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Communication Technologies (communication + technology)
Kinds of Communication Technologies Selected AbstractsInformation and Communication Technologies for Direct Poverty Alleviation: Costs and BenefitsDEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 2 2002Charles Kenny Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are powerful tools for empowerment and income generation in developing countries. The cost-effectiveness of different ICTs does vary between developed and less developed countries, however. This article reviews the potential efficacy of radio, telephony and the Internet as tools of direct poverty alleviation in the latter. While the requirements for their successful utilisation make radio and telephone far more suitable technologies for the poor, traditional ICTs can act as a sustainable intermediary for them to gain indirect access to the power of the Internet. Governments should concentrate on opening up private and community provision of broadcasting and widening access to telephone services, so that they can effectively play this intermediary role. [source] Self-Regulated Learning in a TELE at the Université de Technologie de Compiègne: an analysis from multiple perspectivesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Issue 3-4 2006PHILIPPE TRIGANO Self-regulation has become a very important topic in the field of learning and instruction. At the same time, the introduction of new technologies in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has made it possible to create rich Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments (TELEs) with multiple affordances for supporting self-regulated learning (SRL). This study was conducted within the framework of the TELEPEERS project where we wanted to identify TELEs that seemed to have a potential for supporting SRL. For the last ten years, our University has been deeply involved in research, innovation, and exploration of digital technologies for training (initial and continuous). Local, regional, national, European and international projects were conceived and developed, so that a very significant knowledge base exists today. Our study focuses on a course called ,Introduction to Algorithms and Programming' (NF01) which our University is offering and on the perception of different stakeholders (experts and students) of its affordances for supporting SRL. [source] The level of Internet access and ICT training for health information professionals in sub-Saharan AfricaHEALTH INFORMATION & LIBRARIES JOURNAL, Issue 3 2008Grace Ada Ajuwon Background:,, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are important tools for development. Despite its significant growth on a global scale, Internet access is limited in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Few studies have explored Internet access, use of electronic resources and ICT training among health information professionals in Africa. Objective:, The study assessed Internet access, use of electronic resources and ICT training among health information professionals in SSA. Methods:, A 26-item self-administered questionnaire in English and French was used for data collection. The questionnaire was completed by health information professionals from five Listservs and delegates at the 10th biannual Congress of the Association of Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA). Results:, A total of 121 respondents participated in the study and, of those, 68% lived in their countries' capital. The majority (85.1%) had Internet access at work and 40.8% used cybercafes as alternative access points. Slightly less than two-thirds (61.2%) first learned to use ICT through self-teaching, whilst 70.2% had not received any formal training in the previous year. Eighty-eight per cent of respondents required further ICT training. Conclusions and recommendations:, In SSA, freely available digital information resources are underutilized by health information professionals. ICT training is recommended to optimize use of digital resources. To harness these resources, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations must play a key role. [source] The influence of IT: perspectives from five Australian schoolsJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 4 2002J. Ainley Abstract Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are now widespread in Australian schools but with variation in how, where, when and how much they are used. Computers may be located in a computer laboratory, distributed throughout the school, or students may use their own laptop computers. IT may be a subject in its own right or ICT may be used across all areas of the curriculum. It is how ICT is used in the school setting that is important in providing students with the skills to be participate in a ,knowledge society'. This paper examines the ways in which information and communication technologies influence teaching and learning in five Australian schools. Data were gathered through observation, interviews and document analysis in schools operating at the elementary and secondary grades in relatively technology rich environments. Each of the schools participated in the Australian component of the Second Information Technology in Education Study, Module 2 (SITES-M2) of innovative pedagogical practices. Several of the studies were of specific projects where ICT was the key enabler of the learning programme. Others focused on an entire school's approach to ICT as an agent for changed approaches to learning. [source] ICT Innovation and Economic Performance: The Role of Financial IntermediationKYKLOS INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, Issue 4 2002Aerdt Houben This article considers the relationship between finance and the contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to macroeconomic