Low-tech security: Files, notes, and memos as technologies of anticipation

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 476-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurent Bonelli ◽  
Francesco Ragazzi
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Graph Visualization ◽  
Modus Operandi ◽  
Intelligence Gathering ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Security Technologies ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
Algorithmic Treatment ◽  
Over Time

When it comes to anticipating terrorism, do recent technological advancements fundamentally change the modus operandi of intelligence services? Recent scholarship has focused on the new modes of reasoning brought about by ‘hi-tech’ forms analysis such as data mining, graph visualization and the algorithmic treatment of big data. While this article recognizes the increasing influence of these techniques, it argues they should not overshadow much more low-tech modalities through which a large part of counterterrorism work takes place. Low-tech counter-terrorism, based on qualitative methods and conjectural reasoning, still matters. Drawing on the case of French domestic intelligence services and based on qualitative interviews, observations and declassified documents, this article shows that the practices of security professionals, rooted in traditional institutional habituses developed over time, are largely in continuity with previous ‘low-tech’ forms of police work. In a context in which the uses of digital security technologies have generated discussions about politics and ethics, this article suggests that traditional techniques of intelligence gathering and processing therefore still merit a great amount of attention.

Negotiating Masculinity across Borders

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Cho Suh
Keyword(s):  
Human Capital ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Return Migration ◽  
Hegemonic Masculinity ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Korean American ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
A Site ◽  
Ethnic Return Migration ◽  
Over Time

Recent studies of ethnic return migration have explained why (economic, political, and affective) and where (Asia and Europe) this phenomenon has primarily occurred. Of the research available, however, few have examined the manner in which framings and practices of gender impact the experiences of those who participate in these transnational sojourns. This study fills this void by examining how Korean American male ethnic return migrants understand and negotiate their masculine identities, as they “return” to their ancestral homeland of South Korea. Utilizing data from in-depth qualitative interviews, this study finds that respondents initially configure South Korea as a site where they may redeem their marginalized masculine identities by taking advantage of the surplus human capital afforded to them by their American status. Over time, however, “returnees” come to realize the fluidity of masculinity and its ideals, exposing the tenuousness of their claims to hegemonic masculinity even in South Korea.

The Impact of Project Management Methodologies on Project Success

2019 ◽  
pp. 418-437
Author(s):  
Hazem Abdulla ◽  
Mukhtar Alhashimi ◽  
Allam Mohammed Hamdan
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Project Success ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

This study assessed the impact of project management methodologies (PMMs) on project success in the oil and gas industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It also explored the different project methodologies used along with their strengths and weaknesses. Quantitative approach with the support of qualitative interviews was used to achieve the objectives of this research. A total of 95 survey responses were received and 17 interviews were conducted. Projects in the oil and gas industry are more about safety than speed, and hence, the use of comprehensive methodologies and applying the relevant methodology elements are important for oil and gas projects. Furthermore, the companies in the oil and gas industry in Bahrain have to pay more attention to their project management methodologies and get it evolved and improved over time to achieve higher project success rates.

Countering Violent Extremism in Sub-Saharan Africa: What Policy Makers Need to Know

World Affairs ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 182 (3) ◽  
pp. 256-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin A. Hardy
Keyword(s):  
Financial Support ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Risk Assessments ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Over Time

This essay addresses recurring and growing inaccurate reports from political officials as well as counter-terrorism analysts and journalists that the Sahara-Sahel group Boko Haram is a defeated entity. Notwithstanding concerted efforts to rout the movement, Boko Haram and its network of jihadists have expanded. Crucial misunderstandings surrounding what fostered and sustains the phenomenon—as well as a general naivety regarding the organization’s flexibility to adapt to attract combatants, financial support, and weaponry beyond Nigeria’s borders—have made performing basic adequate risk assessments overwhelmingly challenging. Policy makers and CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) practitioners would be wise to recognize that not only has Boko Haram morphed but its growing affiliates also terrorize increased territory. The threat of militant Islam in the Sahara-Sahel, therefore, has not been contained as some would have us believe. Rather, Muslim extremism has become entangled and more complex not only in Africa but across the Muslim world. When jihadists in one territory have taken a beating, surviving fighters have simply relocated to other geographies accompanied by connections for capital and munitions. In this way, Boko Haram—the fulcrum of violent Islam in the Sahara-Sahel—has become, over time, an international jihadist actor.

scholarly journals Finding the Balance Between Collaboration and Autonomy Among School Nurses in Interactions With Schools

