1,720,987 research outputs found
Improving the robustness and privacy of HTTP cookie-based tracking systems within an affiliate marketing context : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
Full text linkE-commerce activities provide a global reach for enterprises large and small. Third parties generate visitor traffic for a fee; through affiliate marketing, search engine marketing, keyword bidding and through organic search, amongst others. Therefore, improving the robustness of the underlying tracking and state management techniques is a vital requirement for the growth and stability of e-commerce. In an inherently stateless ecosystem such as the Internet, HTTP cookies have been the de-facto tracking vector for decades. In a previous study, the thesis author exposed circumstances under which cookie-based tracking system can fail, some due to technical glitches, others due to manipulations made for monetary gain by some fraudulent actors.
Following a design science research paradigm, this research explores alternative tracking vectors discussed in previous research studies within a cross-domain tracking environment. It evaluates their efficacy within current context and demonstrates how to use them to improve the robustness of existing tracking techniques. Research outputs include methods, instantiations and a privacy model artefact based on information seeking behaviour of different categories of tracking software, and their resulting privacy intrusion levels. This privacy model provides clarity and is useful for practitioners and regulators to create regulatory frameworks that do not hinder technological advancement, rather they curtail privacy-intrusive tracking practices on the Internet. The method artefacts are instantiated as functional prototypes, available publicly on Internet, to demonstrate the efficacy and utility of the methods through live tests.
The research contributes to the theoretical knowledge base through generalisation of empirical findings and to the industry by problem solving design artefacts
Opportunities and challenges of mobile learning for promoting mathematical literacy
Full text linkMathematical literacy plays an important role in supporting individuals to fulfil their professional roles in modern society. The affordances of mobile technologies as well as the emergence of new theories in mobile learning have the potential to promote mathematical literacy. However, implementation of mobile learning in Indonesian society faces challenges related to perceived ethical and learning issues in curriculum-based educational settings. This study aims to investigate the preparedness of teachers in integrating mathematics subject content with mobile technologies, especially in promoting mathematical literacy. An exploratory study has been conducted using mixed methods by performing questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews to understand teacher's knowledge towards mathematical literacy and identifying opportunities and challenges of mobile learning within instruction. Findings indicate that teachers mostly do not know about mathematical literacy, indicating that the concept of mathematical literacy needs to be promoted. Further, most schools prohibit the use of mobile devices in classrooms as they are wary of inappropriate use of mobile devices which may harm students' mental health and distract them from learning. Study finds this to be the most common cause for teachers' reluctance in using mobile learning
Analysing underpinning patterns in social media posts that promote fat stigmatisation : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D) in Information Technology, Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
No full textListed in 2023 Dean's List of Exceptional ThesesSocial media offers users an online platform to freely express themselves; however, when users post opinionated and offensive comments that target certain communities, this could instigate hatred towards them. With the global increase in obese/fat populations, social media discourses laced with fat hatred have become commonplace, leading to much fat stigmatising content being posted online. This research aims to investigate the patterns of fat stigma, and how female and male genders are positioned in fat stigmatising discourses that are being conducted over social media. To achieve this objective, a methodological framework is proposed for unearthing underlying stigmatising patterns prevalent in social media discussions, with specific focus on fat stigma. Methods incorporating natural language processing techniques such as sentiment analysis and topic modelling, along with discourse analysis have been described for classifying users’ emotions and comprehending the stigma patterns embedded in social big data. The framework has been applied to weight-based textual data, extracted from Twitter and Reddit, to identify emergent gender-based themes, emotions and word frequency patterns that underpin the fat stigmatising content posted online. The experiential consequences of being considered fat across both genders have been analysed with objectification theory. The findings from this study have provided a holistic outlook on fat stigmatising content that is posted online which can further inform policymakers in planning suitable props to facilitate more inclusive social media spaces. This study showcases how lexical analytics can be conducted by combining a variety of data mining methods to draw out insightful subject related themes that add to the existing knowledge base; therefore, has both practical and theoretical implications
Cyber counterintelligence: Concept, actors and implications for security
