This book is the perfect companion for a day out at the seaside. Children can have fun exploring rock pools and spotting all kinds of wildlife, from fish and seabirds to crabs and crustaceans, and keep track of the ones they've seen using the chart and stickers at the back of the book.

The disjuncture between the design intent of the developers of ICTs and the needs of the users has often led to surprising use of new technologies, as users have refused to become mere agents of the designers. Individual users have adopted their own uses of ICTs based on the complex webs of relations and meanings in which they function as social actors. Instead of adjusting these webs to new ICTs, they have fit the ICTs into their pre-existing social webs, often resulting in imaginative and creative uses of new technologies, not envisaged by the original designers. The contributions in this volume provide studies of such integrations of ICTs into the lives of human users, and demonstrate that such uses should not be regarded as 'faulty' or 'mistaken', merely because they 'fail' to meet the expectations of the original designers of the ICTs. Instead, human users should be given precedence over ICTs, and the creative uses of 'universal' technologies by individual users should be emphasised and studied, so as to move towards a better understanding and appreciation of the integration of ICTs into human lives. This book was originally published as special issue of The Information Society.

The Chinese internet is driving change across all facets of social life, and scholars have grown mindful that online and offline spaces have become interdependent and inseparable dimensions of social, political, economic, and cultural activity. This book showcases the richness and diversity of Chinese cyberspaces, conceptualizing online and offline China as separate but inter-connected spaces in which a wide array of people and groups act and interact under the gaze of a seemingly monolithic authoritarian state. The cyberspaces comprising "online China" are understood as spaces for interaction and negotiation that influence "offline China". The book argues that these spaces allow their users greater "freedoms" despite ubiquitous control and surveillance by the state authorities. The book is a sequel to the editors' earlier work, Online Society in China: Creating, Celebrating and Instrumentalising the Online Carnival (Routledge, 2011).

The Chinese internet is driving change across all facets of social life, and scholars have grown mindful that online and offline spaces have become interdependent and inseparable dimensions of social, political, economic, and cultural activity. This book showcases the richness and diversity of Chinese cyberspaces, conceptualizing online and offline China as separate but inter-connected spaces in which a wide array of people and groups act and interact under the gaze of a seemingly monolithic authoritarian state. The cyberspaces comprising "online China" are understood as spaces for interaction and negotiation that influence "offline China." The book argues that these spaces allow their users greater "freedoms" despite ubiquitous control and surveillance by the state authorities. The book is a sequel to the editors earlier work, "Online Society in China: Creating, Celebrating and Instrumentalising the Online Carnival "(Routledge, 2011)."

This book discusses the rich and varied culture of China's online society, and its impact on offline China. It argues that the internet in China is a separate 'space' in which individuals and institutions emerge and interact. While offline and online spaces are connected and influence each other, the Chinese internet is more than merely a technological or media extension of offline Chinese society. Instead of following existing studies by locating online China in offline society, the contributors in this book discuss the carnival of the Chinese internet on its own terms. Examining the complex relationship between government officials and the people using the Internet in China, this book demonstrates that culture is highly influential in how technology is used. Discussing a wide range of different activities, the contributors examine what Chinese people actually do on the internet, and how their actions can be interpreted within the online society they are creating.

The disjuncture between the design intent of the developers of ICTs and the needs of the users has often led to surprising use of new technologies, as users have refused to become mere agents of the designers. Individual users have adopted their own uses of ICTs based on the complex webs of relations and meanings in which they function as social actors. Instead of adjusting these webs to new ICTs, they have fit the ICTs into their pre-existing social webs, often resulting in imaginative and creative uses of new technologies, not envisaged by the original designers. The contributions in this volume provide studies of such integrations of ICTs into the lives of human users, and demonstrate that such uses should not be regarded as 'faulty' or 'mistaken', merely because they 'fail' to meet the expectations of the original designers of the ICTs. Instead, human users should be given precedence over ICTs, and the creative uses of 'universal' technologies by individual users should be emphasised and studied, so as to move towards a better understanding and appreciation of the integration of ICTs into human lives. This book was originally published as special issue of The Information Society.

