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1 – 10 of 41Classification is an important process in making sense of the world, and has a pronounced social dimension. This paper aims to compare folksonomy, a new social classification…
Abstract
Purpose
Classification is an important process in making sense of the world, and has a pronounced social dimension. This paper aims to compare folksonomy, a new social classification system currently being developed on the web, with conventional taxonomy in the light of theoretical sociological and anthropological approaches. The co‐existence of these two types of classification system raises the questions: Will and should taxonomies be hybridized with folksonomies? What can each of these systems contribute to information‐searching processes, and how can the sociology of knowledge provide an answer to these questions? This paper aims also to address these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is situated at the meeting point of the sociology of knowledge, epistemology and information science and aims at examining systems of classification in the light of both classical theory and current late‐modern sociological and anthropological approaches.
Findings
Using theoretical approaches current in the sociology of science and knowledge, the paper envisages two divergent possible outcomes.
Originality/value
While concentrating on classifications systems, this paper addresses the more general social issue of what we know and how it is known. The concept of hybrid knowledge is suggested in order to illuminate the epistemological basis of late‐modern knowledge being constructed by hybridizing contradictory modern knowledge categories, such as the subjective with the objective and the social with the natural. Integrating tree‐like taxonomies with folksonomies or, in other words, generating a naturalized structural order of objective relations with social, subjective classification systems, can create a vast range of hybrid knowledge.
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In times of organizational thirst for employee engagement and meaning through designing corporate stories, the aim of this article is to explore and identify key sources (engines…
Abstract
Purpose
In times of organizational thirst for employee engagement and meaning through designing corporate stories, the aim of this article is to explore and identify key sources (engines) of engagement during LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® (LSP) corporate learning pre-pandemic events of various types and size in Poland.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper. The research was conducted using participant observation from the perspective of a certified facilitator of the method. This position ensures a prime access to the organizational events. Eight training sessions (four LSP and four non-LSP workshops) have been analysed using thematic analysis. The structure of thematic codes has been conceptualized and reflected as the EPIC framework.
Findings
The findings include (1) the importance of the experience of emerging realities as a key generator of engagement, (2) the significance of social collaboration and peer-to-peer interactions (experience of collective intelligence), (3) the observable rise in engagement and willingness to contribute when real business situations, especially labelled as “strategic issues” are discussed and (4) the role of image-capturing (“snapshot experience”) in creation of an engaging learning experience.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations refer to the potential conflict of interests as the researcher is also the facilitator of the workshop. To ensure the neutral point of view of the researcher, the sessions have been recorded to enable transparency of the observation and non-biased logic of key findings. The “learning experience” research is also culture- and context-sensitive, thus it may be problematic to replicate the research procedure in different countries, however, the EPIC model can be treated as a universal framework to explore and identify the engines of engagement.
Practical implications
The concept of this paper is designed from the practical point of view. The findings are adaptable to the corporate practices aimed at empowering employees and are compatible with management models such as agile, human enablement and human-centred design in organizations.
Social implications
Serious play methods of learning and experiencing are said to be of the highest importance when finding new ways of organizational learning in the pandemic situation and work from home as a standard learning environment.
Originality/value
The contribution of this paper is visible in the conceptualization of the moments that shape an engaging experience. This is also the first academic paper presenting the perspective of a certified facilitator of LSP from Central and Eastern Europe region.
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Entrepreneurial ecosystems, the inter-connected set of organizing forces that produce and sustain regional entrepreneurial activity, are receiving heightened attention. This…
Abstract
Purpose
Entrepreneurial ecosystems, the inter-connected set of organizing forces that produce and sustain regional entrepreneurial activity, are receiving heightened attention. This research finds that narratives about ecosystem participants discursively construct entrepreneurial ecosystems. However, the studies do not emphasize ecosystem and region-level narratives, focus on ecosystems in which narratives are uncontested and, thus, do not examine how ecosystem narratives compete with other regional narratives. The purpose of this paper is to develop a theory that explains how narratives and entrepreneurial ecosystems emerge and change in response to existing regional narratives.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal process model is proposed to explain how entrepreneurial ecosystem narratives emerge and compete with other regional narratives. To illustrate the phases of the model, archival data were collected from three entrepreneurial ecosystems where new narratives have had to overcome entrenched economic and cultural narratives.
