The Democratisation Myth

Open access (OA) in the Global North is considered to solve an accessibility problem in scholarly communication. But this accessibility is restricted to the consumption of knowledge. Epistemic injustices inhering in the scholarly communication of a global production of knowledge remain unchanged. This underscores that the commercial or big deal OA dominating Europe and North America have little revolutionary potential to democratise knowledge. Academia in the Global North, driven by politics of progressive neoliberalism, can even reinforce its hegemonic power by solidifying and legitimating contemporary hierarchies of scholarly communication through OA. In a critique of the notion of a democratisation of knowledge, I showcase manifestations of OA as either allowing consumption of existing discourse or as active participation of discourse in the making. The latter comes closer to being the basis for a democratisation of knowledge. I discuss this as I issue a threefold conceptualisation of epistemic injustices comprising of testimonial injustice, hermeneutical injustice, and epistemic objectification. As these injustices prevail, the notion of a democratisation of knowledge through OA is but another form of technological determinism that neglects the intricacies of culture and hegemony.

Accessible diagnostics along the care trajectory of children with a developmental disorder

Background 20% of all children suffer a neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) worldwide. Each child with a (suspected) NDD should have access to a specialised multidisciplinary diagnostic setting to pass a qualitative and adequate diagnostic trajectory. In Flanders, Belgium, 6 types of public organisations offer multidisciplinary diagnostics of NDD for children. However the objective of timely diagnostics for the population is not realized. Methods Literature review, document- and website analysis, surveys and focus groups were done. Results of the surveys have been analysed by SPSS, focus groups have been thematically analysed by a process of data- and researchers triangulation. Results were discussed and validated by experts in focus groups. Results The response on the survey was 155. 67 surveys were included for analysis. 71 professionals participated in a focus group. As a result of an historical dispersed development, the field of organisations offering diagnostics of NDD in Flanders is heterogeneous. Diagnostics are provided in each region, but not in every region the same competences, knowledge, expertise and capacity are available. Overall it lacks sufficient capacity. The accessibility, nature of the diagnostics, target groups, composition of the diagnostic teams and working processes differ between organisations and are not coordinated. There is no shared interorganisational opinion on the concept and content of diagnostics. An important hampering factor for interorganisational collaboration is the lack of trust in the quality of diagnostics by other organisations. Many ruptures in the overall trajectory hamper continuity of care for NDD. Conclusions Besides creating more diagnostic capacity according to a geographical planning, interorganisational collaboration will tackle the accessibility problem. A coordinated common framework grounded in the logics of cooperation and collaboration of a heterogeneous mix of organisations providing diagnostics, is needed. Key messages Development of collaborative networks of different types of services offering diagnostics will improve the accessibility of early and timely multidisciplinary diagnostics for children with NDD. A shared interorganisational opinion on the concept and content of diagnostics aiming to improve interorganisational trust in the quality of diagnostics, must be developed.

The Democratisation Myth: Open Access and the Solidification of Epistemic Injustices

Open access (OA) is considered to solve an accessibility problem in scholarly communication. But this accessibility is restricted to consumption of Western knowledge. Epistemic injustices inhering in the scholarly communication of a global production of knowledge remain unchanged. This underscores that the commercial and “big deal” OA dominating Europe and North America has little revolutionary potential to democratise knowledge. Western academia, driven by politics of progressive neoliberalism, can even reinforce its hegemonic power by solidifying and legitimating the contemporary hierarchies of scholarly communication through OA. I approach the accessibility problem dialectically to arrive at a critique of the commercial large-scale implementations of OA. I propose a threefold conceptualisation of epistemic injustices comprising of testimonial injustice, hermeneutical injustice, and epistemic objectification. As these injustices prevail, the notion of a democratisation of knowledge through OA is but another form of technological determinism that neglects the intricacies of culture and hegemonial order.

A COMPUTATION METHOD ON TIME-DEPENDENT ACCESSIBILITY OF URBAN RAIL TRANSIT NETWORKS FOR THE LAST SERVICE

Urban rail transit networks seldom provide 24-hour service. The last train is the latest chance for passengers. If passengers arrive too late to catch the last train, the path becomes inaccessible. The network accessibility thus varies depending on the departure time of passenger trips. This paper focuses on the computation method on the time-dependent accessibility of urban rail transit networks in order to facilitate the itinerary planning of passengers. A label setting algorithm is first designed to calculate the latest possible times for Origin–Destination (O–D) pairs, which is the latest departure times of passengers from the origins such that the destinations can be reach successfully. A searching approach is then developed to find the shortest accessible path at any possible departure times. The method is applied in a real-world metro network. The results show that the method is a powerful tool in solving the service accessibility problem. It has the ability to allow passengers to plan an optimal itinerary. Comparison analysis indicates that the proposed method can provide exact solutions in much shorter time, compared with a path enumeration method. Extensive tests on a set of random networks indicate that the method is efficient enough in practical applications. The execution time for an O–D pair on a personal computer with 2.8 GHZ CPU and 4GB of RAM is only 1.2 s for urban rail transit networks with 100 transfer stations.

