The adoption of eHealth is very slow despite evidences showing its benefits. This research examines the individual, clinical, technical and organizational challenges for eHealth adoption from healthcare provider‟s perspectives. A cross-sectional study design with a quantitative paradigm was used. The study was conducted on 312 doctors and nurses randomly selected from ten hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Most respondents viewed eHealth positively with no significant differences in terms of profession or gender. Computer skill, workload, patient interaction, management support, cost and infrastructure were the main concerns. Privacy and security were not the main concerns. Knowledge of eHealth applications and utilization was low, even for evidence-based medicine and online databases. Specialists and males were better aware of eHealth applications. The study showed that eHealth acceptance was good. Increasing eHealth literacy was recommended as a cost effective means for improving access to updated information to improve the quality of healthcare. / Health Studies / M.A. (Public Health (Medical Informatics))

The role and impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) towards enabling socio-economic development in small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) has received attention from various scholars. South Africa as a lower middle-income developing country has a number of development priorities which include the urgent need to expand the economy and ultimately to eradicate poverty and unemployment. Based on evidence from more advanced economies, expanded access and usage of ICTs in SMMEs is considered an imperative to enable the acceleration of development goals. This study sets out to advance understanding of the role and impact of ICT usage by SMMEs on poverty reduction from a South African perspective. A systematic literature review methodology was applied to analyse previous theoretical and empirical studies conducted on the interplay between ICTs, SMMEs and poverty reduction. Empirical data was gathered from SMMEs through semi structured interviews and observations. A purposively selected case study was also carried out serving to enhance contextual insight into the role of ICTs in an SMME context. The thematic analysis method, Actor-Network Theory (ANT) and Sustainable Livelihood framework (SL) were applied as the data analysis methods. The combination of ANT and the SL framework for expanded analysis has not been applied before by similar studies that examine the interplay between ICT, SMMEs and poverty reduction. The process of triangulation was applied on the empirical findings in order to reduce bias and to construct a conceptual model. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a conceptual model that frames the role and impact of ICT usage by SMMEs towards improving their livelihoods and reducing poverty. Methodologically it offers an example of how method pluralism can be applied to gain a better understanding of the research phenomena. From a practical perspective, this study addresses real life challenges resulting in the suggestion of practical guidelines to ensure that the use of ICTs by SMMEs results in improvements in their financial and non-financial well-being. The findings of this study indicate that the relationship between ICT usage and poverty reduction is neither simple nor linear. Effective use of ICTs could result in SMMEs leveraging more benefits and thus improving their human capabilities as well as social and economic well-being resulting in poverty reduction. / Thesis (PhD) University of Pretoria, 2017. / Informatics / PhD / Unrestricted

Logistics managers work to create practices that reduce technostress, which is associated with diminished productivity in supply chain management. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the mitigation strategies that logistics managers at distribution centers used to reduce technostress with their employees in the Los Angeles County, California area. The conceptual framework included in this study was the sociotechnical systems theory. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 6 logistics managers from large distribution centers who implemented mitigation strategies that demonstrably reduced technostress with their employees. Public documents and physical artifacts reviewed in this study included productivity assessment tools, information and communication technology system training materials, technostress mitigation instruments, and information from technological devices. Data were analyzed through a process of pattern matching, cross-case synthesis, and systematic text condensation. The findings included 6 themes: reliance on internal information technology experts; hiring temporary experts; maintaining communication and training; using time management skills and organizing priorities; identification and understanding of employee differences; and implementing well-being, fitness, and health programs. These findings could contribute to positive social change by providing logistics managers with strategies to reduce technostress, which could lead to improved employee well-being, better work conditions, and increased productivity for greater company profitability that could produce a more thriving and prosperous community.

