Sonnenwaldâ s evolving framework for human information behavior (1999) was systematically applied to a set of online community literature to examine whether the frameworkâ s propositions are supported or not, so as to uncover open problems for socio-technical studies of online communities and human information behaviorâ what aspects that are relevant to understanding the reciprocal relationships between technologically-mediated systems, communities and information resources should social informatics be examining, but hasnâ t? Findings are presented.

No description available.

This thesis articulates how the Kuh-Ke-Nah network (K-Net) shaped broadband development in remote indigenous communities. K-Net operates under the not-for-profit stewardship of Keewaytinook Okimanak (KO) Tribal Council. Located in Northwestern Ontario, KO brought K-Net to life amongst its six member First Nations in the mid 1990s. As K-Net evolved and expanded its membership, KO established a governance model that devolves network ownership and control to community networks in partner First Nations. This governance model reflects KO’s use of social enterprise to organize K-Net’s community-based broadband deployment amidst necessary partnerships with government programs and industry players. K-Net’s social enterprise has rapidly grown since 1997, when its core constituents fought for basic telephone service and internet access in Northern Ontario. In the space of less than a decade, K-Net communities have gone from a situation in which it was common for there to be but a single public payphone in a settlement, to a point where over thirty now have broadband internet services to households. Technologies now under K-Net control include a C-Band satellite transponder, IP videoconferencing and telephony, web and email server space, and a variety of terrestrial and wireless links that effectively connect small, scattered First Nations communities to each other and the wider world. K-Net’s governance model encourages member communities to own and control community local loops and internet services under the authority of a local enterprise. Community ownership and control over local loops allows First Nations to collaborate with KO to adapt broadband applications, such as telemedicine and an internet high school, to local challenges and priorities. K-Net’s aggregation of demand from disparate users, within and across member communities, creates economies of scale for the network’s social enterprise, and allows a dynamic reallocation of bandwidth to meet social priorities. Based on four years of research with K-Net stakeholders under the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), my thesis documents the evolution of K-Net’s governance model as a reflection of its social enterprise. Drawing from Community Informatics and the Ecology of Games, I trace K-Net’s history and organization to assess how KO, its partners, and K-Net’s constituents, cooperated to make social enterprise viable for member First Nations.

This thesis articulates how the Kuh-Ke-Nah network (K-Net) shaped broadband development in remote indigenous communities. K-Net operates under the not-for-profit stewardship of Keewaytinook Okimanak (KO) Tribal Council. Located in Northwestern Ontario, KO brought K-Net to life amongst its six member First Nations in the mid 1990s. As K-Net evolved and expanded its membership, KO established a governance model that devolves network ownership and control to community networks in partner First Nations. This governance model reflects KO’s use of social enterprise to organize K-Net’s community-based broadband deployment amidst necessary partnerships with government programs and industry players. K-Net’s social enterprise has rapidly grown since 1997, when its core constituents fought for basic telephone service and internet access in Northern Ontario. In the space of less than a decade, K-Net communities have gone from a situation in which it was common for there to be but a single public payphone in a settlement, to a point where over thirty now have broadband internet services to households. Technologies now under K-Net control include a C-Band satellite transponder, IP videoconferencing and telephony, web and email server space, and a variety of terrestrial and wireless links that effectively connect small, scattered First Nations communities to each other and the wider world. K-Net’s governance model encourages member communities to own and control community local loops and internet services under the authority of a local enterprise. Community ownership and control over local loops allows First Nations to collaborate with KO to adapt broadband applications, such as telemedicine and an internet high school, to local challenges and priorities. K-Net’s aggregation of demand from disparate users, within and across member communities, creates economies of scale for the network’s social enterprise, and allows a dynamic reallocation of bandwidth to meet social priorities. Based on four years of research with K-Net stakeholders under the Canadian Research Alliance for Community Innovation and Networking (CRACIN), my thesis documents the evolution of K-Net’s governance model as a reflection of its social enterprise. Drawing from Community Informatics and the Ecology of Games, I trace K-Net’s history and organization to assess how KO, its partners, and K-Net’s constituents, cooperated to make social enterprise viable for member First Nations.

This PhD study is at the intersection of people, place and technology and pioneers innovative development approaches towards interactive social networking systems informed by community, social and urban studies and employs human-centred and participatory design methods. The project delivers a greater understanding of the potential for internet-based systems to support and facilitate social networks of urban residents and the role of those networks to foster neighbourhood identity and social capital. Departing from conventional notions that regard communities as collectives, this study builds upon more contemporary interpretations of community inherent in Castells’ and Wellman’s theories of the network society and networked individualism. The thesis challenges the view that a mere re-appropriation of applications used to support dispersed virtual communities of interest is adequate to meet the place and proximity-based design requirements that community networks in urban neighbourhoods pose. The overarching principal research aim of the study is to propose new ways of conceptualising the roles of social networks of urban residents to better inform the design of new technology facilitating urban neighbourhood developments. Addressing this aim requires a new understanding of the roles of social networks of urban residents. The study sets out to critique the implicit theories underlying technology design in this area and to propose a more appropriate theory based on recent developments in the field and empirical findings from the study. The key research questions are: 1. What theoretical model can better represent social interaction of residents in inner-city apartment buildings? 2. How can relevant research methods be adapted to take the network qualities of social interactions into account? 3. What are the implications of a new understanding of social networks for the design of technology that supports the growth of neighbourhoods? 4. What are the implications of a new understanding of social networks for an urban architecture that supports the growth of neighbourhoods? Within a framework of action research, the study follows a case study approach of three different inner-city residential apartment complexes in Brisbane. Research methods are mostly qualitative and ethnographic and include surveys, focus groups, participant observation and interviews, as well as participatory design. The study delivers innovative outcomes on three levels: 1. Theoretical innovation with an analytical translation of Wellman’s notion of networked individualism and a conceptualisation of the communicative ecology model into the context of system design that supports social networks of residents in inner-city apartment buildings; 2. Methodological innovation with the presentation of Network Action Research, an addition to the action research family which pays particular attention to the network quality of social formations in communities; 3. Empirical innovation with research findings which indicate that the key factors influencing the successful design and uptake of interactive systems to support social networks in urban neighbourhoods. They include the swarming social behaviour of urban dwellers, the dynamics of their existing communicative ecology, and the serendipitous, voluntary and place-based quality of interaction between residents on the basis of choice, like-mindedness, mutual interest and support needs. Findings are presented in three parts to audiences interested in people, technology and place. Drawing on social, urban and computer sciences, this research project delivers insights which will assist efforts to facilitate urban neighbourhood community building with new media and network ICTs. Understanding the issues and challenges as well as opportunities and strengths in forming a local meshwork of social networks will help Australians negotiate the complex web of daily choices, access a greater social safety net, and participate in the socio-cultural and socio-economic life of their city. This in turn will contribute to greater social inclusion, urban sustainability and healthier local economies.

