Wikis have been found to be an easy-to-use, low-cost, and Internet-based technology useful in creating and mobilizing knowledge. Wikis hosted within firms (corporate wikis) have become a popular way for employees to share information and collaborate. Preliminary research suggested that as few as 6% of wiki consumers contributed to the development of wiki pages. Conventional approaches argued that employees judged the costs of participating in wikis (e.g., authoring or changing material, reading messages, following an argument, and posting responses) to exceed the benefits of participating in wikis (e.g., recognition, reputation etc.) - thus many people "lurked" but did not post. Considering that people contemplated perceived benefits with costs of participating in wikis, research emphasized the cognitive aspects of decision-making. The emotional aspects of wiki participation in firms have received little research attention. Yet, research in other fields such as law, economics, and health showed that emotions played a critical role in human decision making, where feelings were shown to outweigh contemplated costs and benefits. For example, Kiviniemi, Voss-Humke, and Siefert (2007) found that positive feelings about exercise resulted in more physical activity whereas positive feelings about food resulted in unhealthy food choices. For Wikipedia, a public wiki, studies suggested that emotion might be an important motivator in participation. The purpose of this research was to study the role of emotion in corporate wiki participation. Since the area of research is new, the contextual details of wikis in an organizational setting made it difficult for a researcher to separate the context from the main effects. A grounded theory approach was needed. Under grounded theory, one starts with the data and builds arguments or theories from the "ground up." This study used a grounded theory methodology to reveal data through interviews, employee journals, observations, wiki statistics, and other documentation. Data were analyzed on a continuum using grounded theory coding to identify codes, categories, concepts, and properties and to recognize relationships among concepts. An exploration of emotion in an organizational context resulted in theories that provided an important beginning to understanding wiki experiences and improving wiki outcomes.

Aim: To illuminate relatives need of support when caring for or supporting a person suffering from mental illness Background: Relatives of a person suffering from mental illness have different needs. It has for the past few years merely been little improvements in the relative's situation. Methods: Focus group interviews with fourteen relatives. Data were analyzed through manifest content analysis. Findings: Three categories were found: Functioning contact channels to the psychiatric health care organization, Need of an active support from the psychiatric health care organization and Need of support from community resources. Conclusion: The relatives need more attention and understanding for their situation. The support of relatives must be designed and monitored individually. A collaboration or a well-functioning relation with the psychiatric nurses, other professionals working in the health care organisation and social services gives a mutual respect and trust which in turn leads to that the relative is confirmed as an important resource in the care of the mentally ill person. The relatives need an increased support and understanding from the community.

