This paper aims to evidence the perspectives of information professionals in the UK in relation to environmental sustainability and climate action to catalyse collaborative action.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to evidence the perspectives of information professionals in the UK in relation to environmental sustainability and climate action to catalyse collaborative action.
Design/methodology/approach
This study takes an interpretivist stance. Research into archive and record management literature was conducted to establish key themes on climate change within the information sector. These themes informed research questions included in a survey cascaded to UK archivists, conservators, records managers and cultural heritage professionals via national mailing lists. The results were then codified and analysed. The study had research ethics and data protection approval from University College London.
Findings
Using professional ethics as a framework, this paper argues that climate action can protect records from the impact of climate change, ensuring future access. The information professionals surveyed were motivated by duties to preservation and access to mitigate the impact of the information sector on the environment. However, sector-specific climate action, such as introducing passive storage conditions or decreasing collection sizes, is limited by insufficient resources, organisational hierarchies and cultures, sector support and a perceived conflict with the duty to preservation.
Originality/value
To date, there is a growing body of literature from other countries on archival practices and the natural environment. However, the UK in general and the records management sector in particular, have not yet fully engaged in the discussion. This study reviews these knowledge gaps for the UK information sector to appropriately respond to climate change.
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This paper reviews the current issues in risk assessment and risk management facing practitioners, and draws upon current literature to argue for an holistic approach to…
Abstract
This paper reviews the current issues in risk assessment and risk management facing practitioners, and draws upon current literature to argue for an holistic approach to assessment. The demands of risk management in a climate of risk avoidance are briefly reviewed, and key principles for effective risk management offered.
Yvette Vermeer, Paul Higgs and Georgina Charlesworth
The purpose of this paper is to review marketing materials of surveillance products for people with dementia and their carers in three ageing countries, as part of a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review marketing materials of surveillance products for people with dementia and their carers in three ageing countries, as part of a dementia-technology media analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
An online environmental scan was conducted using search terms for surveillance technologies (STs) and dementia through a Google search focussed on the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands. Data were extracted on the products’ and websites’ marketing messages from consumer and marketer perspectives.
Findings
Information was gathered for 382 product websites, of which 242 met eligibility criteria. The majority of products come from the UK. In the UK and Sweden, the companies behind the websites appeared to be mainly “cottage industries” which focus on selling ST. In contrast, sellers in the Netherlands included a more balanced mixture of small, medium and large companies. In all three countries, the website messaging focussed on the need to manage safety concerns, without considering privacy or consent.
Social implications
Contrary to the perception of future dependence on technology, the ST sector seems to be a niche market. The media messages, equating people with dementia with animals and children, are at odds with initiatives that strive for dignity and dementia friendliness.
Originality/value
No previous study is known to have explored media messages from websites that market ST for people with dementia.
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Yvette Vermeer, Joeke van Santen, Georgina Charlesworth and Paul Higgs
This paper aims to interrogate online comments from consumers with dementia and family carers on surveillance technology products used by or for people with dementia.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to interrogate online comments from consumers with dementia and family carers on surveillance technology products used by or for people with dementia.
Design/methodology/approach
A naturalistic, observational study of qualitative posts (N = 120) by people with dementia (n = 7) and family carers (n = 38) to discussion threads on surveillance technology (ST), hosted by an online dementia support forum in the Netherlands. Kozinet’s (2002) typology was used to describe respondent characteristics, and comments on features of ST products were analysed within a pre-existing framework.
Findings
Forum users were mainly “tourists” interested in ST, with some “insiders” interested in sharing experiences of ST use. They expressed a lack of trust in information from marketers and providers to the experience of being provided with poor information. Consumer-to-consumer comments on products triangulated with previous face-to-face qualitative studies. Carers prioritised “peace of mind” through location monitoring. In contrast, people with dementia prioritised user-friendliness (simple, with capability and compatible with daily routines).
Practical implications
Using online discussions of ST products provides a rapid approach to understanding current consumer needs and preferences in the ever-changing world of technology.
Originality/value
No previous study is known to have explored the views of carers and people with dementia in online discussions about ST.
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– The purpose of this paper is to investigate who rules the world. The hypothesis is that it is the 0.1 per cent of owners and controllers of capital.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate who rules the world. The hypothesis is that it is the 0.1 per cent of owners and controllers of capital.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used secondary sources including the Bureau Van Dyk and The World Top Incomes database to look at distributions of income and wealth (stock ownership). This is supplemented with a secondary source analysis and with some interviews.
