This multi-sited ethnography analyzes challenges and opportunities in the design and development of digital media systems in the Office of Research and Development (ORD) at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Drawing heavily from interviews conducted over the course of three years, primarily with scientists at the ORD's…

This qualitative exploratory single-case study was designed to examine and understand the use of volunteer community participants as software developers and other project related roles, such as testers, in completing a web-based application project by a non-profit organization. This study analyzed the strategic decision to engage crowd…

With the advent of ubiquitous computing, interaction design has broadened its object of inquiry into how smart computational artifacts inconspicuously act in people's everyday lives. Although user-centered design approaches remains useful for exploring how people cope with interactive systems, they cannot explain how this new breed of…

A basic level of literacy and numeracy is essential for full participation in modern societies. While very few people in most of the advanced countries could be regarded as illiterate or innumerate, recent studies have shown that there are, in fact, significant numbers of people with poor skills, and that low levels of skills are associated with…

The 21st century economy is driven by information and communication technologies (ICT). This change has made innovation, manufacturing and production of products and services, rather than manufacturing of material goods, the driving force of economies of leading countries (Wagner, 2008). Due to this shift, today's 21st century society and…

Transitioning from a technical role to a managerial role has many challenges, particularly in information technology (IT) (Lester & Parnell, 2006). These challenges include people or soft skills, language skills, knowledge, intuition, mentoring, and delegation (Brokett, 2007; Feyerherm & Rice, 2002; Lester & Parnell, 2006). The IT…

The public higher education economic and competitive environments make it crucial that organizations react to the circumstances and make better use of available resources (Duderstadt, 2000; Floyd, 2008; Shulman, 2007; State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO), 2009). Viewing higher education through the perspective of new institutionalism…

This study explored the factors and traits impacting the success of virtual managers. It can be argued that given technology's role in working virtually, one would deem technology as the most important factor impacting one's work in a virtual environment, however, there are other factors "including support from the organization and one's personal…

Teaching Polymorphism can be best implemented by using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches. However, from our observation and students' self-reporting, the former seems to be the predominant in the Saudi context. We try to investigate whether applying a more balanced approach in teaching the comprehensive concept of Polymorphism…

Much of the literature about participatory learning in schools and libraries is dominated by adult voices. What do sites of participatory learning look like from the student perspective? What does it mean to student learners to develop and apply the four practices of participation--create, circulate, collaborate, and connect? How does…

Students pick up technology faster than their teacher's. So when it comes to troubleshooting technical headaches in the classroom, it's not surprising that schools are turning to their own best resources--the students themselves. Whether staffing a "genius bar" in the media center or troubleshooting a balky projector, students at some schools are…

The dismal results of 2011, 2010, 2009, and previous years WAEC and NECO Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE) show the pitiable state of education in secondary schools in Nigeria. The youths of today live in a digital age. Web technologies and sites have become an integral part of the youth culture. Today's youths use the web tools to…

This article features a major statewide initiative in North Carolina that is showing how a consortium model can minimize risks for districts and help them exploit the advantages of cloud computing. Edgecombe County Public Schools in Tarboro, North Carolina, intends to exploit a major cloud initiative being refined in the state and involving every…

Literature on library service models is scarce and exists mainly in non-traditional formats such as blog entries and webpages. Nonetheless, the subject evokes heated debate among librarians with many supporting the model they are using, sometimes without understanding that there are other options which perhaps could be better for their…

Academic, government, and corporate librarians organize and leverage internal resources and content through institutional repositories and library catalogs. Getting more value and usage from the content they license is a key goal. However, the ever-growing amount of content and shifting user demands for new materials or features has made the…