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1 – 10 of over 33000This paper describes the unintended and unanticipated ways an iPhone as a data collection tool created distractions during observations of five-year-old twins' digital literacy…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper describes the unintended and unanticipated ways an iPhone as a data collection tool created distractions during observations of five-year-old twins' digital literacy practices while in their home.
Design/methodology/approach
Situated in sociocultural theories of learning and development and new literacy studies, the 12-month-long case study examined young children's digital literacy practices in their homes before and during their transition into kindergarten. The article focuses on the data collection of five-year-old twins in their home with their parents, a family the author called the Skywalkers. Data sources included semistructured interviews, participant observations and informal conversations.
Findings
The mother was a low-technology user and preferred her children to engage in nondigital activities. The children were permitted 10 min every other day of “digital time.” The iPhone as a data collection tool provided them with digital access they would otherwise not have. The mother knew the focus of the study was digital engagement and that the iPhone was used for data collection (i.e. photographs and videos). Although the iPhone was intended to be used in establishing rapport and taking photographs, the children frequently asked to video record their play and therefore the iPhone became a distraction.
Originality/value
Given the prevalence of smartphones in Western society, the recruitment of a family with such low-technology use was unforeseen. As digital data collection increases in qualitative research, researchers should not assume that a smartphone is always appropriate for gathering photographic data. This is particularly important when investigating digital literacy practices of families in their homes.
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Benjamin J.C. Yuan, Chun Yi Liu, Shun Chuan Ho, Hector K.M. Kao and Po Chang Shen
Under such circumstances, how to assign the highest priority for future products which will create the greatest value will be the key success factor for a product planning model…
Abstract
Purpose
Under such circumstances, how to assign the highest priority for future products which will create the greatest value will be the key success factor for a product planning model. The purpose of this study is to construct an improved planning model for new products based on the theoretical structures of technology roadmaps and patent analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
This study takes the perspective of a product planning strategy, using technology roadmap developed by Institute of Manufacturing Technology of the University of Cambridge, combining with scenario planning and patent analysis. The main body of the proposed model is the technology roadmap of the product. Through patent analysis, the technology roadmap was integrated into the hierarchical execution of product planning to improve the disadvantages of the original technology roadmap and thereby clarify the content of the implemented procedure. With the planning of digital home products in a large household appliance manufacturer in China as a case study, the feasibility of the proposed model was verified.
Findings
The improved planning model for new products comprised five planning phases: market scenario planning, product feature analysis, technological development analysis, patent combination analysis, and resource allocation. A matrix corresponding to product planning was established. The case study is to find out the developing trends in next‐generation product features in six different scenarios of digital home for M, a home appliance manufacturer. There are five steps of the product planning model. The product planning model provides enterprises with integrated information from market demand, technology as well as patents. At the same time, it is easy to maintain and reproduce. The authors expect the model to make a contribution to practical product planning.
Originality/value
This model should become an essential prediction tool for enterprises developing new products and can assist in decision‐making and strategic implementation.
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M. Mahdi Moeini Gharagozloo, Anil Nair and Chen Chen
Understanding the mechanism through which digital economy is significantly impacting all dimensions of global economy has become a rising priority in recent years. The purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding the mechanism through which digital economy is significantly impacting all dimensions of global economy has become a rising priority in recent years. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical role of digital readiness of economies around the world on the performance of international M&As as one of the major corporate strategies for firms' global expansion. We also study circumstances under which digital readiness of an economy matters to international M&As.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examined how digital readiness superiority (or inferiority) of the United States in comparison with host countries impact capital market reaction to international M&As announced by US public companies. To do this study, analysis was run on a sample of 1,393 IMAs by publicly traded US firms during the 2010–2016 period.
Findings
The study reveals that those public US companies that target companies in countries, in which the US has superior digital readiness to them, show better performance in terms of investors' reaction (capital market reaction) to the announcement of international M&As. In fact, markets will look at the superiority of US digital readiness to target country as an opportunity for transferring digital capabilities. Moreover, these patterns are pronounced in those M&A deals in which the acquiring company is from high-tech industry. However, interestingly when US companies already have a profitable growth track record or when acquirer and target are in the same industry, the market reacts negatively to this digital superiority.
Originality/value
Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of the mechanisms through which digitalization of economies impact the performance of multinational enterprises. It adds to the information management literature on corporate global strategy and is one of the first to examine the role of digital readiness on international M&As performance.
