COMPLEXITY AND ERROR IN SOCIAL DYNAMICS

A model of cultural dynamics based on the work of Colin Renfrew is briefly described. It is shown how the general concepts of complexity and error pertain to this kind of cultural model. In particular, it is suggested that conflict in cultural contexts arises through the generation of diverse simple models of the culture, created by different members of the culture. We indicate how general system-theoretic concepts can thus be brought to bear on problems of conflict in and between cultures.     

论本土特征与民族性在装置艺术中的体现和运用

具有本土特征的装置作品在当代艺术中倍受青睐和追捧,成为当代装置艺术的宠儿。立足于本土文化,其实就是艺术创作的民族性。民族性,代表的传统精神和文化内涵。而当代性,代表的却是今天的文化环境和时代特征。看似两个毫不相干,却又有些对立的概念,怎样把两者很好的结合,并以艺术创作的形式呈现给当代社会是艺术家进行创作时所必须考虑到的。本文试通过以下三个不同的角度来进行分析和延展:1.精神内涵和语言环境。2.审美基础。3.视觉错位与心灵碰撞。     

Matrix Representation of Solution Concepts in Multiple-Decision-Maker Graph Models

A matrix method is developed to apply four solution concepts to a graph model for conflict resolution in order to model human behavior in a multiple-decision-maker (DM) strategic conflict. A graph model represents the interaction of two or more DMs and can be analyzed to identify possible equilibrium states according to each solution concept. Previously, solution concepts were defined logically, in terms of the underlying graphs. However, procedures to identify stable states based on these definitions are difficult to code because of the nature of the logical representations. In this paper, a graph model and four graph model solution concepts are formulated explicitly using matrices. More specifically, matrix expressions are given for relative preferences, joint unilateral movements, and joint unilateral improvements in a multiple-DM model. Then, it is shown how to calculate stability under each of the four solution concepts using the matrix representation. Compared with the existing approach, matrix representation is more effective and convenient for calculating stabilities and predicting equilibria of a graph model. In particular, the proposed method is easy to code and extend to other contexts.      

Toward a social conflict evolution model: Examining the adverse power of conflictual social interaction in online learning

This case study examined an authentic online learning phenomenon where social conflict, including harsh critique and negative tone, weaved throughout peer-moderated online discussions in an online class. Opening coding and content analysis were performed on 1306 message units and course artifacts. The results revealed that a model of social conflict evolution, that is, social conflict within the learning community evolved through five general phases including cultural initiation, social harmonization cycle, escalation of conflict, intervention and stabilization, and adjourning. The results also suggested strong relationships between social and learning interactions during these five phases of social conflict development. This study has theoretical and practical implications for designing and managing learning activities in online classes.     

Employee creativity in war zones: Empirical evidence from small firms in Afghanistan

The major concern of employees during times of war and conflict is apparently physical survival. But how are top managers of small‐sized companies enhancing the generation of novel and useful ideas by their employees in such physically dangerous business environments? In Afghanistan, as a war‐torn country, this research examined for the first time how getting closer to employees—which is conceptualized as internal marketing orientation culture in our study—directly affects the generation of novel and useful ideas by employees in the workplace. Our analysis is based on survey data from 81 newly established small‐sized companies in Afghanistan. Results indicate a mediating role of employees' perceived psychological safety on the relationship between internal market orientation culture and employees' creative work involvement. Moreover, we discuss the impact of employees' creative work involvement on small‐sized firm competitiveness improvement in general. Finally, we extend our implications in the context of the componential theory model of creativity, which might also serve as a framework for future research.     

Zarathustra and beyond: exploring culture and values online

Illusions of control and fantasies of power are important themes in human history and culture. The first objective of this paper is to explore Zarathustran fantasies in the information society, and our dreams of God-like control and mastery over ourselves and the Universe. This paper does not try to be faithful to Nietzschean philosophical concepts of Zarathustra, but instead explore cultural themes, which can be related to a mythology of God-like control and omniscient perception. It draws together strands from science fiction, anthropology, philosophy, technology development, systems engineering, socio-technical systems, finance and e-business to set out how we have fallen for the technocultural illusions we have created. The paper then shifts gear, and in an attempt to address these technocultural problems, identifies an intellectual trajectory centred on an anthropological perspective. Using examples from e-business and Schwartz’s universal model of human values, applied into a technocultural context, the paper shows how it is possible to create meaningful systems of organisation that utilise advanced technologies to help provide a deeply value-laden cultural system. Our world is changing fundamentally and dramatically, and we desperately need new approaches to help us understand these transitions. The paper’s primary contribution is to critique both human-centred thinking, and mechanistic, Taylorist views of organisation and technology. It stimulates debate concerning the relationship between technology and culture as it is worked out in the information society. Shifting the perspective from humans as social, functioning creatures, this paper offers a new human-centred approach based upon humans as cultural, valuing beings.     

