Towards an SMS-based Social Network for Health Workers in Rural Areas in Myanmar

Seventy percent of the population in Myanmar lives in rural areas. Although health workers are adequately trained, they are overburdened due to understaffing and insufficient supplies. Literature confirms that information and communication technologies can extend the reach of healthcare. In this paper, we present an SMS-based social network that aims to help health workers to interact with other medical professionals through topic-based message delivery. Topics describe interests of users and the content of message. A message is delivered by matching message content with user interests. Users describe topics as ICD- 10 codes, a comprehensive medical taxonomy. In this ICD-10 coded SMS, a set of prearranged codes provides a common language for users to send structured information that fits inside an SMS.

Effectiveness of Justice-Based Measures in Managing Trust and Privacy Concerns on Social Networking Sites: Intercultural Perspective

The unprecedented success of social networking sites (SNSs) has been recently overshadowed by concerns about privacy risks. As SNS users grow weary of privacy breaches and thus develop distrust, they may restrict or even terminate their platform activities. In the long run, these developments endanger SNS platforms’ financial viability and undermine their ability to create individual and social value. By applying a justice perspective, this study aims to understand the means at the disposal of SNS providers to leverage the privacy concerns and trusting beliefs of their users—two important determinants of user participation on SNSs. Considering that SNSs have a global appeal, empirical tests assess the effectiveness of justice measures for three culturally distinct countries: Germany, Russia and Morocco. The results indicate that these measures are particularly suited to address trusting beliefs of SNS audience. Specifically, in all examined countries, procedural justice and the awareness dimension of informational justice improve perceptions of trust in the SNS provider. Privacy concerns, however, are not as easy to manage, because the impact of justice-based measures on privacy concerns is not universal. Beyond theoretical value, this research offers valuable practical insights into the use of justice-based measures to promote trust and mitigate privacy concerns in a cross-cultural setting.

Research Note—Why Following Friends Can Hurt You: An Exploratory Investigation of the Effects of Envy on Social Networking Sites among College-Age Users

Research findings on how participation in social networking sites (SNSs) affects users’ subjective well-being are equivocal. Some studies suggest a positive impact of SNSs on users’ life satisfaction and mood, whereas others report undesirable consequences such as depressive symptoms and anxiety. However, whereas the factors behind the positive effects have received significant scholarly attention, little is known about the mechanisms that underlie the unfavorable consequences. To fill this gap, this study uses social comparison theory and the responses of 1,193 college-age Facebook users to investigate the role of envy in the SNS context as a potential contributor to those undesirable outcomes. Arising in response to social information consumption, envy is shown to be associated with reduced cognitive and affective well-being as well as increased reactive self-enhancement. These preliminary findings contribute to the growing body of information systems research investigating the dysfunctional consequences of information technology adoption in general and social media participation in particular.

Social network size and perceived network sufficiency as predictors of perceived health status

This study focused on the relationship between social network size (number of friends and relatives), perceived sufficiency of the network and self-rated health utilizing data from the National Survey of Personal Health Practices and Consequences, 1979. For men neither perceived sufficiency nor number of relatives were associated with self-rated health status. The number of friends was positively associated with health status. For women perceived network sufficiency was positively and significantly related to health status, independent of network size. The number of friends and relatives was not associated with self-rated health status. The sociodemographic variables accounted for most of the explained variance in health status for both males and females. Social networks may hold different meanings for women and men, and may require qualitative as well as quantitative analysis. There may have been insufficient variance in the major variables to produce meaningful results. ^

AFRICA BUILD Portal: developing a social network of African health researchers and educators

One of the main outputs of the project is a collaborative platform which integrates a myriad of research and learning resources. This article presents the first prototype of this platform: the AFRICA BUILD Portal (ABP 1.0). The ABP is a Web 2.0 platform which facilitates the access, in a collaborative manner, to these resources. Through a usable web interface, the ABP has been designed to avoid, as much as possible, the connectivity problems of African institutions. In this paper, we suggest that the access to complex systems does not imply slow response rates, and that their development model guides the project to a natural technological transfer, adaptation and user acceptance. Finally, this platform aims to motivate research attitudes during the learning process and stimulate user?s collaborations.

