No

Farming is considered as an important area for a sustainable society, and the need for proper information and knowledge exchange among farmers through various forms of social learning processes has been addressed. Beside learning from each other face to face and sharing personal experiences of farming practices, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the form of Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW) systems provides another possibility to share and exchange information and knowledge with other farmers. This work demonstrates the necessary functions needed for a future CSCW system for farmers, as a tool for social interaction and communication in agriculture, through which social learning is fostered. The purpose is to stimulate social learning among farmers so they will develop from passive readers to active contributors of information content in the proposed CSCW system, which in the long run may have a positive impact on the overall purpose of farming – increasing harvests. The main aim of this work is to stimulate social learning in agriculture, where farmers’ social online learning processes is stimulated via a CSCW system that has been developed and designed as a high-fi prototype, providing various functions that make it possible to communicate among farmers and other stakeholders. In order to o stimulate so-called reading farmers into actively contributing farmers in the proposed CSCW-system this work also provides some identified lessons learned. These lessons learned provide both design guidelines as well as suggested behavioral changes of farmers and farming organisations in order to foster the use of CSW systems a social interaction and social learning tools in farming practices. Keywords; Agriculture, social learning, communication, CSCL, CSCW, ICT, contribute to content.

Purpose – The aim of this thesis is to explain the factors that influence consumers’ willingness to contribute to crowdsourcing organizations, by applying the reciprocity theory. Design/methodology/approach – This is a quantitative research which used a cross sectional research design with an explanatory approach. The data was collected with a questionnaire survey that was distributed using face-to-face and online methods. Findings – The findings of this research revealed that social proof is positively influencing willingness to contribute, either direct or indirect, through reciprocity. In addition, trust, commitment and identification were not directly influencing willingness to contribute, however they have an indirect positive impact on willingness to contribute through reciprocity. Research limitations/implications – This study has created a research model by the use of relevant literature in regards to reciprocity and willingness to contribute. Moreover, the limitations of this study are related to the chosen sample, since the generalization of the results is done based on three countries. Practical implications – The study provides some valuable insights for crowdsourcing organizations managers who aim to increase the amount of contributions through their online communities by the use of the reciprocity theory. Detailed explanation goes in the managerial implications section. Originality/value – This research is unique in that it presents a new model that shows reciprocity as a mediating factor for improving online communities’ users attitudes towards contributing to crowdsourcing organizations.

The main aim of this study is to examine participants&rsquo / satisfaction with online Information Technologies Certificate Program (ITCP) which is based on synchronous and asynchronous communication methods over Internet offered by cooperation of Computer Engineering Department and Continuing Education Center at Middle East Technical University. There are three main purposes under the main aim. These purposes are to describe the strength and direction of relationship between participants&rsquo / perceptions of online technologies self-efficacy, online learning readiness, locus of control, prior knowledge, and participants&rsquo / satisfaction / to analyze contributing factors of participants&rsquo / satisfaction based on semester 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the online ITCP / and to investigate instructors&rsquo / and participants&rsquo / views about satisfaction in online ITCP. The sample includes 62 participants who enrolled and 8 instructors who offered courses in this online program in 2004-2005. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods are used in this study. The results of the study demonstrate that participants&rsquo / initial perception of online learning readiness is only a variable that correlate statistically significant with participants&rsquo / satisfaction. Although participants&rsquo / overall satisfaction is generally positive, it decreases over the semesters of the program. Participants are satisfied with learner-instructor interaction and institutional support in the program. However, participants&rsquo / satisfaction level is low for interaction among participants. Also, participants&rsquo / satisfaction about course structure and flexibility decrease over the semesters in the program. Moreover, the findings of semi-structured interviews with participants and instructors and chat session and discussion list transcripts reveal complementary results to the statistical analyses.