performance. The general characteristics of ICT firms, especially their often ,high risk, high return' nature, suggest equity finance is more appropriate than debt finance. Also, the prevalence of information asymmetries tends to favour internal finance and venture capital with management participation. For a group of countries, we analyse correlations between financial structure and the ICT contribution to economic growth. Our results support the view that a market,oriented financial system and a well,developed venture capital market are key factors stimulating the emergence of the so,called ,New Economy'. This helps explain the considerable gap in productivity growth between the United States and Europe in the second half of the 1990s. [source] The Information and Communication Technologies and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights: A Relationship PerspectiveTHE JOURNAL OF WORLD INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, Issue 2 2008P. M. Rao Intellectual capital represents an increasingly important area in the world economy. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have played an essential role in the globalization of the economy. The protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) is an essential factor in international economic affairs. This article discusses the legal issues concerning proprietary and open software licensing and suggests alternatives to legally enforcing IPRs. Global technology networking and outsourcing have involved the use of open source software (OSS), and have implications for the enforcement of IPRs. Propriety and OSS licensing are analyzed in this article. Companies may adopt alternative strategies to the strict enforcement of IPRs. A relationship view of IPRs is presented, a perspective that adopts relationship marketing as a means of gaining profits from IPRs in the ICT sector. By establishing a relationship to customers, software producers may gain customer loyalty and commitment from users of their software and, in the long run, retain a position as a chosen supplier of software. [source] An unfinished symphony: 21st century teacher education using knowledge creating heutagogiesBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 6 2006Jean Ashton Globalisation has changed the way most people live, work and study in the 21st century. Teachers and teacher educators, like other professionals, must embrace these changes to be effective in their jobs and one ongoing change is the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) for lifelong learning. In this paper we describe how one group of academics in a university programme preparing new teachers has embraced change to introduce innovative programmes using ICTs and heutagogy rather than pedagogy. Heutagogy prepares students for the self-determined lifelong learning which is essential for survival in a 21st century world. [source] Child Exploitation and Communication TechnologiesCHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2009Dr Stuart Kirby No abstract is available for this article. [source] The Appreciative System of Urban ICT Policies: An Analysis of Perceptions of Urban Policy MakersGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2004GALIT COHEN-BLANKSHTAIN ABSTRACT Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an important tool to promote a variety of public goals and policies. In the past years much attention has been given to the expected social benefits from deploying ICTs in different urban fields (transportation, education, public participation in planning, etc.) and to its potential to mitigate various current or emerging urban problems. The growing importance of ICTs in daily life, business activities, and governance prompts the need to consider ICTs more explicitly in urban policies. Alongside the expectation that the private sector will play a major role in the ICT field, the expected benefits from ICTs also encourage urban authorities to formulate proper public ICT policies. Against this background, various intriguing research questions arise. What are the urban policy-makers' expectations about ICTs? And how do they assess the future implications of ICTs for their city? A thorough analysis of these questions will provide a better understanding of the extent to which urban authorities are willing to invest in and to adopt a dedicated ICT policy. This study is focusing on the way urban decision-makers perceive the opportunities of ICT policy. After a sketch of recent development and policy issues, a conceptual model is developed to map out the driving forces of urban ICT policies in cities in Europe. Next, by highlighting the importance of understanding the decision-maker's "black box," three crucial variables are identified within this box. In the remaining part of the paper these three variables will be operationalized by using a large survey comprising more than 200 European cities. By means of statistical multivariate methods (i.e., factor and cluster analysis), the decision-makers were able to be characterized according to the way they perceive their city (the concept of "imaginable city"), their opinion about ICT, and the way they assess the relevance of ICT policies to their city. Next, a solid explanatory framework will be offered by using a log-linear logit analysis to test the relationships between these three aspects. [source] Resources, Staff Beliefs and Organizational Culture: Factors in the Use of Information and Communication Technology for Adults with Intellectual DisabilitiesJOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES, Issue 1 2008Sarah Parsons Background, Access to, and the use of, information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly becoming a vital component of mainstream life. First-order (e.g. time and money) and second-order factors (e.g. beliefs of staff members) affect the