Search results for: Social welfare
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1577

Search results for: Social welfare

1187 Enhancing Sustainability Awareness through Social Learning Experiences on Campuses

Authors: Rashika Sharma

Abstract:

The campuses at tertiary institutes can act as a social environment for peer to peer connections. However, socialization is not the only aspect that campuses provide. The campus can act as a learning environment that has often been termed as the campus curriculum. Many tertiary institutes have taken steps to make their campus a ‘green campus’ whereby initiatives have been taken to reduce their impact on the environment. However, as visible as these initiatives are, it is debatable whether these have any effect on students’ and their understanding of sustainable campus operations. Therefore, research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of sustainable campus operations in raising students’ awareness of sustainability. Students at two vocational institutes participated in this interpretive research with data collected through surveys and focus groups. The findings indicated that majority of vocational education students remained oblivious of sustainability initiatives on campuses.

Keywords: Education for Sustainability, campus learning, social learning, vocational education.

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1186 Academic Influence of Social Network Sites on the Collegiate Performance of Technical College Students

Authors: Jameson McFarlane, Thorne J. McFarlane, Leon Bernard

Abstract:

Social network sites (SNS) is an emerging phenomenon that is here to stay. The popularity and the ubiquity of the SNS technology are undeniable. Because most SNS are free and easy to use people from all walks of life and from almost any age are attracted to that technology. College age students are by far the largest segment of the population using SNS. Since most SNS have been adapted for mobile devices, not only do you find students using this technology in their study, while working on labs or on projects, a substantial number of students have been found to use SNS even while listening to lectures. This study found that SNS use has a significant negative impact on the grade point average of college students particularly in the first semester. However, this negative impact is greatly diminished by the end of the third semester partly because the students have adjusted satisfactorily to the challenges of college or because they have learned how to adequately manage their time. It was established that the kinds of activities the students are engaged in during the SNS use are the leading factor affecting academic performance. Of those activities, using SNS during a lecture or while studying is the foremost contributing factor to lower academic performance. This is due to “cognitive” or “information” bottleneck, a condition in which the students find it very difficult to multitask or to switch between resources leading to inefficiency in information retention and thus, educational performance.

Keywords: Social network sites, social network analysis, regression coefficient, psychological engagement.

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1185 Evaluation Method for Information Security Levels of CIIP (Critical Information Infrastructure Protection)

Authors: Soon-Tai Park, Jong-Whoi Shin, Bog-Ki Min, Ik-Sub Lee, Gang-Shin Lee, Jae-Il Lee

Abstract:

As the information age matures, major social infrastructures such as communication, finance, military and energy, have become ever more dependent on information communication systems. And since these infrastructures are connected to the Internet, electronic intrusions such as hacking and viruses have become a new security threat. Especially, disturbance or neutralization of a major social infrastructure can result in extensive material damage and social disorder. To address this issue, many nations around the world are researching and developing various techniques and information security policies as a government-wide effort to protect their infrastructures from newly emerging threats. This paper proposes an evaluation method for information security levels of CIIP (Critical Information Infrastructure Protection), which can enhance the security level of critical information infrastructure by checking the current security status and establish security measures accordingly to protect infrastructures effectively.

Keywords: Information Security Evaluation Methodology, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection.

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1184 Social Anthropology of Convergence and Nomadic Computing

Authors: Emilia Nercissians

Abstract:

The paper attempts to contribute to the largely neglected social and anthropological discussion of technology development on the one hand, and to redirecting the emphasis in anthropology from primitive and exotic societies to problems of high relevance in contemporary era and how technology is used in everyday life. It draws upon multidimensional models of intelligence and ideal type formation. It is argued that the predominance of computational and cognitive cosmovisions have led to technology alienation. Injection of communicative competence in artificially intelligent systems and identity technologies in the coming information society are analyzed

Keywords: convergence, nomadic computing, solidarity, status.