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Mark Taylor and Richard Kirkham
A policy of surveillance which interferes with the fundamental right to a private life requires credible justification and a supportive evidence base. The authority for such…
Abstract
A policy of surveillance which interferes with the fundamental right to a private life requires credible justification and a supportive evidence base. The authority for such interference should be clearly detailed in law, overseen by a transparent process and not left to the vagaries of administrative discretion. If a state surveils those it governs and claims the interference to be in the public interest, then the evidence base on which that claim stands and the operative conception of public interest should be subject to critical examination. Unfortunately, there is an inconsistency in the regulatory burden associated with access to confidential patient information for non-health-related surveillance purposes and access for health-related surveillance or research purposes. This inconsistency represents a systemic weakness to inform or challenge an evidence-based policy of non-health-related surveillance. This inconsistency is unjustified and undermines the qualities recognised to be necessary to maintain a trustworthy confidential public health service. Taking the withdrawn Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between NHS Digital and the Home Office as a worked example, this chapter demonstrates how the capacity of the law to constrain the arbitrary or unwarranted exercise of power through judicial review is not sufficient to level the playing field. The authors recommend ‘levelling up’ in procedural oversight, and adopting independent mechanisms equivalent to those adopted for establishing the operative conceptions of public interest in the context of health research to non-health-related surveillance purposes.
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Ragna Kemp Haraldsdottir, Fiorella Foscarini, Charles Jeurgens, Pekka Henttonen, Gillian Oliver, Seren Wendelken and Viviane Frings-Hessami
The purpose of this paper was to investigate how recordkeepers in Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Iceland and Italy experienced accomplishing their tasks from home…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to investigate how recordkeepers in Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Iceland and Italy experienced accomplishing their tasks from home over varying lengths of time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
A multilingual survey including 44 questions was designed and administered to the six countries identified above in 2022. This research was preceded by an environmental scan looking at existing studies considering archival and records management responses to the pandemic.
Findings
The impact of working from home on recordkeeping and, more generally, work performance was perceived differently by the survey respondents depending on various factors. The study also identified a number of similarities across countries, such as an increased awareness of the importance of records management shared by organizational actors. Surprisingly, the pandemic did not appear to have a great impact on the perceived quality of records management.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study aiming to capture records professionals’ perceptions of their role while working from home during the pandemic.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled the transition in the workplace into the digital era. The purpose of this review paper is to highlight how the pandemic has further exposed the…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled the transition in the workplace into the digital era. The purpose of this review paper is to highlight how the pandemic has further exposed the digital divide and the structural inequalities in remote workers’ access to home-location technology infrastructure and services. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is adopted to highlight how the pandemic has forced the workforce to accept and use digital technology from home for work purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
This desktop-based review paper is drawn from the existing literature. Although both benefits and disadvantages are noted, technology plays a critical role in connecting remote workers to the digital world.
Findings
The paper found that remote workers did not necessarily struggle to work remotely from home to undertake their daily work tasks. Still, the critical challenge was the available Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure in their respective residential areas.
Practical implications
The paper seeks to highlight that even though the COVID-19 pandemic and related events have fast-tracked the switch of many work activities into the digital era, the uneven distribution of ICT infrastructure accentuates the barriers to effective home workplaces for many in developing communities. The research found a significant role that the advancement and acceptance of technologies play in the efficacy of remote working from home.
Originality/value
The relevance of this paper is in its contribution to the literature in extending knowledge about the UTAUT on remote working during a pandemic. The arguments presented herein may contribute to policy development and the ongoing debate about how the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the shift into the digital era on a global basis.
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Andrea Rangone and Alessandro Turconi
The television business, traditionally static and conservative, is undergoing a deep transformation process in the multimedia age. Technological (r)evolutions are driving…
Abstract
The television business, traditionally static and conservative, is undergoing a deep transformation process in the multimedia age. Technological (r)evolutions are driving important changes in the market offer and broadening the boundaries of the television business. These are becoming fuzzier and fuzzier and opportunities for new entrants have been largely increasing. This article provides an exhaustive review of the ongoing processes changing television and proposes a strategic reference framework for comprehending the new structure of the television business.
