Social media,design and creative citizenship: an introduction

ABSTRACT

This article serves as an introduction to a special issue of the journal Digital Creativity, which addresses the challenges, potentials and meaning of different creative forms of citizenship enacted through social media. The articles in this special issue paint a complex picture of the expressions and meaning and citizenship. This introduction aims to provide a wider context for the contributions to this special issue by reviewing some of the claims made for the creative civic potential of social media and identifying a number of issues and questions that might inform analyses of the subject.     

Collaborative Approaches to the Digital in English Studies

This review considers the work in Collaborative Approaches to the Digital in English Studies, an anthology edited by Laura McGrath that examines the evolving significance of collaboration within the English classroom. This book contributes to the discussion of collaboration in several meaningful ways, including connecting collaboration to interesting digital tools and moving beyond merely considering the discipline's concern of scholarly production to instead examine the evolution of collaboration's relationship between teaching, technology, and user creativity. McGrath's work is divided into two sections, one that addresses scholarly concerns and one that addresses pedagogical concerns. Several important components of English studies are addressed throughout the text such as affinity spaces, the work of writing centers, graduate student research contributions, cross-cultural understandings of text, and interdisciplinary research. McGrath and the contributing authors succeed in providing a thorough argument for continued collaboration in the discipline as well as a clear suggestion that the digitization of the field is a challenging and valuable necessity. Readers from English studies graduate students to full-time faculty to practitioners in the field can appreciate the depth of the theoretical background, the pedagogical implications for academia and the workplace as well, and the diverse models that provide discussion of interesting connections between collaboration and the digital.     

Machine learning for science and society

The special issue on “Machine Learning for Science and Society” showcases machine learning work with influence on our current and future society. These papers address several key problems such as how we perform repairs on critical infrastructure, how we predict severe weather and aviation turbulence, how we conduct tax audits, whether we can detect privacy breaches in access to healthcare data, and how we link individuals across census data sets for new insights into population changes. In this introduction, we discuss the need for such a special issue within the context of our field and its relationship to the broader world. In the era of “big data,” there is a need for machine learning to address important large-scale applied problems, yet it is difficult to find top venues in machine learning where such work is encouraged. We discuss the ramifications of this contradictory situation and encourage further discussion on the best strategy that we as a field may adopt. We also summarize key lessons learned from individual papers in the special issue so that the community as a whole can benefit.     

Digital work and organisational transformation: Emergent Digital/Human work configurations in modern organisations

Workplace technologies are more central to working in organisations than ever before. These technologies began as instrumental aids to support office work of individuals but have since also become the basis for social interactions and community building in organisations and more recently become able to perform managerial roles with the use of advanced AI capabilities. Our call for papers to this special issue invited original studies to go further and advance our thinking on the strategic implications of this layered evolution of workplace technologies on work and the structure of organisations. In this introduction, we synthesise the main themes from the special issue, and also ongoing dialogues with the growing community at the regular AIS / IFIP 9.1 workshop on the Changing Nature of Work. A key observation is that the work involved in configuring emergent Digital/Human configurations, is vastly under-reported and poorly understood. Paradoxically, this configuring work is the most demanding and critical in the shaping of modern organisations. We suggest that this type of largely invisible work requires engagement beyond the level of execution or even the meaning of work, it requires intervening with third order effects that get to the core of what an organisation is. We highlight the challenges for organisations in dealing with third order change, particularly because these effects are beyond existing frames of reference and require more dynamic and supple responses based on the values, purpose and intent dominant in the organisation – we describe this as structural digital work. Leaders that are unable or unwilling to engage with effects at this level, and this type of work, will miss identifying core opportunities and risks associated with digital transformation in organisations. We also reflect on the value of current theories and methods used to research this important and emergent phenomenon.     

On space-optimality of buffer-based conflict-free constructions of 1-writer 1-reader multivalued atomic variables from safe bits

A shared variable construction is called buffer-based if the values of the variable are stored in buffers that are different from control storage. Each buffer stores only a single value from the domain of the variable. A buffer-based construction is conflict-free if, in each execution of the shared variable, no reading of any buffer overlaps with any writing of that buffer. This paper studies shared space requirements for wait-free, conflict-free, deterministic constructions of 1-writer 1-reader multivalued atomic variables from safe variables. That four buffers are necessary and sufficient for such constructions has been established in the literature. This paper establishes the requirement for control storage. The least shared space for such a construction in the literature is (four safe buffers and) four safe control bits. We show that four safe control bits are necessary for such constructions when the reader is restricted to read at most one buffer in each read operation.     

The not-so-distant future: Composition studies in the culture of biotechnology

As composition studies came to terms with technologized classrooms in the late 20th century, another field of science, biotechnology, also came into maturation. Here I address how biotechnology is poised to dramatically change our cultural landscape in the coming decades, fusing communication tools made possible through electronic technology with molecular-level knowledge of our genetic structure and our evolutionary past. Because biotechnological research is discovering the codes our bodies use to communicate and may eventually merge biological processes with information technology, it is important to interrogate how biotechnology will impact writing, teaching, technology, and even humanity. I analyze parallels in biotechnology as they have occurred in the past 20 years in tandem with special issues published in Computers and Composition to suggest past, current, and future connections between biotechnology and the work of computers and writing.     