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1183 Music for Peace, a Model for Socialization

Authors: Mina Fenercioglu

Abstract:

This study discusses a Turkish music education model similar to its Venezuelan counterpart El Sistema, in which socialization and human development are the main goals. The Music for Peace (Baris Icin Muzik) model, founded in 2005 by an idealist humanitarian in Istanbul, started as a pilot project with accordion and today makes symphonic music education. The program aims to offer social change through free-of-charge. In such a big city like Istanbul, in a deprived inner city center people have poor economic, social and cultural conditions. In that Edirnekapi district people don’t have opportunities to join the cultural and social life, like music or sports. It is believed that this initiative covered a part of this gap by giving children the opportunities to participate in social and cultural life. In this study it is planned to understand what social changes could music education could make in children’s lives. In the complimentary music lessons children works in groups, which helps them to learn the feelings of solidarity, friendship, communion and sharing. By Music for Peace project children connect with the community, they have the belief to succeed in life because they feel that they are loved by their friends, instructors and families. In short they feel that they are important, thus brings the success in life. Additionally, it is believed that, this program has achieved success. Today approximately 400 children participate in this programs orchestras and choirs. Some of the students get into the conservatories. And the center is not just a place where they get music lessons but also a place where they get socialized. And music education helps children to have strong sense of identity, self-confidence and self-esteem.

Keywords: El Sistema, music education, Music for Peace, socialization.

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1182 Multidimensional Sports Spectators Segmentation and Social Media Marketing

Authors: B. Schmid, C. Kexel, E. Djafarova

Abstract:

Understanding consumers is elementary for practitioners in marketing. Consumers of sports events, the sports spectators, are a particularly complex consumer crowd. In order to identify and define their profiles different segmentation approaches can be found in literature, one of them being multidimensional segmentation. Multidimensional segmentation models correspond to the broad range of attitudes, behaviours, motivations and beliefs of sports spectators, other than earlier models. Moreover, in sports there are some well-researched disciplines (e.g. football or North American sports) where consumer profiles and marketing strategies are elaborate and others where no research at all can be found. For example, there is almost no research on athletics spectators. This paper explores the current state of research on sports spectators segmentation. An in-depth literature review provides the framework for a spectators segmentation in athletics. On this basis, additional potential consumer groups and implications for social media marketing will be explored. The findings are the basis for further research.

Keywords: Multidimensional segmentation, social media, sports marketing, sports spectators segmentation.

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1181 Organisational Blogging: Reviewing Its Effectiveness as an Organisational Learning Tool

Authors: Gavin J. Baxter, Mark H. Stansfield

Abstract:

This paper reviews the internal use of blogs and their potential effectiveness as organisational learning tools. Since the emergence of the concept of ‘Enterprise 2.0’ there remains a lack of empirical evidence associated with how organisations are applying social media tools and whether they are effective towards supporting organisational learning. Surprisingly, blogs, one of the more traditional social media tools, still remains under-researched in the context of ‘Enterprise 2.0’ and organisational learning. The aim of this paper is to identify the theoretical linkage between blogs and organisational learning in addition to reviewing prior research on organisational blogging exploring why this area remains underresearched. Through a literature review, one of the principal findings of this paper is that organisational blogs have a mutual compatibility with the interpretivist aspect of organisational learning. This paper further advocates that further empirical work in this subject area is required to substantiate this theoretical assumption.

Keywords: Blogs, Enterprise 2.0, Organisational Learning, Social Media Tools.

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1180 Analysis on the Game-Playing Tendency of SNGs (Social Network Games) users by Gender

Authors: Jooyeon Yook, Wonjun Ko

Abstract:

As the Social network game(SNG) is rising dramatically worldwide, an interesting aspect has appeared in the demographic analysis. That is the ratio of the game users by gender. Although the ratio of male and female users in online game was 60:40% previously, the ratio of male and female users in SNG stood at 47:53% which shows that the ratio of female users is higher than that of male users. Here, it should be noted that 35% in those 53% female users are the first-time users of game. This fact suggests that women who were not interested in game previously has taken an interest in SNG. Notwithstanding this issue, there have been little studies on the female users of SNG although there are many studies that analyzed the tendency of female users- online game play. This study conducted the analyzed how the game-playing tendency of SNG gamers was manifested in the game by gender. For that, this study will identify the tendency of SNG users by gender based on the preceding studies that analyzed the online game users by gender. The subject of this study was confined to the farm and urban construction simulation games which were offered based on the mobile application platform. Regarding the methodology of study, the first focus group interview(FGI) was conducted with the male and female users who had played games on Social network service(SNS) until recently. Later, the second one-on-one in-depth interview was conducted to gain an insight into the psychological state of the subjects.

