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1 – 10 of 11Digital inclusivity is about making web sites available to users regardless of a user’s device or disability. This study seeks to find out how accessible and mobile ready…
Abstract
Purpose
Digital inclusivity is about making web sites available to users regardless of a user’s device or disability. This study seeks to find out how accessible and mobile ready state library web sites are and if there is a relationship between web site accessibility and mobile readiness.
Methodology/approach
I examined web site accessibility through automated code evaluation and manual code inspection of the web site homepage. I evaluated mobile readiness by comparing how homepages displayed on a desktop computer vs. a smart phone.
Findings
Most state library web sites had accessibility problems, including missing alternative text for images (82%), inaccessible forms (54%), and poor contrast between text and background (56%). Only 36% of the sites were mobile ready. A Spearman rho analysis of accessibility and mobile readiness found that the more accessible a site is, the more likely it is mobile ready (and vice versa).
Research limitations/implications
While this study identified accessibility and mobile readiness issues, it does not address why these problems exist. In addition, the unit of analysis was limited to the web site homepage. The study’s results emphasize the need to combine manual code inspection with automated analysis, particularly for images’ alternative text.
Practical implications
The study suggests that state libraries need to take greater care in meeting accessibility standards, particularly easily followed standards such as providing appropriate alternative text for images.
Originality/value
Despite the importance of state libraries in organizing and funding local libraries, there has been little research to date on state library web sites.
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Alexandra E. MacDougall, Zhanna Bagdasarov, James F. Johnson and Michael D. Mumford
Business ethics provide a potent source of competitive advantage, placing increasing pressure on organizations to create and maintain an ethical workforce. Nonetheless…
Abstract
Business ethics provide a potent source of competitive advantage, placing increasing pressure on organizations to create and maintain an ethical workforce. Nonetheless, ethical breaches continue to permeate corporate life, suggesting that there is something missing from how we conceptualize and institutionalize organizational ethics. The current effort seeks to fill this void in two ways. First, we introduce an extended ethical framework premised on sensemaking in organizations. Within this framework, we suggest that multiple individual, organizational, and societal factors may differentially influence the ethical sensemaking process. Second, we contend that human resource management plays a central role in sustaining workplace ethics and explore the strategies through which human resource personnel can work to foster an ethical culture and spearhead ethics initiatives. Future research directions applicable to scholars in both the ethics and human resources domains are provided.
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Jon J. Fallesen and Stanley M. Halpin
Pew and Mavor (1998) called for an integrative representation of human behavior for use in models of individual combatants and organizations. Models with integrated…
Abstract
Pew and Mavor (1998) called for an integrative representation of human behavior for use in models of individual combatants and organizations. Models with integrated representation of behavior have only been achieved at rudimentary levels according to those performing the studies (e.g. Pew & Mavor, 1998; Tulving, 2002) and those building the models (e.g. Warwick et al., 2002). This chapter will address aspects of cognitive performance that are important to incorporate into models of combat based on acceptance of theory, strength of empirical data, or for other reasons such as to bridge gaps where incomplete knowledge exists about cognitive behavior and performance. As a starting point, this chapter will assess which of Pew and Mavor’s recommendations are still appropriate as determined by a review of selected literature on cognition and its representation. We will also provide some review and extensions of key literature on cognition and modeling and suggest a way ahead to close the remaining gaps. Different aspects of cognition are described with recent findings, and most are followed by an example of how they have been represented in computer models or a discussion of challenges to their representation in modeling.
The purpose of this paper is to explore issues of race and culture in health education in the secondary school health and physical education (HPE) curriculum in Ontario, Canada.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore issues of race and culture in health education in the secondary school health and physical education (HPE) curriculum in Ontario, Canada.
Design/methodology/approach
Using Ontario’s secondary school curriculum as a point of analysis, this paper draws from critical race theory and a whiteness lens to identify how cultural and race identities are positioned in contemporary health education documents. The curriculum document and its newest strategies for teaching are the focus of analysis in this conceptual paper.
Findings
Within the curriculum new teaching strategies offer entry points for engaging students in learning more about culture and race. In particular, First Nation, Métis and Inuit identities are noted in the curriculum. Specifically, three areas of the curriculum point to topics of race and culture in health: eating; substance use, abuse and additions; and, movement activities. Within these three educational areas, the curriculum offers information about cultural practices to teach about what it means to understand health from a cultural lens.