Computationally intelligent agents in economics and finance

This paper is an editorial guide for the second special issue on Computational Intelligence in economics and finance, which is a continuation of the special issue of Information Sciences, Vol. 170, No. 1. This second issue appears as a part of the outcome from the 3rd International Workshop on Computational Intelligence in Economics and Finance, which was held in Cary, North Carolina, September 26-30, 2003. This paper offers some main highlights of this event, with a particular emphasis on some of the observed progress made in this research field, and a brief introduction to the papers included in this special issue.     

Simple extensions of 1-writer atomic variable constructions to multiwriter ones

We present several simple wait-free constructions of multiwriter multireader multivalued atomic shared variables. These are extensions of two 1-writer constructions in the literature and use a multiwriter multireader fixed-valued atomic variable. All the constructions are intuitive, and their correctness proofs are short and easy to follow. Some constructions are conflictfree, that is, in each execution, no reading of a buffer overlaps with any writing of that buffer. All the conflict-free constructions have the property that there is only one reading of a buffer in a read execution. Some of them have the additional property that there is only one writing of a 1-reader buffer, for each reader, in a write execution.     

Speech and Language processing as assistive technologies

We are delighted to bring you this special issue on speech and language processing for assistive technology. It addresses an important research area that is gaining increased recognition from researchers in speech and language processing as a rich and fulfilling area on which to focus their work, and by researchers in assistive technology as the means to dramatically improve communication technologies for individuals with disabilities. This special issue brings a wide swath of approaches and applications highlighting the variety this area offers.     

Computer-mediated communication and the linking of students, text, and author on an ESL writing course listserv

This paper addresses an issue of interest to many first- (L1) and second-language (L2) writing theorists and teachers: the role(s) that computer-mediated communication (CMC) can play in making writing instruction more effective and more meaningful, particularly in the highly technological early years of the twenty-first century. This paper explores the use of CMC in the form of a writing course listserv on which L2 students and the author of an assigned novel interacted in an effort to strengthen students’ reading of and writing about the novel. Examples of the interaction between the novel's author and the students are presented and analyzed relative to the ways in which this interaction was intended to help students asynchronously construct understanding that could then inform their writing about the literary text.     

Extracting Randomness: A Survey and New Constructions

Extractors are Boolean functions that allow, in some precise sense, extraction of randomness from somewhat random distributions, using only a small amount of truly random bits. Extractors, and the closely related “dispersers,” exhibit some of the most “random-like” properties of explicitly constructed combinatorial structures. In this paper we do two things. First, we survey extractors and dispersers: what they are, how they can be designed, and some of their applications. The work described in the survey is due to a long list of research papers by various authors—most notably by David Zuckerman. Then, we present a new tool for constructing explicit extractors and give two new constructions that greatly improve upon previous results. The new tool we devise, a “merger,” is a function that acceptsdstrings, one of which is uniformly distributed and outputs a single string that is guaranteed to be uniformly distributed. We show how to build good explicit mergers, and how mergers can be used to build better extractors. Using this, we present two new constructions. The first construction succeeds in extractingallof the randomness fromanysomewhat random source. This improves upon previous extractors that extract onlysomeof the randomness from somewhat random sources with “enough” randomness. The amount of truly random bits used by this extractor, however, is not optimal. The second extractor we build extracts only some of the randomness and works only for sources with enough randomness, but uses a near-optimal amount of truly random bits. Extractors and dispersers have many applications in “removing randomness” in various settings and in making randomized constructions explicit. We survey some of these applications and note whenever our new constructions yield better results, e.g., plugging our new extractors into a previous construction we achieve the first explicitN-superconcentrators of linear size and polyloglog(N) depth.     

The future threat to computers and composition: Nontenured instructors, intellectual property, and distance education

In this article, I argue that recent initiatives concerning the use of computer-mediated instruction to improve writing skills in large lecture classes often work to undermine the professional status of composition teachers in North American universities. I trace the use of computer-assisted instruction, specifically distance-education initiatives. To further the cause of a just implementation of CAI, I discuss recent contractual language and explore the current practice of hiring computers and writing specialists into nontenurable staff positions. I posit that writing program administrators need to fight for stable, long-term positions for faculty who teach with computers and within computer-mediated spaces. I also argue that compositionists must seek to regulate and control the ownership of their intellectual property and course materials.     

Using artificial intelligence in routing schemes for wireless networks

For the latest 10 years, many authors have focused their investigations in wireless sensor networks. Different researching issues have been extensively developed: power consumption, MAC protocols, self-organizing network algorithms, data-aggregation schemes, routing protocols, QoS management, etc. Due to the constraints on data processing and power consumption, the use of artificial intelligence has been historically discarded. However, in some special scenarios the features of neural networks are appropriate to develop complex tasks such as path discovery. In this paper, we explore the performance of two very well-known routing paradigms, directed diffusion and Energy-Aware Routing, and our routing algorithm, named SIR, which has the novelty of being based on the introduction of neural networks in every sensor node. Extensive simulations over our wireless sensor network simulator, OLIMPO, have been carried out to study the efficiency of the introduction of neural networks. A comparison of the results obtained with every routing protocol is analyzed. This paper attempts to encourage the use of artificial intelligence techniques in wireless sensor nodes.     

