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The purpose of this paper is to analyze the user agreements of makerspaces in public and academic libraries. User agreements, also known as maker agreements, user forms and liability forms, can be very important documents between library patrons, staff and faculty. User agreements are similar to the earlier creation of acceptable use policies for technology use in libraries. The author of this study will delve into the user agreements created for public and academic libraries across the USA.

The researcher used content analysis to investigate 24 different user agreements written for public and academic library makerspaces. NVivo qualitative data analysis software was integrated into this research to aid in the breakdown of commonalities across terms, themes and purpose within the user agreements.

Although makerspaces are a very exciting topic in the field of library science at this time, the implementation of a maker learning space is still new to many libraries. Creating a user agreement for a makerspace is newer still. Most user agreements in this study were six months to a year old. Some consistencies found across makerspace user agreements include liability waivers, permissions for minors, safety, copyright and technology replacement costs.

At this time, most publications on makerspaces are held in the realm of popular publications (blogs, magazines, zines, etc.). The body of peer-reviewed and scholarly research on makerspaces is growing. Makerspace user agreements are new to this growing field of interest, and a content analysis of these documents will pave the way for the writing of future forms.

When a study involves human participants, researchers need to ensure their safety and protect their identities. How do potential participants know what they are agreeing to contribute, and how and why the research is being conducted? Informed consent describes the process and agreements that answer such questions. Conventional consent protocols focused on preresearch discussions between the researcher and the potential participant, resulting in a signed document that verified the agreement. In research conducted with, on, or through social media, there are fewer opportunities for conversational explanations of formal documents. Simply posting legalistic documents is ineffective because Internet users typically do not read such materials before verifying agreement. Researchers need to understand communities, contexts, and communication styles of target participants and settings in order to provide information in familiar, user-friendly ways. Based on a review of literature about informed consent, and a study of current practices used by companies that need to verify agreements online, practical research suggestions are offered. Qualitative researchers who want to collect data through active interactions with human participants will find these examples and recommendations of use when designing their studies.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a pilot study conducted in Pakistan, about the barriers perceived by users and non‐users of Islamic banking when selecting Islamic banks.

This study was conducted to include two types of banking customers, users (customers of Islamic banks only and, Islamic and conventional banks both) and non‐users (customers of conventional banks only). The qualitative research included in‐depth interviews with managers of Islamic banks and two focus groups with users and non‐users, respectively. The survey questionnaire that was subsequently designed received 109 responses. The analysis includes hypothesis testing, factor analysis, and cluster analysis.

A narrow branch network, inconvenient branch locations and perception that “Islamic banks do not completely follow Islamic principles” acted as barriers for non‐users when selecting Islamic banks. Further, “a religious ruling against Islamic banks” was not considered an important barrier when selecting Islamic banks.

This research outlines an alternative methodology of looking at bank selection criteria, by measuring the other side of the coin, i.e. the barriers perceived by users and non‐users of Islamic banking when selecting Islamic banks. Compared to the prevailing literature on the subject, such an approach is enlightening and can have enormous potential as it directly measures the perceived barriers towards Islamic banking. Furthermore, this pilot study is also an important contribution to the limited literature on consumer attitudes towards Islamic banking in Pakistan, where the operations of Islamic banks are still in their formative stage.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how reverse resource exchanges and resource dependencies are managed in the service supply chain (SSC) of returnable transport packaging (RTP).

A single case study was conducted in the context of automotive logistics focusing on the RTP SSC. Data were collected through 16 interviews, primarily with managers of a logistics service provider (LSP) and document analysis of contractual agreements with key customers of the packaging service.

Resource dependencies among actors in the SSC result from the importance of the RTP for the customer’s production processes, the competition among users for RTP and the negative implications of the temporary unavailability of RTP for customers and the LSP (in terms of service performance). Amongst other things, the LSP is dependent on its customers and third-party users (e.g. the customer’s suppliers) for the timely return of package resources. The role of inter-firm integration and collaboration, formal contracts as well as customers’ power and influence over third-party RTP users are stressed as key mechanisms for managing LSP’s resource dependencies.

A resource dependence theory (RDT) lens is used to analyse how reverse resource exchanges and associated resource dependencies in SSCs are managed, thus complementing the existing SSC literature emphasising the bi-directionality of resource flows. The study also extends the recent SSC literature stressing the role of contracting by empirically demonstrating how formal contracts can be mobilised to explicate resource dependencies and to specify, and regulate, reverse exchanges in the SSC.

The research suggests that logistics providers can effectively manage their resource dependencies and regulate reverse exchanges in the SSC by deploying contractual governance mechanisms and leveraging their customers’ influence over third-party RTP users.

The study is novel in its application of RDT, which enhances our understanding of the management of reverse exchanges and resource dependencies in SSCs.

Regarding industrial sports products, there is sometimes a dual sport and health meaning intended by designers. Appearances of sport products are often quite opposite to health products. Design choices made by designers can thus be misunderstood by users. This paper aims to deeper understand the perception gap between designers and users within earlier stages of the design process to limit this confusion and help designers.

The authors propose an approach to help designers defining the perception of a new dual and hybrid product field. The first step is to collect designers’ perception through interviews combined with card sorting. The second step is to compare the perception of designers with that of users. Comparisons are based on an agreement measure.

The approach provides a first step to evaluate the perception of a dual hybrid product field. It allows designers to extract trends and perceptions to be considered for the design of products, to consolidate and confirm their intuitions regarding the intended dual meaning.

