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1. Perceptions, motivators and barriers of using city management applications among citizens: a focus group approach

   https://doi.org/10.1108/ITP-03-2020-0148  

   Annis, Catherine; Hou, Jinghui; Tang, Tian (May 2021, Information Technology & People)

   null (Ed.)

   Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand citizens' perceptions of smartphone-based city management apps and to identify facilitators and barriers that influence app adoption and use. An aim is to identify how current technology adoption theories might be expanded and enriched for studying citizen adoption of city apps in the US. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a qualitative exploratory case study of citizen perceptions of city management apps in Tallahassee, a top-ranked digital city in the southeastern United States. The authors derive empirical data from focus group discussions with citizens using thematic analysis. Findings Overall, the findings suggest that city management apps are primarily perceived and used by citizens as handy and efficient tools for the provision of information and public services. The findings suggest that current technology adoption and use models applied to citizen adoption of m-government may benefit by being expanded for the US context. Originality/value This paper highlights what factors of m-government technology are effective, useful or inhibiting in citizens' lives from the perspective of a group of citizens in the southeastern US. Implications that might be learned for researchers and practitioners are discussed. 

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2. Investigating racial and skin tone biases in automated classification of teachers’ activities in classroom videos.

   Drimalla, J; Korban, M; Foster, J (July 2025, Springer Nature Switzerland)

   Previous studies have shown that artificial intelligence can be used to classify instruction-related activities in classroom videos. The automated classi- fication of human activities, however, is vulnerable to biases in which the model performs substantially better or worse for different people groups. Although algo- rithmic bias has been highlighted as an important area for research in artificial intelligence in education, there have been few studies that empirically investigate potential bias in instruction-related activity recognition systems. In this paper, we report on an investigation of potential racial and skin tone biases in the automated classification of teachers’ activities in classroom videos. We examine whether a neural network’s classification of teachers’ activities differs with respect to teacher race and skin tone and whether differently balanced training datasets affect the performance of the neural network. Our results indicate that, under ordinary class- room lighting conditions, the neural network performs equally well regardless of teacher race or skin tone. Furthermore, our results suggest the balance of the training dataset with respect to teacher skin tone and race has a small—but not necessarily positive—effect on the neural network’s performance. Our study, how- ever, also suggests the importance of quality lighting for accurate classification of teacher-related instructional activities for teachers of color. We conclude with a discussion of our mixed findings, the limitations of our study, and potential directions for future research. 

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3. Downstream Effects of Frayed Relations: Juror Race, Judgment, and Perceptions of Police

   https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687231178322  

   Lynch, Mona; Shaw, Emily V (May 2023, Race and Justice)

   Building on research demonstrating significant differences in how Black and White Americans view law enforcement, this study assesses how those differential views shape potential jurors’ decision-making in the context of a federal drug conspiracy case in which the primary evidence against the defendant is provided by an FBI agent and an informant cooperating with the agent. A sample of 649 Black and White jury-eligible U.S. citizens were exposed to the case, in which a Black defendant is being tried, and where the informant-witness race (Black or White) was varied. Participants determined verdict, evaluated evidence, and completed additional measures. Results indicated that Black participants were significantly less likely to convict than White participants, especially in the White informant condition; rated the law enforcement witness as less credible, and viewed police more negatively across three composite measures. Exploratory analysis of how juror race and gender interacted indicates Black women largely drove racial differences in verdicts. Perceptions of police legitimacy mediated the relationship between juror race and verdict choice. We conclude that it is critical that citizens are not prevented from being seated on juries due to skepticism about police, given the risk of disproportionate exclusion of Black potential jurors. The legal processes relevant to juror excusals need to be reconsidered to ensure that views of police, rooted in actual experience or knowledge about the problems with fair and just policing, are not used to disproportionately exclude persons of color, or to seat juries overrepresented by people who blindly trust police. 

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4. Making the material routine: a sociomaterial study of the relationship between police body worn cameras (BWCs) and organisational routines

   https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2019.1705823  

   Guzik, Keith; Sesay, A.; Oh, O.; Ramirez, R.; Tong, T. (December 2019, Policing and Society)

   This article employs a sociomaterial perspective adapted from information systems and management studies to examine the potential impact of body worn cameras (BWCs) on police organisations. Based on 42 semi-structured interviews with police employees, the study illustrates how wearable camera technology is seen to ‘afford’ officers and agencies the ability to modify their work routines. Further, these modifications occur in conjunction with particular dimensions of body camera system’s material agency. Through the performativity of video recording devices to move, see, hear, and record, officers report altering how they approach patrol work by displacing certain tasks onto their material associates, which allows them to better carry out their duties. Through the interoperability of the cloud storage systems, departments describe being able to reorganise critical information processing routines in support of criminal prosecutions. Through the objectivity of the digital files produced by body-worn camera systems, departments note effortlessly creating packets of events bearing the impression of truth and legitimacy with which they are able to more easily resolve citizen complaints. These findings underscore the importance of remaining attentive to the materiality of technology in policing and law enforcement research. 

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5. Trinkner R., Mays, R.D., Cohn, E.S., van Gundy, K.T., Rebellon, C.J.(2019). Turning the corner on procedural justice theory: Exploring reverse causality with an experimental vignette in a longitudinal survey. Journal of Experimental Criminology. 15, 661-671.

   Trinkner R., Mays (January 2019, Journal of experimental criminology)

   Abstract Objectives Traditional police procedural justice theory argues that citizen perceptions of fair treatment by police officers increase police legitimacy, which leads to an increased likelihood of legal compliance. Recently, Nagin and Telep (2017) criticized these causal assumptions, arguing that prior literature has not definitively ruled out reverse causality—that is, legitimacy influences perceptions of fairness and/or compliance influences perceptions of both fairness and legitimacy. The goal of the present paper was to explore this critique using experimental and correlational methodologies within a longitudinal framework. Methods Adolescents completed a vignette-based experiment that manipulated two aspects of officer behavior linked to perceptions of fairness: voice and impartiality. After reading the vignette, participants rated the fairness and legitimacy of the officer within the situation. At three time points prior to the experiment (1, 17, and 31 months), participants completed surveys measuring their global perceptions of police legitimacy and self-reported delinquency. Data were analyzed to assess the extent to which global legitimacy and delinquency predicted responses to the vignette net of experimental manipulations and controls. Results Both experimental manipulations led to higher perceptions of situational procedural justice and officer legitimacy. Prior perceptions of police legitimacy did not predict judgments of situational procedural justice; however, in some cases, prior engagement in delinquency was negatively related to situational procedural justice. Prior perceptions of legitimacy were positively associated with situational perceptions of legitimacy regardless of experimental manipulations. Conclusions This study showed mixed support for the case of reverse causality among police procedural justice, legitimacy, and compliance 

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