By using various data inputs, ubiquitous computing systems detect their current usage context, automatically adapt their services to the user’s situational needs and interact with other services or resources in their environment on an ad-hoc basis. Designing such self-adaptive, context-aware knowledge processing systems is, in itself, a formidable challenge. This book presents core findings from the VENUS project at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Information System Design (ITeG) at Kassel University, where researchers from different fields, such as computer science, information systems, human-computer interaction and law, together seek to find general principles and guidelines for the design of socially aware ubiquitous computing systems. To this end, system usability, user trust in the technology and adherence to privacy laws and regulations were treated as particularly important criteria in the context of socio-technical system design. During the project, a comprehensive blueprint for systematic, interdisciplinary software development was developed, covering the particular functional and non-functional design aspects of ubiquitous computing at the interface between technology and human beings. The organization of the book reflects the structure of the VENUS work program. After an introductory part I, part II provides the groundwork for VENUS by presenting foundational results from all four disciplines involved. Subsequently, part III focuses on methodological research funneling the development activities into a common framework. Part IV then covers the design of the demonstrators that were built in order to develop and evaluate the VENUS method. Finally, part V is dedicated to the evaluation phase to assess the user acceptance of the new approach and applications. The presented findings are especially important for researchers in computer science, information systems, and human-computer interaction, but also for everyone working on the acceptance of new technologies in society in general.

This book discusses the rich and varied culture of China's online society, and its impact on offline China. It argues that the internet in China is a separate 'space' in which individuals and institutions emerge and interact. While offline and online spaces are connected and influence each other, the Chinese internet is more than merely a technological or media extension of offline Chinese society. Instead of following existing studies by locating online China in offline society, the contributors in this book discuss the carnival of the Chinese internet on its own terms.

Examining the complex relationship between government officials and the people using the Internet in China, this book demonstrates that culture is highly influential in how technology is used. Discussing a wide range of different activities, the contributors examine what Chinese people actually do on the internet, and how their actions can be interpreted within the online society they are creating.

Die 16. GI/ITG-Fachtagung Kommunikation in Verteilten Systemen (KiVS 2009) befasst sich als wichtigstes deutschsprachiges Forum fur Forschung und Entwicklung auf den Gebieten Kommunikation und Verteilte Systeme mit einer grossen Vielfalt von innovativen und zukunftsorientierten Fragestellungen. Sie spannt dabei einen Bogen von allgegenwartigen verteilten Anwendungen uber Middleware-Konzepte und Protokolltechniken bis hin zu modernen Netztechniken mit ihren Mobilitats- und Sicherheitsfragen. Die KiVS dient der Standortbestimmung aktueller Entwicklungen, der Prasentation laufender Forschungsarbeiten und der Diskussion zukunftstrachtiger Ansatze fur die Kommunikation in Verteilten Systemen. "

This book offers Oracle DBAs training appropriate for understanding and handling PeopleSoft technology. DBAs will learn a range of techniques, including: indexing, implementing DDL, managing tablespaces, and fixing low-performing SQL queries. Written by a field expert, this book answers common questions and misunderstandings that arise from use of PeopleSoft on an Oracle database. The result is a highly effective training manual for any Oracle DBA charged with the maintenance of a PeopleSoft system.

PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA, Second Edition stands on the boundary between the PeopleSoft application and the Oracle database. This new edition of David Kurtz's book is freshly revised, showing how to tame the beast and manage Oracle successfully in a PeopleSoft environment. You'll learn about PeopleSoft's Internet architecture and its use of Oracle's Tuxedo Application Server. You'll find full coverage of key database issues such as indexing, connectivity, and tablespace usage as they apply to PeopleSoft. Kurtz also provides some of the best advice and information to be found anywhere on managing and troubleshooting performance issues in a PeopleSoft environment. The solid coverage of performance troubleshooting is enough by itself to make PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA a must-have book for any Oracle Database administrator working in support of a PeopleSoft environment. * Explains PeopleSoft's technical architecture as it relates to Oracle Database * Demonstrates how to instrument and measure the performance of PeopleSoft * Provides techniques to troubleshoot and resolve performance problems What you'll learn * Understand PeopleSoft's technical architecture and the structure of a PeopleSoft database * Measure performance of the various tiers in the application * Pinpoint and resolve performance problems within the code * Configure server processes for optimal performance * Monitor and manage your PeopleSoft installation using Oracle Enterprise Manager * Take full advantage of the PeopleTools Performance Monitor that is new in version 8.44 Who this book is for PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA is written for database administrators charged with supporting a PeopleSoft system, and especially those administrators responsible for troubleshooting and resolving PeopleSoft performance issues. PeopleSoft for the Oracle DBA also appeals to PeopleSoft administrators and developers who desire a better understanding of how PeopleSoft functions in an Oracle Database environment.