This article presents a phenomenological perspective on the “virtual organisation” where people are obliged to work at a distance and where contact with others is limited to that of an electronic network. Drawing on Husserl, we see that when the “as-if ” presence is contrived in such a way, the organisation obstructs the life of consciousness. Furthermore, relying on Michel Henry’s writings, we explain how removing the parameter of “flesh” as a factor structuring encounters, this organizational form profoundly restricts (...) the dynamism of the acting, subjective life. (shrink)

What are networked organizations? The focus of discussions of the networked organization has been on the boundary-spanning nature of these new organizational structures. Yet, the role of the group in these networked organizations has remained unclear. Furthermore, little is known about how computer-mediated communication is used to bridge group and organizational boundaries. In particular, the role of new media in the context of existing communication patterns has received little attention. We examine how employees at a high-tech company, referred to (...) as KME, communicate with members of the work group, other colleagues in the organization, and colleagues outside the organization to better understand their boundary-spanning communications. (shrink)

We review state‐of‐the‐art computational methods for constructing, from image data, generative statistical models of cellular and nuclear shapes and the arrangement of subcellular structures and proteins within them. These automated approaches allow consistent analysis of images of cells for the purposes of learning the range of possible phenotypes, discriminating between them, and informing further investigation. Such models can also provide realistic geometry and initial protein locations to simulations in order to better understand cellular and subcellular processes. To determine the structures (...) of cellular components and how proteins and other molecules are distributed among them, the generative modeling approach described here can be coupled with high throughput imaging technology to infer and represent subcellular organization from data with few a priori assumptions. We also discuss potential improvements to these methods and future directions for research. (shrink)

Recently the virtual organization of work has become of crucial significance. The changes in the work environment induced by the Industry 4.0 revolution are also reflected in the emergence of virtual negotiations. New settings impose new challenges not only for negotiators, but also for higher education struggling to provide students with the best opportunities for comprehensive development. Given the applicability of virtual exchange (VE) in business higher education, the main objective of this paper is to present (...) the usefulness of virtual exchange as a tool to boost students’ skills that are necessary for virtual negotiations. Firstly, the concept of the 4th space was applied to compare the context of virtual negotiations and VE projects. Secondly, the learning outcomes of the VE projects were studied from the perspective of the requirements of virtual negotiations. (shrink)

Virtual enterprise is a dynamic alliance of businesses, in which multiple members undertake joint research, development, manufacturing, operation, etc. The complexity of the relationship between business members, coupled with many new technologies or methods applied in the alliance operation, leads to more uncertain factors and difficulties in the operation and risk management of the virtual enterprise. The distributed decision-making model is a fast and effective decision-making model, in which dispersed intellectual resources and information resources are dynamically integrated through (...) virtual organization forms and operating mechanisms, and the dynamic reorganization, result evaluation, and synthesis of the decision-making system are realized by certain control rules. On the basis of summarizing and analyzing previous research works, this paper expounded the research status and significance of the risk control of virtual enterprise; elaborated the development background, current status, and future challenges of distributed decision-making model; introduced the related works of decision-making variable calculation and constraint determination; constructed a risk control model for virtual enterprise based on distributed decision-making model; analyzed the multiobjective model and interval programming model of risk control; established a risk control approach for virtual enterprise based on distributed decision-making model; performed the optimal allocation of risk control funds and the selective optimization of backup allies; and finally conducted a case analysis. The study results show that, in view of the diversity of relationships between alliance businesses and the complexity of the distribution of cooperative areas, the distributed decision-making model can more reasonably describe the relationship between alliance members and accurately control the risks of virtual enterprise from multiple angles, which can effectively manage the risks of virtual enterprise. The study results of this paper provide a reference for further research on the risk control of virtual enterprise based on distributed decision-making model. (shrink)

Over the past few years, the Virtual Organization (VO) paradigm has been emerging as an ideal solution to support collaboration among globally distributed entities (individuals and/or organizations). However, due to rapid technological and societal changes, there has also been an astonishing growth in technologies and services for mobile users. This has opened up new collaborative scenarios where the same participant can access the VO from different locations and mobility becomes a key issue for users and services. The nomadicity (...) and mobility introduces additional challenges for managing collaboration in VO environments. This paper focuses on the Identity Management challenge in a Mobile Dynamic VO environment, which is a VO that takes into account nomadicity and seamless mobility aspects as elaborated within the EU funded project Akogrimo (Access to Knowledge through the Grid in a mobile world). The resulting work is the design of the Akogrimo Identity Management system supporting the authentication and authorization process across the different administrative domains of the Mobile Dynamic VO. This design follows the service oriented approach and integrates the different perspectives: that of the network, that of the user and that of the service provider. Such an integration requires facing challenges; both from the architectural and technological viewpoints because different ‘worlds’ (i.e. network and service level) leverage different (and sometimes conflicting) approaches when addressing Identity Management. (shrink)

The article addresses organization of distance learning of foreign languages in quarantine during the postmodern era. It is noted that organization of distance learning in the educational process is very important. It was clarified that distance learning is based on synchronous and asynchronous modes. The essence of the concepts of “distance learning”, “asynchronous learning”, “synchronous learning”, “quarantine” is explained. Articles of domestic and foreign teachers and scientists analysing the broached subject were reviewed. The article highlights advantages and disadvantages (...) of distance learning. It has been studied that for students studiing foreign languages remotely, an interesting form of learning is watching TV shows and movies. The digital programs and the essence of their advantages are also given. The researchers’ view on the effectiveness of multimedia presentations, trainings, games is given. It is also found that during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is hard for parents to work on the platforms unlike children. The platforms for synchronous and asynchronous learning are separated. It is noted that teachers with primary school students use visual forms of learning to interest children and to present new material in a clear and accessible way. During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual communication is found prevaling in postmodern society. It is noted that a foreign language can be learned through a Facebook group. It is investigated that learning foreign languages requires special attention to development of communication skills. The problems that arose in teachers during the organization of distance learning during the coronavirus pandemic are studied. (shrink)

