Keynote Presentations

Social and Community Informatics  – Humans on the Net     by Dr. Gunilla Bradley, Professor Informatics, KTH, Royal Institute of Technology IT - University, Department of Microelectronics and Information Technology, Sweden   E-mail: Bradley at imit.kth.se Home page: http://www.imit.kth.se/~bradley/gunilla/

Abstract

The digital society or e-society continues to expand and human issues are coming to the fore in both work organisations, private life and in our role as citizens. My presentation is mainly based on my book in progress “Social and Community Informatics” and my former book “Humans on the Net”  (Bradley Ed. 2001).

Some issues that I will address: Quality of  Life in the ICT – society - how to achieve? How to balance various roles in our lives?  New ways of influencing our own work life conditions as well as society? How could a theory help us to understand human behaviour and organisational changes in the ICT society?  What  impact on human behaviour and life styles do the networks and network organisations have? Some main hypotheses on psychosocial communication and ICT, confirmed or not confirmed. Collaboration in distributed organisational structures.

The home as a communication sphere in the network era - new opportunities and risks. What main stressors could be identified? Young IT people in cities and rural areas and their virtual and real communities. Some glances from action research in the small rural community where I grew up.

References

Bradley, G. (Ed.) (2001), Humans on the Net - Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Work Organisation and Human Beings. Stockholm: Prevent. ISBN 91-7522-701-0.

Bradley, G. (2005).  Social Informatics and Humans on the Net.  London: Routledge (forthcoming).

Short BIO

Gunilla Bradley (GB) is Professor in Informatics at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) – IT university and Dept of Microelectronics and Information Technology (IMIT).  1997 – 2001 she was Professor of  Informatics at Umeå University and Mid Sweden University with main task to build up research in Informatics at Mid Sweden University. She has a background as a psychologist and in the behavioural sciences. Her research concerns the interplay between Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Human Beings, and Society – Social Informatics. Beginning in 1973, she initiated and led cross-disciplinary research programs on computerisation and working life at Stockholm University for twenty years. She has been a visiting scholar at Stanford University 2 years and Professor of Technology and Social Change at the Royal Institute of  Technology.

GB has authored ten books (mainly in Swedish) and numerous articles in international scientific journals, also contributed extensively to the popular science press. In 1992–94 she served as General Chair of  ODAM IV in Stockholm (The Fourth International Conference on Human Factors in Organisational Design and Management). In 1997 GB received the Namur Award from the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) for her pioneering research to increase the social awareness of the impact of ICT. She is currently supporting the IT university in Stockholm, a joint venture between the Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm university. She contributes in various research programs where the IT disciplines collaborate closer with the behavioural sciences, as well as keeping advisory tasks at other universities. Last year she served as an advisor to the Swedish Government in a special committee on Electronic Communication.

Bradley, G. (2005). Social Informatics – Humans on the Net. London: Routledge. In Manuscript ( forthcoming).

Bradley, G. (Ed.) (2001), Humans on the Net - Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Work Organisation and Human Beings. Stockholm: Prevent. ISBN 91-7522-701-0.

Bradley, G. (1989). Computers and the Psychosocial Work Environment. London/New York/Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-85066-455-1.

Building Learning Communities in Online Courses by Dr. Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Distinguished Professor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, USA   E-mail: Hiltz at NJIT.edu Home page: http://eies.njit.edu/~hiltz/

Abstract

What do we know and what do we need to know about factors related to the emergence of a feeling of a community of learners in online courses?  How are these learning communities similar to or different from other types of online communities?  Included will be a summary of research findings about instructor behavior that encourages the emergence of “swift trust” and active participation, empirical measures, and the stages of development of a feeling of community among participants.  

Short BIO

Starr Roxanne  Hiltz conducts research on applications and social impacts of computer technology, focusing on computer-mediated communication.  She conducted one of the earliest and pioneering longitudinal studies of “Online Communities” (1984). Subsequently she conceived of the possibility of an online “virtual classroom” environment; designed, implemented,  and studied the first version of such a system in 1986. Among her books are:

The Network Nation: Human Communication via Computer, (with Murray Turoff; 1978/1993).

Learning Networks: A Field Guide to Teaching and Learning Online. (Linda Harasim, Starr Roxanne Hiltz, Lucio Teles, and Murray Turoff),  MIT Press, 1995.

Learning Together Online: Research on Asynchronous Learning Networks. (co-edited with Ricki Goldman) Mahwah NJ: Erlbaum, 2005.

Currently she is project director of the “WebCenter for Learning Networks Effectiveness Research” (www.ALNResearch.org), an online knowledge repository and research community to improve the quality, quantity, and dissemination of research on online courses. In November 2004, she won the Sloan-Consortium award for "Most Outstanding Achievement in Online Teaching and Learning by an Individual. "