Popular post-separation parenting smartphone apps: An evaluation

In recent years a bewildering array of smartphone applications (“apps”) has emerged to support separated parents' communication. Post-separation parenting apps vary in cost and features; they typically comprise a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker and a means to export records for legal purposes. A key challenge for separated parents and family law practitioners alike is knowing which apps or app feature(s) can work well for different family contexts, needs and budgets. The present study sought to evaluate nine popular post-separation parenting apps and their features using small-n Human–Computer Interaction methods. Mediators role-played high conflict ex-couples while completing a set of five common post-separation communication or organizational tasks. A cross-case analysis of ratings was conducted. We found that (a) many of the mediators changed their apparent enthusiasm for co-parenting apps once they had used the apps themselves; (b) all nine apps were rated somewhere between “Poor” to Fair’; and (c) features of some of the best-known apps were not rated as highly as some of the features of more recent, lesser-known apps.     

Using Blogs in Teaching Negotiation: A Technical and Intercultural Postscript

This article reexamines an earlier experiment in the use of blogs in teaching negotiation when undertaken in a different cultural environment. I briefly examine two core factors — technical competence and cultural preferences in communication — as well as a student preference to reserve the use of social media for purely social and informal communications. Parallels are also drawn with the technical and cultural contexts of developments in online dispute resolution.     

Community perceptions of a public sex offender registry introduced in Western Australia

Abstract

Publically accessible information about sex offenders through an online registry of sex offenders has been a polemic issue for governments, police and the wider community with debate largely driven by community expectations of police ensuring the safety of children and women from sexual predators. In October 2012, Western Australia became the first and currently only state or territory in Australia to allow public access to a three tiered register via the Community Protection Website (CPW) that would be monitored by West Australian Police. The introduction of this website triggered significant debate across the country. A survey was developed to capture the opinions of members of the public who had accessed the online registry to understand their views of the online tool and its purpose as a form of community safety. Findings from the survey reveal that the community lacks understanding of the prevalence of child sexual abuse and the fact that a child is more likely to experience sexual victimization within the family unit. There is also a need for greater community education and awareness about the purpose and limitations of the CPW as many believed that all sex known sex offenders are publicly registered, therefore creating a false sense of security.     

The online stolen data market: disruption and intervention approaches

This article brings a new taxonomy and collation of intervention and disruption methods that can be applied to the online stolen data market. These online marketplaces are used to buy and sell identity and financial information, as well as the products and services that enable this economy. This article combines research findings from computer science with criminology to provide a multidisciplinary approach to crimes committed with the use of technology.     

我国涉网约工类新就业形态劳动争议问题研究

随着数字经济的飞速发展,网约用工模式越来越普遍,我国涉网约工劳动争议日益凸显,已成为影响劳动关系和谐的突出新问题之一。网约用工因其保留了一定的劳动关系特征,又与劳务关系、承揽关系等民事法律关系具有一定的相似性,加上相关法律法规滞后和电子证据适用较难,以及网约工群体的规模性和劳动方式的相似性等原因,使涉网约工劳动争议与传统劳动争议相比,具有争议焦点新、涉案主体多、争议解决难、社会影响大等典型特征。为促进劳动关系和谐稳定和数字经济的持续健康发展,本研究建议:各级党政、互联网平台及关联用工企业、相关行业协会、网约工及工会组织共同参与,科学合理化解矛盾,形成共建共享共治、高效化解相关劳动争议的新格局。     

网络诽谤行为的法律规制及其完善

利用互联网全新媒体实施诽谤与传统诽谤相比较具有新的特点,寻求网络言论自由与保护名誉权、隐私权的平衡成为了网络时代更为突出的问题．网络诽谤责任主体具有多元性。网络诽谤法律规制应从适度区分公众人物与非公众人物,赋予新闻媒体的合理报道权,适度规定网络服务提供者的相应责任,实际损害赔偿、精神损害赔偿与惩罚性赔偿相结合等角度加以完善．     

数字中国背景下加强工会干部网络教育培训模式的探索与思考

工会干部教育培训中利用好政府数字化转型的成果,打造网络教育平台是大势所趋。网络教育培训具有传统教育培训形式所不具备的优势,本文从开展工会干部网络教育培训的理论依据入手,探索培训实施中建立功能完善的学习平台、建立健全的课程资源、建设有效运转的学习服务和管理机制等,尤其对工会干部网络教育培训主题设置科学化、培训制度规范化、培训课程精品化等方面进行了一定程度的研究。     

Going online. Does ICT enabled-participation engage the young in local governance?

Local governments increasingly use online strategies to strengthen political participation of citizens in policy and politics. Young people, however, are generally under-represented. This article studies age patterns of participation across offline and online forms of action to test whether online initiatives are able to overcome this age bias. We first report a case study of online and offline problem reporting to local authorities. We find that simply going from offline to online participation reinforces rather than mitigates age bias. We then report a case study of message posting on an online political forum. In this case, age bias disappears. In contrast to the traditional instrumental modes, a forum is an expressive form of online participation. The young seem to value the act of participating over the outcomes of participation. For practice, these findings suggest a need for participation policies that speak to these expressive needs of young. In recent years, social media have reinforced the potential for expressive participation.     

Online Mobilization in Comparative Perspective: Digital Appeals and Political Engagement in Germany,Italy, and the United Kingdom

This study analyzes the relationship between online voter mobilization and political engagement in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom during the 2014 European election campaign. Internet surveys of samples representatives of these countries’ populations with Internet access show that respondents who received an invitation to vote for a party or candidate via e-mail or social media engaged in a significantly higher number of political activities than those who did not. Moreover, the relationship between mobilization and engagement was stronger among those who followed the campaign less attentively, as well as in countries where overall levels of engagement with the campaign were lower (Germany and the United Kingdom) than where they were higher (Italy). These findings indicate that online mobilization may contribute to closing gaps in political engagement at both individual and aggregate levels, and thus suggest that digital media may contribute to reviving democratic citizenship.