Finding a happy medium

The Democracy to Come? An Enquiry Into the Vision of Blockchain-Powered E-Voting Start-Ups

This research sets out to analyze the message promoted by start-up enterprises that apply blockchain technologies for the purpose of e-voting [blockchain-powered e-voting (BPE)], and their perceived effects of this technological solution on democratic outcomes. Employing Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA), I examined the written output of seven BPE start-ups (Agora, DemocracyEarth, Follow My Vote, Polys, Voatz, Votem, and VoteWatcher), as displayed in their websites. The close attention of CDA to power relations brought out relevant topics of discussion for analysis. Notably, these included: voting as an expression of democracy; technological determinism; individual versus communitarian understandings of democracy; the prominence of neoliberalism and the economic sphere; and technological literacy. Findings from the literature suggest that the assumptions of BPE start-ups about a blockchain-powered democracy diverge from widely accepted understandings of democracy. BPE start-ups envision a democracy determined by positions and institutions of power, by the technologically able, and by economic interests. This research argues that this conception of democracy disempowers voters from any form of decision-making regarding how democracy is run beyond their expression in the form of a vote decided by these established powers. The widespread addresses to existing elites to enable BPE, as well as what is left unsaid about community, collective rights and the not so technologically literate population, imply that BPE developers display concern for one particular expression among the many diverse and heterogeneous understandings of democracy, while disregarding outstanding privacy, security and accountability concerns associated to implementations of the technology for BPE. This work is a contribution to much needed research on technology and democracy’s deepening intersections, at a time of rapid technological innovation and turbulent democratic scepticism.

Available to meet: advances in professional communications

Purpose

This viewpoint paper calls in to question the current design approach to personal artificial intelligence (AI) assistance in support of everyday professional communications, where a bot emulates a human in this role. It aims to stimulate fresh thought among designers and users of this technology. It also calls upon scholars to more widely share incidental insights that arise in their own encounters with such new AI.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs a case of an email exchange gone wrong to demonstrate the current failings of personal AI assistance in support of professional communications and to yield broader insights into bot design and use. The viewpoint is intended to provoke discussion.

Findings

From the case, it is indicated that industrial-strength personal AI assistance is not here yet. Designing a personal AI assistant to emulate a human is found to be deeply problematic, in particular. The case illuminates what might be called the problem of blinded agency, in performative contexts where human, robotic and organizational identities are at least partially masked and actions, inactions and intentions can too easily disappear in a thick fog of digital exchange. The problem arises where parties must act in contexts not known to each other, and where who is responsible for what in a mundane exchange is obscured (intentionally or not) by design or by actions (or inactions) of the parties. An insight is that while humans act with a sense of agency to affect outcomes that naturally invoke a corresponding sense of responsibility for what transpires, bots in social interaction simply act and feign responsibility as they have no sense of it beyond their code and data. A personal AI assistant is probably best designed to communicate its artificiality clearly. Missing today are distinctive social conventions for identifying machine agency in everyday interactions as well as an accepted etiquette for AI deployment in these settings.

Originality/value

As a viewpoint contribution, the paper's value is as a stimulant to discussion of alternate approaches to design and use of personal AI assistance in professional communications and where we should be going with this. The presented case of an email exchange gone wrong is simple on the face of it but reveals in its examination a number of complexities and broader insights.

Patterns of Online and Offline Connectedness Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men

This study examined patterns of connectedness among 774 sexually-active gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBM), aged ≥ 16 years, recruited using respondent-driven sampling in Metro Vancouver. Latent class analysis examined patterns of connectedness including: attendance at gay venues/events (i.e., bars/clubs, community groups, pride parades), social time spent with GBM, use of online social and sex seeking apps/websites, and consumption of gay media. Multinomial regression identified correlates of class membership. A three-class LCA solution was specified: Class 1 "Socialites" (38.8%) were highly connected across all indicators. Class 2 "Traditionalists" (25.7%) were moderately connected, with little app/website-use. Class 3 "Techies" (35.4%) had high online connectedness and relatively lower in-person connectedness. In multivariable modelling, Socialites had higher collectivism than Traditionalists, who had higher collectivism than Techies. Socialites also had higher annual incomes than other classes. Techies were more likely than Traditionalists to report recent serodiscordant or unknown condomless anal sex and HIV risk management practices (e.g., ask their partner's HIV status, get tested for HIV). Traditionalists on the other hand were less likely to practice HIV risk management and had lower HIV/AIDS stigma scores than Socialites. Further, Traditionalists were older, more likely to be partnered, and reported fewer male sex partners than men in other groups. These findings highlight how patterns of connectedness relate to GBM's risk management.

