Computer use monitoring and privacy at work

The rapid growth of new developments in communication technology has brought electronic monitoring to the forefront of today’s workplace concerns. This is an area that in recent years has drawn considerable attention amongst the media, academia and legal scholars demanding that employers do not intrude into employees’ online privacy via electronic monitoring in the workplace. However, electronic monitoring at work is not one-sided and it is arguable that employers have legitimate reasons to justify their action. This paper aims to examine employers’ justification for conducting electronic monitoring by highlighting the potential risk of financial and legal liabilities that employers may incur as a result of employees’ misuse of online services at work.     

Using online social networking for teaching and learning: Facebook use at the University of Cape Town

Abstract

Web-based learning has made learning content much more freely and instantaneously available to students who can download course notes and readings with a single mouse click. Facebook is one of many Web 2.0 tools – wikis, delicious, YouTube, podcasts – that are listed as having potential applications for teaching and learning. Moreover, it has been argued that the current generation of youth, often described as Net Geners or Digital Natives, may be resistant to traditional methods of teaching and learning. This article explores student use of Facebook at the University of Cape Town, as well as lecturer engagement with students via the new social media. Drawing on a virtual ethnography and qualitative interviews, this article shows that while there are potential positive benefits to using Facebook in teaching and learning, particularly for the development of educational micro-communities, certain challenges, including ICT literacy and uneven access, remain pertinent.     

The Influence of Supportive and Nonsupportive Persons in Helping Rural Women in Abusive Partner Relationships Become Free from Abuse

Many rural women in abusive partner relationships have reached to informal and formal support networks for assistance and have been negated, discounted, or treated in a nonsupportive manner. Women trying to end partner abuse rarely have found the help they seek from their communities; and family and friends may question, blame, or misunderstand women's situations. This study examined behaviors of supportive and nonsupportive persons and the effectiveness of support networks in helping rural women in abusive partner relationships become free from abuse. Supportive persons were found to help women access resources and extended informal and formal networks which in turn helped women become free from abuse. Nonsupportive persons hindered women's access to resources and facilitated in keeping women bound in abusive partner relationships. Partner abuse is a complex societal issue that involves a large network of support and services in order to help women become free from abuse, having implications to educators and service providers.     

Influencing expert judgment: Attributions of crime causality

Purpose. The present research aimed to investigate the effects of attribution on expert clinical judgment in comparison to semi‐experts and laypeople. Two research questions were addressed. First, would experts be less subject to attributional manipulations, in terms of their perceived ratings of dangerousness, than would semi‐experts or laypeople? Second, would experts be less subject to attributional manipulations, in terms of their assessments of offender responsibility, than would semi‐experts or laypeople? Method. A 3×3×2 mixed groups design was implemented. Participants read nine crime scenarios that had been internally or externally manipulated. For each scenario, participants were asked to rate offender dangerousness, offender responsibility, and the seriousness of the crime and to suggest a suitable sentence length. Targeted recruitment was employed, yielding 12 experts, 21 semi‐experts, and 22 laypeople. Results. Offenders were considered to be more responsible for their actions and more dangerous to others in the internal manipulations than in the external ones across all crime types and by all levels of expertise. Findings indicate that semi‐experts are less subject to the influence of attributional manipulations than both experts and laypeople. Marked similarities in the pattern of expert and lay person judgments can be observed from the present analyses. Conclusions. The current findings lend support to previous research in the area in that similarities between expert and lay person judgment were observed. However, through expanding and clarifying the levels of expertise investigated, the current findings highlight the need for greater research into the distinct ‘semi‐expert’ group.     

Violence exposure and health related risk among African American adolescent female detainees: A strategy for reducing recidivism

Juvenile crime and violent victimization continue to be significant social problems (Fitzpatrick, Piko, Wright, & LaGory, 2005); in that, adolescents, females in particular, are likely to participate in health related risk behaviors as result of having been victimized or exposed to a violent environment. Specifically, abuse, neglect, sexual molestation, poverty, and witnessing violence are well known risk factors for the development of trauma-related psychopathology and poor outcomes relative to delinquency, drug and alcohol abuse, and HIV risk behaviors (Steiner, Garcia, & Matthews, 1997). HIV infection is a common public health concern disproportionally affecting adolescent African American female detainees. This unique population has a serious history of violence exposure, which subsequently tends to lead to engaging in risky sexual behaviors, mental health problems, and abusing substances. Also, as a result of little to no intervention, this population is recidivating at an alarming rate, a problem that may further exacerbate the expression of health-related risk behaviors among African American adolescent female detainees. The authors briefly describe a pilot program to be implemented in the juvenile justice system that is based on the Model of Accumulated Risk (Garbarino, 1996), Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model (1994), and the Positive Youth Justice Model (Butts, Bazemore, & Meroe, 2009). The program proposes to reduce risky sexual behaviors, teach alternatives to abusing substances, treat mental health concerns, and reduce the rate of recidivism through "positive youth development", PYD (Butts, Bazemore, & Meroe, 2009). Tying elements of wraparound services and reeducation together, this program addresses salient concerns that may have an impact on an adolescent detainees' success following their release from prison in a holistic manner.