Findings
It is theorized that entrepreneurial ecosystems emerge, in part, through discourse. For an entrepreneurial ecosystem to develop, a narrative must take hold that allows participants to make sense of the new entrepreneurial activities and the changes to the region. A four-phase process model is presented to explain how entrepreneurial ecosystem narratives compete with other regional narratives and, particularly, negative economic narratives.
Originality/value
The theory developed in this paper contributes to the research on entrepreneurial ecosystems and organizational narratives and generates practical implications for policymakers and entrepreneurs seeking to promote entrepreneurship as a tool for economic development.
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Olga Dziubaniuk, Maria Ivanova-Gongne and Ekaterina Berdysheva
This study aims to explore the challenges and complexities of interaction in international stakeholder networks within the context of projects focused on the implementation of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the challenges and complexities of interaction in international stakeholder networks within the context of projects focused on the implementation of sustainable development goals (SDGs). In particular, it examines the challenges faced by stakeholders in a network from a developed country during interaction in the context of a developing country.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative approach, this study analyses interview data collected from the key managers of an international consulting company in charge of a water supply and sanitation project in Nepal. The primary data is triangulated with secondary data, such as project reports and related academic articles.
Findings
This study illustrates how interaction in international stakeholder networks affects and is interrelated with SDGs, as well as how aiming to achieve one specific goal can stimulate the implementation of other sustainable goals. Further, this research shows how project managers from a developed country had to adapt to the specifics of the developing country context and how their sustainability project influenced the well-being of local communities by improving environmental and social sustainability.
Research limitations/implications
The research suggests that challenges in stakeholder interaction may arise because of differences in process management methods used by the international stakeholders involved in the project and country-context specifics, such as corruption, imperfect national regulations, cultural specifics, effects of climate change, etc.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the literature on international multi-stakeholder interaction between actors from developed and developing countries. Furthermore, it adds to the literature on stakeholder networking by highlighting the importance of engaging in a dialogue with local communities during the conceptualisation stages of both sustainability and SDG implementation because of diverging worldviews and practices.
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Julie Nichols and Quenten Agius
Embedded in built environment discourse, this chapter examines the traditional knowledge and resilience of the Ngadjuri Nation Peoples through an Elder’s narrative of…
Abstract
Embedded in built environment discourse, this chapter examines the traditional knowledge and resilience of the Ngadjuri Nation Peoples through an Elder’s narrative of reconciliation as well as resistance in their subsisting colonial settlement. Removed from ‘Country’ in the 1840s, Ngadjuri Aboriginal community endured colonial industries of open-cut copper mining and large-scale pastoralism as irreparable destruction to their cultural landscapes. European processes in the resources sectors reshaped natural topographies, deconstructing Ngadjuri Songlines and Ancestral Dreaming stories. Burra’s colonial stone buildings of settlement, painstakingly cut and composed from materials of the surrounding ecological terrain, prompted new narratives from Ngadjuri as a way of alleviating scars. Broadly speaking, this chapter aims to show how cultural heritage of two communities is provocatively and conceptually unpacked through the vernacular buildings’ cross-cultural foundations. That is, an under-reported narrative was unwittingly bestowed on the colonial-built forms with hidden meanings that deserve further investigation. This chapter offers a counternarrative to colonial histories revealing Ngadjuri’s methods for reconnecting to Country and culture after generations of disempowerment. It explores how within the materiality of colonial structures, the Ngadjuri entwined their remediated storylines – revealing a data curation that had avoided popular discourse in the galleries, libraries, archives, and museums [GLAM] sector representation. This example implies there are bodies of knowledge in built cultural heritage hidden elsewhere on our Aboriginal Nations and the challenges it presents GLAM in their Indigenisation processes.