use of ICT in different contexts. It is timely to investigate what these factors may be in the context of service provision for adults with intellectual disabilities given the role ICT could play in facilitating communication and access to information and opportunities as suggested in Valuing People. Method, Taking a qualitative approach, nine day service sites within one organization were visited over a period of 6 months to observe ICT-related practice and seek the views of staff members working with adults with intellectual disabilities. All day services were equipped with modern ICT equipment including computers, digital cameras, Internet connections and related peripherals. Results, Staff members reported time, training and budget as significant first-order factors. Organizational culture and beliefs about the suitability of technology for older or less able service users were the striking second-order factors mentioned. Despite similar levels of equipment, support and training, ICT use had developed in very different ways across sites. Conclusion, The provision of ICT equipment and training is not sufficient to ensure their use; the beliefs of staff members and organizational culture of sites play a substantial role in how ICT is used with and by service users. Activity theory provides a useful framework for considering how first- and second-order factors are related. Staff members need to be given clear information about the broader purpose of activities in day services, especially in relation to the lifelong learning agenda, in order to see the relevance and usefulness of ICT resources for all service users. [source] The Role of Electronic Communication Technology in Adolescent Dating ViolenceJOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC NURSING, Issue 3 2010Claire Burke Draucker RN PROBLEM:, Adolescent dating violence and electronic aggression are significant public health problems. The purpose of this study was to (a) identify ways in which technology is used in dating violence and (b) present examples of dating violence in which electronic aggression played a salient role. METHODS:, The data set included the transcribed narratives of 56 young adults who had described their adolescent dating violence experiences for an on going study. FINDINGS:, Eight ways in which technology is used in dating violence were identified using qualitative descriptive methods. CONCLUSIONS:, The findings indicate that electronic communication technology influences dating violence by redefining boundaries between dating partners. [source] Attitudes affecting college students' preferences for distance learningJOURNAL OF COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING, Issue 1 2002Y. J. Katz Abstract Empirical studies that have examined psychological aspects of the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) have indicated that certain psychological attitudes of students towards the use of ICT are of paramount importance when evaluating the effective use of distance learning approaches to instruction and learning. Distance learning at the tertiary level, through the medium of ICT, is seemingly affected by the same psychological attitudes that are known to be related to other successful ICT applications to learning and instruction. In the present study the relationship between two distance learning ICT-based configurations were examined. The results indicate that psychological attitudes held by students differentially facilitate efficient use of distance learning approaches. Satisfaction with learning, level of control of the learning process, and study motivation for distance learning are all positively related to the students' preferences for structured distance learning, whereas independence in learning is positively connected to students' preferences for the more open Internet functionality. [source] Demand for information and communication technology-based services and regional economic development,PAPERS IN REGIONAL SCIENCE, Issue 1 2003Eduardo Anselmo de Castro Information and communication technology; demand modelling; network externalities; regional economic convergence Abstract. The relationship between the uptake of Information and Communication Technology-based services (ICT) and regional economic development is examined here; we address in particular the idea that ICT will promote regional economic convergence. We argue that ICT can generate contradictory trends of regional convergence and divergence and that, under conditions of non-regulated market supply, the effects leading to divergence can be dominant. The approach is based on the development of a regional demand model, which is the combination of two sub models, one dealing with the effects of network externalities and the other based on the concept of potential demand for ICT. The main conclusion is that less populous, more peripheral and poorer regions with weaker existing social and economic networking will encounter problems of insufficient demand. This in turn will delay the launch of new services and slow the rate of uptake. Negative dynamic effects of low ICT use on economic performance will generate a vicious circle of cumulative disadvantage. [source] New Technology in Schools: Is There a Payoff?,THE ECONOMIC JOURNAL, Issue 522 2007Stephen Machin Despite its high relevance to current policy debates, estimating the causal effect of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment on educational standards remains fraught with difficulties. We exploit a change in the rules governing ICT funding across different school districts of England to devise an Instrumental Variable strategy to identify the causal impact of ICT expenditure on pupil outcomes. The approach identifies the effect of being a ,winner' or a ,loser' in the new system of ICT funding allocation to schools. Our findings suggest a positive