Information Technology and the Development of a Global Safety Culture

A nuclear power plant is one of the most complex sociotechnical systems ever created, with operation requiring multiple organizations, extensive interaction, and a mission to protect public health and safety. A strong global nuclear power safety culture is important, with over 400 nuclear power plants worldwide and more under construction to reduce fossil fuel dependency. We increasingly rely on technology, stressing our need for energy independence, security, reliability, education, and safety. Lessons learned from nuclear power safety culture development have a large potential audience. Unfortunately, the complexity of nuclear power and restricted access to operational data have limited outside research on and understanding of nuclear power safety culture. This chapter provides a conceptual, methodological, empirical, and operational perspective on the development of commercial nuclear power safety culture, focusing on the role of information technology (IT) in building, maintaining, and expanding global nuclear power safety culture.

An Innovative Architecture of a System for Storing and Managing Intangible Cultural Heritage

In this chapter an innovative architecture of a system for the collection, preservation, management and access of intangible cultural heritage is proposed. It allows local or national cultural heritage organizations and local community members to acquire and manage intangible cultural contents and to admit access for potential users to these contents through mobile devices and intelligent interfaces.

Geo-Aware Digital Cultural Heritage

Museums face numerous challenges in the 21st century. Among these are a loss of cultural authority and the dispersion of collected objects through museums worldwide that makes it impossible for users to know where to search, or how to search, for items that might be of interest to them. The consequences are that museums and their holdings are less well known, and less understood, than they ought to be. An emerging technical infrastructure of “smart” objects and location-aware devices can play a role in enabling museums to succeed in these tasks. If the museum adds geographical coordinates to the description of the objects in its collections, people who are in the vicinity of those locations can be informed about the holdings of the (distant) museum, 24 hrs a day. These people include those from whose cultures the objects were once taken and people visiting as tourists; these two audiences are especially interested in understanding the museum’s collection, because it is relevant to them, literally ‘where they stand.’ Having access to the cultural objects that have been removed from their original contexts can reduce demands that they be repatriated, especially if the museum can engage locals to contribute their knowledge of the objects, and tourists to supply terms in their native language that would help their compatriots find the object. In this way, geo-aware objects could help museum fulfill numerous demands currently being made of them and usher in an extra-institutional dimension to cultural interpretation. This chapter examines the requirements for museum success in a geo-aware future.

Politeness and Etiquette Modeling

If culture is expressed in the patterns of behavior, values and expectations of a group, then a central element in the practical modeling and understanding of culture is the expression of politeness and its roles in governing and influencing behavior. The authors have been developing computational models of “politeness” and its role in power and familiarity relationships, urgency, indebtedness, etc. Such a model, insofar as it extends to human-machine interactions, will enable better and more effective decision aids. This model, based on a universal theory of human politeness, links aspects of social context (power and familiarity relationships, imposition, character), which have culture-specific values, to produce expectations about the use of polite, redressive behaviors (also culturally defined). The authors have linked this “politeness perception” model to a coarse model of decision making and behavior in order to predict influences of politeness on behavior and attitudes. This chapter describes the algorithm along with results from multiple validation experiments: two addressing the model’s ability to predict perceived politeness and two predicting the impact of perceived politeness on compliance behaviors in response to directives. The authors conclude that their model tracks well with subjective perceptions of American cultural politeness and that its predictions broadly anticipate and explain situations in which perceived politeness in a directive yields improved affect, trust, perceived competence, subjective workload, and compliance, though somewhat decreased reaction time. The model proves better at accounting for the effects of social distance than for power differences.

Structuring the Cultural Domain with an Upper Ontology of Culture

Study of cultural similarities and differences is an important research topic for many disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, museology, communication, management and business. This presents many potential opportunities for Information Technology specialists to develop culturally-aware technology, but it also raises the risk of inconsistent approaches of the cultural domain. In this chapter, the authors present the fundamental concepts of the Upper Ontology of Culture (UOC), a formal conceptualization of the cultural domain they developed by identifying the common backbone of culture-related disciplines and activities. As a neutral, theory-driven, and interdisciplinary conceptualization, the UOC shall provide guidelines for the development of culturally-aware applications, for the consistent computerization of cultural data and their interoperability, as well as for the development of culture-driven automatic reasoning processes.