Keywords: Social network Game, Gender, Play inclination, Game psychology

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1179 Exploring Social Impact of Emerging Technologies from Futuristic Data

Authors: Heeyeul Kwon, Yongtae Park

Abstract:

Despite the highly touted benefits, emerging technologies have unleashed pervasive concerns regarding unintended and unforeseen social impacts. Thus, those wishing to create safe and socially acceptable products need to identify such side effects and mitigate them prior to the market proliferation. Various methodologies in the field of technology assessment (TA), namely Delphi, impact assessment, and scenario planning, have been widely incorporated in such a circumstance. However, literatures face a major limitation in terms of sole reliance on participatory workshop activities. They unfortunately missed out the availability of a massive untapped data source of futuristic information flooding through the Internet. This research thus seeks to gain insights into utilization of futuristic data, future-oriented documents from the Internet, as a supplementary method to generate social impact scenarios whilst capturing perspectives of experts from a wide variety of disciplines. To this end, network analysis is conducted based on the social keywords extracted from the futuristic documents by text mining, which is then used as a guide to produce a comprehensive set of detailed scenarios. Our proposed approach facilitates harmonized depictions of possible hazardous consequences of emerging technologies and thereby makes decision makers more aware of, and responsive to, broad qualitative uncertainties.

Keywords: Emerging technologies, futuristic data, scenario, text mining.

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1178 CoP-Networks: Virtual Spaces for New Faculty’s Professional Development in the 21st Higher Education

Authors: Eman AbuKhousa, Marwan Z. Bataineh

Abstract:

The 21st century higher education and globalization challenge new faculty members to build effective professional networks and partnership with industry in order to accelerate their growth and success. This creates the need for community of practice (CoP)-oriented development approaches that focus on cognitive apprenticeship while considering individual predisposition and future career needs. This work adopts data mining, clustering analysis, and social networking technologies to present the CoP-Network as a virtual space that connects together similar career-aspiration individuals who are socially influenced to join and engage in a process for domain-related knowledge and practice acquisitions. The CoP-Network model can be integrated into higher education to extend traditional graduate and professional development programs.

Keywords: Clustering analysis, community of practice, data mining, higher education, new faculty challenges, social networks, social influence, professional development.

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1177 Addictive Use Due to Personality: Focused on Big Five Personality Traits and Game Addiction

Authors: Eui Jun Jeong, Hye Rim Lee

Abstract:

This study examined whether big five personality traits affect game addiction with control of psychological, social, and demographic factors. Specifically, using data from a survey of 789 game users in Korea, we conducted a regression analysis to see the associations of psychological (loneliness/depression), social (activities with family/friends), self-efficacy (game/general), gaming (daily gaming time/perception), demographic (age/gender), and personality traits (extraversion, neuroticism conscientiousness, agreeableness, & openness) with the degree of game addiction. Results showed that neuroticism increase game addiction with no effect of extraversion on the addiction. General self-efficacy negatively affected game addiction, whereas game self-efficacy increased the degree of game addiction. Loneliness enhanced game addiction while depression showed a negative effect on the addiction. Results and implications are discussed.

Keywords: Game addiction, big five personality, social activities, self-efficacy, loneliness, depression.

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1176 Data Projects for “Social Good”: Challenges and Opportunities

Authors: Mikel Niño, Roberto V. Zicari, Todor Ivanov, Kim Hee, Naveed Mushtaq, Marten Rosselli, Concha Sánchez-Ocaña, Karsten Tolle, José Miguel Blanco, Arantza Illarramendi, Jörg Besier, Harry Underwood

Abstract:

One of the application fields for data analysis techniques and technologies gaining momentum is the area of social good or “common good”, covering cases related to humanitarian crises, global health care, or ecology and environmental issues, among others. The promotion of data-driven projects in this field aims at increasing the efficacy and efficiency of social initiatives, improving the way these actions help humanity in general and people in need in particular. This application field, however, poses its own barriers and challenges when developing data-driven projects, lagging behind in comparison with other scenarios. These challenges derive from aspects such as the scope and scale of the social issue to solve, cultural and political barriers, the skills of main stakeholders and the technological resources available, the motivation to be engaged in such projects, or the ethical and legal issues related to sensitive data. This paper analyzes the application of data projects in the field of social good, reviewing its current state and noteworthy initiatives, and presenting a framework covering the key aspects to analyze in such projects. The goal is to provide guidelines to understand the main challenges and opportunities for this type of data project, as well as identifying the main differential issues compared to “classical” data projects in general. A case study is presented on the initial steps and stakeholder analysis of a data project for the inclusion of refugees in the city of Frankfurt, Germany, in order to empirically confront the framework with a real example.

