What do professional persons think about computers?

Abstract

A 64-item questionnaire was distributed through the mail to certified public accountants (CPAs), lawyers, pharmacists and physicians in the Baltimore City area to determine their experience with, and attitudes towards, electronic computers. Return rates were not significantly different for the four groups and averaged 27·7 per cent for all groups combined. The data analyses are based on 521 replies.

Analyses of the background information supplied by the four groups show that CPAs in general have more training on, are more familiar with, and have greater access to computers than do the other professional groups. Lawyers in general have the least exposure to computers, A factor analysis of the responses to the attitude items yielded six factors. Three of the more important clusters of attitudes are associated with: (a) a view of computers as efficient and beneficial machines; (b) dissatisfaction with their depersonalizing nature; and (c) enthusiasm for working with computers. Finally, a multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant differences in attitudes among the four groups. CPAs and pharmacists tend to view computers more positively than do the other two groups. Lawyers are most likely to describe computers with negative terms, such as depersonalizing, formal and difficult.     

What have examinations got to do with computers in education?

Abstract   Courseware, i.e. computer based learning materials, usually includes some self-assessment for formative assessment. Insufficient attention has been paid, however, to the link between formal assessment and use of courseware: teachers and learners focus on examination syllabuses. Examinations bodies can use only the simplest forms of ICT-based assessment (objective or multiple choice tests) until learners are familiar with newer styles. This problem can be addressed on several fronts: with new ICT styles of tests, by developing websites supporting learners and teachers, by conducting field trials using computers under examination conditions and by commissioning new types of examination questions built around online interactive simulations.     

What do computer science students think about software piracy?

Today, software piracy is an issue of global importance. Computer science students are the future information and communication technologies professionals and it is important to study the way they approach this issue. In this article, we attempt to study attitudes, behaviours and the corresponding reasoning of computer science students in Greece regarding software piracy. The statements taken in 56 semi-structured interviews with students indicate that computer science students in Greece make intensive use of pirated software, mention as main reason for their practice the cost of genuine software, and blame the academic environment, coincidental stereotypes and their student status for this behaviour. They acknowledge the immoral character of their actions, as well as the fact that others are affected by software piracy, but they pay little attention to this action and they practically don't care. While keeping distance from software development companies, when specifically asked, they easily adopt the role of a software developer and attempt to substantiate their current and eventually future attitude out of hand. They consider software copyright laws to be inapplicable and unrealistic and fail to argue against intellectual property rights for mere digital products, such as software.     

Can computers be teammates?

This study investigated the claim that humans will readily form team relationships with computers. Drawing from the group dynamic literature in human-human interactions, a laboratory experiment (n=56) manipulated identity and interdependence to create team affiliation in a human-computer interaction. The data show that subjects who are told they are interdependent with the computer affiliate with the computer as a team. The data also show that the effects of being in a team with a computer are the same as the effects of being in a team with another human: subjects in the interdependence conditions perceived the computer to be more similar to themselves, saw themselves as more cooperative, were more open to influence from the computer, thought the information from the computer was of higher quality, found the information from the computer friendlier, and conformed more to the computer's information. Subjects in the identity conditions showed neither team affiliation nor the effects of team affiliation.     

What could possibly go wrong? A multi-panel Delphi study of organizational social media risk

The growth of social media has crossed the boundary from individual to organizational use, bringing with it a set of benefits and risks. To mitigate these risks and ensure the benefits of social media use are realized, organizations have developed a host of new policies, procedures, and hiring practices. However, research to date has yet to provide a comprehensive view on the nature of risk associated with the use of social media by organizations. Using a multi-panel Delphi approach consisting of new entrants to the workforce, certified human resource professionals, and certified Information Technology auditors, this study seeks to understand organizational social media risk. The results of the Delphi panels are compared against a textual analysis of 40 social media policies to provide a comprehensive view of the current state of social media policy development. We conclude with directions for future research that may guide researchers interested in exploring social media risk in organizations.     

Can computers carry content ‘inexplicitly’?

I examine whether it is possible for content relevant to a computer's behavior to be carried without an explicit internal representation. I consider three approaches. First, an example of a chess playing computer carrying emergent content is offered from Dennett. Next I examine Cummins response to this example. Cummins says Dennett's computer executes a rule which is inexplicitly represented. Cummins describes a process wherein a computer interprets explicit rules in its program, implements them to form a chess-playing device, then this device executes the rules in a way that exhibits them inexplicitly. Though this approach is intriguing, I argue that the chess-playing device cannot exist as imagined. The processes of interpretation and implementation produce explicit representations of the content claimed to be inexplicit. Finally, the Chinese Room argument is examined and shown not to save the notion of inexplicit information. This means the strategy of attributing inexplicit content to a computer which is executing a rule, fails.I wish to thank Fred Dretske, JOhn Perry, and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and suggestions. Earlier versions of this paper were read at the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting in San Francisco in March, 1993, and at the 7th International Conference on Computing and Philosophy in Orlando in August, 1992.     

“What do others think?” An emic approach to participatory action research in Bangladesh

AI & SOCIETY - Community informatics and Information and Communications Technology for Development research projects frequently focus on the appropriation of ICTs and the design of information...     

Anthropomorphism of computers: Is it mindful or mindless?

