- Information processing and physics, Online group interaction processes, The social requirements of technical systems, System evaluation criteria, Open knowledge exchange x 1 follower, Philosophy, and 6 morePsychology, Physics, Religion, Philosophy of Science, Quantum Physics, and Theoretical Physicsedit
- I was born in Oldham, England then grew up in New Zealand. After a BSc (Maths), BA (Psych) and MA (neuro-psych) on sp... moreI was born in Oldham, England then grew up in New Zealand. After a BSc (Maths), BA (Psych) and MA (neuro-psych) on split-brain research, I joined the NZ Army as a psychologist and ran Officer Selection Boards up to the Senior Army Psychologist, then became a defense computing analyst ending up in Operational Simulations (Wargames). Retiring industrial psychologist cross-trained in computing, then designed and wrote the software for a doctorate on computer-mediated groups. This interest in socio-technical systems led to the Handbook of Research on Socio-Technical Design and Social Networking Systems (2009) and The Social Design of Technical Systems (2013). Other publications were in Small Group Research, Group Decision & Negotiation, The Database for Advances in IS, Communications of the AIS, IEEE Computer, Behavior and Information Technology, Communications of the ACM and IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics. My interest include how to avoid near death experiences on a motorbike, philosophical songs, and a conjecture that the physical world is produced by quantum processing.edit
Chapter 7 (in progress) explores whether mysticism and science are complementary ways to study reality, one based on the observer and the other based on the observed. Part 1 evaluates the premises of world scriptures based on quantum... more
Chapter 7 (in progress) explores whether mysticism and science are complementary ways to study reality, one based on the observer and the other based on the observed. Part 1 evaluates the premises of world scriptures based on quantum realism. It can be viewed online at https://brianwhitworth.com/chapter-7/
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Social-technical systems are social systems operating on technological base, e.g. Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube, and so subject to social and technical requirements. Physical society evolved ideas like freedom and privacy over thousands... more
Social-technical systems are social systems operating on technological base, e.g. Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube, and so subject to social and technical requirements. Physical society evolved ideas like freedom and privacy over thousands of years but online communities just spring up, built by designers still defining what “social” means. In online worlds, code is law, so system designers are essentially the lawmakers of an open, free system that began much as the Wild West did, except now social rules are enforced by access control code not guns. Berners-Lee argues that a bill of online rights is needed to protect the open neutrality of the World Wide Web [1], and this paper agrees, but adds that it must be written as an access control model.
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This paper analyzes the nature of social performance, to explain how socio-technical systems (STSs) like chat, e-markets, social networks and wikis can succeed despite being free of charge. It defines the non-zero-sum synergy gains of... more
This paper analyzes the nature of social performance, to explain how socio-technical systems (STSs) like chat, e-markets, social networks and wikis can succeed despite being free of charge. It defines the non-zero-sum synergy gains of cooperation and how self-interested acts can collapse the society that creates them. How physical human society dealt with this "social dilemma " then relates to the socio-technical advance. In this model society is a social environment within a world environment, so its citizens face the dual requirements of self-interest and social-interest, which can be satisfied by anchoring one demand then managing the other, e.g. competing within a social context, as in markets, or community service within an individual context of sufficiency. The latter, it is proposed, is the new social form that socio-technical systems illustrate and which could be the future of humanity.
This article describes how social politeness is relevant to computer system design. As the Internet becomes more social, computers now mediate social interactions, act as social agents and serve as information assistants. To succeed in... more
This article describes how social politeness is relevant to computer system design. As the Internet becomes more social, computers now mediate social interactions, act as social agents and serve as information assistants. To succeed in these roles computers must learn a new skill- politeness. Yet selfish software is currently a widespread problem, and politeness remains a software design “blind spot”. Using an informational definition of politeness, as the giving of social choice, suggests four aspects: 1. Respect, 2. Openness, 3. Helpfulness, and 4. Remembering. Examples are given to suggest how polite computing could make human-computer interactions more pleasant, and increase software usage. In contrast, if software rudeness makes the Internet an unpleasant place to be, usage may minimize. For the Internet to recognize its social potential, software must be not only useful and usable, but also polite.