The main contribution of this paper is to evaluate the perception of a new and non-defined hybrid product field presenting a duality in appearance. This approach can be used by designers either to identify trends to be considered, reinforce the intended meaning, or validate their intuitions while designing products with dual meanings before.

The UK has in recent years seen considerable growth of facilities management (FM) outsourcing across a range of industries. This paper considers the legal problems and risks inherent in FM outsourcing. It also suggests ways to facilitate the transactional negotiating process and discusses the methods by which business and legal risks can be fairly apportioned (between the user and the provider), how to ensure good contract management and, importantly, managing risks on contract termination and exit. The paper is relevant to both users and providers in terms of best negotiating practice and risk management. From a legal perspective, both the UK (and the European Union) are more highly regulated jurisdictions for FM deals than are the US and Canadian markets, and this paper focuses on UK (and European) issues. Cross‐border legal issues are also considered.

This chapter explores how data-driven methods such as Artificial Intelligence pose real concerns for individual privacy. The current paradigm of collecting data from those using online applications and services is reinforced by significant potential profits that the private sector stands to realize by delivering a broad range of services to users faster and more conveniently. Terms of use and privacy agreements are a common source of confusion, and are written in a way that dulls their impact and dopes most into automatically accepting a certain level of risk in exchange for convenience and “free” access. Third parties, including the government, gain access to these data in numerous ways. If the erosion of individual protections of privacy and the potential dangers this poses to our autonomy and democratic ideals were not alarming enough, the digital surrogate product of “you” that is created from this paradigm might one day freely share thoughts, buying habits, and your pattern of life with whoever owns these data. We use an ethical framework to assess key factors in these issues and discuss some of the dilemmas posed by Artificial Intelligence methods, the current norm of sharing one's data, and what can be done to remind individuals to value privacy. Will our digital surrogate one day need protections too?

While studies on service users’ participation and their perceptions on the quality of services exist, agreement between family members’ and practitioners’ assessments of the family’s situation has received less interest. The purpose of this paper is to investigate agreement and its effect on outcomes by comparing the viewpoints of three groups of informants (children, mothers and practitioners) in the context of statutory child protection in two study groups – one applying a systemic approach (SPM) and a service-as-usual control group (SAU).

A quasi-experimental repeated-measures study design was applied. Outcome data comprised 112 cases (SPM cases n = 56 and SAU cases n = 56) at three sites. Data was collected from all participants at baseline and six months later.

First, practitioners’ analyses of a child’s need for protection did not meet family members’ expressed need for help. Second, child–mother agreement on the need for service intervention at T1 predicted a decrease in practitioner-assessed abuse or neglect from T1 to T2. In this sample, no differences were found between the two groups.

This study highlights the importance of making explicit the viewpoints of children, parents and practitioners in casework and research to improve understanding of how their perspectives differ over the course of the process and how possible initial disagreements affect outcomes.

The paper posits that a solution for businesses to use privacy-friendly data repositories for its customers’ data is to change from the traditional centralized repository to a trusted, decentralized data repository. Blockchain is a technology that provides such a data repository. However, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) assumed a centralized data repository, and it is commonly argued that blockchain technology is not usable. This paper aims to posit a framework for adopting a blockchain that follows the GDPR.

The paper uses the Levy and Ellis’ narrative review of literature methodology, which is based on constructivist theory posited by Lincoln and Guba. Using five information systems and computer science databases, the researchers searched for studies using the keywords GDPR and blockchain, using a forward and backward search technique. The search identified a corpus of 416 candidate studies, from which the researchers applied pre-established criteria to select 39 studies. The researchers mined this corpus for concepts, which they clustered into themes. Using the accepted computer science practice of privacy by design, the researchers combined the clustered themes into the paper’s posited framework.

The paper posits a framework that provides architectural tactics for designing a blockchain that follows GDPR to enhance privacy. The framework explicitly addresses the challenges of GDPR compliance using the unimagined decentralized storage of personal data. The framework addresses the blockchain–GDPR tension by establishing trust between a business and its customers vis-à-vis storing customers’ data. The trust is established through blockchain’s capability of providing the customer with private keys and control over their data, e.g. processing and access.

The paper provides a framework that demonstrates that blockchain technology can be designed for use in GDPR compliant solutions. In using the framework, a blockchain-based solution provides the ability to audit and monitor privacy measures, demonstrates a legal justification for processing activities, incorporates a data privacy policy, provides a map for data processing and ensures security and privacy awareness among all actors. The research is limited to a focus on blockchain–GDPR compliance; however, future research is needed to investigate the use of the framework in specific domains.

The paper posits a framework that identifies the strategies and tactics necessary for GDPR compliance. Practitioners need to compliment the framework with rigorous privacy risk management, i.e. conducting a privacy risk analysis, identifying strategies and tactics to address such risks and preparing a privacy impact assessment that enhances accountability and transparency of a blockchain.

With the increasingly strategic use of data by businesses and the contravening growth of data privacy regulation, alternative technologies could provide businesses with a means to nurture trust with its customers regarding collected data. However, it is commonly assumed that the decentralized approach of blockchain technology cannot be applied to this business need. This paper posits a framework that enables a blockchain to be designed that follows the GDPR; thereby, providing an alternative for businesses to collect customers’ data while ensuring the customers’ trust.

The discussion on the incorporation of the collective agreement into the individual contract of employment has treated so far direct incorporation and its various facets, implied and express incorporation, the multiplicity within the hierarchy of individual agreements, what may or may not be incorporated, and so on.