In analyzing the human tendency to treat computers as social actors (CASA), researchers tend to rule out the anthropomorphism explanation because anthropomorphism is understood to be “a sincere, conscious belief” that computers are human and/or deserving of human attributions. But, does anthropomorphism have to be necessarily mindful? Could it not also be a mindless tendency, especially given that most of us have somewhat long associations with our computers and have built human-like bonds with them? We examined these questions empirically by investigating whether the user tendency to treat computers as human beings is conscious (mindful) or non-conscious (mindless). We manipulated two variables (presence/absence of human-like agent and the low/high interactivity) on a health website and experimentally investigated whether they serve as anthropomorphic cues to trigger mindful attributions of human-ness to the website or mindless evaluations of the site in human terms. We found evidence for mindless anthropomorphism, with implications for user judgments of credibility of information on the site.     

Waiting for the rapture: What can we do with computers to (hopefully) witness the emergence of life?

Natural Computing - Hadn’t this question already been answered? We all know about computation-universal Turing Machines. And we know that any such machine can simulate a space–time...     

What if undergraduate students designed their own web learning environment? Exploring students' web 2.0 mentality through participatory design

Following the increasing calls for a more skeptical analysis of web 2.0 and the empowerment of learners' voices in formulating upcoming technologies, this paper elaborates on the participatory design of a web learning environment. A total of 117 undergraduate students from two Greek Informatics Departments participated in 25 participatory design sessions, employing two needs' elicitation techniques, with the aim of envisioning a learning platform that meets their learning particularities and needs, incorporates and exploits their new technological habits, and can be harmoniously situated in their daily routine. Overall, 773 needs were elicited, proving that students had refined views about the elements that can render the next wave of e‐learning applications successful. They convincingly demonstrated their web 2.0 mentality but sought for a smooth transition to the new environment, promoting an evolution rather than a revolution. The resulting set of needs demarcates a zone of expectancies where the enhancement of the learning content and the contextualization of knowledge remain top priorities with revamped opportunities, while networking, participation and collaboration complement and improve their characteristics. Our study is an example of exploiting participatory design for exposing students' thoughts and requirements from a critical design perspective.     

What is biology?

The following work compares two different ways of fractionating or abstracting from an organism: (a) a Mendelian way, which views the organism as a discrete bundle of phenotypic characters, each controlled by a corresponding genetic "factor", and (b) as a bundle of particulate molecular fractions, as envisaged by molecular biology. It is generally believed that the latter completely subsumes the former, and that it further serves to subsume all of biology into contemporary physics. We argue herein that the first of these assertions, if true at all, does not follow from an initial positing of an identity between the Mendelian gene and DNA sequence, and may well be false in general. In either case, the second assertion becomes false as well. This has profound consequences, not only for biology, but for the physics which is presumed to underlie it; it constitutes a part of the "new physics" which Erwin Schr?dinger, in a famous essay [(1944) What is Life? Cambridge University Press, Cambridge], argued was inherent in biology.     

What is computation?

Three conditions are usually given that must be satisfied by a process in order for it to be called a computation, namely, there must exist a finite length algorithm for the process, the algorithm must terminate in finite time for valid inputs and return a valid output and, finally, the algorithm must never return an output for invalid inputs. These three conditions are advanced as being necessary and sufficient for the process to be computable by a universal model of computation. In fact, these conditions are neither necessary nor sufficient. On the one hand, recently defined paradigms show how certain processes that do not satisfy one or more of the aforementioned properties can indeed be carried out in principle on new, more powerful, types of computers, and hence can be considered as computations. Thus, the conditions are not necessary. On the other hand, contemporary work in unconventional computation has demonstrated the existence of processes that satisfy the three stated conditions, yet contradict the Church–Turing thesis and, more generally, the principle of universality in computer science. Thus, the conditions are not sufficient.     

What is 'heavy'?

One of the work practices frequently taught to employees is to estimate the heaviness of load before it is actually handled. If it is ‘heavy’, then one should ask for help. However, limited information can be found in the ergonomics literature about what a person perceives as a ‘heavy load’. This study was conducted on 20 male and 20 female workers in the package delivery industry to estimate the amounts of load that correspond to various levels of load heaviness (e.g. ‘somewhat heavy’). Experienced employees were used for this purpose. The distribution of loads within each heaviness level was developed using fuzzy sets theory. The maximum load (i.e. 23 kg) defined by the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health represents a ‘somewhat heavy’ load based on the analysis of load distribution (corresponding to a 1.0 certainty factor). Also, the 40 kg considered in the 1981 NIOSH guidelines may be classified as a ‘very heavy’ load. A comparative analysis of the results of this study with norms established in prior research indicates that one should be more careful in the interpretation of statistical norms for human perception of load handling. A ‘moderate’ level of load heaviness (i.e. 14 kg) can be handled by 85% of the worker population.     

What is motherboard?

(W)还没有缓过味来,我们已经被一脚踢进了这个知识爆炸的信息时代。这年头,连“文盲”这词的定义都和从前不同了,“会使用电脑吗?”,“@ #＄％ ＆……”,“不会?！”,这样的窘境你遇到过吗? 我曾多次被人讥笑以后,忍无可忍,终于鼓足勇气,硬着头皮一头扎进了电脑圈。不想,在真正接触之后,原来这个恼人的东西并不是想象中那样深不可测,回头看看以前连键盘都不敢摸的那个我,真是胆怯懦弱。     

What price regularity?

We review various properties of irregular graphs and suggest that they may provide useful maps for connecting processors together in distributed-memory MIMD machines. In particular, for many applications the performance of a system in an irregular configuration can be expected to exceed by far that of systems in standard configurations such as hypercubes and tori, which are poor over many performance measures. Techniques are discussed which allow the construction of near-optimal or optimal graphs with respect to various measures of goodness, including diameter, mean interprocessor distance and worst through-routing load. We conclude that where regularity is not important, irregular graphs will almost always outperform standard, regular ones.