Susan E . Baer

Online learning serves not only as a cognitive process but is also situated within a social context.Social infrastructure is generally defined as the physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact, but social infrastructure may also be discussed more specifically in relation to education and technology. Bielaczyc defines social infrastructure as the social structures that support learning with a technology-based learning tool. The purpose of this paper is to describe Bielaczyc’s social infrastructure framework and to apply the framework to an adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program in Walton County, Florida that was forced to quickly implement online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This research is based on a telephone survey conducted in 2004 of San Diego residents (N = 400) who live in a neighborhood where a pilot needle exchange program was operating. The authors perform a multivariate analysis and find that level of information about the needle exchange program is positively related to level of trust in the program (p \u3c .01). The authors discuss the importance of public trust in the program as a means to increase the reciprocity and cooperation needed to continue the program’s operation. Although the program is now permanent, a small minority of vocal opponents still exists. Recommended Citation Baer, S. E. (2020, October 1-2). Public trust in needle exchange programs: The role of information [Poster presentation]. Walden University Research Conference 2020 (online). https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/researchconference/2020/posters/24

The existing literature about political science internships often focuses on undergraduate internships. This chapter adds to the literature by discussing internships for political science graduate students. The chapter first addresses several tensions related to internships including issues of transferable skills, paid versus unpaid internships, and the need for a signed memorandum of agreement. The chapter next describes benefits of completing an internship as a political science graduate student. The chapter concludes with recommendations and reflection based on my internship experience as a political science doctoral student. This manuscript is part of Strategies for Navigating Graduate School and Beyond, a forthcoming volume for those interested in pursuing graduate education in political science (Fall 2022 publication).

Applying the polycentric model to the urban core, the authors first examine how the polycentric model may be applied to an increasing number of large cities that are using subdistricts to provide supplemental public services that district residents desire such as security, sanitation (garbage collection), and economic development. They next analyze the recent creation of the Charles Village Community Benefits District in Baltimore, Maryland, as an empirical example and briefly discuss this subdistrict’s positive impacts. The article concludes with some observations on the implications of subdistricts for equitable and efficient service delivery.

Urban areas are increasingly populated by new organizations called private governments that are created within the boundaries of existing local governments. Examples include homeowner associations, community benefits districts, and business improvement districts. Citizens attempting to form private governments that supply public goods may encounter collective action problems. Utilizing transaction resource theory, the article examines potential collective action problems in forming private governments and explains how solutions to these problems emerge as a consequence of a political contracting process between stakeholders, where the rules of the resulting relational contract define expected cooperative behaviors. The article also applies transaction resource theory to a case study of the contracting process used to overcome potential collective action problems in creating a private government in Baltimore, Maryland. The case study demonstrates the complexities of the contracting p...

The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a light on the importance of housing as a social determinant of health. To prevent millions of American renters from being evicted from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially becoming homeless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a temporary eviction ban order on September 4, 2020 that has currently been extended through June 30, 2021. This paper examines the rationale for the CDC temporary eviction ban order from a public health perspective. It then uses statistical techniques to explore the relationship between political and demographic variables and temporary eviction bans enacted in individual states during the pandemic. Results show a statistically significant relationship between political party control of the state legislature and temporary state eviction bans which suggests that partisanship has largely driven the use of temporary eviction bans as a policy response to COVID-19 at the state level.

Mass transit is vital to daily life in U.S. cities and many other cities throughout the world. Mass transit systems are vulnerable to pandemics like COVID-19 and other less serious threats. Post COVID-19 mass transit policy must be different than its predecessors if mass transit is to provide a reliable, sustainable, and equitable means of transportation. Future mass transit systems will be the outcome of public health, technological, economic, and political considerations. This paper provides an initial attempt to identify and discuss these four considerations as most relevant to the development of an equitable and efficient mass transit policy for rail and bus systems.

Online learning serves not only as a cognitive process but is also situated within a social context. Social infrastructure is generally defined as the physical places and organizations that shape the way people interact, but social infrastructure may also be discussed more specifically in relation to education and technology. Bielaczyc defines social infrastructure as the social structures that support learning with a technology-based learning tool. The purpose of this paper is to describe Bielaczyc's social infrastructure framework and to apply the framework to an adult English as a Second Language (ESL) program in Walton County, Florida that was forced to quickly implement online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mass transit is vital to daily life in U.S. cities and many other cities throughout the world. Mass transit systems are vulnerable to pandemics like COVID-19 and other less serious threats. Post COVID-19 mass transit policy must be different than its predecessors if mass transit is to provide a reliable, sustainable, and equitable means of transportation. Future mass transit systems will be the outcome of public health, technological, economic, and political considerations. This paper provides an initial attempt to identify and discuss these four considerations as most relevant to the development of an equitable and efficient mass transit policy for rail and bus systems.

Urban areas are increasingly populated by new organizations called private governments that are created within the boundaries of existing local governments. Examples include homeowner associations, community benefits districts, and business improvement districts. Citizens attempting to form private governments that supply public goods may encounter collective action problems. Utilizing transaction resource theory, the article examines potential collective action problems in forming private governments and explains how solutions to these problems emerge as a consequence of a political contracting process between stakeholders, where the rules of the resulting relational contract define expected cooperative behaviors. The article also applies transaction resource theory to a case study of the contracting process used to overcome potential collective action problems in creating a private government in Baltimore, Maryland. The case study demonstrates the complexities of the contracting process and illustrates how collective action problems might be intertwined in the prephase, negotiation phase, and postphase.

Applying the polycentric model to the urban core, the authors first examine how the polycentric model may be applied to an increasing number of large cities that are using subdistricts to provide supplemental public services that district residents desire such as security, sanitation (garbage collection), and economic development. They next analyze the recent creation of the Charles Village Community Benefits District in Baltimore, Maryland, as an empirical example and briefly discuss this subdistrict's positive impacts. The article concludes with some observations on the implications of subdistricts for equitable and efficient service delivery.