impact on primary school performance in English and Science, though not for Mathematics. [source] Modifying the metaphor in order to improve understanding of control languages,the little-person becomes a cast of actorsBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2007Peter Whalley The instructional metaphor is an important bridge to understanding, particularly when students are undertaking tasks that are conceptually difficult and outside their previous experience. It is suggested that the limitations of the implicit metaphor of the procedural control languages are the main cause of the problems experienced with delivering the control topic within the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) curriculum. These continue to dominate classroom practice despite Papert warning more than 25 years ago of the conceptual restrictions that they place on children's thinking. It is also claimed that the procedural control languages do not provide an adequate representation of the underlying input,process,output model of control, and that this contributes to a systematic pattern of misunderstanding. Classroom trials of a graphic object-orientated language are related to a prior study made with the procedural control language Control Logo. The relatively more sophisticated mental models developed by students working with actor-lab are discussed in terms of the different underlying metaphors and the problem representation provided. [source] Pupil-centred learning, ICT, and teacher behaviour: observations in educational practiceBRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2001Ed Smeets Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is believed to contribute to innovative, pupil-centred learning environments. In these environments, curriculum characteristics fit pupil characteristics better and teachers act as coaches instead of lecturers. This article presents results from a study of teaching,learning characteristics and the role of the teacher in ICT learning environments. Observations were carried out in classrooms of 25 technology-rich primary and secondary schools in five European countries. Qualitative and quantitative results show that in many cases ICT is used to facilitate traditional ways of teaching. Some examples of promising ICT teaching,learning situations are presented. In addition, quantitative results indicate that learning environments are more pupil-centred when there is a higher degree of curriculum differentiation and when teachers act as coaches. However, even if teachers act as coaches, they tend to stay firmly in control of the learning environment. [source] Information and Communications Technologies in Rural Society: Being Rural in a Digital Age , Edited by Grete Rusten and Sarah SkerrattGROWTH AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2008Sharon C. Cobb First page of article [source] Information and Communications Technology as a General-Purpose Technology: Evidence from US Industry DataGERMAN ECONOMIC REVIEW, Issue 2 2007Susanto Basu Information technology; general-purpose technology; productivity acceleration Abstract. Many people point to information and communications technology (ICT) as the key for understanding the acceleration in productivity in the United States since the mid-1990s. Stories of ICT as a ,general-purpose technology' suggest that measured total factor productivity (TFP) should rise in ICT-using sectors (reflecting either unobserved accumulation of intangible organizational capital; spillovers; or both), but with a long lag. Contemporaneously, however, investments in ICT may be associated with lower TFP as resources are diverted to reorganization and learning. We find that US industry results are consistent with general-purpose technology (GPT) stories: the acceleration after the mid-1990s was broad-based , located primarily in ICT-using industries rather than ICT-producing industries. Furthermore, industry TFP accelerations in the 2000s are positively correlated with (appropriately weighted) industry ICT capital growth in the 1990s. Indeed, as GPT stories would suggest, after controlling for past ICT investment, industry TFP accelerations are negatively correlated with increases in ICT usage in the 2000s. [source] Information and Communications Technology and Auditing: Current Implications and Future DirectionsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 2 2010Kamil Omoteso This exploratory study assesses, from a structuration theory perspective, the impact information and communications technology (ICT) tools and techniques are currently having on audit tasks, auditors (internal and external) and the organisations they work for from the point of view of coordination, control, authority and structure. Based on a triangulation of interview and questionnaire techniques, the findings indicate that ICT is re-shaping auditors' roles and outputs as well as audit organisations' structures. The findings also project the view that continuous auditing, artificial intelligence and CobiT are expected to gain more prominence while a need was also seen for new software development to help auditors match the complexity of their clients' information systems. The study's results reveal the current state of affairs of the relationship between ICT and auditing against the backdrop of continuous global ICT sophistication thereby updating ICT audit literature and the likely future direction of this relationship. [source] ICT implementation: what makes the difference?BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2003Penni Tearle This paper addresses the question of why some schools have managed to introduce widespread use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) into teaching and learning across the curriculum, where other schools have had much less "success" in this matter. The issue is addressed through interpretive, case