This commentary explores a number of issues raised by Hurlburt and Schwitzgebel in 'Describing Inner Experience'. The commentary argues for expanding the definition of mental imag-ery, by which it is a virtually universal human attribute; reintroduces a theory of response organization, the meaning complex, to conceptu-alize unsymbolized thinking; draws on work with Guided Affective Imagery to comment on the fragility versus robustness of mental imagery; comments on the virtues and probable flaws of Descriptive Experience Sampling , including an evolutionary (...) explanation of the flaws; and describes a pair of alternatives to DES: idiothetic experience sampling in which rating scales immediately follow the narrative reports, in place of delayed interviews, and the growing promise of coupling experience sampling with brain imaging. (shrink)

This article assesses the relevance of Wittgenstein’s late philosophy for the study of online forms of communication. In particular, the article deals with the appropriateness of using the concept of language game for the purpose of describing what happens in a virtual community. Testing Wittgenstein’s concept of language game in online context, we also analyse the language practices of one specific virtual community (patterns of communication, style, roles of members, internal organization of this ‘form of life’).

Based on neurobiological data, modern concepts of self-organization and a careful rationale, the hypothesis is put forward that the fleeting, highly ordered patterns of electric and/or magnetic fields, generated by assemblies of dendritic trees of specialized neuronal networks, should be thought of as the end-product of chaotic, dynamically governed self-organization. Such patterns encode for subjective experiences such as pain and pleasure, or perceiving colours. Because by quantum mechanical definition virtual photons are the theoretical constituents of electric and (...) magnetic fields, the former hypothesis can be re-formulated as follows: it is the highly ordered patterns of virtual photons that encode for subjective experiences. Arguments are then given that consciousness did not emerge during evolution only after neuronal networks had been formed able to generate electric and/or magnetic fields of sufficient complexity but, rather, that subjectivity already existed in a very elementary form as a fundamental property of the omnipresent virtual photons, i.e., of matter. The contribution of neuronal networks to consciousness was to generate highly ordered patterns of germs of subjectivity , so allowing complex subjective experiences. Due to the omnipresence of virtual photons, it follows finally that the whole universe must be imbued with subjectivity. An experimental strategy is proposed to test the hypothesis. (shrink)

Abstract.Stuart Kauffman's proposal in Investigations to ground a “general biology” in the laws of self‐organization governing systems of autonomous agents runs up against the methodological problem of how to integrate formal mathematical with semantic and semiotic approaches to the study of evolutionary development. Gilles Deleuze's concept of the virtual and C. S. Peirce's system of existential graphs provide a theoretical framework and practical art for answering this problem of method by modeling the creative event of collective self‐organization (...) as both represented and practiced in the scientific community. (shrink)

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:Preface: Virtual Entities in ScienceRobert Harlander, Jean-Philippe Martinez, Friedrich Steinle, and Adrian WüthrichIt is not only since the sudden increase of online communication due to the COVID-19 situation that the concept of the “virtual” has made its way into everyday language. In this context, it mostly denotes a digital substitute for a real object or process. Virtual reality is perhaps the best-known term in this respect. (...) With these digital connotations, “virtuality” has also been used in science and research: Chemists use virtual laboratories, biologists do virtual scanning of molecular structures, and geologists engage in virtual field trips. But the concept of the virtual has a much longer tradition, dating back to long before the dawn of the digital age. Virtual images and virtual displacements were introduced in classical physics already in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, respectively. They represent auxiliary objects or processes without instantiation, with the purpose of efficiently describing specific physical systems. In today’s physics, the term “virtual” is mostly associated with the quantum world, first and foremost with the “virtual particle” of quantum field theory. It has become such an integral part of modern high energy physics that its ontological character may be considered to go beyond the purely auxiliary, which is typically associated with the virtual. [End Page 263]In other disciplines, however, use of the term virtual without a digital connotation is much rarer. While concepts like “virtual adrenaline” show up in physiological research around 1940s, and Charles Darwin, in a private note in January 1840,1 spoke of “virtual change” in the context of embryology, these examples seem to be singular occurrences of entities that were explicitly called “virtual.” The basic idea behind the terminology of the virtual, however, might be much more common, even outside of physics. The “invisible hand” in economics, or the “vital force” in biology, for instance, may carry aspects of a virtual entity, even if they have not been referred to that way.These different observations raise several questions about the status of virtual entities in science. What has led scientists to call one entity “virtual” and not another? Do all virtual entities in science have the same roots and meet the same characteristics? Are they more than auxiliary objects or processes? Why does physics seem to occupy a specific position with respect to the use of the notion of virtuality? These are some points that led us to discuss virtual entities in science during a workshop, out of which grew the present collection. We invited contributions that addressed the historical formation and philosophical interpretation of concepts of virtual entities in physics and other disciplines—in whatever terms they may come. The main goal of the workshop was to bring to the fore similarities and differences in the meanings and functions of these concepts, so as to be able to precisely characterize why certain entities are considered virtual in specific contexts, why a different terminology was often used in each individual case, and in what sense the virtual entities relate to the real world.The organization of the workshop was part of our project “The formation and development of the concept of virtual particles,” a subproject of the Research Unit “The Epistemology of the Large Hadron Collider,” funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and Der Wissenschaftsfonds (FWF). The workshop took place online on four consecutive Fridays in March 2021. It brought together contributors who discussed the role of the concept of the virtual in theoretical as well as experimental activities, and investigated into the origins of the terminology of the virtual as it was applied to the various disciplines of natural science. Dealing with historical, philosophical, but also methodological questions, the presentations covered a wide time range, from the Middle Ages to the present day. While physics naturally emerged as the dominant field, natural philosophy, computer science and biology were also addressed. The papers in this volume were contributed by participants in this workshop and approach the subject from different angles. [End Page 264]First, Friedrich Steinle provides us with an introductory piece that reflects on the specific meaning of the use of the term ‘virtual’ in science. He highlights and... (shrink)