A Language Shift Simulation Based on Cellular Automata

Language extinction is a widespread social phenomenon affecting several million people throughout the world today. By the end of this century, more than 5100 of the approximately 6000 languages currently spoken around the world will have disappeared. This is mainly because of language shifts, i.e., because a community of speakers stops using their traditional language and speaks a new one in all communication settings. In this study, the authors present the properties of a cellular automaton that incorporates some assumptions from the Gaelic-Arvanitika model of language shifts and the findings on the dynamics of social impacts in the field of social psychology. To assess the cellular automaton, the authors incorporate empirical data from Valencia (a region in Southern Europe), where Catalan speakers are tending to shift towards using Spanish. Running the automaton under different scenarios, the survival or extinction of Catalan in Valencia depends on individuals’ engagement with their language. The authors discuss how a cellular automata theory approach proves to be a useful tool for understanding the language shift.

Investigating Sociocultural Issues in Instructional Design Practice and Research

This chapter is a narrative account of the process involved to initiate a program of research to explore how instructional designers around the world use design to make a social difference locally and globally. The central research question was, “Are there social and political purposes for design that are culturally based?” A growing body of research is concerned with the design of culturally appropriate learning resources and environments, but the focus of this research is the instructional designer as the agent of the design. Colloquially put, if, as has been suggested, we tend to design for ourselves, we should understand the sociocultural influences on us and how they inform our practices. We should also develop respect for, and learn from, how various global cultures address similar design problems differently. The authors report the results of a preliminary investigation held with instructional designers from ten countries to examine culturally situated values and practices of instructional design, describe the research protocol developed to expand the investigation internationally, and share emerging issues for instructional design research with international colleagues. In this chapter, the authors link their earlier work on instructional designer agency with the growing research base on instructional design for multicultural and/or international learners. This research takes the shape of user-centred design and visual design; international curriculum development, particularly in online or distance learning; and emphasis on culturally appropriate interactions. We have suggested that instructional designers’ identity, including their values and beliefs about the purpose of design, are pivotal to the design problems they choose to work on, the contexts in which they choose to practice, and with whom. Our interest in the culture of design, then, is less process-based (how to do it) than interrogative (why we do it the way we do). And that has led us to ask, “Is there one culture of instructional design, or are there many, and how are these cultures embodied in instructional designers’ practice?” The idea of design culture is well established. Most notably, investigations of professional culture have attracted significant attention (Boling, 2006; Hill, J., et. al., 2005; Snelbecker, 1999). These investigations have concentrated on how different professions, such as architecture, drama, engineering and fine art approach design differently, with the goal of informing the practice of design in instructional design (ID). The decision-making processes of design professionals have also been illuminated by scholars like Donald Schon (1983) who described knowing-in-action and suggested the link between experience, (sociocultural) context, and intuition with design made visible through reflective practice.

Modeling a User’s Culture

Localizing user interfaces has been proven beneficial for both user satisfaction and work efficiency; however, current localization methods disregard the many facets in the cultural background of today‘s typical user by simply adapting to a certain country. The chapter proposes a new approach to localization by modeling the user’s culture according to its understanding in cultural anthropology. Contrasting this view with cultural influences on user interface perception and preferences, the authors obtain an intersection of aspects that need to be included in a cultural user model, and deduce which user interface aspects have to be adaptable. With this, the chapter turns towards the application of their approach with the help of adaptive user interfaces, which allow the flexible composition of different user interface elements. The authors describe one possibility for implementing such culturally adaptive systems, and exemplify the design of different gradations of user interface aspects with the help of their MOCCA system.

Implicit Culture Framework for Behavior Transfer

People belong to different communities: business communities, Web 2.0 communities, just to name a few. In this chapter the authors show that experience acquired by people in communities constitute community culture. The authors introduce the problem of culture transfer between or within communities and propose a domain-independent approach for transferring community culture. First, the authors formalize the notion of culture, which includes behavior, knowledge, artifacts, best practices, etc. Second, using this formalism, the authors propose the Implicit Culture Framework, which is an agent-based framework for transferring behavior between community members or between communities. Finally, the authors present and evaluate a system for web service discovery developed using the Implicit Culture Framework.

Issues for Australian Indigenous Culture Online

Information Technology is the most versatile technology yet developed. By enabling the components to be altered using a language emulating the spoken tongue, we have a technology that can readily be adapted to new situations. This flexibility is exemplified by the resources provided by the open source community which covers a wide range of applications including communication protocols, file conversions and web services. However the designers of this technology are still located in a cultural milieu which may not accommodate the needs of all users. This chapter looks at how innovative technology and software can meet the needs of some of the most dispossessed people through supporting Indigenous knowledge sharing. In designing Appropriate Technology, engineers consider the technical, environmental, social and economic aspects affecting uptake, as well as cultural suitability. Using this approach, the author considers IT uptake in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia.