2,856 research outputs found
Bookreview: NICOLA MCEWEN and LUIS MORENO (Eds): The Territorial Politics of Welfare
No full textRecensione di un libr
Urbanistica in movimento. Die italienische Stadtplanung und das europäische Programm URBAN
No full textbook review: German Annual of Spatial Research and Policy. Restructuring Eastern Germany,
No full textBook revie
The construction of Karen Karnak: The multi-author-function
No full textThis thesis is situated within the comparatively recent developments of Web 2.0 and the emergence of interactive WikiMedia, and explores the mode of authorship within a Read/Write culture compared to that of a Read/Only tradition. The hypothesis of this study is that the role of the audience has become merged with the author, and as such, represents new functions and attributes, distinct from a more conventional concept of authorship, in which the roles of audience and author are more separate. Read/Write and participatory culture, as defined by this study, is focused on collaboration, and includes the influences of D.I.Y. culture, Open-Source practices and the production of text by multiple authors. Multi-authorship presents a re-thinking of several concepts which support the notion of the individual author, since the focus of multi-authorship is not on attribution and ownership of a finished text, but on the continued malleability of a text. Modes of multi-authorship, demonstrated in the use of the pseudonyms Alan Smithee and Karen Eliot, represent declarative authors whose names signify multiple origins, whilst concurrently indicating a distinct body of work. The function of these names form an important context to this study, since primary research involves the construction of an experimental mode of multi-authorship utilising WikiMedia technology and the interaction of thirty nine participants, who are invited to create a body of work under the collective pseudonym Karen Karnak. The data generated by this experiment is analysed using aspects of Michel Foucault's author-function to identify and determine power structures inherent in the WikiMedia context. The interplay of power structures, including concepts such as identity, ownership and the body of work, affect the resulting mode of authorship and contribute to the construction of Karen Karnak, suggesting further areas of research into the emerging multi-author
Consultants as agents of organizational learning: the importance of marginality
No full textThis article explores the wide range of roles that consultants can play to either enable or hinder organizational learning processes. A core concept in this analysis is the achievement of an appropriate marginality of the consultants’ role, in order to allow the organizational members to maintain the centrality for themselves that is needed to assure that learning is retained in the organization. The article argues that a number of forces can conspire to propel the consultants to central roles, and thereby impede rather than promote organizational learning. The clarification and negotiation of roles between the consultants and the members of the organization are therefore treated as a key process in determining the impact of consultants’ interventions on organizational learning. -- Berater können im Prozeß des Organisationslernens ein breites Spektrum von Rollen einnehmen. Dieser Artikel untersucht, inwieweit diese Rollen den Lernprozeß entweder stützen oder verhindern. Kernstück der Analyse ist das Erreichen einer angemessenen Marginalität der Beraterrolle, die erst den Mitgliedern der Organisation ermöglicht, die Zentralität im Lernprozeß zu gewinnen, die notwendig ist, um Lernen und Lernergebnisse in der Organisation zu halten. Gezeigt werden eine Reihe von Kräften, die Berater in eine zentrale Rolle bringen und dadurch Organisationslernen eher verhindern als unterstützen. Die Klärung und Aushandlung von Rollen zwischen Beratern und Organisationsmitgliedern wird als Schlüsselprozeß dafür gesehen, ob und wie erfolgreich der organisationale Lernprozeß verlaufen kann.
‘Slowing down’ in small and medium-sized towns: Cittaslow in Germany and Italy from a social innovation perspective
No full textSmaller towns in rural regions are important anchors for regional development, but they are not usually considered particularly innovative and open to new ideas. This paper asks how the network of small and medium-sized towns, Cittaslow, could establish slowing down as something new in local development. Against the theoretical background of sociological innovation research, an analytical framework of social innovation is elaborated to analyse Cittaslow using four case studies: two German and two Italian towns. Based on fieldwork in the four towns, this paper shows that discourse and communication on slowing down, local projects labelled as slow and new cooperation structures go hand in hand. This leads to the conclusion that new ways of local development need a communicative umbrella under which projects and stakeholders come together. The paper furthermore demonstrates that the analytical framework, with its triad of semantics, pragmatics and grammar, is extremely helpful for analysing spatial development and has the potential to be adapted as a tool for policy strategies
Thinking Together Digitalization and Social Innovation in Rural Areas: An Exploration of Rural Digitalization Projects in Germany
No full textDigitalization and social innovation are often discussed separately and without any spatial reference or in relation to cities, although newer works show the importance of social innovation also for rural areas. Existing digitalization projects illustrate the potential of digital technologies for rural development. Current debates on smart villages refer to both digitalization and social innovation but still in a rather unsystematic way. The paper seeks to think together digitalization and social innovation in rural areas more systemically and proposes to conceptually connect them with the help of sensitizing concepts, which are developed out of debates on social and digital social innovation. Along these concepts, the paper explores rural digitalization projects in Germany. On the one hand, this highlights the spectrum of these initiatives and, on the other hand, provides a framework under which digitalization and social innovation can be analyzed and smart villages may be supported systematically
- …
