The Ethical Implications of A/B and Multivariate E-Commerce Optimization Testing

2010 ◽  
pp. 91-104
Author(s):  
J. J. Sylvia
Keyword(s):  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Average Order ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Ethical Systems ◽  
The Way

A/B and multivariate website optimization may not seem ethically problematic at first blush; however, in this chapter I will consider some of the less obvious elements that have been tested, such as header color, button design, and the style of tabs used for linking to product details. A/B and multivariate testing has shown that these seemingly insignificant changes can increase average order value and decrease abandoned shopping carts, among other results. I will consider these tests through the lens of the major ethical systems of utilitarianism, Kant’s respect for person’s principle, and virtue ethics, using specific case studies and examples of testing results. I conclude that this type of practice is likely ethically problematic in many uses, as understood through all three ethical systems. Along the way I will be careful to demonstrate how the manipulation resulting from A/B and multivariate testing is different and more problematic than that of advertising in general.

scholarly journals Nostalgia

2021 ◽  
pp. 73-89
Author(s):  
Heather Lovell
Keyword(s):  
Smart Grid ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Energy Innovation ◽  
Scarce Data ◽  
The Way

AbstractNostalgia is a longing for the past and the way we remember how things used to be done, including a wish for things to stay the same. Nostalgia is a central part of understanding societal responses to change because every new technology and way of doing something is, in effect, competing with nostalgia. In this chapter, I examine how nostalgia can hamper efforts at energy innovation, particularly in terms of how it blinds us to change already under way, and how memories of certain innovations can in subtle ways encourage or hinder innovation. I explore three diverse case studies about nostalgia: memories of pioneering international smart grid experiments, scarce data about off-grid households, and big infrastructure energy solutions.

Christianity and Sports: Religious Functionaries and Charismatic Prophets in Ghana Soccer

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 239-259
Author(s):  
J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
The Way

This paper examines the way in which, within an African religious and spiritual context, athletes – and in particular footballers of Ghana – employ religious functionaries and religious means from a variety of traditions in an attempt to achieve sporting success. Specific examples and case studies illustrate and contextualise this search. The connections of this mode of searching for success with traditional African views of causality and with a Pentecostalist/charismatic prosperity ethic are explored, and its consequences are assessed.

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

Knowledge Management: Case Studies in SMEs and Evaluation of an Integrated Approach

2005 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 95-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan Yew Wong ◽  
Elaine Aspinwall
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Business Sector ◽  
Integrated Framework ◽  
Implementation Effort ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
The Way

To date, very few publications have been found that describe how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are adopting knowledge management (KM). The same is true concerning attempts to develop a framework to help them implement it. To redress this, this paper presents the results of four case studies conducted in UK SMEs to examine their KM implementation effort. In addition, a new integrated framework developed by the authors was evaluated to determine its applicability in this business sector. The methodology employed to conduct the studies is described and each of the cases is then presented. The results are analysed and key lessons or findings gathered from the companies are highlighted. Comments received from the companies with respect to the integrated framework were positive and favourable. It is hoped that the information accrued from the case studies, together with the integrated framework, will help to pave the way for SMEs to accomplish KM.

Big Data in Cultural Tourism – Building Sustainability and Enhancing Competitiveness

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Cultural Tourism ◽  
End Users ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Cultural Experiences ◽  
Selection Of

The use of big data is becoming increasingly important across the tourism sector and the value chain. With this publication, UNWTO intends to provide a baseline research on using big data by tourism and culture stakeholders, in order to improve the competitiveness of cultural tourism and reinforce its sustainability. The study sets the basis to connect tourism, culture and new technologies for mutual benefits, while calling for a reflection on the ethical implications for policymakers, businesses and end-users. The selection of case studies illustrates the most frequent case-scenarios of the use of big data in cultural tourism within destinations, compiled during the research. As the new technologies are facing ever-evolving scenarios, their use will be harnessed by the tourism sector in its endeavour to innovate and provide new cultural experiences.