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Fayez Ghazai Alotaibi, Nathan Clarke and Steven M. Furnell
The human factor is a major consideration in securing systems. A wide and increasing range of different technologies, devices, platforms, applications and services are being used…
Abstract
Purpose
The human factor is a major consideration in securing systems. A wide and increasing range of different technologies, devices, platforms, applications and services are being used every day by home users. In parallel, home users are also experiencing a range of different online threats and attacks and are increasingly being targeted as they lack the knowledge and awareness about potential threats and how to protect themselves. The increase in technologies and platforms also increases the burden upon a user to understand how to apply security across differing technologies, operating systems and applications. This results in managing the security across their technology portfolio increasingly more troublesome and time consuming. This paper aims to propose an approach that attempts to propose a system for improving security management and awareness for home users.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed system is capable of creating and assigning different security policies for different digital devices in a user-friendly fashion. These assigned policies are monitored, checked and managed to review the user’s compliance with the assigned policies to provide bespoke awareness content based on the user’s current needs.
Findings
A novel framework was proposed for improving information security management and awareness for home users. In addition, a mock-up design was developed to simulate the proposed approach to visualise the main concept and the functions which might be performed when it is deployed in a real environment. A number of different scenarios have been simulated to show how the system can manage and deal with different types of users, devices and threats. In addition, the proposed approach has been evaluated by experts in the research domain. The overall feedback is positive, constructive and encouraging. The experts agreed that the identified research problem is a real problem. In addition, they agreed that the proposed approach is usable, feasible and effective in improving security management and awareness for home users.
Research limitations/implications
The proposed design of the system is a mock-up design without real data. Therefore, implementing the proposed approach in a real environment can provide the researcher with a better understanding of the effectiveness and the functionality of the proposed approach.
Practical implications
This study offers a framework and usable mock-up design which can help in improving information security management for home users.
Originality/value
Improving the security management and awareness for home users by monitoring, checking and managing different security controls and configurations effectively are the key to strengthen information security. Therefore, when home users have a good level of security management and awareness, this could protect and secure the home network and subsequently business infrastructure and services as well.
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Yvonne Ai-Chi Loh and Arul Chib
This paper presents a framework to measure the digital divide by considering a more comprehensive index of information and communication technology (ICT) predictors. The authors…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents a framework to measure the digital divide by considering a more comprehensive index of information and communication technology (ICT) predictors. The authors also address the conceptual and methodological problems in the digital divide field, given that its focus has been shifted from technological access to higher-order divides over the years. The proposed framework is hypothesized and tested in the context of unemployed and underemployed residents in Singapore.
Design/methodology/approach
Through a quantitative survey, 302 unemployed and underemployed workers were asked what ICT “access”, “usage” and “appropriation” meant to them. Factor analyses were deployed to identify the underlying, granular dimensions of ICT access, usage and appropriation.
Findings
The factor analyses revealed an interesting breakdown of the main factors of ICT access, usage and appropriation. The authors found that one's purpose for which technology is accessed, used and appropriated determines how each of the levels of ICT assets is defined. Thus, the authors propose new operational definitions for ICT access, usage and appropriation based on the analyses.
Originality/value
This study aims to provide a more robust measure of the digital divide from access, capabilities to outcomes. The authors hope that this framework, besides complementing current digital divide models, can be applied to different types of participants.
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Marcia Combs, Casey Hazelwood and Randall Joyce
Digital voice assistants use wake word engines (WWEs) to monitor surrounding audio for detection of the voice assistant's name. There are two failed conditions for a WWE, false…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital voice assistants use wake word engines (WWEs) to monitor surrounding audio for detection of the voice assistant's name. There are two failed conditions for a WWE, false negative and false positive. Wake word false positives threaten a loss of personal privacy because, upon activation, the digital assistant records audio to the voice cloud service for processing.
Design/methodology/approach
This observational study attempted to identify which Amazon Alexa wake word and Amazon Echo smart speaker resulted in the fewest number of human voice false positives. During an eight-week period, false-positive data were collected from four different Amazon Echo smart speakers located in a small apartment with three female roommates.
Findings
Results from this study suggest the number of human voice false positives are related to wake word selection and Amazon Echo hardware. Results from this observational study determined that the wake word Alexa resulted in the fewest number of false positives.
Originality/value
This study suggests Amazon Alexa users can better protect their privacy by selecting Alexa as their wake word and selecting smart speakers with the highest number of microphones in the far-field array with 360-degree geometry.
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