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Article
Publication date: 8 May 2017

Annika Andersson and Berner Lindström

This study aims to investigate how boundary work is carried out at the incident site during exercises with police, ambulance and rescue services, and how boundary awareness is…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to investigate how boundary work is carried out at the incident site during exercises with police, ambulance and rescue services, and how boundary awareness is developed based on this boundary work. Collaboration in emergency work is challenging on many levels. The unforeseen and temporary nature of incidents presents basic challenges. Another important challenge is boundaries between specialised and autonomous emergency service organisations. Knowledge on how exercises are performed to increase the individuals' and organisations' preparedness for future joint-response work is relatively limited.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirically, full-scale exercises involving police, ambulance and rescue services and with repetition of practical scenarios and joint-reflection seminars are studied. Interview data with 26 exercise participants were analysed using thematic analysis. The analytic focus is on how boundaries are identified, negotiated and managed in the participants’ work.

Findings

Much of the work in the exercises was performed within distinct areas of expertise, in accordance with concrete routines, skills and responsibilities. Boundary work was often organised in the form of distribution of labour or creating chains of actions. The exercises shed light on challenges related to other aspects of emergency response, such as a lack of resources, diverging primary responsibilities, time-criticality and hazardous environments. The design allowed participants to explicate boundaries, to test and discuss alternative solutions and to visualise the effects of different solutions, as the scenarios were repeated.

Originality/value

The study found that the boundaries that were identified were often of institutional character, and were also related to the specific scenarios and to the actions taken in the activities. By integrating real-life experiences of collaborative work in the exercise, the exercise gained a certain meaning that was essential for the participants to develop boundary awareness.

Details

Journal of Workplace Learning, vol. 29 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1366-5626

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 February 2016

Anne Algers, Berner Lindström and Lars Svensson

More collaborative and open learning models are suggested as part of the paradigm shift in the way knowledge is produced, distributed, and used. The purpose of this paper is to…

Abstract

Purpose

More collaborative and open learning models are suggested as part of the paradigm shift in the way knowledge is produced, distributed, and used. The purpose of this paper is to explore a work-based learning (WBL) model, based on systemic negotiations between actors from the three parties: the academy, the industry, and the students. The purpose is to investigate how teachers, supervisors, and students value negotiated WBL as a boundary activity and to enhance the understanding of the learning potential at the boundary.

Design/methodology/approach

Activity theory is used as a lens to analyse the results from a survey to the three stakeholder groups and interviews of students. The four learning mechanisms are used to explore learning at the boundary between the two activity systems.

Findings

Diversity and mobility in education and work addressed by the notion of boundary crossing are associated with both challenges and a learning potential. There is a constant dynamic between structure and agency, where structure, the negotiated model, influence the individual agency. When gradually removing scaffolding students can as boundary crossers engage behaviourally, emotionally, and cognitively and have agency to handle contradictions at a local level. However, they did not seem to prioritise both systems equally but instead they were gradually socialised into the activity system of the industry.

Originality/value

When WBL is framed by a negotiated partnership it can manage and customise inherent conflicts of interest and enhance individual learning opportunities at the boundary and can be conceptualised as an open learning practice.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 6 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 December 2015

Markus Weninger, Gerald Ortner, Tobias Hahn, Olaf Drümmer and Klaus Miesenberger

– The purpose of this paper is to enhance accessibility of graphical information in particular for blind and visually handicapped people.

1374

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to enhance accessibility of graphical information in particular for blind and visually handicapped people.

Design/methodology/approach

Prototype development based on an intense analysis of the state of the art and potential technologies with later on heuristic analysis of different approaches to enrich graphical information for better accessibility.

Findings

A novel approach to enhance accessibility named “Intention Tree” for enhancing accessibility. It allows integrating descriptive and navigation information into standard Scalable Vector Graphics and also mechanisms to analyse and aggregate data.

Research limitations/implications

The approach promises interesting new tools for better accessing and navigating graphical information with potential not only for blind and visually handicapped people.

Practical implications

Design prototype for further development.

Social implications

Potential for better social inclusion and participation.

Originality/value

This paper presents a novel and new approach for enhanced accessibility and usability and a new technique for authoring graphical information.

Details

Journal of Assistive Technologies, vol. 9 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-9450

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2004

Markus Bylund and Zary Segall

Observes that the future of mobile communication networks lies not only in how successful people are in deploying technologies (2.5G or 3G with a high degree of coverage and…

602

Abstract

Observes that the future of mobile communication networks lies not only in how successful people are in deploying technologies (2.5G or 3G with a high degree of coverage and roaming between operators), but also in how well people can create a functioning environment and usage situation for end‐users in which they can get a homogeneous and continuous usage experience, despite the very heterogeneous world in which they, after all, will live. Concepts are advanced that support this observation (network independence, UI/device flexibility, and user experience continuity), and a possible solution is proposed that would take people in that direction (the personal server).

Details

info, vol. 6 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6697

Keywords

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