PANEL DISCUSSION

When anthropologists talk about their discipline as a holistic study of human societies, particularly non-Western societies, mathematics and mathematical modeling do not immediately come to mind, either to persons outside of anthropology or even to most anthropologists. What does mathematics have to do with the study of religious beliefs, ideologies, rituals, kinship, and the like? Or, more generally, what does mathematical modeling have to do with culture? The application of statistical methods usually makes sense to the questioner when it is explained that these methods relate to the study of human societies through examining patterns in empirical data on how people behave. What is less evident, though, is how mathematical thinking can be part of the way anthropologists reason about human societies and attempt to make sense of not just behavioral patterns but the underlying cultural framework within which these behaviors are embedded. What is not widely recognized is the way theory in cultural anthropology and mathematical theory have been brought together, thereby constructing a dynamic interplay that helps elucidate what is meant by culture, its relationship to behavior, and how the notion of culture relates to concepts and theories developed not only in anthropology but in related disciplines. The interplay is complex and its justification stems from the kind of logical inquiry that is the basis of mathematical reasoning. Linking of mathematical theory with cultural theory, we argue, is not only appropriate but may very well be necessary for more effective development of theory aimed at providing a holistic understanding of human behavior.     

Preference uncertainty in the graph model for conflict resolution

A new preference structure is introduced into the graph model for conflict resolution. This structure can handle a decision-maker's (DM) strict preference for one state or scenario over another, equal preference for states, and uncertain or unknown preference in the comparison of two states. Built upon this preference structure, four types of solution definitions modeling human behavior under conflict are extended to accommodate uncertainty in preferences. Four distinct ways to consider uncertain preference information are identified, producing sixteen extended stability definitions. Interrelationships of these definitions within and across the four definition sets are investigated. Illustrative examples of two-DM and multi-DM conflict models are presented to show how the new solution concepts can be applied in practice.     

基于决策者共识偏好的冲突分析图模型

为刻画实际冲突中决策者复杂的决策行为,完善冲突分析图模型稳定性理论的不足,对共识偏好下图模型的稳定性进行研究.首先,将决策者偏好划分为共识偏好和非共识偏好;然后,在4种基本稳定性定义的基础上,将图模型稳定性拓展到8种,拓展后的稳定性不但能深刻反映共赢型、利己型及混合型决策者的决策行为,还能有效预测不同行为模式下冲突局势的均衡结果;最后,通过案例验证所提出方法在解决实际冲突问题中的有效性.     

Nomadic Culture: Cultural Support for Working Anytime, Anywhere

This article argues that a nomadic culture is required to achieve the competitive benefits of a workforce using ubiquitous computing technologies. A nomadic culture is defined as a collection of artifacts, beliefs, and basic assumptions based on a prior published model of organizational culture in general, the term nomadic culture is defined in this article. the authors provide lists of questions for managers to conduct an internal cultural audit.     

A general theory of systems performance criteria

Based on general systems thinking of the past half century and the efficiency literature of the last 100 years, this research develops a theoretical model of systems performance criteria that provides a means to evaluate how well any living system, whether individual, organisational or societal, performs task-related activities in the pursuit of goals. The model is used as a foundation for organising the various concepts of performance that have evolved over the past century: efficiency, costs, productivity, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. These performance concepts, derived from the theoretical model, are formalised into axioms that are used to deduce theorems and derivative laws in constructing a formal general theory of systems performance criteria.     