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The advance and ubiquitous use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have changed how humans learn and reform the education sector. Although related topics have been studied in other disciplines (e.g., behavioral science, economics, psychology, etc.), IS researchers have paid less attention to the impacts of information communication technology on education (IICTE). Recently, education in the post-pandemic world calls for further investigation on this topic since most of the traditional on-site teaching around the world have moved online. The proposed two studies aim to contribute to the IS and the economics research on the role of technology in education and the underlying mechanisms of how ICT affects learning through a series of field experiments and data mining methods. The first study examines in-class mobile device use effects on students’ learning performance via a field experiment. It explores students’ attention allocation at an individual level with live video feed data. We collaborated with a vocational school in China to examine the effect of using smartphones in the classroom on students’ academic performance. We randomly allocated students taking one lecture in Chinese verbal into three experimental conditions: (i) smartphone banned; (ii) smartphone allowed and used at will by students, and (iii) smartphone allowed, used at will by students and relied upon by teachers to assist instruction. We measure the performance gain of students by the change in the scores they obtained in identical tests taken at the beginning and the end of the lecture. We find that allowing students to use smartphones during the lecture at will reduced performance by 12% (6.3 points on a 100-point scale) compared to when students could not take the smartphones into the classroom. However, allowing smartphones into the classroom and asking teachers to actively use them to assist instruction increased their performance by 20% (10.6 points). These results are driven mainly by already strong students and students in IT-related majors. To unravel the underlying mechanisms that drive the observed effects, we use video feeds collected during our experiment, allowing us to code the time students spent learning versus being distracted, with or without their smartphones. We observed that students spent a similar amount of time learning versus being distracted across all three experimental conditions. Thus, the time students allocate to learning in each condition does not predict performance. Instead, what matters for their performance is the relative time they spent learning versus being distracted when using their smartphones. We show that the increase in performance when smartphones are used to assist instruction comes from students spending a larger percentage of the time learning during the lecture. Our findings contribute to the literature on technology-assisted learning and offer practical and policy implications that teachers and schools can follow to cautiously allow smartphones in the classroom to improve student success. The second study investigates the effects of different Internet access policies on student performance via a field experiment and examines the underlying mechanisms of its impact by mining students’ online and offline behaviors. While universities invest a considerable amount to keep up with the increasing demand for Internet connectivity on campus, sufficient doubt exists on the overall efficacy of information communication technologies (ICTs) in enhancing learning. Therefore, it is essential to understand how the Internet is used on campus and whether educational institutions can design their ICT policies to improve education. To answer this question, we seek to investigate the effects of different Internet policies on educational outcomes (i.e., grades, other evaluation results, etc.) by conducting a randomized field experiment at a national public university in China. Specifically, we randomly assigned students to five experimental conditions for a whole semester: low bandwidth and limited data, low bandwidth with unlimited data, high bandwidth with limited data, high bandwidth with unlimited data, and high-quality access (high bandwidth without data limit) yet limited data to entertainment. We then collect and compare the educational outcomes and each student’s online and offline behaviors across all five conditions. With our unique context and micro-level data, we investigate the overall effect of different policies as well as the dynamics of students’ online and offline learning behaviors (i.e., online learning time, online-offline behavior change, etc.) to understand the underlying mechanisms (i.e., online/offline learning patterns on performance). Our study is the first to investigate the effect of ICT policy design on educational outcomes using a randomized controlled trial (RCT). We also offer practical guidelines to policymakers and educational institutions on optimizing campus Internet access to help improve students’ learning with the proper use of ICT. Ultimately, studies in this dissertation attempt to explore how ICT could boost learning and thus extend the boundary of IS research to the education sector. Results demonstrated in the dissertation offer clear and straightforward evidence for educators, parents, and students to make their own ICT use policies. / Business Administration/Management Information Systems

This dissertation comprises three papers introducing strategies, models, and frameworks to guide pandemic response. The first paper uses a novel mathematical model to analyze the coordination between government and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in response to pandemics. This is a vital form of public-private partnership between governments as the primary source for the humanitarian supplies required during a crisis and aid organizations. This coordination involves the equitable distribution of personal protective equipment, including face masks and face shields among health workers, patients, and the public in hospitals. Considering social costs such as deprivation and equity costs in the model, in addition to the other important classic cost terms, enables managers to organize the best possible response when such outbreaks happen. The second paper introduces a decision support framework designed to assist healthcare managers, and clinical informatics specialists in analyzing and selecting the most appropriate consensus algorithm for their organization's blockchain-based health platforms, with a specific focus on managing pandemic-related information. Blockchain technology holds great potential in addressing pandemics by enhancing security and transparency in various aspects of pandemic tracking and mitigation while promoting public engagements by facilitating real-time exchange of electronic