The purpose of this study was to examine how professionals describe the interaction between psychiatry and addiction care when it comes to clients/patients  who suffer from comorbidity of substance abuse and diagnosed mental illness. In this study we posed the following questions: How do the care personnel within psychiatric treatment and substance abuse care describe the current state of the collaboration between them? Which pros and cons do the personnel within the two sectors describe regarding collaboration? Based on six interviews; three among professionals in psychiatry and three in addiction care, the overall result shows that the informants believe that the existing cooperation works well but can be developed. The study also shows that concerted individual plans (SIP) as a tool can generate positive results for clients/patients within both organizations. SIP is also an opportunity for the professionals to go beyond the current confidentiality that exists between the client/patient and organization and thus better able to collaborate around a client/patient. The conclusion is that cooperation can be favored or discriminated against by the staff's attitudes towards individuals who suffer from comorbidity, political decisions, maneuver and professional, personal experience and knowledge of each other's professions. / Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur yrkesverksamma inom psykiatrin och beroendevården beskriver samverkan mellan organisationerna angående personer som lider av samsjuklighet av missbruk och diagnostiserad psykisk ohälsa. Frågeställningarna var: Hur beskriver vårdpersonalen inom psykiatrin och beroendevården att samverkan fungerar? Vilka fördelar respektive nackdelar beskriver personalen inom de olika verksamheterna att det finns med samverkan? Utifrån sex intervjuer, tre bland anställda inom psykiatrin respektive tre i beroendevården, visar det övergripande resultatet att informanterna anser att den befintliga samverkan fungerar bra men kan utvecklas. Studien visar även att samordnade individuella planer (SIP) som verktyg kan generera positiva resultat för klienterna/patienterna inom de båda organisationerna. SIP är också en möjlighet för de professionella att få möjlighet att häva rådande tystnadsplikt som finns mellan klienten/patienten och organisationen och därigenom bättre kunna samverka kring en klient/patient. Slutsatsen är att samverkan kan gynnas eller missgynnas av personalens attityder gentemot individer som lider av samsjuklighet, politiska beslut, handlingsutrymmet samt yrke, personlig erfarenhet och kunskap om varandras professioner.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / The aim of this study was to propose a model of collaboration adaptable for the optimal use of big data in an organisational environment. There is a paucity of knowledge on such collaboration and the research addressed this gap. More specifically, the research attempted to establish whether leadership, trust and knowledge sharing influence collaboration among the stakeholders identified at large organisations. The conceptual framework underlying this research was informed by collaboration theory and organisational theory. It was assumed that effective collaboration in the optimal use of big data possibly is associated with leadership, knowledge sharing and trust. These concepts were scientifically hypothesised to determine whether such associations exist within the context of big data. The study used a mixed methods approach, combining a qualitative with a quantitative study. The qualitative study was in the form of in-depth interviews with senior managers from different business units at a retail organisation in Cape Town. The quantitative study was an online survey conducted with senior marketing personnel at JSE-listed companies from various industries in Cape Town. A triangulation methodology was adopted, with additional in-depth interviews of big data and analytics experts from both South Africa and abroad, to strengthen the research. The findings of the research indicate the changing role of the statistician in the era of big data and the new discipline of data science. They also confirm the importance of leadership, trust and knowledge sharing in ensuring effective collaboration. Of the three hypotheses tested, two were confirmed. Collaboration has been applied in many areas. Unexpected findings of the research were the role the chief data officer plays in fostering collaboration among stakeholders in the optimal use of big data in marketing strategies, as well as the importance of organisational structure and culture in effective collaboration in the context of big data and data science in large organisations. The research has contributed to knowledge by extending the theory of collaboration to the domain of big data in the organisational context, with the proposal of an integrated model of collaboration in the context of big data. This model was grounded in the data collected from various sources, establishing the crucial new role of the chief data officer as part of the executive leadership and main facilitator of collaboration in the organisation. Collaboration among the specified stakeholders, led by the chief data officer, occurs both horizontally with peers and vertically with specialists at different levels within the organisation in the proposed model. The application of such a model of collaboration should facilitate the successful outcome of the collaborative efforts in data science in the form of financial benefits to the organisation through the optimal use of big data.

[pt] Neste trabalho apresentamos o design e implementação de visualização distribuída e colaboração para um visualizador 3D imersivo. Começamos apresentando, em um alto nível de abstração, nosso design de um visualizador genérico. O design segue a abordagem MVC, isolando todos os objetos de negócios na camada de baixo da aplicação para torná-la modular e extensível, permitindo assim a mais fácil prototipagem de funcionalidades e isolamento de algoritmos complexos da lógica de negócios. Este design como solução surgiu da necessidade real de um visualizador de implementação monolítica, cuja manutenção e aprimoramento se encontravam com alta complexidade devido à mistura entre a lógica de aplicação e os diversos algoritmos de visualização e distribuição. Esperamos que nosso design possa ser reutilizado como inspiração para outros visualizadores que queiram reduzir a complexidade e o custo do desenvolvimento de novas funcionalidades de negócios. Sobre este design, então, apresentamos o design e implementação detalhados de um módulo que provê visualização distribuída e colaboração para o visualizador. Este módulo é não intrusivo porque não requer qualquer mudança na arquitetura da aplicação, e esta pode se tornar distribuída apenas pela inclusão do módulo. Este módulo serve como prova de conceito para o nosso design, por solucionar um problema clássico de distribuição e sincronismo em um visualizador de maneira transparente para a lógica de negócios. Ainda implementamos um visualizador exemplo com este design e nele conectamos o módulo proposto, onde verificamos ambos o sincronismo da visualização distribuída e a consistência da colaboração entre múltiplos nós, avaliamos também o impacto no desempenho causado pela visualização distribuída. / [en] In this work, we present the design and implementation of distributed visualization and collaboration for a, immersive 3D visualizer. We start by presenting, on a high abstraction level, our design of a generic visualizer. The design follows an MVC approach, isolating all the business objects in the lowest level of the application, making it modular and extensible, therefore providing an easier prototyping of functionality and the isolation of complex business logic algorithms. This design as a solution came from the real necessity of a visualizer with a monolithic implementation, whose maintainability and improvement are impaired due to a high complexity because of the coupling between the business logic and the diverse visualization and distribution algorithms. Our hope is that our design can be reused as an inspiration for other visualizers that wish to reduce the complexity and cost of the development of new business functionality. On top of this design, then, we present the detailed design and implementation of a module that provides distributed visualization and collaboration to the visualizer. This module is non intrusive because it requires no changes to the application architecture, and the application can become distributed just by the inclusion of the module. This module serves as a proof of concept for our design as it solves a classic problem of distribution and synchronism in a visualizer in a way that is transparent to the business logic. Also, we implemented an example visualizer with our design and our proposed module, where we veried both the synchronism of the distributed visualization and the consistency of the collaboration among multiple nodes, we also evaluated the performance impact caused by the distributed visualization.