The subject of the article is the philosophical and cultural methodology of digital "virtual reality", comparing the declarations of developers with the practical possibilities and social consequences of using such technologies. The developers presented projects of online digital content services for all five senses using special equipment (glasses, headphones, interactive gloves, joysticks, costumes, printers of smells and tastes, etc.). It was assumed that virtual reality would surpass the reliability of previous multimedia content and interactive computer games, and the (...) persuasiveness and attractiveness of traditional technical means of art and the press. Failure to fulfill these promises has led to significant losses since 2022 for leading companies developing digital virtual reality technologies Meta (recognized by the court as an extremist organization on 03/21/2022, activity is limited in the territory of the Russian Federation), Microsoft HapticLinks, Cave, AlloSphere, Teslasuit, VRealizer. There was a need to assess how and to what extent the methodology used and the predicted capabilities of digital virtual reality were correct. Philosophical and cultural analysis as a research method reveals: the developers of digital virtual reality promised the methodologically impossible, reducing human perception to the "sum" of the external "five senses" out of connection with the "self", inner sensitivity, bodily self-perceptions. A person is only partially amenable to algorithmized digital interaction; a critical barrier to digital virtuality is the socio-cultural identity of society and personality. The novelty of the results of the analysis lies in the conclusion: digital virtual reality in many respects is fundamentally inferior in effectiveness to traditional technical means of sensory and emotional impact and cognition, used both for creative and destructive purposes. In terms of creative potential, digital virtual reality is inferior to the technical means of art, science, education, upbringing, etc., and in terms of destructive capabilities, it is already used in the press and other mass communications technologies for manipulating public and individual consciousness, as well as psychotropic substances that cause addiction. National regulation of the development of digital "virtual reality" is recommended, aimed at protecting and developing the socio-cultural identity of Russian citizens and society, as well as for cognitive and educational purposes. It is recommended to limit the remote use of such developments to trusted domestic Internet services. (shrink)

This article shows the organization of distance learning, particularly the idea of b-learning, combining the accomplishment of classes carried on in the traditional way and via computers. The authors present learning activities related to complementary education herein. Some of these course types may be successfully adapted to an e-learning background. The models and structure of the university virtual environment for distance learning are described. These illustrate a new approach to creating a virtual space for medical and technical (...) studies where e-learning courses are created to be used for distance education, which allows students to be taught more effectively. The projected virtual courses for different groups of students ensure individualization of students’ work, which could be a relevant element for creating the shortest path of development of professional competencies. This paper further includes a brief overview of technologies used to build interactive elements into learning mate- rials. The authors present the use of interactive elements in medical education based on examples of certain selected games and animations. (shrink)

The social organization of insect colonies has fascinated biologists and natural historians for centuries. Aristotle wrote in History of Animals about a division of labor among workers within the hive that is based on age. He observed that the field bees foraging for nectar and pollen have less “hair” on their bodies than the hive bees that care for young larvae and tend the nest. He concluded that the more pubescent hive bees must be older. We now know that, (...) in fact, the field bees are older and have less hair because the hairs break off as the bees age. The phenomenon of age related changes in behavior, age-polyethism, is now well documented for many social insects (Oster and Wilson 1978).Evidence of the ecological success of social insects is inescapable. Virtually everywhere you look you see them or the results of their activities. (shrink)

At the focal point of contemporary biopolitical knowledge and power is human life in its contingent, evolutionary and emergent properties: the living as adaptive and affective beings, characterized in particular by their capacity to experience stress and fear that works together with vital survival mechanisms. This article addresses new techniques of psychiatric power and therapeutic epistemologies that have emerged in present-day military-scientific as well as media technological assemblages to define and capture the human in its psychobiological states of emergency. Specifically, (...) the focus of this article is on one special kind of screen medium, called Virtual Iraq, a virtual reality device designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans. The article analyses Virtual Iraq as an example of new forms and strategies for the management of affectivity and memory that have been developed in conjunction with contemporary neuroscientific discourses on the evolutionary origins of emotional life and its neurobiological functionality among humans qua species. Furthermore, it discusses Virtual Iraq as an example of the biopolitical work of contemporary screen media in which the reality of images starts to concern the organism’s internal functioning instead of being anthropological or communicative, tapping into the brain’s capacity of self-organization as well as contributing to the production and maintenance of psychological immunity. (shrink)

As rational agents, we are engaged in practices of mutual accountability. We produce reasons that explain and justify what we do. In producing reasons, we address demands of explanation and justification. Where do such demands come from? This is one of the central questions of this chapter. My contention is that in the attempt to make sense of and justify their actions, rational subjects construct reasons in an ideal dialogue with others. In the practice of exchanging reasons, rational subjects address (...) others under different descriptions. To assess the normative force of reasons, it is thus relevant to ask to whom reasons are addressed. On some philosophical accounts, reasons have a local authority insofar as they address others as members of the same community. This is the particularistic view. By contrast, on some other philosophical accounts, reasons are public and universal and address others as equals. This is the universalistic view. I deploy this distinction to articulate some issues about how to understand and measure the normative relevance and impact of web communication in the recent development of antimafia culture. The basic claim is that web communication broadens the scope of the relevant others and thus allows for reasons that have appeal independently of territorial belonging. The focus of the argument will be on the practices of “placing oneself in a space” as distinct sources of normativity. While the argument I produce is largely speculative and exploratory, I hope that it suffices to call attention to some aspects of the antimafia movement, which deserve closer scrutiny, such as the nature of the resources available because of the impact of web communication. As an example of this communication, I take into consideration Libera, an important non-profit organization, which fights the mafia by making a particularly effective use of social networks in building a virtual community of empowerment. (shrink)

Many of our daily activities are now made more convenient and efficient by virtual assistants, and the day when they can be designed to instruct us in certain skills, such as those needed to make moral judgements, is not far off. In this paper we ask to what extent it would be ethically acceptable for these so-called virtual assistants for moral enhancement to use subtle strategies, known as “nudges”, to influence our decisions. To achieve our goal, we will (...) first characterise nudges in their standard use and discuss the debate they have generated around their possible manipulative character, establishing three conditions of manipulation. Secondly, we ask whether nudges can occur in moral virtual assistants that are not manipulative. After critically analysing some proposed virtual assistants, we argue in favour of one of them, given that by pursuing an open and neutral moral enhancement, it promotes and respects the autonomy of the person as much as possible. Thirdly, we analyse how nudges could enhance the functioning of such an assistant, and evaluate them in terms of their degree of threat to the subject’s autonomy and their level of transparency. Finally, we consider the possibility of using motivational nudges, which not only help us in the formation of moral judgements but also in our moral behaviour. (shrink)