health information. By improving information sharing and coordination among healthcare organizations, it offers more effective response efforts and helps reduce the spread of viruses. However, the performance of consensus algorithms, which are a crucial component of blockchain architecture, can vary, posing a challenge in selecting the appropriate algorithm. To address this, the framework incorporates two techniques: data envelopment analysis (DEA) and the ranking distribution technique. DEA enables the analysis of efficiency without relying solely on expert judgment, providing a more objective assessment. The ranking distribution technique enhances differentiation among algorithms, providing decision-makers with a robust basis for selecting the most suitable blockchain architecture and its associated properties. The third paper focuses on the challenges of disseminating guidance-related information to the public during a pandemic, specifically the role of opinion leaders as reliable sources of information. The study determines the practical characteristics of pandemic opinion leaders on public attitudes using surveys and identifies domain-sensitive pandemic opinion leaders on Twitter based on the discovered characteristics using social network analysis and text mining. The framework's results show that pandemic opinion leaders are active in eight different domains on the Twitter platform. Results also demonstrate that trust is the most influential characteristic of pandemic opinion leaders, while expertise, uniqueness, innovation, and reputation also play important roles. / Doctor of Philosophy / This dissertation presents a collection of three research papers that offer insights and practical techniques and strategies to effectively tackle the challenges posed by pandemics through enhanced information sharing, public engagement, and robust public-private partnerships. The first paper introduces a novel mathematical model that thoroughly examines the collaboration between governments and humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) during crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The model's primary focus is on the equitable distribution of vital supplies, including face masks and shields, to healthcare workers as well as the public. By incorporating considerations of social costs, fairness, and other critical factors, this model aids managers in organizing the most efficient response to initial impacts of outbreaks within a short-term planning horizon. Our primary objective is to ensure the prompt and equitable delivery of essential supplies to individuals in need, achieved primarily through establishing strong public-private partnerships. The second paper proposes a decision support framework for healthcare managers, IT analysts, and clinical informatics specialists to help them effectively analyze consensus algorithms, as the most important layer of blockchain architecture. The framework further helps them select the most suitable algorithm for their organization's blockchain-based health platforms, aligning with specific policies, needs, requirements, and goals in managing pandemic-related information. Blockchain technology offers potential in tracking medical supplies, identifying virus hotspots, and verifying protective equipment authenticity to manage pandemics. By enhancing information sharing and coordination among healthcare organizations, blockchain can minimize virus spread and improve overall response efforts. The proposed framework reduces reliance on expert judgment and addresses data uncertainty when selecting proper algorithms for blockchain-based information management systems in mitigating the effects of pandemics. The third paper delves into the intricate challenges associated with effectively disseminating guidance-related information to the public during a pandemic, placing particular emphasis on the pivotal role played by opinion leaders (OLs) as reliable sources. This study thoroughly examines the distinctive characteristics of pandemic OLs and their profound influence on public attitudes. By employing surveys, social network analysis, and text mining techniques on Twitter data, the research successfully identifies OLs within distinct pandemic-related domains. The study's significant findings provide insights into the dynamic role assumed by pandemic OLs on Twitter and their consequential impact on public perception and behavior across various domains. Ultimately, the dissertation findings strive to support decision-makers and public health officials in their efforts to effectively manage pandemics and protect public health. The research emphasizes facilitation of seamless, rapid, and dependable information sharing across various planning horizons.

This thesis is an examination of the evolution of tech-assisted repression in Putin's Russia. The thesis uses a novel analytical framework called the T.E.A. table framework, which organizes repression into three categories: techniques (the repressive acts themselves), effects (short-to-medium term individual and communal effects), and arcs (large-scale societal shifts over long periods of time). This framework is "tested" against two influential texts in the study of non-democratic politics: The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt and Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes by Juan Jose Linz. The following chapters look at the techniques, effects, and arcs of television-based repression, social media-based repression, and finally artificial intelligence-based repression. As these technologies have been introduced, there has been a consisted trend toward centralization, control, and increasing the granularity, or the personalization and adaptability, of repression. / Master of Arts / Authoritarianism is a form of government that opposes democratic values such as freedom of speech, the right to free and fair elections, and checks and balances. Repression is a term that entails the many ways that an authoritarian leader tries to consolidate power without regard for freedoms or rights. Many authoritarian countries in the modern world use technology to help keep control over their citizens. This thesis looks at how different technologies have been used by an authoritarian regime, in this case Russia under Vladimir Putin, in order to maintain control and restrict civil liberties and political rights. The technologies being looked at are television, social media, and artificial intelligence. The main findings are that these technologies are all being used in very different ways in order to reach some end goals: increased control over the activities of citizens, an increased amount of repressive technology in the country, and an increased amount of personalization in the repression citizens interact with, because personalized repression is more effective than non-personalized repression.