The main aim of this study is to examine participants&rsquo / satisfaction with online Information Technologies Certificate Program (ITCP) which is based on synchronous and asynchronous communication methods over Internet offered by cooperation of Computer Engineering Department and Continuing Education Center at Middle East Technical University. There are three main purposes under the main aim. These purposes are to describe the strength and direction of relationship between participants&rsquo / perceptions of online technologies self-efficacy, online learning readiness, locus of control, prior knowledge, and participants&rsquo / satisfaction / to analyze contributing factors of participants&rsquo / satisfaction based on semester 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the online ITCP / and to investigate instructors&rsquo / and participants&rsquo / views about satisfaction in online ITCP. The sample includes 62 participants who enrolled and 8 instructors who offered courses in this online program in 2004-2005. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection methods are used in this study. The results of the study demonstrate that participants&rsquo / initial perception of online learning readiness is only a variable that correlate statistically significant with participants&rsquo / satisfaction. Although participants&rsquo / overall satisfaction is generally positive, it decreases over the semesters of the program. Participants are satisfied with learner-instructor interaction and institutional support in the program. However, participants&rsquo / satisfaction level is low for interaction among participants. Also, participants&rsquo / satisfaction about course structure and flexibility decrease over the semesters in the program. Moreover, the findings of semi-structured interviews with participants and instructors and chat session and discussion list transcripts reveal complementary results to the statistical analyses.

The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that contribute to online collaboration in a web-based course by investigating the impact and the potential of an online learning environment in terms of both the students&#039 / and instructor&rsquo / s perceptions about learner benefits, learner support, motivation, computer mediated communication, and group work. A mixed methods case study design was thought to be appropriate to match the purpose of the study, thus a combination of components normally found in descriptive, case study and qualitative research was used to analyze the data. The study was conducted in the context of &ldquo / CSIT444-Online Web Design&rdquo / , an online course offered by the Institute of Distance Education of East Mediterranean University (EMU) in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This course was designed and developed by the instructor working at the Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology of the Middle East Technical University located in Ankara and carrying out the classes for this course as online for the students at EMU. The participants were the instructor and 209 vocational education last year students, who participated in the course for three successive semesters, at the School of Computing &amp / Technology. In order to explore the perceptions of the students, they were asked to complete a questionnaire at the end of the each semester. Of the 209 participants 175 students ranked their agreement on each twenty eight five-point Likert-type item and 129 of them wrote also their comments about their online learning experience by answering the open-ended item in the questionnaire. Several interviews were conducted with the instructor using the informal conversational interview approach to explore his perceptions through his reflections on his online teaching experience in the web-based course. The perceptual student responses from the questionnaire were analyzed quantitatively. The responses to the open-ended item in the questionnaire and informal interviews were evaluated qualitatively to find out the emerging themes. In addition, the online learning environment offered in the web-based course was examined by using the instructional design framework. This study concluded that both the students and the instructor perceived the online collaborative learning/ experience positively by reporting that it was a beneficial and motivating experience with the availability of group work, CMC, and adequate support structure. Several specific factors that contributed to collaboration via CMC in the web-based course were identified under seven major topics. By considering these factors, it is hoped that the results will yield better solutions in terms of providing meaningful online learning experiences.

Dans ces dernières années nous assistons à l’émergence de nouvelles licences, les Creative Commons (CC), qui dérivent du monde du logiciel libre et qui ont pour but de partager les œuvres artistiques (vidéos, musique, etc.) entre les utilisateurs. Cette thèse est consacrée à l’étude des vidéos qu'utilisent ces licences. En particulier cette thèse se concentre sur trois aspects de la production de vidéos sous licences CC : les choix judicieux du degré d'ouverture de la licence, la stratégie de financer et de mener l’innovation et le chemin qui détermine le succès des projets. Tout d’abord, pour enquêter sur ce qui est le choix judicieux entre les différents degrés d'ouverture dans les licences CC, nous avons conduit une analyse économétrique (approche quantitative) sur des vidéos sous licences CC stockées sur l'Internet Archive. Les résultats de cette étude suggèrent que, dans le but d'attirer les contributions des utilisateurs, les producteurs utilisent différents degrés d'ouverture de licences en fonction de leur statut organisationnel. Ensuite, pour étudier la stratégie de financer et de diriger l’innovation générée par les utilisateurs, nous avons conduit une étude de cas (approche qualitative) concernant un vidéo produite sous licence CC, Big Buck Bunny. Les résultats suggèrent que les utilisateurs peuvent être utilisés en tant que source de financement de la production et comme partenaires pour innover. Enfin, pour étudier le chemin et les caractéristiques des projets qui arrivent à être produit, nous avons crée un modèle multi-agent, capable de reproduire les faits stylisés de la production de vidéos sous CC stockées sur une plate-forme en ligne. / Recently Creative Commons (CC ) licenses emerged. CC are a set of licenses which derive from the free/open source software world. The aim of CC licenses is to share the artistic works (videos , music, etc.) among users . This thesis is devoted to the study of videos under these licenses. In particular, the thesis focuses on three aspects of video production under CC licenses: the successful choice of the degree of openness of the license , the strategy to fund and conduct innovation and the way that determine the success of the projects. First, to investigate the appropriate choice among different degrees of openness in the CC licenses, we conducted an econometric analysis (quantitative approach) on video under CC licenses stored on the Internet Archive . The results suggest that in order to attract contributions of users, producers use different opening licenses based on their organizational status degrees. Then, to study the strategy to fund and manage the innovation generated by users, we conducted a case study (qualitative approach ) of a video under CC license, Big Buck Bunny. The results suggest that users can be used as a source of funding for the production and as partners to innovate. Finally, to study the path and the characteristics of projects that succeed, we created an agent-based model that is able to reproduce the stylized facts of the production of videos under CC license stored on an on-line platform.