The σ profile is presented as a tool to analyze the organization of systems at different scales, and how this organization changes in time. Describing structures at different scales as goal‐oriented agents, one can define σ ∈ [0,1] (satisfaction) as the degree to which the goals of each agent at each scale have been met. σ reflects the organization degree at that scale. The σ profile of a system shows the satisfaction at different scales, with the possibility (...) to study their dependencies and evolution. It can also be used to extend game theoretic models. The description of a general tendency on the evolution of complexity and cooperation naturally follows from the σ profile. Experiments on a virtual ecosystem are used as illustration. (shrink)

Organisms are organized both internally and externally. The centrality of the organism in examination of the hierarchy of biological organization and the kinds of “emergent properties” that develop from study of organization at one level relative to other levels are my themes. That centrality has not often been implicit in discussion of unifying concepts, even evolution. Few general or unifying principles integrate information derived from various levels of biological organization. However, as the genetic toolbox and other new (...) techniques are now facilitating broader views of organisms and their internal and external interactions, and their evolution, some fundamental perspectives are emerging for many kinds of studies of biology. In particular, more hierarchical approaches are gaining favor in several areas of biology. Such approaches virtually demand the integration of data and theory from different levels of study. They require explicit delineations of methodology and clear definition of terms so that communication per se among scientists can become more integrative. In so doing, a hierarchy of theory will develop that demands ever further integration, potentially leading to unifying concepts and a general theory for biology. (shrink)

The high-quality workspace can be used as a physical carrier for design innovation and entrepreneurial organizational culture to continuously change the psychological cognition and behavior of employees in community of practice. The spatial narrative of the culture of design innovation and entrepreneurial organizations means to integrate entrepreneurship and organizational culture into the space through visual presentation. Whether the spatial narrative is successful or not needs to be judged by whether the change of people’s psychological cognition achieves the expected effect. The (...) traditional qualitative research methods such as interviews and questionnaires cannot fully and accurately present the psychological cognitive mechanism of design Innovation and entrepreneurship organization members. We use virtual reality technology combined with electrophysiological technology to conduct experiments. We use these technologies to conduct quantitative experiments on psychological cognition in community of practice. This study will select a design innovation and entrepreneurial organization, randomly select 20 participants, and divide them into 2 groups for experimentation. The VR scene is based on their real office space as a prototype. Put the visual elements of corporate culture in one of the VR scenes. The other VR scene as a reference does not incorporate visual elements of organizational culture. Participants participated in the experiment in these two VR scenarios. There are many advanced devices that can accurately test individual psychological changes, but the ErgoLab man-machine environment test platform, can collect and compare these data [physiological data, electroencephalogram data, and behavior data] in real-time and comprehensively, which is its advantage. According to the experimental results, judge the changes in the psychological cognitive data of the participants before and after the placement of the spatial narrative in design innovation and entrepreneurial organizations. The experiment combined interviews and questionnaires to ensure the authenticity of the quantitative data. The conclusion of the experiment will produce an accurate quantitative study on the psychological cognition of the spatial narrative of design innovation and entrepreneurial organizational culture. A sense of organizational belonging, collective sense, pride, mission, and work fun can be generated in the workspace. (shrink)

This research investigated the organizational challenges related to the development and implementation of virtual reality technology for operation in a conservative heavy machinery industry. The incorporation of a VR solution for heavy machinery equipment enhanced the safety and convenience of operation under dangerous work conditions. However, the development and implementation processes faced challenges. Furthermore, the adoption of the solution by users was perceived to be slower than anticipated. We aimed to explore the main challenges that the developer organization (...) faced and how it also influenced user organizations. Due to the exploratory nature of the research, qualitative analysis was chosen, interviews were conducted, and thematic analysis was applied. The themes and subthemes were identified and discussed. The results showed the existence of challenges related to technology maturity, managerial challenges regarding communication and support coordination, workload, and multiple stakeholder management. The findings emphasize the importance of attending to the existing and potential organizational challenges before and throughout technological innovation. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, and a future research agenda is suggested. (shrink)

Foremost among the tasks facing a semiotically-informed modeling of natural open systems is the recognition and representation of self-organization. This forces attention on process, time, and energetics to complement the conventional semiotic bias toward structure, space, and informatics. While self -organization might be captured in numerous operational idioms, we suggest that the fundamentally distinctive formal structures of (a) development (intrinsic predictability) and (b) evolution (unexpected change through change in contextual meaning) constitute thewarp and woof of virtually all observations (...) on systems undergoing change, and that, since these represent complementary orientations toward phenomena generally, interaction of these styles of change within systems can lead to generic models of enormous utility in many fields. (shrink)