Findings
The top point one per centers, the wealthy, those on the top incomes and transnational capitalist class are all distinct but overlapping categories that describe the (white) men and (few) women who hold power through their ownership and/or control of capital and who are thereby directly or indirectly able to act hegemonically on an emerging global basis.
Research limitations/implications
Theorists of the global school of capitalism Alveredo et al., 2013 argue that there has been a qualitatively new twenty-first century transnational capitalism in the process of emerging (see Robinson, 2012a). This paper tests this assumption and relates it to the work by Hamm 2010.
Social implications
The flip side of this progressively widening concentration of income and wealth into fewer (0.1 per cent) hands brings new lows to the polarisation of class, exploitation and domination. All of these have intensified since the 1980s with the end of the Keynesian Compromise. This north/south accentuated division has implications for social justice.
Originality/value
This seeks to identify empirical evidence to support the theory of an emerging transnational capitalist class.
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Marcela Georgina Gómez Zermeño and Lorena Yadira Alemán de la Garza
Sustainable development is an issue of high relevance for all countries and universities play a fundamental role in promoting the participation of society members in achieving…
Abstract
Purpose
Sustainable development is an issue of high relevance for all countries and universities play a fundamental role in promoting the participation of society members in achieving this objective. This study aims to conduct an open laboratory of social innovation (OPENLAB_SI) inside a university with society stakeholders, as a research and innovation tool that facilitates addressing the complexity of social problems through the principles of openness, experimentation, inclusion, diversity, participation and collaboration. The aim was to encompass innovation with the active participation of citizens in processes of experimentation, exchange and creativity to impact their social reality through collective designs for more sustainable futures done by and for communities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a case study conducted during an OPENLAB_SI, which applied innovative, socio-educational strategies intending to promote the social appropriation of renewable energies to help the sustainable development of urban, rural and marginalized areas. In our open lab, a total of 67 participants attended, including university students from various public and private institutions of higher education. Also, civil organizations participated, as well as consultants, teachers, government representatives and university professors. Experts from various disciplines who work in businesses, foundations, universities and government spoke on the topics that were addressed.
Findings
Among the notable principal findings is the collaborative work done voluntarily by all the participants who, instead of working with a proposal designed beforehand by one group or another, recognized that an OPENLAB_SI leads to the creation of links between society, academia, business and government.
Originality/value
In the OPENLAB_SI through the exchange of experiences and best practices, aimed at more robust networking and improvement in the acquisition of scientific and technological skills and abilities, the participants became actively involved in the generation of collective knowledge. The main contribution of this paper is to present an open laboratory into the social innovation space that can be replicated such a living lab model in other contexts to contribute to pursuit the sustainable development goals with education for sustainable development as a key catalyst for transformation.
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Georgina Slaven and Peter Totterdell
Evaluates a two day professional time management course, andexamines the possible influence of personal and work factors on trainingoutcomes. A multiple measures pre‐and…
Abstract
Evaluates a two day professional time management course, and examines the possible influence of personal and work factors on training outcomes. A multiple measures pre‐and post‐course design was used to monitor 32 delegates attending two courses presented by the same trainer. (Delegates also completed motivation and commitment questionnaires.) Course outcome measures included diary logs, time management skills, the number of changes made to working practices, and use of a time management aid. Post‐course interviews and diary logs provided information on delegates′ self‐reported success in implementing changes, supplemented by their perceptions of the work environment. Results indicated improvements in self‐perceptions of time‐use, but this was not reflected in delegates′ diary log measures. Contrary to expectations, commitment scores were not related to training outcomes. As expected a number of work related factors were found to influence training outcomes.
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The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, to identify and encapsulate the enablers that can facilitate technology integration in higher education and second, to understand and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, to identify and encapsulate the enablers that can facilitate technology integration in higher education and second, to understand and analyze the interplay between technology agility enablers.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used the Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) approach to construct a theoretical model of the technology agility enablers in higher education and MICMAC analysis for ranking and segregating the enablers based on their dependence power into four categories: Autonomous, Dependent, Linkage and Independent.
Findings
The study helped identify eight technology agility enablers, with the Covid-19 pandemic as the most significant enabler. The Covid-19 pandemic has catalyzed the diffusion of technology across the education sector in India, including tertiary higher education. The study revealed government initiatives and institutional commitment as other enablers that can promote technology agility in higher education.
Practical implications
The results of this study would assist the policymakers and management of universities and colleges in understanding the important enablers that can facilitate technology integration in higher education.
Originality/value
Research in the past on technology adoption in higher education has looked into each enabler in isolation. This research provides a comprehensive view of the enablers and has attempted to establish a multidirectional interplay between the enablers.