study research in a UK secondary school where almost all staff are now using ICT to enhance and extend learning in their subject areas. After setting the context, a summary of the methods used and an overview of the findings are presented. Whilst some of the findings are specific to the context, it is suggested that much can be learnt from the single case, both by practitioners seeking to develop ICT use and researchers interested in taking the subject forward in other contexts. [source] Service Personnel, Technology, and Their Interaction in Influencing Customer Satisfaction,DECISION SCIENCES, Issue 1 2006Craig M. Froehle ABSTRACT Managing both the technologies and the personnel needed for providing high-quality, multichannel customer support creates a complex and persistent operational challenge. Adding to this difficulty, it is still unclear how service personnel and these new communication technologies interact to influence the customer's perceptions of the service being provided. Motivated by both practical importance and inconsistent findings in the academic literature, this exploratory research examines the interaction of media richness, represented by three different technology contexts (telephone, e-mail, and online chat), with six customer service representative (CSR) characteristics and their influences on customer satisfaction. Using a large-sample customer survey data set, the article develops a multigroup structural equation model to analyze these interactions. Results suggest that CSR characteristics influence customer service satisfaction similarly across all three technology-mediated contexts. Of the characteristics studied, service representatives contribute to customer satisfaction more when they exhibit the characteristics of thoroughness, knowledgeableness, and preparedness, regardless of the richness of the medium used. Surprisingly, while three other CSR characteristics studied (courtesy, professionalism, and attentiveness) are traditionally believed to be important in face-to-face encounters, they had no significant impact on customer satisfaction in the technology-mediated contexts studied. Implications for both practitioners and researchers are drawn from the results and future research opportunities are discussed. [source] The effect of information and communication technologies on urban structureECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 54 2008Yannis M. Ioannides SUMMARY Cities This paper examines the effects of information and communication technologies (ICT) on urban structure. Improvements in ICT may lead to changes in urban structure, for example, because they reduce the costs of communicating ideas from a distance. Hence, they may weaken local agglomeration forces and thus provide incentives for economic activity to relocate to smaller urban centres. We use international data on city size distributions in different countries and on country-level characteristics to test the effect of ICT. We find robust evidence that increases in the number of telephone lines per capita encourage the spatial dispersion of population in that they lead to a more concentrated distribution of city sizes. So far the evidence on internet usage is more speculative, although it goes in the same direction. We argue that the internet is likely to have similar, or even larger, effects on urban structures once its use has spread more thoroughly through different economies. , Yannis M. Ioannides, Henry G. Overman, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg and Kurt Schmidheiny [source] Regulation, productivity and growth: OECD evidenceECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 36 2003Giuseppe Nicoletti SUMMARY Liberalization and privatization have made the regulatory environment more market-friendly throughout the OECD. However using a large new dataset on product market regulation, we show that regulatory policies in OECD nations have become more dissimilar in relative terms, even as all nations have liberalized. This seemingly contradictory finding is explained by different starting points and different reform speeds. Our data also show that this divergence in the regulatory settings lines up with the divergent growth performance of OECD nations, in particular the poor performance of large Continental economies relative to that of the US. The data, which tracks various types of product market regulation in manufacturing and service industries for 18 OECD economies over the past two decades, allows us to explore this link in detail. We find that productivity growth is boosted by reforms that promote private corporate governance and competition (where these are viable). Moreover, our detailed findings suggest how product market regulation and productivity growth are linked. In manufacturing, the productivity gains from liberalization are greater the further a given country is from the technology leader. This indicates that entry-limiting regulation may hinder the adoption of existing technologies, possibly by reducing competitive pressures, technology spillovers, or the entry of new high-tech firms. These results offer an interpretation of poor Continental performance. Strict product market regulations , and lack of regulatory reforms , appear to underlie the meagre productivity performance of some European countries, especially in those industries where Europe has accumulated a technology gap (e.g. industries producing or using information and communication technologies). , Giuseppe Nicoletti and Stefano Scarpetta [source] Black youth, identity, and ethicsEDUCATIONAL THEORY, Issue 1 2005Garrett Albert Duncan This article examines stage models of racial identity that researchers and educators use to explain the subjective processes that influence how black youth navigate school. Despite the explicit challenge that most models of racial identity have posed to