Are there opportunities to use the plural to express the first person (“I”) of “the same person” in English? It means that the self is an entity that guarantees uniqueness and is at the core of identity. Recently, radical and rapid innovations in AI technologies have made it possible to alter our existential fundamentals. Principally, we are now interacting with “virtual personalities” generated by generative AI. Thus, there is an inevitability to explore the relationship between AI and society, and (...) the problem domain of phenomenological sociology related to the “virtuality” of personalities and the world. Encountering and interacting with “others without subject” artificially generated by generative AI based on individual big data and attribute data is a situation that mankind has never experienced before from the perspective of sociology and phenomenological sociology related to the ego. The virtual personalities can be perceived as if it were interacting with existing humans in the form of video and audio, and it is also possible to arbitrarily change their attributes (e.g., gender, race, age, physical characteristics) and other settings, as well as to virtually create deceased persons or great figures from the past. Such technological innovation is, so to speak, a virtualization of human existential identity, and advanced technologies such as AI will transform not only the boundary between self and others but also the aspect of human existence itself (Shibuya in Digital transformation of identity in the age of artificial intelligence. Springer, Belrin, 2020). In addition, from a phenomenological viewpoint, the boundary between reality and virtuality is blurring due to technological innovation in the living world itself, and there is a concern that this will lead to an artificial state of detachment. Actually, the use of advanced technologies such as AI, VR in virtual worlds and cyberspace will not only cause people to lose their reality and actuality but will also endanger the very foundations of their existential identity. Therefore, we must ask what it means for us as existences to interact with virtual personalities in a virtually generated world, and what is the nature of the intersubjectivity formation and semantic understanding as well as the modes of existence, facts, and worlds, and what are their evidential natures. In line with what Husserl, the founder of phenomenology, once declared at the beginning of his “Cartesianische Meditationen” (Husserl in Cartesianische Meditationen, e-artnow, 2018), that “we need to begin philosophy radically anew”, as also phenomenological sociology, it can now state that “we need to begin phenomenological sociology radically anew”. Then, this paper reviews and discusses the following issues based on technological trends. (shrink)

BackgroundThe Catalan Institute of Health is the largest health services public provider in Catalonia. “CIH Code of Ethics Virtual Forum”, was created within the Intranet of the CIH to facilitate participation among their employees. The current study aims to: a) Analyse the CIH workers’ assessment of their own, their colleagues’ and the organization’s observance of ethical values; b) Identify the opinions, attitudes, experiences and practices related to the ethical values from the discourse of the workers that contributed voluntarily (...) to the CEVF.MethodsMixed methods study with convergent parallel design:1.Cross sectional study by means of a self-administered, ad hoc, anonymous questionnaire to assess the observance of the ethical values of the CIH according to the participants. A total of 712 workers responded to the questionnaire. A descriptive, bivariate analysis of the results was carried out. 2.Qualitative study to determine the meaning for the workers of the ethical values put forward by the organization. Their individual opinions and experiences were explored by means of a thematic contents analysis of 225 comments posted in the CEVF. The study was conducted between May and December 2008.ResultsThe average score for observance of the CE by the respondents themselves was high, between 3.5-4/5 for the observance by their colleagues and close to 3/5 for the CIH management. These results do not change when we compare by gender, age group and professional discipline. The comments on the values are information-rich, they mirror the ethical environment of the institution and show various ethical dilemmas and suggestions.ConclusionsResults show that it is feasible for a publicly funded health care organization to develop a CE with the participation of employees and the support of the management. Results underscore the relevance of this strategy for the implementation, improvement and update of the CE as a responsibility shared by all workers. Practices consistent with ethical values are rewarded by social approval, enhance employee’s confidence and coherence in decision-making and improve public engagement and institutional policies. (shrink)

This paper introduces the concept of Adaptive Rooms, which are virtual environments able to dynamically adapt to users’ needs, including ‘physical’ and cognitive workflow requirements, number of users, differing cognitive abilities and skills. Adaptive rooms are collections of virtual objects, many of them self-transforming objects, housed in an architecturally active room with information spaces and tools. An ontology of objects used in adap- tive rooms is presented. Virtual entities are classified as passive, reactive, ac- tive, and information (...) entities, and their sub-categories. Only active objects can be self-transforming. Adaptive Rooms are meant to combine the insights of ubiquitous computing -- that computerization should be everywhere, transpar- ently incorporated -- with the insights of augmented reality -- that everyday ob- jects can be digitally enhanced to carry more information about their use. To display the special potential of adaptive rooms, concrete examples are given to show how the demands of cognitive workflow can be reduced. (shrink)

This paper reports on-going work in the eSCAPE Project (Esprit Long Term Research Project 25377) directed to the research and development of electronic landscapes for public use. Our concern here is to elucidate a sociologically informed approach towards the design of electronic landscapes or virtual worlds. We suggest — and demonstrate through ethnographic studies of virtual technologies at a multimedia art museum and information technology trade show — that members sense of space is produced through social practices tied (...) to the accomplishment of activities occurring within the locations their actions are situated. Space, in other words, is socially constructed and shaped through members’ practices for accomplishing situated activities. We explicate, by practical examples, an approach to discovering social practices in and through which a sense of space is constructed and outline how such understandings may be used to formulate requirements for the design of electronic landscapes. In explicating our ethnographically informed approach, we outline how future technologies may bedeveloped through the situated evaluation of experimental prototypes in public use. (shrink)

This paper is going to discuss, what will be called, ‘The Internet of Bodies’. Our physical and virtual worlds are blending and shifting our understanding of three key areas: (1) our identities are diversifying, as they become hyper-enhanced and multi-sensory; (2) our collaborations are co-created, immersive and connected; (3) our innovations are diverse and inclusive. It is proposed that our bodies have finally become the interface.

Advances in artificial intelligence and computer graphics digital technologies have contributed to a relative increase in realism in virtual characters. Preserving virtual characters’ communicative realism, in particular, joined the ranks of the improvements in natural language technology, and animation algorithms. This paper focuses on culturally relevant paralinguistic cues in nonverbal communication. We model the effects of an English-speaking digital character with different accents on human interactants (i.e., users). Our cultural influence model proposes that paralinguistic realism, in the form (...) of accented speech, is effective in promoting culturally congruent cognition only when it is self-relevant to users. For example, a Chinese or Middle Eastern English accent may be perceived as foreign to individuals who do not share the same ethnic cultural background with members of those cultures. However, for individuals who are familiar and affiliate with those cultures (i.e., in-group members who are bicultural), accent not only serves as a motif of shared social identity, it also primes them to adopt culturally appropriate interpretive frames that influence their decision making. (shrink)

Learning in virtual environments is an ethical experience. This research aimed to understand the ethical experience of a virtual learning environment from the perspective of university students and their teachers. The participants were 205 higher education students from different Spanish-speaking countries (Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador, and Spain) and 30 teachers who acted as tutors in virtual education. The study used a design-based research method and quantitative instruments for the collection of empirical data. The data analysis showed that (...) students and teachers perceive responsibility, commitment, and respect as values inherent to virtual education, and may have a moderately different ethical experience based on these values. With this research, we intend to contribute to a better understanding of the coexistence of human beings in virtual learning environments. We argue that it is necessary to question or rethink the pedagogical paradigms that guide virtual education, endowing them with humanity, and recognizing their ethical dimension as funda-mental. (shrink)