Abstract—This paper compares two evaluation criterion frameworks for socio-technical software. Research on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) confirms that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) are relevant... more
Abstract—This paper compares two evaluation criterion frameworks for socio-technical software. Research on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) confirms that perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) are relevant criteria for users evaluating organizational software. However information technology has changed considerably since TAM’s 1989 inception, so an upgraded evaluation framework may apply. The Web of System Performance (WOSP) model suggests eight evaluation criteria, based on a systems theory definition of performance. This study compares WOSP and TAM criterion frameworks in a performance evaluation experiment using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. Subjects who used both TAM and WOSP criteria preferred the WOSP criteria, were more satisfied with its decision outcomes, and found the WOSP evaluation more accurate and complete. As socio-technical software becomes more complex, users may need (or prefer) more comprehensive evaluation criteria framewor...
Currently IS practice abounds with application innovations, e.g. online auctions, blogs, wikis, chat, user spaces, multi-player games and reputation ratings. In contrast IS academic theories seem to change little over time. To the... more
Currently IS practice abounds with application innovations, e.g. online auctions, blogs, wikis, chat, user spaces, multi-player games and reputation ratings. In contrast IS academic theories seem to change little over time. To the practitioners who create application advances, journals often seem out-dated, over-rigorous and irrelevant. Yet, as IS practice has innovated more, IS journals are, if anything, becoming more risk averse. The trend may reflect a mistaken belief that more rigor is better science. However in science, errors of commission (lack of rigor) trade off against errors of omission (lack of relevance). Is rigor at the expense of relevance causing IS theory to fall behind IS practice? One solution is an open IS publishing electronic archive, following the successful Los Alamos physics archive. If the IS community adds quality control to that model, it could lead the way in electronic knowledge exchange systems.
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Access control, as part of every software system, has evolved as computing has evolved. Its original aim was to limit unauthorized access to centralized systems, but the rise of social networks like Facebook has changed that. Now each... more
Access control, as part of every software system, has evolved as computing has evolved. Its original aim was to limit unauthorized access to centralized systems, but the rise of social networks like Facebook has changed that. Now each person wants to control who sees photos or makes comments on their local wall by making and unmaking friends, i.e. dynamic, distributed rights control. Social networks already have access control, but there is currently no agreed logical model for their rights, no consistent scheme for allocating and re-allocating permissions to create, edit, delete and view social objects and entities. A socio-technical approach based on social and technical requirements can give the basics of a model. Various rights reallocations like multiply, divide, transfer and delegate are explored. It suggests a theoretical base for access control beyond its security parent.
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Hundreds of millions of people use social technologies like Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube every day, but what makes them work? And what is the next step? The Social Design of Technical Systems explores the path from computing revolution... more
Hundreds of millions of people use social technologies like Wikipedia, Facebook and YouTube every day, but what makes them work? And what is the next step? The Social Design of Technical Systems explores the path from computing revolution to social evolution. Based on the assumption that it is essential to consider social as well as technological requirements, as we move to create the systems of the future, this book explores the ways in which technology fits, or fails to fit, into the social reality of the modern world. Important performance criteria for social systems, such as fairness, synergy, transparency, order and freedom, are clearly explained for the first time from within a comprehensive systems framework, making this book invaluable for anyone interested in socio-technical systems, especially those planning to build social software. This book reveals the social dilemmas that destroy communities, exposes the myth that computers are smart, analyses social errors like the cr...
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Spam, undesired and usually unsolicited e-mail, has been a growing problem for some time. A 2003 Sunbelt Software poll found spam (or junk mail) has surpassed viruses as the number-one unwanted network intrusion (Townsend & Taphouse,... more
Spam, undesired and usually unsolicited e-mail, has been a growing problem for some time. A 2003 Sunbelt Software poll found spam (or junk mail) has surpassed viruses as the number-one unwanted network intrusion (Townsend & Taphouse, 2003). Time magazine reports that for major e-mail providers, 40 to 70% of all incoming mail is deleted at the server (Taylor, 2003), and AOL reports that 80% of its inbound e-mail, 1.5 to 1.9 billion messages a day, is spam the company blocks. Spam is the e-mail consumer’s number-one complaint (Davidson, 2003). Despite Internet service provider (ISP) filtering, up to 30% of in-box messages are spam. While each of us may only take seconds (or minutes) to deal with such mail, over billions of cases the losses are significant. A Ferris Research report estimates spam 2003 costs for U.S. companies at $10 billion (Bekker, 2003). While improved filters send more spam to trash cans, ever more spam is sent, consuming an increasing proportion of network resource...