<div><div><div><p>Many complex processes can be viewed as sequential events on a network. In this thesis, we study the interplay between a network and the event sequences on it. We first focus on predicting events on a known network. Examples of such include: modeling retweet cascades, forecasting earthquakes, and tracing the source of a pandemic. In specific, given the network structure, we solve two types of problems - (1) forecasting future events based on the historical events, and (2) identifying the initial event(s) based on some later observations of the dynamics. The inverse problem of inferring the unknown network topology or links, based on the events, is also of great important. Examples along this line include: constructing influence networks among Twitter users from their tweets, soliciting new members to join an event based on their participation history, and recommending positions for job seekers according to their work experience. Following this direction, we study two types of problems - (1) recovering influence networks, and (2) predicting links between a node and a group of nodes, from event sequences.</p></div></div></div>

<p>Security breaches nowadays are not limited to technological orientation. Research in the information security domain is gradually shifting towards human behavioral orientation toward breaches that target weaknesses arising from human behaviors (Workman et al., 2007). Currently, social engineering breaches are more effective than many technical attacks. In fact, the majority of cyber assaults have a social engineering component. Social Engineering is the art of manipulating human flaws towards a malicious objective (Breda et al., 2017). In the likely future, social engineering will be the most predominant attack vector within cyber security (Breda et al., 2017). Human failures, persuasion and social influences are key elements to understand when considering security behaviors. With the increasing concerns for social engineering and advancements in human factors-based technology, phishing emails are becoming more prevalent in exploiting human factors and external factors. Such factors have been researched upon in pairs, not overall. Till date, there is not much research done to identify the collaborative links between authority, urgency, risk perception and human factors such as personality traits, and knowledge. This study investigates about phishing email characters, external influences, human factors influences, and their collaborative effects. </p>

The Digital Doorway (DD) project provides computing infrastructure in impoverished communities in South Africa. DD terminals offer opportunities for unassisted- and peerassisted learning of basic computer skills, and varying computing activities ranging from entertainment, to independent research. This study addresses software application usage, and how it relates to user demographics (age and gender) and location, in order to better understand both the user base, and the nature and extent of DD interactions. A mixed-methods approach is employed, involving log-files, interviews, questionnaires, and naturalistic observation; to build up a holistic picture of application usage and user behaviour at selected sites. Important issues with respect to ICT for Education and Development in the DD context, are addressed. Analysis of the data indicates notable trends, and relationships between age, gender, location, and application usage. User behaviour and environmental effects on usage are discussed, and recommendations provided for future DDs and similar initiatives. / Computing / M. Tech. (Information Technology)

The advances in ICTs have decisively changed the library and learning environment. On the one hand, ICTs have enhanced the variety and accessibility to library collections and services to break the barriers of location and time. On the other, the e-Learning has emerged as an additional medium for imparting education in many disciplines to overcome the constraint of physical capacity associated with the traditional classroom methods. For a vast developing country like India, this provides an immense opportunity to provide even higher education to remote places besides extending the library services through networking. Thanks to the recent initiatives by the public and private institutions in this direction, a few web-based instruction courses are now running in the country. This paper reviews different aspects of e-Learning and emerging learning landscapes. It further presents the library scene and new opportunities for its participation in the e-Learning process. How these ICTs driven advances can contribute to the comprehensive learning process in India is highlighted.

The Digital Doorway (DD) project provides computing infrastructure in impoverished communities in South Africa. DD terminals offer opportunities for unassisted- and peerassisted learning of basic computer skills, and varying computing activities ranging from entertainment, to independent research. This study addresses software application usage, and how it relates to user demographics (age and gender) and location, in order to better understand both the user base, and the nature and extent of DD interactions. A mixed-methods approach is employed, involving log-files, interviews, questionnaires, and naturalistic observation; to build up a holistic picture of application usage and user behaviour at selected sites. Important issues with respect to ICT for Education and Development in the DD context, are addressed. Analysis of the data indicates notable trends, and relationships between age, gender, location, and application usage. User behaviour and environmental effects on usage are discussed, and recommendations provided for future DDs and similar initiatives. / Computing / M. Tech. (Information Technology)