Information Practices in the Mobile Knowledge Work Context

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Work Context ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Information Practices

This paper reports theoretical and empirical findingsfrom an exploratory study aimed at understandingmobile knowledge workers' information practices.Semi-structured interviews with sixteen mobileknowledge workers suggest the creative ways that thisdemographic leverages and enacts ad hoc, 'emergent'assemblages of technology in order to deal with thevarious spatial, temporal, social, and organizationalcontingencies characterizing their work arrangements.Cette étude présente les résultats théoriques etempiriques d’une étude exploratoire visant à mieuxcomprendre les pratiques informationnelles destravailleurs du savoir mobiles. Les entretiens semistructurésavec seize travailleurs du savoir mobilessuggèrent quels moyens créatifs cet échantillondémographique permettent de faire apparaître et faitjouer ad hoc des assemblages « émergents » detechnologie afin de faire face aux diversescontingences spatiales, temporelles, sociales etorganisationnelles qui caractérisent leurs modalitésde travail.

Understanding the knowledge and engagement of facilities management with dementia-friendly design in Irish hospitals: an exploratory study

Facilities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitra Xidous ◽  
Tom Grey ◽  
Sean P. Kennelly ◽  
Desmond O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Acute Care ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Acute Care Hospitals ◽  
Facilities Management ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Design Processes ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This exploratory study stems from research conducted between 2015–2018 focussing on dementia-friendly design (DFD) in hospitals (Grey T et al. 2018). Specifically, this study focusses on facilities management (FM) staff in Irish hospitals to gain a preliminary understanding of the level of knowledge and engagement of FM in the implementation of dementia-friendly hospital (DFH) design. Design/methodology/approach A mixed-methods approach based on a series of ad hoc semi-structured interviews, and an online survey. The aims were, namely, assess the extent of FM engagement in hospital works; measure the level of awareness regarding DFD; and identify facilitators and barriers to DFD in hospital settings. Participants (74) comprised FM staff in 35 Irish acute care hospitals. The research findings are based on thematic analysis of ad hoc semi-structured interviews (participants, n = 4) and survey responses (participants, n = 13). Findings While FM staff reported to possess important knowledge for building DFH, they also mentioned a lack of engagement of FM in design processes and hospital works. Practical implications The research has gained insight into the role of FM in promoting a dementia-friendly approach. Lack of or poor engagement of FM in design processes and hospital works means not fully tapping into rich expertise that would be invaluable in the development, implementation and maintenance of DFH. Universal design is a key driver for facilitating their engagement in the design, implementation and maintenance of DFH environments. Originality/value This is the first study exploring the role of FM in supporting a DFD approach in acute care hospitals.

Temporality and Knowledge Work

2009 ◽  
pp. 425-439
Author(s):  
Joanna Shih
Keyword(s):  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Silicon Valley ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Women Engineers ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Work Time ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Labor Control ◽  
Asian Men

The hi-tech firms that predominate in Silicon Valley contain a large proportion of knowledge workers—employees with high levels of education and expertise. The region is subsequently a useful prism by which to explore the shift in the pace of work and ideologies of labor control. Engineers in Silicon Valley are a prototypical example of “knowledge workers;” they are valued for their ability to contribute to firms’ competitive advantage via their expertise and innovation. This chapter reports on fifty four semi-structured interviews of high-skilled, white and Asian men and women engineers who worked in the hi-tech industry of Silicon Valley, focusing on the issue of work temporality. Temporality has long been understood as central to the labor process, and as inextricably linked to the mode of production. Here, I highlight the problematic aspects of the shift from the routinized schedule of “clock time”, characterized by rigid temporal boundaries between work and home, and “project time,” characterized by an erratic and increasing pace of work that appears to be largely unfettered by boundaries between private and work time.

scholarly journals Female knowledge workers and the illusion of working-time autonomy

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 591-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Tammelin ◽  
Tuija Koivunen ◽  
Tiina Saari
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Working Time ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Work Practices ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
Knowledge Intensive ◽  
Work Family