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While over the last decade computing practitioners created new, innovative applications like online auctions, blogs, wikis, chat, social networks and social book-marking, computing academia has innovated much less. The resulting... more
While over the last decade computing practitioners created new, innovative applications like online auctions, blogs, wikis, chat, social networks and social book-marking, computing academia has innovated much less. The resulting theory/practice divide in computing can be attributed to the effect on academic creativity of the myth that rigor is excellence. The use of publishing to appoint positions, promote for tenure and allocate grants supports the current "gatekeeper" academic publishing model. This is not only based on print-publishing limits that no longer apply, but also incorrect as it ignores the 'Type II" error of rejecting useful knowledge. Modern social computing suggests how to reinvent the academic knowledge exchange system (KES) to innovate and disseminate as well as discriminate. Building upon existing successful knowledge repositories like the Los Alamos archive suggests an open electronic KES that not only increases dissemination (by publishing all...
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The term sociotechnical was introduced by the Tavistock Institute in the 1950’s for manufacturing cases where the needs of technology confronted those of local communities, for example, longwall mining in English coalmines (see... more
The term sociotechnical was introduced by the Tavistock Institute in the 1950’s for manufacturing cases where the needs of technology confronted those of local communities, for example, longwall mining in English coalmines (see http://www.strategosinc.com/socio-technical.htm). Social needs were opposed to the reductionism of Taylorism, which broke down jobs on say a car assembly line into most ef- ficient elements. Social and technical were seen as separate side-by-side systems which needed to interact positively, for example, a village near a nuclear plant is a social system (with social needs) besides a technical system (with technical needs). The sociotechnical view later developed into a call for ethical computer use by supporters like Mumford (Porra & Hirscheim, 2007). In the modern holistic view the sociotechnical system (STS) is the whole system, not one of two side-by-side systems. To illustrate the contrast, consider a simple case: A pilot plus a plane are two side-by-side ...
Research Interests: Sociology and IGI Global
There is a theory which states that if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states... more
There is a theory which states that if anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. " (Adams, 1995) 3.1. INTRODUCTION In the last chapter, light was the first physical thing, beyond the apparent " nothing " of space but not yet achieving the static " something " of matter. This chapter goes on to deduce the properties of light including its ability to be a wave and a particle, to detect to objects it doesn't physically touch, to take all paths to a destination, to choose a path after it arrives and to spin in two directions at once. This is only possible if a photon is a program, spreading on a grid network that is the: " … primary world-stuff " (Wilczek, 2008) p74. This grid is not what we see, but what outputs what we see, and time, space, mass, charge and en...
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A socio-technical system (STS) is a social system operating upon a technical base, eg email, chat, bulletin boards, blogs, Wikipedia, E-Bay, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Hundreds of millions of people use them every day, but how do they... more
A socio-technical system (STS) is a social system operating upon a technical base, eg email, chat, bulletin boards, blogs, Wikipedia, E-Bay, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Hundreds of millions of people use them every day, but how do they work? More importantly, can they ...
Traditional “realistic” theories of social action, whether based on the individual gain heuristics of capitalism or the collective class struggles of communism, cannot explain the massive volunteerism of online socio-technical... more
Traditional “realistic” theories of social action, whether based on the individual gain heuristics of capitalism or the collective class struggles of communism, cannot explain the massive volunteerism of online socio-technical collaborations like the Wikipedia project. Based on the idea that a social system is an environment within an environment, this paper argues that people in society are subject to both self- and social-interest directives, from natural and social world environments respectively. However, social dilemmas arise when these directives conflict. That people resolve social dilemmas by anchoring one directive then operating the other explains why the "social invention" of free markets was so successful, and further implies that socio-technical communities are a new social form, beyond capitalism and communism, which we call "free-goodness". This model attributes the evolution of humanity to parallel technical and social evolutions. For example, the...