Business information systems (BIS) comprise technological (e.g. programs), informational (e.g. content) and social artifacts (e.g. collaboration structures). Typically, such systems are constantly and collectively developed (co-developed) further by a variety of individuals within the organization. By recognizing these varying types of actors (concerning their goals, technical expertise and language means) and their predominantly developed artifact type, one can distinguish two types of subsystems: technical subsystems wherein the development of the system behavior is conducted by software developers; and business subsystems dominated by end-users developing informational artifacts. So far, co-development structures within and between these subsystems are not well understood, especially the aspect that - potentially driven by appropriate measures such as the provision of domain-specific languages - co-development might shift between these subsystems. This paper presents an approach for characterizing the co-development of real-world BIS with respect to direct participation from different kinds of contributors. This multilayered approach allows us to analyze the co-development with programming languages, domain-specific languages and end-user tools. The approach is suited to assess the direct participation of individuals from different subsystems in the development of evolving BIS. We focus on the intersection of these subsystems, present appropriate metrics and a multilayered analysis scheme. Contributions to artifacts are analyzed using social network analysis to detect structural properties of continuous co-development. The application to Learn@WU, a real-world BIS, demonstrates how end-user enabling technologies have shifted the co-development effort of the system from a small group of developers to a several orders of magnitude larger group of contributors. We observed an increase of direct participation over time on both informational and executable artifacts, while the number of technical experts was more or less constant. Our approach may act as a trigger for the application and further development of rigorous instruments for assessing co-development of BIS. (authors' abstract)

Esta pesquisa focaliza práticas e eventos de letramento observados no ensino de leitura em inglês de duas escolas do Ensino Médio (uma pública e outra particular). A partir da análise interpretativa de vários excertos de exercícios, de fragmentos de entrevista gravada em áudio com as professoras e de depoimentos de alunos, colhidos por meio de questionário, identificamos concepções de linguagem e de educação semelhantes nas duas escolas investigadas. Verificamos também regularidades no que diz respeito ao paradigma de aprendizado curricular, presente nas duas escolas, assim como notamos contradições entre o que é realizado nas escolas e as práticas de leitura e de aprendizado interativo desenvolvido pelos alunos fora da escola, possibilidades geradas a partir de novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação. Por entender que a abordagem qualitativa seja a mais adequada aos objetivos propostos, convivemos com a realidade da sala de aula para a coleta de dados, utilizando procedimentos e instrumentos característicos da pesquisa de cunho etnográfico. Por meio de triangulação das informações obtidas, selecionamos práticas e eventos de letramento significativos para uma análise interpretativa, apoiando-nos em teorias de base sociológica postuladas na década de 1990, como a do Letramento Crítico (Critical Literacy), concepção desenvolvida sob o termo guarda-chuva de Novos Letramentos (New Literacy Studies). Também adotamos os Multiletramentos (Multiliteracies), cujo foco está centrado em dois aspectos das sociedades contemporâneas: primeiro, a interação de fronteiras lingüísticas e culturais dentro de e entre sociedades, e, segundo, a multimodalidade, múltiplos modos de construção de significado, envolvendo o lingüístico, o visual e o sonoro, dentre outros meios semióticos que integram a crescente tendência de textos mediados por novas tecnologias. Nas duas instituições participantes dessa pesquisa observamos práticas e eventos de letramento similares, apontando para uma concepção de educação e de linguagem convencionais que não correspondem às necessidades da sociedade contemporânea que integra globalmente a produção e a distribuição de palavras, sons e imagens, interativamente. Portanto, o resultado das análises indica uma necessidade de revisão nas concepções de leitura, aprendizagem, linguagem e de conhecimento estabelecidas nas escolas, de modo a promover a re-estruturação e a adequação de práticas que correspondam às exigências da sociedade pós-industrial, fundada em novas tecnologias de informação e comunicação. / The focus of this research is on literacy practices and literacy events observed for the teaching of reading in English in two high schools (a private one and a public one). Analyzing several excerpts of exercises, fragments of the interviews held with the teachers as well as the answers of the students to a questionnaire, we have identified similar conceptions of language and education in both schools. We have also observed regularities related to the curricular learning paradigm that dominates both institutions, as well as contradictions between