O presente trabalho faz uma análise, sob o aspecto do direito internacional e do direito brasileiro, do instituto do contributo mínimo em direito de autor, a qual pouquíssima atenção foi dada pela doutrina e jurisprudência brasileiras. Trata-se da análise do mínimo grau criativo que uma criação deve possuir para ensejar proteção por direito de autor esse é o sentido que damos à expressão contributo mínimo.Devido ao caráter internacional do direito de autor, fazemos a análise sob esse aspecto, passando por um pouco da história em âmbito global e tratando de que modo esse instituto é previsto e assegurado através do direito internacional público e do direito internacional privado. Como o tema é ainda novo no Brasil, fazemos observações de ordem terminológica, diferenciando o instituto do contributo mínimo de demais institutos do direito de autor. Durante todo o trabalho são feitas diversas menções e citações a doutrina, jurisprudência e normas estrangeiras, com objetivo de analisar da forma mais ampla possível o modo como tem sido tratado e discutido esse instituto.Por fim, são apresentados problemas clássicos e muitos práticos em matéria de direito de autor, tais como (i) definição de obra protegida, (ii) delineamento de requisitos para proteção aquisição de proteção por direito de autor, (iii) questões envolvendo plágio e obras derivadas e (iv) balanceamento justificador entre o exclusivo do direito de autor e os todas as formas de direito de acesso às criações. Em todas essas questões, são apresentadas as formas em que o contributo mínimo está presente e como é dada sua influência e contribuição para resolução das mesmas. / In the present work we make an international analysis of international law and Brazilian law about the minimum contribute, a requirement for copyright and authors rights protection that almost all the time has the same meaning as the originality requirement. Since the word originality not always mean the minimum degree of creativity that a creation must to bear in order to gain copyright or authors right protection, we preferred to use here, with this connotation, the expression minimum contribute. This subject still has not received much attention from Brazilian commentators and case law, in spite of its importance.The analysis focuses on the international dimension of this subject in attention to the copyrights / authors rights international character. We start with a little bit of history on the global dimension and then present the way the minimum contribute is found and guaranteed on public international law and on private international law. Thus, since the minimum contribute study is still new on Brazil, we make some terminology distinction between this expression and its meaning from other often apparent similar meaning terms and expressions on copyright. During all the work we present a lot of information and make quotation on foreign commentators, case laws and laws, in pursue of analyzing, in the broadest way possible, how the minimum contribute has been treated and discussed.Finally, we present typical and practical matters on copyright, like (i) definition of protected work, (ii) delineation of copyright requirements, (iii) plagiarism, (iv) derivative works and (v) copyright central balance. When we talk about each one of these matters, we also analyze how the minimum contribute appears and how it can influence and make contribution in finding solutions to them.