Keywords: Data-Driven projects, humanitarian operations, personal and sensitive data, social good, stakeholders analysis.

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1175 Intellectual Capital Research through Corporate Social Responsibility: (Re) Constructing the Agenda

Authors: Camelia Iuliana Lungu, Chirața Caraiani, Cornelia Dascălu

Abstract:

The business strategy of any company wanting to be competitive on the market should be designed around the concept of intangibles, with an increasingly decisive role in knowledge transfer of the biggest corporations. Advancing the research in these areas, this study integrates the two approaches, emphasizing the relationships between the components of intellectual capital and corporate social responsibility. The three dimensions of intellectual capital in terms of sustainability requirements are debated. The paper introduces the concept of sustainable intellectual capital and debates it within an assessment model designed on the base of key performance indicators. The results refer to the assessment of possible ways for including the information on intellectual capital and corporate responsibility within the corporate strategy. The conclusions enhance the need for companies to be ready to support the integration of this type of information the knowledge transfer process, in order to develop competitive advantage on the market.

Keywords: Corporate social responsibility, corporate strategy, intellectual capital, sustainability

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1174 The Importance of Zenithal Lighting Systems for Natural Light Gains and for Local Energy Generation in Brazil

Authors: Ana Paula Esteves, Diego S. Caetano, Louise L. B. Lomardo

Abstract:

This paper presents an approach on the advantages of using adequate coverage in the zenithal lighting typology in various areas of architectural production, while at the same time to encourage to the design concerns inherent in this choice of roofing in Brazil. Understanding that sustainability needs to cover several aspects, a roofing system such as zenithal lighting system can contribute to the provision of better quality natural light for the interior of the building, which is related to the good health and welfare; it will also be able to contribute for the sustainable aspects and environmental needs, when it allows the generation of energy in semitransparent or opacity photovoltaic solutions and economize the artificial lightning. When the energy balance in the building is positive, that is, when the building generates more energy than it consumes, it may fit into the Net Zero Energy Building concept. The zenithal lighting systems could be an important ally in Brazil, when solved the burden of heat gains, participate in the set of pro-efficiency actions in search of "zero energy buildings". The paper presents comparative three cases of buildings that have used this feature in search of better environmental performance, both in light comfort and sustainability as a whole. Two of these buildings are examples in Europe: the Notley Green School in the UK and the Isofóton factory in Spain. The third building with these principles of shed´s roof is located in Brazil: the Ipel´s factory in São Paulo.

Keywords: Natural lightning, net zero energy building, sheds, semi-transparent photovoltaics.

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1173 Simulation of Online Communities Using MAS Social and Spatial Organisations

Authors: Maya Rupert, Salima Hassas, Carlos Li, John Sherwood

Abstract:

Online Communities are an example of sociallyaware, self-organising, complex adaptive computing systems. The multi-agent systems (MAS) paradigm coordinated by self-organisation mechanisms has been used as an effective way for the simulation and modeling of such systems. In this paper, we propose a model for simulating an online health community using a situated multi-agent system approach, governed by the co-evolution of the social and spatial organisations of the agents.

Keywords: multi-agent systems, organizations, online communities.

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1172 Social Media Idea Ontology: A Concept for Semantic Search of Product Ideas in Customer Knowledge through User-Centered Metrics and Natural Language Processing

Authors: Martin H¨ausl, Maximilian Auch, Johannes Forster, Peter Mandl, Alexander Schill

Abstract:

In order to survive on the market, companies must constantly develop improved and new products. These products are designed to serve the needs of their customers in the best possible way. The creation of new products is also called innovation and is primarily driven by a company’s internal research and development department. However, a new approach has been taking place for some years now, involving external knowledge in the innovation process. This approach is called open innovation and identifies customer knowledge as the most important source in the innovation process. This paper presents a concept of using social media posts as an external source to support the open innovation approach in its initial phase, the Ideation phase. For this purpose, the social media posts are semantically structured with the help of an ontology and the authors are evaluated using graph-theoretical metrics such as density. For the structuring and evaluation of relevant social media posts, we also use the findings of Natural Language Processing, e. g. Named Entity Recognition, specific dictionaries, Triple Tagger and Part-of-Speech-Tagger. The selection and evaluation of the tools used are discussed in this paper. Using our ontology and metrics to structure social media posts enables users to semantically search these posts for new product ideas and thus gain an improved insight into the external sources such as customer needs.