Social implications
The HPE curriculum offers examples of how Ontario, Canada, is expanding its cultural approaches to knowing about and understanding health practices. The acknowledgment of First Nations, Métis and Inuit health and cultural ways of approaching health is significant when compared to other recently revised HPE curriculum from around the globe. The teaching strategies offered in the curriculum document provide one avenue to think about how identity, culture and race are being taught in health education classrooms.
Originality/value
First, with limited analysis of health education policy within schools, the use of critical theory provides opportunities for thinking about what comes next when broadening definitions of health to be more inclusive of cultural and race identity. Second, curriculum structures how teachers respond to the topics they are delivering, thus how HPE as a subject area promotes healthy practices is highly relevant to the field of health education. This paper provides an important acknowledgment of the educative work being undertaken in the revision of HPE curriculum.
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MR. R. A. Butler's remark about doubling our living standards within the next twenty‐five years has a secure place in contemporary political obiter dicta. It suffers from…
Abstract
MR. R. A. Butler's remark about doubling our living standards within the next twenty‐five years has a secure place in contemporary political obiter dicta. It suffers from being the kind of comment that is remembered long after any qualifying context has been forgotten.
John E. Baur, M. Ronald Buckley, Zhanna Bagdasarov and Ajantha S. Dharmasiri
The aim of this paper is to provide some historical understanding of a popular recruitment procedure called a Realistic Job Preview (RJP). As long as individuals have…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to provide some historical understanding of a popular recruitment procedure called a Realistic Job Preview (RJP). As long as individuals have worked for others there has been a need to exchange information about a focal job. Information can be exchanged through myriad channels. The aim here is to trace the origins of RJPs and discuss the initial studies that generated attention and interest in what has become known as “realistic recruitment”.
Design/methodology/approach
Along with a historical account, this paper provides a summary of the limitations associated with this method, proposed psychological processes mediating effectiveness of RJPs, and issues with development, mode of presentation, implementation of RJPs, and an important alternative/accompanying technique (ELP).
Findings
While this technique has been used for many years, it will continue to be a quality addition to any worker socialization program.
Originality/value
The value of this paper is that it places this technique in an historical context.
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National parks are selected as places of national importance, with national meaning. At the same time, the political process that shapes park management is often a local…
Abstract
National parks are selected as places of national importance, with national meaning. At the same time, the political process that shapes park management is often a local one. This biases park interpretation away from national concerns and toward local ones. The National Park Service's corporate interests and decision-making processes often reinforce the role of local interests except in the rare cases of congressional intervention. A close look at the political environment of Fort Davis National Historic Site, Texas, illustrates these points. Congress mandated the site to interpret westward expansion and its impact on American Indians. It became instead a program of park interpretation based on westward expansion and the role of African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” within it. As a result, Indians have effectively been written out of the story of this “Indian fort.” Interestingly, Native American issues reappear in commercial establishments, both the gift shop in the park and businesses in the town of Fort Davis outside the park. If businesses perceive a demand for information about Native Americans among tourists, presumably there is a similar, unmet demand among the same tourists as they visit the historic site. Given the role of local concerns in park interpretation, national intervention will probably be necessary to provide political support for reinterpreting the site.
Thuy Thi Thanh Nguyen and Man-Ling Chang
The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of the decision of whether to outsource human resources (HR). Two moderators are considered: the lack of in-house…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of the decision of whether to outsource human resources (HR). Two moderators are considered: the lack of in-house HR expertise and positive HR outcome.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses data collected from 85 Vietnamese firms of different sizes. Regression analysis is used to examine the research hypotheses.
Findings
The strategic involvement of HR management is positively related to the decision to outsource HR. As expected, a positive significant relationship exists between cost reduction and the decision to outsource HR for non-core HR activities. For core HR activities, demand uncertainty relates positively to the decision to outsource HR, and the lack of HR expertise moderates the process of HR outsourcing (HRO).
Research limitations/implications
Although the focus on firms in Vietnam may help to control for cultural factors, it may also limit generalizability. Because of the limited number of samples, this study cannot compare results across different industries. Future research should focus on the cross-cultural aspects of this issue or compare differences across industries.
Practical implications
This study provides HR managers with guidelines for making appropriate decisions regarding HRO. Vendors can exploit aspects of core vs non-core activities to provide professional services that satisfy the demands of firms.
Originality/value
Based on a theoretical approach, this work analyzes the decision to outsource HR in developing countries, an area that heretofore has received scant research attention.
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