CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de Pessoal de NÃvel Superior / A presente investigaÃÃo cientÃfica tem o intuito de discutir a comunicaÃÃo popular comunitÃria no Ãmbito dos movimentos sociais populares, construÃda tendo como suporte a Internet. O objeto de estudo escolhido foi o site do bairro Ellery (www.bairroellery.com.br). A escolha se justifica devido Ãs relaÃÃes de proximidade que havia forjado anteriormente, atravÃs de outras pesquisas realizadas, ao fato do site do bairro Ellery ser um dos mais antigos sites de bairro de Fortaleza e, ainda, pelo histÃrico que o bairro tem em torno da produÃÃo da comunicaÃÃo popular comunitÃria em um contexto de lutas sociais. O objetivo central à compreender as caracterÃsticas que essa comunicaÃÃo passa a ter quando construÃda em uma plataforma digital. Empreendi um estudo de caso do site do bairro Ellery procurando, entretanto, analisar nÃo apenas o virtual - o site - mas tambÃm o concreto, ou seja, o lugar onde este surgiu. Interessa-me lanÃar um olhar para o cotidiano de produÃÃo dessa mÃdia, no sentido de melhor compreender as conquistas e desafios dos atores sociais que a produzem. O olhar para o concreto foi construÃdo a partir do uso do mÃtodo etnogrÃfico e para anÃlise do site, fiz uso de uma vertente deste mÃtodo, a etnografia virtual. LanÃei mÃo, ainda, do uso de entrevistas, optando pela entrevista antropolÃgica. / This research aims to discuss communication popular community within popular social movements, built and supported by the Internet. The object of study was the chosen site of the neighborhood Ellery (www.bairroellery.com.br). The choice is justified because of the close relationships they had forged earlier by other surveys, the fact that the site of the district Ellery be one of the oldest sites in the neighborhood of Fortaleza, and also by the historic neighborhood has around Community production of popular communication in a context of social struggles. The main objective is to understand the characteristics that communication is replaced when built on a digital platform. Undertook a case study of the site\'s neighborhood looking Ellery, however, consider not only the virtual - the site - but also the concrete, ie, the place where it arose. It interests me a glimpse into the daily production of this media in order to better understand the achievements and challenges of social actors who produce it. The look for the concrete was constructed from the use of the ethnographic method and site analysis, I use a part of this method, the virtual ethnography. Threw hand, still, the use of interviews, opting for anthropological interview.

The aim of this Master’s thesis is to examine how teachers of primary school students view the concept of information literacy and their classroom practices related to this subject. In addition, the study was designed to compare teachers’ understanding of information literacy in two European countries, Norway and Hungary. In spite of the fact that both countries are European developed countries with a similar culture and educational purposes, the economic difference can affect their possibilities to profit from the rapidly developing internet and information technologies. This study investigates the assumption that the differences between teachers’ answers in the two countries will be more and more significant on each further step of Van Dijk’s model of access: motivational, material, skills, and usage access. The study has a socio-economic perspective and the empirical data was collected through quantitative web-based questionnaire. The findings indicate that most of the teachers have a good understanding of the concept of information literacy and they are aware of the importance of information literacy skills to some level. Exploring the teachers’ classroom practices, I found that they do teach information literacy skills, and they do have classroom practices which can facilitate the improvement of information literacy skills, but there is a difference between the Norwegian and Hungarian teachers’ practices. The findings of the study confirm my initial assumption and are consistent with the pattern that I would expect to find according to the Van Dijk’s model, and thus, with the influence of the socio-economic features on teachers’ view on information literacy and their classroom practices related to teaching information literacy skills.

