Search

This book provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of the topic of culture in the context of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and a structured overview of a large body of HCI research on (and with) culture. The book presents a short and guided overview of the concept of culture. It offers some background on the origin and development of the term culture. It also outlines some of its key traits and ingredients and summarizes three main perspectives of culture across disciplines. The book argues that culture matters considerably in HCI and discusses a number of reasons for and against its relevance. Arguments against include a lack of a universal or common definition of the term culture and globalization. Arguments in favor touch upon important aspects of HCI, including a diversely growing user base, the need to provide designers with enough support to design across cultures, and the inseparable relationship between culture and technology. The issues explored in this book can be classified into three, non-mutually exclusive, categories: theoretical, practical, and controversial. The book outlines the main conceptual perspectives of culture within HCI, including Geert Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, Edward T. Hall's cross-cultural theory of communication, and Richard Nisbett's cultural cognitive systems of thought as well as examining the ways in which culture has been operationalized in HCI research and the main functions of culture in this area. It closes with a discussion of some open issues intended to spark debate and future research. The literature this book draws upon covers a wide range of research disciplines, including Anthropology, Sociology, Cultural Studies, Robotics, Disability Studies, Cultural and Cross-Cultural Psychology, Usability, and Design. This book aspires to provide a useful overview of culture for HCI scholars at all levels.

This volume offers a cross-section of a good fifteen years of research in the sociology of technology and innovation at the Department of Sociology of Technology headed by Werner Rammert at the TU Berlin. All contributions in this volume were initiated or discussed there and thus bear in a certain sense a'Berlin signature'- not in the sense of a clearly delimited scientific school, but rather in the form of an open discussion group with different, but mutually related focal points. The Berlin Key, which gives it its title, imposes on all its users the program of action objectified in its mechanism:'User, if you want to take the key back to yourself after unlocking the door and go your way, you must lock the door again first. Unlike that Berlin key, the'Berlin Keys to the Sociology of Technology'presented here offer a set of keys to different butinterconnected conceptual and methodological approaches in social science research on technology and innovation.

In diesem Buch wird das Verständnis von Interkulturalität und interkultureller Kompetenz bei einem Automobilkonzern erforscht. Dafür wurden Experteninterviews mit Führungskräften des gehobenen Managements durchgeführt. Die Interviews wurden mit der Qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse nach Udo Kuckartz und der Objektiven Hermeneutik nach Ulrich Oevermann ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse der vorliegenden qualitativ-empirischen Studie zeigen, dass Interkulturalität und interkulturelle Kompetenz innerhalb des Organisationskontextes vom Führungspersonal unterschiedlich ausgelegt und gehandhabt werden. Aus dem empirischen Material wird in Fallanalysen und -vergleichen eine qualitative Typologie mit vier kulturbezogenen Grundorientierungen herausgearbeitet.

Cities are synonymous with the production and consumption of culture. It is their material and human cultural infrastructure that also makes them archives and works of art. The Cultural Infrastructure of Cities critically re-examines the relationship between the urban and its cultures. It expands our understanding of the concept of urban cultural infrastructure and highlights the foundational role of culture to the materiality and sociality of urban life and the governance of cities. The book begins with a theoretical overview of the cultural and infrastructural turns in urban studies scholarship. It then explores definitions of cultural infrastructure and its “hard” and “soft” dimensions before critically considering the vulnerabilities generated in the cultural sector by the Covid-19 pandemic. Chapters are organised in four thematic sections focusing on aspects of producing, performing, consuming and collecting culture, which feature detailed case studies from 17 cities across the global North and South. This book will be of interest not only to students and scholars of urban studies, but also to policy-makers planning and creating cultural infrastructures as well as those working in cultural institutions and creative industries.

This book proposes new design and development models for local cultural and creative products, intended to improve the quality of these products and to preserve or enhance their local economic benefits. Building a knowledge base of design symbols and information gleaned from local history can be used to simplify the process of creative product design and increase the efficiency of product development. This book proposes a method for grasping the essential elements of symbols and culture so as to accelerate product development and capture the essence of culture in product design. In addition, it demonstrates that exhibitions applying scenario-oriented design can not only strengthen the representation of local culture, history and stories, but also support product consumption. As a result, the book offers a valuable asset for boosting the efficiency of creative product design and promoting the consumption of creative cultural products.