Much of today’s geopolitical conflict is taking place online, carried out in significant measure by volunteers, even as governments seek to emphasize information technology cooperation. Computational social scientists have discovered multiple online environments in which to collect relevant statistical data, including Wikipedia pageviews, archives of government research grant abstracts, and behavior in massively multiplayer online war games. Three very different examples of the dynamics of collaboration and conflict provide alternative perspectives: (1) the Pirate Parties that seem to have been an (...) overly ambitious attempt to transform democracy in the Information Age, (2) citizen science that had some success attracting volunteers to donate labor to academic research projects, but generally avoided controversial research projects in areas such as human conflict, and (3) a genre of online role-playing games that emphasized spontaneous organization of volunteer armies to develop skills and resources for victory. Without claiming to offer strict rules for success, this article considers the organizational structures and practical methodologies that might be adapted for achievement of goals by ethical social movements. (shrink)

This paper is a commentary on a project application of telemedicine to alleviate primary health care problems in Lundazi district in the Eastern province of Zambia. The project dubbed 'The Virtual Doctor Project' will use hard body vehicles fitted with satellite communication devices and modern medical equipment to deliver primary health care services to some of the neediest areas of the country. The relevance and importance of the project lies in the fact that these areas are hard-to-reach due to (...) rugged natural terrain and have very limited telecommunications infrastructure. The lack of these and other basic services makes it difficult for medical personnel to settle in these areas, which leads to an acute shortage of medical personnel. We comment on this problem and how it is addressed by 'The Virtual Doctor Project', emphasizing that while the telemedicine concept is not new in sub-Saharan Africa, the combination of mobility and connectivity to service a number of villages 'on the go' is an important variation in the shift back to the 1978 Alma Ata principles of the United Nations World Health Organization [WHO].This overview of the Virtual Doctor Project in Zambia provides insight into both the potential for ICT, and the problems and limitations that any "real-world" articulation of this technology must confront. (shrink)

Due to the epidemic, many offline educational institutions and even schools have begun to seek new teaching methods, and online teaching has become an important teaching method in this situation. Online teaching refers to the teaching mode in which teachers teach online through the Internet and students learn in online classrooms. Online teaching can reduce crowd contact between students and prevent the spread of the epidemic. However, due to the virtual nature of the Internet and the immaturity of the (...) online teaching system, the current online teaching method cannot be accepted by the majority of teachers and students. Therefore, this paper conducts a satisfaction survey on the psychological acceptance ability of students under the online teaching organization of English majors, aiming to understand the actual psychological burden brought by online teaching to students. The content of the questionnaire includes students' satisfaction with courses and teaching, satisfaction with teacher-student interaction, satisfaction with platforms and resources, satisfaction with teaching performance, and overall satisfaction. The survey results show that students' satisfaction with courses is generally above 4 points, while their satisfaction with teaching is generally lower, ranging from 3.65 to 3.94 points. Students' satisfaction with teacher-student interaction is not very high, around 3.75. Students' satisfaction with the teaching platform is higher than that of teachers, with a score of 4.05 or more. In terms of students' satisfaction with teaching performance, male students' satisfaction is above 4.45 points, while female students' satisfaction is 4.35 points. For overall satisfaction, male students scored above 4.45, while female students scored 4.35. Since the satisfaction in all aspects is higher than 3 points, it can be seen that most English majors are quite satisfied with the online teaching. (shrink)

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual influencers are now frequently used by brands in various categories to engage customers. However, little is known about who the followers of these AI-based virtual influencers are and more importantly, what drives the followers to use AI-based virtual influencers. The results from a survey support the notion that compensatory mechanisms and the need to belong play important roles in affecting usage intentions of AI-based virtual influencers. Specifically, the study finds that usage intentions (...) are mediated and moderated by compensatory mechanisms that arise from the perception of AI-based virtual influencers’ functional benefits and existential threats to human identity. Furthermore, the need for belonging moderates the effects of the following status (following versus non-following) on perceived personalization benefits of AI-based virtual influencers and behavioral intentions to use AI-based virtual influencers. This study provides important implications for academia delving into the social, cultural, and philosophical implications of AI-based virtual influencers for human societies as well as for brands that plan to use AI-based virtual influencers and gain a better understanding of their customers in AI-driven digital marketing. (shrink)

The development of digital technologies has opened the door to surprising possibilities for the future of humanity. The idea of creating a ‘Metaverse’ in which it is possible to build and interact with digital avatars of real deceased people raises a number of complex ethical and moral questions. The prospect of transferring memories and experiences into digital avatars or creating exact copies of the brain structures of real individuals raises questions regarding the nature of identity and consciousness. These virtual (...) entities could be used for emotional, commercial, or entertainment purposes, but also to fulfil sexual desires, opening a debate on the morality of such interactions. Furthermore, the total control we could exercise over these entities, similar to divine power, raises further ethical questions about responsibility and respect for virtual life. The discussion of these issues will become increasingly relevant as technology advances and it will be crucial to address them with an ethical and political approach that is also aware of their impact on society and the individual. We will analyse the problem by comparing the arguments that it is always wrong to have sexual relations with digital entities (copies of human beings), regardless of their moral relevance, with the arguments that it can be moral to have sex with them. (shrink)

Since Aristotle the central question in biology was the origin of organic form; a question put in the backyard by neo-Darwinism that considers organic form as a side effect of the interactions between genes and their products. On the other hand, the fashionable notion of self-organization also fails to provide a true causal explanation for organic form. For Aristotle form is both a cause and the principle of intelligibility and this coupled to the classical concepts of potentiality and actuality (...) provides a rational framework,currently embodied in the contemporary concept of ‘attractor’, for understanding the origin of organic form. (shrink)

