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Research has shown that e-learning games do not have the same level of appeal to girls, as they do to boys; particularly in the crucial 11-14 age group. In the United Kingdom, this is typically when they start to make subject choices that impact their future studies and careers. Given the shortage of females who choose computer science as a career, this study explores how e-learning games can be designed to be motivationally appealing to young learners. It further explores the role of game representations and its appeal to this age group. This empirical study addresses the research question: "Can we develop e-learning games which appeal and motivate girls of age 11-14 to study computer science concepts?" Two e-learning games were developed: one included game representations such as game colour, graphics, character, age appropriateness, storyline, number of players, violence, identified as appealing to young females and the other game included antithetical or neutral representations. The two developed prototypes were used to explore key e-learning game representations as used to teach computer science concepts. A total of 304 participants, comprising of 152 girls and 152 boys from a combination of same sex and mixed secondary schools in Southeast England, engaged with both experimental games. The experiment also elicited information on how learners interact with these games and the resulting game appeal, motivation and learning. The insight gained from the analysis of data captured during the experiments, provide the evidence to demonstrate that inclusive e-learning games which motivate and appeal to girls of age 11-14 can be developed. This can have a positive influence on their willingness to use such games to learn computer science concepts. This implies that the study found positive outcomes related to e-learning game appeal, motivation and the learning of girls of this age group. A follow-up longitudinal study could investigate the impact of significant e-learning game representations that appeal to the target group. This could provide additional evidence on the changes in the appeal of the investigated significant game representations over time, due to the influence of other factors such as socio-economic and socio-cultural differences. This understanding can further enhance inclusive e-learning strategies to improve diversity in computer science education and consequently the career pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overarching aim of data ethics is to promote responsible and sustainable use of data and its products for the benefit ofpeople and society. Through an analysis of various approaches to data and AI ethics in the public sector, this paper aims to identify key goals and challenges for a data ethics policy function and provide recommendations. The paper connects the practical experience of data ethics professionals and the emerging theory through combining a literature review with primary data gathered during workshops with practitioners in the United Kingdom. It finds that key challenges for data ethics in the public sector include the lack of accountability of data ethics tools, lack ofskills and awareness, the saturated landscape of ethical guidance, and insufficient diversity in the field. Opportunities and recommendations include: embedding data ethics in data science processes; providing a platform that collates the available ethical guidance; developing data ethics courses for public sector data scientists; establishing a data ethics community; increasing transparency in hiring and introducing extensive diversity measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As the UK''s national marine data centre, a key responsibility of the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) is to provide data management support for the scientific activities of complex multi-disciplinary long-term research programmes. Since the initial cruise in 1995, the NERC funded Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) project has undertaken 18 north–south transects of the Atlantic Ocean. As the project has evolved there has been a steady growth in the number of participants, the volume of data, its complexity and the demand for data. BODC became involved in AMT in 2002 at the beginning of phase II of this programme and since then has provided continuous support to the AMT and the wider scientific community through the rescue, quality control, processing and access to the data. The data management is carried out by a team of specialists using a sophisticated infrastructure and hardware to manage, integrate and serve physical, biological and chemical data. Here, we discuss the approach adopted, techniques applied and some guiding principles for management of large multi-disciplinary programmes. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose — This paper seeks to discuss the question of "openness" in e-Science. Design/methodology/approach — The study is based on 12 in-depth interviews with principal investigators, project managers and developers involved in UK e-Science projects, together with supporting documentary evidence from project web sites. The approach was to explore the juxtaposition of research governance at the institutional level and local research practices at the project level. Interview questions focused on research inputs, software development processes, access to resources, project documentation, dissemination of outputs and by-products, licensing issues, and institutional contracts. Findings — The findings suggest that, although there is a widely shared ethos of openness in everyday research practice, there are many uncertainties and yet-to-be resolved issues, despite strong policy imperatives towards openly shared resources. Research limitations/implications — The paper concludes by observing a stratification of openness in practice and the need for more nuanced understanding of openness at the level of policy making. This research was based on interviews within a limited number of e-Science/Social Science projects and the intention is to address this in future work by scaling the study up to a survey that will reach the entire UK e-Science/Social Science community. Practical implications — The fundamental challenge in resolving openness in practice and policy, and thereby moving towards a sustainable infrastructure for e-Science, is the coordination and integration of goals across e-Science efforts, rather than one of resolving IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) issues, which has been the central focus of openness debates thus far. Originality/value — The question of openness has previously been posed on the macro-level of research policy, e.g. whether science as a whole can be characterized as open science, or in relation to the dissemination of published outputs, e.g. Open Access. Instead, a fine-grained perspective is taken focusing on individual research projects and the various facets of openness in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]