the practices developed inside the school and the practices that take place out-of-school, through an interactive learning paradigm enabled by information and communication technologies. A qualitative approach is adopted as well as the procedures that belong to ethnographic research, since the instruments are best suitable to the objectives proposed by a research that requires participation and observation about literacy practices and events that take place in the classrooms. The data collected and triangulated supplied information to interpretive analyses through the lenses of a sociological perspective developed in the 1990\'s known as Critical Literacy, an approach to literacy designed under the umbrella term of New Literacy Studies. We also use the concept of Multiliteracies, which focuses on two key aspects of contemporary societies: first, the interaction of cultural and linguistic boundaries within and between societies and second, multimodality, multiple modes of meaning making: linguistic, visual, auditory among other semiotic media that are an increasing tendency in texts mediated by new technologies. We have observed similar literacy practices and events in both institutions indicating that conventional conceptions of education and language that have been used to the teaching of reading in English do not correspond to the needs of a networking society that integrates globally the production and distribution of words, sounds and images interactively. The research analyses indicate the need of a revision in the concepts of reading, learning, language and knowledge that have been used in schools in order to re-structure and adequate the practices to the demands of a post-industrial society based on information and communication technologies.

Orientador: Bárbara Fadel / Banca: Marta Lígia Pomim Valentim / Banca: Sônia Aparecida Cabestré / Resumo: Nas últimas décadas a tecnologia tem sido incorporada à realidade de maneira a reconfigurar todo o cenário atual, trazendo consigo profundas transformações que impactam em todos os campos do conhecimento humano e sobremaneira no comportamento social. Na informação os impactos têm sido diretos, levando em consideração a concomitância do processo de tecnologia à explosão informacional e sua aplicabilidade no ambiente organizacional. Nesse sentido, surge como problema o impacto que a tecnologia aliada à informação tem sobre a construção de valores sociais da cultura de uma organização. Este trabalho busca compreender a maneira como a tecnologia e a informação vem trabalhando na sua disseminação e, desta maneira, construir os valores que são discursados pelas organizações socialmente responsáveis, diante da realidade do novo contexto da revolução das TIC's - Tecnologias da Informação e Comunicação. O trabalho segue como norte eixos de discussão e estudo, sendo: tecnologia - informação - cultura organizacional e responsabilidade social. No intuito de organizar a busca por esse conhecimento, dispõem-se do método comparativo para formar o cenário das organizações socialmente responsáveis, utilizando-se de dois instrumentos de coleta de dados, a entrevista e o questionário. Através dos dados coletados, procura-se chegar á compreensão da realidade das organizações, analisando o cenário da tecnologia e informação e seu papel em meio a construção da cultura organizacional, tendo por base a relevância que ambos possuem para o processo da disseminação dos valores da Responsabilidade Social para sua incorporação no público interno das organizações. / Abstract: In the last decades the technology has been incorporated to the way reality to reconfigure the current scene all, bringing I obtain deep transformations that excessively impact in all the fields of the human knowledge and in the social behavior. In the information the impacts have been right-handers, leading in consideration the concurrence of the technology process to the informational explosion and its applicability in the organizational environment. In this direction, it appears as problem the impact that the allied technology to the information has on the construction of social values of the culture of an organization. This work searchs to understand the way as the technology and the information comes working in its dissemination and, in this way, to construct the values that are make a speeched for the socially responsible organizations, ahead of the reality of the new context of the revolution of the TIC's -Technologies of the Information and Communication. The work follows as north axles of quarrel and study, being: technology -information -organizational culture and social responsibility. In intention to organize the search for this knowledge, they are made use of the comparative method to form the scene of the socially responsible organizations, using itself of two instruments of collection of data, the interview and the questionnaire. Through the collected data, understanding of the reality of the organizations is looked to arrive á, analyzing the scene of the technology and information and its paper in way the construction of the organizational culture, having for base the relevance that both possess for the process of the dissemination of the values of the Social Responsibility for its incorporation in the internal public of the organizations. / Mestre