从现代设计文化看中国设计的发展

设计文化是造物的文化和生活方式的创造者,所以它能表达出更多人情、个性,也包含更多的人文价值。设计文化具有民族性和时代性,了解了这些才能突破对设计文化的局限性认识。中西方文化的冲突与融合,使中国文化正在融合更加多元的成分,所以中国的现代设计要立足本土、把握时代,以此来建立健全既有民族性又有时代性的新设计文化系统。     

一种改进的部分全局规划协调机制

在多Agent系统（MAS）中,Agent之间的协调是解决Agent间冲突的关键,本文对如何使Agents能够快速解决冲突达成协商进行了研究,在通用部分全局规划的基础上提出了一种步进式部分全局规划模型,该模型使用增量式策略来使Agents尽快达成协商。实验表明,改进后的模型在冲突的探测和解决上性能都有了显著地提高。     

Cultural divide and the Internet

The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between culture and Internet usage. In the light of studies showing the existence of subcultures within a country, an experiment was designed and conducted based on the Hofstede cultural model and Tiwana’s expert knowledge model to determine how social differences affect the Internet usage of first-year university students. Data-mining techniques were then used to find relationships between culture and Internet usage. We conclude that abilities and performance relating to Internet use differs among subcultures not only because of the digital divide but also because of cultural differences. We also show that subcultures tend to converge over time when placed in the same context.     

The realignment of offshoring frame disputes (OFD): an ethnographic ‘cultural’ analysis

In Information Systems (IS) research on cross-cultural issues, cultural categories are typically introduced as analytical labels that explain why and how organizational groups in different parts of the world act and think differently. However, broad cultural categories can also be discursively mobilized by organizational members as strategic adaptive resources. Drawing on an ethnographic study of offshoring frame disputes (OFD) in an Indian subsidiary unit of a large Western information technology (IT) organization, this paper explores how members actively invoke a series of beliefs about Western culture and implicitly position them as the binary opposite of Eastern (or Indian) culture. The findings demonstrate how the mobilization of such beliefs eventually plays a vital role in the reconciliation of four different types of OFD. Drawing on this analysis, I build a social–psychological process model that explains how frame extensions trigger a cognitive reorganization process, leading to the accomplishment of OFD realignment. The paper argues that discursively invoked binary cultural categories help maintain non-confrontational definitions of situations and sustain working relationships in IT offshoring environments. Furthermore, interpretations linked to cultural notions seem to reflexively take the offshore–onshore power differentials into account.     

Reciprocal effects between organizational culture and the implementation of an office communication system: a case study

As part of a study investigating the implementation of an office communication system and its effects on work and organizational processes in a large transportation company, reciprocal effects between organizational culture and the new technology were analysed. It was found that in one department which was characterized by a well established culture, the communication system was integrated fairly easily and thereby reinforced the culture. In a second department, which was in the middle of a strong internal cultural conflict, the new technology was used unsuccessfully by one subgroup to support cultural change. By refusing to use the communication system in the intended way, the other members of the department resisted that attempt. In both departments, the technology did not effect a change, rather it was integrated into pre-existing cultural patterns.     

Australia's cultural network: Why and how?

As the Internet rapidly changes the way we communicate and carry out our business, what are the challenges and opportunities for the cultural sector? Will national cultural identities be subsumed in an emerging global mono‐culture? What is the role of government in this situation? This paper discusses these questions and describes why and how the Australian Government responded with a new cultural online service ‐ Australia's Cultural Network <http://www.acn.net.au/> ‐ to provide a single access point for the general public and a resource exchange for those in the Australian cultural community wanting to make the transition to the growing online economy.     

HMM-Based Concept Learning for a Mobile Robot

We are developing an intelligent robot and attempting to teach it language. While there are many aspects of this research, for the purposes here the most important are the following ideas. Language is primarily based on semantics, not syntax, which is still the focus in speech recognition research these days. To truly learn meaning, a language engine cannot simply be a computer program running on a desktop computer analyzing speech. It must be part of a more general, embodied intelligent system, one capable of using associative learning to form concepts from the perception of experiences in the world, and further capable of manipulating those concepts symbolically. In this paper, we present a general cascade model for learning concepts, and explore the use of hidden Markov models (HMMs) as part of the cascade model. HMMs are capable of automatically learning and extracting the underlying structure of continuous-valued inputs and representing that structure in the states of the model. These states can then be treated as symbolic representations of the inputs. We show how a cascade of HMMs can be embedded in a small mobile robot and used to find correlations among sensory inputs to learn a set of symbolic concepts, which are used for decision making and could eventually be manipulated linguistically