Information Technology and Human Interaction: Putting technologies to work in everyday life and interaction

South Africa is undergoing a number of changes, which has an effect on every aspect of society from the workplace to everyday life. South Africans need to reflect on this situation and determine how to proceed. The purpose of this article is to consider the development and implementation of information technology, one particular problem area, in this broader context. The article draws an analogy between the trade unionist systems development tradition in Scandinavia and the possible application it might have in South Africa. The article describes the situation in South Africa, presents the trade unionist approach to systems development, and describes the underlying principles that have been identified by Scandinavian researchers. It then evaluates these principles from a South African perspective and discusses the possible uses they might have in the South African situation.

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Proceedings of the Symposium on Computer Human Interaction for the Management of Information Technology - CHiMiT '09

10.1145/1641587 ◽

2009 ◽

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Human Interaction

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The Human Factors Issues in Information Security: What are They and Do They Matter?

Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting ◽

10.1177/154193129804200408 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 42 (4) ◽

pp. 439-443

Author(s):

Pamela R. McCauley-Bell ◽

Lesia L. Crumpton

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Information Systems ◽

Information Security ◽

Human Factors ◽

Human Error ◽

System Security ◽

Security Protocol ◽

Human Interaction ◽

Security Issues

The information technology field has been increasingly plagued by threats to the security of information systems, networks, and communication media. The solutions to these problems have primarily focused on the techniques to more closely safeguard networks (i.e. firewalls) with similar efforts being put into assessing the vulnerabilities of the hardware and software aspects of the systems. With the exception of discussions into more creative password selection, discussion pertaining to the role of the user, can play in reducing the risk of human error and thus promoting system security has been extremely limited. This lecture will present an overview of information security issues impacted by human interaction that may or may not play a role in promoting system security. Understanding that information systems are in fact composed of hardware and software components which must be addressed using traditional information security protocol, this lecture will provide an understanding of the possible risk that the human/user poses to an information system. Once the risks or factors associated with the human in the security of the system are identified, the next question is do the factors matter? The objective of this lecture is to present an intellectual discussion of human factors issues and their impact on information security. This is an important discussion topic that the information technology field can not afford to ignore.

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Fake news identification

Society and Economy ◽

10.1556/204.2021.00020 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Peter Racsko

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Economic Status ◽

Social Aspects ◽

Fake News ◽

False Information ◽

Conspiracy Theories ◽

Electronic Publications ◽

Valid Information

Abstract Fake news, deceptive information, and conspiracy theories are part of our everyday life. It is really hard to distinguish between false and valid information. As contemporary people receive the majority of information from electronic publications, in many cases fake information can seriously harm people’s health or economic status. This article will analyze the question of how up-to-date information technology can help detect false information. Our proposition is that today we do not have a perfect solution to identify fake news. There are quite a few methods employed for the discrimination of fake and valid information, but none of them is perfect. In our opinion, the reason is not in the weaknesses of the algorithms, but in the underlying human and social aspects.

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Train teachers in digital citizenship to facilitate a sustainable education system

Form@re - Open Journal per la formazione in rete ◽

10.36253/form-12114 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 105-117

Author(s):