This study reflects on an outreach initiative between two differing tertiary cultures established on different continents. The aim is to develop an understanding of what happens when a prestigious American university and a South African Higher Education Institution meet around a computer-mediated situation. Various inter-relating aspects such as cooperation and cooperative learning, educational technology, Higher Educational Institutions, globalisation, the international Digital Divide, cultural diversity, commonalities, cultural differences, an international learning programme, and power relations in international partnerships are explored. The effect of technology on education is that information is no longer restricted to a single geographical setting, instead it has expanded and became a dynamic international driving force. Increasing educational needs compel Higher Education Institutions to provide in these needs and to adapt to a more flexible learning style. Globalisation causes the world to get smaller, compressed, interconnected and resulted in a world that is in effect flat. Information communication technologies are changing the world. On the one hand the Internet promotes communication and freedom but on the other hand causes uneven development all over the globe. The Digital Divide pertains to the divide between the global well-resourced learners and the local under-resourced learners. Cultural differences between nations and organisations can be interpreted against the background of different models of cultural dimensions. The focus of the study is to explore the effect of commonalities and cultural differences on cooperative learning at organisational level. Power relations between international partners were challenging and resulted in conflict and differences of opinion. The project started with the University of Pretoria’s visit to Stanford University in November 2004. The preparation, organisation and planning phases continued through 2005. The ELISA project was intended as a three-year intervention from 2006 through 2008. The first year was supposed to be a pilot phase to gather and provide information for use in the second and third years. This study pertains to the pilot phase which started in February 2006 until June 2006. It was successfully completed and achieved a 93% success rate. However, in September 2006 Stanford unexpectedly informed the South African partners that the project would be discontinued due to several reasons. Their objections related to the lack of visible progress regarding content scheduling, media production, course logistics, and research practicalities. Although there were accommodating personalities among the project leaders on both sides interpersonal conflict between the remaining project leaders developed. The partners on both sides could not generate sufficient commonality regarding the need to continue. The situation was worsened by the fact that the initial rationale for the project lacked shared motivation among the project leaders on both sides. It is suggested that more research be conducted to explore possible differences of opinion and undercurrents among project leaders throughout the project, and to scrutinize the initial rationale as well as curriculum issues in good time, and to investigate the role of power relations between international partners that are funded by international grants, and the effect of these power relations on the learning experiences of the students involved. Copyright / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Science, Mathematics and Technology Education / unrestricted

The purpose of this research was to investigate the e-readiness of warehouse workers in a supply chain management environment. Organisations increasingly contemplate e-learning as a training option to develop their employees. Globalisation of commercial ventures increasingly demands that organisations become more competitive by introducing Information Technology (IT). e-Learning is seen as a stepping stone for empowering employees. Supply-chain management organisations use unskilled warehouse workers to perform manual duties such as registering, storing and quick location of stock for distribution. IT supports these logistic procedures – emphasising the need to introduce e-learning to warehouse workers. Questionnaires confirmed that the unit of analysis was multi-racial, mostly black, between eighteen and sixty years old and of both genders. Their limited educational qualifications are representative of many similar developing communities of work across Africa. e-Learning requires access to technology, computer literacy, self-discipline, the drive to develop and the confidence to use technology to achieve objectives. Warehouse workers as developing communities are trapped by the digital divide amidst calls to bridge the divide by introducing IT to such communities. Questions are raised whether they have the discipline, motivation, and skills to learn from such a complex learning strategy. Interviewed corporate learning experts cautioned that specific infrastructures and personal attributes are crucial. Insufficient computer experience, anxiety and technophobia, may cause warehouse workers to become unlikely candidates for e-learning. My inquiry was an interpretive, qualitative case study, intent on understanding emotional, technical, and social aspects influencing e-readiness. I collected my data in four phases. Phase one was a questionnaire to collect biographical information of the warehouse workers. During phase two, by means of a Delphi technique, I established consensus from a group of e-learning experts of what ereadiness encompasses. Phase three consisted of interviews with and observations of workers performing their daily tasks and also while completing a computer-based tutorial. In phase four I conducted interviews with warehouse managers on their perceptions of the e-readiness of their workers. From the literature I extracted Reeves’ (1999) three learner inputs, as well as six fundamental categories of e-readiness. With these nine theory codes, I followed an inductive-deductive grounded theory approach to analyse the data. I constructed six sub-questions as basis for the enquiry. I tallied the frequencies of the conceptual codes of e-readiness and created an inventory of applicable conceptual codes according to the theory codes. Patterns of technical and affective experience, aptitude, origins of motivation, access to computer infrastructure and organisation culture culminated as my seven main findings on the e-readiness of warehouse workers. I determined inter alia that warehouse workers do not suffer from technophobia, nor are they really intimidated by technology. However, they need guidance and expert facilitation to become successful e-learners. They are aware that they are dependent on the organisation’s infrastructure to develop their skills and capabilities. Therefore, the e-maturity of an organisation can greatly benefit from warehouse workers’ involvement in e-learning. / Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Curriculum Studies / unrestricted

This study sought to explore the utilization and perception of best practices by community-based technology training programs when instructing older adults to become technologically literate. The target population included adults age 55 years and older of the Baby Boomer generational cohort who ranged academically from possessing a high school diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) through a college degree and had enrolled in a local technology training program to improve their technological skill level with the goal of obtaining employment and/or to remain functionally independent. This study was conducted at three community technology training centers located in the southeast that offered computer training classes for both civilian and ex-military older adults and employed a mixed methods research design. Data was collected through a series of participant interviews, surveys, and class observations to establish an understanding of current participant computer literacy status, demographic details and experiences, class structure, the computer curriculum, and training execution. It was the intent of this study to help maintain increased focus on the necessity of reducing the present digital divide that exists between younger and older adults by highlighting the importance of designing technology training programs that incorporated both expert recommended best practices for instructing older adults, as well as the expressed benefit and personal needs of the Baby Boomer population being served by local technology training centers.