No full textContemporary security is increasingly concerned with and affected by actions undertaken via cyberspace. The use and exploitation of the cyber domain is of particular interest and use to practitioners and scholars of intelligence and counterintelligence. The stability and security of cyberspace now affects individual, organizational, national, and international security. However, the rapid proliferation of actors in this relatively new domain has resulted in an operational field wherein the capacity to act has thus far surpassed academic or institutional understanding. Further, while intelligence collection methods in cyberspace have developed rapidly, both practice and understanding of cyber counterintelligence appear to have fallen behind. The first aim of this paper is to define and examine the concept of counterintelligence. Having defined the term and located the discipline within the structure of the overarching intelligence/security field, the second aim of this paper is to provide a contextualized understanding of the actors in cyberspace who are employing cyber counterintelligence. Finally, this paper will examine the possible implications of the practice of cyber counterintelligence, and consider future avenues of research in the field. Book available at: http://masseypress.ac.nz/books/all/all/cyber-security-and-polic
Relational Governance in Offshore Outsourcing Partnerships
No full textOffshore outsourcing has facilitated exchange of knowledge and services with clients and suppliers situated in diverse economic markets. To better manage knowledge exchange and mitigate risks from international partnerships, client and suppliers use various elements of relational governance practice. This study investigates three cases engaged in supplier-client relationships, to examine how the operational and social aspects of the knowledge exchange are governed. Findings reveal that offshore partnerships are first constituted with service level agreements, which set control measures and layout business expectations from both partners. Boundary gate keepers bring further accountability across firms by designing social networks for capturing and sharing of knowledge, thereby reducing each partner’s perception of risk. The study contributes to existing studies on offshore knowledge markets and explains how relational governance practices operate in a global socio-technical setting. In doing so, the study demonstrates how knowledge processes, social networks, and market economies influence relational elements for supporting the exchange
Relational Governance in Offshore Outsourcing Partnerships
No full textOffshore outsourcing has facilitated exchange of knowledge and services with clients and suppliers situated in diverse economic markets. To better manage knowledge exchange and mitigate risks from international partnerships, client and suppliers use various elements of relational governance practice. This study investigates three cases engaged in supplier-client relationships, to examine how the operational and social aspects of the knowledge exchange are governed. Findings reveal that offshore partnerships are first constituted with service level agreements, which set control measures and layout business expectations from both partners. Boundary gate keepers bring further accountability across firms by designing social networks for capturing and sharing of knowledge, thereby reducing each partner’s perception of risk. The study contributes to existing studies on offshore knowledge markets and explains how relational governance practices operate in a global socio-technical setting. In doing so, the study demonstrates how knowledge processes, social networks, and market economies influence relational elements for supporting the exchange
Key success drivers in offshore software development : New Zealand and Indian vendors' perspectives : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Technology at Massey University, Albany campus, New Zealand
Full text linkOffshore software development (OSD) is a leading business sector in the present ‘glocal’ IT
marketplace, and vendors in different countries are opening software development centres
worldwide to take advantage of the new business opportunities. However, software
development is both a technical and a social process as various software modules need to be
integrated, which requires ongoing interaction between the stakeholders. The software
modules rely upon local knowledge regarding customer wants, project specific features,
chosen design methodologies by development team members and synchronisation of
activities to confirm the next design iteration. This study focuses on knowledge sharing
processes involving the interplay between acquiring local knowledge and applying the
knowledge acquired into the design of the client-specific software builds. New knowledge
is created as new processes are applied and new outcomes realised, resulting in re-definition
of software development practices.
Building on existing theories with empirical case study evidence, this research reveals the
socio-technical influences on knowledge management in the OSD process. Ideographic
research methods have been applied to bring sensitivity in the everyday organisational
activities for knowledge sharing across diverse social and cultural groups within two
country contexts (New Zealand and India). Empirical data from ten case studies is used to
inductively develop a conceptual framework, which has been applied to make within case
and cross case comparisons across three levels of analysis (micro, meso and macro) for
knowledge sharing. The micro level analysis explores individual key success drivers
(behaviours and methodologies), the meso level explores organisational level practices
(work processes and structures) and the macro level gives a holistic evaluation across two
country contexts.
Country contexts reveal that New Zealand vendors share closer cultural proximity with their
clients, are engaged in client facing skills and have further outsourced software
development tasks to other low cost countries. The Indian vendors are involved in software
construction, prefer technical specialist skills and have defined more discipline in their
software development processes. The thesis offers new insights on how vendors’ shape
their software development styles based upon their beliefs and understanding of the
offshore market and is especially relevant to both vendors and clients who intend venturing
into the offshore market
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