2020 ◽  
pp. 105984052091892
Author(s):  
Arnfinn Helleve ◽  
Unni Vere Midthassel ◽  
Roger Andre Federici
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
School Nurses ◽  
Barriers And Facilitators ◽  
Personal Relationships ◽  
School Staff ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Personnel Recruitment ◽  
Personal Relations ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Over Time

In Norway, new national guidelines for school service emphasize the importance of establishing structured collaboration with schools. Nevertheless, few studies have explored the characteristics of such collaboration. The purpose of the present study is to explore how principals, teachers, and school nurses collaborate and to identify barriers and facilitators of structured collaboration. The study is based on 46 qualitative interviews conducted in five Norwegian municipalities in 2018 and 2019. The results reveal that school nurses are highly valued among the school staff but collaborations between teachers and school nurses varied both within and between schools, often for arbitrary reasons such as personal relations and office locations at schools. Personal relationships built over time as well as regular meetings, seemed to foster stronger collaboration, while discontinuity in personnel, recruitment difficulties, and sick and maternity leaves were frequently reported factors that seemed to have negative impacts on collaboration.

Panel Effects: Do the Reports of Panel Respondents Get Better or Worse over Time?

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 572-588
Author(s):  
Hanyu Sun ◽  
Roger Tourangeau ◽  
Stanley Presser
Keyword(s):  
Missing Data ◽  
Data Quality ◽  
General Social Survey ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Counter Terrorism ◽  
Item Functioning ◽  
Panel Effects ◽  
Over Time

Abstract It is well established that taking part in earlier rounds of a panel survey can affect how respondents answer questions in later rounds. It is less clear, however, whether panel participation affects the quality of the data that respondents provide. We examined two panels to investigate how participation affects several indicators of data quality—including straightlining, item missing data, scale reliabilities, and differences in item functioning over time—and to test the hypotheses that it is less educated and older respondents who mainly account for any panel effects. The two panels were the GfK Knowledge Panel, in which some respondents completed up to four rounds measuring their attitudes toward terrorism and ways to counter terrorism, and the General Social Survey (GSS), in which respondents completed up to three rounds with an omnibus set of questions. The two panels differ sharply in terms of response rates and the level of prior survey experience of the respondents. Most of our comparisons are within-respondent, comparing the answers panel members gave in earlier rounds with those they gave in later rounds, but we also confirm the main results using between-subject comparisons. We find little evidence that respondents gave either better or worse data over time in either panel and little support for either the education or age hypotheses.

scholarly journals Not All Syrian Doctors Become Taxi Drivers: Stagnation and Continuity Among Highly Educated Syrians in Norway

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Bygnes
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Forced Migration ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Taxi Drivers ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Physical Mobility ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
Important Form ◽  
Over Time

AbstractMany studies of forced migration have documented processes of deskilling and falls in status resulting from an inability to convert capital from one context to another. This article relies on qualitative interviews with highly educated individuals who arrived in Norway in the wake of the Syrian crisis. In the material, narratives of stagnation, loss and struggle against bureaucracy are highly salient and persist over time. I coin the term mobility dissonance to describe this post-migration stressor—the dissonance between physical mobility across borders and a sense of (not) going anywhere in life. By following some informants over time, this study indicates how classed resources can also represent an element of continuity through the critical life course events that forced migration entails. Descriptions of mobility dissonance are thus part of a more nuanced picture. While hopelessness and loss are very salient in the interviews, following informants over time provides lived examples of how classed resources represent an important form of continuity. Continuity refers to a counter-narrative to the riches-to-rags story often attached to resourceful forced migrants. I suggest future research to pay more attention to classed resources as a potential source of continuity through the migration process.

Medication Adherence Changes in Blacks with Diabetes: A Mixed Methods Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepika Rao ◽  
Martha Maurer ◽  
Jodi Meyer ◽  
Jiaying Zhang ◽  
Olayinka O. Shiyanbola
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Medication Adherence ◽  
Illness Perceptions ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Barriers And Facilitators ◽  
Interpersonal Factors ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
Over Time