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While traditionally information systems (IS) PhD students first completed a thesis then published, today they often publish before completing. While at first publishing seems yet another PhD student burden, it can be a useful learning... more
While traditionally information systems (IS) PhD students first completed a thesis then published, today they often publish before completing. While at first publishing seems yet another PhD student burden, it can be a useful learning experience, raise motivation, provide ...
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Currently IS practice abounds with application innovations, eg online auctions, blogs, wikis, chat, user spaces, multi-player games and reputation ratings, while over the same time few new IS academic theories have taken hold. To the... more
Currently IS practice abounds with application innovations, eg online auctions, blogs, wikis, chat, user spaces, multi-player games and reputation ratings, while over the same time few new IS academic theories have taken hold. To the practitioners who innovate, journals often ...
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This research proposes that legitimacy percepts underlie not only community laws but also politeness. If legitimacy is fairness, then politeness is being more than fair. If unfair acts destroy the fabric of society, then polite ones... more
This research proposes that legitimacy percepts underlie not only community laws but also politeness. If legitimacy is fairness, then politeness is being more than fair. If unfair acts destroy the fabric of society, then polite ones create it. Specifying legitimacy boundaries for ...
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While traditionally information systems (IS) students graduated then published, today they often publish before they graduate. While publishing seems yet another student burden, it can be a useful learning experience, raise motivation,... more
While traditionally information systems (IS) students graduated then published, today they often publish before they graduate. While publishing seems yet another student burden, it can be a useful learning experience, raise motivation, provide helpful feedback, help grant and job ...
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Abstract. A field study is presented which used voting before discussing (VBD) as a means of social influence and communication in a computer supported group interaction, rather than using voting as the final stage in a rational decision... more
Abstract. A field study is presented which used voting before discussing (VBD) as a means of social influence and communication in a computer supported group interaction, rather than using voting as the final stage in a rational decision making process. The approach used is ...
Abstract. A field study is presented which used voting before discussing (VBD) as a means of social influence and communication in a computer supported group interaction, rather than using voting as the final stage in a rational decision... more
Abstract. A field study is presented which used voting before discussing (VBD) as a means of social influence and communication in a computer supported group interaction, rather than using voting as the final stage in a rational decision making process. The approach used is based on a cognitive, three-process model of group interaction, which proposes that group cohesion and agreement arise primarily from normative rather than informational or personal influence. It was found from this initial investigation that the VBD technique can result in higher agreement of group members with the decisions of the group, higher satisfaction with the computer-mediated interaction, higher satisfaction with group performance, and higher group awareness. The voting before discussion method may be useful in situations where agreement is an important group output, or where interpersonal conflict is creating problems in meetings.
Research Interests: Conflict, Voting, Social Influence, Cognitive, CSCW, and 5 moreCMC, Agreement, Group Interaction, Normative Influence, and GDSS
Jan 2024 update of Chapter 6 on consciousness. Later sections were rewritten to improve clarity. The chapter can also be viewed online at https://brianwhitworth.com/chapter-6/
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The standard model specifies a particle cause for every physical effect, so the action of gravity at a distance is attributed to gravitons, the strong force to gluons and the weak force to W bosons. The result was many fields as each new... more
The standard model specifies a particle cause for every physical effect, so the action of gravity at a distance is attributed to gravitons, the strong force to gluons and the weak force to W bosons. The result was many fields as each new particle needed a new field to produce it but another long-term goal of physics is field unification, to reduce all the fields of physics to one field that split into many as the universe cooled. Clearly, inventing many fields contradicts the goal of field unification, as one can’t reduce the fields of physics to one by constantly inventing new fields for every effect.
In contrast, quantum realism proposes that only one field, the general quantum field, causes all effects, so it supports physics but not the standard model. This chapter explains how the quantum field that explains the electromagnetic, strong and weak fields also explains gravity, electricity and magnetism. A major Chapter 5, 2021 update prior to releasing Chapter 6 The Mystery of Consciousness on the 1st November 2021.