Luigi Piceci ◽

Anna Maria Mariani ◽

Francesco Peluso Cassese

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Public Administration ◽

Education System ◽

Technological Development ◽

Action Plan ◽

Digital Citizenship ◽

Digital Education ◽

Internet Resources ◽

Digital Skills

The technological development of the last twenty years, starting in Europe from the increased availability of Internet resources to the concept of the digital citizen, has involved our society at all levels, affecting politics, businesses, families and all forms of education and teaching at each and every level. The COVID pandemic that began in 2020 has led to further acceleration, so much so that both the Digital Agenda for information technology in public administration 2020-2022 (AGID) and the Action Plan for Digital Education 2021-2027 focus on a strong digital component in everyday life. A psychoeducational protocol for digital skills in teachers is hereby provided, tested on a sample over the course of 8 weeks. In order to be able to assess initial and final competences, a questionnaire on digital competences has been developed and validated, based on DigComp 2.1. Formare gli insegnanti alla cittadinanza digitale per facilitare un sistema educativo sostenibile. Lo sviluppo tecnologico degli ultimi vent’anni, a partire in Europa dalla maggiore disponibilità di risorse Internet fino al concetto di cittadino digitale, ha coinvolto la nostra società a tutti i livelli, interessando la politica, le imprese, le famiglie e tutte le forme di istruzione e didattica ad ogni livello. La pandemia di COVID iniziata nel 2020 ha portato a un’ulteriore accelerazione, tanto che sia l’Agenda Digitale per le tecnologie dell’informazione nella pubblica amministrazione 2020-2022 (AGID) sia il Piano d’Azione per l’Educazione Digitale 2021-2027 si concentrano su una forte componente digitale nella vita di tutti i giorni. Viene fornito un protocollo psicoeducativo per le competenze digitali degli insegnanti, testato su un campione nel corso di 8 settimane. Per valutare le competenze iniziali e finali è stato sviluppato e validato un questionario sulle competenze digitali, basato su DigComp 2.1.

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Change is not the only constant

Information Design Journal ◽

10.1075/idj.25.3.06wri ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 25 (3) ◽

pp. 293-299

Author(s):

Patricia Wright

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

User Interfaces ◽

Graphical User Interfaces ◽

Design Decisions ◽

The Past ◽

Novice Users ◽

Computer Controlled ◽

New Challenges

Abstract Developments in information technology during the past 40 years have presented new opportunities for information designers and also posed new challenges. Computer controlled displays are now so ubiquitous that most people in everyday life need to interact with information shown on screens. Many of the characteristics of these readers have not changed: they forget things, get distracted, make assumptions, etc. Research has confirmed that designing an interaction style to reduce the demands made on people’s sensory and cognitive processes helps them accomplish tasks more easily. There has undoubtedly been progress, particularly with mobile devices. Graphical user interfaces and touch screens can make interactions feel intuitive, almost conversational, but interface glitches remain. These arise both from the tension inherent in designing for experienced and novice users, and from design decisions often involving people with differing priorities. The features of interfaces will continue to change but the challenge of finding ways to support people’s sensory, cognitive and conative characteristics will continue.

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Promoting Cooperative Learning for Preservice Teachers Through Information Technology

Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-881-9.ch114 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 728-737

Author(s):

Eugenia M.W. NG

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Preservice Teachers ◽

Cooperative Learning ◽

Collaborative Work ◽

Human Interaction ◽

Learning Goals ◽

Team Members ◽

Long Time ◽

Working Together ◽

Traditional Setting

Cooperative learning means students working together to accomplish shared learning goals and to maximize their own and their group members’ achievements (Johnson & Johnson, 1999), and stresses the importance of shared dialogue and inquiry (Littleton & Hakkinen, 1999). The concept of cooperative learning has been around for a long time. Sometimes cooperative and collaborative learning are used interchangeably, but Lehtinen, Hakkarainen, Lipponen, Rahikainen, and Muukkonen (2007) have suggested that cooperative work involves dividing work among the team members, whilst collaborative work means all the team members tackle the problems together in a coordinated effort. In a traditional setting, cooperative learning occurs when there is human interaction, but cooperative learning can transcend cooperation from someone that you know to virtually everyone in the world if they have a Web-connected computer. Does information technology foster or stifle cooperative learning?