Dispersion beyond miles: configuration and performance in virtual teams

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand different aspects of structural dispersion in virtual teams (VTs). The study measures five types of dispersion, their impact on VT performance and the moderating effect of electronic communication.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors collected data from 44 globally distributed VTs representing 403 members. The authors used details of the members’ locations to measure five elements of dispersion for each team: spatial, time-zone, number of locations, extent of numerical balance across locations and extent of isolated members for a team. The authors used two items to assess effective electronic communication and measured team performance on four items from three sources – members, leaders and third-party stakeholders.

Findings

Using regression, the authors found that the number of sites, degree of team balance and isolation had a negative impact on team performance. Spatial and temporal dispersion did not impact performance. Effective electronic communication moderated the relationship of team performance with team balance and the number of sites.

Research limitations/implications

Study presents novel findings on the role of team configuration in VTs. Limitations: the study provides pointers to the likelihood of a non-linear relationship between spatial distance and performance; however, the scope of the paper does not permit an examination of this model. Future research can study this relationship. Second, the study does not examine how team configuration impacts the team processes that discount performance. Finally, the study treats each index of dispersion as independent of the others. The analysis does not study the interplay between and among the indices.

Practical implications

The findings provide clear indicators for managers and researchers of VTs on the issues associated with the location and configuration of the teams. Managers, while designing and managing dispersed members are now informed of the impact of the number of sites and the sub-group dynamics. The study underscores the importance of effective electronic communication in managing dispersion.

Social implications

The study presents how faultiness based on location of VT sub-groups (as represented in the configuration of a team) can hamper performance. Literature suggests that this faultiness can also extend to social identities (based on gender, culture, etc.). The indicators provided by this study in this respect provide a topical focus for research because diverse dispersed teams are becoming more prevalent.

Originality/value

The study is the first empirical exploration of dispersion in VTs beyond the traditionally acknowledged dimensions of spatial distance and time-zones. It is a timely response to the recent trends in literature. Additionally, the study derives data from a unique data set of global VTs, thus making findings easily generalizable.

Online Communication: For Good or Evil

The rapidly growing numbers of people using the Internet has turned attention increasingly away from the mechanics of Internet access and towards the impact of the Internet on society, with questions relating to how it affects individuals’ mental and physical well-being and how it may be changing communities. This concern has been made more acute by the spread of Internet usage away from purely home access and towards access in public spaces, such as public libraries, Internet cafes and supermarkets. In the UK, the UKOnline Centres initiative aims to provide access to ICTs in local, community-based sites such as community centres, village halls and libraries across the country. Some research suggests that, while expanding individuals’ ability to communicate far and wide, the Internet can cause a decline in their communication with family members and the size of their social circle, with a tendency to increase their depression and loneliness. However, other research suggests the contrary, with the Internet becoming part of people’s lives and the negative effects disappearing as their Internet use becomes more sophisticated. The proliferation of mobile telephones and the readiness of users to talk endlessly and without inhibitions suggest that the Internet may not have the dramatic impact on socialisation that some have feared.

Re-imagining E-mail: Academics in The Castle

Starting out from Franz Kafka’s novel, The Castle , we meander through an exploration of the impact of that seminal socio-digital artefact—e-mail—on the academic lifeworld. In the process, we illustrate not only how e-mail is ‘experienced’, facilitates instantaneity, deludes us with speed, shapes the working day and accelerates work processing but also the ultimately illusory promise of the ‘wired’ world to empower us to escape organizational boundaries. Paradoxically, the Castle is always one step behind but it never comes second.

Self-Esteem, Interpersonal Risk, and Preference for E-Mail to Face-To-Face Communication

The media choices made by high and low self-esteem Internet users were studied using web-based methodology (n = 265). Participants were asked to rank four media (face-to-face, e-mail, letter, and telephone) in order of preference across four different communication scenarios designed to pose an interpersonal risk. The level of interpersonal risk posed by two of the scenarios (asking for a pay rise and asking for a date) were also experimentally manipulated by randomly allocating participants to a 25%, 50%, or 75% chance of rejection. Low self-esteem users (LSE) showed a significant preference toward e-mail communication compared to high self-esteem users (HSE). This pattern was reversed for face-to-face preferences. Similarly, a greater chance of rejection in a scenario led to e-mail being preferred to face-to-face communication. The results are discussed in light of both the strategic use of different media and the motivated Internet user.

