Stefano De Paoli
Biographic Data
| ID | 284878 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Stefano De Paoli |
| GIVEN NAMES | Stefano |
| FAMILY NAME | De Paoli |
| SIGNATURE | DE PAOLI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Abertay University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1120-4773 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 33 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
User personas, ideation and large language models
LLMs in User-Centered Design and Personas: The paper shows how Large Language Models (LLMs) can support early design stages by generating user personas from qualitative interview data. • Scenario Development and Functionalities: It highlights how personas created by LLMs can be expanded into scenarios and associated functionalities for digital platforms, simulating the ideation phase of a user-centered design. • Comparable Outcomes: An evaluation…
Can Machines Perform a Qualitative Data Analysis? Reading the Debate With Alan Turing
This paper reflects on the literature that rejects the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in qualitative data analysis (QDA). It illustrates through empirical evidence and critical reflections why the current debate is focusing on the wrong problems. The paper proposes that a key focus of researching the use of the LLMs for QDA is the empirical investigation of a hybrid/artificial system performing an analysis. The paper builds on the seminal wo…
Why We Should Reject to Reject the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Analysis
This position paper argues against the categorical rejection of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) in qualitative analysis, as proposed by Jowsey et al. in their open letter published in Qualitative Inquiry . While their concerns are framed as methodological, the authors’ position largely rests on philosophical assumptions that risk becoming dogma. In this short response I contend that prohibiting genAI on metaphysical grounds negatively …
Reflections on inductive thematic saturation as a potential metric for measuring the validity of an inductive thematic analysis with LLMs
This paper presents a set of reflections on saturation and the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) for performing Thematic Analysis (TA). The paper suggests that initial thematic saturation (ITS) could be used as a metric to assess part of the transactional validity of TA with LLM, focusing on the initial coding. The paper presents the initial coding of two datasets of different sizes, and it reflects on how the LLM reaches some form of analytica…
A qualitative study of penetration testers and what they can tell us about information security in organisations
Purpose This paper presents a qualitative study of penetration testing, the practice of attacking information systems to find security vulnerabilities and fixing them. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether and to what extent penetration testing can reveal various socio-organisational factors of information security in organisations. In doing so, the paper innovates theory by using Routine Activity Theory together with phenomenology o…
What counts as contribution? Micro-practices of enrolment and exclusion in a financial problems support group
This paper explores the micro-practices of participants in an online community and the relationship between these practices and different metrics of contribution to the community. It compares contribution metrics derived from two different measurement technologies, one based on a conventional, individualistic algorithm and one on whole-part relationships. We combine an Actor-Network theoretical perspective with empirical research that employs bot…
Performing an Inductive Thematic Analysis of Semi-Structured Interviews With a Large Language Model
Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful generative Artificial Intelligence solutions. This paper presents results and reflections of an experiment done with the LLM GPT 3.5-Turbo to perform an inductive Thematic Analysis (TA). Previous research has worked on conducting deductive analysis. Thematic Analysis is a qualitative method for analysis commonly used in social sciences and it is based on interpretations by the human analyst(s)…
Social Innovation
The conceptual malleability of the notion of social innovation has resulted in the appropriation of the concept in various sectors. The goal of the paper is to provide a critical view of such appropriation. We contend that this appropriation often includes the usage of the concept to advance agendas away from or opposed to that of the common good. This paper evaluates such problematic usage by identifying the distinguishing and core aspects of so…
Commonshare
Reputation systems are a popular feature of web-based platforms for ensuring that their users abide by platform rules and regulations and are incentivized to demonstrate honest, trustworthy conduct. Accrual of “reputation” in these platforms, most prominently those in the e-commerce domain, is motivated by self-interested goals such as acquiring an advantage over competing platform users. Therefore, in community-oriented platforms, where the goal…
Open Data Platforms for a Data Commons, How to Support the Life of Data Beyond Release
In this paper we will discuss the challenges and opportunities of infusing in open data a life beyond its original public release. Indeed, it is often unclear whether open data has a life beyond the one it was initially collected for, to the extent that some authors have even described the public reuse of government data as no more than a “myth”. We will present the results of the project Data Commons Scotland launched with the idea of creating a…
On the ethical and political agency of online reputation systems
Social and socioeconomic interactions and transactions often require trust. In digital spaces, the main approach to facilitating trust has effectively been to try to reduce or even remove the need for it through the implementation of reputation systems. These generate metrics based on digital data such as ratings and reviews submitted by users, interaction histories, and so on, that are intended to label individuals as more or less reliable or tr…