racist discourses in the research literature, the underlying ethics of their developmental trajectories is constrained by a politics of respectability that subverts a larger project of affirming black humanity. I use interview data to propose an alternative model for how black adolescent identity is formed. I conclude with a discussion of the importance of rethinking black adolescence in the context of changes in communication technologies associated with postindustrialism and globalization. [source] Application of dynamic rating to increase the available transfer capabilityELECTRICAL ENGINEERING IN JAPAN, Issue 4 2009Masaki Miura Abstract As the deregulated environment of power systems has spread worldwide, it is essential to operate power systems efficiently and economically. With the advance of communication technologies and sensors, so-called dynamic rating is now to be realized. Dynamic rating is a method which determines accurate ratings by utilizing real-time information such as conductor temperatures, ambient temperatures, and wind speeds. The dynamic rating is considered to increase the thermal capacities of overhead transmission lines and therefore take on importance in the deregulated electric power industry. The importance of the dynamic rating lies mainly in the area of Available Transfer Capability (ATC) improvement. In this paper, the validity of the proposed dynamic rating application is shown from the viewpoint of ATC, especially ATC with thermal constraints. In addition, the possibilities of ATC estimations using sensitivities are verified for the purpose of reducing calculation time, considering the importance of real-time simulation of ATC. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 166(4): 40,47, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.20537 [source] Valuing and evaluating student-generated online multimodal texts: rethinking what countsENGLISH IN EDUCATION, Issue 2 2005Associate Professor Claire Wyatt-Smith Abstract Teachers are currently urged to integrate information and communication technologies into classroom learning experiences, and many enthusiastically do so, yet traditional print-based assessment modes still dominate. In this paper we put forward the position that the production of digitally mediated texts cannot be assessed against traditional printbased assessment criteria. In support of this position, we explore the nature of multimodal text production and propose relevant assessment criteria for determining quality. [source] Information and communication technologies: The power of productivity (Part II)ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, Issue 3 2009John A. Laitner First page of article [source] Information and communication technologies: The power of productivity (Part I)ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008John A. "Skip" Laitner First page of article [source] Healthcare in a land called PeoplePower: nothing about me without meHEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 3 2001Tom Delbanco MD In a 5-day retreat at a Salzburg Seminar attended by 64 individuals from 29 countries, teams of health professionals, patient advocates, artists, reporters and social scientists adopted the guiding principle of ,nothing about me without me' and created the country of PeoplePower. Designed to shift health care from ,biomedicine' to ,infomedicine', patients and health workers throughout PeoplePower join in informed, shared decision-making and governance. Drawing, where possible, on computer-based guidance and communication technologies, patients and clinicians contribute actively to the patient record, transcripts of clinical encounters are shared, and patient education occurs primarily in the home, school and community-based organizations. Patients and clinicians jointly develop individual ,quality contracts', serving as building blocks for quality measurement and improvement systems that aggregate data, while reflecting unique attributes of individual patients and clinicians. Patients donate process and outcome data to national data banks that fuel epidemiological research and evidence-based improvement systems. In PeoplePower hospitals, constant patient and employee feedback informs quality improvement work teams of patients and health professionals. Volunteers work actively in all units, patient rooms are information centres that transform their shape and decor as needs and individual preferences dictate, and arts and humanities programmes nourish the spirit. In the community, from the earliest school days the citizenry works with health professionals to adopt responsible health behaviours. Communities join in selecting and educating health professionals and barter systems improve access to care. Finally, lay individuals partner with professionals on all local, regional and national governmental and private health agencies. [source] Online Argument Between Israeli Jews and PalestiniansHUMAN COMMUNICATION RESEARCH, Issue 3 2007Donald G. Ellis Previous research with face-to-face groups found that majority,minority theory was a better predictor of argument patterns between Israelis and Palestinians than cultural codes theory (D. G. Ellis & I. Maoz, 2002; I. Maoz & D. G. Ellis, 2001). But, because of the difficulties of organizing face-to-face contacts between Israelis and Palestinians (e.g., security, transportation, check points), computer-mediated communication has taken on increased significance. This paper builds on previous research pertaining to argument between Israeli Jews and Palestinians and extends that work by investigating the effects of communication technologies on argument interactions between these two groups. The most notable finding was the absence of complex argumentative structures that are typically associated with conflict resolution. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||