Keywords: Idea ontology, innovation management, open innovation, semantic search.

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1171 Employees- Perceptions and Expectations toward Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study of Private Company Employees in Bangkok Metropolitan Area

Authors: Natta Changchutoe

Abstract:

This research aimed to study employees- perceptions and expectations toward their organization-s corporate social responsibility (CSR), to study the differences between employees- personal factors and level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, and to study the relationship between employees- perceptions and expectations toward CSR. Purposive sampling and questionnaire were applied to collect information from 400 private company employees in Bangkok metropolitan area. The results revealed that employees had “high" level of perceptions and expectations toward CSR, of which the highest level were given on the area of “corporate governance and transparency". It was found that there was different level of expectations of employees with different period of employment, position and employment (by listed and non-listed companies). Employees of different age and period of employment also had different level of expectations. Employees- perceptions were correlated with their expectations toward CSR.

Keywords: Employees, Perceptions, Expectations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

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1170 Using Social Network Analysis for Cyber Threat Intelligence

Authors: Vasileios Anastopoulos

Abstract:

Cyber threat intelligence assists organisations in understanding the threats they face and helps them make educated decisions on preparing their defences. Sharing of threat intelligence and threat information is increasingly leveraged by organisations and enterprises, and various software solutions are already available, with the open-source malware information sharing platform (MISP) being a popular one. In this work, a methodology for the production of cyber threat intelligence using the threat information stored in MISP is proposed. The methodology leverages the discipline of social network analysis and the diamond model, a model used for intrusion analysis, to produce cyber threat intelligence. The workings of the proposed methodology are demonstrated with a case study on a production MISP instance of a real organisation. The paper concludes with a discussion on the proposed methodology and possible directions for further research.

Keywords: Cyber threat intelligence, diamond model, malware information sharing platform, social network analysis.

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1169 How Social Network Structure Affects the Dynamics of Evolution of Cooperation?

Authors: Mohammad Akbarpour, Reza Nasiri Mahalati, Caro Lucas

Abstract:

The existence of many biological systems, especially human societies, is based on cooperative behavior [1, 2]. If natural selection favors selfish individuals, then what mechanism is at work that we see so many cooperative behaviors? One answer is the effect of network structure. On a graph, cooperators can evolve by forming network bunches [2, 3, 4]. In a research, Ohtsuki et al used the idea of iterated prisoners- dilemma on a graph to model an evolutionary game. They showed that the average number of neighbors plays an important role in determining whether cooperation is the ESS of the system or not [3]. In this paper, we are going to study the dynamics of evolution of cooperation in a social network. We show that during evolution, the ratio of cooperators among individuals with fewer neighbors to cooperators among other individuals is greater than unity. The extent to which the fitness function depends on the payoff of the game determines this ratio.

Keywords: Evolution of cooperation, Iterated prisoner's dilemma, Model dynamics, Social network structure, Intensity of selection.

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1168 Collaborative and Content-based Recommender System for Social Bookmarking Website

Authors: Cheng-Lung Huang, Cheng-Wei Lin

Abstract:

This study proposes a new recommender system based on the collaborative folksonomy. The purpose of the proposed system is to recommend Internet resources (such as books, articles, documents, pictures, audio and video) to users. The proposed method includes four steps: creating the user profile based on the tags, grouping the similar users into clusters using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering, finding similar resources based on the user-s past collections by using content-based filtering, and recommending similar items to the target user. This study examines the system-s performance for the dataset collected from “del.icio.us," which is a famous social bookmarking website. Experimental results show that the proposed tag-based collaborative and content-based filtering hybridized recommender system is promising and effectiveness in the folksonomy-based bookmarking website.