The engineer–criminologist and “the novelty of cybercrime”
The Novelty of Cybercrime is a research problem in criminology where scholars are asking whether cybercrime is a wholly new form of crime compared with traditional–terrestrial crimes and whether new criminological theories are needed to understand it. Most criminological theories focus on the human rational aspects and downplay the role of non-humans in explaining what may be novel in cybercrime. This paper shows that a sociotechnical perspective…
Not All the Bots Are Created Equal
This article contributes to the research on bots in Social Media. It takes as its starting point an emerging perspective which proposes that we should abandon the investigation of the Turing Test and the functional aspects of bots in favor of studying the authentic and cooperative relationship between humans and bots. Contrary to this view, this article argues that Turing Tests are one of the ways in which authentic relationships between humans a…
Is a Technological Singularity Near Also for Bots in MMOGs
Using the idea of the Technological Singularity this essay offers some reflections on the possible future of bots in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). The paper starts by briefly introducing the notion of Technological Singularity as the advent of a super-intelligent Artificial Intelligence that could threaten human existence. Bots are computer programs that automate repetitive and time consuming activities for the Internet user. In MMO…
Surveillant Assemblages of Governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games
This paper explores governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), one sub-sector of the digital games industry. Informed by media governance studies, Surveillance Studies, and game studies, this paper identifies five elements which form part of the system of governance in MMOGs. These elements are: game code and rules; game policies; company community management practices; player participatory practices; and paratexts. Together these …
Toward Trust as Result. A Transdisciplinary Research Agenda for the ‘Future of the Internet’
Trust has emerged as one of the key challenges for the Future of the Internet and as a key theme of European research. We are convinced that a transdisciplinary research agenda - that we define to as Trust as Result - shared by Sociology and Computer Science, is of paramount importance for devising sustainable Trust solutions for the (Future) Internet stakeholders. The scope of this paper is to present some aspects we consider important for build…
L'agencement de la triche. Aborder la triche dans les MMORPG comme un imbroglio
Cet article se penche sur le phénomène de triche dans les jeux de rôle en ligne massivement multijoueurs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games : MMORPG), en mobilisant le concept d'agencement. Il critique le caractère essentialiste de la définition la plus courante de la triche désignant les actions qui procurent un avantage déloyal aux tricheurs. Les auteurs proposent au contraire d'aborder à la triche sur un appui empirique, comme le p…
Rd ICTs and Society Meeting; Paper Session - Theorizing the Internet; Paper 1
Trust has emerged as one of the key challenges for the Future Internet and as a key theme of European research. We are convinced that a transdisciplinary research agenda - that we define to as Trust as Result - shared by Sociology and Computer Science, is of paramount importance for devising sustainable Trust solutions for the (Future) Internet stakeholders. The scope of this paper is to present some elements we consider important for building su…
Free and open source licenses in community life
How do licenses participate in Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) community life? This paper aims at answering this question. Despite the dynamic character of FLOSS development, the sociological debate has taken for granted a static perspective of communities organized around a restricted range of social values and rules. Criticizing the main sociological approaches to FLOSS community, we assert, on the contrary, that the FLOSS free/open chara…
"We Will Always Be One Step Ahead of Them" A Case Study on the Economy of Cheating in MMORPGs
Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a sub-sector of virtual worlds that share with other worlds the characteristics of both complex technological systems and complex societies. The success of several MMORPGs makes them a vibrant area for research from different points of view, including their economic aspects (Castronova, 2005). Our research is mainly concerned with thepractice of cheating in MMORPGs and its consequences. …
Performing an Inductive Thematic Analysis of Semi-Structured Interviews With a Large Language Model
Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful generative Artificial Intelligence solutions. This paper presents results and reflections of an experiment done with the LLM GPT 3.5-Turbo to perform an inductive Thematic Analysis (TA). Previous research has worked on conducting deductive analysis. Thematic Analysis is a qualitative method for analysis commonly used in social sciences and it is based on interpretations by the human analyst(s)…
Surveillant Assemblages of Governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games
This paper explores governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), one sub-sector of the digital games industry. Informed by media governance studies, Surveillance Studies, and game studies, this paper identifies five elements which form part of the system of governance in MMOGs. These elements are: game code and rules; game policies; company community management practices; player participatory practices; and paratexts. Together these …
Social Innovation
The conceptual malleability of the notion of social innovation has resulted in the appropriation of the concept in various sectors. The goal of the paper is to provide a critical view of such appropriation. We contend that this appropriation often includes the usage of the concept to advance agendas away from or opposed to that of the common good. This paper evaluates such problematic usage by identifying the distinguishing and core aspects of so…
