Progetto Ustica is an experiment in "civically-engaged game design" and addresses the Ustica Massacre ("Strage di Ustica"), where 81 people lost their lives as an air-to-air missile hit a civilian aircraft in 1980. Progetto Ustica has been developed as part of an Action Research effort with the objective of preserving and transmitting the historical memory of the event. With this post-mortem essay, we reflect on the game design challenges that Progetto Ustica faced, we introduce different conceptualizations of "memory" emerging from our design practice, and we synthesize some lessons learned (implications for design) towards other "civically-engaged games" for socio-cultural heritage.
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Introduction: Losing items is a time-consuming occurrence in nursing homes that is ill described. An explorative study was conducted to investigate which items got lost by nursing home residents, and how this affects the residents and family caregivers. Method: Semi-structured interviews and card sorting tasks were conducted with 12 residents with early-stage dementia and 12 family caregivers. Thematic analysis was applied to the outcomes of the sessions. Results: The participants stated that numerous personal items and assistive devices get lost in the nursing home environment, which had various emotional, practical, and financial implications. Significant amounts of time are spent on trying to find items, varying from 1 hr up to a couple of weeks. Numerous potential solutions were identified by the interviewees. Discussion: Losing items often goes together with limitations to the participation of residents. Many family caregivers are reluctant to replace lost items, as these items may get lost again.
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This article discusses challenges of language differences in qualitative research, when participants and the main researcher have the same non-English native language and the non-English data lead to an English publication. Challenges of translation are discussed from the perspective that interpretation of meaning is the core of qualitative research. As translation is also an interpretive act, meaning may get lost in the translation process. Recommendations are suggested, aiming to contribute to the best possible representation and understanding of the interpreted experiences of the participants and thereby to the validity of qualitative research.
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De impact van digitalisering op de leraar, het curriculum en op de organisatie van onderwijsinstellingen valt niet te onderschatten. Achterblijven is geen optie in ‘the war for talent’. Frans van der Reep (Inholland lector Digital World) schetst de contouren van een digitaliseringsaanpak en geeft leraren gratis consult. “De leraar overbodig en de klas uit? Ik geloof er niets van.”
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1e alinea column: De grote beweging via ketenomkering naar customer self care en bottom-up self assembled teaming is zich snel aan het voltrekken. De klant neemt het initiatief en Tofflers prosumership wordt zichtbaar. Het aantal business voorbeelden wordt snel groter, al gaat het om je auto zelf samenstellen, onderdelen bestellen, 3D printing, zelfroosteren, civil journalism, klanten die restaurants recenseren, tracking &tracing van de post, medische zorg. Neem Qlinx als open architectuur in combinatie met bijvoorbeeld Twitter, dat laat goed zien wat dit kan gaan betekenen voor de dynamiek op de arbeidsmarkt. Wolfram-alpha toont de potentie van het semantic web. In bijvoorbeeld Share2Start - power of the open mind zien we de kracht van crowdfunding en het begin van ‘financials 2.0’. Deze sites laten goed zien welke richting het uitgaat.
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There is consensus that plant species richness enhances plant productivity within natural grasslands, but the underlying drivers remain debated. Recently, differential accumulation of soil‐borne fungal pathogens across the plant diversity gradient has been proposed as a cause of this pattern. However, the below‐ground environment has generally been treated as a ‘black box’ in biodiversity experiments, leaving these fungi unidentified. Using next generation sequencing and pathogenicity assays, we analysed the community composition of root‐associated fungi from a biodiversity experiment to examine if evidence exists for host specificity and negative density dependence in the interplay between soil‐borne fungi, plant diversity and productivity. Plant species were colonised by distinct (pathogenic) fungal communities and isolated fungal species showed negative, species‐specific effects on plant growth. Moreover, 57% of the pathogenic fungal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) recorded in plant monocultures were not detected in eight plant species plots, suggesting a loss of pathogenic OTUs with plant diversity. Our work provides strong evidence for host specificity and negative density‐dependent effects of root‐associated fungi on plant species in grasslands. Our work substantiates the hypothesis that fungal root pathogens are an important driver of biodiversity‐ecosystem functioning relationships.
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At the individual level we know that it can be very difficult to unlearn bad habits. For example, a once learned but non-optimal fingering on the piano is almost impossible to unlearn. The problem, as Dickens describes so beautifully in his famous Christmas Carol, is that we indeed make the chain we forge in life link by link. Certain habits and addictions are sometimes so difficult to leave behind. The force of habit. Brain rule number 1 - the Hebbian rule - says Cells that fire together wire together. And what applies to cells in our brain also applies to "aggregated" levels: people who join together form each other.
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Purpose: The objective of this paper is to examine the continuing debate over the nature, scope and definition of facilities management and the implications of FM practice in the field of outsourcing for the development of the field and the profession. Design/methodology/approach: The paper offers both a conceptual review of key issues in the definition of facilities management and a critique of these definitions in the context of the popular identity of facilities management as a means of generating cost savings through outsourcing. Findings: The discussion asserts that, perhaps contrary to the many published doubts expressed over the possibility of achieving consensus on the scope of facilities management, an emerging and broadly consensual model of facilities management can be discerned. This model, it is suggested, is inhibited from further development primarily because of a lack of leadership in the professional and academic communities together with a preoccupation by necessity of the FM profession with operational imperatives. Originality/value: The paper, through synthesis and critique, offers a variant perspective on the debate about the nature of facilities management.
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In this paper we explore the extent to which privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) could be effective in providing privacy to citizens. Rapid development of ubiquitous computing and ‘the internet of things’ are leading to Big Data and the application of Predictive Analytics, effectively merging the real world with cyberspace. The power of information technology is increasingly used to provide personalised services to citizens, leading to the availability of huge amounts of sensitive data about individuals, with potential and actual privacy-eroding effects. To protect the private sphere, deemed essential in a state of law, information and communication systems (ICTs) should meet the requirements laid down in numerous privacy regulations. Sensitive personal information may be captured by organizations, provided that the person providing the information consents to the information being gathered, and may only be used for the express purpose the information was gathered for. Any other use of information about persons without their consent is prohibited by law; notwithstanding legal exceptions. If regulations are properly translated into written code, they will be part of the outcomes of an ICT, and that ICT will therefore be privacy compliant. We conclude that privacy compliance in the ‘technological’ sense cannot meet citizens’ concerns completely, and should therefore be augmented by a conceptual model to make privacy impact assessments at the level of citizens’ lives possible.
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Het huidige wetsvoorstel inzake de km-heffing is uiterst oneerlijk, lost de files niet op en maakt het voor de maatschappij als geheel slechts complexer, intransparanter en veel duurder. Overheveling van de bpm naar de algemene lasten ("bereikbaarheidsheffing"), afschaffing van het kentekenonderscheid en overheveling van de houderschapsbelasting naar de accijnzen kunnen zonder noemenswaardige kosten worden doorgevoerd en zijn veel eerlijker dan de km-heffing.
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