Domain analysis is useful for examination of individual spheres of intellectual activity, both academic and otherwise, and has been used in the knowledge organization (KO) literature to explore specific communities and uses, including web pornography (Beaudoin and Ménard 2015), virtual online worlds (Sköld, Olle 2015), gourmet cooking (Hartel 2010), healthy eating (McTavish 2015), art studies (Ørom 2003), the Knowledge Organization journal (Guimarães et al. 2013), and domain analysis itself (Smiraglia 2015). The results of domain analyses are useful (...) for the development of controlled vocabularies, taxonomies, ontologies, metadata schemas, and other systems for the documentation, description, and discovery of resources, as well as for knowledge discovery in general (Smiraglia 2015; Hjørland 2017). This research describes a methodology for the elucidation of knowledge organization systems (KOS) currently in use on image websites that document graffiti, graffiti art, and street art around the world. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has brought significant changes to the life of the Christian church in Indonesia. Such changes can degrade the essence of the fellowship of believers. The reality of the COVID-19 pandemic, which became the church’s starting point, has triggered a change in the pattern of carrying out its duties and services to the people and their environment. The church can adapt and transform its ministry innovations as a living organisation. The church needs to reinterpret the (...) effectiveness of its presence through adapting new service patterns, namely onsite services to virtual services or hybrid services, to remain relevant to every dimension of rapid change in all aspects. This research study analyses the actualisation of church ecclesiology in the midst and after the pandemic. Using descriptive qualitative methods with interactive data analysis from Miles and Huberman, the following points have been found: (1) virtual ministry as a church reality, (2) a pneumatic encounter spirituality characterises the church, (3) ecclesiology in the context of universal communion and (4) the sacrament as a means of manifesting divine power.Contribution: This study provides the concept of collaboration between ecclesiology as a principle and technology as a method. Ecclesiology and technology can realise the ministry of church unity. Collaboration between principles and methods in the church will build a flexible church in all conditions. However, the principles and duties of the church vocation are not neglected. (shrink)

The chapter deals with the notion of phenomenal realness, which was first systematically explored by Albert Michotte. Phenomenal realness refers to the impression that a perceptual object is perceived to have an autonomous existence in our mind-independent world. Perceptual psychology provides an abundance of phenomena, ranging from amodal completion to picture perception, that indicate that phenomenal realness is an independent perceptual attribute that can be conferred to perceptual objects in different degrees. The chapter outlines a theoretical framework that appears particularly (...) well-suited for dealing with corresponding phenomena. According to this framework, perception can be understood as a triggering of conceptual forms by sensor inputs. It is argued that the attribute of phenomenal realness is based on specific types of internal evaluation functions which deal with the segregation of causes conceived as ‘external’ from those conceived as ‘internal’. These evaluation functions integrate different internal sources of ‘knowledge’ about the potential causes for the activation of conceptual forms and provide markers by which conceptual forms can be tagged as ‘external world objects’. (shrink)

PurposeAnomic feelings are predicted to play a moderating role in the relationship between organisational justice perceptions and the citizenship use of the organisation's internet access, or cybercivism. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesise that, just as AFs are supported in prior research as able to intensify the negative effects of organisational justice on cyberloafing, they will also intensify the positive effects of OJ on cybercivism.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 270 of the 1,547 respondents at a public university.FindingsExcept in the (...) case of procedural justice, the results support that AF act as a moderator of the OJ‐cybercivism link because, among employees with comparatively less AF, the perceptions of the OJ under study had a stronger impact on cybercivism.Research limitations/implicationsTo generalise from a convenience sample of 17 per cent to the entire University is unfeasible, let alone the “public sector” as a whole for a whole culture/country. Therefore, the paper only aims to be an early exploration of actual phenomenon, and to provide new insights necessary to understand the impact of pervasive new media and information and communication technologies on individual behaviour in virtual work settings.Practical implicationsThe findings contribute to an improved understanding of the influence of OJ on cybercivism. As a moderator, anomia is supported in our sample as one of the key “controllers” of the OJ predictions on cybercivism and sets a new scenario in seeking electronic business effectiveness. By encouraging convincing values and equity in the workplace, organisational management seems be on the right path to create the proper context for cybercivism to occur.Originality/valueEmployee AFs are shown to be a moderator in the relationship between OJ and cybercivism. This is the first empirical test of this interaction. (shrink)

PurposeAnomic feelings are predicted to play a moderating role in the relationship between organisational justice perceptions and the citizenship use of the organisation's internet access, or cybercivism. The purpose of this paper is to hypothesise that, just as AFs are supported in prior research as able to intensify the negative effects of organisational justice on cyberloafing, they will also intensify the positive effects of OJ on cybercivism.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 270 of the 1,547 respondents at a public university.FindingsExcept in the (...) case of procedural justice, the results support that AF act as a moderator of the OJ‐cybercivism link because, among employees with comparatively less AF, the perceptions of the OJ under study had a stronger impact on cybercivism.Research limitations/implicationsTo generalise from a convenience sample of 17 per cent to the entire University is unfeasible, let alone the “public sector” as a whole for a whole culture/country. Therefore, the paper only aims to be an early exploration of actual phenomenon, and to provide new insights necessary to understand the impact of pervasive new media and information and communication technologies on individual behaviour in virtual work settings.Practical implicationsThe findings contribute to an improved understanding of the influence of OJ on cybercivism. As a moderator, anomia is supported in our sample as one of the key “controllers” of the OJ predictions on cybercivism and sets a new scenario in seeking electronic business effectiveness. By encouraging convincing values and equity in the workplace, organisational management seems be on the right path to create the proper context for cybercivism to occur.Originality/valueEmployee AFs are shown to be a moderator in the relationship between OJ and cybercivism. This is the first empirical test of this interaction. (shrink)