The experienced "sense" of a virtual community

E-commerce strategists advise companies to create virtual communities for their customers. But what does this involve? Research on face-to-face communities identifies the concept of "sense of community:" a characteristic of successful communities distinguished by members' helping behaviors and members' emotional attachment to the community and other members. Does a sense of virtual community exist in online settings, and what does it consist of? Answering these questions is key, if we are to provide guidance to businesses attempting to create virtual communities.The paper explores the concept of sense of virtual community in a newsgroup we call Multiple Sports Newsgroup (MSN). We first demonstrate that MSN does indeed have a sense of virtual community, but that the dimensions of the sense of community in MSN differ somewhat from those reported for physical communities. The nature of these differences is plausibly related to the differences between electronic and face-to-face communication. We next describe the behavioral processes that contribute to the sense of virtual community at MSN-exchanging support, creating identities and making identifications, and the production of trust. Again, these processes are similar to those found in non-virtual communities, but they are related to the challenges of electronic communication. Lastly, we consider the question of how sense of community may come about and discuss the implications for electronic business.

ERP project dynamics and enacted dialogue

Different views on change and IT- related outcomes have been proposed in the literature. Most privilege the technological deterministic and organizational imperative positions. This article introduces two types of process views on change arising from designers' inability to forecast the impacts of ERP on work and governance:• a dialectical process due to the lack of perceived leeway by the actors, and• a teleological process view, where actors feel they have more leeway and where they try to take advantage of technological effects that they feel they can controlBuilding on the concept of enactment and on the nature of conflicts, this work demonstrates the necessity to articulate these views in a theoretical framework describing the dynamics of ERP projects.This framework is employed to interpret problems arising from ERP choice and implementation in the French context. During the "chartering phase," the deterministic vision dominates the perceptions of designers. During the "project phase," the designers come closer to the organizational imperative view when they customize the system and make integration/differentiation choices. During the "shakedown" and subsequent phases, organizational outcomes are often not realized because of job and governance conflicts with end users.

Videoconferencing across Cultures – a Conceptual Framework for Floor Control Issues

This paper discusses critical issues in cross-cultural communication and collaboration using desktop videoconferencing tools. Our first objective is to propose a conceptual framework for predicting which issues will be important for communication in cross-cultural desktop videoconferencing. Using this framework, we suggest necessary functionality regarding floor control policies in videoconferences. We then suggest some actual software mechanisms that could implement these policies to videoconferencing software builders. Finally, we present some conduct guidelines for people who will be involved as participants in cross-cultural desktop videoconferences.

Paper ‘Work’ and Electronic Files: Defending Professional Practice

Paper documents are often described as ‘information rich’, in contrast with electronic documents. This ethnographic study examines Lotus NOTES in a sub-section of the Irish civil service, with particular reference to the concurrent use of electronic and paper documents. The sub-section examines disagreements with regard to claims by Irish citizens for particular government benefits. The study describes how meta-information contained in paper case files is perceived as necessary for the work of the organization, thus restricting the use of electronic case files in NOTES as a shared information system. However, this reliance on paper files derives not only from the information rich properties of paper documents, but also from the desire of some workers to protect their occupational status by defining, as necessary for their job, information which is only available in paper documents and which only they can interpret. This dependence on paper documents also reduces the amount of information that can be shared within the organization. This paper suggests that, only if the perceived threat posed by the information system were reduced in some way would user innovations in work practices and greater sharing of information within the organization become possible.

Electronic mail as a coalition-building information technology

One of the most intriguing lines of research within the literature on diffusion of information technologies (IT) is the study of the power and politics of this process. The major objective of this article is to build on the work of Kling and Markus on power and IT, by extending their perspective to email. To demonstrate how email can be used for political purposes within an organizational context, a case study is presented. The case study describes a series of events which took place in a university. In the case, email was used by a group of employees to stage a rebellion against the university president. The discussion demonstrates that email features make it amenable to a range of political uses. The article is concluded with a discussion of the implications from this case to email research and practice.

Organizational Impacts of Multimedia Information Systems

Multimedia information systems present a great challenge to an organization which contemplates their introduction. This paper addresses the impacts that multimedia information systems would pose to an organization. The paper investigates the organizational impacts through a proposed taxonomy of multimedia information systems.