This thesis is about dilemmas, discretionary space and ethics in public welfare. In my position as a lecturer of ethics in socio-legal practices I am concerned with the way in which these practices open up to an ethical development of their professionals. Thus, this thesis is a search for the most fundamental themes and issues in understanding and judging public welfare as a, perhaps, ethical socio-legal practice. In the field of public services professionals function as the intermediary between government and citizen. In their daily work public welfare professionals take care of the important societal task and goal of poverty alleviation. During the last decades, public welfare has developed into a civil right that involves many obligations on the part of the client in return. The requirement to see to it that the client fulfils these obligations has complicated the public welfare professional’s task of helping citizens in need.
This video presents BiebBeep, an interactive touchscreen system that has been developed with the aim to support information and social services for the New Library in Almere, The Netherlands. The constantly updated information displayed on the interactive screen concerns not only the library itself, but also features happenings in the local area. The system's distinctive feature is that people can add information to the screen themselves, such as tweets, photos, local and cultural news announcements, so that the library and its visitors can inform and connect with each other. Over the course of almost one year, several studies were conducted, including focus group, interview- and observation-based studies that have motivated the functionality, and particularly the user-generated and localized content the system supports. Consequently, the services and functionality the system offers are aimed towards supporting Library 2.0, the next generation library.
MULTIFILE
This paper describes a comparative case study that aims to uncover the quantifiable differences between non-interactive and interactive public displays in the urbanenvironment. The study involved a large temporaryinteractive public display on a central city square showing a selection of custom-made content. We have evaluated the effect on passers-by and spectators in two conditions: 1) non-interactive (2102 passers-by, 228 viewers), by showing a content loop, and 2) interactive (1676 passers-by, 257 viewers), by adding physical pushbuttons for content selection and gaming. We discuss the influence of noninteractive and interactive public displays on: 1) attracting attention, 2) engaging people, 3) improving social dynamics within and among groups of viewers, and 4) catering for the suitable time of day. Based on our observations, we provide quantitative support for the hypothesis that interactive displays are more successful than non-interactive displays to engage viewers, and to make city centers more lively and attractive.