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Pension Portal where Users are the Focus

Encyclopedia of Digital Government ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-789-8.ch201 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 1317-1321

Author(s):

P. Jaaskelainen

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Everyday Life ◽

Information Sources ◽

Social Rights ◽

Internet Services ◽

Government Services ◽

Internet Portal ◽

Starting Point ◽

Network Competence ◽

Egovernment Service

The societal task of e-government services is to support the achievement of the aims of citizenship (i.e., participation in society and personal independence), that is, autonomy (cf. Barbalet, 1988, p. 68-69; Roche, 1992, p. 93-94). These aims require many different resources of citizens, including for instance societal information serving practical needs and the ability to obtain this information. Knowledge about one’s own social rights, such as pensions, is the type of information that citizens usually need at some point in their lives and also obtain through various means, using for instance their own “network competence” (see Jääskeläinen & Savolainen, 2003). Network competency stands for the knowledge of networked information sources and services plus their skilled utilization (Savolainen, 2002, p. 218). E-government, where the starting point is the verified needs of the citizens and which applies information technology to everyday life, promotes the realisation of citizenship. In order for public Internet services to fulfil this obligation, different sets of criteria have been created and competitions have been held. One such contest is the eEurope Awards. The Finnish Internet Portal for Pensions “Tyoelake.fi” was ranked among the first five in the category “Better Life for European People.” (www.e-europeawards.org/html/body_results) This article describes the features which explain why the Tyoelake.fi service is an example of an eGovernment service built through cooperation between many active parties and where the user viewpoint is crucial

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Delivering professional projects

Transforming Government People Process and Policy ◽

10.1108/17506161011028812 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

pp. 73-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Shauneen Furlong ◽

Wafi Al‐Karaghouli

Keyword(s):

Information Technology ◽

Project Management ◽

Global Economy ◽

Management Practice ◽

Transformation Process ◽

Human Interaction ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Content Type ◽

Initiation Phase ◽

The World

PurposeOwing to inadequate implementations of project management (PM) procedures and processes, many large information technology systems (ITS) projects failed to deliver its promises. Also, many of the failures in the implementation of large ITS projects around the world have been attributed to inadequate PM action. This criticism encompasses e‐government project initiatives which have attempted ambitious program change, major innovations, large transformations, enterprise wide solutions, collaboration across organisations, governments and private sectors, and the implementation of unprecedented (or ambitious) solutions. The purpose of this paper is to examine these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis paper forms part of an ongoing research of a PhD degree to describe, critically evaluate and examine the underlying barriers and challenges in large e‐government initiatives. Also, this paper examines change in organisations due to the change in the global economy and global information society as new technology is changing the nature of work. It identifies and examines the current and foreseeing problems with large e‐government projects and describes how a sociotechnical approach which takes into account, technical, business, citizen, economic needs in the creation of a sociotechnical ITS for future citizens. In addition, the paper offers a technology‐enabled enhancement to the project‐initiation phase, the area identified as being particularly weak and inadequate in addressing initial requirements of e‐government initiatives.FindingsThe paper proposes that technology can be incorporated into the professional practice of PM. It can also be a part of a passable solution as opposed to being distinct and separate from it. The PM supporting tools, as opposed to merely reporting actual versus plans have to increase the novelty (art and science) of PM through human interaction, empower the project manager and in aiding his capacity in delivering the expected outcomes.Social implicationsThe paper demonstrates the value of effective project managers within the wider context of PM in transformational e‐government initiatives. It believes that this research will have an impact on three important areas, namely project management practice (PMC), e‐government projects and the transformation process of large projects in the public sector. This paper is about changing culture and practice of PMC in handling and managing large projects when different parties involve including outsourcing. This paper investigates and addresses, not only the transformation process of e‐government projects, but also, the transformation of PM professional culture (i.e. PMC) that delivers and works.Originality/valueThis research paper contributes to the existing literature of PM of large e‐government transformational processes. The paper addresses a number of e‐government challenges, by critically analysing and summarising a list of e‐government challenges and barriers arising from an e‐government survey administered on behalf of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance which represents the national technology associations in 70 countries. It compares these challenges to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK), which is the North American standard in PM methodology. Also, it highlights the weaknesses in PMBOK to address these challenges and offers a technology‐enabled enhancement to the project‐initiation phase. This is the strength of this paper.

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