Research Repository
Social Informatics
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Collins Ovie Status Current Part Time No Years 2023 Project Title Digital Literacy Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies David Haynes Second Supervisor Peter Cruickshank
Computing
Master's Degree
Level Master's Degree Student Collins Ovie Status Complete Part Time No Years 2019 - 2021 Project Title Quantum Computing in Finance Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Peter Cruickshank Second Supervisor Bruce Ryan
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Collins Ovie Status Current Part Time No Years 2023 Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies David Haynes Second Supervisor Peter Cruickshank
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student John Marshall Status Current Part Time No Years 2021 Project Title Work-based learning environments (WBLE) for fostering industry-relevant skills and optimal economic performance. Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies David Haynes Second Supervisor Peter Cruickshank
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Lijuan Luo Status Current Part Time No Years 2020 Project Title Self-actualisation and positive emotions in Language learning: the case of English learning in China (provisiona) Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Peter Cruickshank Second Supervisor Pritam Chita
MSc (Information Systems Development)
Master's Degree
Level Master's Degree Student Dr Bruce Ryan Status Complete Part Time Yes Years 2010 - 2013 Project Title Disconnected democracy? A study of Scottish Community Councils’ online communications Project Description In Scotland, Community Councils (CCs) are the lowest tier of government, being representative bodies for small portions of Local Authority areas and having no service-delivery duties. They have a number of issues. For example, 16% of potential CCs do not exist, while there is a paucity of candidates for those that do exist. Despite being charged with ascertaining and expressing their communities’ opinions, and despite other tiers of UK government increasing their use of online communications, recent research has shown that very few CC effectively use online techniques. In particular, the proportion using social media is very small.
This project investigated the motivations behind some CCs’ use and non-use of online communication. Semi-structured interviews were used to investigate the drivers and inhibitors behind some CCs’ online presences, while criteria for an ‘ideal’ presence were generated and used to assess actual presences. The most significant drivers and inhibitors found were cost (specifically reduced information-dissemination costs but also increased time-costs), increased effectiveness/efficiency, increased visibility, satisfaction of citizen demand and the age-related part of the digital divide. The biggest practical problem faced by those who run CC online presences is that they generally have little support, even from fellow CC members.
These drivers and motivations are considered through the lenses of models of technology uptake and success, namely Diffusion of Innovations, the Technology Acceptance Model and the DeLone and McLean information systems success model. Of these, the DeLone and McLean model appears to offer the most practical ways forward for both academic research and practical improvement of CC online presences.
Recommendations for further work include monitoring of changes in online communication use, gathering of social media data, gathering of demographic data about community councillors and quantitative use of the DeLone and McLean model to investigate maximisation of benefits stemming from CC online presences.Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Peter Cruickshank
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Oluwaseun Bamgboye Status Complete Part Time No Years 2016 - 2021 Project Title Semantic model-driven framework for validating quality requirements of internet of things streaming data Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Xiaodong Liu Second Supervisor Peter Cruickshank
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Frances Ryan Status Complete Part Time No Years 2013 - 2019 Project Title Reputation management in a digital world: The role of online information in the building, management, and evaluation of personal reputations Project Description This PhD is concerned with the role of online information in the creation, building, and evaluation of personal reputations. In this context term “personal reputation” refers to the reputation of private individuals rather than corporate identity and brand. Two broad research themes are being investigated: (1) the means by which people evaluate or assess the personal reputations of others from the online evidence available to them and (2) how people manage their own personal reputations through their use of online information, and to what extent those behaviours are intentional. These themes are addressed with reference to the broader information science literature on information behaviour and use, including aspects of bibliometric research that focuses on citation practice and citation analysis and prior work on everyday life information seeking (ELIS).
The interdisciplinary nature of the research themes means that much of the relevant academic literature has been found to be dispersed across a number of other subject domains. Included in this are articles from computing, employment research, human-computer interaction, human resources management, information systems, management and organisational studies, marketing, media and communication studies, and physical and mental health. These themes and concepts are also researched in the domain of information science through citation analysis. Citations can help to build a researcher’s own identity and reputation as well as the identity and reputations of others, as well as help researchers increase their visibility among peers. These citations can impact both the researchers giving the citation and the researchers receiving the citation. In addition to traditional academic literature, an examination of non-academic sources—for example current news stories, as well as reported trends in social media use—has been undertaken. These non-academic sources indicate that topics related to information seeking behaviour, as related to personal reputation management, are also of interest to professionals in human resources and reputation management fields, social media practitioners and owners, and managers of online platforms and social networking sites, as well as a large portion of society as a whole.
The research approach adopted for this study involves the use of participant diaries and in-depth, semi-structured interviews, as is common in ELIS studies. A multi-step data collection process has been undertaken where participants were asked to keep a diary over the course of one week as they engaged with their social media accounts. Following the completion of the diaries, participants took part in hour-long, semi-structured interviews. Short participant surveys were also conducted prior to the diary exercise to collect demographic and social media use data.Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Second Supervisor Alistair Lawson Additional Supervisor Peter Cruickshank
PhD
Doctorate
Level Doctorate Student Dr Pritam Chita Status Complete Part Time Yes Years 2015 - 2022 Project Title Obstacles and opportunities in implementing large-scale agile project management: Re-positioning activity theory as an analytical tool Awarding Institution Edinburgh Napier University Director of Studies Peter Cruickshank Second Supervisor Colin Smith
About Edinburgh Napier Research Repository
Administrator e-mail: repository@napier.ac.uk
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