Consumer demand as a driver of improved working conditions: the ‘Ergo-Brand’ proposition

This article develops and explores the ‘Ergo-Brand’ proposition, which posits that consumers may prefer to buy goods that are made under good working conditions (GWCs). This preference would enhance a differentiation strategy for companies, thereby fostering the application of ergonomics in production. This proposition is developed in the context of a narrative review of the literature on ‘ethical consumerism’. This is supplemented with a survey study, conducted in both Canada and Sweden (n = 141) to explore this proposition. Results indicate that consumers would prefer goods made under GWCs, but not unconditionally as quality and price concerns were ranked higher. Access to information on the working conditions in production was seen as a barrier. Nevertheless, the Ergo-Brand concept may be a viable avenue in promoting attention towards ergonomics in companies – particularly if consumer habits are subject to intervention by advertising. Further research on this strategy is warranted.     

Annotating opinion—evaluation of blogs: the Blogoscopy corpus

The blog phenomenon is universal. Blogs are characterized by their evaluative use, in that they enable Internet users to express their opinion on a given subject. From this point of view, they are an ideal resource for the constitution of an annotated sentiment analysis corpus, crossing the subject and the opinion expressed on this subject. This paper presents the Blogoscopy corpus for the French language which was built up with personal thematic blogs. The annotation was governed by three principles: theoretical, as opinion is grounded in a linguistic theory of evaluation, practical, as every opinion is linked to an object, and methodological as annotation rules and successive phases are defined to ensure quality and thoroughness.     

The ‘measure of a man’ and the ethos of hospitality: towards an ethical dwelling with technology

In this paper, I argue for the impossible possibility of an ethical dwelling with technology. In arguing for an ethical comportment in our dealing with technology, I am not only arguing for the consideration of the ethical implications of technology (which we already do) but also, and more importantly, for an ethics of technological artefacts qua technology. Thus, I attempt to argue for a decentering (or rather overcoming) of anthropocentric ethics, urging us to move beyond any centre, whatever it may be—anthropological, biological, etc. I argue that if we take ethics seriously we must admit that our measure cannot be that of man. To develop the argument, I use an episode in Star Trek where the fate of the highly sophisticated android Commander Data is to be decided. I show how the moral reasoning about Data remains anthropocentric but hints to other possibilities. I proceed to use the work of Derrida and Levinas (with some help from Heidegger) to suggest a possible way to think (and do) an ethos beyond traditional ethics—an ethics of hospitality in which we dwell in a community of those that have nothing in common.     

Contract law 2.0: ‘Smart’ contracts as the beginning of the end of classic contract law

The paper analyzes legal issues associated with the application of existing contract law provisions to so-called Smart contracts, defined in the paper as ‘agreements existing in the form of software code implemented on the Blockchain platform, which ensures the autonomy and self-executive nature of Smart contract terms based on a predetermined set of factors’. The paper consists of several sections. In the second section, the paper outlines the peculiarities of Blockchain technology, as currently implemented in Bitcoin cryptocurrency, which forms the core of Smart contracts. In the third section, the main characteristic features of Smart contracts are described. Finally, the paper outlines key tensions between classic contract law and Smart contracts. The concluding section sets the core question for analysis of the perspectives of implementation of this technology by governments: ‘How to align the powers of the government with Blockchain if there is no central authority but only distributed technologies’. The author suggests two solutions, neither of which is optimal: (1) providing the state authorities with the status of a Superuser with extra powers; and (2) relying on traditional remedies and enforcement practices, by pursuing specific individuals – parties to a Smart contract – in offline mode.     

The sense of ‘thinking’

It will be found that the great majority, given the premiss that thought is not distinct from corporeal motion, take a much more rational line and maintain that thought is the same in the brutes as in us, since they observe all sorts of corporeal motions in them, just as in us. And they will add that the difference, which is merely one of degree, does not imply any essential difference; from this they will be quite justified in concluding that, although there may be a smaller degree of reason in the beasts than there is in us, the beasts possess minds which are of exactly the same type as ours. (Descartes 1642: 288–289.)     

