Childhood and the politics of scale: Descaling children's geographies?

This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2008 SAGE Publications.The past decade has witnessed a resurgence of interest in the geographies of children's lives, and particularly in engaging the voices and activities of young people in geographical research. Much of this growing body of scholarship is characterized by a very parochial locus of interest — the neighbourhood, playground, shopping mall or journey to school. In this paper I explore some of the roots of children's geographies' preoccupation with the micro-scale and argue that it limits the relevance of research, both politically and to other areas of geography. In order to widen the scope of children's geographies, some scholars have engaged with developments in the theorization of scale. I present these arguments but also point to their limitations. As an alternative, I propose that the notion of a flat ontology might help overcome some difficulties around scalar thinking, and provide a useful means of conceptualizing sociospatiality in material and non-hierarchical terms. Bringing together flat ontology and work in children's geographies on embodied subjectivity, I argue that it is important to examine the nature and limits of children's spaces of perception and action. While these spaces are not simply `local', they seldom afford children opportunities to comment on, or intervene in, the events, processes and decisions that shape their own lives. The implications for the substance and method of children's geographies and for geographical work on scale are considered

Innovative public governance through cloud computing: Information privacy, business models and performance measurement challenges

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze challenges and to discuss proposed solutions for innovative public governance through cloud computing. Innovative technologies, such as federation of services and cloud computing, can greatly contribute to the provision of e-government services, through scaleable and flexible systems. Furthermore, they can facilitate in reducing costs and overcoming public information segmentation. Nonetheless, when public agencies use these technologies, they encounter several associated organizational and technical changes, as well as significant challenges. Design/methodology/approach: We followed a multidisciplinary perspective (social, behavioral, business and technical) and conducted a conceptual analysis for analyzing the associated challenges. We conducted focus group interviews in two countries for evaluating the performance models that resulted from the conceptual analysis. Findings: This study identifies and analyzes several challenges that may emerge while adopting innovative technologies for public governance and e-government services. Furthermore, it presents suggested solutions deriving from the experience of designing a related platform for public governance, including issues of privacy requirements, proposed business models and key performance indicators for public services on cloud computing. Research limitations/implications: The challenges and solutions discussed are based on the experience gained by designing one platform. However, we rely on issues and challenges collected from four countries. Practical implications: The identification of challenges for innovative design of e-government services through a central portal in Europe and using service federation is expected to inform practitioners in different roles about significant changes across multiple levels that are implied and may accelerate the challenges' resolution. Originality/value: This is the first study that discusses from multiple perspectives and through empirical investigation the challenges to realize public governance through innovative technologies. The results emerge from an actual portal that will function at a European level. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Young children's understanding of disabilities: the influence of development, context and cognition

Throughout Europe, educational support for children with disabilities has moved towards a model of inclusive education. Such policy changes mean that for all children there will be an increased likelihood of working with and encountering children with differing disabilities and difficulties. Previous research had indicated that children had poorly differentiated views of developmental differences. The present study investigated children?s representations of different disabilities. Seventy-nine 8-9 and 10-11 year old Greek children from an urban school and a rural school completed an attitudes toward school inclusion rating scale and a semi-structured interview. Responses to the attitude scale provided generally positive views of educational inclusion. However, children were less positive about activities that might directly reflect upon themselves. Children?s responses in the interviews indicated that they were developing rich representations of differences and diversities. Children had the greatest understanding of sensory and physical disabilities, followed by learning disabilities. There was limited knowledge of dyslexia and hyperactivity and no child was familiar with the term autism. Both groups of children identified a range of developmental difficulties, with older children being more aware of specific learning disabilities, their origin and impact. Results are discussed in terms of children?s developing knowledge systems and the implications for educational practices

Children’s buying behaviour in China: A study of their information sources

Purpose Reports an empirical study on children’s buying behaviour in China with a special focus on their information sources. Design /Methodology The key literature on consumer socialisation of children is reviewed. Primary data was collected from a sample of 155 children aged 10 to 13 using questionnaire survey. Various statistical methods such as Pearson correlation and tests were employed to analyse the data. Findings Chinese children regard TV commercials as an important information source for new product. However, they place greater level of trust in interpersonal information sources, especially in their parents who are perceived as the most credible information source with respect to their learning about new food products. Originality /Value The study has made a contribution to the extant literature on Chinese children as consumer. The findings would be valuable in assisting companies, specially those in the food industry, to have a better understanding of Chinese children’s buying behaviour

