Within a network enabled environment, collaboration between humans is key for making and so taking decisions. Increasingly, decision makers have to rely on information provided by other actors within highly dynamic and distributed networks of varying size and scales. To undertake this examination this paper posits the idea of different ‘Networks-in-Being’ with varying individual and collective ...

Autonomous synthetic actors must invent variations of known material in order to perform given only a limited script, and to assist the director with development of the performance. In addition, the synthetic actors need to learn through the rehearsal process, as their human counterparts do, via feedback from the director. Through the production of two performances, involving both human and syn...

The debate on scale use in river management focuses primarily on the (lack of) fit between the bio-geophysical and institutional systems. However, in this article we focus on the 'subjective' aspect of scale preferences in water governance. We apply an adapted version of the Integrated Scale Hierarchy for Rivers to determine the degree of fit between the scale preferences of the actors involved...

Disasters cause widespread harm and disrupt the normal functioning of society, and effective management requires the participation and cooperation of many actors. While advances in information and networking technology have made transmission of data easier than it ever has been before, communication and coordination of activities between actors remain exceptionally difficult. This paper employs...

This paper presents a method for evaluating the relative empathic ability of different characters. The method is based on the premise that human actors are able to give more compelling performances when acting opposite a more empathic acting partner. The method involves causing one or more human actors to engage in a short interaction with each character, videotaping these performances, showing...

THEME Two central themes permeate this paper-the interplay between structure and agency in integration processes and the extent to which this is mediated through sensemaking by individual actors. CASE STUDY The empirical base for the paper is provided by case study research from Wales which draws on examples of different types of integration in health and social care. The individual case stud...

BACKGROUND Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) and HIV issues are often controversial and neglected, leading to challenges with engaging policy actors. Research evidence is complex, posing further challenges for ensuring that policy and practice are evidence-based. Many health researchers are adopting innovative approaches to engaging stakeholders in their research, yet these experiences are n...

Process management serves the design of IT and organizations, while multiple actors have stakes in setting the agenda and implementing process innovations. These stakeholders, from both inside and outside an organization‟s boundaries, constitute integral elements of a larger network of actors. The stimulation and utilization of such networks are critical success factors for process management a...

• Estimates of their impact should be made cautiously, however, for few nonstate actors are completely independent of nation-states, and they do not have uniform freedom of movement. Although nonstate actors have a great deal of latitude in both weak and post-industrial states, modernizing states such as China and Russia—home to the bulk of the world’s population—have been highly effective in s...