Keywords: Collaborative recommendation, Folksonomy, Social tagging

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1167 Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Literature Review and Value Chain Activities Filter

Authors: Zeeshan Hamid, Sarwar Mehmood Azhar, Hammad Basir

Abstract:

In today’s era, it is no news that organizations should demonstrate honest conduct as well as ethical administration. Therefore, the concept of corporate social responsibility (subsequently CSR) has created its tag upon the company’s focal point as well as marketing communications, and will continue in the future. The importance of CSR has increased in the last decade, and this concept has attracted global attention. The notion of CSR has strategic significance for many organizations. However, businesses are not adapting the activities of CSR that benefit to all of its stakeholders (including society). The main reason is the practitioners are unfortunately unable to comprehend its importance; and therefore, the activities of the CSR are so detached from the business activities. Hence, it is required to develop an understanding that the activities of CSR are not only beneficial for the society but it also benefit to business. This paper focuses on the concept of strategic CSR, and develops a theoretical framework that will help practitioners to filter and chose the activities of CSR that are strategic in nature.

Keywords: Economic responsibility, ethical responsibility, legal responsibility, philanthropic responsibility, strategic corporate social responsibility, value chain activities filter.

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1166 Students’ Level of Knowledge Construction and Pattern of Social Interaction in an Online Forum

Authors: K. Durairaj, I. N. Umar

Abstract:

The asynchronous discussion forum is one of the most widely used activities in learning management system environment. Online forum allows participants to interact, construct knowledge, and can be used to complement face to face sessions in blended learning courses. However, to what extent do the students perceive the benefits or advantages of forum remain to be seen. Through content and social network analyses, instructors will be able to gauge the students’ engagement and knowledge construction level. Thus, this study aims to analyze the students’ level of knowledge construction and their participation level that occur through online discussion. It also attempts to investigate the relationship between the level of knowledge construction and their social interaction patterns. The sample involves 23 students undertaking a master course in one public university in Malaysia. The asynchronous discussion forum was conducted for three weeks as part of the course requirement. The finding indicates that the level of knowledge construction is quite low. Also, the density value of 0.11 indicating the overall communication among the participants in the forum is low. This study reveals that strong and significant correlations between SNA measures (in-degree centrality, out-degree centrality) and level of knowledge construction. Thus, allocating these active students in different group aids the interactive discussion takes place. Finally, based upon the findings, some recommendations to increase students’ level of knowledge construction and also for further research are proposed.

Keywords: Asynchronous Discussion Forums, Content Analysis, Knowledge Construction, Social Network Analysis.

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1165 The Design and Applied of Learning Management System via Social Media on Internet: Case Study of Operating System for Business Subject

Authors: Pimploi Tirastittam, Sawanath Treesathon, Amornrath Ongkawat

Abstract:

Learning Management System (LMS) is the system which uses to manage the learning in order to grouping the content and learning activity between the lecturer and learner including online examination and evaluation. Nowadays, it is the borderless learning era so the learning activities can be accessed from everywhere in the world and also anytime via the information technology and media. The learner can easily access to the knowledge so the different in time and distance is not a constraint for learning anymore. The learning pattern which was used in this research is the integration of the in-class learning and online learning via internet and will be able to monitor the progress by the Learning management system which will create the fast response and accessible learning process via the social media. In order to increase the capability and freedom of the learner, the system can show the current and history of the learning document, video conference and also has the chat room for the learner and lecturer to interact to each other. So the objectives of the “The Design and Applied of Learning Management System via Social Media on Internet: Case Study of Operating System for Business Subject” are to expand the opportunity of learning and to increase the efficiency of learning as well as increase the communication channel between lecturer and student. The data of this research was collect from 30 users of the system which are students who enroll in the subject. And the result of the research is in the “Very Good” which is conformed to the hypothesis.

Keywords: Learning Management System, Social Media.

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1164 Cross-cultural Analysis of the Strategy of Tolerance in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Authors: N. K. Satybaldina, A. G. Karabayeva, Z. N. Ismagambetova

Abstract:

The modern Kazakh society is characterized by strengthen cross-cultural communication, the emergence of new powerful subcultures, accelerated change in social systems and values. The socio-political reforms in all fields have changed the quality of social relationships and spiritual life.Cross-cultural approach involves the analysis of different types of behavior and communication, including the manifestation of the conflict, and the formation of marginal destructive stereotypes.