A dissertation presented to the Faculty of Humanities of the University of the Witwatersrand in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Fine Arts. Johannesburg, 2016 / Collaboration in South African printmaking studios, both between artists and printmakers, and between artists working together in print studios are examined in this study. How South African artists have used the conventions of collaborative printmaking practices to complement their own practice; and what kind of dynamics can emerge from such collaborations is the primary concern of this study. Printmaking is widely viewed as a subsidiary, or supplementary practice to artists’ primary concerns in their particular medium of practice. It is important to examine the role of collaboration in printmaking studios, and how it may benefit, or hinder artists in their creative productions. To contextualise my study, I provide a brief historical overview of collaboration in Western printmaking; and briefly examine printmaking against South Africa’s political landscape since the 1960s. Recent critical observations on collaboration in the arts are introduced to foreground various categorizations and approaches to such practices. My research focus is not on the intricacies of collectivism in collaboration but rather on how a form of ‘teamwork’ collaboration in print studios can generate agency, within the context of concerns raised in my own creative practice. As a printmaking teacher, practitioner and collaborator, I hope these findings could be used to address some of the concerns experienced in collaborations.

Post 1994 the South African education system has focused on creating education for all under a single core syllabus. It also stressed the need for a shift from the traditional teacher-centred approach to a learner-centred approach. As a result, the shift was made from an aims-and-objectives education to Outcomes Based Education (OBE). OBE has placed a different set of demands on teachers and the way in which they assess. Specifically teachers are required to use peer collaboration to bring about learning and simultaneously assess that learning has transpired. However, many teachers are left feeling uncertain about the efficacy of OBE. This report reviews the relevant literature as well as theories needed to understand the process learning. The objective of this research report is to establish teacher’s current perceptions are of OBE. More so, the research aimed to ascertain how useful peer collaboration is in facilitating learning. The results from this study show that teachers are uncertain about the efficacy of OBE. Although a significant number of teachers strongly agree with the underlying principles of OBE they feel that implementation as intended by policy makers is idealistic. Furthermore, they are conflicted about the notion that peer collaboration can sufficiently facilitate learning. Lastly, the findings of this study suggest that in implementing peer collaboration successfully, tenets from social psychology such as group dynamics need to be considered.