The ‘transfer of skill’ and the ‘transfer of human relations’ to machine systems

The necessity and opportunity for face-to-face contact with other colleagues is being increasingly reduced as a result of factory automation (FA) or office automation (OA). This means that human functions which are a result of human contact and relationships are substituted for by the function of machine systems. This transfer of relations from the human system to the machine system causes isolation of the individual in the process of work. This chapter considers some reasons for isolation with particular reference to the computerisation of production systems. The paper addresses the serious consequences for the environmental situation in Japan and the fabric of Japanese society.     

‘MaaS’: fast retrieval of E-file in cloud using metadata as a service

In cloud era as the data stored is enormous, efficient retrieval of data with reduced latency plays a major role. In cloud, owing to the size of the stored data and lack of locality information among the stored files, metadata is a suitable method of keeping track of the storage. This paper describes a novel framework for efficient retrieval of data from the cloud data servers using metadata with less amount of time. Performance of queries due to availability of files for query processing can be greatly improved by the efficient use of metadata and its analysis thereof. Hence this paper proposes a generic approach of using metadata in cloud, named ‘MaaS—Metadata as a Service’. The proposed approach has exploited various methodologies in reducing the latency during data retrieval. This paper investigates the issues on creation of metadata, metadata management and analysis of metadata in a cloud environment for fast retrieval of data. Cloud bloom filter, a probabilistic data structure used for efficient retrieval of metadata is stored across various metadata servers dispersed geographically. We have implemented the model in a cloud environment and the experimental results show that methodology used is efficient on increasing the throughput and also by handling large number of queries efficiently with reduced latency. The efficacy of the approach is tested through experimental studies using KDD Cup 2003 dataset. In the experimental results, proposed ‘MaaS’ has outperformed other existing methods.     

A ‘smart house’ is not a home: The domestication of ICTs

This paper discusses the domestication of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), particularly their use, in UK households reporting on research undertaken between 1998 and 2004. Issues raised are linked to the dominant discourse of the ‘digital divide’, which in the UK means engaging with ICTs in a ‘meaningful’ way to ensure the economic and social well-being of UK plc (public limited company—in the UK this refers to companies whose shares can be sold to the public. The acronym is used here ironically to indicate the motivation of the government to brand and promote the UK as a whole.). Utilising a framework of understanding digital inequality and the ‘deepening divide’, domestication theory is applied to discuss motivational, material and physical, skills and usage access in the gendered household, critically contrasting this approach to ‘smart house’ research. This qualitative enquiry contributes to the neglected area of domestication studies in Information Systems research.     

The amount of information and the volume of ‘information tare’

A distinction is suggested between the notions ‘information tare’, the role of which is played by the signals or letters forming the message, and ‘information’, which may be contained in such messages. It is shown that Shannon's definition of the amount of information is, in fact, the definition of the volume of information tare, whereas the amount of information itself may be measured as the volume of information tare of the maximally compact message used for its recording. This allows one to express both the volume of information tare, H, and the amount of information, B, in the same units of measurement–bits–and for any message B≤H. Some consequences of these views are analysed.     

Comments on ‘Parallel procedure for the design of observers in high-order multivariable systems’

Shafai (1988) proposed a state observer design algorithm which is very slightly different from an earlier algorithm of Tsui (1985). Furthermore, the change made by Shafai severely worsens the parallel computation property, the only key property of his algorithm claimed by Shafai. It is important to mention that this comment is obviously valid for the dual version of Shafai's algorithm (state feedback design for pole assignment), which has appeared elsewhere several times recently.     