Objectives: In this study, we conducted a longitudinal evaluation of changes in medication adherence and the role of psychosocial and interpersonal factors in these changes among Blacks with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and determined barriers and facilitators of T2DM medication adherence. Methods: We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design for a sample of 287 black adult patients with T2DM in Wisconsin. Two surveys quantitatively evaluated changes in medication adherence, psychosocial factors, and interpersonal factors over time. We conducted 10 semi-structured qualitative interviews to explore participants' perceptions of these changes. Data integration of the quantitative and qualitative findings elucidated barriers and facilitators of medication adherence. Results: Increased adherence was significantly correlated with less concerns about medicines (r = -0.31), higher self-efficacy (r = 0.47), lesser depressive symptoms (r = -0.26), and lesser negative illness perceptions (r = -0.26) at both baseline and follow-up. Patient perceptions of adherence changes included adherence motivators, social support, and complex medication regimens. Integration showed that barriers and facilitators both existed in individuals who had an increase or a decrease in adherence over time. Conclusions: Specific beliefs of Blacks towards T2DM medications must be addressed to improve their adherence. Interventions must be tailored using interpersonal factors.

scholarly journals HOPE eIntervention: Uptake and engagement in an online sexual health intervention among African-American young adults (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alicia Williamson ◽  
Andrea Barbarin ◽  
Bettina Campbell ◽  
Terrance Campbell ◽  
Susan Franzen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
African American ◽  
Sexual Health ◽  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Sti Prevention ◽  
Health Technologies ◽  
Server Logs ◽  
Over Time ◽  
American Young Adults

BACKGROUND African American young adults have low rates of uptake and engagement with health technologies, which may further widen sexual health inequalities. OBJECTIVE We examined factors influencing uptake and engagement for a consumer health informatics (CHI) intervention for HIV/STI prevention among African American young adults using the diffusion of innovation theory, the trust-centered design framework and O’Brien and Toms’ model of engagement. METHODS This community-based participatory research, mixed-methods study included surveys at four time points (N=315; 280 African-American) of young adults aged 18 to 24 involved in an HIV/STI prevention intervention described as “parties”. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of participants (N=19) after initial surveys, website server logs, and social media accounts indicated low uptake and engagement. A generalized linear mixed-effects model identified predictors of eIntervention uptake, server logs were summarized to describe use over time, and interview transcripts were coded and thematically analyzed to identify factors affecting uptake and engagement. RESULTS Self-reported eIntervention uptake was low, but increased significantly over time, Demographic factors and HIV/STI-related behaviors were not significantly correlated with uptake. The most frequent activity was visiting the website, followed by visiting the Facebook page. Factors driving uptake were the desire to share HIV/STI prevention information with others, trust in the intervention, and gender homophily. Factors undermining uptake were personal and group distrust online. Factors driving initial engagement were audience-targeted website aesthetics and appealing visuals; long-term engagement was impeded by insufficiently frequent updates. CONCLUSIONS To encourage uptake, CHI interventions for African-American young adults can leverage users’ desire to share information about HIV/STI prevention with others. Ensuring implementation through trusted organizations is also important, though there is a need for vigorous promotion. Visual appeal and targeted content foster engagement at first, but ongoing engagement may require continual content changes. A thorough analysis of CHI intervention use can inform the development of future interventions in order to promote uptake and engagement. To guide future analyses, we present an expanded uptake and engagement model for CHI interventions targeting African American young adults based on the empirical results presented here.

scholarly journals ‘The Spirit of the Plant’: Exotic Ethnopharmacopeia Among Healers in Accra, Ghana

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryn Trevelyan James
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Herbal Medicines ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Materia Medica ◽  
Migrant Community ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
Non Local ◽  
Local Plants ◽  
Over Time

Despite the vast literature on healing in African contexts, comparatively little is known about historical use of popular species in herbal medicines. Given the prominence of plants in healers’ assemblages past and present, the lack of attention to plant origins, how practitioners acquire them, and to beliefs surrounding these processes, is surprising. This study, at the interface between archaeology and anthropology, approaches these issues through qualitative interviews and an ethnopharmacological survey with thirty healing specialists in a migrant community in Accra, Ghana. Over two seasons of fieldwork in 2010 and 2011, 141 unique plant-based medicines were documented, with samples of all constituent ingredients collected and botanically identified. Analysis of the ethnopharmacological results revealed 15% of species in the sample were botanically ‘exotic’: introduced, non-local plants found outside their native distributional range. Given that healers typically define their medicines as ‘traditional and ancestral’, such ‘exotic’ provenance is significant. This paper uses ethnography to explore contemporary assimilation of exotic plants at herbal markets, and in the beliefs and practices of individual healers. Drawing on historic and archaeological sources, these findings are used interpretively to broaden possible perspectives on introduction of new plants within the materia medica of West Africa over time.

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