Reflections on Methods for applying Activity Theory to CSCW research and practice – The AODM Approach

CSCW research and practice incorporates the design and analysis of computer-basedtools as resources for supporting work-based activities. Within this remit, the design and analysis of these tools need to address mediational aspects of these resources in relation to the context of operation and motives of those engaged in work activity. In this regard, several researchers and practitioners have highlighted the suitability of activity theory in conceptualising the dynamics of tool and user interactions in context (Nardi, 1996; Kuutti, 1996; Bodker, 1991). However, variations in methodological perspectives on putting activity theory ideas into practice continue to trigger interesting debate regarding the feasibility of applying activity theory to the design and analysis of computer systems and tools for supporting work activities (Mwanza, 2001a, 2001b and 2001c). Towards this end, various methodological propositions have been put forward (Mwanza, 2002; Korpela et al., 2000; Kaptelinin et al., 1999)

Where Theory meets Practice: A Case for an Activity Theory based Methodology to guide Computer System Design

Computer system developers are increasingly being challenged to develop tools that are not only usable, but more importantly useful in the sense of assisting the user to achieve desired goals. This requirement has highlighted the importance of accounting for the social and cultural issues of the computer tool user when developing a computer system. Activity Theory (AT) has emerged as a suitable framework for analysing social and cultural issues because it provides a language to describe what people do in context. However, many computer system developers have failed to benefit from this insight mainly due to lack of established methods to operationalise ideas from this framework for the purpose of guiding the design process. This paper proposes a methodology developed to direct the application of a version of AT based on Engeström’s (1987) conceptualisation in order to support requirements capture during computer system design

Using activity-oriented design methods (AODM) to investigatemobile learning

The past few years have witnessed significant interest and developments in researching mobile learning, with a lot of important contributions being made towards understanding and defining mobile learning. However, current research efforts are being redirected towards a new agenda to establish appropriate methods for investigating mobile learning, as this book testifies. This chapter contributes to this research effort by articulating how to adapt Activity-Oriented Design Methods (AODM – see Mwanza, 2002) for use in mobile learning research

Australia-New Zealand Currency Union: A Structural Approach

This paper compares an Australia-New Zealand currency union to a purely fl oating exchange rate regime in the context of a structural, two-country open economy model. Micro-foundations support policy assessment by facilitating direct calculation of household welfare. Analysis focuses on changing business cycle volatilities; the role of risk is not considered. At benchmark calibration currency union is welfare reducing for both Australia and New Zealand. Sensitivity analyses reveal these results to be qualitatively robust over alternative degrees of shock correlation and shock transmission.currency union, welfare analysis, exchange rate regime, Australia, New Zealand

Research Collaborations and Scientific productivity among the Research Universities in South Africa

This study presents the share of 5 most productive South African institutions for the main stream scientific out put covering the 10 year periods of 1995-2004. This paper discusses the distribution of publications by institutions, Index of specialization, collaboration and pattern of co-authorship. The result shows that South African authors collaborate more frequently with international authors with a percentage of (73.99%) than did so for national collaboration which amount to (26.01%). This was confirmed statistically at the confidence level of P-value 0.025. A further non-parametric chi-square statistical analysis illustrated that there are significant differences in the proportion of co-authorship among the 5 institutions (p-value0.005)

Innate immune response in avian macrophages elicited by Chlamydia psittaci

Chlamydia psittaci is a gram-negative, obligate, intracellular bacterium, which mainly infects birds and mammals. Not much is known about innate immunity initiated by C. psittaci. The focus of the present study is on chicken macrophage activation and expression of cytokine, chemokine, caspase-1, iNOS and TLR genes during the early phase and mid-cycle period of the developmental cycle of the highly virulent C. psittaci strain 92/1293. C. psittaci significantly augmented the transcript levels for all genes investigated, especially during the mid-cycle period. These results demonstrate a robust innate immune response of chicken macrophages initiated by a C. psittaci infection

Philanthropy and Social Media

We define social media as online or digital technologies that serve to connect people, information and organisations through networks. The term evolved as a way to -distinguish the emerging online -information platforms from traditional "broadcast media" -- TV, radio, film, newspapers -- by highlighting that these new tools -were "socialised" and allowed the audiences to contribute to their content. Social media have therefore become defined in relation to these existing media channels, but in fact they have their ancestry in existing social technologies, like the telephone and the letter. If traditional media connect people to information, social media connect people to people