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to ask: what are the temporal realities of female knowledge workers? It especially focusses on women’s possibilities of using working-time autonomy, and the work and non-work practices that shape their possibility to use work-hour autonomy. In knowledge work, working-time autonomy is usually high, but exercising autonomy is not always possible. The study was carried out in Finland, where full-time work is common also among women, even if they have small children. Design/methodology/approach The data include 19 semi-structured interviews of women who have knowledge-intensive work. The method of analysis is problem-driven content analysis. Findings Female knowledge workers intertwine several temporal realities. The utilisation of working-time autonomy is restricted by unpredictability, continuous interruptions, hurriedness and ineffective work practices. The temporal realities of family life, such as taking children to the daycare or school, other everyday routines and a spouse’s working-time autonomy have an effect on women’s possibilities to use working-time autonomy. The line between work and non-work blurs. Originality/value This study sheds light on working-time autonomy among female knowledge workers. It adds an understanding to the temporal realities of work and outside work that influence the use of work-hour autonomy. This information is needed to understand time demands arising from work, which play a role in work-family research in particular.

scholarly journals Beyond Knowledge Capitalism’s Happy Labour Subject

Sociology ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 003803852110281
Author(s):  
Breda Gray
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Social Benefits ◽  
Social Contributions ◽  
A Site ◽  
Study Participants

This article unravels the workings of happiness as integral to knowledge capitalism’s ‘emotionality of rule’ from the perspectives of two cohorts of ‘knowledge workers’: digital creatives and academics. It analyses the ways in which the study participants make work a site of personal fulfilment and happiness as they strive to become ‘happy’ labour subjects. Despite their different worklife trajectories, both cohorts appeal to the promise of happy entrepreneurial productivism. This promise attaches workers to the privileges of knowledge work in ways that downplay its costs. However, the dominance of knowledge capitalism’s happy labour subject is challenged by the backgrounded significance of work’s social benefits in their accounts. As such, this article argues that the individualised depoliticisation of contemporary ‘knowledge work’ can be challenged by re-valorising work’s social contributions.

scholarly journals Young children’s information-seeking practices in center-based childcare

2021 ◽  
pp. 096100062096216
Author(s):  
Sarah Barriage
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
Day Care ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Photo Elicitation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Information Practices ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Concept Of Information ◽  
Classroom Resources

Many children in the USA spend a significant amount of time in center-based childcare. However, research has yet to explore their information practices in this setting. This study investigates young children’s perceptions of the concept of information and their own information-seeking practices within the context of their day care classroom. The participants included 13 children between three and five years of age. Data was collected using participant observation, semi-structured interviews, child-led photo tours, and photo-elicitation interviews. The findings indicate that the children did not perceive the concept of information in a manner consistent with adult understandings of the term, and that they engaged in information-seeking related to finding out new things on their own, through interactions with others, and through classroom resources, activities, and routines. The findings have implications for both researchers and practitioners working with young children.

The deputy principal instructional leadership role and professional learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Leaf ◽  
George Odhiambo
Keyword(s):  
Instructional Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Team Building ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Instructional Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report on a study examining the perceptions of secondary principals, deputies and teachers, of deputy principal (DP) instructional leadership (IL), as well as deputies’ professional learning (PL) needs. Framed within an interpretivist approach, the specific objectives of this study were: to explore the extent to which DPs are perceived as leaders of learning, to examine the actual responsibilities of these DPs and to explore the PL that support DP roles. Design/methodology/approach The researchers used multiple perspective case studies which included semi-structured interviews and key school document analysis. A thematic content analysis facilitated qualitative descriptions and insights from the perspectives of the principals, DPs and teachers of four high-performing secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Findings The data revealed that deputies performed a huge range of tasks; all the principals were distributing leadership to their deputies to build leadership capacity and supported their PL in a variety of ways. Across three of the case study schools, most deputies were frequently performing as instructional leaders, improving their school’s performance through distributing leadership, team building and goal setting. Deputy PL was largely dependent on principal mentoring and self-initiated but was often ad hoc. Findings add more validity to the importance of principals building the educational leadership of their deputies. Research limitations/implications This study relied upon responses from four case study schools. Further insight into the key issues discussed may require a longitudinal data that describe perceptions from a substantial number of schools in Australia over time. However, studying only four schools allowed for an in-depth investigation. Practical implications The findings from this study have practical implications for system leaders with responsibilities of framing the deputies’ role as emergent educational leaders rather than as administrators and the need for coherent, integrated, consequential and systematic approaches to DP professional development. Further research is required on the effect of deputy IL on school performance. Originality/value There is a dearth of research-based evidence exploring the range of responsibilities of deputies and perceptions of staff about deputies’ IL role and their PL needs. This is the first published New South Wales, Australian DP study and adds to the growing evidence around perceptions of DPs as instructional leaders by providing an Australian perspective on the phenomenon. The paper raises important concerns about the complexity of the DP’s role on the one hand, and on the other hand, the PL that is perceived to be most appropriate for dealing with this complexity.