In contrast, quantum realism proposes that only one field, the general quantum field, causes all effects, so it supports physics but not the standard model. This chapter explains how the quantum field that explains the electromagnetic, strong and weak fields also explains gravity, electricity and magnetism. A major Chapter 5, 2021 update prior to releasing Chapter 6 The Mystery of Consciousness on the 1st November 2021.
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These definitions are based on current physics, computer science and quantum realism (QR), where the first two are accepted but the latter is a new interpretation of quantum theory. Each term links to the chapter section that discusses it... more
These definitions are based on current physics, computer science and quantum realism (QR), where the first two are accepted but the latter is a new interpretation of quantum theory. Each term links to the chapter section that discusses it in more detail. Just click on it to go there for more details.
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The issue of eliciting personal information poses ethical and social issues for the designers of electronically mediated human-human and human-organizational information systems. Equally personal information disclosure is central to... more
The issue of eliciting personal information poses ethical and social issues for the designers of electronically mediated human-human and human-organizational information systems. Equally personal information disclosure is central to online trade, because customers who cannot be convinced to disclose cannot trade, as without details like delivery address and credit card there is no trade. A participant's willingness to disclose personal information is an important indicator of trust, as every e-business transaction requires some disclosure, like name, address and credit card. This paper considers the factors that affect disclosure in an online environment, and suggest three: privacy contract, reciprocity and disclosure type. Initial data suggests that disclosure is affected by the type of information requested.
Abstract This paper considers why informed computer predictions are so often wrong. A limited perspective seems to be a factor. It is proposed that a general understanding of the nature of systems is necessary to predict and create the... more
Abstract This paper considers why informed computer predictions are so often wrong. A limited perspective seems to be a factor. It is proposed that a general understanding of the nature of systems is necessary to predict and create the future of information systems. Based on a ...
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... Jolanta Soltis NJ Institute of Technology University Heights Newark, New Jersey 1 (973) 596-2929 soltis@njit.edu Pritesh Patel NJ Institute of Technology University Heights Newark, New Jersey 1 (973) 596-2922 patelp@njit.edu ...
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Quentin Jones and Brian Whitworth Information Systems Department College of Computing Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102 Email: qgjones@acm.org and bwhitworth@acm.org ... This paper presents some of the... more
Quentin Jones and Brian Whitworth Information Systems Department College of Computing Sciences New Jersey Institute of Technology Newark, NJ 07102 Email: qgjones@acm.org and bwhitworth@acm.org ... This paper presents some of the authors' initial thoughts on how ...
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While traditionally information systems (IS) students graduated then published, today they often publish before they graduate. While publishing seems yet another student burden, it can be a useful learning experience, raise motivation,... more
While traditionally information systems (IS) students graduated then published, today they often publish before they graduate. While publishing seems yet another student burden, it can be a useful learning experience, raise motivation, provide helpful feedback, help grant and job applications, and give student and advisor a common focus. That research publishing is an extra demand suggests the need for a support tool. The research publishing checklist: 1. Chunks knowledge into elements for easier handling. 2. Grounds elements with practical examples and summary statements, and 3. Structures the elements in academic format for easy location. It can be used not only in student advising, but for new authors in any context, whether conference, journal or book chapter. The checklist is available at http://brianwhitworth.com/researchchecklist.pdf
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This paper compares two evaluation criterion frame- works for sociotechnical software. Research on the technology acceptance model (TAM) confirms that perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are relevant criteria for... more
This paper compares two evaluation criterion frame-
works for sociotechnical software. Research on the technology
acceptance model (TAM) confirms that perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use are relevant criteria for users evaluating
organizational software. However, information technology has
changed considerably since TAM’s 1989 inception, so an upgraded
evaluation framework may apply. The web of system performance
(WOSP) model suggests eight evaluation criteria, based on a
systems theory definition of performance. This paper compares
WOSP and TAM criterion frameworks in a performance eval-
uation experiment using the analytic hierarchy process method.