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Silvia Mazzetto and Roula El-Khoury
By looking at a selection of iconic modern projects designed by or commissioned to the prominent but not well-examined architect Sami Abdul Baki both in Lebanon and Kuwait during…
Abstract
Purpose
By looking at a selection of iconic modern projects designed by or commissioned to the prominent but not well-examined architect Sami Abdul Baki both in Lebanon and Kuwait during his most productive years in the 50s, this paper attempts to identify first main trends, influences and ideologies that shaped these works at the peak of modern architectural development in the region. Through these examples, the paper then aims at retracing predominant trajectories of intellectual capital exchange and transfer of knowledge between Lebanon and Kuwait. These can go far beyond their territorial boundaries, without claiming a single grand-narrative that describes the modern architectural development in any of the two countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The data collected from discourse analysis, interviews and biographical notes were mapped into a schematic diagram illustrating a complex network of connections and multidisciplinary involvement in projects.
Findings
However, the outcome did not generate a dominant theme for the projects or expertise of the architect.
Originality/value
It is very likely that Sami Abdul Baki's strong political dimension and quality as a mediator or facilitator in addition to his strong network of contacts played a significant role in the project commissions that he has won as an architect/engineer in Kuwait, Lebanon, Germany and other countries.
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– The purpose of this paper is to critically investigate a group of year 11 boys’ relationship to RE in response to debates about boys’ underachievement in RE.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically investigate a group of year 11 boys’ relationship to RE in response to debates about boys’ underachievement in RE.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data were collected through observations and semi-structured interviews. Data analysis draws upon pro-feminist and poststructuralist theories of the gendered subject.
Findings
The data presented in this paper reveals how RE functioned as a political space for the exploration of social justice issues that formed part of the boys’ daily experiences, serving to increase awareness and understanding of diversity.
Research limitations/implications
At a time of curriculum change where RE has been marginalised by exclusion from the DfE's English Baccalaureate this paper also seeks to contribute to debates about education for social justice through critical, pluralistic RE within a neo-liberal policy context.
Practical implications
RE is shown to be a potent educational resource for challenging pupils’ negative social practices and producing more reflexive masculine subjects.
Social implications
The contribution of RE to ensuring greater understanding and dialogue requires reassertion and protection within the curriculum.
Originality/value
The data presented shows that where RE is taken up by masculine subjects it offers an alternative discourse with potential to create community cohesion and interfaith dialogue.
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Robert Detmering, Anna Marie Johnson, Claudene Sproles, Samantha McClellan and Rosalinda Hernandez Linares
This paper aims to provide an introductory overview and selected annotated bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy across all library…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide an introductory overview and selected annotated bibliography of recent resources on library instruction and information literacy across all library types.
Design/methodology/approach
It introduces and annotates English-language periodical articles, monographs, dissertations and other materials on library instruction and information literacy published in 2014.
Findings
It provides information about each source, discusses the characteristics of current scholarship and highlights sources that contain unique or significant scholarly contributions.
Originality/value
The information may be used by librarians and interested parties as a quick reference to literature on library instruction and information literacy.
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Simona de Iulio and Zouha Jarrin
Compares toy commercials in France, Germany and Italy in relation to globalisation, which is claimed to produce a uniform consumer culture. Investigates the roles performed by…
Abstract
Compares toy commercials in France, Germany and Italy in relation to globalisation, which is claimed to produce a uniform consumer culture. Investigates the roles performed by different territories (international, national, regional and local) in advertising directed at children of these different nationalities. Focuses on the apparent tendency towards universalism in the form and content of TV commercials aimed at children, based on a comparative analysis of 163 commercials for toys. Finds that the commercials in the three countries used the same types of persuasion, with toys linked to fantasy worlds, different depictions of boys and girls, and reference to a widely shared extra‐textual body of knowledge; international commercials were much more standardised than for other types of products, and images crossed national boundaries more easily than language, with various reinventions of voiceovers and other verbal messages. Concludes that transnational toy advertising cannot escape local obstacles linked to sociocultural variables.
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