Exploring three approaches to offer distance learning courses through a social network of health researchers in three African countries

The Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp hereby presents the results of two pilot distance learning training programmes, developed under the umbrella of the AFRICA BUILD project (FP7). The two courses focused on evidence-based medicine (EBM): with the aim of enhancing research and education, via novel approaches and to identify research needs emanating from the field. These pilot experiences, which were run both in English-speaking (Ghana), and French-speaking (Mali and Cameroon) partner institutions, produced targeted courses for the strengthening of research methodology and policy. The courses and related study materials are in the public domain and available through the AFRICA BUILD Portal (http://www.africabuild.eu/taxonomy/term/37); the training modules were delivered live via Dudal webcasts. This paper assesses the success and difficulties of transferring EBM skills with these two specific training programmes, offered through three different approaches: fully online facultative courses, fully online tutor supported courses or through a blended approach with both online and face-to-face sessions. Key factors affecting the selection of participants, the accessibility of the courses, how the learning resources are offered, and how interactive online communities are formed, are evaluated and discussed.

HealthEye: The Social Network : the social network for rare diseases

HealthEye es la red social para unir a personas con la misma enfermedad rara. Este proyecto, es considerado como una startup social, abordando tanto el desarrollo de la plataforma así como el modelo de negocio del proyecto. La parte más complicada del proyecto, sin duda alguna, es encontrar un modelo sostenible para la empresa, y por supuesto, el crear una web de buena calidad para el beneficio del usuario.

A Qualitative Investigation of Social Network Efficacy Relative to Employee Recruitment and Generational Needs

Non-traditional means of recruitment for the twenty-first century knowledge worker need to accompany traditional means of recruitment due to an increased usage of technology by the twenty-first century knowledge worker. In this capstone project, the author examined the recruiting efficacy of social networks. Non-traditional means of recruitment through social networks via the World Wide Web can help organizations compete for potential applicants and assist job seekers in securing employment. These means are cost effective for the employer. Examples of organizational usage in this investigation illustrate that social networking can improve efficacy for recruitment and generational needs.

From the initial interest in ‘Why do people often communicate in very "strange" ways on Social Media?’ to a research project on CMC

This presentation is about the inside story of the PhD project El malagueño real, mental y virtual. Configuración de los significados sociales de una variedad urbana in Hispanic Linguistics. That is, the production and perception of the Spanish spoken in the city of Malaga and used on the social network sites Facebook and Tuenti by users from Malaga is analysed. Actually, the southern Spanish variety in question is quite distinct from the national standard in terms of its phonetic features, its prestige, and the attitudes to it. Thus, the project started with the initial interest in «Why do people often communicate in very “strange” ways on social media» which then slightly changed to the final research interest in «What do the different non-standard variants mean in virtual (and real) malagueño?». This long – sometimes hazardous, yet mostly fun – process is exposed in more detail by looking at the research questions, the methods and results. Lastly, the presentation concludes with some lessons learnt and an outlook on possibilities and necessities for further investigation.

Social Network Analysis and Qualitative Comparative Analysis: Their mutual benefit for the explanation of policy network structures

By switching the level of analysis and aggregating data from the micro-level of individual cases to the macro-level, quantitative data can be analysed within a more case-based approach. This paper presents such an approach in two steps: In a first step, it discusses the combination of Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in a sequential mixed-methods research design. In such a design, quantitative social network data on individual cases and their relations at the micro-level are used to describe the structure of the network that these cases constitute at the macro-level. Different network structures can then be compared by QCA. This strategy allows adding an element of potential causal explanation to SNA, while SNA-indicators allow for a systematic description of the cases to be compared by QCA. Because mixing methods can be a promising, but also a risky endeavour, the methodological part also discusses the possibility that underlying assumptions of both methods could clash. In a second step, the research design presented beforehand is applied to an empirical study of policy network structures in Swiss politics. Through a comparison of 11 policy networks, causal paths that lead to a conflictual or consensual policy network structure are identified and discussed. The analysis reveals that different theoretical factors matter and that multiple conjunctural causation is at work. Based on both the methodological discussion and the empirical application, it appears that a combination of SNA and QCA can represent a helpful methodological design for social science research and a possibility of using quantitative data with a more case-based approach.

The Relationship between Adolescent Social Network Structure and Perceptions of School Climate

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The network structure of a regional tourism organization: Application of he social network theory in one region of Queensland

Regional tourism organizations (RTOs) plays a central role in planning, coordinating and marketing tourism in many areas, including Queensland, Australia. RTOs rely on interaction with a network of other organizations for their efficient functioning. This paper describes an exploratory case study that develops a method for use of social network analysis techniques to analyse the inter-organizational network in one RTO region in Queensland. Results indicate that differences exist in the structure of inter-organizational links between commercial tourism organizations and planning organizations, between tourism organizations and other sectoral clusters, and between organizations at local, regional and state levels. The results highlight areas or improvement in the role and responsibilities of RTOs in Queensland.