Subjects who used both TAM and WOSP criteria preferred the
WOSP criteria, were more satisfied with its decision outcomes,
and found the WOSP evaluation more accurate and complete. As
sociotechnical software becomes more complex, users may need
(or prefer) more comprehensive evaluation criterion framewo
works for sociotechnical software. Research on the technology
acceptance model (TAM) confirms that perceived usefulness and
perceived ease of use are relevant criteria for users evaluating
organizational software. However, information technology has
changed considerably since TAM’s 1989 inception, so an upgraded
evaluation framework may apply. The web of system performance
(WOSP) model suggests eight evaluation criteria, based on a
systems theory definition of performance. This paper compares
WOSP and TAM criterion frameworks in a performance eval-
uation experiment using the analytic hierarchy process method.
Subjects who used both TAM and WOSP criteria preferred the
WOSP criteria, were more satisfied with its decision outcomes,
and found the WOSP evaluation more accurate and complete. As
sociotechnical software becomes more complex, users may need
(or prefer) more comprehensive evaluation criterion framewo
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Here are some questions about quantum realism (QR) and their answers. Please check this list before sending questions to bwhitworth@acm.org
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Spam and anti-spam techniques are part of email since its birth. Spam is electronic garbage with no anticipating recipient and almost always deleted. In 2010, around 89% of all emails were spam, resulting in an estimated 260 billion spam... more
Spam and anti-spam techniques are part of email since its birth. Spam is electronic garbage with no anticipating recipient and almost always deleted. In 2010, around 89% of all emails were spam, resulting in an estimated 260 billion spam emails sent every single day. Most of the current anti-spamming systems focus on incoming spam but these messages still travel the internet world and waste bandwidth, storage and processing resources. This research proposes a collaborative outgoing anti-spam technique to reduce the spread of spam on the internet. The technique targets outgoing emails and its use would free the internet from 260 billion spam a day. During real-time experiment, it blocked 99.95% of the total spam generated with 99.57% elimination at sender side.
Access control is the process by which authorized users are granted permission over resources. Access control models incorporate application requirements in their design and thus evolve with the applications. The rise of online social... more
Access control is the process by which authorized users are granted permission over resources. Access control models incorporate application requirements in their design and thus evolve with the applications. The rise of online social networks (OSN), like Facebook, has posed new requirements over the privacy of users' data due to the presence of heterogeneous privacy circle. The traditional models cannot be used for this new type of applications for the complexity of millions of users interacting with each other. Different access control models for OSN are proposed based on relationships, trust, rule semantics, or history between the user and the requestor, however, rights delegation, rights transfer, reputation management and transparency are still ignored by the research community. To address these concerns and challenges, further research is needed. This paper reviews these challenges and presents a number of future research directions for access control models in the context of OSN.
A community is a social entity that by norms, laws or ethics grants its citizens rights-social permissions to act. Online social networks are computer based communities whose social requirements are not too different from any other.... more
A community is a social entity that by norms, laws or ethics grants its citizens rights-social permissions to act. Online social networks are computer based communities whose social requirements are not too different from any other. Access control in these networks requires some logical foundation to build upon. Without an agreed logical basis to distribute social rights, current access control models are based on intuition, experience or trial and error. This paper identifies some ethical issues in online social networks and suggests their solutions by socio-technical approach – use the knowledge of physical society as the basis of information rights model for online communities. Social axioms provide a theoretical base for rights analysis that could not only satisfy technical but also social and ethical requirements.
Access control, as part of every software system, has evolved as computing has evolved. Its original aim was to limit unauthorized access to centralized systems, but the rise of social networks like Facebook has changed that. Now each... more
Access control, as part of every software system, has evolved as computing has evolved. Its original aim was to limit unauthorized access to centralized systems, but the rise of social networks like Facebook has changed that. Now each person wants to control who sees photos or makes comments on their local wall by making and unmaking friends, i.e. dynamic, distributed rights control. Social networks already have access control, but there is currently no agreed logical model for their rights, no consistent scheme for allocating and re-allocating permissions to create, edit, delete and view social objects and entities. A socio-technical approach based on social and technical requirements can give the basics of a model. Various rights reallocations like multiply, divide, transfer and delegate are explored. It suggests a theoretical base for access control beyond its security parent.