L'agencement de la triche. Aborder la triche dans les MMORPG comme un imbroglio
Cet article se penche sur le phénomène de triche dans les jeux de rôle en ligne massivement multijoueurs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games : MMORPG), en mobilisant le concept d'agencement. Il critique le caractère essentialiste de la définition la plus courante de la triche désignant les actions qui procurent un avantage déloyal aux tricheurs. Les auteurs proposent au contraire d'aborder à la triche sur un appui empirique, comme le p…
Commonshare
Reputation systems are a popular feature of web-based platforms for ensuring that their users abide by platform rules and regulations and are incentivized to demonstrate honest, trustworthy conduct. Accrual of “reputation” in these platforms, most prominently those in the e-commerce domain, is motivated by self-interested goals such as acquiring an advantage over competing platform users. Therefore, in community-oriented platforms, where the goal…
The engineer–criminologist and “the novelty of cybercrime”
The Novelty of Cybercrime is a research problem in criminology where scholars are asking whether cybercrime is a wholly new form of crime compared with traditional–terrestrial crimes and whether new criminological theories are needed to understand it. Most criminological theories focus on the human rational aspects and downplay the role of non-humans in explaining what may be novel in cybercrime. This paper shows that a sociotechnical perspective…
"We Will Always Be One Step Ahead of Them" A Case Study on the Economy of Cheating in MMORPGs
Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are a sub-sector of virtual worlds that share with other worlds the characteristics of both complex technological systems and complex societies. The success of several MMORPGs makes them a vibrant area for research from different points of view, including their economic aspects (Castronova, 2005). Our research is mainly concerned with thepractice of cheating in MMORPGs and its consequences. …
Free and open source licenses in community life
How do licenses participate in Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) community life? This paper aims at answering this question. Despite the dynamic character of FLOSS development, the sociological debate has taken for granted a static perspective of communities organized around a restricted range of social values and rules. Criticizing the main sociological approaches to FLOSS community, we assert, on the contrary, that the FLOSS free/open chara…
Rd ICTs and Society Meeting; Paper Session - Theorizing the Internet; Paper 1
Trust has emerged as one of the key challenges for the Future Internet and as a key theme of European research. We are convinced that a transdisciplinary research agenda - that we define to as Trust as Result - shared by Sociology and Computer Science, is of paramount importance for devising sustainable Trust solutions for the (Future) Internet stakeholders. The scope of this paper is to present some elements we consider important for building su…
Toward Trust as Result. A Transdisciplinary Research Agenda for the ‘Future of the Internet’
Trust has emerged as one of the key challenges for the Future of the Internet and as a key theme of European research. We are convinced that a transdisciplinary research agenda - that we define to as Trust as Result - shared by Sociology and Computer Science, is of paramount importance for devising sustainable Trust solutions for the (Future) Internet stakeholders. The scope of this paper is to present some aspects we consider important for build…
L'agencement de la triche. Aborder la triche dans les MMORPG comme un imbroglio
Cet article se penche sur le phénomène de triche dans les jeux de rôle en ligne massivement multijoueurs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games : MMORPG), en mobilisant le concept d'agencement. Il critique le caractère essentialiste de la définition la plus courante de la triche désignant les actions qui procurent un avantage déloyal aux tricheurs. Les auteurs proposent au contraire d'aborder à la triche sur un appui empirique, comme le p…
Surveillant Assemblages of Governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games
This paper explores governance in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs), one sub-sector of the digital games industry. Informed by media governance studies, Surveillance Studies, and game studies, this paper identifies five elements which form part of the system of governance in MMOGs. These elements are: game code and rules; game policies; company community management practices; player participatory practices; and paratexts. Together these …
Is a Technological Singularity Near Also for Bots in MMOGs
Using the idea of the Technological Singularity this essay offers some reflections on the possible future of bots in Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). The paper starts by briefly introducing the notion of Technological Singularity as the advent of a super-intelligent Artificial Intelligence that could threaten human existence. Bots are computer programs that automate repetitive and time consuming activities for the Internet user. In MMO…
Not All the Bots Are Created Equal
This article contributes to the research on bots in Social Media. It takes as its starting point an emerging perspective which proposes that we should abandon the investigation of the Turing Test and the functional aspects of bots in favor of studying the authentic and cooperative relationship between humans and bots. Contrary to this view, this article argues that Turing Tests are one of the ways in which authentic relationships between humans a…
The engineer–criminologist and “the novelty of cybercrime”
The Novelty of Cybercrime is a research problem in criminology where scholars are asking whether cybercrime is a wholly new form of crime compared with traditional–terrestrial crimes and whether new criminological theories are needed to understand it. Most criminological theories focus on the human rational aspects and downplay the role of non-humans in explaining what may be novel in cybercrime. This paper shows that a sociotechnical perspective…