Guest Editors' Introduction: Developing Scientific Software, Part 2

This guest editors' introduction introduces a special issue on scientific software development. This issue is a sequel to the July/August 2008 issue, whose 6 articles provided some flavor of the variety of such software. Part 2 of this theme focuses on practices for improving the relationships between users, developers, and software.     

Introduction to the Special Issue on Meta-Learning

Recent advances in meta-learning are providing the foundations to construct meta-learning assistants and task-adaptive learners. The goal of this special issue is to foster an interest in meta-learning by compiling representative work in the field. The contributions to this special issue provide strong insights into the construction of future meta-learning tools. In this introduction we present a common frame of reference to address work in meta-learning through the concept of meta-knowledge. We show how meta-learning can be simply defined as the process of exploiting knowledge about learning that enables us to understand and improve the performance of learning algorithms.     

The pedagogical use of information and communication technology in education: a Dutch perspective

This special issue discusses Dutch research on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education. In this introduction, four broad research lines are distinguished: Policy-oriented research, research on learning technologies, research on computer-based instructional design tools, and research on the pedagogical use of ICT. The focus of this special issue is on the last type of research. The main research questions, findings and conclusions of the six contributions are discussed. It is concluded that the most important directions for future research deal with the added value of ICT for information problem solving in resource-based learning, for collaboration using external representations and tools that provoke critical discussion and reflection, and for simulation in learning environments for competence based learning and discovery learning.     

Recommending packages with validity constraints to groups of users

The success of recommender systems has made them the focus of a massive research effort in both industry and academia. Recent work has generalized recommendations to suggest packages of items to single users, or single items to groups of users. However, to the best of our knowledge, the interesting problem of recommending a package to a group of users (P2G) has not been studied to date. This is a problem with several practical applications, such as recommending vacation packages to tourist groups, entertainment packages to groups of friends or sets of courses to groups of students. In this paper, we formulate the P2G problem, and we propose probabilistic models that capture the preference of a group toward a package, incorporating factors such as user impact and package viability. We also investigate the issue of recommendation fairness. This is a novel consideration that arises in our setting, where we require that no user is consistently slighted by the item selection in the package. In addition, we study a special case of the P2G problem, where the recommended items are places and the recommendation should consider the current locations of the users in the group. We present aggregation algorithms for finding the best packages and compare our suggested models with baseline approaches stemming from previous work. The results show that our models find packages of high quality which consider all special requirements of P2G recommendation.     

Using an experimental study to develop group awareness support for real-time distributed collaborative writing

Supporting group awareness is vital for the success of real-time, distributed, collaborative writing systems. Many awareness mechanisms have been introduced, but highly effective solutions are few. The research presented in this paper focuses on the development of awareness mechanisms using an experimental study of synchronous distributed collaborative writing. Our study has made two major contributions to research on group awareness.First, the study compares the importance of different awareness elements in supporting group awareness for collaborative writing. The results of our Wilcoxon test on awareness elements identify the five most important elements, including “Being able to comment on what other users have done,” “Knowing what actions other users are currently taking,” “Providing a communication tool when audio is not available,” “Knowing other user's working areas in the document,” and “Knowing other user's tasks.”Second, the research proposes mechanisms corresponding to the above-mentioned five awareness elements. The mechanisms include Dynamic Task List (DTL), Modification Director (MD), Advanced Chat (AC) and Split Window View (SWV). These mechanisms provide support for various aspects of group awareness, and add many enhanced features to existing awareness mechanisms. For example, DTL presents high-level information about authors' responsibilities and the correlation between their work allocations. MD notifies users instantaneously whenever their work is modified by other authors. AC enhances communication between users by allowing them to attach document objects such as text and diagrams to a conversation message. And, SWV provides the views of other authors' working areas and viewing areas simultaneously.     

Constraint-aware interior layout exploration for pre-cast concrete-based buildings

Creating desirable layouts of building interiors is a complex task as designers have to manually adhere to various local and global considerations arising from competing practical and design considerations. In this work, we present an interactive design tool to create desirable floorplans by computationally conforming to such design constraints. Specifically, we support three types of constraints: (i) functional constraints such as number of rooms, connectivity among the rooms, target room areas, etc., (ii) design considerations such as user modifications and preferences, and (iii) fabrication constraints such as cost and convenience of manufacturing. Based on user specifications, our system automatically generates multiple floor layouts with associated 3D geometry that all satisfy the design specifications and constraints, thus exposing only the desirable family of interior layouts to the user. In this work, we focus on pre-cast concrete-based constructions, which lead to interesting discrete and continuous optimization possibilities. We test our framework on a range of complex real-world specifications and demonstrate the control and expressiveness of the exposed design space relieving the users of the task of manually adhering to non-local functional and fabrication constraints.