Moving away from simple data sharing within the science community towards cross-organizational collaboration scenarios significantly increased challenges related to security and privacy. They need to be addressed in order to make cross-organizational applications such as collaborative working environments a business proposition within communities such as eHealth, construction or manufacturing. Increasingly distributed scenarios where many different types of services need to be combined in order to implement semantically enriched business processes demand new approaches to security within such dynamic Virtual Organizations. (...) The allocation of access rights need to be possible in an easy and controlled way in order to allow inexperienced users to maintain the information and ensure compliance e.g. with legal and privacy related regulations. In this paper the focus is how security concepts originating from the Grid domain have been applied for collaborative working environments. The chosen scenarios are a Virtual Laboratory for Infectious Diseases (ViroLab) and different collaborative environments from the engineering domain as defined within the CoSpaces project. The requirements from these scenarios are analyzed and a security model enabling such dynamic, secure and trustworthy collaborations is presented. (shrink)

Summary The rhetorical uses of discovery and invention stories are legion, but of particular concern in this paper are those that are deployed for economic or commercial reasons, especially in claiming intellectual property rights, usually in the form of patents. The case of stories about Dr Irving Langmuir (1881–1957) of the General Electric Research Laboratory, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1932 and was the first industry-based laureate from the United States, is examined. Langmuir won the prize for (...) his ‘outstanding discoveries and inventions within the field of surface chemistry’, which also happened to underlie the virtual monopoly that General Electric gained in the supply of electric light. Langmuir was the inspiration for the stereotypically absent-minded and disinterested character of Dr Felix Hoenikker in Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Cat's Cradle (1963). My case study focuses on this and other representations of Langmuir as a discoverer, especially those generated by the General Electric Company, and explores the utility of these representations for Langmuir himself, and for his employer, in corporate PR, in ongoing struggles over patents, and in the post-war organisation of R&D. It is argued that, while the era of corporate research produced new collective modes of discovery and invention their description in heroic, individualistic terms long continued, and for good reason. (shrink)

: A virtually unknown philosopher of the twentieth century, Spencer Heath was nevertheless well-known as a pioneer in the early development of commercial aviation. He retired from business in 1931 to devote the last thirty years of his life to his long-time interest in the philosophy of science and human social organization. He developed ….

The article contains general definition of the phenomenon of hypertext and the Internet in a virtual consciousness philosophy of post-modernism. Describes the phenomenon of hypertext as nonlinear forms of computer and literary texts, its structural units and the main aspects of the organization of hypertext. The article contains the detailed analysis of publications on the issue of hypertext and the history of investigation of this problem. The specific features which allow defining of hypertext as the brand new phenomenon (...) are analyzed in the article. Among them we can mention the following points: - Hypertext is constantly updateable, amendable, editable; - Hypertext has neither any set beginning or the end nor any hierarchical structure; - Hypertext has decentralized nature; - The specific features of hypertext are manifested in text transformations. If an "ordinary" text has linear character, and one can move in its "area" only in the directions limited by one and the same space, then rhizomorphic hypertext opens new "transverse" changes in the text Universe. The way of organizing of text in Internet corresponds to the major ideas of "nomadology" and "Rhizome" developed by Gilles Deleuze and F?lix Guattari in their Capitalism and Schizophrenia project. Postmodernist electronic hypertext is a phenomenon by its nature opposite to modernist printed text. This allows us to consider hypertext as one of the features of coming of "post- Gutenberg era". Hypertext fundamentally changes the way of construction of text environment - to replace the one-dimensional text comes multi-dimensional. In the phenomenon of the global information network, created on the basis of hypertext technology, - intertextual fiber, series of texts, which intercross with other texts, produce new texts. In conclusions of the article - the characterization of hypertext as postmodernist phenomenon is given and the major views of postmodernism which are represented in hypertext - plurality, decentration, fragmentariness, intertextuality - are provided. (shrink)

Concepts of space and time are widely developed in physics. However, there is a considerable lack of biologically plausible theoretical frameworks that can demonstrate how space and time dimensions are implemented in the activity of the most complex life-system – the brain with a mind. Brain activity is organized both temporally and spatially, thus representing space-time in the brain. Critical analysis of recent research on the space-time organization of the brain’s activity pointed to the existence of so-called operational space-time (...) in the brain. This space-time is limited to the execution of brain operations of differing complexity. During each such brain operation a particular short-term spatio-temporal pattern of integrated activity of different brain areas emerges within related operational space-time. At the same time, to have a fully functional human brain one needs to have a subjective mental experience. Current research on the subjective mental experience offers detailed analysis of space-time organization of the mind. According to this research, subjective mental experience (subjective virtual world) has definitive spatial and temporal properties similar to many physical phenomena. Based on systematic review of the propositions and tenets of brain and mind space-time descriptions, our aim in this review essay is to explore the relations between the two. To be precise, we would like to discuss the hypothesis that via the brain operational space-time the mind subjective space-time is connected to otherwise distant physical space-time reality. (shrink)

The organization of cutting-edge HEP laboratories has evolved in the intersection of academia, state agencies, and industry. Exponentially ever-larger and more complex knowledge-intensive operations, the laboratories have often faced the challenges of, and required organizational solutions similar to, those identified by a cluster of diverse theories falling under the larger heading of organization theory. The cluster has either shaped or accounted for the organization of industry and state administration. The theories also apply to HEP laboratories, as they (...) have gradually and uniquely hybridized their principles and solutions. Yet scholarship has virtually ignored this linkage and has almost exclusively focused on the laboratories’ presumably unique egalitarian organizational aspects. Guided by the principles developed in the organization theory cluster, we identify the basic organizational features of HEP laboratories in relation to their pursuit of narrow and broad epistemic goals. We also provide a set of criteria and methods for assessing the efficiency of the identified organizational features in achieving such goals. (shrink)

Logical limitation and virtual harmony are two formal characteristics that construct the objective organization of artistic objects. In the experience of Art, the emergence of space relationships has its origin in the limitation of logical relationships. The pretension towards harmonic adaptation determines the virtual appearance of a space prior to the objective world. The contemporary aesthetic theory must reformulate the theoretical contexts previous to modernity, referring to the historical origin of its most critical problems. Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism (...) and Neo-Platonism, as systematizations of classical tradition, contain the fundamental premises that, later on, will reappear in modern aesthetics and will help us reorder the panorama of aesthetic drift after contemporary thought. (shrink)