O presente trabalho faz uma análise, sob o aspecto do direito internacional e do direito brasileiro, do instituto do contributo mínimo em direito de autor, a qual pouquíssima atenção foi dada pela doutrina e jurisprudência brasileiras. Trata-se da análise do mínimo grau criativo que uma criação deve possuir para ensejar proteção por direito de autor esse é o sentido que damos à expressão contributo mínimo.Devido ao caráter internacional do direito de autor, fazemos a análise sob esse aspecto, passando por um pouco da história em âmbito global e tratando de que modo esse instituto é previsto e assegurado através do direito internacional público e do direito internacional privado. Como o tema é ainda novo no Brasil, fazemos observações de ordem terminológica, diferenciando o instituto do contributo mínimo de demais institutos do direito de autor. Durante todo o trabalho são feitas diversas menções e citações a doutrina, jurisprudência e normas estrangeiras, com objetivo de analisar da forma mais ampla possível o modo como tem sido tratado e discutido esse instituto.Por fim, são apresentados problemas clássicos e muitos práticos em matéria de direito de autor, tais como (i) definição de obra protegida, (ii) delineamento de requisitos para proteção aquisição de proteção por direito de autor, (iii) questões envolvendo plágio e obras derivadas e (iv) balanceamento justificador entre o exclusivo do direito de autor e os todas as formas de direito de acesso às criações. Em todas essas questões, são apresentadas as formas em que o contributo mínimo está presente e como é dada sua influência e contribuição para resolução das mesmas. / In the present work we make an international analysis of international law and Brazilian law about the minimum contribute, a requirement for copyright and authors rights protection that almost all the time has the same meaning as the originality requirement. Since the word originality not always mean the minimum degree of creativity that a creation must to bear in order to gain copyright or authors right protection, we preferred to use here, with this connotation, the expression minimum contribute. This subject still has not received much attention from Brazilian commentators and case law, in spite of its importance.The analysis focuses on the international dimension of this subject in attention to the copyrights / authors rights international character. We start with a little bit of history on the global dimension and then present the way the minimum contribute is found and guaranteed on public international law and on private international law. Thus, since the minimum contribute study is still new on Brazil, we make some terminology distinction between this expression and its meaning from other often apparent similar meaning terms and expressions on copyright. During all the work we present a lot of information and make quotation on foreign commentators, case laws and laws, in pursue of analyzing, in the broadest way possible, how the minimum contribute has been treated and discussed.Finally, we present typical and practical matters on copyright, like (i) definition of protected work, (ii) delineation of copyright requirements, (iii) plagiarism, (iv) derivative works and (v) copyright central balance. When we talk about each one of these matters, we also analyze how the minimum contribute appears and how it can influence and make contribution in finding solutions to them.

Current conservation practices in the developing world are conceptualized as tools to simultaneously protect biodiversity and provide rural economic development. Conservation’s responsibility or ability to contribute to poverty alleviation and maintain its primary function of biodiversity protection is widely debated. Regardless if one chooses to prioritize conservation over poverty or vice versa, human well being at the global scale and local livelihoods at the micro scale are dependent on natural resources, making it is impossible to separate environment and development issues. In South Africa, conservation has largely been pursued in protected areas, particularly fenced parks devoid of human settlement. The benefits of parks are well known (i.e. biodiversity and ecosystem services), but the impacts on local livelihoods are not well documented. The Maputaland region located in northeast KwaZulu-Natal contains exceptional biodiversity alongside massive poverty and has been the subject of conservation and development projects marketed as win-win solutions. Yet, conservation in Maputaland is driven by global external agendas and epistemologies based on misconceptions of rural land use patterns and livelihoods, while the costs of implementation are borne locally. Nature-based tourism, participatory community schemes, and pro-poor polices have been designed to facilitate economic development, but the benefits have been minimal and slow to materialize. Uneven levels of power between rural residents and external institutions, as well as within the local tribal government, have resulted in the inequitable distribution of benefits and decision-making power. Development strategy in Maputaland continues to focus on conservation, including the expansion of protected areas to form transboundary peace parks linking reserves in South Africa, Mozambique, and Swaziland. However, expanded conservation is likely to result in household resettlement, lost access to socio-cultural and natural resources, and an increased risk of conflict over land use between conservation authorities and local residents. Complicating the success of any conservation and/or development scheme in Maputaland is the massive HIV/AIDS prevalence. With more than one third of residents infected, the disease will deepen poverty, decimate local capacity and leadership, and lead to an increased risk of resource degradation and land use conflict that ultimately undermines the long-term security of both biodiversity and local livelihoods. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / Unrestricted