Developmental Differences in the Ability to Provide Temporal Information about Repeated Events

Children (n = 372) aged 4 - 8 years participated in 1 or 4 occurrences of a similar event and were interviewed 1 week later. Compared to 85% of children who participated once, less than 25% with repeated experience gave the exact number of times they participated, although all knew they participated more than once. Children with repeated experience were asked additional temporal questions and there were clear developmental differences. Older children were more able than younger children to judge relative order and temporal position of the four occurrences. They also demonstrated improved temporal memory for the first and last relative to the middle occurrences, while younger children did so only for the first. This is the first systematic demonstration of children’s memory for temporal information after a repeated event. We discuss implications for theories of temporal memory development and the practical implications of asking children to provide temporal information

Developmental Differences in the Ability to Provide Temporal Information about Repeated Events

Children (n = 372) aged 4 - 8 years participated in 1 or 4 occurrences of a similar event and were interviewed 1 week later. Compared to 85% of children who participated once, less than 25% with repeated experience gave the exact number of times they participated, although all knew they participated more than once. Children with repeated experience were asked additional temporal questions and there were clear developmental differences. Older children were more able than younger children to judge relative order and temporal position of the four occurrences. They also demonstrated improved temporal memory for the first and last relative to the middle occurrences, while younger children did so only for the first. This is the first systematic demonstration of children’s memory for temporal information after a repeated event. We discuss implications for theories of temporal memory development and the practical implications of asking children to provide temporal information

Human experience in the natural and built environment : implications for research policy and practice

22nd IAPS conference. Edited book of abstracts. 427 pp. University of Strathclyde, Sheffield and West of Scotland Publication. ISBN: 978-0-94-764988-3

A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing two Cognitive-Behavioral Programs for Adolescent Girls with Subclinical Depression: A School-Based Program (Op Volle Kracht) and a Computerized Program (SPARX)

Limited research has indicated the effectiveness of the school-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) prevention program ‘Op Volle Kracht (OVK)’ and the computerized CBT program ‘SPARX’ in decreasing depressive symptoms. Therefore, a randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of OVK and SPARX was conducted among Dutch female adolescents (n = 208, mean age = 13.35) with elevated depressive symptoms. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: OVK only (n = 50), SPARX only (n = 51), OVK and SPARX combined (n = 56) and a monitoring control condition (n = 51). Participants in the first three conditions received OVK lessons and/or the SPARX game. Depressive symptoms were assessed before interventions started, weekly during the interventions, and immediately after the interventions ended, with follow-up assessments at 3, 6 and 12 months. Intention to treat results showed that depressive symptoms decreased in all conditions (F(12, 1853.03) = 14.62, p < .001), with no difference in depressive symptoms between conditions. Thus, all conditions, including the monitoring control condition, were equally effective in reducing depressive symptoms. Possible explanations for the decrease of depressive symptoms in all conditions are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided. Dutch Trial Register: NTR3737

Literature Review - Health behaviour change models and approaches for families and young people to support HEAT 3: Child Healthy Weight Programmes

The literature review has been commissioned by NHS Health Scotland to review the health behaviour change models and approaches for families, children and young people to support the development and delivery of effective child healthy weight programmes. Despite the consistent recommendations from NICE and SIGN for the inclusion of behavioural components in child healthy weight programmes, there is little information on effectiveness of specific techniques and which to incorporate. The aim was therefore to provide information on which specific behavioural treatment components, behaviour change models and approaches should underpin clinical guidelines and childhood obesity treatment programmes. Secondly, in light of recommendations for programmes to be delivered by appropriately trained professionals, the review aimed to identify the skills and competencies required and resources and training available for effective delivery of the behavioural components. The outcomes of the literature review will be applied in enhancing the guidance for practitioners involved in the development and delivery of effective child healthy weight programmes; and thereby support achievement of the Scottish Government’s HEAT 3 target aimed at monitoring the attendance and completion of approved ’child healthy weight intervention programmes’. The report includes the background, aims, and objectives, sets out the scope of the review, presents a brief description of the methods and main findings. The methods and stakeholder views are then presented followed by a discussion of the implications for applying the evidence in practice and further research recommendations