Diversity of Response Patterns in a Simple Repetitive Uniform Task

1976 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 435-445
Author(s):  
James P. B. O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Factorial Design ◽  
Activity Pattern ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Creative Thinking ◽  
Response Pattern ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Response Variability ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Experimental Task ◽  
Parallel Lines

A 3×3×3 factorial design, N=135, is used to evaluate the effects of three conditions of feedback (zero, low extrinsic, and high extrinsic), three conditions of response pattern restriction (no restriction dictated, restriction to three patterns, restriction to one pattern), and three levels of repetitive-figure manipulation diversity determined by scores on Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, Form A, Activity III: repetitive parallel lines. The experimental task was to turn nine circularly arranged knobs repetitively in a white visual, broadband audio environment over three 6-minute periods separated by rest pauses. O'Brien (1976) found significant differences for measures of response variability including pattern changing activity, pattern shifting, error factors, and other measures. An extended ad hoc analysis of that exploratory study is accomplished in which a comparison of percent common patterns emitted evidences that Ss who score differently on the pretest perform with different degrees of uniqueness when they are restricted to repetition of previous patterns, but not when they are free to vary types of patterns emitted. Also, comparison of initial trials indicates that high pretest scorers are more likely to begin the task with rarer patterns, low scorers use more common patterns, and intermediate scorers fall in between.

When Knowledge Work and Analytical Technologies Collide: The Practices and Consequences of Black Boxing Algorithmic Technologies

2021 ◽  
pp. 000183922110167
Author(s):  
Callen Anthony
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Workers ◽  
Deep Understanding ◽  
Knowledge Work ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Great Promise ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Investment Bank ◽  
Career Trajectories ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Analytical Tools

Analytical technologies that structure and process data hold great promise for organizations but also may pose fundamental challenges for how knowledge workers accomplish tasks. Knowledge workers are generally considered experts who develop deep understanding of their tools, but recent observations suggest that in some situations, they may black box their analytical technologies, meaning they trust their tools without understanding how they work. I conducted a two-year inductive ethnographic study of the use of analytical technologies across four groups in an investment bank and found two distinct paths that these groups used to validate financial analyses through what I call “validating practices”: actions that confirm whether a produced analysis is trustworthy. Surprisingly, engaging in these practices does not necessarily equate to understanding the calculations performed by the technologies. In one path, validating practices are partitioned across junior and senior roles: junior bankers engage in assembling tasks and use the analytical tools to perform analysis, while only senior bankers interpret the analysis. In the other path, junior and senior members engage in co-construction: junior bankers do both assembling and interpreting tasks, and senior bankers engage in interpreting and provide feedback on junior bankers’ reasoning and choices. Both junior and senior bankers in the partitioning groups routinely black boxed the algorithms embedded in their technologies, taking them for granted without understanding them. By contrast, bankers in the co-construction groups were conscious of the algorithms and understood their potential impact. I found that black boxing influenced the knowledge outputs of these bankers and constrained the development of junior members’ expertise, with consequences for their career trajectories.

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