Keywords: Attitudes, Ethnic, Communication, Cross-cultural, Multiethnic, Multicultural, Society, Stereotype, Strategy, Tolerance

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1163 The Effect of Culture on User Interface Design of Social Media - A Case Study on Preferences of Saudi Arabians on the Arabic User Interface of Facebook

Authors: Hana Almakky, Reza Sahandi, Jacqui Taylor

Abstract:

Social media continues to grow, and user interfaces may become more appealing if cultural characteristics are incorporated into their design. Facebook was designed in the west, and the original language was English. Subsequently, the words in the user interface were translated to other languages, including Arabic. Arabic words are written from right to left, and English is written from left to right. The translated version may misrepresent the original design and users’ preferences may be influenced by their culture, which should be considered in the user interface design. Previous research indicates that users are more comfortable when interacting with a user interface, which relates to their own culture. Therefore, this paper, using a survey, investigates the preferences of Saudi Arabians on the Arabic version of the user interface of Facebook.

Keywords: Culture, Facebook, Saudi Arabia, Social media, User Interface Design.

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1162 Accessible Facilities in Home Environment for Elderly Family Members in Sri Lanka

Authors: M. A. N. Rasanjalee Perera

Abstract:

The world is facing several problems due to increasing elderly population. In Sri Lanka, along with the complexity of the modern society and structural and functional changes of the family, “caring for elders” seems as an emerging social problem. This situation may intensify as the county is moving into a middle income society. Seeking higher education and related career opportunities, and urban living in modern housing are new trends, through which several problems are generated. Among many issues related with elders, “lack of accessible and appropriate facilities in their houses as well as public buildings” can be identified as a major problem. This study argues that welfare facilities provided for the elderly people, particularly in the home environment, in the country are not adequate. Modern housing features such as bathrooms, pantries, lobbies, and leisure areas etc. are questionable as to whether they match with elders’ physical and mental needs. Consequently, elders have to face domestic accidents and many other difficulties within their living environments. Records of hospitals in the country also proved this fact. Therefore, this study tries to identify how far modern houses are suited with elders’ needs. The study further questioned whether “aging” is a considerable matter when people are buying, planning and renovating houses. A randomly selected sample of 50 houses were observed and 50 persons were interviewed around the Maharagama urban area in Colombo district to obtain primary data, while relevant secondary data and information were used to have a depth analysis. The study clearly found that none of the houses included to the sample are considering elders’ needs in planning, renovating, or arranging the home. Instead, most of the families were giving priority to the rich and elegant appearance and modern facilities of the houses. Particularly, to the bathrooms, pantry, large setting areas, balcony, parking slots for two vehicles, ad parapet walls with roller-gates are the main concerns. A significant factor found here is that even though, many children of the aged are in middle age and reaching their older years at present, they do not plan their future living within a safe and comfortable home, despite that they are hoping to spent the latter part of their lives in the their current homes. This fact highlights that not only the other responsible parts of the society, but also those who are reaching their older ages are ignoring the problems of the aged. At the same time, it was found that more than 80% of old parents do not like to stay at their children’s homes as the living environments in such modern homes are not familiar or convenient for them. Due to this context, the aged in Sri Lanka may have to be alone in their own homes due to current trend of society of migrating to urban living in modern houses. At the same time, current urban families who live in modern houses may have to face adding accessible facilities in their home environment, as current modern housing facilities may not be appropriate them for a better life in their latter part of life.

Keywords: Aging population, elderly care, home environment, housing facilities.

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1161 Place Recommendation Using Location-Based Services and Real-time Social Network Data

Authors: Kanda Runapongsa Saikaew, Patcharaporn Jiranuwattanawong, Patinya Taearak

Abstract:

Currently, there is excessively growing information about places on Facebook, which is the largest social network but such information is not explicitly organized and ranked. Therefore users cannot exploit such data to recommend places conveniently and quickly. This paper proposes a Facebook application and an Android application that recommend places based on the number of check-ins of those places, the distance of those places from the current location, the number of people who like Facebook page of those places, and the number of talking about of those places. Related Facebook data is gathered via Facebook API requests. The experimental results of the developed applications show that the applications can recommend places and rank interesting places from the most to the least. We have found that the average satisfied score of the proposed Facebook application is 4.8 out of 5. The users’ satisfaction can increase by adding the app features that support personalization in terms of interests and preferences.

Keywords: Mobile computing, location-based services, recommendation system, social network analysis.