Molecular Epigenetics: Chemical Biology Tools Come of Age

2021 ◽  
Vol 90 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-320
Author(s):  
John D. Bagert ◽  
Tom W. Muir
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Epigenetic Regulation ◽  
Genetic Information ◽  
Chemical Biology ◽  
Molecular Tools ◽  
Covalent Structure ◽  
Dna Components ◽  
The Way

The field of epigenetics has exploded over the last two decades, revealing an astonishing level of complexity in the way genetic information is stored and accessed in eukaryotes. This expansion of knowledge, which is very much ongoing, has been made possible by the availability of evermore sensitive and precise molecular tools. This review focuses on the increasingly important role that chemistry plays in this burgeoning field. In an effort to make these contributions more accessible to the nonspecialist, we group available chemical approaches into those that allow the covalent structure of the protein and DNA components of chromatin to be manipulated, those that allow the activity of myriad factors that act on chromatin to be controlled, and those that allow the covalent structure and folding of chromatin to be characterized. The application of these tools is illustrated through a series of case studies that highlight how the molecular precision afforded by chemistry is being used to establish causal biochemical relationships at the heart of epigenetic regulation.

Who is pulling the strings in the platform economy? Accounting for the dark and unexpected sides of algorithmic control

Organization ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135050842097452
Author(s):  
Edouard Pignot
Keyword(s):  
Digital Control ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Labour Process ◽  
Structuralist Theory ◽  
Ideological Fantasy ◽  
Platform Economy ◽  
The Way

This paper aims to address the dark side perspective on digital control and surveillance by emphasizing the affective grip of ideological control, namely the process that silently ensures the subjugation of digital labour, and which keeps the ‘unexpectedness’ of algorithmic practices at bay: that is, the propensity of users to contest digital prescriptions. In particular, the theoretical contribution of this paper is to combine Labour Process with psychoanalytically-informed, post-structuralist theory, in order to connect to, and further our understanding of, how and why digital workers assent to, or oppose, the interpellations of algorithmic ideology at work. To illustrate the operation of affective control in the Platform Economy, the emblematic example of ride-hailing platforms, such as Uber, and their algorithmic management, is revisited. Thus, the empirical section describes the way drivers are glued to the algorithm (e.g. for one more fare, or for the next surge pricing) in a way that prevents them, although not always, from considering genuine resistance to management. Finally, the paper discusses the central place of ideological fantasy and cynical enjoyment in the Platform Economy, as well as the ethical implications of the study.

Virtues and Capabilities

2018 ◽  
pp. 586-599
Author(s):  
Steven Torrente ◽  
Harry D. Gould
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Virtue Ethics ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Ethical Thought ◽  
Moral Concepts ◽  
International Political Theory ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Ethical Systems

After a long dormancy in the modern era, virtue-based ethical thought has once again become a subject of serious consideration and debate in the field of philosophy. The normative orientation of most International Political Theory, however, still comes primarily from principles-based (deontological) or outcome-based (consequentialist) ethical systems. Virtue ethics differs from focus deontological and consequentialist ethics by emphasizing character, context, and way of life, rather than rule-governed action. This chapter reviews the emergence of contemporary virtue ethics as a challenge to overly abstract, language-based analysis of moral concepts, and its development into a broad and nuanced ethical theory. It then connects virtue ethics to the capabilities approach to human development, which is similarly focused.

Privacy and libraries in the case of Japan

IFLA Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasuyo Inoue
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Asian Nation ◽  
Background Context ◽  
The Way

This essay introduces the concept of privacy from the perspective of the East Asian nation of Japan. Firstly, it provides background context to how privacy is viewed in the country; then it discusses relevant legislative approaches to the protection of privacy in Japan. It goes on to discuss privacy in relation to its relevance to libraries, illustrated with two case studies, before concluding with some suggestions as to the way forward in Japan.

Denationalization

2017 ◽  
pp. 357-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gibney
Keyword(s):  
Historical Development ◽  
State Power ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Public Order ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Citizenship Status ◽  
The Way

Citizenship in the modern state is in many ways uniquely secure as a status. Yet states have always possessed some bases through which they may remove citizenship, including fraud, disloyalty, acquisition of another citizenship, marriage to a foreigner, and threat to public order. Indeed, denationalization powers have recently gained attention as many liberal states have created new laws to strip citizenship from individuals involved with terrorism. In this chapter, I explore the practice of denationalization. I first consider the definition, grounds, and historical development of denationalization power. I then draw from recent academic work to show how denationalization offers insights into questions of significance relating to the ethical limits of state power, the historical development of citizenship status, and the way restrictive immigration controls impact upon state members. I conclude with a discussion of some outstanding issues raised by the denationalization for scholars of citizenship.

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