The ‘hijacking’ of the Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems: Implications for the information systems community

Journal hijacking, which refers to the attempted brand takeover of a journal by a third party, is a nascent threat confronting the information systems (IS) community, as evidenced by cybercriminals having established an online presence, masquerading as the Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems (SJIS). The SJIS hijacking damages the journal's reputation, leads to payment and publication scams, involves identity theft among unsuspecting IS researchers, and results in tarnished author reputations. Beyond SJIS, journal hijacking presents a threat, not only to the IS community, but also to science and academic integrity in general if researchers and readers cannot distinguish between fake publications by hijacked journals and real publications by legitimate journals. In this opinion article, we relate the story of the SJIS hijacking from the victims' perspectives. We describe its many aspects, draw attention to the key factors that contribute to the problem, and offer our perspectives on different response strategies in the absence of simple solutions. We hope to create awareness about the problem and stimulate a discussion in the IS community, not least in the face of digital innovations, such as ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence technologies that may inadvertently support paper mills and the production of fake research results.     

Denotation and connotation in the human – computer interface: The ‘Save as …’ command

This paper presents a semiotic technique as a means of exploring meaning and understanding in interface design and use. This is examined through a study of the interaction between the ‘file’ metaphor and ‘save as’ command metaphor. The behaviour of these (from a functional or computational basis) do not exactly match, or map onto, the meaning of the metaphor. We examine both the denotation of a term to the user, i.e. its literal meaning to that person, and the term's connotations, i.e. any other meanings associated with the term. We suggest that the technique applied is useful in predicting future problems with understanding the use of metaphor at the interface and with designing appropriate signification for human-computer interaction. Variation in connotation was expected but a more fundamental difference in denotation was also uncovered. Moreover, the results clearly demonstrate that consistency in the denotation of a term is critical in achieving a good user understanding of the command.     

The effect of ‘ unwanted’ signals on performance in a vigilance task: a reply to Jerison

Jerison's remarks (Ergonomics, 1966, 9, 413) are discussed in relation to the results of a further experiment on ' unwanted ' signals in which (a) the original interaction between the effects of signal probability and signal disc location was not observed, and (b) it was demonstrated that a search requirement is not a necessary condition for eliciting the main effects previously found.     

The acceptance of ‘intelligent trade shows’: Visitors’ evaluations of IS innovation

Trade Shows (TSs) provide “high-quality information,” as thousands of specialists and experts are gathered in one place at one time. Thus, information technology systems become essential for TSs. This study explores the characteristics of TSs’ onsite Information Technology (IT). This study aim to explore the relationships among onsite IT usage, visitors’ effectiveness and perception through the innovation characteristics (i.e., relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity). The study was conducted at a representative TS in Korea and used a survey approach to empirically understand the perception of onsite IT usage. The findings suggest that the four characteristics of product intelligence are influential factors of TSs’ onsite IT. Among them, relative advantage and compatibility had positive impacts on TS effectiveness, while complexity did not. In addition, discussions of the results, theoretical and practical implications for practitioners, limitations, and suggestions for future studies are presented.     

The ‘Oxylog’: an evaluation

Abstract

The Oxylog is a portable instrument designed to measure the oxygen consumption ([Vdot]0₂) an ambulatory subject. Steady-state measurements have been made, using an Oxylog, of inspiratory volume ( [Vdot]₁) [Vdot]0₂ during bicycle ergometer exercise at work rates ranging from 30 to 150 W. These measurements have been compared with simultaneous measurements of expiratory volume ([Vdot] _E) and [Vdot]O₂ made using a dry gas meter and mass spectrometer.

Four experiments were conducted, during which a total of 433 comparative measurements were made. In two experiments the Oxylog significantly underestimated [Vdot]O₂ (by 4-4 and 5-6%). Averaging over the four experiments, however, the underestimate reduced to 1-5%, which could be accounted for by a respiratory exchange ratio of approximately 0-9. There was, overall, no significant difference between [Vdot] ₁ and [Vdot] _E.

It is concluded that the Oxylog is sufficiently accurate for the reliable determination of [Vdot]0₂ and of energy expenditure under field conditions.