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1160 Context Generation with Image Based Sensors: An Interdisciplinary Enquiry on Technical and Social Issues and their Implications for System Design

Authors: Julia Moehrmann, Gunter Heidemann, Oliver Siemoneit, Christoph Hubig, Uwe-Philipp Kaeppeler, Paul Levi

Abstract:

Image data holds a large amount of different context information. However, as of today, these resources remain largely untouched. It is thus the aim of this paper to present a basic technical framework which allows for a quick and easy exploitation of context information from image data especially by non-expert users. Furthermore, the proposed framework is discussed in detail concerning important social and ethical issues which demand special requirements in system design. Finally, a first sensor prototype is presented which meets the identified requirements. Additionally, necessary implications for the software and hardware design of the system are discussed, rendering a sensor system which could be regarded as a good, acceptable and justifiable technical and thereby enabling the extraction of context information from image data.

Keywords: Context-aware computing, ethical and social issues, image recognition, requirements in system design.

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1159 Analyzing the Perception of Social Networking Sites as a Learning Tool among University Students: Case Study of a Business School in India

Authors: Bhaskar Basu

Abstract:

Universities and higher education institutes are finding it increasingly difficult to engage students fruitfully through traditional pedagogic tools. Web 2.0 technologies comprising social networking sites (SNSs) offer a platform for students to collaborate and share information, thereby enhancing their learning experience. Despite the potential and reach of SNSs, its use has been limited in academic settings promoting higher education. The purpose of this paper is to assess the perception of social networking sites among business school students in India and analyze its role in enhancing quality of student experiences in a business school leading to the proposal of an agenda for future research. In this study, more than 300 students of a reputed business school were involved in a survey of their preferences of different social networking sites and their perceptions and attitudes towards these sites. A questionnaire with three major sections was designed, validated and distributed among  a sample of students, the research method being descriptive in nature. Crucial questions were addressed to the students concerning time commitment, reasons for usage, nature of interaction on these sites, and the propensity to share information leading to direct and indirect modes of learning. It was further supplemented with focus group discussion to analyze the findings. The paper notes the resistance in the adoption of new technology by a section of business school faculty, who are staunch supporters of the classical “face-to-face” instruction. In conclusion, social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn provide new avenues for students to express themselves and to interact with one another. Universities could take advantage of the new ways  in which students are communicating with one another. Although interactive educational options such as Moodle exist, social networking sites are rarely used for academic purposes. Using this medium opens new ways of academically-oriented interactions where faculty could discover more about students' interests, and students, in turn, might express and develop more intellectual facets of their lives. hitherto unknown intellectual facets.  This study also throws up the enormous potential of mobile phones as a tool for “blended learning” in business schools going forward.

Keywords: Business school, India, learning, social media, social networking, university.

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1158 Impact of Non-parental Early Childhood Education on Digital Friendship Tendency

Authors: Sheel Chakraborty

Abstract:

Modern society in developed countries has distanced itself from the earlier norm of joint family living, and with the increase of economic pressure, parents' availability for their children during their infant years has been consistently decreasing over the past three decades. This has been promoted in the US through the legislature and funding. Early care and education may have a positive impact on young minds, but a growing number of kids facing social challenges in making friendships in their teenage years raises serious concerns about its effectiveness. The survey-based primary research presented here shows that a statistically significant number of millennials between the ages of 10 and 25 years prefer to build friendships virtually than face-to-face interactions. Moreover, many teenagers depend more on their virtual friends whom they never met. Contrary to the belief that early social interactions in a non-home setup make the kids confident and more prepared for the real world, many shy-natured kids seem to develop a sense of shakiness in forming social relationships, resulting in loneliness by the time they are young adults. Reflecting on George Mead’s theory of self that is made up of “I” and “Me”, most functioning homes provide the required freedom and forgivable, congenial environment for building the "I" of a toddler; however, daycare or preschools can barely match that. It seems social images created from the “Me” perspective in preschoolers in a daycare environment has interfered and greatly overpowered the formation of a confident "I" thus created a crisis around the inability to form friendships face to face when they grow older. Though the pervasive nature of social media cannot be ignored, the non-parental early care and education practices adopted largely by the urban population have created a favorable platform of teen psychology on which social media popularity thrived, especially providing refuge to shy Gen-Z teenagers. This can explain why young adults today perceive social media as their preferred outlet of expression and a place to form dependable friendships, despite the risk of being cyberbullied.

Keywords: Digital socialization, shyness, developmental psychology, friendship, early education.

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