Caribbean countries have had to navigate multiple crises, which have tested their collective resolve through time. In this regard, the region's landscape has been shaped by an interplay of vulnerability and resilience which has brought to the fore possibilities and contradictions. It is within this context that the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic must be considered. Interdisciplinary Perspectives on COVID-19 and the Caribbean, Volume 2: Society, Education and Human Behaviour provides a comprehensive, multi- and interdisciplinary assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, using the Caribbean as the site of enquiry. The edited collection mobilises critical perspectives brought to bear on research produced within and beyond the boundaries and boundedness of conventional academic disciplinary divides, in response to the multi-dimensional crises of our time. This volume is divided into four (4) parts consisting of twenty-three (23) chapters and weaves together fourbroad thematic strands: COVID-19 and Caribbean Society; COVID-19 Religion and Rights; Psycho-social Impacts of COVID-19; and Education, Innovation, and Technology. Authors working within and across the human, social, physical and life sciences consider the myriad effects of the health crisis in the region, interrogating these experiences from the granular to macro level, utilising inter and multidisciplinary lenses. Collectively, the chapters which constitute Volume II expose the fault lines in Caribbean societies, which are deeply rooted in the region's history and delineate the precise ways in which the pandemic has transformed lives and livelihoods in the region. The culmination of this collection offers a reimagining of our Caribbean contemporary futures in the hope of finding home-grown solutions, avenues and possibilities.

Manuel Castells wird von vielen als einer der ersten Analytiker des Informationszeitalters und der Netzwerkgesellschaft gesehen, der den Zusammenhang zwischen der digitalen und der gesellschaftlichen Revolution erkannte.In diesem kleinen, zum Klassiker avancierten Buch bringt er seine Erfahrung und sein Wissen zur Internet-Galaxie zusammen: Wie hat alles angefangen? Aus welchen zusammenarbeitenden oder konkurrierenden Kulturen besteht das Internet? Wie werden neue Unternehmen dadurch organisiert, wie werden alte Unternehmen davon beeinflusst? Gibt es die „digitale Wasserscheide“? Welchen Einfluss hat das Internet auf soziale und kulturelle Organisationsformen? Wie werden politische Teilhabe, politische Kommunikation, das städtische Leben beeinflusst?Dies sind nur einige Fragen, die in diesem Buch aufgegriffen werden. Castells gibt aber weder Prognosen ab, noch liefert er Patentrezepte – er gibt eine erhellende, auf empirischen Daten beruhende Analyse der Situation.

The book presents aspects of cross-currents of theorizing of self, culture and society in the contemporary Taiwan. Social theorizing has been addressed critically, reflectively and creatively by the philosophical, religious, psychological and literary traditions of one of the world's great civilizations Theorizing is a dynamic movement of self, culture, society and the world as it is related to our actions, reflections, meditations to understand the world more meaningfully and holistically as well as to transform it. But much of social theorizing in the modern world is primarily Euro-American and despite the socalled globalization of knowledge, this condition of one-sided Euro-American valorization of knowledge and neglect of others continues unabated. There is very little attention to theorizing about the human condition emerging from other parts of the world such as Taiwan and its global implication. This book transforms this condition by mapping the fieldof theorizing in a wider spectrum of philosophy, psychology, religions, social sciences and humanities in contemporary Taiwan.

This book presents selected case studies from the Arab world on the universities responses to the pandemic. This book will look in detail at the priorities of the higher education sector in the post-COVID-19 era and the changes that must be adopted by universities and governments. These changes will allow the higher education sector to emerge from the crisis and build short- and long-term resilience.The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has induced sudden changes worldwide by setting a global lockdown that has impacted all industries and sectors, affecting our daily lives and forcing us to adapt to a new normal. This book is the first major account of how the pandemic has shaken universities and higher education institutions in the Arab world today and tomorrow. Crucially, it examines the responses of universities to COVID-19, highlights their current position, and addresses the negative and positive outcomes. Has this crisis become an adversity or an opportunity forhigher education institutions? What are the pillars that will ensure the success of the Arab higher education sector post COVID-19?

Cultural entrepreneurship uses culture as a way to understand innovative business ventures. Culture in this edited book involves the beliefs and values associated with certain forms of behaviour. This means the way individuals are involved in business ventures is based on their cultural ideas. This edited book focuses on how cultural entrepreneurship is an important way to understand how cultural products and services such as art, food, music and literature influence the development of business ventures. Thereby highlighting the interesting and unique way cultural ideas are embedded in entrepreneurial activities.