Thesis advisor: Irwin Blumer / This case study examined the creation of a collaborative learning environment focused on the development of teacher attitudes, perceptions, and practices that are culturally responsive. Sixth and eighth grade teachers collaborated in small groups over the course of a school-year, focusing on dialogue, activities, and readings related to race and culture. The ways in which teachers involved in the study developed thinking in regards to their cultural awareness, sense of efficacy, and instructional practices played central roles in this study. This qualitative case study was conducted by the school principal, who was a participant-observer. Data collection instruments included pre-program interviews, mid-program reflective journals, post-program interviews, and researcher field notes. Prior to the start of the program, teachers expressed that they rarely spoke with students and peers about issues related to race and culture, provided minimal accommodations for students of color within the classroom setting, exhibited mixed beliefs in terms of their abilities as teachers to meet the learning needs of students of color, and had a limited understanding of their own racial identities. As a result of their participation in the Culturally Responsive Teaching Program, most teachers experienced growth in terms of their perceptions of the their own racial identity development, efficacy, and increased their sense of comfort and desire to speak with students and peers about issues related to race and culture. Implications for practice include the need for; courageous leadership, persistence, promotion of the development of racial identity, understanding of racial identity development, promotion of collaboration, advancement of transformational learning, and the development of multi-dimensional learning experiences. Limitations of this study include the researcher's role as school principal and participant-observer, small sample size, and relatively short study duration. Recommendations for future research include increasing the sample size and program duration, investigation of changes in student experiences as a result of teacher participation in a similar program, and investigating the effect of a similar program when focused upon particular racial and cultural groups, as opposed to the broad approach utilized within the Culturally Responsive Teaching Program. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration and Higher Education.

The purpose of this study was to explore the codependencies of the social and technical structures that yield Wikipedia the website and Wikipedia the community. In doing so, the research investigated the implications of such a sociotechnical system for the maintenance of the project and the emergence of collective intelligence. Using a theoretical framework informed by digital media studies, science and technology studies, and the political economy of communication, this study examined the material and ideological conditions in which Wikipedia has developed. The study's guiding research questions addressed the nature of Wikipedia's sociotechnical system and potential for collective intelligence, as well as the historical development of the project's technical infrastructure and the state of its technology-assisted collaboration. A mainly qualitative multi-method research approach was employed, including document analysis, semi-structured interviewing, and social network analysis. A plethora of documents were carefully selected and examined to explore how and why decisions were made, policies implemented, and technologies adopted on the site. Additionally, 45 interviews were conducted with members of Wikipedia's technical community to understand the relationships between social and technical aspects of the project and the motivations of programmers who contribute automated tools. Finally, social network measures and visualizations were used to interrogate notions of collaboration and make more transparent the centrality of technology to the content creation process. The study revealed that Wikipedia's technical development has been shaped by the dueling ideologies of the open-source software movement and postindustrial capitalism. Its sociotechnical system features the complex collaboration of human contributors, automated programs, social bureaucracy, and technical protocol, each of which conditions the existence and meaning of the others. In addition, the activity on Wikipedia fits established models of collective intelligence and suggests the emergence of a cyberculture, or culturally informed shared intelligence, unique to the digital media context. Software robots (bots) are central actors in this system and are explored in detail throughout this research.

From 1997-2002, a loose collective of hip hop and R&B musicians known as The Soulquarians collaborated to produce numerous award-winning and critically-acclaimed albums. Drawn together by the heady atmosphere of collaboration with creative, like-minded peers, they were driven by a goal to create alternative sounds and representations in black music. This project has two primary goals: to historicize the collaboration of the Soulquarians and to identify and analyze aspects of their music that situated it in opposition to commercially dominant hip hop of its day. To do so, I perform close listening and analysis of recordings, interviews, liner notes, album and concert reviews, and articles on the Soulquarians and their work from contemporary print media, and draw from biographies and autobiographies of Soulquarians artists. This project contributes to music scholarship in three primary ways. First, I utilize an innovative technique to visually analyze microtiming in the groundbreaking grooves of J Dilla and D'Angelo. Using this technique, I precisely identify distinguishing timing features in drums and bass, and make them visible to the reader. By contextualizing these findings within previous scholarship on rhythm in African American music performance, I fill a gap in scholarship on groove, which has not yet described the variety of these influential rhythms. Second, I compile information from a variety of sources (web, print, liner notes, interviews) on the Soulquarians into one location. This produces a fuller picture of the collaboration than has previously been available, and facilitates access to a breadth of information on individual Soulquarians artists, and the collective. Third, I identify several musical traits that resulted from the collaborative nature of the Soulquarians’ work habits, including specific commonalities between the grooves of J Dilla and D'Angelo, and the use in Badu’s music of imitative strategies pioneered by The Roots. This presents a richer picture of artists’ working practices than is typically advanced by journalism and scholarship on hip hop. Because cooperative aspects of the Soulquarians’ working methods also characterize music communities more broadly, this description of their collaboration may serve as a corrective to popular but misguided notions of sole authorship in popular music.