and the use of designed artifacts and processes. The Conference, Journal, Book Imprint and News Blog support a cross-disciplinary knowledge community, bringing together researchers, teachers and practitioners to discuss the nature and future of design. The resulting conversations weave between the theoretical and the empirical, research and application, market pragmatics and social idealism.
In professional and disciplinary terms, the conference, journals, book series and online media traverse a broad sweep to construct a transdisciplinary dialogue which encompasses the perspectives and practices of: anthropology, architecture, art, artificial intelligence, business, cognitive science, communication studies, computer science, cultural studies, design studies, education, e-learning, engineering, ergonomics, fashion, graphic design, history, information systems, industrial design, industrial engineering, instructional design, interior design, interaction design, interface design, journalism, landscape architecture, law, linguistics and semiotics, management, media and entertainment, psychology, sociology, software engineering, technical communication, telecommunications, urban planning and visual design – to name some of the design disciplines."
(Common Ground)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
New Zealanders need to start more actively dealing with urban issues
"'It is essential that New Zealanders start dealing much more actively with urban issues,' asserts Professor Harvey Perkins, recently appointed Director of Transforming Cities: Innovations for Sustainable Futures (formerly, Transforming Auckland) and Professor of Planning.
'We need to embrace the ideas of ‘urban sustainability and liveability’,' notions he explores in his most recent publication, Place, Identity and Everyday Life in a Globalizing World, co-authored with Professor David Thorns. This work followed a series of jointly published articles with colleagues at Lincoln University and The University of Auckland critically examining the ways in which sustainability thinking has been interpreted and incorporated in urban planning in New Zealand."
(Jenny Dixon, 16 February 2012)
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Simon PerkinsSHARE