The Housing Enabler instrument: Assessing threats to reliability and validity

Introduction The Housing Enabler instrument, designed to measure housing accessibility, has not been used in samples with long-standing spinal cord injury. We aimed to investigate potential threats to the reliability and validity of the instrument when used among older adults with spinal cord injury. Method Cross-sectional data from the Swedish Aging with Spinal Cord Injury Study ( N = 123, injury levels C1–L5) were utilised. The potential effect on the reliability and content validity of the House Enabler was qualitatively considered and reviewed in an iterative evaluation procedure. To analyse the potential effect on construct validity, simulations adjusting accessibility problem scores for housing adaptations and use of mobility devices were conducted. Findings Considerable threats to the reliability and content validity of the Housing Enabler were identified. The simulated analysis of construct validity showed a modest overall effect on the accessibility problem scores, although this was substantial in some individuals. Conclusion Data collection and analyses of housing accessibility with the Housing Enabler in samples characterised by high frequencies of housing adaptations and/or use of mobility devices (such as powered wheelchairs) require particular attention. Further studies are needed to propose optimisation of the instrument for use in such contexts, followed by psychometric testing to maintain reliability and validity.

Digital Technology: the Answer to the Art Historical Conundrum of A ccessibility?

The famous anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu argued that there is an “unnatural idea of inborn culture, of a gift of culture, bestowed on certain people by Nature.” [1] Bourdieu is arguing that people, who have not been born into a higher class, or who cannot receive a high level of education, are unable to appreciate and understand art. The study of art history is expensive, and often involves extremely high travel costs, thus making it inaccessible to anybody who does not enjoy the means to pursue it. How can we address this accessibility problem in the study of art history? Is there any way to bring art to the people who do not possess “inborn culture?” Bourdieu wrote his book on art and class in 1984, at a time when the computer, and its democratizing potential, was a new and little -understood invention. My research proposes that modern technology provides an answer to this problem, which has plagued the discipline of art history. This presentation will examine three research projects that I’ve been working on at Queen’s. Each project uses digital technologies to improve the general public’s knowledge and access to art. The projects are all different: the first focuses on creating a digital model of 18th - century Canterbury Cathedral based on a book from W.D. Jordan Rare Books and Special Collections, the second project works on understanding Herstmonceux Castle and medieval England through technology, and the third involves image processing for art historical investigations. Despite their differences, each project makes art accessible to people who do not possess Bourdieu’s definition of “inborn culture.”

Designing Floor Tile Warehouse Layout Using Heuristic Approach Method to Increase Warehouse Capacity and Reduce Travel Distance

XYZ Company is a distributor focused on distributing floor and wall ceramic tiles. XYZ Company has its own warehouse for storing finished goods with Last In First Out rotation. The XYZ Company Warehouse has an area of 12,312 m2 with floor stack system. An issue currently risen to the warehouse is that the warehouse is currently overcapacity that urges the company to store some of its SKUs to be stored out of the block or even outside the warehouse. The overcapacity causes some problems including accessibility problem, distribution of storage and retrieval activities, and damaged product. In addition, higher throughput items allocation were not placed near to the input/output point so the material handling went through long travel to do its activities and it caused higher total travel distance. This research is focused on determining the warehouse layout to increase warehouse storage capacity and reduce travel distance. The procedure taken to solve the issue is by redesigning warehouse layout through heuristic approach method. The heuristic approach method is comprised by algorithms that can determine dimensions of storage zone and material assignment needed in designing warehouse layout. It is aimed at having some combinations of lane depths and storage zones to increase the warehouse storage capacity by considering the throughput of each SKU. The next step is allocating the items so it can reduce the monthly travel distance. The proposed design layout, shows that warehouse capacity increases by 35.53% or 5,319 pallet positions and monthly travel distance decreases by 24.58% or 216,032 meters. Keywords—heuristic approach, travel distance, warehouse layout.

Designing Floor Tile Warehouse Layout Using Heuristic Approach Method to Increase Warehouse Capacity and Reduce Travel Distance

XYZ Company is distributor that focused on distributes floor and wall tiles ceramic. XYZ Company has its own warehouse for storing finished good with Last In First Out (LIFO) rotation. XYZ Company’s warehouse has area of 12,312 m2 with floor stack system. The issued that currently raised is warehouse condition that is overcapacity so several SKUs are stored out of the block even placed outside the warehouse. The impact of overcapacity are accessibility problem, storage and retrieval activities are hampered, and damaged product. In addition, the allocation of higher throughput items were not placed near to the input/output point so the material handling went through long travel to do its activities and it caused higher total travel distance. This research focuses on determining the warehouse layout to increase warehouse storage capacity and reduce travel distance. The procedure to solve the issue will be done by redesign warehouse layout with heuristic approach method. The objective are a combination of lanes depths and storage zones to increase the warehouse storage capacity by considering throughput of each SKU. The next step is allocate the items so it can reduces the monthly travel distance. Based on proposed design layout, obtained the warehouse capacity increase by 35.53% or as much as 5,319 pallet positions and monthly travel distance is decreased by 24.58% or 216,032 meters.