Flexible Environments for Hybrid Collaboration: Redesigning Virtual Work Through the Four Orders of Design

The COVID-19 pandemic made visceral for many the fact that virtual forms of collaboration— simultaneously liberating and frustrating—are here to stay. Workers’ frustrations demonstrate that challenges remain for work and its design in increasingly “hybrid” collaboration— work in which some people, interacting face-to-face, are co-located while others with whom they work are remote. Using Buchanan's four orders of design, in conjunction with management and information systems scholarship, we present a framework for improving these virtual forms of collaboration. In this article, we review the latest knowledge from these disciplines on virtual collaboration through the lens of the four orders of design. In doing so, we demonstrate that conceiving of work in terms of flexible collaborative environments could increase the unity of purpose between work and workers by leveraging the capabilities of varying degrees of virtuality to engender experiences that benefit all those who interact with work systems.

Using Technology as a Novel Method to Develop Students’ Clinical Reasoning Skills Through Virtual Collaborative Learning in Scriptwriting

One of the most important skills students need to learn in applying pharmacotherapeutics is clinical reasoning. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of virtual collaboration in scriptwriting as a teaching approach to develop clinical reasoning skills. Data was from student feedback (n=102). Discussing conceptual questions in a collaborative learning environment with peers proved to support the development of clinical reasoning skills as the activity increased interactivity, improved understanding and retention. Findings show that the development of clinical reasoning skills were enhanced with the use of scriptwriting as a virtual collaborative activity.

Challenges and Opportunities for Public Participation in Urban and Regional Planning during the COVID-19 Pandemic—Lessons Learned for the Future

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred significant changes in the fields of economic development, social issues, everyday life, etc. Activities that used to depend on face-to-face communication were firstly suspended and then shifted to new forms of communication. This includes the public participation process in urban and spatial planning. Therefore, this study explores the new domain developed in urban and spatial planning with regard to public participation and surmises future realms in the post-pandemic era. On the occasion of the virtual collaboration platform Cyber Agora organized by the ISOCARP (International Society of City and Regional Planners), chosen participants got together virtually to share, discuss, and compare their practical knowledge in public participation before and during COVID-19. In addition, they addressed the potential benefits of shifting from traditional to virtual participation and potential benefits in the post-COVID-19 era. Considering the collected data and understanding them in the light of the available literature, this study concludes that the application of a combined approach (using both traditional and virtual modes of participation) is recommended because it would enable a larger number and higher diversity of participants. The study also elaborates particular modes of virtual participation with the pros and cons of their use in a particular context.

The energic economy of cyberchronotopia

As social media, virtual reality, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, mobile computing, cloud computing, virtual collaboration platforms and other new technologies become an integral part of our life, more and more of us are facing a practical issue: insufficiency of psychic energy. Approaching the cyberneticization of the human condition from the perspective of psychic energy makes for a sorely needed critical intervention. This article reveals the vampiric nature of cyberspacetime, looks into vitalistic philosophy and spiritual praxes for coping strategies, and calls for homo ludens to rise above apparatuses of capture and conserve psychic energy for negentropic endeavours, psychosomatic events and spiritual awakening. It proceeds with the assumption that news about one’s autopoiesis and becoming is the most important news. Part of the motive is to demonstrate media theory and time-tested spiritual praxes as equipment for living.

PRUŽANjE USLUGA PUTEM INFORMACIONO-KOMUNIKACIONIH TEHNOLOGIJA

The new economic framework requires the existence of new forms of work. Their adaptability to changes that occur in the labour market is highlighted as the main reason for their appearance, and the same ones allow the employer to respond quickly and adequately to these changes. Since new, different market rules are present in the digital economy, existing forms of work outside of employment are considered less adequate for employers to respond to the new socio-economic framework. The characteristic of new forms of work, including mobile work, is that they are usually not sufficiently legally regulated, which means that there is no protection present for persons who exercise the right to work through these forms of work. Also, new forms of work and service provisions are a mixture of different legal affairs, whereby the employee or service provider is not included in the organizational structure of the employer. For example, mobil work based on information and communication technologies, or ICT-based mobile work involves regularly performing work tasks or providing services outside the employer's headquarters or outside the worker's home, supported by information and communication technologies and with the establishment of online connections to an employer's computer system, or using virtual collaboration instruments, such as emails, web dating software programs, etc. Although positive aspects of mobile work are often discussed, there are also negative consequences of the flexibility that mobile work in its nature contains, reflected primarily in intensifying work tasks and gradually eliminating the boundaries between family and work obligations.

COVID-19 and interdisciplinary research: What are the needs of researchers on aging?

COVID-19 has had an extreme effect on older people. Now more than ever we need collaborative approaches to address complex issues within research on aging. However, the pandemic has dramatically changed the way we conduct, interact, and organize research within interdisciplinary groups. This paper describes a case study of how an interdisciplinary institute for research on aging has managed the process of change during COVID-19 restrictions. A design lead, researcher centered approach was used to understand the needs of researchers as they adapted across 6 months. Firstly, an online survey (n=51) was conducted to understand the scope of change and needs. The survey found broad themes ranging from assistance with finding additional funding to adjusting current research proposals. Following the survey, two Co-Design Sessions were conducted. The first session (n=53) diverged thinking to scope ideas from the survey and actionable themes were created. The second session (n=36) was conducted to converge thinking and focus on solutions based on one of these themes. The results revealed a diversity of ideas addressing the needs of interdisciplinary researchers in aging. These ideas spanned from exploring the capacity to do research remotely and creating virtual collaboration spaces to rethinking stakeholder engagement. Received: 1 July 2021Accepted: 12 October 2021

Review of Business English 3.0: Hands-on Online and Virtual Collaboration Tasks

Book review of:Business English 3.0: Hands-on Online and Virtual Collaboration TasksBy Ana Sevilla-Pavón and Anna NicolaouEditorial Comares 2019ISBN: 978-84-9045-795-5172 pages

Towards the Three Dimensions of Sustainability for International Research Team Collaboration: Learnings from the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems Research Programme

This paper highlights the potential for learning and virtual collaboration in international research teams to contribute towards sustainability goals. Previous research confirmed the environmental benefits of carbon savings from international virtual conferences. This paper adds the social and economic dimensions by using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to measure the constraints and benefits for personal development, economic costs, efficiency and team learning of holding international virtual conferences (VCs). Using the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems (SHEFS) research programme as a case study, we analysed VC participant survey data to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of VCs. We estimated ‘saved’ GHG emissions, costs, and time, of using VCs as an alternative for a planned in-person meeting in Chennai, India. Hosting VCs reduced North–South, gender, and researcher inclusivity concerns, financial and travelling time costs, and substantially reduced emissions. For one international meeting with 107 participants, changing to a virtual format reduced the per capita GHG emissions to half the annual global average, and avoided 60% of travel costs. The benefits of VCs outweighed weaknesses. The main strengths were inclusivity and access, with 20% more early/mid-career researchers attending. This study identified opportunities for international research partnerships to mitigate their carbon footprint (environmental benefit) and enhance inclusivity of early/mid-career, women and Global South participants (social benefit), whilst continuing to deliver effective collaborative research meetings (economic benefit). In doing so, we present a holistic view of sustainability opportunities for virtual collaboration.