On the ethical and political agency of online reputation systems
Social and socioeconomic interactions and transactions often require trust. In digital spaces, the main approach to facilitating trust has effectively been to try to reduce or even remove the need for it through the implementation of reputation systems. These generate metrics based on digital data such as ratings and reviews submitted by users, interaction histories, and so on, that are intended to label individuals as more or less reliable or tr…
Open Data Platforms for a Data Commons, How to Support the Life of Data Beyond Release
In this paper we will discuss the challenges and opportunities of infusing in open data a life beyond its original public release. Indeed, it is often unclear whether open data has a life beyond the one it was initially collected for, to the extent that some authors have even described the public reuse of government data as no more than a “myth”. We will present the results of the project Data Commons Scotland launched with the idea of creating a…
Commonshare
Reputation systems are a popular feature of web-based platforms for ensuring that their users abide by platform rules and regulations and are incentivized to demonstrate honest, trustworthy conduct. Accrual of “reputation” in these platforms, most prominently those in the e-commerce domain, is motivated by self-interested goals such as acquiring an advantage over competing platform users. Therefore, in community-oriented platforms, where the goal…
Social Innovation
The conceptual malleability of the notion of social innovation has resulted in the appropriation of the concept in various sectors. The goal of the paper is to provide a critical view of such appropriation. We contend that this appropriation often includes the usage of the concept to advance agendas away from or opposed to that of the common good. This paper evaluates such problematic usage by identifying the distinguishing and core aspects of so…
What counts as contribution? Micro-practices of enrolment and exclusion in a financial problems support group
This paper explores the micro-practices of participants in an online community and the relationship between these practices and different metrics of contribution to the community. It compares contribution metrics derived from two different measurement technologies, one based on a conventional, individualistic algorithm and one on whole-part relationships. We combine an Actor-Network theoretical perspective with empirical research that employs bot…
Performing an Inductive Thematic Analysis of Semi-Structured Interviews With a Large Language Model
Large Language Models (LLMs) have emerged as powerful generative Artificial Intelligence solutions. This paper presents results and reflections of an experiment done with the LLM GPT 3.5-Turbo to perform an inductive Thematic Analysis (TA). Previous research has worked on conducting deductive analysis. Thematic Analysis is a qualitative method for analysis commonly used in social sciences and it is based on interpretations by the human analyst(s)…
Reflections on inductive thematic saturation as a potential metric for measuring the validity of an inductive thematic analysis with LLMs
This paper presents a set of reflections on saturation and the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) for performing Thematic Analysis (TA). The paper suggests that initial thematic saturation (ITS) could be used as a metric to assess part of the transactional validity of TA with LLM, focusing on the initial coding. The paper presents the initial coding of two datasets of different sizes, and it reflects on how the LLM reaches some form of analytica…
A qualitative study of penetration testers and what they can tell us about information security in organisations
Purpose This paper presents a qualitative study of penetration testing, the practice of attacking information systems to find security vulnerabilities and fixing them. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether and to what extent penetration testing can reveal various socio-organisational factors of information security in organisations. In doing so, the paper innovates theory by using Routine Activity Theory together with phenomenology o…
User personas, ideation and large language models
LLMs in User-Centered Design and Personas: The paper shows how Large Language Models (LLMs) can support early design stages by generating user personas from qualitative interview data. • Scenario Development and Functionalities: It highlights how personas created by LLMs can be expanded into scenarios and associated functionalities for digital platforms, simulating the ideation phase of a user-centered design. • Comparable Outcomes: An evaluation…
Can Machines Perform a Qualitative Data Analysis? Reading the Debate With Alan Turing
This paper reflects on the literature that rejects the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) in qualitative data analysis (QDA). It illustrates through empirical evidence and critical reflections why the current debate is focusing on the wrong problems. The paper proposes that a key focus of researching the use of the LLMs for QDA is the empirical investigation of a hybrid/artificial system performing an analysis. The paper builds on the seminal wo…
Why We Should Reject to Reject the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Analysis
This position paper argues against the categorical rejection of generative Artificial Intelligence (genAI) in qualitative analysis, as proposed by Jowsey et al. in their open letter published in Qualitative Inquiry . While their concerns are framed as methodological, the authors’ position largely rests on philosophical assumptions that risk becoming dogma. In this short response I contend that prohibiting genAI on metaphysical grounds negatively …
Computer Science (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Political science (10 works) · Public relations (8 works) · World Wide Web (8 works) · Internet privacy (6 works) · Qualitative research (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Digital Games and Media (5 works) · Knowledge management (5 works)