Pavel Prudký Digital divide problematics between different age groups and it's solution The thesis is focused on digital divide problematics between different age groups and it's solution. The initial theoretical part is being followed by a practical part, including it's own research, dealing with digital divide problematics between different age groups in the specified region. In the theoretical part of the thesis, I discribed the phenomenon of the information society, information society and social exclusion, Czech information society, digital divide, gray digital divide and I also examined the specifics of different age groups. In the practical part of the work I dealt with the analysis of the digital divide problematics between different age groups in the specified region. After determining the objectives and description of survey methods for obtaining and processing data collected in the questionnaire survey, I dealt with analyzing the survey data, especially data relative to hypotheses set, describing the creation of digital divide between members of different age groups. In the conclusion, there were described existing conceptions in the European Union, in Czech Republic, and then were determined suggestions for specific procedures to eliminate the digital divide between different age groups.

Tato disertační práce se zabývá tématem digitální propasti, která je řešena z hlediska seniorů a práce s internetem. V dnešní době rozmachu technologií a jejich penetrace do všech sfér života je nezbytné, aby starší lidé nebyli digitálně vyloučeni a mohli plnohodnotně využívat všech výhod a zjednodušení, které internet a technologie přináší. Prostředkem k získání digitálních kompetencí je vzdělávání v oblasti informační gramotnosti, které může být poskytováno prostřednictvím sítě knihoven. Práce představuje celý teoretický rámec problematiky, nicméně hlavním přínosem je výzkumná a aplikační část. Výzkumy probíhaly v kvalitativní i kvantitativní rovině a přinesly odpovědi zejména na otázky, jakým způsobem dnes senioři internet využívají a o jaká témata jeví největší zájem z hlediska svého dalšího vzdělávání. Kvantitativního výzkumu se účastnilo více než 750 osob a na základě výsledků dotazníku bylo možné navrhnout metodickou příručku pro vzdělávací lekce. Příručka obsahuje návrh deseti lekcí s tématy, která jsou podložená získanými daty. Dvě z těchto lekcí byly otestovány v rámci evaluačního výzkumu. Příručka existuje ve formě e-knihy a je volně šířena mezi knihovny a další instituce.

Information Communication Technologies are increasingly used in organisations’ market expansion strategies. These Information communication technologies provide organisations with opportunities such as ease of communication and movement of resources, making the entry into new markets a faster and less resource heavy process. When expanding throughout the African continent, the challenge presented in using this approach is that many African markets have underdeveloped information communication technology infrastructure. In considering this barrier, the extent to which information communication technology enables market expansion throughout the African continent is the topic which has been fully analysed and discussed. An exploratory research design and a qualitative method have been used in this study. The subjects of the data collection were three key individuals selected from a large South African retailer. These three individuals job roles spanned across the marketing and IT departments and were influential in the organisation’s expansion efforts throughout Africa. The findings of this study show that the levels of information communication technology infrastructure vary vastly from country to country on the African continent, noting South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Zambia and Botswana as the more advanced nations with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda lagging in development. The findings also show that for retailers, the retail focused technology available in South Africa is not yet available in other African nations which causes challenges in offering the same value to consumers across the board. However, the finding show that the development of cloud-based systems has assisted in the widespread use of technologies without the need of heavy investments into physical locations.

This thesis project addresses the obsolescence of technology through the lens of accessibility to public services. It explores the processes by which electronic devices age in regards to a technological normativity that marginalizes owners of obsolete devices. My research focuses on two main questions: How might we enable owners of non-smart phones to have access to public services that have been digitalized? How might we design public services’ infrastructure in a way that challenges the obsoletion processes of technological devices?  The research is based upon a critical analysis of the term ‘obsolescence’, low-tech approaches and studies that examine the accessibility of technology. This work is based on the study of the digitalization of public services in Sweden, with specific attention to public transportation and to the electronic identification technology which enables access to various essential public services. I present the exploration of these services through the lens of obsolescence and encounter with users of obsolete devices. This leads to the design of two prototypes that propose ways of integrating obsolete devices’ users in the existing digitalized Swedish infrastructures, followed by their analysis. The designs seek to take a critical stand on technological progress as it is understood in the technology industry and propose ways of reimagining the digitalization of public services while taking into account the obsoletion processes they foster. Overall, I argue for design for obsolete devices as a way of caring for groups that are put aside during technological innovation processes. I propose ways of ‘circuit bending’ public services’ infrastructures in a way that is more hospitable to obsolete devices.

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